“Don’t!” Her harsh tone startled him. “Don’t you dare walk out on me.”
“You need space.”
“You mean you do.” She dressed in silence before turning back to him. She ran her fingers through her disheveled hair. “The second you drop your guard, you back off.”
He was surprised she read him so well. He shouldn’t be. There’d been a connection between them from the minute they met. He raised his hands in a gesture of defeat.
Kane walked back to where she stood, hands on her hips, her expression guarded. He hated that look when directed at him. “You got me.”
Her dark lashes fluttered upward. “Do I?” she murmured.
He placed his hand around the back of her neck and drew her close. Tasting her lips brought him more pleasure than he could have imagined. Too much and he broke the kiss.
He didn’t pretend to misunderstand her question. “Yeah, you do.”
Light entered into her green eyes. She looked like a starving cat that had finally found a scrap of food and wasn’t about to let go. Of him. Damned if he couldn’t get used to the idea—and that unnerved him.
He grasped her chin between his hands. “But don’t get used to it, sweetheart.” Kane knew he was talking more to himself than to her.
He met her even gaze. The glow in her eyes didn’t fade as he’d expected it to. Kayla had obviously decided to take him on, and that put him on edge. Her next words proved him right.
“You’re used to being alone.”
He couldn’t dispute that remark.
“But you don’t have to be.”
She was wrong. Because alone was safer.
Her hand wandered to the front of his jeans. He was hard again but had no intention of losing control one more time. He reached for her wrist, but instead of pulling her away, he pushed her closer, letting her wrap her fingertips around the heavy bulge in his jeans. He groaned at the absolute perfection he found in her touch.
“Not everyone leaves, Kane.” Her whispered words penetrated his thoughts.
She removed her hand, twisting her fingers together in a nervous gesture that revealed she wasn’t any more comfortable with the dynamic between them than he was. Sexual tension and an emotional pull. They couldn’t deny either. The difference was, she’d obviously decided to push past her barriers in order to reach him.
Which meant he’d made the right decision. Someone had to keep their distance, to make things easier in the end. “Why don’t you go over those books while I jump in the shower?”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said.
Kane knew it was merely a temporary reprieve.
* * *
Kayla walked into her bedroom, pausing at the pile of clothes Kane had left lying in a heap on the floor. She liked the casual familiarity the sight implied. Not that she suffered from any delusions that he intended to be a part of her life. That much was obvious.
But she preferred to cling to the hope of the less obvious. The fact that she’d taken control and reached past his defenses. She bent down and picked up his shirt and jeans, clenching Kane’s clothing in her hands. By the time the case was over, he’d understand the difference between being a loner by choice—or necessity.
And thanks to Kane, she was becoming a woman in charge of herself, and her life. One who no longer feared her sexuality. This wasn’t an experience she could regret, no matter what the outcome. But she’d do everything in her power to direct it in her favor.
She tossed the jeans over her arm, and something fell to the floor with a thud. Kayla bent down to retrieve his wallet, some spare change, and…
“What’s this?” Even as her hand grabbed the foil packet and held it up to the light, she knew.
And if Kane went to this much effort to avoid having sex again, to run from the very intimacy that would enable her to breach his defenses, he had no intention of succumbing. Ever.
She hadn’t gotten to him. Not even close. She brushed at her eyes before a tear could fall. When had Kayla Luck ever affected a man on any level other than the physical? She should have known better but as always, she had to learn the hard way.
But she had no time for self-pity. She had more important concerns than her love life. Kayla grabbed the five books with possible information and shoved them into an oversize bag. Kane might have directed the course of things so far. But no more. He obviously needed to be shaken up on many different levels.