Blake glanced up from the small round table he sat at to find Kara standing in the doorway. And damn if his groin didn’t tighten instantly at the sight of her long, dark hair looking rumpled and sexy, in a “just been fucked” kind of way he only wished were true.

Kyle twisted around in his chair. “What’s up, darlin’?”

“Well, bubba, the girls want you to play poker with them again. They can’t sleep.”

“Bubba?” Blake laughed.

“Yeah,” Kyle said, standing up. “What’s with the bubba?”

“If I’m ‘darlin’, then you’re ‘bubba’. That’s how it works. Since you’re ex-FBI, you know the rules.”

Kyle snorted and looked at Blake. “Like I said. Good luck holding this one back.” He ran a hand through his short blond hair and headed toward the other room. “Never let it be said I failed a woman in need of entertainment.”

He passed Kara, who stood inside the door and didn’t move. “What does ‘sweetheart’ get me?” Blake asked.

She shut the door and locked it, then leaned against the wall. “Why don’t you come find out?”

And there it was. She threw out another challenge. He wanted to take it. Every damn time he wanted to take it, take her. And it was a mistake. Over and over, a mistake, one leading her to a place she didn’t belong. Right in the middle of his quest for vengeance. Blake thought of her words from the truck and they replayed in his mind. You can’t stop me from caring, and if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you go on a death mission, you’re the one who's sadly mistaken. Damn, he wanted her to care and it was selfish. It was wrong. He had to end this now. He had to lay down the law. For her own good.

Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER

TWENTY

Blake stood up and stalked toward Kara, pressing his hands to the wall above her head, careful not to touch her. “We need to talk, Kara.”

“Later,” she whispered, and before he could stop her, she wrapped her arms around his neck, molding her body to his. “For once I want to kiss you knowing you aren’t the enemy.” She pressed her mouth to his.

For several seconds, Blake managed not to move, but when Kara’s soft little tongue pressed into his mouth, he moaned, and settled one hand in the center of her back, the other at the side of her face. Slanting his mouth over hers, he claimed her in a hot, hungry, damning kiss, a kiss that screamed of how dangerously lost he was in this woman. She made a soft sound of pleasure and his cock thickened to the point of pain. He needed her. Needed. The word jolted him and Blake tore his mouth from hers, pushing her against the wall, but she clung to him.