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This man that I’d just barely met not even a week ago was prepared to be hurt if it meant that I wouldn’t be.
It was the sweetest, most romantic thing anyone had ever said to me. “You’re insane.”
Yep.
He was being all that he was being toward me, and I couldn’t do anything but insult him. Apparently, my words didn’t bother Kane. “Maybe. But I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I knew that you were in danger, and I didn’t do anything to help you.”
“Lots of people are probably in danger right now,” I noted. “You could be helping them.”
Kane pulled up in front of a house, parked the truck, and turned it off. Then, he looked over at me and said, “You’re right, princess. But you’re the one who came to me looking for help. So, my focus is on you right now.”
Like he hadn’t just said what he did, Kane exited the truck and left me sitting there, feeling nothing but stupefied.
Princess.
Kane had just called me princess.
I already had enough to contend with when it came to needing to hold myself back from all that he was doing. Idid notneed to add him calling me princess to the mix.
Because even though he was already outside the truck and coming around to my side, I could feel the warmth spreading through me. My belly felt like it had at least a thousand butterflies dancing wildly inside of it.
By the time Kane opened my door, it was by some miracle that I managed to contain all of the emotions running through me as a result of hearing that endearment. He held a hand out to me and helped me out. And that gesture was just another in a growing list of things I needed to try to forget about Kane if I had any intention of remaining focused on what was most important to handle in my life right now.
Kane led me inside, but once we were there, I was still just as argumentative as I’d been in the truck. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that my combative nature was all about my need for self-preservation.
“Kane, I’m sorry. I know you’re going out of your way right now, but I simply can’t agree to this,” I lamented. “I’m beginning to feel very uncomfortable with what you’re doing, and I’m not sure I’m okay with what you’re planning.”
He stopped moving, turned around, and took both of my hands in his. I had to wonder if he knew exactly what his touch did to me.
“I can’t leave you alone until I’m positive your life is no longer at risk,” he started, something in his voice demanding all of my attention. “As I said before, you came to Harper Security Ops because you knew you needed help. Why are you giving me grief for giving you what you need right now?”
My eyes frantically darted back and forth. “What are we doing here, though?”
“I want you to stay with me,” he said.
“Stay with you?”
“How else can I keep you safe?” Kane questioned me.
With his hands still holding mine, I lifted my shoulders toward my ears and suggested, “You could teach me how to keep myself safe. You could give me the private lessons I want to take, and you can show me how to use a weapon properly to defend myself.”
Kane’s eyes searched my face a long time before he countered, “And until you learn all of that, am I supposed to just hope that nothing bad happens to you? Ellery, I can’t tell you what it would do to me to learn that something happened to you because I didn’t do everything my instincts are pushing me to do. I get this isn’t easy, but I’m imagining that it’s been tough for you for a long time as it is. I promise that if you can tough it out for just a bit longer by staying here in my bed every night, it’ll get easier.”
Whoa.
Whoa.
Whoa.
“Wait a second here. Did you just say that you wanted me to sleep in your bed?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Yes. You can sleep there, and I’ll take the couch.”
“You can’t do that. I can’t do that. No. No, this is… Kane, this is not going to work for me,” I said. I was so caught up in the fact that he was prepared to do just one more sweet and noble thing for me that I wasn’t thinking straight. That’s when I blurted, “If you insist on being where I am all the time, then we should at least go to my place.”
He blinked in surprise. “Your place?”
I nodded.
