“Amalia, I’m right behind you. You’re going to get us both killed, either here on the goddamn highway or by Rocco’s men.”
“Go home, Kai.”
“Do you hear yourself? You think I’m going to turn around and let you go out guns blazing? Is that what you want to do?”
She accelerated, passing a truck and nearly crashing head-on with a pickup but dodged death at the very last second.
“Amalia, when I fucking catch up to you, that ass is mine.” The line went dead, and she sped up, zooming past a red light. I tried to follow, but a caravan of five or six cars blocked my way. I had to slow down and go around them, dodging two more cars. Horns blared, and obscenities flew. I’d lost her, and I suddenly had to make a split-second decision as there was an exit less than five hundred feet in front of me.
Shit.
I veered right and gunned it as soon as I came off the curve, and my stomach felt like it collapsed to my feet when I saw her car halfway in a ditch. “No, no, no.”
Hopping off the bike, I darted toward the upturned vehicle, frantically calling her name as I ripped off my helmet and used it to shatter the driver’s side window. There was no movement, no sounds, and I didn’t see her anywhere. Blood thundered past my ears so loudly I could barely hear my thoughts.
“Amalia!” Fear seized my heart when I realized she wasn’t in her car. Had she been thrown? I whipped my head around, and that’s when I caught sight of her stumbling down the side of the road.
I called her as I ran, but she didn’t turn or acknowledge me until I gripped her arm and whirled her around. Her first instinct was to fight me off, and I feared she’d hit her head and was disoriented.
“Baby, stop. Look at me. It’s me. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Let me go!” she shouted, not looking at me.
“I’m not going to do that.” I patted her down, searching every area of exposed skin for blood or apparent injuries, and a heavy breath left my body when it was obvious she’d walked away unscathed. “Amalia, I feel like I’m having a heart attack right now. Please, stop.”
“I told you I’m fine.” She shoved out of my arms and stormed down an embankment.
“You’re not walking out here like this. Let’s go.”
“I’m fine,” she said again, grating on my last nerve.
“Amalia, get on the bike.”
“I need to walk. I need to think.”
“Amalia, get on the goddamn bike before I make you.” The authority in my voice made her hesitate for just a moment.
“Fuck off. I said I need to walk.”
Left with no other option, I scooped her up and threw her body over my shoulder.
“You son of a bitch. Let me down!” she yelled, pounding on my back.
No sooner had I sat her on my bike than I felt the sting of a slap connect with the side of my face. I gripped her throat and slammed my mouth into hers, snuffing out my anger. Amalia attempted to pull away for the first few seconds, but then seemed to melt into my chest. I held her face and pulled back just enough to gaze into her eyes.
“I’m not the enemy,” I whispered, kissing her again, softer this time. “Please, stop for a second and think. You know this is reckless—all of it. Just like you know, I’d never let you go on this crazy-ass mission alone. So you and I will die together tonight or plan this out properly. Either way, it’s me and you. Always.”
She fisted my shirt and rested her forehead on my chin, her soft cries cutting deep. Every word I’d said was heartfelt. I would die for this woman, just as I would kill for her.
“Tell me what you want, and we’ll do it. If we have to take out every last one of them, I’m there.”
She finally looked up at me, blinking away tears. “Sometimes, I don’t deserve you, Kai.”
Dipping my head, I smiled and dropped another kiss on her lips. “You’re right. You deserve so much better, baby. But it’s too late because you’re mine. Till death, and I’m a man of my word.”
37
WhenKai cut the bike’s engine, I didn’t let go. Now that the world was quiet and it was just me and him, he let me hold him and listen to the sound of his heart. Guilt ate away at me as I thought of how rash and reckless I’d been, putting not only my life in danger but his as well.
