Closer: A Novella (10 page)

Caroline made the sweetest gasp and he hiked up her pretty dress and ran his gloved hand across her thigh. His tongue pushed in deeper, and desire coiled in his belly.

“Hm-mm,” she murmured in protest. The kiss broke and her fingers tugged at his left glove. “Take this off. I want to feel your hands on me, Kane.”

She did more than ask, she removed the glove herself and tossed it to the floor. The cool air touched his damp palm and when she guided his hand back to her silky thigh, he nearly lost it. Lascivious thoughts spilled in his mind like an ink well that tipped over.

“Touch me,” she begged.

Kane grew rigid at the idea of her saying that over and over again. He felt so inexperienced, enjoying the texture of her smooth thigh against his virgin palm. The kiss was smoldering, creating such palpable warmth that it spread across his chest and shot straight down to his groin. He groaned and Caroline rubbed her leg against his while his mind swam with images of them undressing each other.

“You don’t want this,” he said against her mouth. “I’m no good for you.”

She wasn’t listening as her kiss moved like fire burning away the edges of paper, and Kane was about to become a pile of ash. He loved women, but he’d never felt unworthy of one until now. This one—she was special—she was too good to be with someone like him.

He cupped her face. “You’re killing me, Angel,” Kane said in a strangled voice.

Caroline’s fingers clawed across his tattoo and her tongue pushed deep into his mouth. So deep that everything male within him stirred.

That was it. All sense of control was gone.

Kane reached down and lifted her leg, sliding her onto the window ledge. Caroline wrapped her long legs around his waist and her back pressed hard against the glass. One of her sandals fell off and clapped on the floor below.

“Make a bed appear,” he growled against her mouth.

Out of breath, she replied, “It’s not working anymore. I can’t do it.”

The button on his jeans popped open and he sucked in his stomach at the feel of her cool knuckles against his skin. Her fingers were only an inch away from a hard ache that demanded to know her in the most intimate way. She slowly kissed her way around his neck and he let out a hard sigh—the kind of sound that a man makes before he loses himself to passion. Those creamy thighs were so soft against his rough fingers and he slid them beneath her dress, feeling the line of her panties. Kane wanted to put her body to memory with his hands.

When she made a soft moan, he scraped his cheek against her jaw, breathing hard across her shoulder.

It wasn’t right. None of this. Trying to take a woman in her own mind while she was lying unconscious with a head injury, the fact that he was too chickenshit to call a real doctor for help, and even worse was that she was letting him.

“No,” he said, creating distance.

Seeing her lips swollen from their kiss and her flushed chest made it harder to deny this woman. “We can’t do this. I need to go find someone who can help you.”

“Don’t you dare leave me!” she said, gripping the shirt behind his shoulders and pulling him close. Fear trembled in her eyes, glimmering with tears that sprang from them.

“Why did he do this to me?” she cried. Passion broke into pain, etched in every line and contour of her face. Caroline shook her head and a hair stuck to her lip. “This isn’t fair! I
hate
him for what he did to me,” she hissed, choking through sobs. “I’m asking you to stay here with me. Please, Kane, keep me warm until it’s over. Don’t let me be in the dark alone.” The last words broke off.

And broke him.

Hearing her acceptance of death sliced through his chest like an unmerciful sword. Unrelenting sobs reddened her cheeks and she wept. It was a like cold shower to see her grimace with hopelessness, unable to keep her eyes open as they welled with tears. Death was hunting Caroline and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

“I’m not leaving you.” He kissed her wet lashes and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the pad of his left thumb. “Don’t cry, Angel. We’re going to stay right here and everything’s going to be all right. You hear me? I’m not letting anything bad happen to you. You’re safe,” he said, kissing away her salty tears. Her skin was cool against his lips and she closed her eyes, accepting his offer.

“I’ll be okay if you promise not to leave me,” she said, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. Caroline smiled. “I bet I look like a hot mess; I hate crying.” Her liquid brown eyes lifted to his and he felt a flutter in the pit of his stomach.

“You’re beautiful,” he said under his breath. And he meant it. She was truly the most beautiful woman he’d ever known.

The same hand that had cut a man’s throat just hours earlier was now holding a life that would slip through his own fingers like tiny grains of sand. Kane was faced with making a choice, and each came with a consequence that would wreck him forever. Staying meant that she would die, and leaving meant that she would do it alone.

“You have my word that I won’t leave you,” he said in a thick voice. “I’ll stay for as long as you can tolerate me.”

She snorted and he lifted her from the window with one arm and set her small feet down on the floor. Kane leaned closer and buried his face in the crook of her neck. Caroline smelled the way a woman should and she held him fiercely, as if they’d always known each other. He shuffled his clumsy feet to the left and back to the right, attempting to dance with her. She leaned into him, pressing her ear against his pounding heart.

“You’re a terrible dancer,” she said, laughing softly against his chest.

“Maybe you can teach me. The last time I did this was in the eighth grade. Sarah McGuire seemed to think that I had mad skills.”

“Did she now?”

Caroline sniffed a few times and he smoothed his hand across her back.

“Keep your mind off all the bad stuff because it’s not going to happen,” he assured her. “It takes time to heal. Just live in this moment with me and I’ll take care of everything. Let’s go sit down and you can tell me all about the men in your life that you’ve whacked over the head with kitchen utensils.”

She laughed, and it pleased him to know he could make her smile. Caroline rested her cheek against his bare chest and wiped her tears across his anchored heart.

Chapter 6

Kane took a seat on the couch and pulled Caroline onto his lap
. She scooted down low and sat sideways with her left cheek resting on his shoulder. Her hand splayed across his heart and nothing was more intimate than the idea of her feeling every beat. His right hand still cupped the back of her neck, but he didn’t care about his discomfort. He peered over his left shoulder and glared at her feet. One was missing a shoe that fell off moments ago, but she might as well have been barefoot.

“Take my socks off and put them on. Go on, do as I say.”

Caroline bent over and removed his thick, white socks. She pulled each one up as high as it would go on her slender legs.

“They’re still toasty warm,” she said with a faded sigh, leaning into his arms. He looked into her big brown eyes and her mouth quirked. “You have
really
big feet.”

“Well, you know what they say about that,” he suggested, wanting to smack himself in the forehead as soon as the words left his mouth.

“Yep. Big shoes. I once dated a guy whose feet were so small that he could have worn my high heels.” She laughed and it was a beautiful sound—like wind chimes on a summer morning. “That was back in high school. Hopefully he hit a growth spurt after I broke up with him.”

“So you were a little heartbreaker,” he teased, feeling her smile against his neck. Kane stroked a swath of hair from Caroline’s face allowing him to see her better. To touch her beautiful skin and not feel obliterated by emotions was so liberating that all he wanted to
do
was touch her. Sensors experienced life through their hands, and it was the one thing Kane had always denied himself.

With his fingers, he learned more about Caroline. The smooth skin on the back of her earlobe told him that her ears weren’t pierced. She had the softest hands, and she kept her fingernails short with a clear polish. No frills and he liked that. There was also a ticklish spot behind her knee. Each time he brushed his finger across that soft patch of skin, she jerked her leg and it made him smile.

“Do you date much?” she asked curiously.

“Not really.”

“Liar,” she sang.

He pursed his lips. “Here and there whenever I meet someone, I guess. I don’t go out with Sensors anymore because they don’t get… this,” he said, lifting his left hand. But his glove was still on the floor by the window. Kane squeezed his fingers into a fist out of habit.

“Do you always wear gloves?”

He grunted an affirmative.

“I think that’s what your problem is, Kane.” Caroline moved to sit up and it stretched out his right arm. “We have a power, and if you never use it—” She pressed her finger on her lower lip in thought. “It’s like when you’re outside in the hot sun and the pool sounds like a great idea. You check the temperature and it’s ninety, which isn’t much lower than your body temperature. But the minute you put your toe in the water, it feels like ice. It’s shockingly cold and that’s why people always tell you to jump in. The water is your gift, Kane. You keep avoiding the pool, and every time you put your foot in the water, you get scared by the temperature. You don’t need to acclimate and slowly get used to it. Once you jump in, it won’t be so bad.”

Kane tried to look away but Caroline got a firm grip on his jaw and turned his head forward.

“Maybe you
are
more sensitive than most of us, but completely avoiding touch will only make it worse.”

She had a point. But that would mean physical contact and Kane just wasn’t a touchy feely kind of guy. What was he supposed to do, hang out at the bar and fondle every woman who sat beside him? Not that he hadn’t thought about it.

A lot.

Kane had fantasized about what it would feel like to run his bare hands all over a woman’s body. The sensitive skin of her inner thigh, the smooth curve at the base of her spine, the delicate skin on her breast, the flat of her stomach—places he’d tasted with his mouth, but never touched with his hands. Not until this woman came into his life.

“I know,” he agreed. “Maybe someday. Have you ever been in love?” he asked, changing the subject.

He knew a woman like her must have dated, but had a man ever claimed her as his own? Part of him was a little bit jealous about that. Kane had never been in a serious relationship where the L-word came out of his mouth and he didn’t know what possessed him to ask. He didn’t think it was in his genetic makeup and it had never seemed like a big deal. Even his sister shared the same cynical outlook about love. Perhaps it was his dysfunctional childhood and the poor example shown by his parents that carved the man he had become. Stuff like that messes with your head whether you realize it or not.

“Once.”

When she didn’t speak anymore, he brushed her hair aside and ran his thumb over her eyebrow. “Tell me about the loser who let you go.”

Her eyes looked up wistfully. “He was a human. I was young and didn’t know any better. I thought it wouldn’t matter who I dated. Boy, was I wrong.”

An unsettling feeling shifted within him. “What do you mean?”

She wet her lips and traced a finger over his tattoo. “I met Tommy at the grocery store of all places.” A thoughtful smile curved up her cheek. “I pulled an orange out of a fancy pyramid and sent a dozen of them rolling to the floor.”

Kane laughed heartily. He could see that image in his mind so vividly.

“Tommy was the manager and he was so nice about not making me feel like an idiot. He was five years older than me and just a really nice guy. We didn’t live together, but we dated for about five months.”

“That serious?”

She cleared her throat a little. “Yeah, it was getting serious.”

“Did you tell him what you were?”

“I tried, but never got around to it. Plus, I was scared that he might tell others about us and I’d get in trouble. Everything was so perfect and I didn’t want to spoil anything. Then my boss found out. This was my old job when I used to work at a café.”

Kane nodded and glared at the darkening window.

“Tommy came into the shop a lot and my boss started getting into my business. He was a Shifter and you know how territorial some of them are. A wolf, no less.” Caroline’s voice saddened as she recollected something long ago. “He didn’t like it one bit, and threatened to kill Tommy if we didn’t stop seeing each other. I was scared because every time I went out with him, it felt like someone was following us. My boss was serious and said he’d follow through with it even if I quit working there. I had no choice.”

“He didn’t try to hold onto you?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t have a believable reason for breaking up, so I told him what no man wants to hear. That I cheated on him. Tommy knew better and called me a liar; he didn’t understand. It was the worst thing I’ve ever done to anyone and you have no idea how many nights I’ve wanted to call him and take it all back.” Her sigh was a pained one. “God, I said things to him I’ll regret for the rest of my life.”