Page 15 of Kyle (Gold Team #3)

Why the hell did I feel like someone had kicked me in the stomach?

I was getting what I wanted. Wasn’t I? Camilla and Donny would need help safely getting the girls to the eastern side of the island.

I could see for myself they were being left in a good place.

That’s why I’d come back to Timor-Leste.

To rescue girls from Amisha’s, from the horrific things she was doing to them.

I wasn’t supposed to be behaving like some silly lovesick girl with a crush.

Hell, I didn’t even know what a crush was.

Boy, I’d been stupid letting my mind go there. Too inexperienced with men to know that Kyle had no interest in me. I read the situation wrong. He was just being nice to me because he was a nice guy, not because he’d felt the same connection I had.

So, so, dumb and very much out of character for me. But there was something about Kyle that put me at ease, made me want to open the padlocks I had around my life and invite him in. Not that it would work between the two of us. I was screwed up with a capital S and exclamation point after the P.

One look at Kyle told me he could have any woman he wanted, and he’d probably had a lot.

There was no way I’d be able to satisfy a man like him.

At this point, I didn’t even know if I could have sex anymore.

I’d allowed myself to slide so far into myself and detach from any physical interaction, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to pull myself back out.

A week ago, I’d been fine with that. It wasn’t like there was time for relationships and sex when I was spending all of my time helping other people.

But now, I wished I was normal. What would it be like to have Kyle just once?

Feel his muscled chest pressed against mine, without clothes this time. His warm body covering me.

I turned to my side and adjusted the pillow under my head. I should’ve been taking a nap, getting ready for tonight. There was a strong possibility I’d be awake for the next twenty-four hours. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about Kyle and how easily he’d gotten rid of me.

I picked my book back up and opened it to the beginning, hoping I could get lost in Susan Stoker’s fictional world where there’s always a happy ending.

Why couldn’t I be like one of her heroines? Strong and capable of overcoming all the shit that life piles on them. Why couldn’t I find my hero—possessive and growly and determined never to let me go?

Because it’s not real-life, you idiot. Men like that don’t really exist.

But if they did, Kyle Smith would fit the mold.

But he’d let me walk away. He hadn’t thrown me over his shoulder and carried me back to his mountain home. And that’s what he’d said he do if he found the right woman.

“Hey. Wake up.”

Someone was shaking me. My eyes popped open.

“Time to leave?” I muttered, and felt the bed compress behind me.

“No. You had another nightmare.”

Damn. It was no wonder the man wanted to get away from me as soon as possible. I was crazy.

“Sorry,” I grumbled.

“Want me to stay?”

I should’ve said no. My heart was already breaking, but in a few hours I’d never see him again. I’d have plenty of time to nurse my hurt but this would be my last chance to spend time with him. And damn if that didn’t hurt, it killed.

“Please.”

I felt more shuffling behind me, then his warm body molded against my back and his arm draped over my middle.

“Is this okay?”

His strong arm was trapping me to the bed, his hard body pressed against mine all the way down to his long legs tangling with mine. Yet I didn’t feel confined.

“Yes.”

“We have a few more hours. Go back to sleep.”

I didn’t want to sleep and waste what time I had left with Kyle, but exhaustion pulled me under.

Everyone’s mood had sucked when we’d left the house.

Something had changed with Kyle. He’d been up and ready to go before he came back into the bedroom and had woken me up.

He’d been polite but completely detached.

It was like a light switch had flipped and all traces of the man who’d held my hand or cuddled behind me were gone.

Now I was sitting in the passenger seat of a box truck that looked like it’d seen better days. I had no idea where Donny and Camilla had procured it and I hadn’t asked.

Neither Declan or Kyle had made time for pleasantries when I introduced them to the Riveras. They’d gone over the plan, asked if they had any questions, told all three of us to stay in the truck, and told Donny to keep the engine running.

Kyle and Declan had disappeared around the back of the house, and that was five minutes ago. Now I had sweat dripping down my back and I was getting antsier by the second. Donny was as cool as a cucumber, but Camilla was squished between us and she was bouncing her knee.

“Calm down, love, it will all be over soon,” he said to his wife and my heart squeezed.

I didn’t need to look over to know he’d placed his hand on her leg to make it stop moving. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the house Kyle had entered.

Everything was eerily quiet, too silent for this part of the city. I felt like everyone in the area knew we were coming so they’d stayed home and battened down the hatches.

Movement caught my eye as someone got out of the car, but didn’t slam the door closed. He gently eased the metal to the frame and didn’t latch it. Donny and Camilla had gratuitously sunk down in their seats. With the truck running, it was obvious someone was in it.

I watched as the man walked down the cracked sidewalk toward Amisha’s house. I held my breath as he continued up her small driveway, his head swiveling back and forth like he was looking for something.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

My hand went for the door handle and Camilla grabbed me. “No way, Anaya,” she whispered. “They said to stay in the truck.”

“I have to stop him. If he bangs on the door or rings the doorbell the guys will be screwed. ”

As silently as I could I creaked the truck door open, which meant the old hinges in desperate need of some WD-40 had probably woken up the neighborhood.

I crouched and waited but the man never looked my way.

Once he stepped foot onto the porch I took off across a yard and stayed behind the overgrown shrubs.

Damn, the man was too close to the door.

I darted from my hidey-hole, not sure what I was going to do to stop him from entering the house.

I was half a dozen steps from him when his attention came to me.

The front door opened, a figure dressed in black stepped through and the next thing I knew the man in black lunged forward.

His arm came up, and in one fluid motion came down, making contact with the would-be intruder’s throat.

I froze. One second my feet had been moving, the next they weren’t.

A set of very angry eyes came to mine and Kyle pulled his knife free, wiped the blade on his pants before he closed the knife and shoved it in his pocket. He did all of that without breaking eye contact.

Holy shit.

Something wholly sinister passed over Kyle’s features before he looked down at the man who was now sagging against his one-arm hold. With a shove, the man fell back and into the bushes that lined the porch.

“Get the fuck back into the truck,” Kyle growled.

Declan appeared behind him, three girls struggling as he herded them out the door.

Without thinking, I rushed forward—ignoring Kyle’s demand—and went to the girls.

“We’re here to help. You’re safe now.”

All three shook their heads and struggled.

“We’re Americans,” I told them in Tetum. “We’re going to take you away from here. You’re safe now. ”

Relief was stark on two of their faces but the third was still struggling with her decision.

“Come on.” I gestured. “We have to hurry. She won’t hurt you again.”

I tugged on the girl’s hand and she reluctantly followed. Camilla was already out of the truck and waiting.

“How many more are in the house?” I asked, still speaking in Tetum.

“Six,” one of the girls whispered.

“And next door?”

“I don’t know. Haven’t been there in a long time.”

I rushed back to the house to help Declan and Kyle. There was no way they were getting six more scared girls out of the house.

Declan met me on the porch and yanked me to a stop.

“It’s not pretty in there.”

“I’m fine.”

He let me go and I finally got my first look inside of Amisha’s House of Horrors.

The first thing I noticed was the smell. It was enough to knock you on your ass. Next, there was no living room, it had been partitioned off. I didn’t want to think about why that was, why she needed the extra rooms. I didn’t want to think about anything that had gone on in this house.

I glanced to my right and Amisha lay dead next to two men.

Blood surrounded the three on the already-stained floor.

I wouldn’t say I was filled with joy seeing them dead, but I did feel the rightness of their deaths.

She was gone. Amisha could never hurt a young girl again.

Kyle and Declan had made sure of it and for that I was grateful.

To my left, six young girls huddled together. Kyle was standing behind them, anger rolling off him. It was no surprise the girls were scared of him .

I repeated the same speech to the girls and coaxed them out the door.

With the nine girls in the back of the box truck, Camilla had gone back to the cab. I was getting ready to climb in so Kyle could lock us in, when he stopped me and pulled me close.

His strong arms wrapped around me so tightly all the air in my lungs whooshed out. He lowered his head and pressed his lips to my forehead.

“Be safe, Anaya.”

The gruffness of his voice made my eyes sting. This was it. I’d never see him again.

Why couldn’t I just tell him what I wanted? Why wasn’t I strong enough to ask him if I could stay with him?

“You, too, Kyle.” I rolled to my toes and brushed my lips against his.

I hadn’t meant for it to be more than that, but at the last second, I realized I’d never see him again and for once in my life I was taking what I wanted.

My tongue came out and licked the seam of his mouth, his came out and brushed against mine and fireworks exploded in my chest. One taste, that was all I’d ever have. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He held my eyes for a beat, conflicted and confused, before he cursed under his breath, then let me go.

With a small jump, I was in the back of the truck.

Kyle rolled the door down and I watched as he closed it, unable to look away as I lost sight of him. I heard the latch lock and I scrambled to the door, placing my hand on the metal. The truck jerked and we were moving.

He was gone.

My heart shattered.