“Kit.” Big hands cupped my face. “You ever going to get the fact that I don’t want to hurt you?”
I stared up at him. “I’m processing it. Doesn’t mean I entirely believe it. And right now, it doesn’t even matter. There’s a job to do.”
A muscle pulsed in his jaw. He nodded slowly. Then he reached up and tugged my sunglasses off.
When he lowered his head, I felt my heart practically jump up into my throat, but it wasn’t fear this time.
His mouth slanted over mine and I groaned, opening for him even as sanity tried to rear its ugly, stupid head. Slow, easy…like he was trying to coax me into believing every word he said. And the crazy thing was…I was almost ready to do just that. His tongue stroked over my lips, teased its way into my mouth. Over and over, such a gentle, easy seduction, belying the anger I could still feel beating inside him.
When he broke away—too soon, way too soon—my heart raced, my body ached and throbbed and screamed for more. “I can be madder than hell and still control myself. Any time I’ve ever done anything, it was for a reason. Maybe it was a stupid reason, and I’m sorrier than you’re ever going to know, but I am not going to hurt you,” he whispered against my lips.
As he walked away, I let myself lean against the car while I tried to will some strength into my legs, some sanity into my brain.
This had become a hell of a lot more than just a job.
Getting the bow into the park wasn’t hard. I just faded out and walked right past the park rangers with it.
Now, two hours later, I had the bow in one hand and I was ready for a target, any target, just to alleviate some of the frustration.
“What was the deal with you and that bow earlier?”
I didn’t pretend not to understand what he was talking about. There wasn’t much point.
It was hot, I was sweaty, cranky already and more than a little freaked out. So far, we’d seen more gators than I’d really rather ever see in my life.
Gators scare me. I can’t help it.
There were also snakes and while they didn’t scare so much, I wasn’t overly pleased to know they were slithering around out there. I could hear them. The same way I heard the slow, lumbering crawl of the gators…sometimes I wish I had the hearing of humans. Would make this easier.
Stroking a thumb down the fiberglass of the compound bow I’d brought with me, I debated on what to tell him.
“Well?” he asked, shooting a look at me.
“What kind of shifter are you?”
He stopped in the middle of the path and turned, staring at me. “Why?”
I shrugged. “You’re asking something that has to do with what I am. I figure it’s fair play.”
“I’m just asking what the deal is with the bow.” The black slashes of his brows dropped low over his storm-cloud eyes.
“Yes…and the deal has to do with what I am.” The compound bow murmured in the back of my mind, a soft pleasant little stream of nonsense that I couldn’t pick apart, but it was nice. I liked it. Background music, I decided. “What you change into is what you are. Sooo…”
He continued to stand there, hands planted on his hips as he studied me. Sweat had dampened the collar of the olive green shirt he wore, but while I suspected I look like I’d been ridden hard and put away wet, he looked like he had just been out for a jog around the block. At dawn. “I might tell you,” he finally said. “But you have to answer a question first.”
I rolled my eyes and went to edge around him. “Sheesh. Forget I asked.”
“No. I want the answer.” He blocked my path simply by placing his body in front of me. Too big. Too…there. And he wasn’t holding back that wild energy of his anymore, either. It was almost as hot as the sun beating down on my head, but its heat was different. I could feel it licking at me from under my skin and it drove me nuts. “It’s an easy enough question. I just want to know whether or not your word is important to you.”
“What?”
“Your word. Does it matter?”
“Oh, for crying out loud.” I elbowed him in the gut, determined to get past him this time. I managed by wedging