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He speared me with a challenging look.
“Oh-kay. Too late for that.” Despite the unpleasant subject matter, a smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “I thought we already ascertained that you can’t save the world.”
“The world, no. My wife, yes.”
I couldn’t keep the grin at bay. “And I love you for your endless devotion. But my mother is the least of our problems.”
He slowly shook his head. “She makes you cry, Ari. She makes you enraged and heartbroken all at once. I’ve seen how she devastates you. And she’s on my list of people I’d like to—”
“Dane,” I said, warning in my tone. I didn’t like when he went all scary-furious.
He groaned. “Whatever. Have you heard from her recently?”
“When I was in the hospital. Then I went off the grid at Macy’s retreat. Technically, she has no idea how to reach me, where to find me—where to even start looking—though when she’s properly motivated anything seems possible on her end. And hey, that reminds me. I need to let my dad know we’re back home.”
“Jackson already took care of it.”
“He thinks of everything, doesn’t he?” Our attorney was as loyal as Amano and as well connected and in tune to every little component of our lives. Thankfully, no one knew his association with us outside of our small circle. That kept him and his wife safe.
Dane said, “If you do somehow hear from Maleficent”—one of my nicknames for my mother—“be sure to tell me. Immediately.” He did a little scolding of his own.
“I swear.” I kissed him again. “Forgive me?”
“It depends.”
I laughed. “Liar. You wouldn’t hold anything against me.”
“That’s probably true. But if you gave her money this last time, you’re in serious trouble.”
“I didn’t. Kyle helped me out of the sticky situ—” My mouth clamped shut.
Oops.
Dane glowered. “That’s just fu
cking great, Ari. Is there any job of mine he’s not trying to take over?”
I thought of our confrontation in the kitchen earlier, at the estate. Kyle had told me he loved me. That had been a doozie of a revelation. Though perhaps all along I’d sort of suspected his feelings ran that deep. Likely the reason I’d been so adamant about us being just friends and doing everything in my power not to lead him on.
Yet it could be that all of the life-threatening and intense scenarios we’d found ourselves in for the past year had bonded us in a way that had taken his infatuation with me to a higher level.
I didn’t dare mention that to Dane, though. I knew better. No need to jeopardize Kyle’s health further.
“He was persuasive with her,” I said. “Pretty creative, actually. I guess that’s why he was so good in your Marketing department. Sadly, I can’t convince him to find another position in that field, maybe in Phoenix. Away from all of this.”
Dane grimaced at my cover-up. He was always on to me. But he let his angst over how close Kyle and I were slide—for the moment.
“I ought to convince him to extract himself from our dilemma,” Dane said, “but he has proven … invaluable.”
My head jerked back. “Wow. Did you really just say that?”
“Don’t be a smart-ass.” He pressed his lips to mine and kissed me in that territorial way that made me burn. His tongue swept inside, over mine, twisting and tangling. Exciting me.
I wanted nothing more at that moment than to strip down and show him exactly how much he thrilled me. But the man had been shot less than twelve hours ago. He needed his rest.
So I reticently pulled away. “You should sleep.”
He leaned toward me and nipped at my bottom lip. “I’ll recover just fine.”
