Page 27 of A Matter of Time

The hand on my cheek startled me, and I looked up at Kevin. “Where did you go?” He smiled, stepping in close to me, both hands on my face. “You’re thinking so hard about something.”

I lifted my chin out of his hands and pulled back. “Nothing. I’ll see ya.”

“C’mon, J,” he said gently, staring into my eyes. “I just want to talk to you.”

I turned to go, but he grabbed a handful of the front of my shirt and yanked me forward, off-balance, so I almost fell into him.

“Jory, what can I do to⁠—”

I stepped back before I pushed him away. “Get off me, man,” I warned him, more annoyed than I probably should have been. I realized suddenly that I was in no mood for anything but being home on my couch. I definitely didn’t want to be out at a club. I needed to spend some time processing everything in my head from the night before.

“Listen,” Kevin said, still holding on to my arm, “I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t mean to… I really have been thinking about you like nonstop for⁠—”

“You’re bein’ a dick.” I cut him off, pulling free.

He got hold of me again, this time yanking on my arm hard. “Stop playing hard to get. We both know you’re gonna give me whatever I⁠—”

“Let go of him.”

We both froze and turned to Detective Kage. He was standing there, looking at me with that permanent scowl of his, furrowed brows, deep lines between them, the smoky-blue eyes cold and his gaze pure irritation. I was amazed that Kevin still held on to me.

“What are you doing in here?” I asked him flatly, because that more than anything was amazing. Frankly, I was stunned.

“I could ask the same of you,” he growled at me. “Is this your idea of lying low?”

“Oh.” I was even more confused. “Is that what I’m supposed to be doing?”

“You know you are.”

I raised my eyebrows. “I do?”

“Yeah, ya do.”

“Huh.”

He turned his gaze on Kevin. “Let him go. I’m asking nicely.”

It wasn’t so much the words as the look. Just standing there doing nothing, he seemed menacing. Like a gunfighter or a samurai warrior…like the stillness could be broken at any second with violent movement. Kevin let me go, and I took a deep breath.

Detective Kage put a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“Wait.” Kevin reached for me.

“Don’t,” Kage warned him, “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

But you could just tell from his tone that he hoped Kevin would try.

“Hurt me?”

One eyebrow arched slowly.

Kevin’s jaw clenched tight. “You think you could hurt me?” It sounded like a dare.

“Oh hell yeah,” the detective replied smugly, smirking.

In his street clothes, Sam Kage looked even bigger than he had in his shirt and tie the night before. The jeans showed off his long, muscular legs and slim waist, the T-shirt clinging to his wide chest and shoulders, tight across bulging biceps and triceps, the veins in his arms and hands visible. He had that whole V-shape to him, all solid, heavy, rippling muscle, and I realized that standing there in a gay dance club he probably had more than just Kevin and me looking at him. The slate-blue eyes, short, coppery dark-brown hair, thick brows, full lips, chiseled jaw… I had not missed that the man was a walking wet dream the night before, but it was tempered by the way he looked at me. Like he hated me.

“Who are you?” Kevin snapped.