High Stakes Gamble

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Kai! Baby! Wake up. It’s okay, you’re safe.” Aurora patted his shoulder as she sat next to him, the cuffs dangling from one wrist. She switched on the bed lamp to low.

The horrendous pain of the bullet ripping through his flesh still burned at him like a red-hot poker and he had to take a moment before speaking. He didn’t want her to hear him whimper. Sweaty, his body soaking, he gently made her shift and heaved himself upright to sit, leaning against the headboard.

He noticed the cuffs on the hand that held his. “How did you get them off?”

“You really were zonked. I just unscrewed the post.” Her playful disgust made him smile.

“Shit!” He thought back and knew he’d been tuckered. But man, he never thought he was stupid.

“Then how come you didn’t leave?”

“I passed out. Guess I was more tired than I knew.”

Aurora inched closer and pushed his hair away from his damp cheeks. He knew he looked like hell but wasn’t much he could do about it. Right now, he couldn’t have moved if his life depended on it. Nor would he want to with the woman he loved perched next to him, a soft light shining in her expressive eyes reminding him of the blue sapphire in a princess’s ring.

“You were deep into a nightmare, calling my name and then moaning. I knew you were in trouble but I didn’t know how to help you.”

“You didn’t read the file, did you?”

Shook her head. “Nope.”

“How come I knew that?” He couldn’t stop the proud grin from forming and liked it that she grinned back.

“Guess I can’t blame you.”

Without conscious intention, his hand lifted to stroke her face. He waited seconds to see if she’d react but she didn’t move, just kept staring at him. So cradling her neck he pulled her closer and met her halfway, his lips craving a taste. She stopped him, pushing against his stomach. Their mouths were within inches. Watching her closely, he knew she had to see his hunger. The wanting clawed at him. God, if he didn’t taste her soon, he’d beg. And he knew it. He inched even closer so their breaths mingled. Now! He’d kiss her now.

“Would it help if you talked about it? If so, I’ll listen. We have some time before we need to leave.”

Her words doused him like a keg of cold beer. So instead of romancing her, he settled back and told her why he’d stayed away and hadn’t contacted her. He didn’t go into great detail, left out the final shootout, and glossed over his part.

Instead he focused on the syndicate and their corruption that needed to be wiped out and how he’d been warned not to jeopardize the mission by breaking cover. How he’d never expected the deal to last as long as it had. She listened, asked pertinent questions and then broke his heart.

Rising and turning away from him, her voice hard, she said. “I’d have found a way to let you know.”

“Yeah well, you weren’t there shadowed every minute by a possessive lunatic.” No way could he explain about his embarrassment for treating her the way he had. The decision he’d made that he had to apologize face to face, like a man.

Then after the first month or so passed, he knew he’d waited too long. He’d have to let her go. Let her get on with her life. Who knew how much longer he’d be undercover? Hardest decision he’d ever made and probably the stupidest, but done with a pure heart and only her best interests.

Aurora disappeared into the bathroom and he heard the shower start up. Guess it wouldn’t be a good idea to join her. God knew he wanted to. He opened his cell and fingered the page that had kept him sane during all his months away.

Aurora, in all her beauty, sitting across from him in a bar, a filmy blouse that heightened her sexiness and a brilliant smile she’d shared with him after they’d finished dancing in a particularly suggestive style.

If only… If only they could go back to those days when they were falling in love. When Aurora sat, staring at him clear-eyed, no secrets, just pure adoration.

Her passing out when she’d seen his blood at the Rhondo debacle and his knowing then that she truly loved him. God it had felt good! As if he’d been granted something amazingly precious. Dumb shit that he was, he hadn’t known how to cherish it. Instead, he’d put his own feelings in front of her needs. Stupid, stupid…. Arrgh!

He dropped his head back and looked up at the ceiling as if a savior existed inside the paint. His mind made up, he promised himself—as long as she didn’t have anyone else in her life, for as long as it took, he’d try his luck with her again. He’d take things slow and easy, woo her and subdue his macho attitude, be softer and more understanding.

Something he’d thought about earlier popped back into his thoughts. What if she’d found someone else? When asked, Cory hadn’t been very forthcoming on that subject; in fact Kai had gotten a bad feeling when his Bud hadn’t looked him in the eye while deviating from answering.

He shrugged then winced. Hell, he’d made up his mind. What could he lose that he hadn’t already thrown away?