Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

W averly woke up feeling better than she had since she'd been taken. Her head was resting on Kane's shoulder. Her leg was thrown over his. Her arm was resting on his chest and his arm was around her and holding her tight to him.

She felt energized. Her brain was no longer struggling to keep up. It was as if the gears in her mind had been lubricated and spinning easily as she cataloged how she felt and how Kane felt against her.

"Are you okay?" Kane asked, his voice gravelly from sleep. "You just groaned."

Good thing the room was still pitch black or he'd see that her face had just turned five shades of red. "I'm good. Actually, I feel great. I think the fluids and the antibiotics have really helped."

Kane absently ran his hand up and down her spine and it caused Waverly to sink even farther against him. She wanted to rub her body against his and let him do whatever he wanted to her. She knew of a syndrome where people who were rescued develop feelings for their rescuer, but while she was thankful for Kane's rescue, that wasn't what she was attracted to. She liked his mind, his intelligence, and his logical approach to problems. She respected him and she trusted him. She liked how he listened to her and how he didn't dismiss her when she asked her own questions. He treated her with respect and kindness. And yeah, there was also the fact that she was currently curled around his half-naked body and it wasn't a hardship. She was mentally and physically turned on by him. It was actually a first. She usually had one or the other. The trouble? Was this real or was it just situational?

"I can feel you thinking," Kane whispered in the dark, moving his hand to her head. He began to give her a scalp massage and if she hadn't been half in love with him already, she was now. Kane chuckled as she groaned. His fingers were magical as they rubbed her temples and worked around the entirety of her head. "Will you tell me what you were thinking about?"

Waverly would have tensed up, but Kane kept his magical fingers working as he moved down to her neck. Now it was time for her to decide who she was and how she should handle this. Lark would bat her lashes and flirt effortlessly. Waverly wasn't that person, no matter how much she wanted to be. If she was reading Kane's signals correctly, he possibly might be as interested in her as she was in him. She just needed to know one thing first.

"Is this a service you provide to all the women you rescue?"

Kane's fingers paused briefly before resuming their massage. "Massages? No. You're my one and only."

"What about more than massages?"

"Ah." Kane reached over with his free arm and pulled her tighter against him. "You want to know if I sleep with the women I rescue. No, I have never slept with any of them, sexually or platonically. You're the only one I've ever wanted to sleep with."

Waverly's heart began to beat harder after it seemed to skip a beat. "Sexually or platonically?"

"Both," Kane responded immediately. "And more. The timing couldn't be worse, but I'd love to explore what's between us."

"Oh," she said with a surprised inhale. These were unchartered waters for Waverly. She was nervous, excited, and for once, completely unsure of herself. She had confidence in her mind and her work. But with love? She was out of her depth.

"I don't want us to make any decisions now. We have all the time in the world. We can get back home, find out who is behind this, and get you safe first."

"Oh." This time it wasn't breathless. It was said with disappointment.

She felt Kane laugh silently beneath her. "How about this? We go at whatever pace you want. All you have to do is tell me what you want, Waverly, and it's yours."

"I want some rubidium atoms for a new quantum sensor I've thought of."

"Done," Kane said with a laugh.

"And I want a kiss."

Waverly held her breath because the second she said it, Kane stopped laughing. He went still beneath her. Then suddenly, he rolled her onto her back and he propped himself above her with his arms framing her face. "Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Rubidium, a kiss, or my heart."

Kane lowered his face to hers and now it was her turn to go still. His lips were featherlight as they skimmed each cheek before brushing against hers in the darkness. At first it was just a soft tease and then he tilted his head and kissed her for real. No teasing, just his lips covering hers, his tongue caressing hers, his body somehow kissing hers. It was sensory overload. Waverly's every nerve was raw and aching, yet she had never felt so alive.

Waverly wrapped her legs around his and ran her hands down his back, trying to keep him as close as possible to her. She felt his hardness at the exact right spot, causing her brain to overheat. She couldn't have done any kind of math in that moment if her life had depended on it. Only Kane and how he was making her feel was on her mind.

"You taste so good," Kane whispered to her, moving his lips from hers to her jaw and then down her neck.

"It's the toothpaste."

Kane snickered against her neck. "No, sweetheart, it's you. I don't have any protection with me, so I can't fully enjoy you." He sucked the delicate skin at the base of her neck into his mouth before kissing it. "But, you taste good. I can't wait to taste all of you."

Which he then did. Waverly gripped his hair after he stripped her shirt from her. He kissed her, starting at her belly button and moving to her breast. She couldn't remember what Lagrange's equations of the first kind were. And forget about calculus as Kane moved back to her belly button and farther south. He gently tugged the boxers she was wearing down and she kicked them off as he kissed her hip and then moved his lips to . . .

Nothing. Her mind went completely blank. Kane's tongue was the center of her universe until all that was left was the bliss of being shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Just as I thought. You're delicious."

All of a sudden her mind rebooted. "Oh my god!"

"Post orgasm declaration?" Kane asked with a chuckle as he moved back up to kiss her.

"No! I was so relaxed that I just solved a problem I had with uncontrolled nanoparticle aggregation. I need paper!"

Waverly practically pushed Kane off in her bid to turn on the light and write down the solution before she forgot any part of it. She knew this could be a breaking point in their relationship. This is where she lost other dates. When inspiration struck, she had to embrace it fully in that moment or she could lose it.

"Tell me about it," Kane said, grabbing a piece of paper and shoving it at her as she grabbed the pen.

Words came out that she was sure Kane didn't understand, but it helped her stay focused long enough to get the numbers down. Her brain worked faster than her mouth and at some point, she stopped talking and just wrote as fast as she could. Well, the romance had been nice while it lasted, but this would change whatever romance she was hoping to share with Kane.

Kane watched with fascination as Waverly stood, leaning over the table, butt naked and consumed by the need to seize this inspiration immediately. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Her hand wrote so fast that her handwriting was hard to read. Or maybe it was because it was all Greek symbols and random numbers.

It was truly the most beautiful he'd ever seen a woman. If she hadn't been naked, he'd have snapped a picture. The knock at the door came and Kane rushed to crack it open.

Kane sent everyone away. The doctor, the captain, and Johnson with their breakfast. It had been an hour and Waverly was still nude and had filled five pieces of paper with notes and equations.

Kane sat back down on the bed and pulled out his phone, shooting off a quick text to Damon.

Don't we know someone who does something with nanoparticles?

While Kane waited for Damon to get back to him, he texted Lark an update on Waverly.

Lark: If she's working, she might not talk for a full day just put a protein bar in front of her and a bottle of water and she'll be good to go also my new friend at school is like thirty seriously people think I'm sleeping with a professor

Kane: I'm thirty-one .

Lark: Ew see? gross

Kane chuckled and looked back up at Waverly. His feelings were heading toward happily ever after at light speed with Waverly as his wife and Lark as his little sister.

Kane: I see your point. I have a friend who goes to MSU. I'll see if he can hang out with you to give you some street cred.

Lark: who says street cred? oh I know old people Just like it's only old people who use punctuation in text

Kane: Give a guy a break. I did save your sister.

Lark: For which I will always love you even if you're old and don't realize using a period in a text is a sign of aggression

Kane: . . .

Lark: an ellipsis what did I ever do to you

"Kane?"

Kane's head snapped up to find Waverly standing there, still naked, holding all her papers and looking at him nervously. "Did you get it?"

She smiled and nodded. "I did. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Did you just end the world or something?" Kane asked.

"No, I ruined what we had."

Kane set down his phone as Lark sent gifs of old people to him.

"Sweetheart, come here." Kane patted his lap and it was then Waverly realized she was still nude. "Nope, just come here."

Waverly used the papers to try to cover herself as she slowly walked toward him. Kane patted his lap again and waited until she finally sat down.

"You are so sexy when you work. I would have taken a picture, but I figured you wouldn't want that since you're gloriously and beautifully nude." Kane kissed the side of her head. "And I find this the sexiest part of your body. Although," Kane said, dipping his head to kiss her breasts. "They're a very close second."

"You're serious?"

"So serious that I would use punctuation in your texts."

Waverly giggled. "You've been talking to Lark."

"Yes, and if you want, you can too."

Waverly jolted up. "It's not too dangerous for me to talk to her?"

"Give me a minute to get it set up and for you to get dressed."

"This might be the best day I've had in a long time! If only I knew someone I could trust in the nanoparticle field to go over my work."

Kane's phone buzzed with a text from Damon.

Waverly was already up and pulling on her clothes when Kane asked her, "Do you know a Dr. Piper Davies Creed?"

Waverly nodded. "She's the leading expert in nanotech, but she doesn't collaborate with many other scientists. She has her own lab. Not that I can blame her. Wait, how do you know that name?"

"Apparently, my family has a loose connection to her and her family. Would she be someone to look over your work?"

Waverly blinked at him. And then blinked again. "Are you serious? She's the person who would benefit the most if this works out."

"Have you ever thought about starting your own lab? Then you could collaborate with whoever you wanted, right?" Kane asked.

"Well, yeah, but do you know how expensive my equipment is? I have to wait to figure out my ground-penetrating work first. Once I get the patent and sell it, I can maybe afford to open my own lab. But until then, I'm just another scientist in a lab."

"Do you want me to reach out to Dr. Creed?"

"I wish. But I'd have to get approval from my boss first."

Kane frowned at that. "Why? You came up with this and clearly not at the lab or with his resources. Isn't this your own work?"

Waverly took a seat on the bed and sighed. "Yes, but I know he'd fight me on it. If it's worth money, the lab will want their cut. And that's fine. As long as it gets out there."

"How about we hold onto this? Let me email it to my sister, Olivia, for safekeeping. Look into who actually owns the IP on it. Sound good?"

"Sure, but I want to get back to what happened."

"You mean when I had my head between your legs and feasted on you?"

Waverly turned bright red and it was adorable.

"Yeah, look, when I get an idea, I must work on it. It overrides everything, including my manners. Most guys get pretty insulted when I pause mid-date because I get an idea and then suddenly ask to go home or I start writing something down on a napkin and completely ignore them until I get my thoughts down."

"Sweetheart, I'm not most guys. Plus, I have the same problem. If I get a work call, I have to take it. Someone's life literally depends on it." Kane held his breath. This is where the anger usually came. Instead, Waverly looked relieved.

"You really do understand. Oh, gosh. I didn't mean to imply we had a relationship. I know I'm just a job."

Kane reached over and pulled her onto his lap. "I hope you know you are more than a job, Waverly. I want a relationship. With you. I know that while you're on the run it's probably not the best time. However, I want one but I'll leave it up to you."

Kane's phone rang before Waverly could answer. The area code told him who it would be. He answered it on speaker. "Hello, Lark. Can you hear the punctuation in my voice?"

"Can you hear my eye roll?" Waverly laughed and suddenly Kane could hear tears. "Waverly! Are you hurt? Are you okay? I'll kill them if they hurt you. How did Kane get you? Where are you?"

Kane smiled at Waverly as she wiped her own tears.

"I'm not sure where we are, but I should be back tomorrow. I was sick, but Kane took care of me. I'm okay now. I actually solved that nanoparticle issue just now."

Lark was quiet for a moment. "You only get your best ideas when you somehow manage to relax. There's no way you could relax with Kane—oh my god! I need details!"

"No, you don't!" Kane called out, causing both sisters to laugh. Kane leaned forward and placed a kiss on Waverly's cheek before setting Waverly on her feet and handing her the phone so he could go to take a shower. "I'll let you two talk privately. But Lark, don't slip the old guy. He's there for your protection. Say he's a grad student. And remember, if anyone asks, you're devastated and worried sick about your sister who is still missing."

"Yeah, yeah. Now go so I can get all the details."

"No details!" Kane called out before closing the bathroom door where all he heard was laughter as the two sisters talked. He looked into the mirror and realized he was smiling. If someone wasn't trying to kill Waverly, this would be perfect.