right now. So step on it.”
It must be the sass that does it. The man can’t resist my sass.
He reaches me in a few quick, long strides, leans down, and takes me into his arms.
He holds me so tightly against his chest I have a hard time breathing.
I turn my face to his neck and inhale deeply, sucking in his scent and clinging to him. Or, rather, to something that feels like it could be a grenade.
His voices comes near my ear as a harsh whisper. “I’ll never forgive myself.”
For not preventing my kidnapping, he means. For being in Prague when he should have been with me. Or maybe for not finding me sooner. Or all of the above.
“Don’t be silly, honey. You saved my life. Again. Also, I think you kind of glossed over the more important development since we last saw each other.”
He pulls away slightly, staring into my face with dark, burning eyes. I gaze at him, feeling better than I have in years.
He says gruffly, “You’re in love with me.”
“Completely.”
He closes his eyes, draws a breath, licks his lips. When he opens his eyes again, they blaze with so much emotion it takes my breath away.
“And you trust me.”
“Implicitly.”
“All of which means…” He draws another ragged breath. “You’re mine.”
I smile. “God help you, but yes. I’m yours. I don’t care what you do for a living, what secrets you keep, or anything else. The thing I’ve been most afraid of my whole life finally happened, and it wasn’t half as bad as the thought that I’d never see you again. All I care about is you.” I pause, smiling up into his face. “Your sister-in-law is pretty great, too.”
He crushes me against his chest again. The hand that cradles my head is trembling.
How I adore it that this big, studly, arrogant badass is such a softie for me.
Then I think of something that hasn’t occurred to me yet, and my mind goes blank with terror. “Oh god!”
He breaks away, frantic. “What? What is it?”
“Truvy! Is she okay? She was with me at the police station! The men didn’t take her, too—”
“No,” he interrupts softly, exhaling in relief. “She’s fine.”
“One minute I was walking right behind her, the next…”
“I know, lass. I know everything that’s happened from then til now.”
I study his face. “How do you know?”
“I’m me.”
He says it without a trace of sarcasm. Then he’s kissing me, tenderly holding my face between his huge, rough hands. Breathing erratically, he kisses my cheeks and my neck and my mouth, every press of his lips possessive and loving.
I laugh softly, closing my eyes, falling deeper into him with every beat of my heart.
Before he reluctantly agrees to take me home, Killian insists I allow the doctor to examine me.
He does, looking like he thinks he’ll be executed by firing squad if he makes a mistake.
I feel a little bad for him, but then we’re leaving, and I can think of nothing else but getting into a hot bath and getting into bed.
Killian’s bed. Where, if I get my way, I will never leave.
The doctor cleaned and bandaged my feet so they’re in much better shape than they were, but Killian insists on carrying me out of the hospital himself. Apparently, a wheelchair is out of the question.
He doesn’t let me sit in front of the SUV with him, either. He bundles me across the back seat, tucking a blanket all around me with fierce concentration.
I don’t mention that it’s probably safer for me up front, what with the seat belts and all, because I sense he’s holding onto his calm by a thread.
We drive in the middle of a caravan of what seems like a hundred black SUVs until we reach the skyscraper he calls his home. When we pull in front of the elevators in the parking garage, there must be fifty armed men lined up along either side. He leaves the car running, runs around to my side, and gently picks me up again.
On the ride up to the penthouse, he’s silent. I don’t know what’s brewing in his head, and I don’t ask. I sense a deep, simmering rage inside him.
I get the feeling those bodies he left behind when he rescued me aren’t going to be nearly enough to slake his fury.
I don’t think he’ll stop taking retribution until the corpses are piled so high they block out the sun.
The first thing he does when we get inside the penthouse is head straight