The Rebel King (All the King's Men Duet #2) - Kennedy Ryan Page 0,49
kill him myself if he’s still breathing.”
“Please stop talking like this. I don’t want you killing anyone for me. Most of all, I don’t want you dead.”
“I would kill a thousand times for you.” His voice throbs with truth. “I’d die a thousand times for you if I could. You asked me what I love about my father. I love that. He protects those he cares about at any cost, and I’m sorry to break it to you, Nix, but I am just like him in that respect.”
A transfer truck passes so close on the highway, our car trembles. We’re so vulnerable on this remote stretch of road. Panic wraps tight fingers around my throat. I’ve rejected the idea of security, but Maxim’s words about killing and revenge take me back to that jungle, to that river; back to the bullets slicing through the air, through flesh. I was literally in mortal danger, but Gregory Keene could have killed Maxim that day. I push away and glare at him.
“Where’s your security? Why are we out here in the middle of nowhere alone?”
“Babe, we landed in San Francisco. I hardly think this is the middle of nowhere, and we’re fine.”
“We’re fine? What the hell does we’re fine mean? Those guys should be trailing this car right now. Does Grim know where you are at all times? I mean, what if your tracker fails? Do you sleep in that watch?” I try to remember if he wore it in the shower. “Is the watch waterproof?”
“Okay, you’re kind of spiraling.”
“So when I’m concerned for your safety, it’s spiraling, but when you’re concerned for mine, it’s—”
“Perfectly justifiable. Correct.” He keeps a straight face, but humor brightens the green eyes that have captivated me since day one.
“This isn’t funny,” I whisper. “We have a deal.”
“A deal? What deal do you think we have?”
“I’ll be in love with you if you don’t make foolhardy, life-endangering choices.”
He sifts his fingers into my hair and tugs, tilting my head back to level me with the penetrative graveness of his stare. “There’s no deal, no going back. I’ll probably always be a lot more cautious with your life than I am with my own, but I don’t have a death wish. Living for as long as I can with you is the dream, but please don’t ever think you get to stop loving me or I get to stop loving you. That shit won’t happen.”
I grip his shirt and pull him so close our breath mingles and I feel his heart beating into my chest.
“I don’t want that shit to happen,” I say, my eyes watering. “But I’ve lost the most important person in my life once before. Don’t ask me to do that again.”
21
Maxim
“This place is breathtaking.”
It’s one of the few things Lennix has said since our conversation about Gregory Keene.
“Yeah,” I reply, slamming the car door. “Point Reyes is one of my favorite spots in the world.”
I walk around to the passenger side where she leans against the car, her eyes fixed on the vivid landscape of verdant coast and azure water.
She drags her gaze away to meet mine. “It is?”
“It is.” I hold out the puffy down jacket I had stowed in the back seat for her to slip her arms in. “And it’s also considered the windiest place on the Pacific Coast. It gets pretty chilly up here, especially when the sun goes down.”
We watch the sun begin its descent toward the sheet of water, taking more light and warmth with it by the minute.
“I assume you have special plans,” she says, smiling for the first time since she climbed on my lap in the car.
“I do.”
An older gentleman wearing a toboggan, a down jacket, and jeans ambles toward us.
“Mr. Cade?” he asks.
“Yes.” I offer my hand. “But please call me Maxim, and you must be Callum?”
“Sure am.” He beams at Lennix. “And is this Mrs. Cade?”
I freeze. Hearing Lennix called “Mrs. Cade” has turned something in me, a revolution of the earth around the sun. It sparks a deep hunger, a longing for something I didn’t even know I wanted this badly until I heard it. I’ve imagined “a future” with her, but I’d never felt the thrill of hearing my name attached to her in an indissoluble way.