Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Not just because of Tanner, who was an ass, but because of Kai, who was smirking at me.
Smirking.
It was doing dangerous things to me. “Stop that.”
And damn him, because he knew what I was talking about. His smirk only deepened.
“But Jonah said—”
“I don’t know what Jonah said, but he wanted to get back to his job. He also didn’t want to have to stay and babysit you.”
“Both your brothers lied to me?”
He nodded. “They did, yes.” There was a twinkle in those dark eyes now. He didn’t look like the head of an international mafia family. He looked like a guy Carol would’ve fawned over if she saw his picture in a magazine.
I felt a flutter in my chest.
Kai was young for what he had to handle. He’d taken over the family at sixteen. And he’d murdered his father to do it.
Clearing my throat, I said, “What assholes.”
“Can you blame them?”
No. “Jonah wanted to get back to his job?”
“His residency.” Kai kept watching me as he spoke.
It should’ve been even more unsettling, but it wasn’t. He was warm. He was being honest. I could see that, and somehow we felt like friends in this moment.
“He’s wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. It’s difficult at times, though. Family comes first. A job like that, a family like ours, he gets caught in the middle a lot.”
“He’s young to be a doctor.”
“He’s a genius.”
That’s right. So was Kai.
My words were out before I realized I was going to ask. “How do you do it? Handle everything, think the way you do? How do you… I think I’d go mad just trying.”
He rolled his head to face forward and lifted a shoulder. “I got it from my dad. I think the way he thought.”
Which was why Kai had moved first.
“He sent me to college early, like Jonah. I had the scores for it, but he assumed I was going back after Cord passed.” His mouth closed. His eyes grew hard.
He’d assumed wrong.
The unspoken said so much.
Knowing the monster their father had been, I found myself in a position I’d never experienced before. I was okay with what Kai had done. I was thankful for it.
“He would’ve killed you?”
Kai didn’t respond. But he rolled his head to look at me again, and I saw it there. He would’ve, and that sent a pang through my heart.
I don’t know what he saw in my eyes, but he reached over in response. I waited, suspended, as his finger tipped my head toward his and he leaned down. I reached up.
My decision faded, and our lips met.
Softly. Briefly.
A tingle.
It meant something.
He pulled back, and the flutters within me multiplied.
I turned back to the window. We didn’t speak the rest of the ride.
I touched a hand to my lips after a minute, still feeling his there. And those flutters just kept flying around.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
I still wasn’t clear on the plan.
I hadn’t thought Kai was serious when we pulled into a driveway, but he motioned for his men to fall back. Two started to protest, but he just turned his back, grabbing my hand. Threading our fingers, he tugged me after him.
My eyebrows raised. We’re doing this? On the flight, I’d decided we wouldn’t be again. Then we’d kissed…
He leaned in, dropping his voice low. “If anyone is watching, a couple is less imposing.”
Ah. Got it.
We were pretending. I could do pretending.
I bounced right into Raven’s cover and smiled brightly at him.
His eyes widened, and he fell back a step.
Raven wasn’t one to be deterred. I pushed up on my toes, placed my hands on his chest, and bounced up and down. “You know what they say.” Another dazzling smile.
Kai had fear now. Real fear.
“Be the inspiration for someone every day, and be the reason that person smiles.”
He cursed under his breath. “Your cover?”
“You bet!” I bounced back a step and gave him a thumbs-up. I pointed to the door. “Let’s turn someone’s frown upside down.”
I started off, almost at a march.
I knew I didn’t look like myself. With my smile in place, different clothes than when Brooke saw me last, and the sun going down, I was different. If Brooke was watching us come up, I hoped she wouldn’t recognize me. Kai, on the other hand…that was his problem to solve. I knew the pretending to be a couple was more for curious onlookers outside, but if Brooke really was scared for her life, she’d have cameras set up and some way to be alerted.
The second we’d pulled into this driveway, she would’ve known. Or she should have, if she’d followed my instructions.
Kai caught up with me, tucking my hand under his arm, and I leaned into him.
“She’s going to know it’s you, if she’s looking out,” I told him.
“You’re pretty convincing, though. I know you, and I’m having second thoughts on your identity.” His gaze studied me a moment. “You’re good at your job. You can change your perception by holding your head at a slightly odd angle, or having your hair parted on the wrong side. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? You change something on the inside and that emanates out, doesn’t it?”