Her cheeks flushed, alarmingly adorable.He glanced away before he did something stupid, like beg her to look at him like that again.
She stretched, then froze, staring at him.“Wait.Did you sleep on the floor the whole night?”
“Yes.”
“Kayne, your neck and back must be killing you.Why did you let me take the bed?”
“Because you’re you.”He said it plainly.No bravado or teasing.Just truth.“You needed to rest.”
She looked at him then.Reallylooked.Warmth suffused his blood that he hadn’t expected.
“You make me feel safe,” she said quietly.
Oh, hell no.That tone should’ve been illegal.His pulse kicked hard enough to bruise ribs.
“That’s the job,” he managed.
“That’s not why,” she murmured.
Silence dropped between them, charged, alive with things neither of them were allowed to say out loud.
Kayne exhaled slowly.If he didn’t move soon, he was going to do something disastrously stupid, like crawl onto that mattress and pretend he didn’t know better.
“I need to eat,” he announced abruptly, turning toward the door before he could talk himself out of it.His muscles protested, but the distance helped.A little.“You hungry?I can throw something together.”
She smiled sleepily, devastatingly.“Breakfast sounds perfect.”
Of course it did, because she trusted him.Chloe didn’t know what she did to him when she looked at him like that.She had absolutely no idea she was the most dangerous woman he’d ever guarded.
Kayne headed for her tiny kitchen, rolling his shoulders until something popped ominously.He needed caffeine.And air.And possibly a cold shower.Definitely a tactical debrief on how to keep his hands and thoughts to himself.
Because Chloe had slept inches away from him last night and this morning, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to the floor ever again.
#
Chloe closed her officedoor behind her and sagged against it for half a breath.She’d meant to get paperwork done.Instead, every time she spotted one of the construction crew members, she kept replaying the moment from yesterday.The one that had her skin prickling half a day later.
Kayne was leaning against the reception counter, arms crossed, looking like a delectable warning label with an attitude problem.He straightened when he saw her.
“You okay, Chloe?”
Sheesh, he was entirely too perceptive.She aimed for cheerful.“Yep!Totally fine.”Her cracking voice belied that statement.
Kayne’s brow rose.That was all it took, one skeptical arch, and her flimsy façade collapsed like a house of cards.
“Okay,” she groaned.“Not fine.Something weird happened yesterday.”
The switch flipped instantly.Relaxed Kayne evaporated.Protective, dangerous, razor-focused, oh-God-he’s-hot Kayne locked into place.“Tell me.”
Chloe crossed to him, hugging her arms tight.“When I was checking the back loading area upstairs, one of the construction guys cornered me.He was new, I think.I hadn’t seen him before.”
Kayne’s stance sharpened so quickly she almostheardit.“Cornered you how?”
“Not aggressively,” she quantified.“Just odd.Intense.”She swallowed.“He stepped into my space and told me I should be more careful walking around alone.”
“You’re just now telling me this?”
“Excuse me for forgetting,” she snapped.“In case you don’t remember, we were almost human roadkill last night.My brain had other things to think about.”
