Kayne mirrored her pose across the frame, arms crossed over his chest, confidence radiating off him like a slow, steady flame.
“You earned every inch of it,” he said.
Her heart did a strange, startled flip.“You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.”His gaze didn’t waver.“I know you built something out of nothing.I know you’re stronger than you think.I know you don’t let people help easily.And I know letting someone else take point feels like you’re admitting weakness.”
Her breath hitched.Damn him for being right.“You got all that from what, five minutes together?”
“Six,” he corrected, lips quirking.
She huffed a laugh.“You’re impossible.”
“Most women say irresistible.”
“Oh, I bet they do.”
His grin sent heat curling low in her stomach.For a fraction of a second, she forgot all the reasons why this was a terrible idea.Kayne was dangerously charming.
Dangerously everything.
She straightened abruptly.“We should get back to the assessment.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
They turned the corner and nearly collided with a worker carrying lumber.
“Sorry,” the man muttered before hurrying past.
Kayne shifted subtly and protectively, tracking the man until he disappeared down the hall.Not jumpy, not paranoid.Just aware.
“See?”she joked weakly.“Construction is dangerous enough.Throw in stalkers and my insurance premiums are going to skyrocket.”
Kayne chuckled.“Cher, your insurance premiums are the least of my concerns.”
Her pulse tripped again.How did he do that with a single sentence?“And what is your concern?”she asked, voice breathier than she intended.
He stopped.So did she.He looked down at her as if he saw every fear, every strength, every crack she tried to hide.
“You,” he said quietly.“Keeping you safe.”
The words hit her like a hand closing gently around her heart.
He stepped back a second later, as if he hadn’t just said something life-altering.“Next room?”
She nodded quickly, fighting a blush.“Next room.”
But as they walked, a truth settled inside her with a slow, steady bloom of heat: Kayne didn’t have a horrible personality or a flaw she could latch onto for safety.Which was exactly what her already chaotic, stalker-shadowed life didnotneed.Which meant she was in far more danger than Leo realized.
Because somewhere between irritation and attraction, Chloe had become incredibly, catastrophically vulnerable to the one man she was supposed to pretend to want.
She was doomed.
