“We’re done. I’m done.”
“I’m not,” he said, but the sound of a car pulling up behind him sent him whirling around, and Kara didn’t miss the way he sheltered her with his body, ready to take a bullet for her, before he relaxed and turned back. “It’s our ride, and yes, we’re leaving—but be clear, Kara. We’re far from done with this.”
“You’re such an arrogant, bossy asshole.”
“If protecting you makes me an asshole, then I’ll happily be the biggest asshole of your life, sweetheart.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the alcove and toward the black sedan waiting on them, like she was his property. She wasn’t his damn property and he had her fuming.
Blake opened the back door for her and she wanted inside, she wanted a private room where she could blast him, once and for all, but just as he was about to slide in, he grabbed the lapels of his coat she was wearing and pulled her hard against him. “Just remember, Kara. I’m the asshole who’d die to protect you.”
He leaned in to kiss her and she nipped his bottom lip just hard enough to let him know he wasn’t in charge. His lips quirked, wicked heat and amusement dancing in his eyes. “You can take you anger out on me in bed tonight.”
“Who says I’m going to be in your bed?”
“Me, sweetheart. You can count on it. And me, Kara.”
“Yes,” she whispered, and she didn’t have it in her to hold back. “I can always count on you to fuck me, Blake, but that’s all you ever promise. I need more.” More than she believed he could give her after tonight.
“Blake, man,” the driver called out, a voice Kara didn’t recognize. “Come the hell on.”
Kara shoved out of Blake’s arms and he let her, and a silent part of her cried out in protest. He’d said nothing about her desire for “more”. Feeling like a wounded puppy, she slid inside the car and as far away from Blake as possible, shrugging out of his jacket and setting it between them.
Blake settled into the seat and shut the door. “Kara, meet our driver, Jesse. He works for Walker Security.”
Jesse lifted a hand. “For the record, I’m smarter than Kyle and Blake. I won’t get drugged. No toilet hugging for me.”
“Funny man,” Blake grumbled. “Just drive the car.”
Kara cringed. Obviously everyone knew about Kyle now. Of course they did. She’d have a bucket load of cranky men to face soon.
Jesse pulled the car away from the curb and Blake moved the jacket, scooting closer to Kara and pulling her tight against his side, his leg molding hers, his hand possessively on her knee. Tingling sensations raced up her thigh to her sex, and guilt twisted in Kara’s gut. How could she want a man who didn’t care if her sister lived or died?
Kara reached for Blake’s hand, intending to move it from her leg, only to have his fingers flex on her knee and her hand rest over his. The contact triggered a flashback of him telling her about Whitney’s death. She remembered the torment she’d seen in his eyes at least a hundred times, and she knew why. Guilt. He blamed himself for not saving Whitney. Kara squeezed her eyes shut, recognizing that her emotional pain over her sister had made her blind to his pain over Whitney tonight. Killing Alvarez was all Blake had lived for these past two years, and thinking back to the boat, he’d had plenty of chances to make that fantasy reality. But he hadn’t, and if he’d really intended to, he would have. God, she was such a fool. He’d contained that desperate need, for her.
Kara turned to face him. He seemed to have turned at the same moment, and his hands slid into her hair, framing her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her hands covering his. “I’m just…my sister and—”
“Make sure you can handle what ‘more’ means before you ask for it, Kara.” His mouth came down on hers, his tongue parting her lips, delving deep, and she tasted more than desire on his lips. She tasted absolute need in him, and that need was for her. And for just a few moments, she wanted to block out the world and lose herself in Blake. But the world didn’t like that idea.
Jesse cleared his throat. “Hate to break up the back seat loving, you two,” he said. “But we have company.”
Chapter Four
It had taken them an hour to outsmart whoever was following them. Finally, Kara entered the elevator of the hotel they’d rented a room in earlier in the day. Blake followed her inside. Kara leaned against the wall, taking off her shoes, while Blake punched in their floor and leaned against the opposite wall. Their eyes locked and held, and suddenly, the elevator shrank, and the kiss in the car, the unspoken words and mixed emotions between them that they’d let simmer while running from the cartel, flamed back to life. But neither of them spoke, and she wondered if he was as afraid as she was that they’d end up fighting over the next step in the investigation. And they would. They both knew they would. Before that happened, she wanted to make sure he knew she regretted her reactions tonight.
The elevator dinged and they made their way to their room, and still they didn’t speak. Blake swiped the key and pushed open the door and Kara bit her bottom lip, hesitating with the sudden realization that Kyle was probably still here. They weren’t going to be alone at all, and a fight was definitely about to ensue. She glanced at Blake and he nodded. “Yes. He’s still here.”
She inhaled and let it out. Blake arched a brow when she still didn’t move. “Afraid to face the music?” he asked.
“That about sums it up.”
“Once it’s over, it’s over,” he reminded her.
“Right,” Kara said. “And getting it over with sounds good.” She headed into the room and dropped her shoes by the door. A few more steps inside and she just about swallowed her tongue at the sight of Royce sitting at the hotel desk, his big, burly body making it look like it was meant for a toddler. Luke lounged at a small round wooden table, his MacBook open on top. This was so not good. She needed to be her best to fight this much Walker-bred testosterone, and she wasn’t.
Kara stopped beside the nightstand, not sure what to say or do. Blake stepped to her side, shrugged out of his jacket, and tossed it on the bed. “Where’s Kyle?” he asked.
“Next door,” Royce said, abandoning a surveillance setup Kara assumed to be of the hotel, and rolled his chair around to face her, motioning to the open adjoining room.
Luke snorted. “He prefers privacy while heaving up his guts.”
Kara cringed. “I guess he’s pretty sick?”
Luke surprised her by looking amused rather than angry. “Let’s just say that he won’t live this down anytime soon, but he’ll live.”
“Interestingly enough,” Royce said, fixing a hard stare on Blake, “so did Alvarez.”
Blake leaned a shoulder against the wall, looking as cool as if they were talking about the weather, not the man who had his fiancée slaughtered. “Unfortunately, he not only survived, he thought Kara looked familiar.”
Royce narrowed his eyes on Kara. And man, what a stare that man had. “And why is that?” he asked, making her feel like a school kid reprimanded by the principle.
Kara opened her mouth to defend herself but Blake didn’t give her a chance. “She looks like her sister,” he said flatly, as if he knew for certain. Kara whirled on him, and anticipating her move, he pushed off the wall and faced off with her, and once again beat her to the punch. “He recognized you, Kara.”
“I told you I don’t look like my sister,” she rebutted, barely keeping her voice down, a sign she really didn’t have control right now. No. He did. He had the control. These men she didn’t even know were taking her life by storm.
“Alvarez sure thought you did, sweetheart.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know,” Blake ground out. “And so do you. Your cover’s blown.”
“If my cover’s blown, Blake, then by association, yours is, too.”
“I inherited you from Mendez as far as the cartel is concerned.”
Kara grimaced. “Oh, please. You’ve made sure they all know I’m in y
our bed.”
“Fucking you and caring about you are two different things.”
The crass words hit her like a blow and Kara stepped backwards. Clearly her romance fantasies were just that. Fantasies. “Right. Thanks for putting it into perspective.”
“Kara,” he said softly. “You took that wrong. I wasn’t talking about reality.”
“No? It seems pretty realistic to me.”
“You know—”
“Don’t,” she bit out. “Not now. Not here.”
Luke cleared his throat. “As much as I hate throwing myself into the obvious war zone, I’m with Blake, Kara. Your cover’s blown.”
Kara threw her hands in the air and turned to Luke. “Do all Walker men think they know it all? You just got here and you weren’t with us on the boat. How can you possibly say my cover is blown?”
Luke turned his computer screen around and Kara sucked in a breath at a large picture of her sister filling the screen. Her heart ached just seeing Myla’s face, and her fist balled over the ache. Blake grabbed her hand and pulled her hard against him, her hands settling on his chest. “You don’t look like her?” he demanded.
She glared at him, all too aware of the similarities between her and Myla. “It was a risk I had to take—and don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done it, too.”
“A risk you won’t be taking again.”
The command in his voice splintered along her nerve endings and she wasn’t letting an audience silence her tongue. “Like you said, Blake, sweetheart, fucking me is not caring about me. It also doesn’t give you ownership over me, no matter how much you seem to think it does. And for the last time, stop manhandling me and let me go—or I swear to you, Blake, I will give you a knee that will make sure you don’t fuck anyone anytime soon.”
Luke barked out laughter and Blake’s eyes sharpened on hers, burning hot with anger. “We’ll finish this when we’re alone.”
“No,” Kara snapped. “We’re just finished, Blake. The end.” She couldn’t fight for her sister while on this rollercoaster of emotions he kept her riding.
“We aren’t even close to finished.”
“Kara!”
Kara jerked around at the roar of her name to find Kyle slumped in the doorway, his blond hair standing on end, his skin a kind of bluish color. “What the hell did you do to me?” he demanded before he gagged and disappeared back into the other room.
Male laugher followed him, but Kara didn’t think it was funny at all. She’d done what she had to tonight, for both her sister, and for Blake—but Kyle had paid the price. She tried to push away from Blake and go after Kyle, but Blake captured her arms, forcing her to look at him. “He’s pretty furious right now, Kara,” he warned.
“I can handle furious, especially when it’s deserved. And if you’re afraid I’m going to run out of the other door, I’m not. I know you’d come after me.”
“Yes,” he said softly, his eyes simmering with heat and promise. “I would and I’d catch you. Don’t forget that.”
He let go of her and Kara all but ran away, needing out of this Walker-filled room to get a grip on herself, but Royce didn’t let her. He stood up and stepped in front of her. “You’re a good agent, Kara,” he said, towering over her by about a mile. “You know when it’s time to let go of a cover.”
“If it were your brother—”
“I’d stay alive to keep fighting for him.”
Air rushed from her lungs. “I’m not giving up on my sister.”
“Neither are we.”
“Help us find her from behind the scenes,” Luke suggested. “You’ll know everything that’s happening.”
“We’re in this all the way,” Royce promised. “We would be no matter what, but you’re with Blake. That makes you family.”
A rush of unfamiliar emotions all but doubled Kara over. She wasn’t sure what impacted her more. Her doubt about being with Blake after tonight’s events or the use of the word family. She had no family. She wasn’t sure she had Blake. She wasn’t sure she had Myla.
A loud moan coming from the other room was the escape Kara claimed. “I need to go check on Kyle.” It was lame but it was all she had.
Royce stared at her another few seconds and then stepped aside. Kara wasted no time darting away, and damn it, her eyes were burning. She didn’t even know what she was feeling, just that it was powerful and she couldn’t control it any more than anything else lately, it seemed. What was it about Walker men that did this to her?
Inside the next room, Kyle was nowhere in sight and she kept moving toward the bathroom, needing to do something, anything, to keep from crumbling. Rounding the doorway, she found Kyle sitting against the wall between the toilet and the sink, head against the wall, eyes shut, knees lifted.
“Go away,” he groaned without opening his eyes.
Kara went to the tub and sat down. “You were screaming for me a few minutes ago.”
His lashes lifted and he fixed her in a bloodshot stare. “I fluctuate between capable of throttling you one minute to fantasizing about it while hanging over the toilet.”
“At least you have something to occupy your mind,” she said mildly, reaching for a soda on the sink and squatting down in front of him. “Drink. It’ll help.”
“You did hear the part about me wanting to throttle you, right?”
“Yes, but you’re less intimidating than three Walker brothers in one room, so I’ll take my chances. Drink.”
His brow furrowed. “I’m not sure how to take that, but I think you just insulted me.” He reached for the drink and gulped down several swallows before setting the can on the floor beside him. “You drugged me and now you come in and play nursemaid. Feeling guilty?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “But someone had to save Blake from himself.” And suddenly it occurred to Kara to be angry at Kyle and Blake’s brothers for letting him go after Alvarez. “Nobody else was doing it. You all just let him chase his death wish.” She started to get up but Kyle captured her arm and she grimaced. “What is it with you men manhandling me?”
“You think I’d let him go in there if I thought he was going to do something stupid?”
“You did let him.”
“He has himself in check. If I didn’t think so, I would have tied him down myself rather than let him go. Do you know about Whitney?”
“Yes.”
“Do you care about Blake?”
“Yes,” she said, and her chest tightened with the words, with her fear that Blake would go after Alvarez and end up dead. “Yes, very much.”
“Then recognize that if you’re with Blake, you’re with his past. It’s a part of who he is. Think about what Alvarez killing you would do to him. You shouldn’t have gone tonight.”
“You don’t seem to get it, Kyle. If I hadn’t have gone, he would have killed Alvarez and himself in the process.”
“Before he met you, yes. Now, no. I’m not buying that. Protecting you and finding your sister gave him a reason to live.”
“You weren’t there.”
“Did he kill Alvarez?”
“No, but—”
“Did he have the chance?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then I’m right. He’s in check. Before meeting you, Alvarez would have been dead the instant Blake set eyes on him.”
“He wanted to. He almost did.”
“But he didn’t. You shouldn’t have been there. You’re too close to this. You saved him, Kara. You brought him back to us, which is exactly why none of us are going to let you destroy him again.” He paled and let go of her arm to lean over the toilet. “Go. Get out of here.”
Destroy him? How and why would she destroy him? Kara backed away from Kyle and sat back down on the edge of the tub, waiting to ask those questions. When he sank back against the wall she handed him a towel. “You okay?”
He glanced at her and snatched the towel. “Can’t a guy throw up in peace? Why are you still here?”
“I wouldn’t hurt Blake.”
“Then don’t get killed. You die, you’ll take him with you.”
“I’m a federal agent, Kyle. I’m going to be in danger.”
“Believe me, I’m aware of that and so is he.”
Her hands went to the tub, steadying herself. “You think I’m bad for him.”
“I think you’re the best thing that could have happened to him.”
Baffled, she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“He’s going to struggle with your job, but he’ll get through it—if you help him. But damn, woman, wake up. Alvarez killed Whitney. How do you think the idea of Alvarez killing you affects him? If you die, he’ll die with you. We’ll find your sister. I’ll find her. You have my word. I will not stop until I do.”
Kara blinked at the vehement declaration. This man whom she barely knew was vowing to save her sister. So were Blake’s brothers. And she believed them. She wasn’t alone. She didn’t have to take insane risks with no backup. Because of Blake. Kara pushed to her feet, realizing there was actually one big risk she had to take.
Without another word to Kyle, Kara rushed out of the bathroom and tracked a path to the other room, ready to tell Luke and Royce to get lost, only to find them gone. Blake sat on the edge of the mattress, fixing her with a tormented look that tore at her heart. She pulled the door shut behind her and rushed toward him, falling on her knees in front of him. She took a deep breath and then made her confession. “Blake, I…”
Chapter Five
“…I love you, and I’ve never said that to anyone. If you don’t—”
Blake slid his hands into Kara’s hair, pulling her lips to his, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, and she tasted like the love she’d proclaimed, like sweet surrender and a chance at happiness he never thought he’d know again. But no matter how much he wanted happiness to be as easy as a confession, it wasn’t.
He tore his mouth from hers, staring down at her, this woman who’d pulled him from a certain grave. She loved him and it was heaven, but it was also a hell he couldn’t escape. They couldn’t escape. His thumb stroked her cheek. “I love you, too, Kara, but you need to know what ‘more’ means with me.”
Beneath the Secrets Page 3
