“Dammit. And this was my favorite one.”
It was the sound of the porch swing next door creaking, and the sight of a very large shadow making its way toward her that had the air leaving her. She took a step back. The wind picked up, and she smelled Kane. An involuntary sigh left her, and then he was right in front of her, looking all good and dangerous surrounded by the shadows.
For several long moments all he did was stare at her, and she wondered if he could hear the erratic beat of her heart. Her response to him was always the same: adrenalin pumping through her veins as her body came alive with an intense arousal. Even in the darkness she could see his eyes as they took in her face, then the ripped remains of her shirt. A low, almost primal growl left him as he stared at that broken strap. Her pulse increased, and something inside of her filled with female appreciation. Just hearing that sound, all rough and animalistic, did something in the pit of her stomach. When he finally dragged his eyes back to her face the fierceness in his expression had her taking a step back. It wasn’t as if she worried he would hurt her, but he looked so raw and unhinged. But over what? Her tank-top strap?
“Who did this, Cayla?” The words were clipped and gravelly.
She glanced down at her shirt and picked up the strap. “Some guy—”
Before she could even get the words completely out a low vibration came from him. It was deep and hard, and everything inside of her screamed that the man in front of her was everything male and powerful. His head was low, but his eyes held hers.
“Some asshole did this to you?” He scanned the rest of her body, and his stare stopped at her arm.
She looked down and saw a nasty looking bruise in the size of a handprint start to form against her skin. She hadn’t realized he had gripped her that hard.
“Did that fucker do this to you as well?” Kane lifted up her arm so it was positioned between their bodies. She could feel how wide her eyes were, but it wasn’t because his intensity frightened her. She had just never seen him so ... feral before.
“Yes.” That lone word came out so soft she wondered if he even heard her. “I’m okay, really.” She offered him a smile and gently pulled free from his hold. The muscles under his cheeks flexed and relaxed over and over again. She lifted her hand in a wave and turned slightly away from him, not really sure what else to say. The situation was bordering on the unusual due to his reaction and apparent anger over her state of clothing and the bruise. Obviously he is just worried about you because you’re Andre’s sister. He clearly thought something horrific happened, and she supposed the evidence did make it look pretty bad. Before she could take a step toward her house, a growl—yes, a real life animalistic growl—rumbled out of him. He shot his hand out and gripped her around the waist, stopping her. Heat instantly flooded between her thighs, and her nipples hardened.
“What the fuck, Cayla?”
She looked behind her and down at her shoulder where his eyes were currently trained. So she had landed on a rock. The inch long cut had since stopped bleeding, and dried blood was smeared on her skin. It looked like ink on a sheet of paper.
“This isn’t what you think. I wasn’t attacked or anything.” Well, not really. The bruise on her arm had been extreme, and by the way Kane’s eyes flicked toward said body part he was thinking the same thing. “It was just some drunk guy that grabbed me thinking I was someone he knew. Then he lost his balance and fell on top of me. That’s how I got the cut on my shoulder.”
He didn’t say anything, and after what seemed like forever he exhaled and speared his hair with his free hand. The short dark strands stuck up haphazardly in a way that was far too sexy to be legal. He still kept a firm, yet gentle grip around her waist, and the way the tips of his fingers touched the strip of flesh that her shirt didn’t cover, sent tendrils of pleasure to her pussy.
“Come on.” He didn’t give her a chance to ask what he was doing. He just led her back to his parents’ house and into their kitchen. “Sit at the table and explain to me what the fuck happened.”
She had told him the majority of it, but apparently that wasn’t thorough enough. He rummaged through the cupboards until he found a first aid kit and walked back to her.
“Kane, really I’m fine.”
He speared her with a look that had her shutting up.“Let me see your shoulder and start talking.”
She did as he asked feeling little bit of excitement over his domineering attitude. That shouldn’t turn her on, but she would be lying if she said it didn’t make her want him so much more. Something cold and wet touched her cut, and she hissed from the sting.