Kane (2 page)

He grinned. Why did her heart have to flutter
in response?

“Not me. Them.” She jerked her head toward
the street and shrugged. “Nothing to do with me.”

“’Cept you’d rather not get caught in the
middle of it.”

She nodded absently, turning to examine the
wall. Maybe she could scale it. Her stomach spasmed at the height.
It had to be at least nine feet tall and as smooth as she imagined
a baby’s bottom would be. No handholds. No toeholds.

“Need a hand up?”

She scowled at him. What was his game this
time? Kane was a competitor. Sometimes an ally, sometimes an enemy.
Sometimes a lover. They shared a motto. Nothing is free. His help
would come with a price.

Out on the street the shooting started again,
and he smirked at her. A cat ate the canary grin. It made her
immediately suspicious. She blinked and he moved closer. So close
she had to crane her neck back to see him. He knew that pissed her
off.

“What’s it going to be, Calista?” he asked, a
husky timbre to his voice. “Do I stay? Or do I go?”

Frustration riding her hard, she stepped away
and faced the end of the alley, putting her hands on her hips.
There weren’t any sounds of retreat from the street. She could
settle in for a long wait or accept Kane’s help.

“Oh, hell,” she muttered. What choice did she
have?

Turning to face him, she nodded acceptance
and stepped up to the wall. She expected him to give her a boost,
so when his hands settled on her hips she didn’t have enough
warning to repress a flinch. As usual, even his most casual touch
left her feeling like she was in free fall, the bottom dropping out
of her belly and her head spinning. She clenched her fists and
tried to step back, but he held on, his fingers gripping the flesh
of her backside. She liked his roughness, liked his ragged breath
across her ear as he whispered to her, knew it was a sign she made
him lose control just as much as he made her lose control.

“Invite me to stay tonight,” he said softly,
not allowing his voice to carry in the sudden silence that reigned
from the street.

Oh, hell, no
. She reminded herself of
all the good reasons she had for staying away from Kane. He messed
up her focus. He was jealous and possessive. He stole her business.
That thought almost cooled her body enough to reconnect to her
brain. She had two sisters to take care of. She couldn’t afford to
lose any income. And, yes, she had an independent streak a mile
wide too. If she weren’t careful, he would steal away her freedom
like a thief in the night. She pulled free of his grasp and glared
at his relaxed pose. The interlude seemed to mean nothing to him,
while her body was still raring to go.

“Just get me out of here. You can get your
slap and tickle somewhere else,” she grumbled, unwilling to admit
she was jealous as hell over whoever’s bed he’d spent the last few
months in.

He pushed a lose strand of hair over her ear,
the tender gesture at odds with the intense gleam in his eyes.
Meshing his hands together to form a step, he moved closer. She set
her foot on his palms, felt the power gathering through his body as
he prepared to lift her up.

“Wait for me at the top,” he said.

Then he pushed her up, almost catapulting her
over the top. Fast. Too fast. The speed of her assent took her by
surprise and she barely remembered to grab onto the ledge of the
wall. She got it just in time, leveraging her upper body high
enough to fling one leg over and sit up. She glanced down to where
Kane waited and her belly dived again, this vertigo not unlike her
one experience of riding in one of the newfangled hot air balloons.
Wrenching her gaze away from the ground she focused on the wall she
sat on, wishing Kane would get his butt moving. The longer she sat
up here, the heavier her breathing and her panic grew. She’d
learned the hard way years ago that everyone had weaknesses. This
just happened to be one of hers. Man--and woman--kind were not
meant to be feet off the ground. Well, unless they were one of the
new breeds. But she was one hundred percent human, and her feet
were meant to be firmly planted on the dirt. The air whooshed
around her as Kane jumped up to join her on the ledge, and she
tilted her head back up to meet his worried gaze. He would know.
The bastard.

“You’re going to have jump to me,
Calista.”

She cringed, knowing her eyes widened like
saucers when she looked at him. It hadn’t occurred to her how she
would get down.
Hell and damnation
. Her nod was jerky. She’d
close her eyes and bite her lip as she dropped if she had to, but
she sure as hell wasn’t staying up here all night. Kane didn’t wait
for further discussion, instead lifting his leg over the side of
the ledge and leaping off. In less than a second he stood on the
ground waiting for her, and she decided she just couldn’t do it.
She’d sit here forever.

“Come on, sweetheart. You can do this. You
know I won’t let you fall,” he crooned.

Her hackles rose. So she didn’t like heights.
That didn’t mean he needed to talk to her like she was a child, did
it? She swung her leg over the side and perched there, eyes focused
on the ground. If he didn’t catch her, it was going to hurt like
the devil. Then she would have to retaliate, of course. She spent a
minute ruminating over ways to torture Kane and her thoughts turned
carnal--they always did with him--recalling a set of silk scarves
Rheana had recently given her.

“Calista, darling, we don’t have all night
here.”

She jerked back to the present when she heard
the tension in his voice. She’d accepted his senses were much
sharper than hers long ago. They’d saved her ass more than once and
something had him on edge now. Closing her eyes, she sent up a
quick prayer and jumped. She dropped so fast the fall didn’t even
register before his arms closed around her, cradling her close to
his chest as he took off in a run down the new alley.

They burst onto the street and she struggled
to look around. It had been dusk when she’d been trapped in the
alley, but now it was dark, the night black with no moon out.
Boom!
The ground shook. Kane staggered, nearly falling
before he righted himself. Her heart thundered in her chest and her
ears rang. Lifting her head, she opened her mouth to speak, but he
shook his head. His expression was grim enough to make her pause,
the demand for answers sticking to her tongue.

After several blocks, his pace slowed to a
fast walk, and he began navigating his way back around to the other
side of the city where her house was.

“You can let me down now,” she grumbled
against his chest.

He grunted, making no move to release her.
When he responded his voice was so low she was unsure of his words.
“Not yet. That was too close.”

They came around a corner and right into a
waiting crowd. She recognized New Peachtree and Gardenia under the
dim gaslights, then heard the rumble of an approaching steam car.
Kane lowered her until her feet hit the ground, but he kept a tight
grip on her hand, pulling her farther into the crowd. The car
zoomed past, and she craned her head to see. The contraptions were
new enough to still be a novelty, and the crowd oohed and ahhed
over its passing. Calista was amazed there were people wealthy
enough in New Atlanta for such an extravagance, but the habits and
expenditures of the very rich had always confounded her. Her work
kept them comfortable, but far from rich, very or otherwise.

After several more blocks, they entered the
residential area she lived in with her sisters. Kane led her in the
back way, and they entered through the garden gate. The house was
brightly lit, and she heard her sisters calling to each other
inside, though she couldn’t make out the words. She tugged her hand
free and opened the backdoor before he could, planning on putting
him off and saying goodbye as quickly as possible.

She’d forgotten how fast he was. Spinning her
around, he wrapped an arm around her waist and backed them through
the open door, kicking it shut behind them with his boot heel. She
hoped it didn’t scuff. Rheana would give her hell.

“Not so fast, sweetheart,” he whispered,
leaning forward and scraping his teeth along the pulse pounding in
her neck. “Don’t I get a kiss for my trouble? Dinner at least?”

His tongue soothed away the sting where he’d
just bitten her. “How ‘bout dessert? I’d love to stay for dessert.”
His voice dropped even lower, taking on the seductive timbre she
well remembered.

He lifted his head, his lips inches from
hers, and she knew he was going to kiss her. And she wasn’t going
to stop him, wasn’t going to free herself, even though she knew she
should. She shouldn’t go down this road again. His eyes flared with
knowledge as her body tuned itself to his, subtly turning, pushing,
her pelvis pressed against the erection straining against the front
of his pants. The first touch was feather soft, so light as to be
negligible. She waited for more. More pressure, more passion. But
he stopped; releasing her so abruptly she almost fell. He steadied
her, turned her around and pulled her in front on him just as her
sisters came down the hall.

“There you are.” Rheana’s exasperated tone
combined with hands thrown in the air made it clear Calista was
late. Damn. She’d forgotten all about the party.

“I’m sorry, Rheana,” she said, in an effort
to avoid the kind of scene her middle sister was no doubt working
up to. Even Isadora had managed to drag herself from her lab to
prepare in time. “I’ll be quick.”

She eased past Rheana, feeling her glare as
she hurried down the hall to the front stairs and winked as she
walked by Izzie. Grabbing the bottom post on the staircase, she
spun the corner and sprinted up, then down the hall to her room.
She let the door bang open, wincing at the tirade soon to come for
that, and unbuckled her pistol belt, dropping it to the bed.

She stripped off her clothes, dropping them
to the floor in her haste, and wrapped a robe around her body
before hurrying down the hall to the newly installed washroom. She
stepped into the small space and reached behind the curtain to turn
on the water spigots, twisting the hot and cold the same amount and
praying the contraption actually worked this time. The walls
groaned as water rushed through them, and she dropped the robe,
stepping over the lip of the big tub and under the spray. She
sighed in relief. Soothing warmth, not scorching heat or frigid
cold. Modern inventions would be much more convenient if they
worked consistently.

The door creaked open and she ignored it,
certain Rheana was lying in wait for her. She untwisted her hair,
letting it fall down her back, and reached for the lavender soap
sitting on a nearby shelf. The curtain opened behind her and a
solid, hard body brushed against hers. She jumped, but was unable
to twist around in the confined space.

“Let me help,” Kane whispered, taking the
soap from her hands.

She sputtered in protest, but couldn’t find
the words or will to kick him out. She felt him behind her, naked,
his body hard and pulsing in need, and she fought down a sigh,
fought down a sense of contentment that didn’t belong to her.
He
doesn’t belong to me,
she reminded herself
. Not
really.

He rubbed the lather through her hair, his
fingers massaging her scalp as he went, dragging it through the
long length. She stopped fighting and relaxed back against him. A
deep sound of satisfaction rumbled from his chest, almost like a
purr.

“I like it when you go all soft and relaxed
and pliant. You should try it more often.”

She snorted her response but didn’t budge. He
felt too good, and her pleasures in life were few and far between.
She might as well enjoy him while she could.

CHAPTER TWO

When Calista went soft against him, leaning
into his embrace, Kane thought his heart would explode from his
chest. She felt perfect, so right sharing the small shower. He spun
her around so she could tilt her head back into the spray to rinse
her hair. The action thrust her breasts up, and he took advantage
of the position, catching one small, hard nipple between his lips
and sucking lightly. She groaned, a sound like soft musical notes
to his ears. He wanted to hear more. Wrapping one bracing arm
around her lower back, he pulled her closer, leaned lower, sucking
her nipple between his teeth and nipping. Her groan this time was
loud under the roar of the pipes, and he ground his cock against
her belly.

Shifting her feet, she spread her legs enough
to allow him a small place to slip through. He thrust back and
forth experimentally, enjoying the feel of her thighs clasping his
erection. He could feel her honey dripping down onto his length,
knew he could slide into her cunt with ease right now. But he held
back, intending to draw out the enjoyment for both of them.

Never one to hold back, Calista wasn’t
starting now. She raised one leg, hooking her ankle around his ass
and drawing his cock closer. She ground her hips against him and it
was his turn to groan. He looped his arm under her other thigh,
lifting her up and she reached between them to guide his cock into
her. He thrust deep and they both froze when a loud banging came
from the door.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

A giggle escaped her, something he’d never
heard from her, never would have imagined possible. It was
enchanting and intriguing, a side of her he’d never glimpsed but
she was quick to clamp her teeth down on her lower lip, smothering
the sound.

“Calista!” Rheana called from the other side
of the door. “Hurry up or I’m coming in! We’re going to be late.
Again.”

Calista tried to lower her legs, but he held
tight until she punched his arm. He let her slide loose with
reluctance and determination to get her back in the same position
soon. Very soon.