“Where?”

“Um, yeah. I’m, uh, staying with Blane for now.”

Silence, then, “Are you out of your mind?” she screeched. I winced, pulling the phone slightly away from my ear. “Don’t you remember what he did? The things that piece of shit said to you—”

Alisha had been with me, had comforted me, when Blane had broken our engagement. She’d seen my heartbreak and her animosity toward Blane had reached a new high.

“It’s not what you think,” I broke in to her tirade. “We’re not getting back together. Kandi Miller—remember her?—she was murdered.”

“Oh.” Alisha’s voice betrayed surprise now. “I saw that on the news. That was her? His ex?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. Geez. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” which was an absurd thing to say—it wasn’t okay, but what do you say? “So, anyway, Kade and I are staying with Blane for a little while, until after the funeral and stuff.”

“Kade and you?” she asked, disbelief edging her voice.

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“What?”

“Isn’t that going to be a little… awkward?”

She didn’t know the half of it. The desire to tell my friend what had happened between Kade and me was strong, but I held my tongue. “Yeah, it’s been a little… tense.” Understatement of the century.

“Do you need anything?”

I smiled to myself. Alisha was a good friend, OCD and all. “No, I’m okay. Thanks for asking, though.”

“Well, just let me know,” she said.

“Thanks, I will. Tell Lewis I said hello.”

We disconnected and a few minutes later, I pulled up to Blane’s house. It was late afternoon and I thought Blane would probably be back home. Glancing down I saw that my once-white skirt was now smeared with dirt, the delicate blouse I had on was torn, and my knees were streaked with dried blood.

Lovely.

I headed inside, hoping not to encounter anyone on the way to my bedroom. A shower and change of clothes sounded good. I felt grungy and my hair smelled like smoke, which made it darn inconvenient to run into Blane in the hallway upstairs.

“Hey,” I said, trying to ignore how I looked. “How are you doing?”

Blane didn’t answer, his astonished gaze sweeping me from head to foot. “What the hell happened? I thought you were just going to class?”

I sighed, knowing I had to come clean. “I did. But then we went by my apartment, and someone had rigged a bomb.”

“We?”

“Kade and me.”

Blane glanced behind me. “Where’s Kade? Is he all right?” The anxiety in his voice was good to hear. No matter how mad he was at Kade, blood was blood.

“He’s okay. He got some burns on his back, was going to go to the hospital.”

“And you? Were you injured?” He stepped closer now, his hands running from my shoulders down my arms as he inspected me.

“No. Kade saved me. If he’d been a little slower…” I shrugged, not really wanting to finish that sentence. I felt like a cat whose nine lives were running dangerously low.

Blane turned my hand palm up and I winced, the scrapes on my skin burning.

“Come on,” he said, lightly grasping my arm. “I’ve got some salve for your scrapes.”

I expected him to take me downstairs, instead I found myself being led to his bedroom.

If it wouldn’t have looked completely and utterly childish, I’d have dug my heels into the carpet and refused to follow him. Blane’s bedroom held way too many memories, and I found all of them assailing me with the force of a wrecking ball as I walked in the door.

The room smelled strongly of Blane—his cologne, his aftershave, and just him. My step faltered and Blane glanced quizzically at me. I couldn’t look at him, not with images of him and me writhing naked on his bed streaming through my mind like a highlight reel.

He gave me a gentle push to sit me down on the bed and I immediately sprang back up.

“I can stand.” My voice was a little squeaky.

Blane’s jaw tightened. “I’m not going to attack you,” he said flatly.

“It’s not that,” I protested. “It’s just—” Something I really didn’t want to say. I pressed my lips closed and resumed my seat, perching awkwardly on the very edge of the bed.

Blane looked at me for a moment, but I couldn’t read the look in his eyes, then he disappeared into the bathroom. I heard the water running and a moment later, he returned with a washcloth and a small plastic tube.

He sat beside me, taking one of my hands in his, and began gently cleaning the dirt and dried blood.

“Was your apartment destroyed?” he asked.

I focused on my hand as I answered. “Alisha said the back is okay, that just the front part was burned.”

“I’ll go talk to Gage again,” Blane offered.

“That may not be necessary,” I said. “Kade and I went by.”

The pause in Blane’s ministrations was nearly imperceptible. “I see.”

“You have enough going on right now,” I said, hoping to placate him. I didn’t need him and Kade getting into another pissing match. Time to change the subject. “Have you heard anything about the funeral?”

Blane switched to my other hand, reaching across me and moving closer. “They’re holding her body for evidence right now. I imagine the funeral will be next week sometime.”

“And they’ve cleared you, right?” I was sure the only reason Blane had been on their list was because they always went after the boyfriend, husband, or ex in these things.

Blane took a moment to respond, setting aside the washcloth and squeezing some salve into my palm. He started rubbing it in, the calluses on his fingers a gentle abrasion against my skin.

“No, they haven’t.”

I jerked my gaze to his, but he was looking down at our hands. “What do you mean, ‘they haven’t’?”

“They have an eyewitness who says I was there that night,” he said.

He seemed so calm, in stark contrast to the sheer panic flooding me. I fisted my hand, clutching his fingers, and he finally looked up at me.

“How could anyone think you would do something like that?”

“I’m a defense attorney, Kat,” he said. “I’ve made my share of enemies in this town over the years.”

“But you would never… hurt someone, anyone, like that! You wouldn’t do that to Kandi and you certainly wouldn’t have killed her.” I was horrified, my mind trying to wrap itself around the fact that the police would consider Blane a serious suspect. “What’s going to happen?”

Blane gently pried open my clenched fist and resumed rubbing the salve on my palm. “If my source at the precinct is correct, they’ll work with my lawyer first and then come by here to question me. If I go downtown, it’ll be all over the news. We’ll see if they’ll agree so we can avoid the media circus getting any worse.”

Stunned, I couldn’t think of what to say. This was rapidly turning into a nightmare.

“Could they arrest you?” I asked.

Blane’s eyes met mine and he didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. They suspected Blane strongly enough to question him, possibly arrest him?

“Your hands are like ice,” he murmured, squeezing my hands inside of his.

“I can’t believe this,” I whispered. “It’s… insane.” And I was scared. Scared for Blane.

“Everything will be okay,” he said.

Kade had said that, too, but I didn’t know if I believed either of them.

“Kat, the last time we talked, while you were in Vegas, you were really angry,” Blane said carefully. “And I deserved everything you said. I… underestimated my uncle’s aspirations for me. And the thing is, I believed the lies because I’ve seen you and Kade together. I know my brother better than anyone, and I’ve never seen him fall for a woman. Not like he’s fallen for you.”

I listened, barely breathing.

“So I need to know.” He raised his eyes to meet mine. “Are you and I truly finished? Is what we had gone for good?”

My heart was racing as though I was running a marathon and panic made me break out in a cold sweat. I couldn’t deal with this right now. Kade and I had nearly gotten burned alive. The police were coming to question Blane about Kandi’s murder. And Blane wanted to have a talk about the status of our relationship? It seemed absurd to me.

I jumped to my feet. “Blane, I don’t think now is the right time to talk about this,” I said, pulling my hands from his and backing toward the door.

He stood, moving closer until he towered over me. I swallowed, memories threatening to overwhelm me. Given the path the conversation had suddenly taken, I wondered if Blane bringing me into his bedroom had been intentional, if he knew exactly how much standing inches from where we’d first made love would affect me.

“Give me something, Kat,” he rasped. “Please. Just tell me if you still love me.”

His gray eyes held me captive and I couldn’t look away, their depths filled with pain and sorrow. Another woman might have been glad to see Blane hurting. He’d hurt me, after all. But I couldn’t stand it, so I told him the truth.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

Relief flashed across his face, then he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I held him around his waist and rested my head against his chest, listening to the strong sound of his heart beating.

My emotions were teetering on a ledge, my love for Blane warring with the guilt I was carrying around inside. It was wrong of me to lead him on. But if he knew what had happened between Kade and me, he’d never forgive me. And I couldn’t face that yet. I’d just gotten him back in some small degree and couldn’t handle the thought of another fallout between us—one that, this time, would be permanent.