Page 68 of Her Ruthless Protector

Ah, fuck. A.J. felt tears begin to fall down her face. A fling would be so much easier.

“Kane. I don’t know what I want,” she whispered. “I had it hard growing up. I wanted to avoid hard as an adult.”

Kane kissed the side of her mouth and pulled her close.

“Baby, we don’t have to do this. I want you to have a good life. I really do. I think we have a shot. But there might be a minute or two of hard.”

She snorted. “A minute or two, huh? Are you trying to tell me we might fight?”

“Oh, Amy June, that’s a guarantee, but that’s not the hard part—that’s going to be fucking fun.”

“Truth.” She moved her hand and tangled it in his chest hair and traced a scar. “So, you’re telling me this isn’t a nasty shaving accident?”

“Nope.”

“And you’re wondering if I could cope with this? You’re wondering if I’m one of life’s Marcias?”

“Yep, that’s what I’m asking.”

His hands left her neck and traced down her arms until he was holding her hands, his thumbs circling her palms.

A.J. thought about life growing up, balancing her Mom’s checkbook, making sure there was enough for food on the table and the electric bill was paid. She thought about all those times she had to make sure she got herself ready for school and then made sure her Mom had clean clothes so she could get to her waitressing job.

“I refuse to make a promise I’m not going to keep,” she said as she pressed her nose against his breastbone. God, he smelled good.

Clean.

Male.

Strong.

Kane.

Dammit, she loved him.

She loved him so damned much.

“Hey, hey. Don’t cry,” he murmured.

She swiped at her eyes and gave him a murderous look. “I’m not fucking crying. Now kiss me. And we’re not talking about a damn future. And what’s more, I’m weak. I’m a total wimp. There’s not a chance in hell I could handle anything like what you do. Look at me, I’m crying. I cry over a hangnail.”

Kane threw back his head and let out a roar of laughter.

“Did you just say that? Oh my God. Analise, you are such a little liar. You take on the world and don’t bat an eyelash. You’ve even got Cullen running scared.”

“Well, the dumbass should be running scared. I can’t believe the stupid shit that comes out of his mouth.”

Kane pulled the sheet off her body and pushed her gently down onto the bed. “I’ll make a deal with you.”

Kane dragged the back of his fingers along the sides of her waist, up and up and then turned them until they hovered just above her breasts. A.J. held her breath, waiting. He didn’t move. Kane looked down at her and raised his eyebrow.

A.J. eyed him warily. “What kind of deal?”

She was about ready to agree to anything if he would just touch her.

“We’ll have a fling for the next twenty-four hours, then we’ll renegotiate.”

“A fling. No commitments. No strings. None of the big hairy-scary stuff, right. Just sex?” A.J. asked hopefully. She put her hands on top of his and tried to force them to touch her.