She had no idea.“Where?”
“To get you another test.”
“He …what?”
Putting his arm around her shoulders, Knox brought her close against him.“It’s what I would do for Lucy, Karen, or Skye.He understands that you need to know, so he’s getting the test.Everyone will probably clear out shortly after that.”
Sitting there with her, chaos reigning around them, he leaned close—close enough that his lips touched her ear, giving her shivers—and promised, “It won’t matter, you know.Whatever we find out from that test, I’ll still be here with you.As long as you don’t tell me to go.”
Whateverwefind out.God love him, he really was in this with her.She turned toward him so that now it was their lips almost touching.“Good,” she whispered right back.“Because I’m nowhere near ready to let you go.”
CHAPTER5
Knox could feel her trembling, though he doubted she knew it.Hell, he felt like shaking, too.The events of the day had been too much.
Too much worry, too much violence, and too much confusion.
“I meant it, you know.”Unable to stop himself, he kissed her forehead.“You handled yourself extremely well today, especially at the pharmacy.”
She gave him a lopsided grin.“I was so damned scared, I wanted to pass out.I was furious that those men were scaring the elderly couple and keeping me from buying my test.”
“When one of them reached for you …” Knox shook his head.“I wanted to kill that guy.”
Resting a hand on his chest, she looked at his mouth.“I’m too bold.My family says so all the time.I’m sure Skye would have handled the whole thing differently.”
“Probably, because even though you two are twins, you each have your own personality.”He lowered his voice.“The thing is, I happen to like your boldness—only you haven’t been.Not with me.”He stroked two fingers across her brow, brushing back atendril of hair and smiling.“So I have to wonder, is that because you’re not at all interested?”
Her gaze shot up to his.“I’m interested.”
“Hmm.Your sister assured me that if you were, you’d let me know.”His heart thumped harder as he waited for her response.
The boldness he so admired came over her now.Her hand slid up his chest to the side of his neck and she shifted toward him.“So how about I let you know now?”And with that, she kissed him, carefully at first, maybe because of his bruised mouth, but when he groaned low and cupped the back of her head, she gave in and took his mouth the way he’d always imagined.
Not that Knox was passive.No way.Without even meaning to, he took over, pulling her onto his lap and devouring her mouth—and completely forgetting that they weren’t alone.
“Wow, okay, I might be too innocent to see this.”
He and Laylee both jumped at the intrusion.She landed back on the couch cushion beside him and Knox sat forward, frowning at Karen.His frustration was just enough for him to say, “Go away, honey.This is private.”
Karen laughed.“Just wanted to let you know we’re taking the dogs for a last walk so they’ll settle down and sleep well for you tonight.”
Marcus stepped in behind her with Lucy, leading Maybelline and Tank, who were already leashed.“No more than twenty minutes, so don’t get too involved.Bray will be back by then, and we’ll all get out of your hair.”
Damn it, he’d forgotten about the dogs, too.“Great.Thanks.See ya.”
Marcus couldn’t hide his grin.“I know that look.We really will be gone soon enough, just put it in neutral for a little while longer.”
Laylee nodded.“Neutral.Right.”Like a sleepwalker, she got up and headed to the bathroom.“Thanks.”
The second the door closed behind her, Knox said, “Youknow I’m going to murder all of you.”He stood, drew a breath, and got control of himself.“Seriously, thanks.For everything.”
“We like her,” Karen whispered.She opened the front door and waited for the others.
“No matter what,” Lucy advised, “don’t let her go.”
“I won’t.”But he couldn’t make any promises for Laylee.
Clasping his shoulder, Marcus leaned in and spoke low.“Try to remember that she’s been through hell today, okay?”
