“Kai.”
“Mmm,” he murmured next to my ear. “Were you expecting someone else?”
The fridge suctioned closed and with it, the light it offered. “No.”
“Good to hear.” His grip tightened on my hips and my breath hitched when one of his fingers slipped beneath the elastic of my boxers and made contact with my skin.
Holy shit. I stopped breathing. Why did I feel something? No, it wasn’t just something. It was my body reacting to his touch, liking his touch.
I swallowed. “My father? You’ll give him the time he needs?”
“Yes.”
“And you won’t hurt him even after he hands over whatever he is working on for you.”
“He won’t be harmed.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Because the reality was, Kai could tell me anything he wanted and it could all be a lie.
“I told you, I’d never lie. At least not to you.” His finger stroked back and forth over the tiny inch of skin that was exposed to his touch.
“I think you’d say whatever you needed to in order to get what you wanted.”
His chest vibrated against my back as he chuckled and the sound trickled through me like a heated waterfall. “True. But with you… just the truth.” His voice lowered. “Unfortunately, you won’t always like what you hear, braveheart.”
I tensed, heated waterfall gone. “And why am I the lucky one to be honored by your honesty? You don’t know me.” But maybe he did? I had no idea how much Kai knew about me, and he’d saved my life. He’d been at the house that night. He’d somehow made it to the second floor of a burning house and carried me out. No matter how dangerous he was, this man risked his own life to save mine. And it made me feel… secure in his arms. It made me feel protected.
It was such a contradiction. He was a contradiction.
He pushed me forward so my palms lay flat on the cool, smooth surface of the humming fridge. Chilled orange juice pooled between my toes and there was a mild stickiness on my legs where the splatters landed.
“Oh, but I do.”
“You’ve spoken to me once.”
“Perhaps. Yet, I’ve known you for years.”
I tried to turn around, but his hands locked down on my hips hard and he used the fridge and his body to keep me from moving. “Kai?” My voice trembled when I said his name and I knew he had to have heard it.
“Shh.” He ran his hands down my naked arms until his hands curled around my wrists. Then he slid my arms to either side and above my head.
“Kai….”
He pressed his body into mine so I was between the humming fridge and the heat of his body. It was a weird sensation of the vibrating fridge against my front and his hard warm body against my back.
Holy shit. I could barely breathe and every time I did, my breasts pressed painfully into the hard surface. My head to the side, cheek against the fridge and all I saw of him was the sleeve of his white dress shirt, cuff unbuttoned and rolled once.
“Do you want this?” he asked.
No, my mind screamed and yet my body screamed something else entirely.
“Do you?” he repeated.
“I… I don’t know.” I was confused by my body’s reaction to him. The fear lingered, but since finding out about the fire, it was intermeshed with other emotions.
“If there was no deal, would you want me? Do you want me?” he drawled.
Did I? Yes. I wanted the man who had held me in his arms and told me he’d always come for me. I wanted him. I’d always wanted him. “Yes,” I whispered.
“Good. Then this is day one,” he murmured against the back of my neck as his lips made contact.
“Please. Tell me… I need something to make this… okay.” Nothing would make this okay. I knew that. This was a deal and I was trading my body for my father’s safety to a man who was obviously dangerous.
It was just sex. That was all.
But no matter what I told myself, I knew sex with Kai was more than the act. I felt it the second my body reacted to him and my mind fought him.
He suckled on the lobe of my ear and desire spread like wildfire. “You’re safe with me. Always.”
“And if I don’t believe you?” But the fucked-up part was that I did believe him.
He pulled back slightly, just enough so I no longer had the heat of his body against me, but still felt the closeness. “That’s up to you. But your body trusts me and if there is one thing in life you should trust, it’s your body.”
He released one of my wrists. Brushing my hair aside from my neck, he replaced the touch of his finger with his mouth. His lips trailed a path of gentle, light kisses of heat over my skin and some of the tension left my body.
“What if my body is wrong?” I closed my eyes and curled my hands into fists, unable to move. Afraid to. Wanting to.
“Your body doesn’t know how to be wrong. The only lies are the ones your mind feeds it.”
“I’m scared,” I admitted.