I had such a problem with this woman. Stark attraction was the least of it. “Great plan. I wish I’d thought of it myself.”
Her steady gaze held on me for a few beats longer, then she dropped it to examine the kit. “Why are you here?”
“You believe me, then?”
She pulled out a tube of ointment and some wipes, extending a hand to take my bloodied one. The touch of her fingers had me gritting my teeth against a flood of lust. It was the chase. The act of hunting her in Leith had broken me, and now I was wishing ithad been her I’d pursued tonight, ideally with getting to fuck her where I caught her.
Tension rose between us, steadily getting me hotter. I had to kill it.
“I wanted to talk to you in case you’d discovered anything.”
With her phone torch lit, Lovelyn set my hand on the dashboard and brought out tweezers. “This might hurt.”
“Do your worst, try not to enjoy it.”
She chuffed a laugh then proceeded with extracting splinters. “Let’s put this another way. You thought I learned something today and decided to follow me. I threw you off the scent with your own tracker, and you ended up here, pissed off and brooding outside my house. How am I doing?”
I raised my free shoulder. “Unsurprisingly well.”
Lovelyn levelled another severe look at me. “You fucking tracked me.”
Damn, I liked it when she swore. If she stole a glance at my crotch, she’d see how much.
Honesty directed my next words. “I’d do it again if it gets me what I want. There has to be a way we can make this easier.”
Done with tearing new holes in my flesh, she stared at me. “There is, you ass. All you need to do is talk to me.”
I shut my mouth.
Lovelyn’s gaze darkened. “Now you clam up? I… I can’t deal with you. You don’t know how to share, and I’m a data scientist by trade. Do you know what I love? Information. Do you know what you give me? Nothing. I live for it. I create it and sell it. Information is power. Knowing who knows what, identifying secrets, holding them when necessary, that’s something I do every day. Like with Mila. The only reason I haven’t told my friend about Dixie is because you should be the one to do it. She’s your sister. If she knows you’ve kept it from her, you’llbreak her heart. Now tell me, because your time is up, what was the result of the DNA test?”
Despite every best intention, I gave up another truth. A strategic one made as an offer because she already knew. She just had to hear me say it. “It was a match. Both Mila and I are half siblings with Dixie.”
Her eyes shuttered closed. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you tested your sister as well? Tell her. Right now. If you don’t start giving the courtesy of basic answers, we have nothing left to talk about.”
Lovelyn took a deep breath.
I’d never been more desperate for hot, dirty sex.
A decision slammed home. Whatever it took, I’d keep her with me. She was an asset, but more than that, I didn’t think I could let her go.
Even if it meant breaking the habits of a lifetime to do it.
Chapter 12
Lovelyn
Kane brought out his phone and unlocked it. Showing me the screen, he placed a call to his sister, leaving a bloody print on the glass.
Mila picked up immediately. “Is Lovelyn okay?”
“She’s fine. There’s something else I need to talk to you about.” He nudged my knee with his injured hand. A prompt to keep tending it.
I popped the cap of the antiseptic and daubed some onto his wounds. Similar to how I would’ve treated a bear with a wounded paw. His hands were huge. Big mitts with a powerful grip I’d pictured digging into my flesh. I was absolutely not getting caught on how I liked the scrape of his fingers.
In ultra-brief sentences, Kane described his suspicion about Dixie and then the DNA test result.
Mila took an audible breath. “Dixie? Wait, and that result came in today?”
