Page 33 of Kai
“Oh, wait, I forgot something.” He went back into the cabin and came out carrying a rectangular bar wrapped in goldfoil. He offered it to me.
“Chocolate!” I squealed like a tweenie at a Taylor Swift concert. “It’s my favorite!” I tore into the foil, broke off a chunk, popped it into my mouth, and let out a moan of pure pleasure. “So good. This brings back memories.”
He widened his smile. “Good ones, I hope?”
“Great ones.” I snapped another square off the bar. “My siblings and I used to raid the pantry and gorge on this at night.” I offered him the chunk. “Want some?”
“Thanks.” He wolfed it down in one bite before he turned his attention to his carbine.
Enjoying my treat, I watched as he took a moment to remove the magazine and inspect the chamber. He checked his weapon to ensure it wasn’t loaded before disassembling his rifle.
“How did you know that I loved chocolate, and that this was my favorite?” I relished the sweet cocoa melting in my mouth.
“Easy.” He separated the upper and lower receivers. “I asked Thena and Missy what kinds of things you liked.”
He’d asked my sisters what I liked. It was beyond the prep he’d need to do for a mission, a non-essential. It was… Kai-nice.
“I’ve got a stash in the pantry,” he revealed. “Raid it at will.”
This was the nicest thing anyone had done for me in a long time. I gobbled another piece and observed him at work. The precise movements of his hands confirmed he was an expert weapon handler. His long, thick-knuckled fingers moved with the precision of a pianist. He reminded me of Nix. The memory registered as a dull ache in my chest. How many times had I watched my brother clean his weapons when he was alive? Hundreds? Thousands?
“What kind of rifle is that?” I mumbled between nibbles. “It looks like one of Nix’s M4s, but it’s different.”
“You’re very observant.” He attached a bore brush to the cleaning rod, applied a small amount of solvent, and after inserting the brush into the barrel, scrubbed back and forth from chamber to muzzle. “You’re looking at the newest, next-gen weapon to come out of BB’s labs. We call it the BBMAX Spear, or the Spear for short.”
My usual curiosity took charge. “Why the change?”
“BB is always pushing the tech edge.” He set the brush aside, attached a cleaning patch to the holder and ran it through the barrel just as he’d done with the brush. “It’s the best way to outsmart and out-gun our enemies. This is a more efficient and versatile combat rifle, capable of multiple conversions to adapt to a variety of battlefield conditions. It’s also a more reliable water-immersible weapon. That’s important to me.” He caressed the stock with a lover’s touch that made me jealous. “This baby here is one badass beauty.”
Even technical terms sounded sexy as sin when he spoke. He might as well be whispering filthy words in my ear. The movement of his hand as he inserted and extracted the long patch holder in the barrel hypnotized me. In and out, in and out. Every time he pushed the holder in, my walls squeezed. Every time he pulled it out, the breath swooshed out of me. My sex grew damp. My panties were wet. If he kept at it for much longer, I was going to climax sitting in my damn chair.
“You okay?” he asked, startling me out of my erotic revelry.
“Yeah, fine.” I squirmed in my seat, pressing my thighs together. I didn’t feel hot and bothered. Not at all.
He looked up from the holder and flashed me a wicked grin. It was as if he’d read my thoughts. He’d said he had great hearing. Perhaps he could sense or smell my need?
The feral gleam that lit up his eyes pebbled my skin, and the devilish dimples that appeared on his face set me to burn ashe continued the motion, slow but firm. There was something deliberate about the act now, provocative. Or maybe it was just my imagination?
As long as he was loving on his weapon, my pussy would not calm down, but I tried to dial down my arousal. I had questions, important ones. I folded the foil over what remained of the chocolate bar and settled it on the table. Ogling time was over.
“Tell me everything that has happened with my sisters since I left.”
“Where to begin?” he murmured while he continued to work on his carbine.
For the next half hour, I listened to Kai’s incredible tale. I learned about Battle Brothers, Dash’s new Tracker Team, and my father’s murder. Kai told me how Dash had received a letter from Father after his death, asking him to protect us from a mysterious assassin. Dash had loathed Father, but he’d never stopped loving Thena. He’d returned to her life to thwart her attempted murder. If not for Dash, she’d be dead. Horror soured my stomach, but the news that Thena and Dash were back together tempered my fears. Those two deserved happiness.
My mouth went dry when Kai told me about my baby sister. On a hunch from Thena, one of Tracker Team’s operators had located Missy in the nick of time. It had been a harrowing ordeal, but Missy was now at Astor House, reunited with Thena. As Kai spoke, my compulsion to go to my sisters grew. They needed me, and I needed to protect them.
“Who’s responsible for murdering my father and trying to kill us?” I demanded.
Kai told me about the New World Order, about its leader, Xao Li, and the asshole’s vendetta against everything Astor.
“What about Affie?” I suddenly noticed he hadn’t mentioned her. “Where is she?”
“We don’t know,” he admitted with a frown. “But we’re looking.”
“Oh, God. Affie!” My voice quivered. “What if they found her? What if she’s dead?”
