Page 45 of Kai
“This is ridiculous,” I spat, turning my confusion into anger. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. Would you really want to sleep with me, and I mean, not just to prove a stupid hypothesis, but because you found me, oh, I don’t know, fuckable?”
“Yeah.” There was no doubt in his reply. “Assuming you were interested.”
My jaw dropped. I didn’t know what to say to that. His honesty left me speechless. I was frantically trying to find a smart comeback when his cell beeped in his pocket. In unison, another alarm went off inside the cabin.
“Excuse me.” He slid off the bench and hurried inside, leaving me facing a mountain of questions.
My mind reeled.A connection?Between him and me? Perhaps not love, since I wasn’t capable of it, but lust?
From my deepest, darkest depths, my lust howled like a hungry she-wolf. This conversation was far from over.
I followed him into the cabin and found him sitting at his navigation station. He studied a map, reading the data streaming on the screens. The discreet alarm beeped on the console, and a flashing red frame encased the image. The tension I spotted on Kai’s face twisted my stomach.
“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice shakier than I liked.
He looked up and met my gaze straight. “They’re coming.”
Chapter Fifteen
Cece
My stomach plummeted, and a rush of fear tensed every muscle in my body. The mercs were coming. I wrung my hands together. How had they found us?
Kai scrolled through a series of live images, moving from one to the other. His fingers pounded the keyboard as dotted lines popped up between the moving red blimp on the radar and his small, horseshoe-shaped island. The single blue blimp stationed at an inlet that notched the island’s west coast clued me in. It markedSerenity’sspot on the map.
The red blimp seemed far from us, yet Kai seemed intent on tracking it. He kept pulling up satellite images, getting distance measurements, and trying to get a closer view of what looked like a boat to me.
“Is that them?” I croaked through my tight throat.
“Probably.” He glanced at me. His fingers froze on the keys, and the tightness in his face softened. He reached out and squeezed my hand, lending me the heat of his skin and the courage that flashed in his gaze. “No worries, Sorceress. I’m here. I’m gonna take care of this.”
“Um… ah… but…”Stop quavering!I ordered my voice. I hadn’t recovered from the shock of the recent conversation out on the deck, and now this?
“They’re still far out.” He returned his attention to the screens. “I’ve got plenty of time to intersect, but I’ve gotta move now.”
“Move?”I mumbled, even though he was already trotting down the stairs to his berth.“Intersect?”
I didn’t get an answer. The sounds of him opening a drawer and moving about drifted from his room. I leaned into the screen and studied the dotted lines. Numbers flickered above them, showing distance, speed, and time. A countdown. My pulse ticked up. We may have time to run, but the mercs were on the way.
Kai stalked out of his berth. In just a few moments, he’d changed clothes. He wore his tactical vest over his black, full-body stinger swimsuit, meshed water shoes, and a small, watertight ruck that hung from his shoulder. His expression was one of pure resolve and total focus. After opening the sliders, he stepped out onto the deck.
I, of course, followed him.
My mind was about to burst with all kinds of questions, but I had to admire the strapping figure he cut in the afternoon light, the way the spandex molded to his perfect body, the elegance of his precise, purpose-driven movements. He was strong but limber, muscular but in a discreet, graceful way.
The lust inside me sang, hitting a high note. The connection I didn’t want to believe in pulled on me like a bungee cord. Repressing a shiver of what could only be erotic delight, I realized how strongly our conversation had affected me. My body moved faster than my mind. Lust sounded swell to my clit. But after spouting out my life’s no-love, no-man, no-relationship manifesto, had I missed my chance?
Yeah. You did. I wanted to kick myself in the ass.
Kai moved fast. Danger radiated from him. He was in full special operator mode. Even so, he was so sexy I wondered if my panties had spontaneously caught fire. The timing of this lust attack was most inconvenient, but at least it gave me a breather from the fear.
“For you.” He set my handgun on the table, shaking me out of my wanton state. “I dried and cleaned it after our escapefrom the lighthouse. It’s in working order. I made sure of it. It’s also loaded.”
He extracted his carbine from its case and slid it into a waterproof shoot-through bag. This looked bad, especially when he stuffed his watertight ruck with several magazines of ammo.
“I’ll have eyes onSerenitywhile I’m out.” He tapped the plastic-encased cell he’d velcroed to his vest. “If you detect any threats, if you see or hear anyone or anything approachingSerenity, know that I’m on my way to you. If this happens, buy me time. Hide, and if necessary, use your gun for protection. Got it?”
“Yes, sure, but…” An irrational fear of being alone slammed me in the chest. I’d been alone for three years. Why was I suddenly so scared?
