Kara and I share a second’s worth of silent but potent energy. Jesse has no idea how perfectly he’s matched the words to the moment—nor can he ever. As badly as I yearn to share the complete truth with my favorite science dork on the planet, dragging him into this danger isn’t an option. None of it is his fight to wage or his risk to take.
“Come on.” Jesse shakes his head with familiar fascination. “Help a guy out here. How does that happen? I don’t need the masters dissertation. Just some basics…please?”
Unfortunately for him, his curiosity won’t be satisfied tonight. While I still don’t know what fuels Kara’s ocular bonfires, I’m pretty damn sure the Valaris are her special kerosene tonight. I don’t want to be right, but I am.
“Ssshhh,” I murmur, sliding a hand across the back of her head. “It’s going to be all right, beautiful.”
“It won’t be if I can’t turn it off.”
“You’re exhausted, and your psyche keeps getting pounded on.”
“Well, I can’t exactly lie down here and grab a nap.” She jolts up her head as soon as my answering pause speaks for itself. “Maximus,” she chides. “You aren’t—”
“Oh, I definitely am. Come over to the couch.”
“Maximus—”
“I’m not asking, Kara.” Though I do issue the decree with the same courtly swagger that enchanted her earlier. Thankfully, it works this time too. With a smitten little smirk, she allows me to guide her around to the front of the furniture. “Fifteen minutes. That’s all I’m asking. Close your eyes and calm your mind. Give me nine hundred little seconds here.”
I leave out the reiteration that she really needs it. I’m not going to insult the woman’s intelligence. She’s fully capable of observing the reflection of her gaze inside mine. But I also leave out the caveat that if she passes out for fifteen hours, I’ll protect her every minute like a goddamned Doberman.
She opens her mouth again but clamps it shut with a resigned sigh. Her capitulation probably has more to do with the sight of the couch’s huge cushions instead of my insistence, but I don’t care. I’m only happy to help out, kneeling to ease off her sparkling high heels as she sinks deeper into the soft haven.
“You’re sticking around, right?”
“Like a corny lullaby, baby.” I grab a plush blanket from the back of a big bucket chair and swoop it over her. As soon as I do, she rolls to her side and tucks her hands beneath her cheek.
“I suppose ten minutes won’t…be a…prob…lem…”
Her words are barely whispers, tapering off into a sleepy little hum. I take in a huge breath, letting peace wash over me for the first time since our stolen kisses after class yesterday afternoon. For at least the next ten minutes, my precious little demon is safe. Fate’s brought Christmas morning a few months ahead of time.
“Is she really out?”
Jesse’s query has me looking over to his new position, next to one of the luxury bucket chairs. I walk over and drop against the U-shaped cushion. “Yeah. I think so.”
“Well, color me impressed.”
Though he’s still fixing his stupefied look Kara’s way, I shake my head. “Color me the idiot boyfriend who made it impossible for her to sleep last night.”
My buddy swings his head around, eyes narrowed. “And that’s a bad thing…why?”
“Because I was passed out.” I have the grace to grimace. “And, I think, snoring because of it.”
Jesse chokes on thin air. “Passed out? As in blotto? Trashed? Hammered?”
“All of the above.” I grimace. “And probably a few more.”
“And I thought the girl with the forest-fire eyes would be my freakiest takeaway from the night.”
I pull at the tie holding my hair in its tidy queue. If I’ve still got ten more minutes of a break, comfort is feeling damn important. “I’m thanking you ahead of time for keeping that little freaky fun fact tucked into the confidential file, man.”
“Of course.” He’s got a smirk at the ready but saves whatever tease is hiding behind his lips. “You’re really in it with this woman, aren’t you?” He’s as locked in to this truth as any scientific statement.
I raise my head. Clench my jaw. “In it? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know damn well what.”
He’s got me and he knows it. We both do.
I grit out a soft curse and rake back my hair again. Jesse loosens his steepled fingers.
“It’s…complicated,” I admit after a pause that stretches far too long.
He tosses back his head and groans. “You did not just go there.”
“Did it. Meant it. And believe me, you don’t want to know how complicated.”
“How about you try me?”
“How about we pretend you didn’t ask?”
“It’s a simple question, Kane,” he rebuts. “Are you in love with her or not?”
“Tea is for savoring, not spilling,” I mutter.
“I’m not asking for all the dirty details, though you know I won’t turn them down. But right now, I’m asking one simple question. How do you actually feel about her?”
I crisscross my own fingers. A better option than letting him see my full stew. “Simple question,” I concede. “But not such a simple answer.”
An admission I had no trouble giving Reg and Mom this afternoon. But would I have spewed it so easily, knowing Mom would nearly faint and Reg would be dialing up her version of the National Guard?
Not that Jesse will resort to either. The man knows my entire romantic dossier. Now he has confirmation of just how different Kara is, in more ways than the obvious. With more intimate intel on top of that, he’ll insist on helping in every way he can—including, but not limited to, facing any of my divine relatives or diving into hell itself by my side. Because he’s Jesse. My ride or die.
The man has one of the most brilliant minds I know. He’s undoubtedly ascertained that I’m protecting his intrepid ass. Doesn’t mean he’s happy about it. Not by a far stretch. He makes that clear as blood on glass with his defeated snarl.
“So that’s how it’s going to be now? Out with simple Max. In with fabulous, famous, ‘complicated’ Maximus?”
“Jesse.” It’s far from the apology I intend or the one he deserves. But my system’s a hive of stress and fear, giving birth to more anxiety by the second. It’s my only constant right now.
“It’s fine.” From somewhere in his trendy jacket pockets, he pulls out the long, sticky plastic rope that’s his version of a stress ball.
“It’s not fine,” I argue. “But it’s just the way things have to be for a while.”
“I get it.” He whips the wide end of the rope, landing it to the back of another bucket chair with a soft thwack. “Optics. Branding. You have to stay red carpet ready, after all.”
“Damn it. None of that is relevant to this.”
“Says the guy who’s been holding court in McCarthy’s living room in a pretty custom suit?”
“Yeah,” I counter. “Exactly that guy—who knows it’s often easier to hide in the light than the shadows.”
“Hiding!” Jesse’s so baffled, he nearly pitches it into a question. “What the hell from?” He’s unnervingly quick about reading the new strain in my posture. “Or who the hell from?”
I push out rough air from my nose. “I met my father.”
For possibly the first time ever, the guy goes totally speechless. Doesn’t stop him from trying for words, though—and eventually they come out in a croak I’ve never heard from him before.
“You’re absolutely serious.”
“I absolutely am.” It’s not a revelation I’d planned on feeding him, but it’s enough to dazzle him out of asking for anything more. I hope.
“You really know how to toss a guy into the centrifuge, buddy.” He shakes his head slowly, like that’s exactly what just happened. “You must’ve been tripping.”
“Just a little,” I deadpan.
&nbs
p; “So…when? And where? Did Kara have anything to do with it?”
“Yes and no.” I deliberately skirt his other queries. He’s already gotten the juice from the main bombshell. Details would be the equivalent of escorting him into the nuclear reactor. “Apparently our families have some connections. Mutual friends, so to speak.” It’s a stretch, but I’m trying like hell to use language Jesse will understand on this one.
“No kidding. So does she like him? Do you? What’s he like? And where the hell has he been all this time?”
I wince. “That brings us back to the complicated part.”
“Of course it does,” he grouses.
“I’m sorry. I wish we could go home, order a pizza, and inhale it while I give you every detail.”
“But then you’d have to kill me?”
I crunch a frown as my whole gut twists. “It wouldn’t be me, man.”
The guy’s genius brain picks up exactly what I need it to. I know it as fact the moment his face pales and he drums all ten fingers against his wheels. “Well, fuck.”
“That’s become one of my favorites lately too.”
An uncomfortable moment stretches by. I’m still racking my brain for subjects other than the themes that have taken over it. Discovering—and dealing with—my family. The intricate politics of Kara’s whole clan. The impact of all this on Mom and Regina. Figuring out a new normal beneath the glare of paparazzi lenses—and the more vexing flare of Hades’s fixation.
I lower my elbows to my knees and then my head into my hands. But I’m not there for long, because I’m saved by my woman’s adorable little sigh. I return to her side on the couch as she blinks in sleepy confusion.
“Maximus? Where am… Oh.” She interrupts herself once her gaze takes in the rest of the room. “Oh, yeah. I’m…here.”
I run my knuckles down the side of her face. While I’ve memorized every one of her expressions already, nothing takes the place of getting to relearn them with my own touch. “Feeling a little better?”
While she’s stunning, she’s not vibrant. Her attention seems foggy. Her lips are pressed and pale.
“Kara?” I prompt when nearly a minute goes by without her reply.
“I’m okay,” she says at last.
“You sure about that?”
“It’s just a headache,” she murmurs. “Honestly, Maximus. Stop stressing. I think I just need some fresh air.”
She gentles her grip on my wrist and flows her fingers across the back of my hand. At once, all my fingers are rays of perfect warmth. Even my palm burns like the sun creating those rays. No matter how many times this happens between us, I’m struck as if it’s the first sunrise—or lightning jolt, or energy surge, or brush fire—she’s ever pushed into my blood. Like all those times, I never want it to end. I never want us to end. Even the consideration of that possibility shreds my mind to violent purpose and my senses to unthinking fury. Which, of course, she’s honed right in on.
“Maximus?” she asks sheepishly.
“Yes, beautiful.” I gently kiss her knuckles. “You’re right. Outside is a grand plan.”
A smile teases the edges of her lips. It has to be the most perfect sight of my night.
Correction. That honor goes to the look on her face as she swings her legs over and pushes all the way back to her feet. The second she’s there, she grabs my hands and draws me up too. “I was really hoping you’d say that.”
“Because…?” I purposely lead her with the comeback. She looks a little too eager for a stroll around the pool deck and gardens, despite how prettily they’re lit up tonight.
“Because we’ve been invited to another gig.”
I stop. “Tonight?”
“Umm…yeah.” She’s sheepish again, but I’m much fonder of this version, especially when she adds, “Out at the beach. Jaden and a friend are throwing a party in Malibu. I’d really like to go.”
“Your brother?” It’s a no-duh question, but it spills out anyway.
“Well, he’s definitely not here,” Jesse comments. “I’d have noticed his name on the auction sheet for the VIP afternoon at the Porsche test track.”
I crunch a frown while realizing the same thing. “How’d he get out of this gig?” I ask Kara.
“Because he’s sly. Rerek Horne is co-hosting the bash, and he’s supposedly invited some major casting agents, so Mom let it slide.”
“Who’s Rerek Horne?” I live in a book bubble, but I also live in LA. I have a decent working knowledge of Hollywood’s movers and shakers. This one isn’t familiar.
“A family friend,” she says, exposing more truths in her simplicity than I probably want. “He moves more…discreetly…than most.” Despite her cagey phrasing, an impish grin takes over her mouth. “It’s all about the grip and grin, remember?”
“Well, I like gripping.” I demonstrate just that by lowering my hands to the sweet curves of her hips. “And I’m sure, with proper motivation, I could be talked into grinning.”
“Motivation, hmm?” She tiptoes up to press a breathy, sexy kiss to my cheek.
“On that note, I’m so gone.” Jesse maneuvers his chair into a fluid one-eighty. “I need to go slam some peaty scotch. Something to wash out all the sugar that’s flowing in here.”
Kara giggles quietly into my bicep. When she comes up for air, she sends a dazzling smile Jesse’s way. “I’m sure Jaden and Rerek have plenty of scotch flowing at the party,” she offers. “And he wouldn’t mind us bringing—”
“A third wheel?” Jesse jibes back. “Thanks, but I’ve got two fine ones of my own right here.” He balls up his sticky snake toy and tucks it back into his pocket. “But you two kids get out of here and go have some fun. Build a sandcastle in my honor.”
“Sure. That’s totally going to happen,” I jibe. “Seriously, though. You should try to swing by. I’ll message you the address.”
“Aw. You do love me.”
I smirk. “If you say so, man.”
Despite our banter, Jesse’s parting wave is noncommittal. But I secretly hope he’ll make the trek to Malibu. Tonight hasn’t exactly been low-key, and I’m not totally sure what to expect at Jaden’s party, especially because Kara still seems to harbor mixed feelings about attending. While I hope my instincts are off and this gig will be weirdness of the standard Hollywood kind and not the unpredictable underworld kind, Jesse’s never failed to be the best kind of social backup.
My friend wheels from the room, leaving the door open in his wake. My attitude sobers once I refocus on the gorgeous demon at my side.
“How are you doing?” I ask her with husky concern. “You feel up to leaving now, or do you want to rest a little longer here? I can bring you another plate of food if you’re still hungry.”
Kara lifts her face, full of adoration, as she scratches gentle fingers into my beard. “I’m ready when you are, Professor. Besides, I’m in the mood for some trashy party food.”
I answer her tease with a longer, deeper kiss. She tastes so damn good and feels even better, wrapped tight and close against my thrumming body. I suddenly wish my powers extended to teleportation and I could beam us onto the Malibu sand this second.
When I finally—and reluctantly—let her go, I ask, “Do you need to check in with Veronica before we go?”
Kara crinkles her nose with luscious precision. “Last time I checked, Mom was holding court just fine on her own. But I do need to grab my purse—and one more party favor.”
“Party favor?”
But I’m left hanging with my puzzled words as we approach the mansion’s front foyer and she sashays off with a mischievous wink. I walk to the wide front drive and hand off a ticket to the valet. I imagine Kara reemerging with everything from a kiddie party bag with candies and toys to something like the designer gift satchel she brought home from the Piper Blue movie premiere.
She comes back out with neither.
Instead, after I help her into the truck, she pushes a mylar-wrapped rectangle
into my grasp.
“Don’t tell me to take it back in,” she says. “You and that book are meant for each other.”
“What the… Kara?” I manage to stutter around the giant ball in my throat.
Though I hold Harper Lee’s words like the rare treasure they are, I cup the face of my women with even greater care. “Well, don’t tell the book this,” I whisper. “But I’ve already found the one I’m really meant to be with.”
Her light laugh is the best jewel of my night. I draw it into me, stringing it onto the sparkling strand in my soul, by taking her lips with a consuming sweep of mine. I don’t stop until she’s trembling, sighing, and grabbing at my clothes with her addictingly ferocious force. It’s several minutes before we drag apart. I’m lost in her scent and softness and hooded, seductive eyes.
And now, her sinfully sexy voice, as well.
“Stow that book and start driving, Professor,” she dictates against my lips. “Before we get into a lot of trouble in your boss’s front driveway.”
Chapter Twenty
Kara
Low-key R&B tunes coming from the truck’s speakers match the shift in the evening’s mood. Maximus and I are both quiet for a while, savoring the feeling of not having to be on anymore. The break also gives me a chance to sort out my thoughts. Well…half-thoughts. Snippets of conversation I wasn’t supposed to be overhearing though unintentionally did. Because I was napping and not full-on dozing, despite how I convinced Maximus otherwise. Because of the subject matter that ensured I had to hang on to at least half my consciousness.
You’re really in it with this woman, aren’t you?
What’s that supposed to mean?
You know damn well what.
It’s complicated.
It’s a simple question, Kane. Are you in love with her or not?
He hadn’t said no. But he definitely hadn’t said yes.
Staring at the angles of my lover’s profile, made even more beautiful and bold when we zoom beneath streetlights, isn’t helping me discern the answer any clearer. And unlike Jesse, it’s not like I can just ask. Not right here and now.
But why not? I don’t need a choir of angels and a bower of roses. This moment, with summer wind in the air and his fingers linked in mine, is better than any of that fanfare. He has to know at least that much by now. He also has to know, in more than a few corners of his instincts, that my heart’s tumbled as deeply into this fire as his.
Heart of Fire Page 18