Kean

“Come on,” he said, pushing the now-empty bowl of cereal aside.

“Where are we going this time?” she said. “Another walk?”

He just shook his head and pulled Madison along behind him, until he got to the room she was staying in. Pulling her inside, he could see the tension rising as they stood there in her room.

“I’m going to step outside,” he told her. “Take off your shirt and lie down on the side of the bed.”

“I’m sorry, what?” she asked in disbelief.

He frowned. “Shirt. Off. Bed. Lie on it. On your stomach.” He broke up the order into short sentences.

“I’m not going to take my shirt off around you. Just because we, we, we held hands during a walk, doesn’t mean I’m about to sleep with you!”

Kean slapped his forehead with one hand. “Seriously? That’s what you think I’m doing? Pulling you in here, and ordering you to take your shirt off and lie down?”

“What am I supposed to think?”

“Not that! You know,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m actually kind of insulted.”

“You’re insulted?” she challenged.

“Yeah.”

“How exactly is it that you’re insulted by telling me to take off my shirt and lie down?” Madison asked, crossing her arms in front of her.

Kean very carefully did not glance down at the way that movement pushed her breasts up, exposing some faint cleavage lines at the top of her button-down shirt. She had the top three buttons undone, and now they were starting to pull apart as her breasts pushed against the material. But he didn’t look at them. Absolutely not. Nope. Not even once.

“Did you just look at my boobs?” she asked, laughing sharply at him.

WHAT? No, he hadn’t, he’d looked away from them. He’d not looked at her—

I just looked at them. Shit.

“Listen,” he said, tearing his eyes away from her. “I was saying that I’m insulted because you think that me telling you to take your shirt off and lie down is my way of seducing you. Seriously? You think so little of me that you think that’s all I can do? That I couldn’t kiss you like I did in the hallway back at the hotel, at a minimum? That maybe I’d run my hands over you as I held you close before I took your clothes off? That maybe I’d ensure you were actually interested in that? I mean, come on, Madison, I think we both know I’m not stupid enough to think I could just order you into bed with me. You have to want to sleep with me for that to work.”

Rosy red coloring exploded on her cheeks, running down over her well-defined jaw and down her neck, sticking close to her veins, as if to highlight them as she blushed. She didn’t respond right away either, and Kean suddenly wondered if maybe she did secretly want to sleep with him. After all, they had held hands during their walk, and the kiss at the hotel hadn’t been completely faked, or even close to it.

Still, that wasn’t his purpose right now. “I’m going to ignore your insult to my seduction capabilities and step out of the room. You are going to push your ego aside, and pretend like I’m interested in more than just sleeping with you. Then you’re going to remove your top and lie down on the bed.”

Madison just looked at him. “Why?”

He grinned. “Sucks not knowing why you’re doing something, doesn’t it?” He pointed at the bed. “Now get.”

Kean stepped outside her room, pulling the door closed after him before she could respond. The angry noise, sigh, and sound of clothing hitting the ground were all audible to his enhanced hearing though. Maybe he’d driven home his point about lack of trust enough for one day. Kean didn’t want her getting angry at him.

“Okay,” she called.

He slipped back inside, closing the door behind him.

“Now, what am I doing?”

“You know, I thought it was fairly obvious,” he muttered, approaching the side of the low-slung bed.

He dropped to his knees, then rubbed his palms together quickly until they started to burn slightly from the friction. Sufficiently warmed, he placed them on her back, and began to knead her muscles once more. Only this time he had full access to her back and neck, unlike while she was hunched over the kitchen table.

“Oh,” she said in a very small voice, as realization on how wrong her judgment was showed through. “Oh, this is really nice, Kean. Really nice,” she said, nearly purring as he ran a thumb along the side of her spine, working on the muscles there. “Why didn’t you say this is what you were doing?”

He snorted quietly. “Honestly?”

“Yeah.”

“Because I thought it was rather obvious,” he said bluntly. “Why else would I want you just shirtless on the edge of the bed?”

Madison didn’t reply. He sensed embarrassment in her silence.

“It’s okay to trust me a little bit,” he said. “I’m on your side, after all.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I know. It’s me, not you. I’m just scared for Raven.”

“Hush,” he said, working the other side of her spine as he warmed her muscles up, until he could truly dig deep down into them, to work through the knots he could feel all over the place.

Madison subsided into silence, and he began to work in earnest. His strong hands dug deep, and he ran them all over her back. Although he was doing the work, the contact between them was nearly electric. Any time he took his hand away and then touched her again, a little thrill ran up and down his spine. Her skin was so soft under his fingertips, and before long Kean found himself longing to lean down and kiss her. He wanted to taste her, to feel her skin against his lips.

“Who are you, Kean Koche?” she asked softly as he rubbed the small of her back. “Tell me about your past.”

He hesitated, his hands pausing in their movements. Kean thought back to all the things he’d done with his brothers. The things they’d gotten caught for. The more numerous things they hadn’t. It had all been fun and games. Until the war. Until they’d been forced to go through the Green Bearet training, the bear shifter warrior arm of Cadia. None of the brothers had been interested in that. But they had no choice.

Shortly after starting training, they’d returned to their roots. An illicit gambling ring had risen up soon after, and the Koche brothers had become infamous. Eventually though, they’d been caught and arrested.

While in jail, Kean had had a lot of time to think. A lot. The gambling ring was fairly minor, compared to some of the other things they’d done.

“No,” he said at last. “No I won’t. Not yet at least.”

“That bad?”

“We all have our secrets,” he said quietly, feeling the shame of the way he’d lived his life push through into his words.

Pierce had been the first to change. That change had been immediately visible the day he’d come to rescue them. He’d talked with his little brother since, and it had become immediately clear what had spurred the change.

It had been Mila. His love, and his mate. She’d been the focal point for him, the reason he wanted to stop following Maximus and Kassian, and strike out on his own, in a new way, with new goals, new ethics, and a newfound sense of morality as well.

The elder brothers, most used to the wild ways, weren’t taking it so well.

“I understand,” Madison whispered.

For whatever reason, Kean got the idea that Madison suddenly felt her secret wasn’t that serious compared to his past. Maybe in time they’d come to feel comfortable enough with each other to share some painful memories.

Maybe.

Neither of them spoke. The only sound heard were his hands as they slid across her skin to work a different set of muscles every so often. He could practically feel the stress melting off of Madison as his thumbs rolled over each knot, focusing on it until it released.

His mind strayed. What was Madison thinking about, he wondered. All he could think of at that moment was the kiss they’d shared in the hotel hallway. So quick, so rushed, and yet so invigorating. Her touch had been like fire, burning his lips as they moved against hers. Her hands around him had scalded him, leaving a trail of inflamed nerves as they slid over his skin.

All of it had been too quick. Too brief. He wanted more. Kean wanted to kiss her in private. To let the moment linger on for longer than the handful of heartbeats that it’d been before. Those precious seconds had felt closer to hours while he was experiencing them, an intoxicating draw.

There had been a spark. He couldn’t deny it. His bear had felt it too, coming alive when she’d pulled him down to her. The mild aggressiveness and confidence was intoxicating as well, the way she hadn’t hesitated. There was no mistaking it: she had kissed him. Not the other way around.

“So tell me,” he asked conversationally.

“Mmmm?”

“Am I the best spontaneous fake kiss you’ve ever had?” he said, half-teasing, half-serious.

Madison’s head, facing him, scrunched up slightly into a grin.

“Ah, so that’s a yes then,” he pronounced when she didn’t reply.

“Perhaps,” she replied. “Why, what’s it to you?”

His heart stopped.