“We need to talk, and he was in the way. I didn’t like the way he looked at ye.”
“I’m dating him,” I bit out.
His eyes narrowed. “Why the lie, Lovelyn?”
I could kill him. “We broke up.”
“Why did you dump him?”
“How do you know I was responsible?”
“No man would voluntarily give up the chance to fuck ye on demand, so what was it?”
How did he take me from hurt to soaring in the space of seconds? The compliment, odd as it was, made a little home in my chest. “None of your business.”
“Okay, then what did ye want from that wet mop? There must have been something that attracted you.”
“Why, so you can use that to get me into bed?”
“A bed? Try against a wall in a dark alley when I catch ye in a chase, or deep in the woods where I make ye scream. Whichever you prefer.”
I stalled out, my brain short-circuiting. The problem was I liked the sound of those scenes. Where Lyle had done nothing for me, Kane was the opposite. Over the past couple of days, I’d more than once pictured his big body on mine. His mouth taking my lips in blistering heat.
On the back of my neck, his hand had been rough.
The attraction I hadn’t felt with Lyle soared with Kane. That didn’t change who he was or what he’d done.
I lifted my chin, forcing away the lust. “I’ll ask again, what do you want, Kane? And don’t say sex because the answer is still no. I am never taking you home.”
“Your loss. Got any leads on Dixie?”
Of course he pivoted back to business. Emotional whiplash was becoming our thing.
“Do you have anything you’d like to share with me?”
The fire in his eyes banked. No answer came.
“The results of the DNA test you ordered?” I challenged.
His jaw tightened, the muscle popping.
“You can keep that mouth closed. I already know it’s positive. Time’s up, and you wouldn’t still be pursuing her otherwise. So let’s try another approach. Anything from the meeting you were in with the solicitors?”
Kane just watched me. I could scream at him and he’d barely blink.
“Then we’re done. If you won’t give up even a word, why should I?”
From his pocket, he pulled a piece of card and handed it over.
I squinted at it. It was a torn-off piece of a black-and-pink beermat from Divide, the skeleton crew’s nightclub. On it was written a number in block capitals.
“Call me if you change your mind. Or if you think of anything I can do to trade for the information.”
Throwing it back in his smug face would’ve suited me, but I stuffed it into my bag instead. “Don’t hold your breath.”
I walked away, through the crowd and passing offices and shopfronts. Anticipation of Kane’s touch grew until I could almost feel him behind me. There was no way he’d give up that easily. Not the man who’d chased me through another city. But when I finally peeked back, I couldn’t spot him.
Wait. He didn’t need to keep me in his sight.
