Page 22 of A Hunter Found
She wasn’t sorry she’d engineered the whole damsel in distress, help me, I’m stuck, scenario, but she was sorry to see it end as Kane tucked himself away with a grimace. Shooting her a look of apology, he handed Sophia her clothes with a muttered, “I better go out there before your brother starts breaking down doors.”
He shot her another wistful look and sighed before he cracked the door to peek out and check that the coast was clear. Turning to look over his shoulder, he said, “I’ll distract them while you dress.”
Clutching the clothes to her chest, she watched him slip out. Only once he was out the door did she fall back against the mirror in a boneless sprawl. Her body was still throbbing with need, but that only encouraged her. If this was the appetizer, she couldn’t wait to try the main course.
Taking a moment to indulge, she closed her eyes and relived the experience, the way he’d touched her, the way he’d moved against her, his taste on her tongue. He’d wanted to bite her, she’d known that, and in that heated moment, she would have let him. Honestly, she had wanted to bite him as well, wanted to mark him, brand him as hers so that no other woman would ever be able to lay claim to him.
Letting out a shuddering sigh, Sophia propped herself back up and began to dress, her mind spinning with how soon she could get Kane alone again so they could finish what they’d started.
∞∞∞
Kane used his preternatural speed to reach his study and duck inside before he called out, “I’m in here,” with false cheer.
Quickly opening his laptop, he reached for his cell phone to make himself look busy when he realized he’d left his leather jacket in the bathroom with Sophia.
“There you are,” Morgan said as she appeared in the doorway.
“Here I am. Hard at work.”
Morgan’s smile didn’t falter, but her eyes were twinkling in a way that told him she wasn’t buying into his subterfuge. Probably that super nose of hers. He should have washed up before he left the bathroom, dammit. Rookie mistake.
“So, I sent Travis back outside to fire up the grill, told him I was starving,” she said, sauntering in to lean a hip against his desk and surreptitiously glance at the black screen of his laptop. “And judging by the high color on your face, you’ve worked up an appetite yourself.”
His former boss didn’t know the half of it.
“I imagine Sophia’s probably ravenous too,” Morgan added slyly before her gaze moved about the room and she changed the subject. “I like what you’ve done in here.”
Kane looked around as well. Honestly, he’d taken the tour once Edward and some of the other men had finished setting everything up, but he hadn’t actually spent any time here. The room had an old-world flair. Plenty of dark mahogany wainscoting that matched the mammoth desk he currently sat behind as well as the hardwood floors. Bookcases lined the wall behind him on either side of a large bay window complete with heavy navy drapery and a matching upholstered bench seat. A plush area rug in swirls of cream and navy added a touch of light to the room, as did the paintings and brass sconces that hung on the walls. All in all, it was nice he supposed, but Kane couldn’t see himself working in here, would probably continue to use the kitchen island as his desk. He may now be a territory-holding Born, but he’d been a Hunter first, was used to working on the move. The bedroom, bathroom, and the kitchen had been the only rooms to see any use from him in this new place. Though, he supposed he could now add the downstairs bathroom to that list. The thought made him groan and had him itching to kick Morgan and Travis out of his house so he could get back to worshipping his dragon’s delectable body.
And speaking of his dragon, she chose that moment to lean in the door, her arms braced on either side of the wall outside. Her eyes shot to him first, a touch of color pinkening her cheeks before she glanced at Morgan and smiled brightly. “Is someone grilling? I smell food.”
“I conned your brother into cooking for us.”
“Nice,” Sophia returned, drawing out the word.
Her eyes flicked to him and he noticed her bare foot was kicking lightly, yet repeatedly against the door as she cleared her throat. “Hey, listen,” she said to Morgan. “I know you and my brother probably have things to do, but I thought that if Kane didn’t mind bringing me home after, I’d stick around and claim the time I won. You know, in his tub – er – just me using his tub, alone. For a bubble bath,” she awkwardly clarified.
Kane just barely managed to keep from leaping out of his chair and shouting, ‘Hell, yes!’ at Sophia’s suggestion, and he was rather proud that his voice was steady and perfectly calm as he instead uttered, “I have no problem with that.”
To say Morgan’s grin was shit-eating would be an understatement. The woman saw right through them. Shaking her head, she let out a little chuckle. “No worries. I’ll run interference with your brother. Now, let’s go eat.”
Getting Travis to leave without Sophia wasn’t an easy task. The looks he was sending Kane’s way were positively murderous as the man nibbled on his food to draw out the task of eating as long as possible. He then insisted on exploring every inch of the house, while asking the most inane questions that left Kane wanting to tear his hair out with frustration.
It was only once they reached what Kane had lovingly dubbed ‘the hatchet room’ did his annoyance ebb, replaced with the spirit of competition. While the setup of the other rooms in the house had been left to Edward’s tasteful eye, this room, Kane had personally supervised. A long rectangular room, Kane had no idea what the previous owner had used it for – maybe a portrait gallery, but he’d been inspired the moment he’d seen it. The once smooth, cream-colored walls had now been covered with a thick layer of rough, unfinished barnboard, the windows grated with heavy, metal lattice, and the snowy-white, wall-to-wall carpeting had been torn up and replaced with planks similar to those that now adorned the walls.
There was no furniture in here, as this wasn’t a place to relax. The room’s only adornment consisted of three thick wooden targets with painted bull’s eyes hung on the back wall and an assortment of hatchets and axes in varying sizes displayed on the wall behind him.
“Nice,” Travis uttered as he pulled a re-creation of an ancient Nordic battle ax down from the wall and hefted its weight.
“Do you want to throw some? It’s a great stress reliever,” Kane eagerly added as he pulled a much smaller hatchet down for himself.
If Sophia minded the delay, she didn’t let on with look or deed, in fact, she seemed just as fascinated as her brother as she eyed an intricate Celtic design on one of the handles. “Where did you get all these?” Turning to look at him as her fingers traced the pattern, she added, “I mean, as a Hunter you couldn’t have been collecting these for long.”
Kane shrugged, but he knew his face clearly showed his pride in his new collection. “The internet is a wonderful thing.”
“Jamie would love this,” Morgan uttered as she pulled down a hatchet and tested its balance. “Though she’d probably spend all day throwing her knives.”
“That’s why I have this,” Kane pronounced with a grin as he strode for the closet door. Opening it, he pulled out a dressmaker's mannequin, clothed in leather with an amateurishly drawn-on face complete with bloody fangs.
