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“I don’t know.” I push back my chair. “I’ve only just told the Kings. Give me time to sort it out.”
She flies out of her seat, clinging to my arm. “I want to see them. I want to go back to work. I have something I need to talk to the professor about and I know Fiona and Carol Ann will want to see me.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know if that’s safe.”
“You’re a big, strong man. Surely you can figure it out. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to see people, to go out again—” She stops talking, giving me a curious stare. “Unless.”
“Unless what?” I say.
Her gaze hardens. “Unless you want to keep me here. For no other reason that just to control me.”
“Why would I do that?” I ask.
“I have no idea.” She crosses her arms over her chest in defiance. “But it sounds like something a man like you might do.”
“Man like me,” I say. “What does that mean?”
“You know. Controlling. Dangerous. Violent.” Her eyes narrow at me. “A man who thinks the laws don’t apply to him.”
Throwing stones after the story she’s just told me? “Look who’s talking.”
She’s one tough cookie, turning my jab back on me. “I just told you a painful story and you’re going to throw it back in my face? That’s something a man with control issues would do. You can’t keep me here against my will any longer.”
I take a step closer, towering over her. “Want to make a bet? You don’t step out that door,” I point to the locked front door, “until I say it’s safe.”
Straightening her spine, she stands tall. “But if everyone knows I’m here, what’s the problem? By now they should know I’m not going to talk.”
“All they know is that you’ve spoken to police. Twice. Once of your own accord. And even though I trust every Bayne-blooded man to do as I ask, I’m not there with the Burnes clan yet.” I stare her down. “I don’t know what they’d do to you.”
Finally, she looks away, staring down at the floor. “All the more reason to give me my phone. If you truly care about my safety.”
Anger boils in me. “When will you finally see that everything I do, I do to keep you safe! From the moment I brought you to that cottage, warned you to keep your mouth shut, to bringing you here?—”
Her gaze snaps back up to meet mine. “You could have sent me back to LA. Like everyone thought you did.”
“Out of my sight? You think our enemies can’t use a plane? How out of touch are you? Jesus. I swear you have absolutely no natural inclination for keeping yourself safe. There’s a whole big world out there you need to be concerned with.”
She says something else, mumbling about it being my fault and it pisses me off so much I don’t know what to do other than make her shut up. She’s not hearing my point. I just want her to stop talking.
I grab her in my arms and kiss her.
Hard.
For a moment she freezes in my arms. But I don’t stop. I force my tongue into her mouth, swiping against hers. She melts into me.
And I know—now that I’ve crossed that line and kissed her…
I can’t stop.
Chapter Nineteen
Kitt
As his lips meet mine, I wholeheartedly disagree with him saying there’s a whole big world out there I have to be concerned about. The only thing that matters to me in this world is right here.
This moment.
This kiss.
