Page 26 of When He Fights
The back door opened.She turned to see Kane filling the doorway.
“I’m the ex who is here to win you back,” he told her with a grim nod.
She nearly dropped the phone.It did slide and wobble, but her fingers clamped around the device even as her eyes widened.“I’m not available tonight,” she rushed to say into the phone.Had Turner overheard Kane’s words?She’d certainly heard them, all loud and clear.“An…an old friend came to town,” she explained quickly.
Kane walked into the kitchen.
Grayson followed on his heels, shutting and locking the door.“Platonic friend for the win,” he said.
Kane shot him a glare.
“My friend is visiting now,” she told Turner as her gaze darted between Kane and Grayson, “so I can’ t make it.Sorry.”
“Oh.”Turner’s disappointment was clear.“That’s okay,” he rallied.“There will be plenty of other shows.I’m sure we can catch one of those.”
Ana wasn’t about to make any promises.“Thank you for the invitation.”Very polite.“I hope you have a great time.”She tossed out a few other pleasantries before ending the call.Her fingers still had a too-tight grip on the phone when she lowered it to her side.
Kane’s expression could still have been cut from stone.
“That him?”Kane wanted to know.
“Yes, that was Turner.He had tickets to a concert tonight.Wanted to see if I was available.”
“You’re no one’s last-minute choice.”
She knew her eyes had to be huge.“What is happening here?”
He closed in on her.All big, intent, and, yep, that hot gaze of his seemed possessive.“Your ex is back in your life.”
Was he talking about her murderous former lover?Because she’d gotten that point, yes.Logan had escaped and was apparently hell-bent on her destruction.The news every woman longed to hear.Not.
“Me.”Kane’s hand touched his chest.“I’m the ex who is back and ready to fight for my second chance with you.Me.That’s the story we’re spinning.The reason I’m back in your life.You can share it with that Turner jerk and with anyone else who might be asking.”
Her gaze immediately flew over to Grayson.Now his words made sense.She nodded.“I’ll choose the platonic friend role, thanks.”
Kane reached out.His fingers curled under her chin.
A shiver skirted over her because—of course—that flood of sensual energy pulsed right through her at his touch.
Kane leaned toward her.His heat and that tempting, masculine scent swept out to wrap around her as he rasped, “Sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t think that role is gonna work for me.”
She pressed up onto her tiptoes.Their mouths grew dangerously close and, voice husky, Ana told him, “Too damn bad.”
ChapterFive
She hadn’t intendedto be in a beach-side bar with Kane as midnight trickled ever closer.The band played from a stage nearby, while couples swayed—some barefoot—in the sand.Laughter flowed in the air, the drinks kept pouring, and stars glittered overhead.
Ana and Kane were at a tall table on the edge of the patio.The blare of the music almost drowned out the pounding waves.Almost.When she strained, Ana could hear the water as it crashed into the shore.
“You could try to look happier,” Kane advised her.
She could.Or she could just keep right on doing what she was doing.And what shewasdoing?Nursing a cute, little blue drink with a pink umbrella perched in it.“We’re not on a date,” she told him, very deliberately, as her gaze darted toward the band and then to the couples swaying.“We are two platonic friends who are having a drink and unwinding after a long day.”Her fingers fluttered in the air.A nervous habit she’d picked up.Strumming strings that weren’t there.She caught the act and tried to still her phantom playing.Had Kane noticed?Hopefully not.“We’re just friends,” she repeated as she tried to sound confident and in control.
Though, actually, what they really were—they were two individuals who’d had to get the hell out of the house because Grayson had brought in a crew who were supposed to be going hard on a fast and intense security installation.She’d alreadyhadsecurity at the house, but Grayson had wanted to step up the game.Extremely step it up.And his crew had needed work space, so…
After Grayson’s briefing session with her had ended, she’d changed clothes.Ana now wore jeans, a loose top that dipped a little off her left shoulder, and comfy sandals.She and Kane had taken a short walk down the beach.They’d gone to the bar so she could be seen in public.Part of Grayson and Kane’s master strategy to lay the groundwork that her life was totally normal and that she was simply visiting with an old friend.
“You care about him?”A growl.
