Burned Hearts by Calista Fox Page B

his feelings ran that deep. Likely the reason I’d been so adamant about us being just friends and doing everything in my power not to lead him on.
    Yet it could be that all of the life-threatening and intense scenarios we’d found ourselves in for the past year had bonded us in a way that had taken his infatuation with me to a higher level.
    I didn’t dare mention that to Dane, though. I knew better. No need to jeopardize Kyle’s health further.
    â€œHe was persuasive with her,” I said. “Pretty creative, actually. I guess that’s why he was so good in your Marketing department. Sadly, I can’t convince him to find another position in that field, maybe in Phoenix. Away from all of this.”
    Dane grimaced at my cover-up. He was always on to me. But he let his angst over how close Kyle and I were slide—for the moment.
    â€œI ought to convince him to extract himself from our dilemma,” Dane said, “but he has proven … invaluable.”
    My head jerked back. “Wow. Did you really just say that?”
    â€œDon’t be a smart-ass.” He pressed his lips to mine and kissed me in that territorial way that made me burn. His tongue swept inside, over mine, twisting and tangling. Exciting me.
    I wanted nothing more at that moment than to strip down and show him exactly how much he thrilled me. But the man had been shot less than twelve hours ago. He needed his rest.
    So I reticently pulled away. “You should sleep.”
    He leaned toward me and nipped at my bottom lip. “I’ll recover just fine.”
    â€œWith some rest,” I insisted. “You either behave, or I’ll sleep in another room.” Lord knew we had plenty of them.
    â€œYou wouldn’t.”
    Okay, he called my bluff. He understood how difficult it was for me to sleep without him by my side. If he had work in the middle of the night, I always woke when I subconsciously sensed his absence. I’d snuggle on the sofa with him, in front of the fire, and sleep while he was on the phone with Nikolai in Russia or Sultan Hakim in the Persian Gulf.
    Thus, my threat was basically useless. Still, I held my ground. “Do as I say.”
    He chuckled. “Only because it’s so sexy when you’re demanding.”
    â€œDon’t mess with me.”
    â€œRight.” He grinned.
    I swatted playfully at his uninjured arm. “And don’t patronize me.”
    â€œWhy don’t you crawl in here,” he said as he scooted to the other side of the bed so I could slip under the covers. I curled against his side, resting my head on his good shoulder.
    â€œAre you in pain?”
    â€œI’m too angry for that to even register right now.”
    â€œMaybe you should take something to knock you out.” Knowing him, his mind would whirl all night long with thoughts of retaliation and how he was going to help the FBI ensure there were five convictions at the end of the day—the Honorable Bryn Hilliard (what a crock that title was), Dr. Lennox Avril, Anthony Casterelli, former prime minister Keaton Wellington III, and Admiral Robert Bent.
    Six, if there was some way to prove Wayne Horton was Vale’s minion and carried out his near-fatal work.
    â€œI’ll be fine,” Dane told me. “I just need you here with me.”
    I kissed his neck, my lips gliding along his throat, down to that pulse point at the base, just above his collarbone, that I adored pressing my lips to. “I couldn’t love you more,” I whispered against his skin. “You know that, right?”
    â€œAri.” He let out a long breath. His arm tightened around my shoulders. “You are everything to me. There are no words for how much I love you—how destroyed I’d be without you. If things had gone differently this morning—”
    â€œBut they didn’t. You’re to thank for that. And Kyle, too. Dane, he wouldn’t let anything happen