Kayne lingered a few feet away, big and furious and trying very hard not to look frantic.It would have been funny if her stomach weren’t currently trying to crawl into her lungs.
His jaw flexed, his fists opening and closing.He kept glancing at her as if he didn’t trust the air she was breathing.It made something warm bloom deep inside her.
It also terrified her.
She wrapped her arms around herself and stepped back until her shoulders hit the solid wall.Good.She needed something stable right now that wasn’t six-foot-five, Cajun, and capable of kissing the common sense right out of her.
I can’t be that girl again.The one who needs, who relies.The one who leans.
She had built her life on independence and stubborn optimism, and Kayne was a threat to both.A very attractive, extremely competent threat.One she wanted to kiss again.Desperately.
Her breath caught when he finally approached carefully, as if she were made of glass.She hated that.She wasn’t fragile.She refused to be.
“Chloe,” he said, and her name in his voice did reckless things to her insides.
She swallowed.“I’m okay.”
“You’re lying.”
Of course he knew, but she wished he didn’t.Wished she were a better actress, or that he was less devastatingly observant.
“I just need a second.”She pressed a palm to the wall because her balance wasn’t entirely trustworthy.“My adrenaline’s doing things.”
“Yeah,” Kayne murmured, searching her face to read the thoughts she didn’t want him seeing.“Mine too.”
His voice wasn’t teasing now.It was stripped down and honest.
Her heart skittered painfully.“About the kiss—”
He tensed a flicker.Enough to knock her breath into her knees.
“We shouldn’t have,” she whispered.
“That why you kissed me back like you were drownin’?”There was no accusation in his tone.Just wonder and something dangerously close to hope.
Heat shot up her neck.“Kayne.”
He dragged a hand through his hair, the motion rough and frustrated.“You almost died,cher.”His voice cracked.Actually cracked.“Forgive me for losin’ my damn mind for a second.”
She didn’t want his mind.She wanted his arms around her again.
Which was the problem.
She turned her head, blinking fast.“I can’t need anyone, Kayne.When I do, they leave.Or they die.Or I end up begging someone to stay who never intended to.”
Kayne went very still, meaning every instinct in him had locked onto a single truth.Then he stepped closer, his presence wrapping around her like heat.Not touching.Never crowding.Just there.
“I’m not leavin’,” he said quietly, his Cajun accent more pronounced than usual.“And I’m not dyin’.”
She shook her head hard.“You can’t promise that.”
“No,” he admitted.“But I can promise I’m here.And I’m not going anywhere just because you’re scared, Chloe.Let me be here.”
For one dizzy second, she wanted to.God, she wanted to.But the fear reared up.“I can’t,” she whispered.“Not like that.”
Kayne stepped back enough to give her space.It was a controlled retreat, not a rejection, and she felt the difference all the way to her bones.
But his eyes stayed locked on hers, steady as a lighthouse.
