Midnight Surrender (A Paranormal Romance Anthology)

by Kris Kendall

  ****

  I lost Brad. I stopped to adjust my sandal and I asked Brad to wait, but when I’d straightened, I was the only one in the small clearing. He had kept moving.

  What an ass!

  “Brad!” I called. My voice echoed back at me.

  Behind me, something rustled.

  I whipped around. “Brad?”

  Shadows parted and a tall, lean figure emerged. The moonlight caught the smooth surface of leather pants and glinted off the medallion resting against a beautiful chest. The wind played through strands of shiny ebony. My heart stuttered.

  “Not quite,” he murmured, advancing on me.

  “H—how did you find me?” I was breathing hard. My heart was pounding. The surge of excitement startled me.

  His grin was devastating. “You’re not exactly stealthy.”

  “I was lost,” I whispered, feeling my cheeks flush.

  His teeth flashed in a crooked smile. “And now I’ve found you. I suppose you know what this means.”

  I shook my head, dizzy, so dizzy with a strange giddiness.

  “It means,” he was four steps away now and closing in fast, “that I get to keep you.”

  I clapped my hands over my mouth as the first giggle poured out, but in no way did that suppress the rest that bubbled up, boiled over. On impulse, a strange, unusual impulse, I snatched up my skirt, spun on my heels and bolted as if I had not a care in the world, as if acting so frivolous and flirty was something I did every day. It was weird, but I didn’t stop. I ran, jumping over fallen logs and dodging trees with an agility of a doe. You would think that I knew where every root, branch and stone lay in the pitch darkness. More than that, you would think I actually liked being chased, which I did. I loved it. I wanted him to chase me, catch me. I wanted so much to play this game with him, to be his prey. I wanted him to—

  I slammed headlong into something solid. Like a rubber ball off a brick wall, I ricocheted and would have hit the ground if I didn’t suddenly find myself grabbed and shoved up against a tree. I was instantly pinned by a lean body.

  YES! This! This is what I wanted. To be captured by him.

  “Game’s over, darling Nora. I win.”

  “Keane…” I should have been appalled by the weak whimper.

  He punctured his growl with a deliberate nip of his teeth against the unsteady pulse at my throat. “You’re mine now!”

  My lashes swept closed. Hot coals drifted through my bloodstream, burning me up inside while his heat scorched the outside. My lungs shuddered with every desperate snatch of air it could suck in. The shaky inhale-exhale ruffled the silence around us.

  What was I doing? What was wrong with me? This wasn’t right. I didn’t even know the guy.

  Yet the moment his lips moved east, my chin tilted, giving him my throat.

  “What are you doing?” I croaked, fighting for some shred of sanity, but finding it scattered beyond repair.

  “Making sure you keep your promise.” His lips made a torturous journey up my jawline.

  “What promise?” Why was it so hard to speak?

  He nipped lightly on my chin. “The one where you promised to stay if I found you.”

  I would have happily stayed there, against that tree, with him burning the skin off me with his lips, if that tiny spark of rationality hadn’t prickled at the back of my skull.

  “I can’t.” I felt his fingers tighten on my hips. I dampened my lips as he drew back to peer down into my face. “My dad… I can’t leave him. I’m all he’s got.”

  A dent formed between his eyebrows and his head dropped slightly to the side, confused. “But you promised.”

  It was insane! Where was logic? Where was that little voice telling me that this was ridiculous? Why wasn’t I shoving him away and telling him he was crazy if he thought I would actually stay there with him forever?

  “He needs me,” I whispered.

  “I need you.” The pain in his eyes cut me. I was reaching for him before I could stop myself. My fingers curled over his naked biceps. My nails anchored into the taut flesh, fear of him pulling away ripping inside me.

  “I can’t leave him.”

  “Can you leave me?”

  No! God no! The very thought had my fingers tightening and my heart aching. Tears burned my eyes.

  “Please don’t…” I bit my bottom lip, swallowing back the plea. A single tear slipped free.

  “Darling.” He smoothed the wetness away with the pad of his thumb. “Stab me in the heart with a rusty blade, but don’t cry.”

  I pressed a shaky hand to my brow. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  “Nothin’s wrong with ya, luv,” he sighed, leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Come on. I’ll take ya home.”