His only thought to save her, he ran at her and wrapped himself around her body, then teleported them out of his house and into the only other haven he knew.
Kateri couldn't breathe through the tight hold Ren had on her. Completely surrounded by a wall of muscle, she had her face pressed against his chest. His heart pounded under her cheek while the warm, masculine scent of his skin soothed her. There was an underlying spicy smell. Something that made her mouth water.
After a few seconds, he loosened his arms and took a half step back so that he could look down at her.
The concern in those dark eyes caught her off guard. It was such a hot, sexy look. One that set her on fire. Especially when he cupped her face in his hands and leaned down so that their heads were level.
"Are you all right?"
She nodded. "You?"
"I'll live."
To her chagrin, he released her and stepped away. The sudden absence of his warmth sent a chill over her. And as she glanced around the room, she sucked her breath in sharply.
It was a nice hotel suite. The kind of penthouse suite that a billionaire playboy would rent.
What the ...
"I am having one wicked dream," she breathed, wondering what was going on with her unconscious mind.
Ren shook his head. "It's not a dream."
She snorted. "Then how did we get here?"
"I have the ability to teleport."
Sure he did. She laughed nervously. "Yeah. Beam me up, Scotty, right? Did you guys slip me something? Is Rain in on this?"
"You don't really believe that."
Kateri ran her hand along the dark blue curtain beside her. A curtain that didn't vaporize and turn all of this into some psychotic dream. "No, but I want to." She wanted to believe anything other than what this appeared to be.
I'm insane. I have to be-that at least makes sense.
Otherwise ...
She flinched at a reality she wanted no part of. Personally, she liked having an address in the state of Denial. "This is real, isn't it?"
"As real as it gets."
Covering her face with her hands, she tried everything she could to come up with some other plausible explanation.
There wasn't one. When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.... Damn you, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Damn you!
And in that moment, everything overwhelmed her. The death of Fernando, her recent spree of brushes with death, her crazy, weird dreams ... Everything.
Oh God, it's true.
All of it.
No, he can't be the same man in the past. He couldn't be. He couldn't ...
Ren recognized the shock she was falling into. Knowing he had to ground her, he closed the distance between them and cupped her face again in his palms. The softness of her skin caressed his and made him yearn for things he knew he could never have. Things he knew he shouldn't even want.
"What's your name?" She'd called herself "Teri" earlier, but it didn't seem to fit what he knew of her.
Kateri blinked at his unexpected question. "Huh? What?"