I wanted Patti. I wanted Dad. Most of all I wanted Kaidan.
I’d called Patti when I got to the airport to let her know I was coming home early. She didn’t ask any questions, but I could hear the sadness and disappointment in her voice when she realized things hadn’t gone well.
I knew I should get up and find the restroom so I wouldn’t make a public scene, but my body did not want to cooperate. For more than a year I hadn’t been able to cry. Now I could feel tears building like my own personal tsunami. Maybe it was the small comfort of knowing the Dukes and whisperers were all at the summit. But to my shock and embarrassment, tears sprung free, gushing down my face. I couldn’t hold them back. And the sounds of mourning that unwillingly dragged themselves up from my throat? Humiliating.
“I’m okay,” I choked out to the old woman next to me who put a hand on my arm. All around me concerned faces witnessed my breakdown. I curled forward, burying my face in my arms and legs, wishing I could disappear.
“Maybe someone died,” I heard a man whisper.
“Is it a young man?” the woman next to me asked in a low voice. I managed to nod and she patted my back. “It always is,” she murmured.
A man across from me touched my shoulder and handed me a crisp handkerchief, telling me in a gentle tone that I could keep it. Their kindness only made me cry harder. I forced myself to sit up and use the hanky to wipe my face and dab my nose. A hush fell when a preboarding announcement was made.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. In a few minutes we’ll begin boarding flight four twenty-eight. . . .”
A murmur of voices and noises filled the air as everyone collected their belongings and checked for their boarding passes. I hiccuped, then sniffed and pulled my boarding pass from my backpack. Through the shuffle of noise I heard a voice that made my ears perk up.
“Anna!”
I hiccuped again, and froze at the sound of that English accent. My head whipped around.
My body clenched—if he was really here something had to be wrong.
The hanky fell to my lap at the sight of Kaidan jogging up the middle of the terminal, stopping at the end of our row of chairs. Holy crap . . . my legs went numb. People halted their shuffling at the presence of this disheveled young man with wild blue eyes. He stood there, hair falling in his face, staring at me with a bizarre expression of euphoria. All eyes went from him to me and back again. A wide path was cleared down the aisle.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. I knew I should stand but it was like my body had gone into shock.
“I—Nothing.” He peered around the area, harried, as if scouting for possible danger.
“How did you get through security?” I asked.
“I bought a ticket.” He looked out of his element and more handsome than ever in his board shorts, dirty T-shirt, and flip-flops. Just as I’d left him.
“You . . . you’re going on this flight?” I was so confused.
“No,” he said, “but those buggers wouldn’t page you. And your phone is off.”
I became acutely aware of our audience as whispers and awws filled the air.
Finally feeling stable, I stood and moved toward him down the path my fellow passengers had made, afraid to let myself hope for what this might mean. I didn’t stop until we were face-to-face.
“I . . .” he began, then lowered his voice so only I could hear. “I just . . .” He kept starting and stopping, moving his hands, then hooking his thumbs in his pockets. And then he exhaled a great huffing breath.
“Anna . . . the night of the summit, when you were saved, it was the only time in my life I’ve thanked God for anything.”
Those words. They would melt me over and over for all time.
I stared. He stared.
My hands went to his face, feeling his cheekbones and strong jaw. And then I gave him my heart.
“I love you, Kai.”
He closed his eyes and shivered as if a feather had been drawn down his back. My own eyes burned all over again. He didn’t say it back, but that was okay. I understood. He’d never said those words to anyone in his life, I was certain. The fact that he was here, that he’d come after me—this moment—his actions. That’s all that mattered to me.
He caught my face in his hands and whispered, “Spend the night with me.”
A warm tremor rippled down my body. All my resolve from two hours ago wavered. He waited for my response.
“Kai . . . we shouldn’t.” Even as I said it, my mind devised arguments otherwise. The Dukes and whisperers would all be at their summit meeting tonight, and terrorizing Vegas for the next day. But when it came to Kaidan and me alone together, there were other things to worry about besides demons.
“I’m tired of living like I’m not alive.” He dropped his hands from my face to grip my shoulders. “I’m bloody sick to death of it. I want one night to be alive. With you.” He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead on mine. “Please, Anna. One last night and we’ll go back to being safe again. I need this. I need you.”
God above. Was this really happening?
He lifted his head from mine.
“I’ll be good,” he promised. “I won’t let anything happen.”
Never looking away, I reached down and took his hand, entwining my fingers with his. Maybe it was stupid. It was definitely dangerous. But wild demons couldn’t have kept me from accepting. One last night.
Together.
“Let’s go,” I told him.