Page 24 of Come Alive
He was inside Mateo’s “house” in Florida, except it was essentially a fortified bunker. Kazi sat on the leather couch, the only piece of furniture in the stark living room. His head was in his hands with his eyes screwed shut. He was exhausted, it was the early morning, but he hadn’t slept since Yara left his side. His abdomen throbbed from an injury he had obtained just a few hours ago, but he was doing his best to ignore it. Focusing on what was to come instead.
How could I do this to her? I should have told her the truth sooner. And now she’s pregnant.
An unknown emotion rushed through Kazi. He had a family once—a loving and protective older brother—but he never expected to again. Not after they were gunned down. But now Yara was here, and she was growing his child. She was the family he dreamed about.
As long as his lies didn’t cause her to run from him.
At least Izzy is safe, at least Emilio retrieved her from that evil man on the roof.
Down the hall, the front door slammed open, but Kazi didn’t react. Mateo had warned him they would be here soon, that he would be on the receiving end of Yara’s wrath. And he would accept it; hemissedher.His heartached.
“Where the fuck are you?!” The shout echoed around the space.
“In here,” he called back, getting to his feet, wobbling a bit unsteadily.
“Kazi! How could you!? Izzy is my best—” Yara paused as she turned the corner and took him in. “Kazi?”Her voice twisted from anger to concern, her icy eyes narrowing on the large bandage on his abdomen.
Kazi reached behind him, grabbing his jacket, draping it over his naked torso before zeroing in on Yara.
It had been less than two days, but that was more time than they had spent apart since they first met.
“Do you remember the comedy club?” Kazi diverted as he marched forward, eating up the space between Yara and him.
She sputtered, completely caught off guard. “I—I—the comedy club?”
“Where we met.” Kazi raised his hand, his fingers tracing the outline of her jaw, to the dimple that formed on just her left side, to her pursed lips.
“Kazi,” she warned, her hot breath fanning his hand.
He focused anywhere except her eyes as he did his best to find the right words. “Here, in Florida. This is where I moved from.”
Yara stiffened. “You followed me to California? We didn’t know each other. Are you a stalker?” Her voice turned hysterical as she ripped from his touch, backing away from him.
“No,” Kazi sighed. “You were a job, Yara.”
“A job?” The typical sarcastic and feisty Yara was replaced with a shadow.
“But you have to believe me, Yara. It turned into more than that. I was sent to watch over you, to keep you safe…from a distance. But then I saw you, then I met you, then I spoke to you, then I watched you perform those god awful jokes and I justknew. I needed you to be a part of my life.”
Kazi carefully, so as not to startle her, reached for her again, giving her plenty of time to reject him. When she didn’t push him away, he wrapped his arms around her, tugging her to his chest.
She hung limply but didn’t fight him.
“Why?” she asked lamely.
Kazi breathed her in, her scent inundated the air and it took everything for him not to fall apart. But she deserved an explanation. He squeezed her tighter, but then winced as it pulled at his wound.
“Kazi, you’re injured—start there. What happened?”
“The priest at a wedding stabbed me while he was trying to escape,” Kazi said honestly.
“Okay and now the truth.” Yara shifted, escaping his hold, but then she was leading them towards the couch, sitting down and tugging Kazi to do the same.
Instead, he fell to his knees at her feet, looking up at her through his eyelashes. “Yara,” he suppressed a groan of pain as he pulled at his stitches.
“Kazi, I’m supposed to be angry with you, you can’t try to seduce me.”
Kazi cocked his head. “Seduce you?” His hands moved on their own, to the hem of her pants, finding her ankles, stroking the bare skin there.
