Chapter Twelve
Caine
In hindsight, Caine would be hard-pressed to come up with a reason as to why he thought kissing Annalise just then was a good idea. But he did, and it happened.
She didn’t pull away, either. Her thick body sat in his lap, pressed perfectly into him, her soft curves mixing delightfully with his taut edges. They made a wonderful pair, opposites and yet so similar as well.
His dragon clamored at him to take it further, the primal cravings simply begging to be satiated by the one thing that could calm them: Annalise’s smooth body underneath his, no fabric or barrier between them any longer. It was an intoxicating cry, knowing that his mate was right there in his lap, ready for the taking. He could finally be one with her, after so long alone. Even Caine’s prodigious willpower was tested at that moment, the lure of her pale, soft skin almost more than he could handle.
“No,” he growled, pulling himself away at the same moment Annalise seemed to come to her senses as well.
Just like that the spell was broken. He went to lift her off his lap at the same moment she scrambled away. Together they combined to dump her onto the couch next to him on her side.
“Ack!” she yelped, bouncing off her elbow. Unable to stop her movement, she rolled off the edge of the couch and onto the floor with a dull thud. “Ow.”
“Are you all right?” he asked, leaning forward to assist if necessary.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. My dignity is a little bruised,” she admitted with a wry smile. “But I’m just fine. But what was that all about?” Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him.
“You were panicking. Starting to ramble. I needed to shock you back into reality.”
“So you kissed me?”
“Would you rather I have slapped you?”
Annalise absently lifted a hand to her cheek. “No, I suppose not. But you kissed me.”
“I’ve made no secret of the fact that I want you, Annalise. That I desire you. It is my goal to make you mine. Does it really surprise you?”
His mate considered her words. “No, I suppose not.” She smiled. “At least you’re a good kisser.”
Caine’s mouth twitched in an approximation of a smile. “So what you’re saying is that you enjoyed it?”
Annalise winked at him. “I have problems with commitment and trust, Caine. I’m not dead. Of course I enjoyed it. It’s not often I get to lip-lock with a model from a fitness magazine who wants to kiss me.”
He chuckled. “You kiss a lot of fitness models who don’t want to kiss you back? Is that what you’re saying?”
She buried her face in her hands and moaned. “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all, and you know it! Can we please change the subject?
“Okay,” he said, taking pity on her. It was tough when she was just so cute like this though. “Care to enlighten me on who that tower of terror I just threatened is?”
“That’s Lincoln,” she said. “He’s the…um, he’s a bad person. He does whatever is necessary.”
“He’s the one you ran away from?”
“No. I ran away from his boss. A powerful man who thinks he owns me.” Annalise shuddered and looked away.
There was far more to that story than she was telling him. Simply dating a powerful man and then leaving him wasn’t enough to cause all the issues he’d seen with her. The lack of trust and her constant looking around for exits and unwillingness to be trapped somewhere alone with him. The talk of “can’t go back.” She had left any semblance of a life behind to go on the run from this guy. There was something she wasn’t telling him. She would though, when she was ready. Until then, he would continue to support her, as he had all along.
“Lincoln was sent here by this other guy—you won’t tell me who—to take you back to a place you won’t tell me, for reasons that you won’t tell me. Do I have that about right?”
She nodded. “Yes. I can’t go back, Caine. I can’t. Please, don’t let them take me back.”
He growled, the sound quieting her immediately. “I promised you I wouldn’t let them do that, and I intend to keep that promise. You don’t have to ask me anymore, Annalise. You have my word. They will take you over my dead body.”
His mate cringed. “That’s what I’m worried about.”
“There is a lot you don’t know about me. You needn’t worry about that. That Lincoln fellow doesn’t understand what he’s gotten himself into the middle of, trust me on that. You are safe with me, far safer than you could ever imagine.” He paused. “Just don’t run away. I won’t force you into anything, but I cannot protect you if you try and do something stupid, like run off to keep me safe while exposing yourself.”
Annalise was already responding before he’d finished. “I’m not going…” Her protest died off as he gave her a knowing look. “Okay, so I was planning on doing just that. Now, obviously, I’m going to have to plan it better.”
He sighed. “How can I convince you that you’re better off with me than you are on your own?”
“I don’t know. I told you, I have trust issues. I’ve already opened myself up to you far more than I’m comfortable with, Caine. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to just believe your word completely. I’ve survived for five years by myself, you know. On my own, no support, no help.”
He shrugged. “You’ve survived, yes. But you haven’t been living, Annalise. Take a chance on me, and I can help you live again.” He swallowed, hating what he was about to say next. “Even if that’s not with me, I can still give you that ability. All you need to do is trust me for a bit longer.”
“There certainly isn’t anyone else,” she muttered. “No one has shown nearly as much of an interest in me as you, whether friendship or otherwise, in a long, long time. But I don’t know, Caine. The last time I…” she shook her head, closing off that subject. “I don’t know.”
“Stay with me for now, and we’ll deal with this Lincoln character. After that, then we’ll decide.” If he could just get her to agree to stick around for a bit longer, it would give him more time to figure out a plan.
It would also give her more time to think about the kiss they shared, and how it had felt right, like all the pieces had just clicked together. He leaned down and brushed some hair back from her face that had fallen out of her ponytail when she’d landed on the floor.
“What do you say?”
Annalise thought about it, remaining silent for a few moments. He noted that she hadn’t stopped him from touching her face. That was a good sign. She was getting used to him being in her space, even if she didn’t realize it yet.
“If I did agree to that, what would we do?”
“You’d have to leave here,” he said, gesturing to the house. “He knows about it now.”
“Okay, where would we go?”
Caine steeled himself for the predicted outburst. She wasn’t going to like his answer. Not one bit. “You should come stay with me.”
Annalise just stared at him before she blew air from between her lips in a great big sigh. “Why did I just know you were going to suggest that?”
“It’s the safest place to be,” he said. “You’d be surrounded by myself, my two brothers, and a number of others…like us.” He didn’t want to get too cryptic with her, but now was not the time to reveal the true nature of his secret.
“Like you?”
“Trained. Skilled. Able to protect you from common thugs like this Lincoln character.”
“Right…” She rubbed at her eyes. “What have I gotten myself into?”
“I don’t know. All I’m concerned about is getting you out of it.”
She glared at him momentarily, letting him know that she was referring to her situation with him, and not whatever had happened in her past. Caine just smiled.
“Fine. What do we do now?”
“For now, we wait. Tonight we’ll head out under cover of darkness to avoid our old pal Linc.”
Annalise nodded. Caine was still trying to get a read on her. He felt there was just as good a chance she would bolt without him as there was her coming along to safety. Her flight instincts were heavily ingrained upon her, and it would be hard to overcome them with him in such a short period of time.
He couldn’t let that happen, though. Despite his manhandling of Lincoln, he knew the other would be back, and wouldn’t be so easily discouraged this time. He’d insulted the bruiser, and the big man would want to prove that he wasn’t so easily pushed aside. In other words, violence was coming. Lincoln didn’t stand a chance, but he wasn’t aware of that. Yet. No, Caine’s concern wasn’t with him. It was with Annalise.
Whatever happened, he vowed he would be ready and do whatever it took to ensure her safety. Even if she didn’t like it.