Page 10 of When He Fights (Protector & Defender #3)

Chapter Four

“I am going to kill him. If he’s fucking her, he’s a dead man.” Kane’s breath shuddered in and out. In and out. He paced to his bike, spun on his heel when he reached the motorcycle, and stalked right back to a watchful Gray. “ Dead. ”

“Yeah, so, first, calm down.”

Kane snarled at him. He reached his friend and, immediately, Kane turned on his heel and began to march back for the bike.

“Second, and, you know, stop me if you’ve heard this before, but… don’t threaten to kill people in front of a Fed. Even if the Fed is your BFF.”

Kane had reached the motorcycle. His back teeth clenched so hard that his jaw ached.

He’d waited too long. He’d stayed away too long.

And, dammit, what the hell had he thought would happen?

That she would put herself in some freaking sexual isolation for two years?

Just because he hadn’t fucked anyone since he’d last seen her, that didn’t mean she hadn’t gotten involved with someone else.

I will kill the sonofabitch. Kane spun away from the motorcycle.

“I think I should give you a third because you didn’t listen to items one and two, did you? Okay, here we go. Third, she didn’t say she’d fucked him.”

Kane stopped mid-stalk.

“I mean, Ana didn’t say she hadn’t, either, so I’m not saying go get your hopes up. I’m saying…well, go back to items one and two. Calm down and stop threatening to kill the new guy.” Gray shrugged. “We both know you’re not gonna kill some stranger just because he’s sleeping with Ana.”

Uh, no. They did not both know that fact. Gray was seriously underestimating the rage and dark jealousy flowing through Kane’s veins. “You told me that I had to pull her out of hell.”

“Yes. You did that for Ana once before, and I want you to do it again. Look, a cover story change is not a big deal.” Gray advanced toward him. “So you don’t play the role of her boyfriend. Whatever. You can be her cousin.”

The man was not serious.

Gray’s voice turned thoughtful. “Maybe even her stepbrother.”

“Are you shitting me right now?” Her brother?

“This could work.” Now Gray was fully enthusiastic. “A family member would have the same all-access pass to her life. And she could keep the current boyfriend she has and go about her business. Perfection in motion.”

“The hell it is.” He stood toe to toe with his friend. “I’m not her cousin, and I’m not her fucking brother. ”

“Stepbrother,” Gray corrected. “Because the two of you look nothing alike. No one would buy that you’re biological siblings.”

Kane couldn’t speak. A low growl built within him.

“I thought you had this under control.” Gray’s voice dropped. “You let her go. You stayed away for two years. I don’t get it. If you wanted her so badly, how the hell did you walk away in the first place?”

Because I had to do it for her. She was just getting away from one twisted sonofabitch. She needed to stand on her own. To make sure she wasn’t just tied up with adrenaline and fear and…

“You didn’t trust her, did you, Kane?” Even softer. “She offered you a life with her on a silver platter. Maybe it was every dream you ever wanted.”

Ana was every dream that he’d ever wanted.

And she was dating someone else. Sonofabitch.

“You figured she’d change her mind. Is that what happened? Or maybe you just didn’t realize how badly you wanted her, not until she was gone.”

“I knew how badly I wanted her the moment we met.” Flat.

Gray jerked in surprise.

Oh, what? Had his friend thought that Kane would keep denying the truth?

Not happening. “I wanted her the minute I saw her. But you had assigned me to protect her. The job was to keep her alive. Not to lust after her. Not to fuck her.” Not to fall in love with her.

He shut down the thought as soon as it whispered through his head.

“She was being hunted by her ex-lover. She was scared and desperate, and Ana needed someone she could trust. So I became that someone. I didn’t cross lines. ” Except for the last night. And then…

I wanted to do so much more.

Kane’s chin lifted. “She’d been with a monster already. She needed a shot at a normal life. I’m many things, but normal isn’t exactly how most would describe me.”

“You’re dangerous.”

Kane grunted.

“Territorial. Possessive as hell of things that belong to you.”

Another grunt. Because Gray was not wrong in his description.

“You’re a vicious fighter.”

Again, true.

“You’ve killed, and you’ve hunted and you’ve done the bloody, violent jobs that no one else could handle in this world.”

All reasons why he should not have crossed lines with Ana.

“But you don’t kill innocent people. So I know that despite the BS swagger you’re throwing around, you won’t kill the man Ana is fucking.

Not that I think she’s fucking him,” Gray rushed to add.

“If she was fucking him, though, I think you’d just want her happy.

You’d back off. You wouldn’t destroy the man. ”

Kane just stared at him.

“You wouldn’t,” Gray denied.

Aw, that was cute. It sounded as if Gray was trying to convince himself of that very important fact.

“Dammit, just don’t, okay?” Gray groused.

“Don’t kill him. Do go back to having ironclad control.

You don’t want to play her stepbrother, then fine, we’ll figure something else out.

The point is that I need a protective detail that can remain very, very close to her.

There was chatter earlier from my sources that made me think an attack on her might be imminent.

Even before Ana called me—FYI, she saw the story of Logan’s escape on the news, and that’s what led to her panic—but even before the call, I was going to contact her.

Because red flags are waving. Something is about to go down, and protection has to be close.

” He glanced around. The area behind the house was dead quiet.

“If you can’t handle this, then I need to know, immediately.

You can ride out right now, and I can stay with her until another guard can be brought in.

But if you’re leaving, then go. She needs help, not some domineering asshole who is going to threaten to wreck the whole case. ”

Kane’s heart drummed too fast and hard in his chest.

“Don’t see you riding out,” Gray noted.

“Fuck yourself.”

Gray laughed. “You’re gonna protect her.”

“I did it before, didn’t I?”

“You’re gonna keep your control.”

Maybe. That part was still up for debate. “I can do the job. I can eliminate threats to her.”

“And you are not going to kill the guy she’s dating?”

Kane rolled back his shoulders. “I’m not going to pretend to be her freaking stepbrother or cousin.”

“Well, she already has a boyfriend, so you can be her platonic friend who?—”

“I’m the ex who is here to fight for her.” Oh, hell, yes, he was. Warming to the new role, he continued, “The ex who never got over her and will do anything to win her back.” He shouldered past Gray. Strode for the house. For Ana.

“Yeah, okay,” Gray agreed from behind him. “That might work.”

“Ana, I know it’s last minute, but I just got tickets to the concert at that rock casino in Biloxi tonight,” Turner Mitchell told her.

Turner. The man she’d gone out on two and a half dates with in the last month.

Turner, a nice guy who owned a taekwondo studio down the corner from the Gulfport Aquarium—the aquarium where she taught her yoga classes.

He’d flirted with her for about three months.

Had asked her out several times before she’d finally agreed to coffee.

She counted the coffee as their half date.

Then they’d gone to dinner. And dancing.

Two and a half dates.

Unfortunately, after finally getting back into the dating game, there had been zero chemistry between them. He’d touched her, held her hand, kissed her, and she’d pretty much felt like she was in cold storage.

Ana had already planned not to keep seeing him because, well, what was the point when she hadn’t felt like the relationship was going anywhere?

She’d wondered if, because of everything that had happened before, perhaps she just couldn’t respond the same way any longer.

After having a lover who turned out to be a brutal killer for the mob—a man who’d come after her and nearly killed her, trust was a major issue.

Without trust, intimacy just didn’t seem possible for her.

Then Kane had appeared, he’d touched her, and that sensual surge had flooded through her veins.

So maybe it’s not about trust and intimacy and…dammit, maybe I just am not attracted to Turner. I don’t respond to him the same way that I do Kane.

Or maybe she just was still hung up on Kane.

Perhaps it was some freaking hero complex situation. Kane had saved her life. She’d gotten obsessed with him.

Liar, liar… A low voice whispered through her mind. You were obsessed even before he saved you.

She ignored the voice. Gripped the phone tightly and tried to figure out how to respond to Turner.

But it was just—she hadn’t been able to fully relax with Turner. To let go. And maybe it was because she was lying about her life or maybe he just wasn’t the one for her.

No maybe about it. Definitely not the one.

“The tickets were given to me by a friend,” Turner told her. “Thought we could take in the show tonight.”

At the rock casino. Right. Check. A line of casinos waited down the way in Biloxi, Mississippi, about a twenty-minute drive away from her home on the shoreline.

Each casino had a different theme, and the one Turner was talking about had been decked out in extreme rocker style.

The casino had an attached hotel and a large theater for shows.

Her phone had rung shortly after Kane and Grayson went out for their air. As if their talk had summoned him, the caller had been Turner.

And he wasn’t quite her boyfriend. Maybe she’d exaggerated that part. As far as fucking him? Nope. Definitely had not happened. Would not happen.

“I remembered you saying that you liked the band.” He rattled off the name.

She frowned. She did like that band, but for the life of her, Ana couldn’t remember telling Turner that fact.

“So when I got the tickets, I thought, hey, Ana would love these.”

“Ah…” She needed to think of an excuse, stat. One that did not involve her saying… Can’t go. Sorry. A killer may be coming after me.

The back door opened. She turned to see Kane filling the doorway.

“I’m the ex who is here to win you back,” he told her with a grim nod.

She nearly dropped the phone. It did slide and wobble, but her fingers clamped around the device even as her eyes widened.

“I’m not available tonight,” she rushed to say into the phone.

Had Turner overheard Kane’s words? She’d certainly heard them, all loud and clear.

“An…an old friend came to town,” she explained quickly.

Kane walked into the kitchen.

Grayson followed on his heels, shutting and locking the door. “Platonic friend for the win,” he said.

Kane shot him a glare.

“My friend is visiting now,” she told Turner as her gaze darted between Kane and Grayson, “so I can’ t make it. Sorry.”

“Oh.” Turner’s disappointment was clear. “That’s okay,” he rallied. “There will be plenty of other shows. I’m sure we can catch one of those.”

Ana wasn’t about to make any promises. “Thank you for the invitation.” Very polite. “I hope you have a great time.” She tossed out a few other pleasantries before ending the call. Her fingers still had a too-tight grip on the phone when she lowered it to her side.

Kane’s expression could still have been cut from stone.

“That him?” Kane wanted to know.

“Yes, that was Turner. He had tickets to a concert tonight. Wanted to see if I was available.”

“You’re no one’s last-minute choice.”

She knew her eyes had to be huge. “What is happening here?”

He closed in on her. All big, intent, and, yep, that hot gaze of his seemed possessive. “Your ex is back in your life.”

Was he talking about her murderous former lover? Because she’d gotten that point, yes. Logan had escaped and was apparently hell-bent on her destruction. The news every woman longed to hear. Not.

“Me.” Kane’s hand touched his chest. “I’m the ex who is back and ready to fight for my second chance with you. Me. That’s the story we’re spinning. The reason I’m back in your life. You can share it with that Turner jerk and with anyone else who might be asking.”

Her gaze immediately flew over to Grayson. Now his words made sense. She nodded. “I’ll choose the platonic friend role, thanks.”

Kane reached out. His fingers curled under her chin.

A shiver skirted over her because—of course—that flood of sensual energy pulsed right through her at his touch.

Kane leaned toward her. His heat and that tempting, masculine scent swept out to wrap around her as he rasped, “Sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t think that role is gonna work for me.”

She pressed up onto her tiptoes. Their mouths grew dangerously close and, voice husky, Ana told him, “Too damn bad.”