Ruthless Game (GhostWalkers, #9)(108)

“Fine, we’ll go.”

“You have to stay here and watch Sebastian so I don’t worry about him,” Rose objected.

Something dangerous flickered in the depths of his eyes. “Paul can watch him. Right, Paul?” His tone suggested Paul give the right answer.

“No problem,” Paul said instantly, ignoring the way the three women glared at him.

“That’s not the point,” Jaimie said. “We want to do the woman thing. We’ve been cooped up with men long enough. We need some woman time.”

“I don’t like this one bit,” Kane groused. “Why the sudden need to bond?”

Jaimie laughed. “You’re becoming one of those very annoying males, like Mack. You don’t want to be like Mack, do you?”

“Hey!” Mack objected. “I think he’s showing good sense. The three of you ought to be locked up somewhere.”

“A padded cell,” Gideon suggested under his breath.

Jaimie glared at him. “You’re not helping the cause.”

Rose noticed that Rhianna didn’t say a single word. She kept her eyes on Javier’s face. He was in the shadows as usual, barely able to be seen. His face was a carved mask, inscrutable. He said nothing at all, but his fingers tapped his thigh, and the movement was mesmerizing, as if all his pent-up emotion was controlled only by those rhythmic taps.

Rose could feel the burning heat from Kane’s piercing eyes. She sighed and held up her hand. “I realize that all of you are just trying to protect us, but we have to be able to live our lives. I haven’t been out of here in six weeks. That’s a long time. Yes, I’ve been active, but while I enjoy the company, I’d like to experience freedom. I’ve been a prisoner my entire life, and walking through a marketplace is an amazing treat for me.”

She kept her gaze locked with Kane’s. In the end, his opinion was all that mattered to her. He shook his head, and she could see fear there—and determination.

“Damn it, Rose. If something happens to you ...” He trailed off and turned away from her, but not before she saw the burst of emotion cross his face.

“Nothing will happen.” Javier stood up abruptly.

“Damn it,” Kane said again without looking at her. “Gideon, you and Ethan have the rooftops. Stay inside the marketplace. We can cover them easily there.”

“I wanted to go into the little boutique and look at clothes. It’s two blocks down,” Rose insisted. “Kane, I have to feel like I can breathe.”

Kane closed his eyes briefly and swept his arm around her, dragging her close to him. “I know, Rose. I don’t want you to feel as if you’re a prisoner here. I didn’t know you were feeling that way. Jaimie goes out, yes, but she doesn’t have a price on her head.”

“It’s been quiet for weeks; Jaimie said so,” Rose pointed out. “She’s got all the information pouring in. They stopped talking about me.”

She hated the tension between them. Kane’s easy smile was gone, and his fingers dug into her hip as though he could tie them together through sheer physical contact. She didn’t try to pull away from him, afraid he would think she wasn’t happy. She was. She loved her life with him, everything about it, but she had to take the next step and go out into the world. If she couldn’t, then how could Sebastian?

Kane shook his head again. Rose laid her palm over his chest, right over his thundering heart. She looked up at him, willing him to look down at her, into her eyes, and see that she loved him beyond all else. This wasn’t about their life together, but about needs. The need to walk through a crowd of people or go into a store and shop for her own clothes—things she’d never been able to do. She wanted those things for herself. Maybe she was being greedy, but it mattered that he understood.

“You know the team has to go with you.”

“Around us. Not with us,” Rose corrected. “We’re trained soldiers, Kane. Civilians aren’t going to hurt us.”

“They’re the worst because you don’t expect it,” Kane corrected. “I should be with you, Rose, close, the first time.”

She sighed. “If that’s what you need to do, Kane.”

“For God’s sake, Kane,” Javier hissed. “She’s got Rhianna with her. What the hell is going to happen to her with Rhee beside her the entire time?”

Rhianna looked more shocked than anyone else. Her gaze jumped to Javier’s face, but it was impossible to read his expression. He never so much as glanced at her.

“I didn’t think of that,” Kane admitted. He looked rueful, raking his hand through his hair. “Sorry, Rhee. I know you can look after her.”

Rose suppressed the urge to stomp her foot. Rhianna had obviously earned their respect out in the field; she hadn’t. “We’ll be fine, Kane. The three of us can kick some serious butt if we have to, and with Gideon and Ethan on the rooftops, nothing can happen.”

“I’ll be in the street. Lucas too,” Javier pointed out, some of the tension easing from his voice. “Lucas can blend. He’s a freaking ghost out there.”

“This is the way we have to live, isn’t it?” Rose said.

“We’re used to it,” Jaimie said. “This has been our lives since we were little, Rose. We practically lived on the streets most of the time, and we had to look out for one another. It just feels normal after a while.”