“Kyle.”

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 f**ked” 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 Five

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 c**k 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.

“Blake?” she asked, sounding breathless, confused.

“I can’t do this, Kara. I can’t think when I’m inside you. Someone else, yes. Not you.”

Her eyes went wide. “Did you really just say that? Did you say…” She let go of him and ducked under his arm and he reached for her but she was gone. She whirled on him. “You want to f**k someone else? There’s the door. Go find a good ‘fuck’ escape. That’s what you do, right? Fuck everything that moves to try to forget whatever it is that’s eating you alive?”

“Kara, sweetheart…”

“Blake, go to hell, and stop calling me that. I’m not your sweetheart and I’m not your f**k buddy either. Damn, you’ve made me hate that word more than I already did.”

“You took what I said wrong.”

“I took it wrong? How am I supposed to take it?” She crossed her arms in front of her body. “It’s fine, Blake. Just go.”

Oh, shit. He knew enough about women to know the word “fine” was not a good thing. “I…damn it, Kara, it came out wrong.”

“You owe me nothing, Blake. Not an explanation. Nothing. We hardly know each other.”

“That’s the problem, woman,” he half growled in complete, utter frustration. “I can’t just f**k you and forget you. And you were right. That’s what I do. I walk away and if I never knew the woman’s name, all the better. That’s what I swore would be how I operated for the rest of my life.”

She looked appalled. “What made you like this? What happened?”

Blake’s skin started to twitch; the shadows swirling around in the back of his mind were threatening to take shape. He walked to the bed and sank down onto it. He dropped his face to his hands. “I can’t do this, Kara.” The shadows began to part, the bloody images started to take shape.

The bed shifted and Kara’s fingers gently stroked his hair. “Blake…”

Her touch was both soothing balm and liquid fire. He grabbed her hand, trying to control what he felt, trying not to feel at all, and it was impossible. Steeling himself for her probing stare, he forced his gaze to lift. “Kara.” His voice was hoarse, laden with emotions he couldn’t seem to control. “You…you make me…”

Feel. He didn’t put another name to it. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to feel anything, and yet he did. He felt way too much.

Her expression softened instantly. “You make me…too. Blake, I know what pain feels like. I’m here. If you need me—”

“I don’t want to need you,” he said vehemently, unable to hold back.

“I know. Believe me, I know. I get it. I get you. I have from that first night we met in Denver.” She reached up and touched his temple, letting her fingers trail down his cheek, and Blake felt her touch chase fire through his blood—but even more, it stirred a hot burn in his chest that had nothing to do with desire, and everything to do with emotion. Like it or not, and he didn’t, he was feeling again and it was heaven and hell. It had to stop.