Chilled (Bone Secrets, #2)(74)

Alex didn’t say anything.

“They knew the pain you were going through, Alex. They couldn’t have missed it. It’s written all over your damned face. If those people are as wonderful as you say, then they understand.”

“I couldn’t face them. It was easier to hate them. I’ll talk to them when I go back. I can see it differently now. And…” Could he tell her? It took all his energy to turn his gaze to her and meet her eyes. “I couldn’t face myself. I hid. I hid in gallons of hard alcohol and antianxiety and pain meds. I used them to avoid thinking, avoid facing what had happened.”

She studied his face. “You didn’t bring them with you out here.”

He shook his head.

“Some days I wanted to take them to meet with Besand too. I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him.”

“The same room? You went to see him?” She leaned forward, scanning his face.

“He’d tell me things he wouldn’t tell the detectives. He told me where to find missing victims and how he killed some of them.”

“In detail?”

“Too much detail.”

“Then why’d you do it?”

“For the other families of his victims. I wanted to spare them any pain I could.”

“It was your atonement for placing your brother in Besand’s path. And in return that murderer filled your heart and brain with his poison,” she whispered.

“I can become clean with one stroke.” Even he heard the hatred in his voice.

“Do you really believe that?”

Alex wavered. “I used to believe it, but now I don’t know.”

The cabin was silent. Ryan was in a rare snoreless moment. As Alex stared out a black window, he felt Brynn emotionally draw up inside herself. He wasn’t much better than Besand. He’d just told her he could possibly murder the man on sight. What was she thinking? Any second she was going to go lay down in the back with Ryan, put as much distance as possible between the two of them. How could she ever…

Her hand picked up his, and he started at the touch of soft skin. She’d taken off her gloves and leaned over the tiny aisle in the plane. She gripped his hand hard as he turned to her. There was no fear in her dark eyes, only understanding and…

His heart did a double thump.

“You are a good man, Alex Kinton. Nothing you’ve said can convince me otherwise. I see it in you.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth for a fleeting second, and his entire body hardened as if she’d physically touched him there.

“I’m a stupid idiot.” Then he proved his words.

Without giving her a second to react, he reached out, slid his hand behind her neck, and pulled her mouth to his. She tensed at his touch then relaxed into the kiss. Elation shot up his spine, and he ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, not asking permission, demanding entrance. She opened for him, and he thought he’d die at the sensation of the silkiness of her mouth.

He’d wanted to do this from the beginning.

He was too far away. He shoved up the armrest of his seat and moved to his knees in the aisle, ripping off his gloves as their mouths fused. Pain shot from his knee, but he ignored it. His hand went back around her neck as he ran his other hand under her coat and up her back, pulling her forward until their chests touched. Through two heavy jackets.

“Damn it.” He pulled away, and she gave a quiet protest as his mouth left hers. The temperature in the tiny plane felt like it’d jumped forty degrees. He wanted their coats off. Now. His eyes locked on hers as he tugged at his zipper. She lifted a hand slowly to her lips and pressed against them as if trying to prolong his kiss. His jacket’s zipper yielded and he reached out to hers. He slowly opened her coat, holding her gaze, giving her every opportunity to stop him.

Brynn leaned forward, meeting his mouth again. He felt her lips turn up in a smile as she kissed him. The warm softness of her chest molded against him, and Alex forgot he was kneeling in a plane in a snowstorm. This was right. Everything about Brynn was right for him.

He touched her stomach through her shirt and ran his hand up to her breast, thrilled by the feel of the curve against his palm. She pressed into his touch, her mouth opening wider, giving him permission to touch and take. She moved out of her seat, kneeling in the aisle with him. Every inch of his skin went on alert; his nerves shot into a sharp edge of need. Yes, he needed her. He needed her to touch him, needed her to laugh with him, needed her to share with him. Needed her forever.

He kissed her harder and deeper, pushing his body against hers. Every inch of him needed to be in contact with her somehow, someway. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, her thighs pressed against his, her stomach—

Ryan sneezed in his sleep.

Alex froze. Brynn straightened. Her eyes widened as she scooted back into her seat. Away from him. It might have been a mile.

Alex zipped up his coat and backed slowly into his seat. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “It’s all right. I didn’t…”

“I don’t know what I was thinking. My brain seems to go on vacation around you.” He slumped back in his seat. A headache thundered painfully deep inside his skull. Kiana met his gaze, her chin still on her paws and her eyes full of sympathy.

He knew exactly what’d been on his mind. Ever since he’d been in Brynn’s presence he’d been pulled toward her. An invisible rope lashed him tighter and tighter to her as every hour passed. He’d wanted to get a taste of those lips from the first second he saw her. With her so close, every other thought had been driven out of his mind.