Page 17 of When He Fights
His gaze slid away from her.Again, this was probably not the time to confess that he was kept updated on her life.An emailed update arrived from Gray like clockwork every month.To buy himself a bit of time as he tried to figure out how best to handle Ana, Kane strolled toward the large harp positioned near the left, front window.“Switched to the harp, huh?”Something he’d actually already known.He’d known exactly when the harp had been delivered.He’d arranged for the delivery guys because he’d wanted to make sure that not just anyone got in her house.His fingers trailed over the long strings, and music filled the air.“Do you like it better than the violin?”Because, once upon a time, she’d been a violin virtuoso.Performing routinely with the New York Philharmonic.Not that he’d seen her on the stage.By the time he’d come into her life, she’d given up performing for avid audiences.
Correction, she’d been forced to give it up.Because her ex had been determined to kill her.
“It’s not that I like it better.”Her fingers sort of fluttered at her side.It was a move he didn’t even know if Ana realized she’d just made.Like a phantom stroking of her fingers over harp strings.“Just different.”
“I’m glad you’re playing music again.”
She swallowed.“There are some things you can’t give up.For me, it’s music.”She looked down and frowned at her hand, as if she’d just caught the movement.Her fingers fisted.
He knew Ana could play pretty much any instrument.Back when he’d been protecting her and taking her in and out of shady motels, she’d told him that, as a child, she’d been able to perform nearly any song after just listening to it once.
Since he couldn’t even playJingle Bellson a piano if his life depended on the task, Kane had been more than impressed by her skills.She was truly phenomenal, and walking away from music?He’d often feared that it must have ripped out her heart.
But…
“I teach music therapy,” she suddenly told him.“I mean, I do music therapy or I…” Another clearing of her throat.The hand she’d fisted released as she crept toward him.“I help people who need a way of communicating.Work with lots of different groups and ages in the community.Music is transcendent, you know?”A bright smile lit her face.
And he couldn’t breathe.Because he’d forgotten just how truly beautiful she was.
But her smile faded all too fast.“The harp is different from my violin.”Now she was brisk.“But different is good, and I enjoy playing it.”A sigh.“I also enjoy teaching yoga classes.I started yoga to help calm my mind, and now it’s pretty much an addiction for me.”
“I figure there are worse things out there that a person can be addicted to in this world.”
Her stare held his.“Yes.”Softer.“There are.”She’d taken a few more steps toward him.Now she stopped.Tilted her head back.“I think we agreed on a twenty-minute discussion.”
He didn’t remember actuallyagreeingto just twenty minutes.
“You were going to tell me why I shouldn’t run, when my demented ex is on my trail.A man who killed for the mob.Who routinely made bodies disappear.And to think, I once thought he was Mr.Perfect.”
“No one is perfect.”
“Why can’t I run?”
His gaze got locked on her mouth.Those soft lips.
“Kane?”Husky.“Why can’t I run?”
A sharp knock sounded on her back door.She jumped at the sound, and her hands immediately flew out and locked around his arms.Her eyes had gone very, very wide.
“You expecting company?”he demanded.
A quick, negative shake of her head.
The knock sounded again.More demanding this time.
“Stay here,” he ordered her as he spun away and headed toward the rear of the house.He automatically reached back and hauled up the gun he’d tucked into the waistband of his jeans.
“Thisis why I should have run!”Her steps rushed behind him.“And you came into my house with a gun?I didn’t even notice it until now!”
Not noticing it had been the point.Thus, the reason he’d hidden it at the base of his back and pulled down his shirt to cover it up.
“Kane…”
He rounded on her.
“Kane, what if it’s a neighbor?”She grabbed his arm.Her fingers darted over him, and he felt the fluttering touch charge through his body.Every single cell.He was suddenly honed in and one hundred percent focused on her.Ana licked her lips.“You can’t greet my neighbor with a gun!”
The knocking came again.Even harder than before.Almost like the person was trying to beat down the door.
