Chapter Twenty-One

“Breaking news out of Virginia this evening.”

Abby McKinley looked up from her plate as the breaking news banner appeared on her TV screen. “The amber alert issued for nine-year-old Autumn Prentiss is now over.”

She stopped chewing her mouthful of lasagna. Oh, God… She’d been following the story since it broke days ago. The entire state was out looking for the little girl, but there’d been no sightings since she’d been abducted from the strip mall parking lot.

“The nine-year-old girl is now home safe with her family after a brazen daytime raid conducted by the FBI this afternoon at a private residence on Chesapeake Bay.”

Fantastic. Abby raised her glass of wine to the screen in salute. “Here’s to you, little one.” And fuck whoever had taken her in the first place. Abby considered herself to be fairly liberal when it came to politics, except in cases of terrorism, and crimes involving kids or animals. Then she was as right wing as they came.

She finished off her dinner and sipped at her wine while the newscast wound down. It had been a long week of business meetings for the pharmaceutical company she worked for as a rep. Normally she met up with some girlfriends on Friday night, but since most of them were now in relationships, it wasn’t the same hanging out with them. She was an uncomfortable fifth wheel clunking along.

She eyed the pan of homemade lasagna sitting on the kitchen counter, tempted to eat another piece. Or three. Then she berated herself.

Turning to food for comfort had been her M.O. since she was a teenager. It never loved her back, and the weight she’d put on had plunged her self-esteem to an all-time low. Since breaking up with Garret last year she’d worked her ass off—literally—to dump most of the weight.

Thank God, she had the equivalent of a human garbage disposal living across the hall who seemed to adore her cooking. She could always count on Kai to eat up whatever she needed to get rid of, and he was a nice guy, so it was no hardship to visit with him.

Yeah, and his amazing body and smile have absolutely nothing to do with it, right?

“Shut up, conscience,” she muttered under her breath, and carried her dishes to the kitchen.

After packing him up a few containers of leftovers to pop into his freezer, she headed across the hall to his place. He’d been gone longer than expected this time and had texted her that he might not get home tonight, so she’d drop the food off and feed Goliath for him.

His freezer was in sad shape, almost empty, so she put all but one helping of the lasagna in it and set the last one in the fridge along with some salad and garlic bread, and jotted down a quick note for him. She fed Goliath, bending down to meet his fishy stare, his little gills flapping in and out.

“Your dad’s coming home tonight, buddy,” she told him. They had an understanding, her and Goliath. She fed him and cleaned his tank while Kai was away, and Goliath wasn’t allowed to go belly up on her watch.

A key scraped in the lock.

She turned toward the door with a welcoming smile, expecting to see Kai, but it died on her lips when Shelley walked in.

The dark-haired woman froze and stared at Abby for a moment, the hostility clear in her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Just feeding Goliath.”

“Why, where’s Kai?”

Abby didn’t see why it was any of Shelley’s business if Kai hadn’t told her. “He’s away on business.”

Shelley snorted. “Of course he is.” Her gaze landed on the note Abby had stuck to the fridge. Those hard blue eyes flashed back to her. “You brought him food again?”

Abby shrugged. “Yeah.”

Shelley crossed her arms, her mouth pursing. “What else do you do for him?”

Okay, she really didn’t like that tone. “Sorry?”

“Are you fucking him?”

Abby’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Because he’s mine,” the other woman snarled, stabbing a perfectly manicured pink fingernail into her chest for emphasis. “Mine, you understand?”

Abby generally had a long fuse, but she was sick and tired of this woman’s bullshit, and they’d only met a handful of times. And if Shelley was any kind of freaking girlfriend, she should be the one coming to grab Kai’s mail and feed Goliath for him instead of her.

She opened her mouth to tell Shelley to take her unsolicited opinion and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine, but stopped when the door swung open again.

Kai’s huge frame filled the doorway, his expression freezing when he saw Shelley standing there. His surprise and unhappy reaction told Abby he hadn’t been expecting the woman, and for some reason that made her feel better.

Then his gaze slid to Abby and a tired smile broke over his face. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she said, wanting the hell out of here. Shelley’s eyes were shooting daggers at her and Kai, her insecure, suspicious brain conjuring up God only knew what about them. She took a step toward the door, but stopped because Kai hadn’t budged, his stare fixed on Shelley.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her.

“I came to surprise you,” Shelley fired back, her expression all kinds of pissed off. “But instead I found out I’m interrupting.” She threw a lethal glare at Abby.

Kai dropped his duffel on the hardwood floor and put his hands on his hips. He was a freaking big man, and his posture made him damn intimidating. “I told you, we’re done. You were supposed to leave the key while I was gone. Or hell, throw it away, I don’t care which.”

Abby wanted to be anywhere but there. Oh, shit, not in front of me, guys…

Shelley’s eyes widened in outrage, then hurt flooded her expression and the tears started. “Oh, but… Kai, I thought—”

“No,” he snapped, his frustration evident in every line of his face and body. Everything Abby knew about Kai told her that he would never be doing this with an audience if he hadn’t reached his limit. Or been shoved past it. “Done. Leave the damn key and go.”

Abby didn’t like Shelley much, but she couldn’t help but wince inside at witnessing the other woman’s humiliation. Ouch.

For a moment it looked like Shelley would burst into tears, but instead she drew herself up and nailed Abby with a nuclear glare. “You know what? You can fucking have him.” And with that she dug in her purse for the key, flung it into the living room and stormed out.

Abby pressed her lips together as the door slammed hard enough to rattle the pictures hanging on the walls. Kai let out a frustrated groan and dragged a hand over his short, dark hair. Then he sighed and swung his head toward her. “Sorry about that.”

“Hey, no worries. I’m sorry you walked into that.” She studied him for a moment. “You look tired.” And not just because of this recent drama. He’d been tired when he’d walked in.

“Yeah, I’m beat. Been a bitch of a week.” Then he smiled. A soft, proud smile that transformed him from good-looking to wow, and made her insides heat up. “But it ended well.”

It had? Even with the whole Shelley thing just now? “Yeah? Well I’m glad. And I’m not sure whether this will make your night or not, but I just put some lasagna and stuff in your fridge.”

His eyes lit up. “You’re seriously an angel. I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving.” He reached down for his duffel and for the first time Abby noticed the bandage on his left forearm. “What happened?”

He followed her gaze, shrugged a shoulder. “Nothing. Just a scratch.”

She didn’t know what he did for a living, other than he worked for the government. And judging from the condition he was in and the way he moved, it was the furthest thing from a desk job. Whatever it was, it was dangerous, and she worried that he was hurting worse than he let on. She’d been around enough alpha males to know how they ticked. They weren’t supposed to show pain or weakness of any sort, because that would be unmanly.

Right now, though, she should get out of his hair and let him unwind. “Goliath’s been fed, and there’s a notice there for a package delivery waiting for you at the post office.”

“All right, thanks. Man, I owe you. Didn’t think we’d be gone this long.”

She wanted so badly to ask him what he did, but if he wanted her to know he would have told her by now, so she had to respect his privacy. “It’s no problem.” She paused a second, then picked up the key that Shelley had chucked onto the living room rug. “Do you, uh, think she has a spare somewhere?”

Kai crossed the room and took it from her. His skin was dark compared to hers, and he was so tall and broad, standing next to him like this made her feel tiny. Having fought body image problems most of her adult life, feeling petite and almost fragile around anyone was startling.

He stared at the key for a long moment. “Doesn’t matter if she does. I won’t be here long enough for her to use it anyway.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

He lifted those deep brown eyes to hers. A mottled blend somewhere between dark chocolate and black coffee that was riveting against his bronze skin and dark lashes. “We had a major security breach at work. Two of us on the team had our personal information compromised. The agency feels it’s in our best interest to leave our places this weekend.”

“Oh…” The news was a shock, but more than that, the wave of sadness hit her hard. If he moved out of the building, she’d likely never see him again. And until that moment, she hadn’t realized how attached she was to having him around. How much she looked forward to seeing him.

The same regret was written in his eyes as he stared down at her. “Yeah. It sucks.”

It really did. She’d never be able to zip across the hall with a plate of something, or share a quick meal together again. He wouldn’t be there to visit with or help her with little things around her apartment. More than that, she liked knowing he was just across the hall if she needed anything. He made her feel safe on an intrinsic level. “But everyone else in the building is considered safe? From the breach you mentioned?”

His gaze warmed. “Yeah. Especially once I’m out.”

That…really didn’t make her feel any better.

Kai searched her eyes for a moment, then sighed and motioned for her to sit down with him at the kitchen counter. Abby took a stool next to him and waited for him to continue.

“You know I work for the government.”

She nodded.

“I’m with the DEA.”

“Oh.” Drugs. Dealers. Cartels. A warning shiver started at the bottom of her spine. “So this leak was to someone really dangerous.”

He dipped his head. “Did you hear about the little girl who was kidnapped this past week?”

“The one who was just rescued tonight?”

A nod. “She’s my teammate’s daughter.”

“Your…” She glanced down at his bandaged arm, then up into his face as understanding dawned. “Oh. So you’re with some kind of a tactical team, then?”

His eyes crinkled at the corners in the hint of a smile. “Yeah.”

“Were you the ones who rescued her?”

“Unfortunately, no. But I got to see her when she left the hospital tonight.”

“Is she alright?”

“She’s okay physically. Emotionally, I’m not sure.” He shifted on the stool, the small piece of furniture creaking beneath his big frame. “I can tell you this now because the operation’s over and the details are going to come out in the media over the next few days, but she was kidnapped by an enforcer of the Veneno cartel.”

At the mention of that name, she cringed. Everyone knew about them. And how they murdered and tortured people at will to get what they wanted. Abby rubbed her palms up and down her thighs, pondering the knowledge that someone in the cartel might have Kai’s personal info. “I’m really glad the FBI found her.”

“Me too. She’s such a sweetheart, you’d love her.” His expression sobered. “But that’s why I have to go. A Veneno lieutenant bought off a clerk in the agency, and she gave him my and my buddy’s home addresses, information on next of kin, stuff like that.”

Abby frowned, horrified. “So your family’s at risk too?”

“Doubt it. They’re all back on Maui, and the clerk’s in jail, so there won’t be any more leaks. And the sooner I pack up and get out of here, the sooner you’ll be safe.”

But I don’t want you to go. She held the words back, because she was made of sterner stuff than that. “I’ll miss you. It’s not too often you get a neighbor you actually like.”

He chuckled. “Truth.”

Sadness filled her. “Who’s gonna eat all the extra food I make?”

“Hey, if you still want to give it to me, we can meet up somewhere.”

Finding Autumn Prentiss must have been a huge relief for him and the others, but there was a weariness in Kai’s expression that tugged at her. “Well I’ll be sorry to see you go. Have you got anyone to help you pack up?”

“A few of the guys are gonna come over tomorrow morning and help.”

“I can help too, if you want. I can be here as soon as I get back from the gym.”

His answering smile warmed her from the inside out. “You’re a gem, Abby.”

Oh God, she loved the way he said her name, his deep voice like a caress.

The moment the thought hit her brain, blood rushed to her cheeks. Definitely time to go.

She cleared her throat and hopped off the stool. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Hope you get a good night’s sleep.” Although how would he, when the most dangerous cartel in the western hemisphere had his freaking address? She wasn’t going to sleep either.

He followed her to the door. When she started to twist the knob, he set a hand on the door to hold it closed. Abby froze, a rush of warmth licking along her skin. He was standing mere inches behind her, so close she could feel his body heat against her back.

“Can I get a hug goodbye?” he asked softly.

You could get anything you wanted from me. “Oh. Sure.” Steeling herself, banishing her wayward thoughts, she turned around to face him, a pang hitting her at the loneliness she read in his eyes.

He reached for her, those huge arms coming around her back as he drew her to his chest. His crazy-hard, sculpted chest she’d imagined seeing naked—along with the rest of him—far more times than she cared to admit.

Slipping her arms around his ribs, Abby tried to get a grip on her body’s reaction to the embrace, but it was no use. The feel of that big, hard frame pressed along her front sent tingles shooting to every nerve ending. Her nipples tightened and her stomach muscles pulled tight.

And he didn’t just squeeze her and let go in the quick, neighborly hug she’d expected. No, he pressed his cheek to the top of her head and…cradled her.

It took a second for her to realize he was seeking comfort, rather than offering it. Her heart squeezed tight.

“Gonna miss you, short stuff,” he said gruffly.

Her heart twisted. She leaned more fully into him, spreading her palms across the broad expanse of his back. His words sounded awfully final.

But she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him forever.