Page 55 of Kane's Bounty
“It was only a few days.” He knelt down next to the tub, took a sip of his champagne and watched her. “We’ve only known each other a few days, Lena.”
She reached up, and with one wet finger, smoothed the crease between his eyes. “It seems like a lifetime since then.”
“You don’t really know me.”
She smiled. “I know you.”
“I’ve done things.”
“I don’t care.”
“Not today, not now, but you will care someday. I’m not good enough for you.”
She sat up, frowning. “Maybe the problem is, you don’t really know me.”
“What do you mean?”
She leaned back again. The bubbles parted and he glimpsed the dark tips of her tits before they were once again obscured by the bath. Closing her eyes, she said, “You assume that I want someone who has a nine-to-five job in some office somewhere. What you don’t seem to understand is I’ve lived a quiet life with almost no excitement. I love that you’re unconventional. I need someone who understands the power of a sixth sense. I want you and now that I’ve found you, no one else will ever be enough.”
If she was trying to kill him with kindness, it was working. His stomach and chest tightened into painful knots. He wanted to pull her from the hot water and fuck her on the bathroom floor or jump in the tub and take her in the water. His doubts kept him kneeling on the outside of the marble-encased luxury tub. “The darkness you felt in Banta, I have the same in me.”
“No, you don’t.”
He raised his eyebrows, but her eyes were closed and she didn’t see. “Why do you say that? You know I killed those soldiers at Thorns.”
Her lids opened, and instead of fear or judgment, he saw only sympathy in their smoky depths. “Not all of them.”
“No, but two of them.”
“You didn’t have a choice.”
“There is always a choice.” He looked down at the dark veins in the marble tile.
She sat up, put the champagne glass on the floor, put her arms along the rim of the tub, one hand on top of the other, and placed her chin on top of them. “Tell me, why didn’t you kill the others? The ones you left unconscious.”
He met her gaze. “I didn’t have to kill them.”
Her eyebrows rose high on her forehead. “But you could have. They may have even deserved to die.”
Hope started to bloom inside his gut. She didn’t care about the things he’d done. She believed he was good. Kane wasn’t so sure she was right, but he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, not to death and not to her good sense either. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. She was warm and wet as her hands came around his neck. Her fingers toyed with the hair at the base of his skull. Her kiss was sweet and she tasted of peppermint and champagne. He’d never be able to get enough of this woman.
“Who was your father?”
She backed away an inch and laughed. “You want to know that now?”
“I want to know you, Lena.”
Her smile was enough to take his breath away. When she stood up, he nearly embarrassed himself. “Hand me the towel.” She pointed to where the item was draped over the cushioned bench a couple of feet away.
It took him a minute to comply. She’d shaved her pussy smooth and his cock jumped in his jeans, pressing painfully against his fly. Every inch of her was smooth and curvy. His hands itched to touch her.
“It’s getting cold.” Her smile told him she liked the way he stood gape-mouthed, staring at her nudity.
He never took his eyes off her, grabbing the towel and holding it open for her. He’d have preferred she remain naked, but he definitely would not learn anything about her past if she stayed as she was.
She dried herself and put on one of the large fluffy robes the hotel supplied to the luxury suite. He could see the laughter in her eyes and guessed it was because he was still staring at her.
She plucked the hairbrush off the vanity. The hotel had supplied them with their basic necessities and the FBI had arranged clothes for them. She really was a master negotiator.
