Love 2.0

by Lee Kilraine

  Her eyes searched his. “You’re making that up to make me feel better.”

  “No, I’m not. I have a few connections I think can help—but let me look into this, okay?”

  “Okay.” Her load lightened, like passing off an overstuffed bag, knowing she wasn’t dealing with this on her own.

  “Second, you’re a fighter. Lady, you learned to play guitar, memorized the words to a handful of Elvis songs . . .”

  “Seventeen Elvis songs.”

  “Nailed his signature dance moves . . .”

  “I sort of did, didn’t I?”

  “You definitely did. And you survived on your own while you were on the run.” He pointed at her. “You’re a fighter.”

  She lifted her chin. He was right. She hadn’t let Ivan win a year ago and she wasn’t going to let him win now. She could find a way to dig deeper and keep fighting her way clear of him.

  “Third, you weren’t alone all those months you were on the run. You weren’t. You had Zero Point. Even if you have to disappear—I’ll stick. Damsel will have Gamer. You won’t have to be alone.”

  “Right. Gamer Guy.” She stifled the sob that bubbled up in her throat. Relief rushed through her body with such intensity there was a distinct possibility she’d fly apart in all directions before floating gently down like a leaf on a soft breeze. “Okay. That does make me feel better.”

  Kaz leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. “But I’m going to do everything I can to see that doesn’t happen. Are you going to be okay on your own? I want to reach out to my contact tonight. Probably call Quinn and Paxton to help, get their legal minds on the situation.”

  “Yes. I’m good. I think I’ll head downstairs to the gym for a workout. Maybe pretend your fighting dummy is Ivan and beat up his ugly face.”

  “Good for you. Give him a few punches from me.”

  “Will do.”

  Mira sat in the kitchen long after Kaz had left for his office to let the shock wear off. Kaz had made another good point tonight. He’d said because she’d uncovered the repressed memories, picking the wrong men was a thing of the past. And she thought he was right about that. How dumb was her subconscious anyway? Sure she didn’t trust love, but by trying to protect herself from it, look at all the pain she’d brought upon herself. Just dumb. In retrospect, even Vi’s method of not dating anyone had been smarter than hers. Yet lonelier, so maybe not.

  If you have to disappear—I’ll stick. Hearing that from Kaz eased the tightness in her chest and gave her something solid to cling to. It wasn’t as scary, knowing he’d be there for her if she had to run. But she didn’t want to run. She had it in mind to claim her life back, even if she had to face Ivan to do it.

  An unusual peace settled over her, knowing that no matter what happened, she’d have Kaz by her side. And that—her happiness over having Kaz as her partner should Crazy Ivan actually be crazy—was what worried her. Because the absolute last thing she needed right now was to fall in love.

  She had so many emotions competing for her attention, it was hard to know what to feel. Anger, fear, frustration, worry. They all swirled around in her chest in a flurry, leaving her dazed. But slowly, the longer she sat in the darkening kitchen, the more one definite emotion grew from the cold, icy knot in the pit of her stomach. Defiance.

  She wouldn’t cower in fear. There was no way she’d let Ivan Prostakov rule her life. Yes, she accepted she might have to disappear—for real. But from everything she’d learned during her time with Kaz, she’d be able to live a life far from Ivan’s sphere.

  Running was the last thing she wanted to do, but all she had to do was think of Kaz’s friend and know it still wouldn’t be the worst outcome. But she wasn’t going to disappear without a fight either. Nope. She cringed, thinking of her failed test in self-defense class. Darn it. That was something she could control. Besides, she hadn’t been kidding when she’d told Kaz she wanted to punch Ivan in the face.

  It took only a few minutes to change into shorts and a T-shirt, and then she was down in Kaz’s gym taking all those swirling emotions and channeling them into striking the fighting dummy. After thirty minutes of constant pummeling, she tried not to be discouraged. If she ran into Ivan and he held completely still, she had about a 40 percent chance of landing a kick or punch.

  Good thing she wasn’t planning to see Ivan ever again. The rat bastard.

  She lay back on the gym floor, staring up at the fluorescent light overhead and attempted to catch her breath. The good news was she was in better shape than she’d been when she’d arrived in Climax. The bad news was she’d need a gazillion more push-ups, sit-ups, and a small miracle to be fit.

  Her phone buzzed on the edge of the mat where she’d tossed it. Stretching over, she grabbed it. Her mother was FaceTiming her. Was she back from her cruise already?

  “Mami! You’re back.”

  “And you aren’t missing.”

  “If I’d known you were back, I’d have called. I’m sorry to have scared you.”

  “I’ve been fielding calls from friends for hours now. It took me this long to get hold of Vi for your new number. She filled me in on your Ivan and she’d like you to call her.”

  She was a bad sister. She should have called Vi right away, darn it. “I will. I’ll call her as soon as I hang up with you. And if Vi filled you in, you know he isn’t my Ivan.”

  “Oh, baby girl. We only arrived back in Miami this afternoon, but I’ll come up there if you want me to.”

  Did a girl ever get too old to want her mother? No, but right now the last place she’d want her mami was next to her while Ivan was acting crazy. Not that she’d tell her mother that. That would have her mami on the next plane. “You rest from your trip and then we’ll find a time to get together. I’d like to meet Philip.”

  “He’s wonderful. He’s nothing like—well, he treats me like a queen.”

  “I’m glad. Mami?” Mira gripped her phone tight in her hand. Her newfound memories weighed heavy on her heart. But also she was full of awe for her mami. “I remembered. Everything. About how Papi treated you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. For all the years I thought he walked on water—and all that time he was—”

  “Don’t you dare apologize. We each did what we had to do to get through it. And you were so young, baby. Too young to see what you did. I almost wish you never had remembered.”

  “I’m glad I did. So I can appreciate how strong you and Vi are. And so I can avoid ending up with a man just like him.” She shivered, thinking about what a close call she’d had with Ivan. Kaz was right again. She’d done a good thing by running from Ivan. Was it too much to ask to get free and clear of him?

  “Speaking of ending up with a man—Vi told me about this Kaz you’re living with.”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Vi said you like him.”

  “I do, but—”

  “Sweetheart, because of your father I spent ten years—ten long, lonely years—avoiding men. Now I have Philip and I could kick myself for the years I lost. Life moves so fast, baby. Your father stole so much from all of us. Don’t let him steal any more. Don’t be afraid to love because of what you saw growing up. I’m telling you, real love is worth it.”

  Real love. Did she know what real love was? She knew what real love wasn’t.

  What if love felt like what she’d been sharing with Kaz these last three weeks? The conversations, the shared interests, his honesty, and his sexy use of logic. His natural curiosity and lack of ego, the fact that he researched everything until he was excellent at it. Like making love.

  “I saw that look, Mirabel.”

  Dang. For a minute there she’d forgotten she was on FaceTime.

  “All right, Mira, I’m ready for another round. Let’s go at it again.” Kaz walked into the gym, stopping when he saw Mira on the phone. “Sorry. When you’re ready.”

  “Is that him? Goodness, he’s very handsome, Mirabel.” Her mother lowered her voice to
a loud whisper. “Sexy too.”

  “He can hear you.” Mira’s cheeks heated as she glanced at Kaz, taking in his grin.

  “Well, then, introduce me before you two ‘go at it again.’” Her mother said that with air quotes.

  “That isn’t what he meant by ‘go at it.’” She shook her head at Kaz in that universal, mothers, what-are-you-going-to-do look, but he only winked at her.

  “Fine, don’t introduce him to me, then. I’ll try not to feel hurt and left out of my younger daughter’s life.” Her mami rarely played the guilt card, but when she did, she was good at it.

  “Mami, this is Kaz Cates.” Mira tilted her phone up so her mother could see him more clearly. “Kaz Cates, my mother Gloria Díaz.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Kaz. Mira’s sister Vivian was telling me some nice things about you. Is Kaz short for something? It sounds Czech.”

  “Kazimir. Russian, actually. From my mother’s side of the family. And it’s a pleasure to meet you too, Gloria.”

  “You take good care of my baby, Kazimir Cates. I’ve got to run, niña. Te amo mucho.” Her mother blew a kiss into the phone and hung up.

  “Sorry for interrupting your call, but I thought we could get more practice in while I’m waiting for a call.” He whipped off his shirt and toed off his shoes before reaching a hand down to her to help her up.

  Everything about him called to her. The warmth and strength of his hand around hers. The lopsided smile on his sexy lips. His sleek, powerful muscles rippling under his golden skin. His softly inked tattoos that hinted of ancient mysteries. The intensity and intelligence in his dark brown eyes. The memory of his hot kisses . . .

  What had she been thinking earlier . . . the absolute last thing she needed right now was to fall in love? It looked like it was too late.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Kaz held his hand down to Mira, waiting for her to take it. He knew she was probably too tired to work out, but he’d needed the connection. The more information he dug up on her Russian bastard, the tenser he became. The man wasn’t a big cog in the Redfellas brigade and that was what worried him. If he wasn’t big enough for the local police or the feds to worry about, he’d be free to stalk and terrorize Mira for years. Kaz needed to figure out how to make sure that didn’t happen.

  When she hesitated, he leaned down with both hands. “Mira, you can trust me. I won’t stop digging until I find a way to either stop him or make him see it’s in his best interest to exit your life. You don’t have to handle him by yourself. You have my word on that.”

  “Okay.” She finally took his hands and let him help her up from the mat. “Okay. I’m ready to go again too. Lord knows after last night’s self-defense fail, I need all the practice I can get.”

  They worked on Mira’s defensive escape moves for another fifteen minutes. Kaz cut it short when he saw her growing frustration.

  “I know you feel you aren’t getting this, but I’m going to stress again, you’re laying down neural pathways in your brain and muscle memories each time you practice. I’ve asked you to trust me, which I know is hard, but you’ve got to let go and trust yourself too.”

  “Right. I’m working on that. It’s a work in progress.”

  “Trusting me or trusting yourself?”

  “Both.”

  “I may have something to bribe you with. If you’re interested.”

  Her gaze raked over his chest and arms, down to his hips, before working its way back up, pausing on his mouth before reengaging with his. “I’m interested. Show me what you’ve got.”

  Grabbing his shirt and slipping it back on, not bothering with the buttons. He took her hand and led her upstairs and down the hall into the kitchen, where he parked her on a stool at the island.

  “Please, not another green smoothie for my health. That’s like kicking a woman when she’s down.”

  “See? I knew you’d need a bribe. You really can trust me.” Opening the refrigerator door, he removed the to-go box from the top shelf and slid it in front of Mira. “Go ahead. Open it.”

  Inside the box were two slices of pie. One banana cream and one key lime.

  Mira couldn’t have worn a bigger smile. “How did you get these? We left as soon as the news moved to the next story.”

  “I called Lu from my office and asked her to drop them by on her way home from the diner.” He took two forks from the silver drawer and settled onto the stool next to her. He was anxious to get back to his computer, but right now this was more important. Mira had been through too much of the last year on her own. “Okay if I share?”

  “Yes. Should I feel guilty about corrupting you?” She laughed as she sliced into the key lime with the side of her fork. “This reminds me of that meme I’ve seen: Come to the dark side; we have pie.”

  Kaz tried to keep the talk about anything other than her ex. “You explained how you got directed to the Wizard but not how you found me here in Climax. How exactly did you track me down?”

  “I actually couldn’t find any information about you on the internet.” Mira sent him an arch look.

  “I like my privacy.” He shrugged. “It helps me avoid superfans and cyberhackers I helped get arrested.”

  “Probably a good idea, then. Anyway, because I came up empty-handed, I started playing through all the levels of Zero Point again, only this time searching for clues.” She pressed the tip of her finger onto a crumb of graham cracker crust and lifted it to her mouth, letting it melt on her tongue. “I began cataloging all the details I encountered in the game: plants, animals, creatures, minerals, tools. You get the idea.”

  “Very logical.”

  “It turned out there was only one mineral in your game found in real life and that one was discovered in Alexander County, North Carolina.”

  Kaz slid the bite of pie into his mouth while he ran the worlds of Zero Point through his brain, but he’d written the game many years ago and couldn’t remember all the world building he’d done. “What is it?”

  “Hiddenite. The rarest form of spodumene gemstones. Once I found that, I narrowed your possible location down to two towns, moved to Greensboro, and took the job with Monty so I could check out the towns. You already know how I saw your photo.”

  “How would you even know that about hiddenite?”

  “I read about it when we were studying minerals in seventh grade.” She shrugged. “I have a near-photographic memory; mostly with numbers, but small details stick with me.”

  “Amazing.” Yet something about that made him twitchy.

  “Technically, scientists agree there’s no such thing as a photographic memory, but mine is as close as one comes with respect to numbers and images. You know, things my brain can store as a picture. Mind if I finish the banana cream pie?”

  “No. Go ahead.”

  “You know the rest. I delivered the singing Elvis gram to Paxton while you were in his office.” She slid the last bite of the banana cream pie between her lips and closed her eyes to savor it.

  Her face looked just like when she’d been under him and on the verge of orgasm and Kaz clamped his jaw tight as he grew hard at the memory. Focus, Kaz. Something about her revelation poked at him and he ignored his hard-on to narrow down what it was.

  “Hold up. How did you meet the Russian idiot in the first place?”

  Mira blinked at him with her beautiful, wide, hiddenite-green eyes. “I worked in his company. As an accountant. Technically, it was my company before his bought it out, but yeah, I’m a CPA and a darn good one at that.”

  An accountant with a photographic memory working for a front company for the Russian Mafia? Well, shit. He remained as calm as could be, even though his heart and mind were rushing ahead at light speed. “Did you ever tell anyone at the company about your memory?”

  “Nope.” She licked her fork, shaking her head. “I never even told Ivan. Most people find it weird, so I rarely tell people.”

  Holy hell. Kaz grabbed Mira, backed her up agai
nst the nearest wall, and kissed her. Of course the kiss flamed out of control. He couldn’t get enough of her. His hands sank into her soft hair and wrapped around her head and he dipped his tongue into her mouth. The touch, taste, and heat of her burned down through his gut to his cock.

  “This is wrong, but I’m so damn relieved.” He blazed a trail of kisses up her neck and along her jawline. “I know we agreed just friends, but God, Mira, you go to my head. Just give me a minute here.”

  “You can have all the time you need. Take five minutes. Or take me.” She ran her hands over his chest and tilted her neck, giving him better access. Her soft, sexy sigh did him in. “Take me right here up against the wall. I think friends can do that.”

  Kaz picked her up and carried her down the hall to his bedroom.

  “The wall was fine really.” She reached out her hands, pushed his shirt from his shoulders, and then moved on to the button fly of his jeans. “Really fine if I remember from the last time.”

  “No condom.” He pulled her T-shirt over her head, but she slipped out of her shorts before he could help. As soon as they were both naked they were in bed, lying face to face and touching each other.

  They couldn’t get enough of each other. Hands caressed warm skin. Lips nibbled soft, sensitive places. Muscles tensed and quivered on the edge of an emotional abyss and they made love to each other with hot, wild abandon.

  This time it wasn’t about worshipping each other or drawing out pleasure. No, this time was visceral and deep. It was about dodging a bullet and reinforcing life and giving in to gut feelings before reality had time to catch up. Letting the emotional and sexual conflagration flare between them, so fiery and exquisite it nearly singed their souls.

  After the last ripple of pleasure smoothed out between them, they lay together on the bed, Kaz’s overhead fan softly whirring, cooling down their heated bodies.

  Kaz kissed the top of her head, his hands softly caressing her, one on her breast and the other on her stomach. “I’ve got to get back to work.”