As if sensing his torment, she looked up at him then. Her exotic eyes, so big and golden in the firelight, regarded him serenely; her mouth curved ever so slightly, soothing him instantly. It was purely unintentional, a natural reaction she seemed to have whenever she looked at him. He wondered if she even realized she was doing it.
Prayed she never stopped.
“You are only the second female ever to step foot in my sanctuary,” Kane told her, because she seemed to expect him to say something.
Rebecca dropped her eyes and she inclined her head slightly. With another woman the gesture might have appeared mocking, but with Rebecca, he took it for what it was – a subtle acknowledgement. No doubt she’d picked up the custom overseas. The pure submissiveness of it sent bolts of fire through his chest and right down into his cock.
“I’m honored,” she said in that soft voice of hers.
One of the things Kane liked most about Rebecca was that she just seemed to accept everything he said, as he said it. No more, no less. She didn’t ask who else had been here, or when. Nor did she ask why he didn’t bring women here. It wasn’t that she gave the impression that she didn’t care, either. No, Rebecca, unlike pretty much everyone else, seemed to understand not only what he was saying, but more importantly, what he wasn’t. She accepted his admission for what it was – a gift of sorts – and her appreciation was clear.
And maybe for precisely that reason – because she hadn’t asked - Kane wanted her to know more. “Taryn was the first. You know, Jake’s wife?”
“Yes. I like her very much. She makes me laugh.” He watched carefully, but there was no accusation, no presumption, no shock, no morbid curiosity. She just looked at him with those big, soft brown eyes, without judgment or supposition.
“She was in trouble, needed a place to crash until we could figure out how to fix things.”
Rebecca smiled knowingly. “And you helped her.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He probably should tell her that he had been very much against the idea at first.
“You are a kind man.”
He almost laughed at that. “Kind” was not a word he often heard. Hard. Implacable. Cold, yes. But kind? Never. There was a reason they called him the Iceman. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to laugh at her, because – son of a bitch – she really believed it.
“No, I’m not.”
Rebecca just smiled back at him, a knowing, serene smile that said she thought he was a good guy and nothing he said would change her mind.
“I mean, it’s not like we were involved or anything.” God, why was he babbling like an idiot? “Taryn and Jake are soul mates, have been since they first laid eyes on each other.”
“You believe in soul mates, then?” She sat up slightly in interest and laid the book in her lap, giving him her full attention.
It took him a while to answer. “If you had asked me that a few years ago, I would have laughed in your face and called you a sucker. But now...”
“What has changed?”
“How much time do you have?”
Rebecca smiled. “For another cup of your magical hot chocolate, as much as you want.”
A short while later, mug in hand, Rebecca snuggled into the far end of the oversized sofa, her legs piked at the knee beneath an old quilt. She sipped at the heavenly mix of chocolate and “secret” ingredients, letting her eyes roll back in her head with delight.
“This is amazing,” she said. “What’s in it, exactly?” she asked.
Kane sat at the opposite end, soaking in her pleasure like he needed it to survive. Given Rebecca’s penchant for chocolate and sweets, he’d had the foresight to bring along a few bottles of chocolate liquor and Bailey’s Irish Crème from the bar, along with a family-sized box of Swiss Miss packets.
He smiled. “I could tell you,” he said softly, “but then I’d have to kill you.”
She laughed and kicked playfully at his leg with her toes. “Fine,” she said. “Don’t tell me. But don’t blame me when I’m following you around, hounding you for another fix. I can tell you, it won’t be pretty.”
Kane laughed, too, but the idea of creating something that bound her to him sent a powerful bolt of want through him to do just that. And as for her ever being anything less than beautiful in his eyes? It was impossible.
He forced those thoughts aside, and began to tell her the story of how Taryn showed up at the Pub one rainy night. Rebecca listened with rapt attention. Little by little, she drew closer until she was sitting next to him. He made sure he did absolutely nothing to dissuade her.
“I remember that case,” Rebecca said thoughtfully. “It was big news right around the time I joined the Red Cross and was heading out. So Taryn is really the long lost daughter of the Senator?”
“Yep, one and the same.”
“That sounds like an exciting suspense novel,” Rebecca commented. “It’s easy to imagine the hand of fate in there somewhere.”
“That’s just the beginning. A few months later, a good friend of the family passed, and Lexi ended up on the same Greyhound with Ian...” he said, moving on to their story.