Page 34 of The Enforcers: KANE

Their eyes met, and Kane felt like everything around him went completely still. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it, very softly.

She blinked and looked away.

“Remember that time we found twenty dollars in the street?” she said. “It was that summer it was so hot. I remember thinking Seattle wasn’t supposed to be that hot.”

“Yeah,” he said. “And we had to move out of that alley because the dumpsters were stinking so much we could barely breathe.” Wolf had always felt like he was suffocating in the city, but Kane couldn’t stand being out in the woods alone. The loneliness had almost killed him.

“I know.” Rachelle wrinkled her nose. “And we were so hungry, and everything was rotted. And then we found that money, and we had burgers and fries, and you bought two ice cream cones and let me eat both of them.”

“I loved watching you eat ice cream,” he said. “Your face just lit up with pure joy.”

“Still does,” she said. “But this time you’re going to help me eat it.”

“I’m surprised you’re willing to share.”

“Isn’t that part of the evil werewolf ritual?” she asked.

“I guess we’ll find out, if you turn into one.”

“Doubtful,” she said. “Here.” She pried open one of the containers and fished a spoon out of the cooler. Then she looked at him and frowned. “You really were going to give it all to me,” she said. “You didn’t even bring two spoons.”

He shrugged. “I told you. I like watching you eat it.”

She shook her head and moved over, leaning against his chest. She took a bite of the Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream and let it melt in her mouth. “Mmm.” Her face got that ecstatic look he loved.

She fed the next bite to Kane. It was pretty good. But having her so close, leaning against him and making sexy noises every time she took a bite, was even better. Just watching her eat gave him a boner.

They ate their way through both the containers, while the moon came up and cast a silvery glow on the waterfall. Kane felt like he could stay here forever, forgetting his responsibilities and failures, his life that was nothing but constant work for appreciation that never came.

He wanted to kiss the ice cream off her lips. He wanted to feel her thighs on either side of his neck again, except this time he wanted to be tasting her when it was happening.

But he had no idea what this all meant to her, if anything. He could smell her arousal when they touched, but he didn’t know what that meant. He wasn’t the boy she used to know, the one she had a teenage crush on. Were her feelings just memories? Or could the two of them have something now?

How could they? He couldn’t even fuck a woman without Wolf going wild. And Rachelle—he didn’t know if she was looking for a mate.

He didn’t even know what kind of animal she was.

Not a wolf—he would have been able to smell that. Maybe some kind of bird? Despite her nickname, he didn’t think so. But she didn’t smell like fur either. She had the confidence of a predator, but she didn’t have a predator’s eyes. Hers had always gone black when she was scared or excited, but he didn’t know what that meant.

He wondered if she’d tell him if he asked her. When they were kids he’d only asked her once, and she’d ignored the question. Then she’d disappeared and hadn’t come back for two days.

He’d learned his lesson then. But maybe things were different now.

On the other hand, maybe they weren’t.

So he did what he always did when things were too messed-up and confusing. He chickened out, pulled away instead of putting himself out there. It just wasn’t worth the pain of fucking things up.

* * *

Rachelle couldn’t figure out what was going on with Kane. He was obviously interested. Remembering her favorite ice cream, issuing dire threats to protect it. She’d folded that note up and tucked it in her pocket—the closest he’d probably ever come to writing a love note.

If that was even what he felt. He’d been warm and affectionate today—more like the boy she remembered. Plus, she hadn’t missed the boners coming and going all afternoon.

She’d thought that maybe when they went up to the waterfall, something would happen, but Kane seemed content to lie there with her leaning against him, to tangle his fingers with hers or stroke the back of her hand, or brush her hair out of her face.

It was driving her insane.

She should be happy he wasn’t pressing things further. It was still dangerous for her to get too close to him. She couldn’t tell him about Selina, or why she was really working at the Silver Cloud.