Undercover With the Enemy
Page 23
Her heart pounded harder at his touch. It was as warm and strong as she remembered, and it took all her willpower to not wrap her fingers around his.
He continued, “I know I spooked you when I first saw Alyssa, and your mom told me about the other boyfriends before me and how they freaked out.”
“Thanks, mom,” Holly muttered.
“You’re welcome,” Sarah replied.
“I didn’t mean it,” Holly said.
“You will. Later.”
No, later, they were going to have a discussion about boundaries.
Kane squeezed her hand, drawing her back. “So, after talking to your friends and your mom, we all came to the conclusion that the only person running away from us is you.”
Betrayers. “How can you be so sure?”
“You haven’t seen me,” he said, “because you’ve been either at work or holed up in your apartment, but I’ve been here every day. Going to lunch. Hanging out. I needed to prove to them, you, and even myself that I can fit in here. That I am not freaked out by chaos. Or risks. Or you.”
Kane rose and pulled her to her feet. Then he kissed her knuckles, and when she met his steady gaze, she saw the truth in his eyes.
And she also saw more. And that ‘more’ terrified her. She’d had a hard time reading him before. What if she were wrong?
“Why bother?” she asked, dreading the answer but unable to stop herself.
“For someone who excels at reading people, you can be dense.” Letting her go, he dug into a pocket of the clown suit, retrieved a microphone, turned it on, and then guided her back to the ring.
Shaking, she turned to face the bleachers, not sure what she’d see in the faces of her family. The entire troupe—her family—filled the first rows. Dressed in a colorful array of Lycra, sequins, glitter, and ribbons, they sparkled in the setting sun, both outrageous and wonderful, all at the same time.
In unison, they gave her a thumbs up. Holly smiled. “How long have they been practicing the timing on that?” she asked, her voice amplified.
“Since I predicted this would happen two weeks ago,” her mother shouted. “Now get on with it.”
“Now I know where Holly gets her patience,” Kane teased, making the troupe laugh.
When they calmed, he pulled her close. “I’m not going to lie,” he began, his deep voice booming through the air. “The way you risk your life makes me nervous, but I also know that you can take care of yourself. I only ask one favor.”
“What’s that?”
“That when things go wrong, and they will, that you let me be the one at your side to help.”
He didn’t say leader. “You don’t want to be the boss of me?”
“Well, sometimes,” he replied, his voice only half-serious. “But mostly, I want to be your partner.”
He cleared his throat. “I love you, Holly Milano.”
He loved her? “Wait? What?”
“You heard me.” He put the microphone closer to his lips. “I love you. I love your entire, crazy family. I even love the smell of sawdust.”
“You love me?”
He shook his head. “Dense. Really, really dense,” he teased. “But I love you even in spite of that.”
He loved her. It didn’t feel real, yet here he was in clown makeup, standing in the twilight, and telling her that very thing. In front of her family.
He let her hands go long enough to tilt her chin up. “I love you. Now, are you going to say it back, or do I have to make Mr. Wiggles actually do something because that might take a while.”
He loved her. “I don’t think I can wait that long.” Rising on her toes, she kissed him. “I love you, too,” she whispered against his mouth, just so he could hear it.
“Say it so they can hear it, or they’ll never let us leave,” Kane whispered back, handing her the mic.
She turned it off and tossed it. “We’re in love,” she shouted, loud enough for anyone and everyone to hear.
The clapping started, and Kane picked her up in his arms, swinging her in a circle until she threw her head back, giddy as she shouted the words again, not caring who heard as long as that “we’re” included Kane.
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About the Author
Sharron McClellan always planned to be a writer of some sort. However, when she went to college, she took journalism and creative writing, and sadly, the teachers sucked the love of writing out of her. So she turned to her next love–science. At first, she wanted to be a marine biologist, but there was the whole shark issue. Frankly, they freak her out.
Instead, she discovered the joys of playing in the dirt—a profession more commonly known as archaeology. For years, she focused on excavating ancient sites that included projectile points, burn pits, and the occasional burial.
Her focus returned to writing when she took a position during the archaeological off-season and ended up answering phones for Princess Cruise Line, a.k.a.The Love Boat. Which, when you consider she writes romance, is somewhat ironic. It was during that time that she took to reading romance. It wasn’t long before she fell in love with the genre and returned to her first love—writing.
Five years later, she sold her first book. Five years after that, she landed at Entangled Publishing—Huzzah!
Today, she lives in San Diego, also known as the City of Perfect Weather. She has an awesome husband who supports her passion for the written word in every way possible. They both love to travel, so don’t be surprised to find locales they’ve visited appearing in Sharron’s books, and pictures popping up on her website: www.sharronmcclellan.com. It’s a big world—both in her head and out there!
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