He swallowed hard enough to qualify as exercise.
“And?”he deflected, because emotional honesty was clearly trying to kill him.
Her thumb brushed his shirt, light, sure.
“And you don’t have to.”
The heat that surged through him was absolutely not appropriate for a parking lot they were very muchnotsupposed to be making out in.
He stepped back before instinct took over and he kissed her in broad daylight.Although they were supposed to be dating ...
“Let’s go inside,” he said, forcing air into his lungs.“Too exposed out here.”
Chloe nodded, but her eyes didn’t leave his, not right away.There was something in them.Something innocent and brave and terrifying as hell.
When she finally turned toward the gym, Kayne fell in at her flank, scanning every shadow and possible threat.
But his mind replayed the feel of her hand on him, and the words he didn’t deserve, but she’d given anyway:You don’t have to handle it alone.
Kayne wasn’t sure what scared him more—the danger circling closer, or the breathtaking speed at which he was falling for the woman he was supposed to protect.
Chapter Eleven
Chloe found it halfwaythrough her lunch protein bar, tucked beneath her keyboard like a cranky little bookmark.A neon-yellow square with Sharpie ink pressed into the fibers.Her name wasn’t on it, which somehow made it worse.
You won’t see me until it’s too late.
For a moment, her brain flat-out blue-screened.The words hovered in the space between her ears like someone dragging an icicle down her face.Then her heart remembered how to exist and immediately overcorrected.
She blew out a breath.“Okay.Someone’s idea of a joke,” she muttered to the empty office.It was just her and the quiet ...and the note.Which had definitely not been there an hour ago.
A nervous laugh slipped out.“Right.Because this is funny.”Except it wasn’t.Not even a little bit.Heck, she wasn’t buying her own tone.Her hands had gone slightly damp.Could’ve been the protein bar.Could’ve been terror.Hard to say.
She crumpled the note, tossing it toward the trash.It bounced off the rim and slid to the floor like a whiffed game-winning three-pointer.
Great.Even her garbage rejected it.Rude.
