Page 33 of Kyle

“I thought we already worked that out.” Her brows pulled together in confusion.

Yeah, sweetheart, I’m confused, too.

“No. I worked it out. I didn’t leave much room for your opinion.”

She continued to study me and something that looked a lot like hurt crossed her face before she stiffened her spine and pushed off the wall.

“Then, yes, I want to stay.”

Fuck, that hurt—more than I thought it would. Everything I’d thought I’d been feeling toward her was one-sided. She had no interest in staying with us—with me.

“Then you should stay and help.” My chest ached at the thought of leaving her behind. “But you need to be careful. It’s dangerous here. The rebels are still a problem. Tonight when we go in to get the girls you have to stay hidden. We can’t take the chance someone sees you.”

“Tonight is so soon.” Disappointment flashed before she covered it up. “That’s still the plan, huh?”

“Looks that way. We’re waiting on Zane to call back.”

“Oh.” She paused for a moment. “That’s good. We need to get them out of there.”

Declan walked back into the house as he was shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“That was Tex,” he announced. “Preston Lockhart is on his way to Cambodia. We need to grab the girls tonight. Anaya, make arrangements for Donny and Camilla to be ready. We’ll hit the house as soon as the last man leaves. Load the girls and get gone. Garrett has three tickets booked for the first flight out of Dili. Oh-five-hundred. That doesn’t leave us much wiggle room.”

“Call Garrett back and make that two tickets. Anaya’s gonna stay,” I told him, trying my best to keep my tone flat even though my heart was pounding.

It felt wrong leaving her behind. It went against everything I wanted and my gut was screaming at me not to let her go. But it didn’t matter how badly I wanted her. She would never be mine. What’s the saying? Right girl, wrong time. Not that it would ever be the right time for me. I’d always known that but somehow Anaya had made me forget.

Forget I was a man who didn’t want commitments or a family. Didn’t want to tie a good woman to me only to have her hate me when she saw the real me later.

We both had lives to live and we weren’t on the same paths. Not even close. I knew myself well enough to know that I would never be okay with my woman traipsing around the world, putting herself in danger. Not without me by her side.

But damn, it sucked having to let Anaya go.

Chapter 9

Why the hell did I feel like someone had kicked me in the stomach?

I was getting what I wanted. Wasn’t I? Camilla and Donny would need help safely getting the girls to the eastern side of the island. I could see for myself they were being left in a good place. That’s why I’d come back to Timor-Leste. To rescue girls from Amisha’s, from the horrific things she was doing to them. I wasn’t supposed to be behaving like some silly lovesick girl with a crush. Hell, I didn’t even know what a crush was.

Boy, I’d been stupid letting my mind go there. Too inexperienced with men to know that Kyle had no interest in me. I read the situation wrong. He was just being nice to me because he was a nice guy, not because he’d felt the same connection I had.

So, so, dumb and very much out of character for me. But there was something about Kyle that put me at ease, made me want to open the padlocks I had around my life and invite him in. Not that it would work between the two of us. I was screwed up with a capital S and exclamation point after the P.

One look at Kyle told me he could have any woman he wanted, and he’d probably had a lot. There was no way I’d be able to satisfy a man like him. At this point, I didn’t even know if I could have sex anymore. I’d allowed myself to slide so far into myself and detach from any physical interaction, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to pull myself back out.

A week ago, I’d been fine with that. It wasn’t like there was time for relationships and sex when I was spending all of my time helping other people. But now, I wished I was normal. What would it be like to have Kyle just once? Feel his muscled chest pressed against mine, without clothes this time. His warm body covering me.

I turned to my side and adjusted the pillow under my head. I should’ve been taking a nap, getting ready for tonight. There was a strong possibility I’d be awake for the next twenty-four hours. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about Kyle and how easily he’d gotten rid of me.

I picked my book back up and opened it to the beginning, hoping I could get lost in Susan Stoker’s fictional world where there’s always a happy ending.

Why couldn’t I be like one of her heroines? Strong and capable of overcoming all the shit that life piles on them. Why couldn’t I find my hero—possessive and growly and determined never to let me go?

Because it’s not real-life, you idiot. Men like that don’t really exist.

But if they did, Kyle Smith would fit the mold.

But he’d let me walk away. He hadn’t thrown me over his shoulder and carried me back to his mountain home. And that’s what he’d said he do if he found the right woman.