Page 9 of When He Fights (Protector & Defender #3)

“If she walks away, if she runs away, he’ll take his rage out on the people who were close to her.

We all know it.” Grayson was adamant. “He will kill anyone in his way. The man can’t be allowed to stay on the loose.

We have to catch him. We have to lock him up again.

We have to find out how the hell he orchestrated his escape in the first place.

Who helped him. What other ties he has. We have to trap him.

And Ana is our best shot at doing all of that. ”

She couldn’t see Grayson because Kane’s big body blocked her view of the other man. That was good because if she couldn’t see Grayson, then Grayson couldn’t see her. And since Kane wasn’t looking over his shoulder, he wouldn’t see her, either.

Ana swiped her hand over her face, wiping away the tears.

“I would love to be bait,” she declared, making her voice bright.

Perhaps even semi-enthusiastic. “I was wondering what I could do this week. Didn’t have lots of plans and was worried I might be bored.

Being bait is the perfect item to put on my to-do list. Thank you both so much for this opportunity. ”

Kane’s shoulders stiffened. Then he whirled toward her. His eyes narrowed into chips of glaring fury. His big hands closed around her shoulders. A careful, soft touch, despite the rage in his stare. “Are you crying ?”

“Absolutely not.” Absolutely, yes. She blinked quickly.

“Shall we move on to the planning portion of this event?” Still bright.

Still fake. All she really wanted to do was run to her bedroom, yank the covers over her head, and curl into a ball.

Was that so much to ask? But she’d kept the mask in place.

There was no point in letting Kane and Grayson see her crumble.

Sometimes, nightmares just wouldn’t end.

Not unless you made them stop.

“You should have let me kill him,” Kane rasped.

She stiffened in his hold. The past was right there again—all big and bloody and scary between them. For a moment, Ana could not speak at all.

“Ahem!” A loud throat-clearing from Grayson. “We don’t talk about murder in front of federal agents. We don’t talk about killing people in front of law enforcement personnel. That is rule one. Rule two— we aren’t killing anyone. ”

Kane’s fury still glittered in his eyes, sharpening and hardening the hazel.

“We are setting a trap. We are catching an escaped criminal. We are not killing him.” A pause.

Then Grayson added, “The only way you’d be able to respond with lethal force is if you were defending yourself.

You don’t get to preplan an attack because that is literally called premeditation.

Here in Mississippi, premeditated murder is a capital offense—it’s first-degree murder.

You know what you can get for that? Other than, of course, life in prison?

You can get a lethal injection. Death pumping through your veins.

You can get hell via nitrogen hypoxia. You can select the old favorite of electrocution.

Or, hey, if you’re feeling really, really classic and crazy, you can throw back to a firing squad, though I don’t know if that one has been used since?—”

She’d flinched. Over and over. As each method of punishment was stated way too bluntly by Grayson.

Lethal injection. Flinch.

Nitrogen hypoxia. Flinch.

Electrocution. Flinch.

And…firing squad? Flinch. Was that even still a thing or was Grayson just trying to terrify her? Because she had no intention of getting the death penalty, and she certainly wasn’t going to have Kane go down for premeditated murder.

“He’s trying to scare you. Don’t worry. I can handle myself.” Kane squeezed her shoulders.

“I am very worried,” she whispered back. “My ex is coming to kill me.”

“Yeah, but he’ll have to go through me in order to reach you.” Low. “That’s not happening. I won’t be leaving your side at all. From here on out, consider me your shadow.”

She gazed up at him. “You’re a very big and obvious shadow.”

He smiled at her.

That smile of his stole her breath.

“ Is anyone listening to me?” Grayson asked, annoyed.

Kane let her go. Stepped to the side. She got a clear view of Grayson’s disgruntled expression.

“Are you listening?” he fumed once more. “Or are the two of you way too busy whispering sweet nothings to each other?”

“Sweet nothings?” she repeated. “Is that a thing?”

Grayson’s lips thinned.

“Just getting into character,” Kane allowed.

Wait, wait, wait. What character?

“Gray told me some of his plan earlier,” Kane revealed. “The new cover story for us.” His hands curled and uncurled at his sides, but his voice was deceptively mild. “I’m down for it.”

“Fantastic.” Her gaze swept over Grayson’s figure. “What’s the plan?” The sooner they got started, the better. Because the sooner they faced this nightmare, then maybe the sooner they could end it.

Grayson hauled out one of the chairs at her kitchen table. He sprawled in it and tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop as he waited for her and Kane to join him at the table. “The last time, you went into hiding.”

Yes, she was still in hiding. Slowly, she sat down, too. Her fingers didn’t tap against the tabletop. Instead, her fingers strummed lightly at her side, as if she was playing her harp. She caught the nervous movement and quickly stopped.

Kane took the chair beside her. He made zero nervous or stressed gestures. Just sat.

“You were off the radar. Bouncing from shady motel to shady motel. Switching cities.” Grayson’s fingers tapped again. “He still found you.”

As if she needed the reminder.

“You don’t run this time. You don’t hide. You keep on with your life, as if everything is normal. You go about your routine. You go to work. You see your friends. You?—”

“Put a fun target on my back because I’m right out in the open?”

He didn’t deny the charge. “You let Logan see you. You let him get close. And when he comes for you, Kane will stop him.”

“Damn straight.” Utter certainty from Kane.

Her gaze whipped to him. “Don’t you have a life?” Ana blurted the question. “Like…a family? A, um, girlfriend?” Or, heaven forbid, “A wife? Someone who hates for you to just up and vanish like this?”

The silence in the room was deafening.

Jealousy twisted in her gut. A jealousy that she had zero business feeling. Not like he’d ever sworn undying devotion to her. Not like he’d been in her life for the last two years or anything and she…

Oh, damn. Her eyes widened with a bit of horror.

“No girlfriend.” Flat. “No wife.”

Her breath whispered out.

“No ties at all that would stop me from moving into your life.”

Grayson’s hands flew up as he gave a little clap. “Great. Then there is no problem. You’ll move in here, you’ll take the role of her boyfriend, you’ll be seen in public with her, and you can?—”

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat. Very, very delicately.

Both men swung their heads toward her.

“Not a real boyfriend,” Grayson hastened to say. “Purely a cover situation. When Kane poses as your boyfriend—lover, current hookup, whatever you want to call him?—”

Her eyes narrowed on Grayson.

“It will give him a reason to be close to you. He can accompany you around town. Stay in the house with you at night, and it won’t arouse any suspicions.

It will be the easiest cover story, trust me.

” A rough laugh. “I mean, I’m coming off a case where the cover story was an actual marriage, so just dating is a million times easier than that ruse. ”

She didn’t laugh back. She did clear her throat again. “There’s a problem.” A small one. Or maybe not so small.

For nearly two years, she hadn’t gone out with anyone. She had no actual lover. But, uh, recently…well, she’d…

Grayson blinked. “There’s no problem. I assure you, this will work. You may have to do some brief PDAs in order to sell the ruse to friends and coworkers, but surely you can manage to hold hands with Kane or to kiss him on the cheek. Not like I’m asking for some major make-out session.”

Ana shook her head.

“You can’t hold his hand? Not even to catch a killer?” Grayson demanded.

“That’s not the problem.” Though it was pretty problematic that each time she touched Kane, a sensual surge pulsed through her entire body.

No one else had ever made her feel that way.

Just Kane. Just “Heartless” Kane Harte. A nickname Grayson had revealed for Kane long ago.

Grayson had seemed to think the name was so very fitting.

She hadn’t. She’d been sure that Kane had a heart. Maybe one that he just kept carefully hidden from the rest of the world.

“What’s the problem?” Kane wanted to know.

Right, so…Beneath the table, her sweaty palms pressed against the soft fabric of her yoga pants.

“I have a boyfriend.” A new development.

And maybe boyfriend wasn’t the right term.

But I am dating someone. Casually dating him.

Okay, we’ve been out a handful of times with very minimal kissing at all. And…

Kane didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t seem to breathe. She could actually feel the moments ticking away. One second. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

Was someone going to speak?

“That wasn’t in my latest intel report on you,” Grayson muttered.

“It’s new.” Very new. Not serious. She’d only recently decided to dip her toe back into the dating pool after a whole lot of urging from her friend Zuri. “We’ve only gone out on a few dates.”

Kane shot to his feet. His eyes seemed to blaze at her. “Do you love him?”

“Uh, no, no, I do not.” She jumped to her feet, too. Slapped her sweaty palms down on the table and leaned toward him. Glared right back at him. Why was he so mad? He was the one who’d ghosted her for two years.

And three days.

“I do not love him.” She thought Turner Mitchell was nice. That was all. “But I have gone out on a few dates with this man, so don’t you think it will be weird if I’m suddenly living with a different boyfriend? Hmmm? Don’t you think that might be suspicious?”

“Are you fucking him?” Kane demanded.

Her mouth dropped. Just dropped. Ana was surprised it didn’t slam into the floor.

“Time out!” Grayson was on his feet now, too. “Hey, Kane. I’ve got a stellar idea. Let’s take a walk outside and get some air.”

Kane did not move. “Are. You. Fucking. Him?”

“What does that matter?” She was not, in fact, fucking Turner, but for some reason, Ana didn’t make that confession.

Anger twisted and seethed inside of her as her hands pressed harder to the table.

“You don’t know me. Not anymore. You have zero say in what happens in my life.

Who I fuck or who I do not fuck…” Making the full disclosure that she had not fucked anyone in over two years was just not happening right then.

A woman had her pride. “If I am fucking Turner or not—how does that matter? Why would it matter?”

“It matters,” he snarled right back. “Because I am trying to decide if I have to kill him or not.”

Her breath left her in a rush. A squeak of sound because surely, he had not just said those words to her.

“ Outside!” A roar from Grayson. “We are going outside right now. Understand? And we are not killing anyone.” He grabbed Kane’s shoulders. The two men were pretty close in size. Pretty close. Not the exact same. Kane was still bigger. In the shoulders and in general height.

But Grayson was clearly furious, and he shoved Kane hard. He kept shoving until they were at the house’s rear door.

Then Grayson tossed Ana a broad smile. One that never reached his eyes. “Things are completely under control,” he assured her. “Kane is not going to kill the guy you’re dating. No worries at all.”

He pushed Kane outside.

The door slammed.

And Ana realized that she did, in fact, have plenty of worries.