Page 17 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Cece

He didn’t shy away from my scrutiny. He held my stare like a man who had no fears, no secrets.

When his gaze grazed my mouth, my lips tingled with the memory of his kisses, and a shiver of desire ricocheted through me.

I had to postpone my microscopic analysis to deal with the heat flashing through me.

Fanning my fiery face, hiding my gaze behind my long bangs, I turned away and perused the cove’s stunning landscapes. Perhaps because I wasn’t thinking straight or paying attention to my plate, a chunk of garnished fish mixed in with my rice and made it to my mouth.

“Oh. My. Freaking. God.” I swallowed the bite, shoved another chunk of the succulent fish in my mouth, and, finding his stare, spoke with my mouth full. “You’re fantastic—I mean— this is fantastic!” I swallowed with a gulp. “I’ve never tasted anything as delicious as this!”

“A freshly grilled Hawaiian snapper is one of life’s simple pleasures.” He blinded me with his smile.

“Your fish is amazing.” I wolfed down the last bite of my sample size, and lifting my plate, turned my lips down and channeled my best Oliver Twist. “Please, sir, I want some more.”

His rich chuckles rewarded my efforts. God, I loved that sound. He served me a full fillet and a refill of rice, salad, and chutney. I admired the way he took such care as he served my food, the precision of how he positioned everything on the plate until it looked both pretty and delicious.

I gorged on the fresh food. Maybe I should’ve slowed down, but I was ravenous. A look of accomplishment gleamed in his eyes. As I stuffed myself silly, I spotted a hint of pride on his face. When I couldn’t eat another morsel, I slumped back in my chair and rested my hand on my stomach.

“Okay, so basic needs are now more than met,” I announced. “My tastebuds are thrilled.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” When his lips closed around his fork, I about lost it. I wished his mouth was busy with me instead of with his food.

Ah, shit . Another Cece-meltdown was in progress.

I refused to succumb to my horny and went back to the basics. “Thanks for this amazing meal. I’m not great at gratitude, but I mean it.”

Kai dipped his chin. “ Mahalo .”

“If that means thank you, then mahalo to you, too,” I said. “Now it’s time for you to explain.”

He crossed his utensils over his plate, took a sip of his water, and leaned back on the bench. “What would you like to know?”

I gave him my standard reply. “Everything.”

“That’s a ton of stuff,” he said. “Do you mind if I field strip my carbine while we talk?”

I shook my head. With easy, elegant movements, he got up and cleared the dishes from the table.

He left behind my glass and a bottle of water.

It was a guilty pleasure to watch him stack the plates and utensils.

It was an even guiltier pleasure to admire his fluid gait and his firm ass as he carried the dishes inside.

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

True to his word, he returned right away, ferrying a case in one hand and his cleaning kit in the other. He set up a portable stand on the table, opened the case, and perched his carbine on it before he laid out his cleaning tools.

“Oh, wait, I forgot something.” He went back into the cabin and came out carrying a rectangular bar wrapped in gold foil. He offered it to me.

“Chocolate!” I squealed like a tweenie at a Taylor Swift concert. “It’s my favorite!” I tore into the foil, broke off a chunk, popped it into my mouth, and let out a moan of pure pleasure. “So good. This brings back memories.”

He widened his smile. “Good ones, I hope?”

“Great ones.” I snapped another square off the bar. “My siblings and I used to raid the pantry and gorge on this at night.” I offered him the chunk. “Want some?”

“Thanks.” He wolfed it down in one bite before he turned his attention to his carbine.

Enjoying my treat, I watched as he took a moment to remove the magazine and inspect the chamber. He checked his weapon to ensure it wasn’t loaded before disassembling his rifle.

“How did you know that I loved chocolate, and that this was my favorite?” I relished the sweet cocoa melting in my mouth.

“Easy.” He separated the upper and lower receivers. “I asked Thena and Missy what kinds of things you liked.”

He’d asked my sisters what I liked. It was beyond the prep he’d need to do for a mission, a non-essential. It was… Kai-nice.

“I’ve got a stash in the pantry,” he revealed. “Raid it at will.”

This was the nicest thing anyone had done for me in a long time.

I gobbled another piece and observed him at work.

The precise movements of his hands confirmed he was an expert weapon handler.

His long, thick-knuckled fingers moved with the precision of a pianist. He reminded me of Nix.

The memory registered as a dull ache in my chest. How many times had I watched my brother clean his weapons when he was alive? Hundreds? Thousands?

“What kind of rifle is that?” I mumbled between nibbles. “It looks like one of Nix’s M4s, but it’s different.”

“You’re very observant.” He attached a bore brush to the cleaning rod, applied a small amount of solvent, and after inserting the brush into the barrel, scrubbed back and forth from chamber to muzzle.

“You’re looking at the newest, next-gen weapon to come out of BB’s labs.

We call it the BBMAX Spear, or the Spear for short. ”

My usual curiosity took charge. “Why the change?”

“BB is always pushing the tech edge.” He set the brush aside, attached a cleaning patch to the holder and ran it through the barrel just as he’d done with the brush.

“It’s the best way to outsmart and out-gun our enemies.

This is a more efficient and versatile combat rifle, capable of multiple conversions to adapt to a variety of battlefield conditions.

It’s also a more reliable water-immersible weapon.

That’s important to me.” He caressed the stock with a lover’s touch that made me jealous. “This baby here is one badass beauty.”

Even technical terms sounded sexy as sin when he spoke.

He might as well be whispering filthy words in my ear.

The movement of his hand as he inserted and extracted the long patch holder in the barrel hypnotized me.

In and out, in and out. Every time he pushed the holder in, my walls squeezed.

Every time he pulled it out, the breath swooshed out of me.

My sex grew damp. My panties were wet. If he kept at it for much longer, I was going to climax sitting in my damn chair.

“You okay?” he asked, startling me out of my erotic revelry.

“Yeah, fine.” I squirmed in my seat, pressing my thighs together. I didn’t feel hot and bothered. Not at all.

He looked up from the holder and flashed me a wicked grin. It was as if he’d read my thoughts. He’d said he had great hearing. Perhaps he could sense or smell my need?

The feral gleam that lit up his eyes pebbled my skin, and the devilish dimples that appeared on his face set me to burn as he continued the motion, slow but firm. There was something deliberate about the act now, provocative. Or maybe it was just my imagination?

As long as he was loving on his weapon, my pussy would not calm down, but I tried to dial down my arousal. I had questions, important ones. I folded the foil over what remained of the chocolate bar and settled it on the table. Ogling time was over.

“Tell me everything that has happened with my sisters since I left.”

“Where to begin?” he murmured while he continued to work on his carbine.

For the next half hour, I listened to Kai’s incredible tale.

I learned about Battle Brothers, Dash’s new Tracker Team, and my father’s murder.

Kai told me how Dash had received a letter from Father after his death, asking him to protect us from a mysterious assassin.

Dash had loathed Father, but he’d never stopped loving Thena.

He’d returned to her life to thwart her attempted murder.

If not for Dash, she’d be dead. Horror soured my stomach, but the news that Thena and Dash were back together tempered my fears. Those two deserved happiness.

My mouth went dry when Kai told me about my baby sister.

On a hunch from Thena, one of Tracker Team’s operators had located Missy in the nick of time.

It had been a harrowing ordeal, but Missy was now at Astor House, reunited with Thena.

As Kai spoke, my compulsion to go to my sisters grew.

They needed me, and I needed to protect them.

“Who’s responsible for murdering my father and trying to kill us?” I demanded.

Kai told me about the New World Order, about its leader, Xao Li, and the asshole’s vendetta against everything Astor.

“What about Affie?” I suddenly noticed he hadn’t mentioned her. “Where is she?”

“We don’t know,” he admitted with a frown. “But we’re looking.”

“Oh, God. Affie!” My voice quivered. “What if they found her? What if she’s dead?”

“If we haven’t found her yet, the chances that the NWO has located her are low.”

“They found me.”

“But I found you first,” he reminded me as he moved on to lubricate his weapon.

The act of lubricating his carbine almost dragged me back to a state of horny, but fear cooled my body and fury kept me on the straight and narrow. “If Affie dies, if any of my sisters are caught, hurt, or killed, it’ll be my fault.”

He looked up from his rifle and drew his eyebrows together. “Why?”

“ I was the one who came up with our plan to disappear.” My chest tightened. “ I broke us up and made us weak and vulnerable.”

“That’s your fear speaking.” Kai reassembled his rifle. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Back then, you were reacting to one kind of threat. You outsmarted your father and, for three long years, you succeeded.”