Beneath the Secrets Part 3(9)

“Then why aren’t they already involved?”

“Yeah, well, there’s only one problem with my brothers. They really are the good guys.” Blake left that piece of good news hanging in the air, walked to the truck, and climbed in.

Kara joined him and shut her door. “If they’re the good guys, what are we?”

“Not ‘we’, sweetheart. Me. Just me, and I’m Alvarez’s worst nightmare. I’m the guy who doesn’t give a damn if he dies as long as I take him with me.” He started the truck and pulled onto the road. Neither of them spoke but the air was suddenly thick, the tension in the small space thicker.

Several minutes passed before Kara said, “I care.”

“What?”

“If you’ve already decided you’re going to die, you will and I care. I don’t want you to die.”

“Don’t. Don’t care.”

“Too late.”

“Kara—”

“When are you going to get it into your thick head that you can’t control me, and that includes what I feel. You can’t stop me from caring, and if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you go on a death mission, you’re the one who’s sadly mistaken.”

Blake felt like he’d been punched in the chest. He didn’t want her caring, and her fighting for him, to matter anymore than he wanted to care for her. But at least she’d solidified his decision. He had to get her out of this city, and his life, before he dragged her to hell with him and they burned together.

***

“She actually told them one of the women was wired?” Kyle asked, scrubbing his light blond bearded jaw. “That was freaking genius. It made her a hero, not a traitor.”

Blake glanced at the adjoining hotel doorway where he could hear Kara talking with the women, trying to comfort them and convince them that despite leaving all they knew as their life behind, everything was going to be fine. Pride swelled in Blake over how Kara handled herself. And Kyle was right. Her actions tonight had been genius. “Yes, well, smart as it was, it won’t matter. I’m getting her out of this.”

“Good luck on that one,” he said. “Not only is her sister missing, but that woman is so sharp she managed to drug you and get away with it. She has fire in her eyes. She’s not going anywhere without a fight.”

“Kyle.”

Blake glanced up from the small round table he sat at to find Kara standing in the doorway. And damn if his groin didn’t tighten instantly at the sight of her long, dark hair looking rumpled and sexy, in a “just been f*cked” kind of way he only wished were true.

Kyle twisted around in his chair. “What’s up, darlin’?”

“Well, bubba, the girls want you to play poker with them again. They can’t sleep.”

“Bubba?” Blake laughed.

“Yeah,” Kyle said, standing up. “What’s with the bubba?”

“If I’m ‘darlin’, then you’re ‘bubba’. That’s how it works. Since you’re ex-FBI, you know the rules.”

Kyle snorted and looked at Blake. “Like I said. Good luck holding this one back.” He ran a hand through his short blond hair and headed toward the other room. “Never let it be said I failed a woman in need of entertainment.”

He passed Kara, who stood inside the door and didn’t move. “What does ‘sweetheart’ get me?” Blake asked.

She shut the door and locked it, then leaned against the wall. “Why don’t you come find out?”

And there it was. She threw out another challenge. He wanted to take it. Every damn time he wanted to take it, take her. And it was a mistake. Over and over, a mistake, one leading her to a place she didn’t belong. Right in the middle of his quest for vengeance. Blake thought of her words from the truck and they replayed in his mind. You can’t stop me from caring, and if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you go on a death mission, you’re the one who's sadly mistaken. Damn, he wanted her to care and it was selfish. It was wrong. He had to end this now. He had to lay down the law. For her own good.





Chapter Five


Blake stood up and stalked toward Kara, pressing his hands to the wall above her head, careful not to touch her. “We need to talk, Kara.”

“Later,” she whispered, and before he could stop her, she wrapped her arms around his neck, molding her body to his. “For once I want to kiss you knowing you aren’t the enemy.” She pressed her mouth to his.

For several seconds, Blake managed not to move, but when Kara’s soft little tongue pressed into his mouth, he moaned, and settled one hand in the center of her back, the other at the side of her face. Slanting his mouth over hers, he claimed her in a hot, hungry, damning kiss, a kiss that screamed of how dangerously lost he was in this woman. She made a soft sound of pleasure and his cock thickened to the point of pain. He needed her. Needed. The word jolted him and Blake tore his mouth from hers, pushing her against the wall, but she clung to him.

“Blake?” she asked, sounding breathless, confused.

“I can’t do this, Kara. I can’t think when I’m inside you. Someone else, yes. Not you.”

Her eyes went wide. “Did you really just say that? Did you say…” She let go of him and ducked under his arm and he reached for her but she was gone. She whirled on him. “You want to f*ck someone else? There’s the door. Go find a good ‘f*ck’ escape. That’s what you do, right? Fuck everything that moves to try to forget whatever it is that’s eating you alive?”