From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(46)

It was one in the morning. Who the hell would be here at one in the morning?

“I’ll get the bat.” Sarah stood up, slapping her hands together like she’d been waiting for an occasion such as this to kick some ass.

Mia was up on her feet. “Who would come over this late? And what is she planning on doing with that bat? I have a gun if we need one.”

That surprised her. The blonde was bubbly and fluffy and didn’t look like a chick who carried concealed. “How about we find out who it is before we murder them?”

“It’s not murder. It’s self-defense here,” Sarah corrected.

Wow, she’d never suspected her friends were so blood thirsty. “Fine, if there’s a crazed killer on the other side of the door, self-defense murder him. I’m going to find out.”

Sometimes their neighbor from next door got confused. He was an elderly gentleman with the sweetest wife in the world, and every now and then he thought it was 1955 and showed up asking where Elvis was playing. Mr. Swanson needed neither a bat to the head nor one of Mia’s bullets.

She looked through the peephole and stepped back. “Oh, shit.”

Sarah had her bat in hand. “I’m ready.”

Mia was staring her way. “Who is it?”

Kai. It was Kai standing out on her porch looking completely hot and professorial with his jeans and button-down and sport coat. It was the one with those patches on his elbows. He’d put his glasses on and his hair was back. Nothing to see here, ladies. Just a super-smart man who could spank a sub until she cried out in complete surrender.

He was also a man who wouldn’t walk away. There was no way he would leave because they didn’t answer. The lights were on so if she didn’t want the entire McKay-Taggart crew called out to investigate why she wasn’t answering the door, she’d better open it.

“Stand down, warrior princesses. It’s only Kai.” She unlocked the deadbolt. Sometimes it was better to rip the bandage off quickly. They would have a short talk where she would reassure Kai that they would be fine tomorrow and he would head back out. She’d been so wrong to leave.

She opened the door. “Kai, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving. I got involved in some things…” Like worrying about how I was going to look you in the face again. “…and I should have texted you.”

“You should have stayed around so we could talk. I went to get you a robe. Did you run around the club naked?”

She gave him what she hoped was an impish grin. “I might have mentioned that I’m an exhibitionist.”

He nodded slowly as though taking in her words. “Well, you could have told me you were leaving. I worried about you.”

“Hi, Kai.” Sarah waved his way.

“Are y’all playing baseball at this hour?” Kai nodded toward the bat Sarah was holding.

“Nope,” Kori replied, eager to get him out of the house. Now that she thought about it, it was great that he’d stopped by on his way home. Well, driven several miles out of his way since he lived next to the club, but it was good. The awkward first interaction would be gone and they would be back to normal in the morning. No muss. No fuss. “They were prepared to take you down should you have turned out to be a creepy stalker guy. Mia’s got a gun.”

Mia held up her hands as though caught. “Licensed and stuff. All totally legal here. We should let you two talk.”

Kori shook her head. “Not necessary. Kai came here to make sure I got home okay.”

“You two should definitely talk,” Sarah said, replacing her baseball bat and backing toward the kitchen. “Night, Kai.”

“Night,” Mia said with a wink as she followed Sarah back.

Ah, betrayal. Her old friend. Not that she wouldn’t have done the same damn thing. She sighed and turned to Kai, who had to be super tired and longing to get home to his bed. “They’re going to tease us mercilessly.”

He moved toward her. “About what?”

Was he going to pretend nothing had happened? It didn’t seem a very Kai thing to do. “About the scene.”

“Why would they tease us about the scene? The scene was beautiful.” He kept coming, crossing the space between them.

Maybe he needed a hug. Still, something about the way he was watching her made her suddenly feel like a rabbit in the presence of a very academic wolf. She backed up and tried to stop her stupid heart from thudding in her chest. This had to end. It was the adrenaline left over from the scene. That had to be it. She couldn’t feel light-headed and giddy every time this man walked in a room from now on. “It was an awesome scene. You were great.”

“I wasn’t looking for praise.” He was so close now and he didn’t seem to be interested in personal space. “We need rules.”

She nodded and found herself backed up against the wall. His words made total sense to her. Rules. They were all about rules and boundaries and all the things that made the world around them safe and sane. “Of course. Don’t think I’m going to turn into some clingy thing, Kai. I understand what happened.”

“Do you?” He stopped a few feet from her, but she could practically feel his heat.

Despite the fact that there was some precious distance between them, she couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit stalked. “I do. We’re cool, Kai.”