Khan (Bowen Boys, #2)(17)

“I’m sorry.” Walker looked at him then away. “I truly am, Walker. Not just for upsetting your mate, but for the past few years. I’ve been…”

“An ass? A prick? Maybe even a dumbass?” Walker didn’t smile and Khan knew he wasn’t kidding. “You made her cry. Do you know how hard it was for me not to find you and rip your f*cking throat out? How hard it is for me still not to do it?”

Khan shivered because he knew that f*cking with another’s mate would get you killed whatever your status was in the family. He nodded, knowing that anything he said now would be nothing compared to the pain he’d caused him, caused them both.

“Caitlynne said you’re going to fix this with Monica. You have any plans other than ordering her to believe you? I’m not sure, but I don’t think that’s going to work with her any longer. She’s been through a lot.”

And most of it was because of him. Especially lately, he’d been an overbearing prick, but he was going to show her he could help her. He got off the plane with the others and told them he needed to make a couple of stops. There was a limo there to pick them up and take them to the house. Khan said he would take a cab.

“I’ll go with you. The others can go ahead.” Walker told the driver to come back for them. “We’ll have some lunch too.”

The first stop he made was at a florist. He was standing there looking at all the different colors and kinds and realized he knew very little about his mate. He looked at Walker when he touched his arm.

“Overwhelmed?”

Khan nodded.

“Me too, sometimes. Caitlynne isn’t like most women. She carries a gun, kills the bad guys, and is around more men in one day that most women are in a lifetime. It’s difficult to be around her when she smells like so many of them.”

“How do you do it? How do you let her leave you every day, come back here without you. How do you stand it?” Khan smiled at the grin Walker gave him. This was going to be good.

“I mark her every night.”

He ended up getting her lilies. They were pretty and happy-looking to him. He didn’t tell Walker or the man helping him that, but ordered her two dozen of them. Then he saw the little violet. He leaned down and looked at the soft, velvety leaves and thought of her skin. The tiny little flowers reminded him of her eyes, the darkest purple he’d ever seen. He asked that one of those to go as well.

They ended up having a quick lunch and went to the mall. This place was huge. After making several stops they called for the limo to come back, they had filled the trunk as well as most of the back seats with them. Both he and Walker had bags on their laps as it was. The driver said he’d have them brought in. Khan carried one bag in himself.

She was still asleep when he got there. The maid had informed them that Mr. Marshall and the president had left just after two in the morning and that the young miss had been up when she’d come in and that had been at six this morning. It was just after two in the afternoon.

Khan went to the room where she was and saw that the flowers had been brought in. He picked up the violet, took it to her bedside table, and set it there for her. He put his pink bag on the floor beside her and sat down.

Her face was healing nicely, and the swelling had gone down. He touched his finger to her skin and smiled when he’d been right about the flower he’d gotten her. When she stirred a little, he moved back to the chair to watch her. A few minutes later, she woke.

“Hi. How are you?”

She looked around the room, but didn’t say anything.

“I bought you some flowers. I’ve never bought flowers before.”

He sounded lame even to his own ears. When she stretched, he noticed how the shirt she had on cupped her breasts and he looked away. He wasn’t here to make love to her, but to beg her to forgive him.

“I have to get up. I want you to go away. And I don’t want to argue with you about it either.” She pulled the sheet up over her and frowned. “How long have you been here?”

“Not long. I’d like to…I need to speak to you first. If you don’t mind. I have some things I have to explain to you.”

She snorted. “If you mean you have some orders to dictate to me, then no thanks. I’ve had enough of you treating me like a subhuman. I’m a real person, just like you are.”

Perfect opportunity, he thought. “Not really. I mean, I’m not a real person. Not like you anyway. I’m a bit more.”

She cocked her brow at him. “Oh, is that right? You’re better than me. Well, how f*cking fantastic for you. Then you won’t mind if I tell you to stay away from my less than perfect self. Get out.”

He’d f*cked that up royally. “That’s not what I mean. I’m more than you because…I’m not really human.”

“I won’t argue with you there.”

He glared, but tried again. “I’m a panther.” There, he’d told her. Not the way he’d planned, but now she knew. He waited for her to ask questions, but all she did was stare at him. Just when he was going to explain what he meant, she spoke.

“I’m pretty sure they disbanded in the eighties. And not a group I would have associated you with. Especially since you don’t seem all that political.”

It took him several seconds to realize what she’d meant. He supposed it might have been funny had he not been trying his best not to get pissy and to keep her from leaving him. He was pretty sure that laughing right now might get him killed. And not by the woman his brother had married either.