Chapter 6

Blake crouched over Kian, keeping him pinned beneath her as she scanned the area, fully expecting a group of mafia thugs to come rushing out the bushes, guns blazing. Maybe a few grenades going off.

Kian glanced over his shoulders, obviously wondering what she was searching for. But even after thirty seconds of scouring every inch of the underbrush, there was nothing but leaves and branches swaying in the breeze. A few flowers bobbing against a light gust.

Great. Now he was really going to think she was crazy. Maybe suggest she seek professional help. That, or he was going to corner her — demand answers.

Which he deserved. She only wished she could tell him the truth. Confide in someone. Lessen the burden she'd been carrying for years. First, while under the care of the Marshal Service, then the past eighteen months, here. Alone.

Kian patted her thigh, staring up at her when she finally gazed down. And damn, he looked completely at ease. As if women bowled him over all the time. And maybe they did.

Or maybe he was simply one of the last true warriors. The kind who kept their cool, even when she was losing hers.

Kian waited until she made eye contact, giving her a slight tilt of his brow. "If you wanted to go for a tumble, sweetheart, all you had to do was say the word, and I would have taken us back to my room."

She snorted, clearing the area one more time before climbing off to one side. She knew what he was doing. How he was using humor to ease some of the tension before he'd go in for the kill. Corner her, just like she'd been thinking.

She shook her head, still unsure if the coast was clear or if she really had seen someone holding a gun. "Ass."

"Wasn't me who flipped out over some swaying branches."

"It wasn't the branches. I thought I saw…"

He waited, nudging her when she simply sat there, still staring at the brush. "Thought you saw…"

"Forget it. It must have been my imagination. A shadow or something. Did I hurt you?"

"Please. My buddies hit harder than that playing football."

"Right."

He accepted the hand she offered, rising smoothly to his feet, only he didn't stop there.

Two seconds, and he had her pinned to the side of the chopper, one arm braced against the fuselage next to her head, the other resting on her hip. Just like in his hotel room that first night. When she'd kissed him as if she'd never been that close to a man before. And hell, maybe she hadn't. Not like this, where she couldn't separate her heart from what was screaming in head.

Kian narrowed his eyes, looking as if he was still trying his best to puzzle her out before lifting his hand and tracing his fingers along her jaw. "Blake?—"

"Why are you such a hard habit to break?"

He leaned in. "So, I'm a Chicago song?"

"Again, you're an ass. But corny or not, it's true. And I should know. I've had to make some difficult choices — walk away from people I cared about. Yet standing here, nothing seems as clear-cut as it used to. Just thinking about leaving…"

"Leaving?" Some of the color drained from his face as his smile fell flat. "Why would you be thinking about leaving?"

"That's not the point. What I'm saying is…" She tiptoed up — nipped at his lower lip. She didn't want to talk. Didn't want to think about how the next few hours would play out. If she really was overreacting or this was the start of the end. The fact she was blurting out every random thought as it popped into her head wasn't helping.

She palmed his face. "Shut up and kiss me."

"I'll kiss you after we talk. I can't?—"

"Kian. For the next five minutes can you just pretend I didn't freak out? That everything's normal? Please?"

She didn't wait for him to answer, simply leaned forward — claimed his mouth.

How was kissing him even better than she remembered? Sweeter than the ones they'd shared last night when she'd dropped him off at the resort, again? Where they'd spent forty-five minutes saying goodbye in her Jeep?

That's when it hit her. How in the space of only a few weeks, this island had turned from a refuge into a home.

And it was all because of him.

Blake raised her hand and ran her fingers along his neck then into his hair, fisting the soft strands as he deepened the kiss. He didn't seem to care they were standing at the edge of the lawn, that his friends might be staring at them, wondering if they'd both lost their minds, he simply eased back long enough to catch a breath before kissing her, again. Harder. Dragging her body against his, the firm ridge pressing against her hip proof he was completely focused on her.

Footsteps sounded behind them followed by a chuckle. "Christ, we can't leave you two alone for five minutes before you're necking like teenagers."

Kian flipped Waylen off without breaking contact, giving her one last kiss before shaking his head and inching back. But he stayed close, as if he expected her to run off if he wasn't physically touching her. And any other time, she would have. Would have turned on her heels, climbed into her chopper and left. Back to her hanger where she would have packed up her meager belongings and caught the first flight out.

Except where she wasn't sure she could, this time.

Kian pulled her a bit closer, turning to face Waylen and Presley. "Well?"

Waylen shook his head in mock disappointment. "I can't believe you had any doubts I'd get the video taken down."

"I wasn't doubting you. I was simply wondering if you could stop kissing Presley long enough to get the job done. Talk about two people acting like teenagers."

"Wasn't us making out against the chopper a minute ago."

Kian's lips quirked. "So, it's gone?"

Waylen snorted. "Nice deflection. And yeah, it's gone. I did a search to see if the guy had uploaded it to any other sites but came up empty. Not that I can guarantee it's not still out there, but if I couldn't find it…"

"Then, no one can. Got it." Kian nudged her. "What level are we at, now?"

She feigned a small smile, nodding at Waylen. "Undetermined. Could you tell how many views it had?"

Waylen glanced at Kian then back to her. "It said a few thousand, which really isn't that many. However…"

Was she frozen, again? Because it felt that way. That one word reigniting all the panic she'd barely gotten under control.

She managed to swallow most of it — get her tongue working, again. "However? That sounds bad."

"Not bad. But I want to be completely honest. And the truth is, I have no way of knowing how often they update those statistics. If it's live, hourly or just once a day."

"I see. So, it could be more than just a few thousand views."

"Possibly. But… even if it was ten thousand, it's still relatively small. Nothing close to going viral."

"Right." She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. "Regardless. Thank you. I can't believe you did that for me."

Waylen scrunched up his face. "Why wouldn't I? Anything for my girl's best friend."

Blake nodded, trying to be optimistic when the full weight of his words sunk in. That's when she realized she'd have to leave Presley behind, too. And Waylen and Lane and Cassie and the rest of Kian's crew. The people she'd come to see as friends, despite having just met them because that's how they made her feel. Like she was family.

Tears pooled in her eyes, and she had to fight hard to blink them away. Pretend a spec of dust had blown into one of them when a few drops slipped out. Not that Kian believed her. She'd barely managed to wipe her cheeks before he was leaning over her, mouth pursed. Brow furrowed.

"Okay, enough is enough. It's time we had that talk because you're really starting to scare me."

He moved closer, glancing at Waylen and Presley over his shoulder as he lowered his head. "I know you're running from something. That much has been obvious from the start. But I can't fix anything if I don't know what's wrong."

Fix it? How could she tell him that the only way he could fix anything was if he had a time machine and she could go back — unsee everything. Or better… Stop Russo before there had been anything for her to see. "While I love the sentiment, this isn't something you can fix."

"So, I'm right, and there is something."

"Kian."

"How do you know I can't fix it when you haven't even let me try? Whatever this is — whether it's trouble with the law or someone else — I can help you. It's what I do — what my team does. All you have to do is tell me what's got you so damn spooked."

He was serious. Standing there, staring into his eyes, Blake knew he wasn't joking. That if she told him the freaking Russo crime family was hunting her and that stupid video meant hired mercenaries might be closing in on her, right now, he'd simply nod and act as if it was another regular afternoon. Rally his crew and have her surrounded by armed ex-SEALs before she could blink.

But the crazier part was that she wanted to tell him. Have him tell her it was all going to be okay, even if it was a lie.

Instead, she gave him a genuine smile. "I'm sure it's fine now that Waylen took down the video. Really. I just hate having my privacy trampled on."

"You're lying." He sighed. "Not about the privacy thing. That's true. But your mouth twitches a bit whenever you're trying to brush something off, so I don't ask more probing questions. I should know. You've been doing that ever since I met you, and I'm not ashamed to admit I've been so damn focused on you, I couldn't have missed it if I'd tried. So, I'll ask, again. What's really going on?"

"Kian, I?—"

"Is this a private party or can anyone bust in?"

Blake jumped, nearly socking Kian in the eye as Hawk's voice sounded behind them. It wasn't like her to not notice someone approaching, but it was the second time people had walked up on them and she'd been too engrossed in Kian to realize.

Kian closed his eyes for a moment, obviously unhappy about the intrusion, before he plastered on a smile and turned. "There's always room for you, Hawk. What's up?"

Hawk must have noticed he'd interrupted an important conversation because he stopped, glancing between them before shoving his hands in his pockets. Though, the tears drying on her cheeks probably didn't help.

Hawk gave her a once-over, his gaze still clearly assessing her as he motioned toward the machine. "I just got a call from the clinic over in Ka'u. They haven't been able to get all the supplies they need and with Kilauea still spewing ash and smoke, they've got more patients than usual. I've got one of my guys bringing back a truckload, but it'll take him hours to drive over and some of their patients just can't wait that long. I was hoping you and Blake might do me a solid and fly it out. They mentioned they could use a bit of triage help, too, and with you being a trained combat medic…"

Kian nodded. "Always happy to lend a hand, but I can't speak for Blake."

Hawk focused on her. "Well, Blake? Have you got a couple of hours free?"

She paused to glance around the area — see if there were any armed hitman biding their time behind bushes or outbuildings, but nothing suggested she'd actually spotted someone earlier. More likely it was her paranoia getting the better of her. Still… she should say no. Hop in her chopper and get as far away as possible before they all became collateral damage, just like her friends back east. The ones who'd ended up in the hospital when her boss and the district attorney had thought she'd be safe surrounded by her crew. That the Russos wouldn't chance another encounter with her division after the fallout from their first attempt.

They'd been wrong and those injuries were on her.

Blake opened her mouth to decline — make up some kind of viable excuse — buy herself enough time to bug out without them deducing her plan. Maybe trying to stop her.

Hearing herself say yes caught her by surprise. Had her inhaling because it was crazy.

Some of the patients can't wait that long.

That's what had swayed her. That if she was going to lose everything, again, the least she could do was honor her oath one last time. Even if she was the only one who knew why.

And if she got one final evening with the man she was pretty sure she'd fallen in love with, then maybe she'd be able to do the right thing.

Hawk grinned. "Excellent." He turned when a truck pulled onto the long road into the ranch. "That's your supplies, now. I'll let the clinic know you'll be there shortly. And thanks. I might have to officially put you on the docket if I keep monopolizing your services like this."

Just what she needed. More guilt for when she finally had to leave. She glanced at her cell, double checking she hadn't missed any calls. That Porter had already tried to reach her, and she'd somehow ignored the endless vibrations because she wasn't quite ready to face reality.

Maybe she really was crazy? Because Porter would have blown up her cell if he'd spotted the video, wouldn't he? If his checks and alerts had picked up on it when hers hadn't. Even with the video down, he wouldn't chance not contacting her if the damn thing had popped up on his radar. Not with Russo staging an appeal.

Kian knocked her shoulder, giving her a hard stare once she met his gaze. "Just because we have a job to do doesn't mean this discussion's over. I'll help load the supplies but consider yourself put on notice."

Oh, she was on notice, all right. It just wasn't the one he thought.