I kept my eyes on the counter, trying to muster up the courage to look at him.
Could this situation get any more complicated?
Kai cleared his throat. “So, uh … want leftovers?”
I exhaled shakily, thankful beyond relief he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of this. “Yeah. Sure.”
Was he doing this because he was embarrassed himself, or because he knew me well enough to realize I needed time to process this in my own head?
And yet … I couldn’t help but admit to myself how nice it felt to have someone in my corner like this, to have a boyfr—A FRIENDwho showed up for me, unapologetically. Gran had always supported me, of course, but shekind of had to cheer me on.
There was an unspoken obligation on her part, but Kai literally showed me I was a priority by coming to support me.
Another piece of the wall around my heart collapsed, crushed to nothing but dust by this unexpected man.
Fuck.
Kai
She won.
My girl fucking won.
And I didn’t even try to hide what this did to me.
Watching her move in the cage was mesmerizing. Sweat shining on her cheekbones, her eyes focused and lethal.
Tori wasn’t just strong or skilled.
She was … unstoppable.
Something primal and idiotic in me — perhaps the same instinct making me throw myself into tackles at full speed — lit up like a stadium floodlight.
A feral beat thrummed through my body, penetrating my consciousness.
Look at her.
Look at what she can do.
Look at the woman I—
Nope.
But something had shifted inside me, something irreversible. The longer I watched her under those lights, the louder one thought pounded in my skull.
I want her.
Not the casual kind of want.
Not the warm-body-next-to-me kind.
Not even the hot, wild, can’t-keep-my-hands-off-her kind.
I wanted … her.
Her sharp tongue and soft heart.
Her stubborn independence and the way she softens when she forgets to guard herself.