“Yes, of course I am. I just…” She leaned into him with a long sigh. “Seeing Marc like that was awful, especially knowing that the same people who did that to him are actually after us. And then you were so kind to that couple, and they were so adorable.”

Did she expect him to be unkind? “Is this one of those confusing womanly reactions to stress?”

She laughed but continued to lean into him. “It has been like a roller-coaster ride.”

For him, too. Now that he knew Alani was also a target, renewed determination cut through his veins. “I would never let anyone hurt you.”

She turned her face up to his. “Please don’t say that.” Her small, cool hand touched his jaw. “I don’t want to be hurt, you know that. But regardless of your machismo and orders to the contrary, it would devastate me if you got hurt because of me.”

Flattened, Jackson frowned at her. He started to speak, couldn’t quite manage it and finally hooked her arm to escort her back into the hall.

What would it take to make her understand his ability? As to that, what did her damned statement even mean? She didn’t want him hurt? Hell, she hadn’t wanted Tobin hurt, either.

But, he told himself, she hadn’t looked at Tobin with her beautiful eyes all liquid and filled with…who knew?

Fear? Lust?

Love?

He growled out his frustration. “Swear to God, woman…”

Bustling beside him, she gave him a quick double-take that almost made her trip. “You’re upset?”

“I don’t get upset, damn it.” No, what Alani did to him was too volatile for that namby-pamby word. Too red-hot and deep and disturbing.

He pulled her around the corner away from prying eyes, ready to give her a piece of his mind. But then she frowned up at him, and just that quickly, he lost it.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

PUTTING HIS MOUTH over hers, Jackson prodded Alani’s closed lips with his tongue until she opened, and then he sank in, tasting her, exploring the textures of her mouth and teeth, kissing her breathless.

There in the hallway, danger around them, her brother and Dare on lookout duty, a scraggly cat waiting to be rescued, he flattened a hand on the wall behind her and kissed her like a starving man.

Like a man who had already lost the fight but didn’t want to admit it.

He groaned.

Alani didn’t fight him. In fact, she kissed him back with wholehearted enthusiasm.

When he regained his wits and eased away, he realized her hand was knotted in the front of his shirt.

He kept his face close, her mesmerizing eyes gazing into his at close range. “Swear to God, Jackson.”

Even knowing she mimicked him, that she poked fun, he had to fight off a grin. “What now?”

Using the fist in his shirt to thump his chest once, she said, “You confound me.” Then she licked her lips. “But that well-timed kiss was just what I needed to get my mind off other things.”

God, she was precious to him. He cupped her face and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “Glad I could help.”

She tilted her head to study him. “Want to tell me what that was about?”

“The kiss?” He shrugged. How could he explain all the ways she stirred him, his body, his mind, even his damn soul? Over and over, he felt obsessed with proving something to her, or maybe to himself. At the moment, they didn’t have time to waste, so he settled for saying, “You’re hot.”

She rolled her eyes. “Jackson Savor, that is not an answer.”

The stern, warning tone amused him. Giving in to the grin, he disengaged her fingers from his shirt and took her hand in his. Time to get them on their way once more. “You care about me.” If she dared to deny it, he’d kiss her again.

“That’s news to you?”

He missed a beat before saying, as offhand as he could, “It shouldn’t be?”

He got another eye roll. “Would I sleep with you if I didn’t care?”

“I dunno.” He’d slept only with women he liked, but he couldn’t say he cared about them beyond the moment. They didn’t plague his dreams or keep him in a fever of lust. He didn’t think about them after they’d gone—and they all left, because he didn’t allow them to stay. He didn’t want them around just to be with them, the way he did with Alani. “Would you?”

“No.”

The telling smile broke over his face, but he didn’t give a damn. It was a start and better than thinking she only wanted him for sex. Though being wanted for that was pretty damned sweet, too. “Good to know.”

In blatant exasperation, she threw up her hands. He heard her mutter, “Good to know,” in insulting mockery.

Ready to get off that particular uncomfortable topic, Jackson paused by a closet, looked around to ensure no one watched them, and opened it.

Arms folded, expression aggrieved, Alani asked, “Now what are we doing?”

Little by little, her nervousness had faded as she adjusted to the circumstances. “I need a box.”

“For the cat?”

“That’s right.” He shoved a few things out of his way. “Keep watch for me.”

“Oh.” Startled, she forgot her grievances and snapped to attention. “Okay, sure.” Taking the task far too seriously, she scanned the hallway several times.

Shaking his head and grinning again, Jackson found a box that was just about the right size but still filled with paper towels. “This’ll work.” A punch to the top of the box split the tape and he opened it to dump the contents on a shelf.