Page 80 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

"He's going to use it to cure his mate, Olivia," he added.

Tabitha chewed on her thumbnail as she ruminated over this. "But do you think it'll work?"

She thought back to how the relic of souls had shown her the truth, allegedly, about how her father died—something she'd always wanted to know, and something she still didn't know was truth or fiction.

Kane shrugged and began to towel off in front of her.

"Listen, Tabs, I really don't care. I'm tired and I made it out of Hell to be with you, and now that I know you're here and that you are obviously in love with me, that means only one thing remains…" He held her gaze captive while he stepped closer into her space, sucking up all the oxygen from the tiny compartment all the while.

"What?" she said breathlessly, as her mouth yearned to press along the seam of his, to capture his forever.

He leaned down and warm lips caressed her ear making her shudder with happiness.

"Kane?" she whispered hesitantly, wondering if he'd kiss her.

But, he pulled away as he stretched the towel across his torso and knotted it. "Do you happen to have a drill?"

For a second, his question didn't compute, and then she burst out laughing. "A drill?"

He pantomimed squeezing a trigger and she laughed again.

"No, I don't. Maybe a screw driver," she hedged as she bit down on her lip.

"Good," he nodded. "Will you fetch it?"

Not wishing whatsoever to be away from him for even a moment, but knowing he wasn't ready to kiss her, Tabitha forced herself away and dug around in a kitchen drawer until she produced a screwdriver.

"Is this what you wanted?"

A smile filled his handsome face and her heart burst with love exponentially.

"Hang on a sec, alright?" he asked.

Tabitha watched transfixed as over the next several minutes, Kane managed to unscrew her bathroom door and place it where her front door used to be.

"You're a hero," she said after he closed and locked the door, revealing that it worked as a placeholder.

Kane grinned at her, and her stomach twirled with nerves.

She wanted to keep this beautiful man so badly, and the fact that he was in her penthouse acting like a close partner only cinched that notion.

So, she decided to ask him. "You're truly here, right? I'm not just making this up?" Tears suddenly flooded her eyes of their own accord.

Kane's expression softened as he crossed back to sit beside her on the sofa. He cupped her cheek and let his thumb graze her soft skin back and forth. "Don't you know I'd climb through Hell on earth just to see you one last time, Tabitha Burke?"

A watery laugh escaped her. "Is that what happened?"

Kane scooped her against his chest, and Tabitha sighed as she sunk into warmth his embrace offered. It felt like home all over again.

"I couldn't describe it any other way, honey," Kane said.

"I missed you…so much," she said, her voice cracking. "The last five months have felt like a living hell without you."

He petted her hair in a soothing gesture. "And I missed you…and I'd never abandon you."

"How did you get out?" she asked as her tears fell against his naked chest.

Kane sucked in a long breath of air. "That's quite a long story. To keep it brief, I killed Alexis when I realized you were right. She hadn't been telling the truth about Graham. She'd killed him and had her sights on stealing the relic for herself. Seth remains stuck in Hell, and after losing to the Castle of Illusions and searching for what felt like a millennia to find you, I finally realized I had to return home and try my luck there. So, I made my way long past the due hour of when the portal would remain open. I encountered Torpence and his small army of slavers riding dragons and I slaughtered them well enough. And then when I tried to make safe passage to the portal, I had to fight my way through a small gaggle of mercs set on avenging Torpence's recent death. I fought my way through barely clinging to life before I climbed up the spindly mountain with dragons breathing down my neck, opened my scroll from my satchel, and recited the words that would return me home," he said in a low, soft voice.

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