Kane by Loribelle Hunt Page B

life.
    “Sure, darlin’.” His voice was as soft as the
touch that traced a line down the side of her face. She struggled
to hold in a contented sigh. “You look exhausted. I’ll just put you
to bed, and we can discuss this tomorrow.”
    There was no mistaking the husky timbre in
his voice, and her gaze flew to his face. No way in hell. His
eyebrows flew up in mock surprise. Had she said that out loud? She
gave in to the renewed rage flooding her system and turned to poke
a finger in his chest. Surprised, he took a step back but she
followed.
    “You disappear for three days and
expect me to just fall into bed with you when you come back? Are
you insane?”
    He smiled a little, which just made her more
furious.
    “We were always good at the bed part.”
    “Well, this isn’t always. Things aren’t like
they were before.” She turned, unable to stand looking at him
anymore, unable to take the pain seeing his face gave her. Her
voice softened to a whisper. “You wanted that change, and I was
right. It was a mistake.”
    He sighed a moment before he lifted her up.
She struggled against him, but it was no use. He walked to the sofa
and sat down, holding her on his lap and refusing to let her up.
She hated her body for responding to his, to the feel of him, hard
and strong surrounding her. A secret part of her had always yearned
for a partner, and when she thought she’d found one, she’d lost
it.
    He closed his eyes and rested his forehead
against hers. She realized he was as exhausted as she was and
ignored the surge of sympathy she felt. Why was he dragging this
out? Why was he acting like she meant something to him? Her heart
raced, and she took a deep breath, knew it was a mistake when her
breasts thrust up, and he licked at the exposed skin at her opened
collar dangerously close to her cleavage. Ignoring her rising
arousal, she shoved at his shoulders. He didn’t let her go, but he
lifted his head and met her gaze.
    “Sorry. No falling into bed. See? I
remembered. You must be making progress.” He gave her the crooked
half smile that always melted her heart. Not fair .
    He chuckled. “Remember when we met?”
    She cocked an eyebrow and smiled a little.
“As I recall, you were trying to steal my bounty.”
    “I believe I was.” He laughed. “I followed
you in. Not because I didn’t think you couldn’t bring him in--I
knew your reputation--but because I couldn’t believe I’d found
you.”
    She was confused, and he seemed to expect her
to understand the cryptic statement. “You were looking for me?”
    “My mate.” He pressed a finger to her lips to
hush her when she tried to protest. “You were so cagey. It was
obvious you wouldn’t accept any kind of claim. And if you had…well,
a lot of things would have changed, and I wasn’t ready to give them
up yet.”
    She suspected she knew what but she had to
ask. “Like?”
    He buried his face in her neck, nibbled a
path to her ear before answering. She couldn’t stop the flood of
cream in her core and hoped like hell he didn’t notice it. Not much
chance of that.
    “I always knew when I met my mate I’d have to
come home and deal with the problems in the pack.” He took a deep
breath. “And the Branch…”
    He let the answer trail off and before he
could answer, she leaned back, lifted a hand to caress his
face.
    “I hate the Branch. I won’t pretend I don’t,
that wouldn’t be fair to either of us. But it doesn’t define you,
Kane. I understand that. I could have learned to live with
that.”
    He met her gaze, his brilliant green eyes
boring into hers. “And what can’t you learn to live with?”
    She shrugged, looked away.
    “The secrets. Shutting me out. The persona…I
thought for a minute there I was getting to know the real Kane
Dupree. I liked him.” She knew her smile was bitter, but she didn’t
fight it. “I don’t want to go back to the way things were
before.”
    “Maybe I don’t either,” he whispered, his
lips close