Jesse lifted a hand. “For the record, I’m smarter than Kyle and Blake. I won’t get drugged. No toilet hugging for me.”

“Funny man,” Blake grumbled. “Just drive the car.”

Kara cringed. Obviously everyone knew about Kyle now. Of course they did. She’d have a bucket load of cranky men to face soon.

Jesse pulled the car away from the curb and Blake moved the jacket, scooting closer to Kara and pulling her tight against his side, his leg molding hers, his hand possessively on her knee. Tingling sensations raced up her thigh to her sex, and guilt twisted in Kara’s gut. How could she want a man who didn’t care if her sister lived or died?

Kara reached for Blake’s hand, intending to move it from her leg, only to have his fingers flex on her knee and her hand rest over his. The contact triggered a flashback of him telling her about Whitney’s death. She remembered the torment she’d seen in his eyes at least a hundred times, and she knew why. Guilt. He blamed himself for not saving Whitney. Kara squeezed her eyes shut, recognizing that her emotional pain over her sister had made her blind to his pain over Whitney tonight. Killing Alvarez was all Blake had lived for these past two years, and thinking back to the boat, he’d had plenty of chances to make that fantasy reality. But he hadn’t, and if he’d really intended to, he would have. God, she was such a fool. He’d contained that desperate need, for her.

Kara turned to face him. He seemed to have turned at the same moment, and his hands slid into her hair, framing her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her hands covering his. “I’m just…my sister and—”

“Make sure you can handle what ‘more’ means before you ask for it, Kara.” His mouth came down on hers, his tongue parting her lips, delving deep, and she tasted more than desire on his lips. She tasted absolute need in him, and that need was for her. And for just a few moments, she wanted to block out the world and lose herself in Blake. But the world didn’t like that idea.

Jesse cleared his throat. “Hate to break up the back seat loving, you two,” he said. “But we have company.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SIX