It was immediately apparent that Lazaroff’s actions had provoked a response, because I could hear Blane and Kade yelling and cursing. I shook my head to clear it, only to have Lazaroff grab my jaw again.

Then I hauled off and kneed him in the nuts.

Smart idea? Probably not, but I wasn’t about to be a punching bag just to torment Blane and Kade. I’d been hit twice tonight, and I thought I’d better not start keeping count or things were going to get really depressing, really fast.

Everything seemed to stop as the guards looked in horror at what I’d done. Lazaroff was bent over, his hands cupping his abused crotch.

Then all hell broke loose.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I heard gunshots and the man holding me suddenly let go. I fell to the floor, my arms instinctively coming up to cover my head. I couldn’t make sense of the forms swirling around me—they were moving too fast and my vision was still too blurred by the tear gas. I prayed while I made myself as small as possible on the floor, then realized that Lazaroff was lying next to me . . . and that he was dead.

It was all over in a few minutes and I lay amid the carnage of dead men. Someone’s hands landed on me and I cringed in terror.

“It’s me, baby,” Kade said. “It’s okay.”

I threw my arms around his neck and clung to him. His hands settled on my waist as he lifted me to my feet.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked. “Blane and Branna, are they hurt?”

“We’re fine, Kat,” Blane said from behind me. Kade released me and Blane pulled me close, his lips brushing my forehead. “Jesus, Kat,” he said. “I think I lost a few years off my life when you kneed him like that.”

“She gave us the opportunity we needed,” Branna defended me.

I blinked blearily, wishing I could see properly to make out their faces. As it was, everything was a blur.

Kade pulled me back from Blane, an arm resting protectively behind my back.

“Let’s get out of here before more of them come,” Kade said.

I wasn’t sure how they knew the way out, but they did, finding a stairwell behind a door that dumped us into a dark alley. I half walked and was half carried by Kade.

“Follow me,” Blane said. “I’m not staying in some fleabag dive tonight, and neither is Kat.”

Kade didn’t argue. He had me buckled inside his Mercedes in a flash and we were driving down the street.

I closed my burning eyes, settling back against the leather seat with a deep sigh. Kade found my hand resting between us and laced our fingers together.

We pulled up to a hotel whose sign I couldn’t quite make out, but I could tell the place was expensive. The lobby seemed deserted at this hour and I was glad for that, since I for one looked a mess.

The four of us had adjoining rooms, and the first thing Kade did once the heavy door swung shut behind him and me was take me into the bathroom and sit me down on the closed toilet. He then doused a washcloth and patted gently at my eyes.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’ll be okay,” I said. The water felt heavenly.

After a few minutes, I felt well enough to wash my eyes out in the sink. Ten minutes after that, I could actually see again, but then I wished I couldn’t.

The skin around my eyes looked like I’d been burned. My eyes were bloodshot worse than the most awful hangover I’d ever had. My face was blotchy and I had an angry red welt on one cheek from Lazaroff.

I came out of the bathroom, toweling my face dry, then stopped short in shock.

Kade had been beat up, with blood from his nose and his mouth now dried on his face. The skin across the bridge of his nose had been sliced, more blood oozing from it, and there was a long cut by his eye.

He’d broken open the minibar and was drinking whiskey straight from the bottle.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, hurrying to him. “They did this to you?”

He caught my hand in his as I reached to touch his face. “It’s okay, princess. I just didn’t take too well to Lazaroff hitting you. Neither did Blane.”

I knew then that he and Blane must’ve gone for broke to get us out of that mess, and that it had been a near thing.

Going back into the bathroom, I got a fresh washcloth and wet it. Making Kade sit on the bed, I knelt next to him and tried as carefully as I could to clean him up. There was a lot of blood, more than the last time I’d cleaned him up so long ago at The Drop.

“Did we get what we needed?” I asked. Was what we’d gone through worth it?

Kade nodded. “Yeah, we did.”

I gave a sigh of relief. “Let me rinse this out,” I said. “You’ve got a lot of blood on you.” I moved to get up, but Kade grabbed me, his mouth settling on mine in a fierce kiss.

I dropped the washcloth as Kade’s hand cradled the back of my head. His tongue stroked mine, the slight tang of blood reminding me of how close a call we’d had, and suddenly I was kissing him back just as hard.

My fingers tore at his shirt, his jacket already discarded, and in moments I had it off him. He pushed the top of my dress down to my stomach, freeing my breasts. I climbed onto his lap, pushing him down onto his back. In seconds, I had his belt and pants undone, and his hard cock in my hand.

He groaned, tugging the bottom of my dress up until it was around my waist. I shoved my panties down and settled atop him, his erection pushing inside me in one smooth thrust.

I bit my lip at the sensation, my eyes sliding shut. His hands settled on my hips and instinct took over as well as a little madness. We both could’ve been killed tonight, and somehow that fact made it more urgent, more desperate.

I couldn’t live without him.

Kade’s hips rose in counterpoint to mine, our bodies slamming together, making my breasts bounce, not that I cared. If the things Kade was saying were any indication, he seemed to enjoy the view, and as some of his words penetrated the haze engulfing my mind, my cheeks flamed. Yet I grew even wetter until, if I’d been in my right mind, I would have been embarrassed at the wet noises his cock made sliding in and out of me.

Pressing his hands on my back, Kade forced me down, his palm cradling my head again as we kissed, our tongues and teeth clashing with little finesse. His other arm curved over my lower back, stilling my movements as he jackknifed hard into me. He held me immobile, his tongue and cock fucking me, and I whimpered, allowing him to claim me even as it seemed I was in the dominant position. Heat exploded between my legs as I came, Kade swallowing my cries. Then he was pulsing inside me, holding me so tightly to him that the jerking of his cock made another orgasm crash over me.

I collapsed against his chest, the pounding of Kade’s heart loud in my ear. I knew I’d never tire of hearing that sound, not after the many times he could’ve been taken from me.

I was exhausted and could have just rolled over and slept, but Kade ran a bath and soon had both of us in the steaming water, my back to his front as I sat between his spread legs. It was a really nice hotel, with the kind of bathtub I’d never even realized they put in hotels.

He had one of those big natural sponges, squeezing warm water over my shoulders and chest as we relaxed.

“Your eyes look better,” he said.

“Yeah, they feel better. Not an experience I’d like to repeat, though.” That tear gas had hurt. “Was Branna okay?” I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Had she gotten beat up, too? I knew she could fight, but she was so little . . .

“Yeah,” Kade replied. “She’s fast. It’s hard to lay a hand on her.”

I debated saying something more, took a breath and then let it out.

Kade stilled. “What?” he asked.

I shook my head. “It’s nothing. None of my business.”

“Tell me,” Kade said in my ear, “or I’ll be forced to use dire measures.” His fingers trailed a path down my side and I giggled, arching away.

“It’s nothing, really, I guess . . .” I decided to just say it. “Branna and Blane had sex.”

Kade said nothing for a moment, then resumed trickling water on me. “How do you know?”

“Branna told me.”

He sighed. “So how do you feel about this unexpected development, Kathleen?” His voice held a trace of mockery. I turned to look up at him and he shrugged, raising an eyebrow. “I can’t pretend I’m glad that you’re concerned about who Blane sleeps with.”

I frowned. “It has nothing to do with you,” I said. “It’s just . . . he barely knows her. What he does know of her is that she hates me.”

“There’s more to Branna than her hating you,” Kade said. “Do you think I’d have stuck with her if she wasn’t someone worth caring about?”

Now I felt guilty and embarrassed. I didn’t answer.

“Hey,” Kade said, lightly grasping my chin and making me turn to face him, “I understand. I do. But you’ve got to let it go.” He paused. “Unless you’re regretting the choice you made?”

“No,” I said immediately. “I love you. It’s just harder than I thought . . . letting go.”

Kade’s brows were drawn together as he studied me, and he gave a short nod. “Time. Space. That’s what we need,” he said.

I agreed. I lay against his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist. He trickled water on my back and we sat in silence for a while as the water cooled. Finally, I said, “Is it weird?”

“Is what weird?” Kade asked. He’d stopped trickling water and now his fingers drew wet patterns on my back.

“You and Blane. Me and Branna. Both of you have slept with the same two women. Isn’t that . . . weird?” I said “weird,” though other adjectives came to mind.