Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 88656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Kage—”
“That’s what I do, Jamie. I hurt people. Do you know what they call me in there?” He gave me a smile that was one part sarcastic, two parts cruel. “They call me the Machine. Do you think you can have feelings for a machine?”
Feelings? Did he want me to have feelings for him? Because I was pretty sure I already did.
“Michael…” I don’t know why I called him by his first name. It just came out, and in the moment it felt right. “You’re not a machine, okay? You’re human. And on top of that, I believe you’re a good person.”
“You don’t know that for sure. What if I’m not?” It sounded more like a threat than a question. “What if I’m a bad person, and you just haven’t gotten to know the real me yet?”
“Why are you trying to scare me?” I asked, leaning toward him and looking into his eyes. Searching for that spark, silently begging for it.
Then he blinked and gave me a weak smile, and there it was again. The old Kage. The one I’d spent the last weeks trying to get to know.
He shrugged. “Not trying to scare you. I just need you to know.”
“Know what?” I pressed.
“Can we get out of here?” he asked, avoiding the question. “Let’s go to my apartment.”
Kage threw down a tip for our server, and we made our way to the elevators across from the front desk. While we waited, Steve called out. “Hey, guys, something I forgot to mention.”
We walked over to the desk again, and Steve looked around before speaking. “You know Aldo said he was on babysitting duty when he brought Jamie in. I didn’t think anything about it then, but…”
“Yeah?” Kage narrowed his eyes. “You think he’s still babysitting?”
Steve shrugged. “Yeah, I do. I’ve seen watching a lot.”
“How often?”
Steve looked over his shoulder, then back at us. “Enough to make me wonder. In fact, I actually entertained the notion that Aldo had switched teams and was crushing on our Jamie. I mean, everyone around here is. But it’s not that, of course.”
Kage ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “Alright. Thanks, Steve.” He took me by the elbow and guided me back to the elevators. “Just text me when you’re ready for me to hook you up with that other thing,” he called over his shoulder.
“I will,” Steve said. “Bye, Jamie.”
“Bye,” I called, stumbling over my own feet as Kage pulled me roughly into the closing elevator. “So what the hell was that all about?”
“Steve wants me to hook him up with some of that stuff we had the other night.”
“No, I mean the other. About the babysitting.”
“Oh. My uncle’s goons. Apparently you’re part of their job description now.”
“Really?” That little tidbit of information threw me for a loop. “What, are they following me?”
“Probably. I didn’t mean to get you mixed up in all of this. I just wanted… Hang on.” Kage slipped his key card into the penthouse slot, and the elevator climbed all the way to the top of the building. The door slid open, revealing the long hallway with a large door on either end— one for Kage’s apartment, the other for his uncle’s. He stuck his key card into the lock on his door and didn’t speak again until we were safely inside his apartment.
“You just wanted what?” I prompted.
“I just wanted you. My uncle thought I needed a publicist, and he was interviewing a couple of guys with big name clients: pro ball players, Olympic gold medalists, stuff like that.”
“And you wanted me?” I sat down on the sofa and stared at him. “Why?”
“I don’t know. It was like fate, right? What are the chances that I’d be at that show to see some dude I trained with a couple of times, and then here comes this hot little college guy making up shit like he’s some kind of expert publicist? It was unreal, man. Blew my mind.”
“So you hired me because you thought it was fate?”
He climbed onto the sofa, but not beside me. He got right on my lap, straddling me with his big thighs, and leaned in to kiss me. His mouth engulfed mine, sucking hungrily at my lips before pushing his tongue inside. I met him with a hunger of my own, and we licked and tasted and sucked until I couldn’t breathe. Finally, he pulled back, even as I was moving in for another kiss.
“I hired you because you were the best man for the job,” he said. “Because you were fearless.”
“Fearless? I was scared shitless.”
He laughed. “Everybody’s scared, Jamie. Even me.”
“Yeah, right. Earlier you said you weren’t scared.”
“I said I wasn’t afraid of losing a fight.”
I groaned. “There you go with the riddles again. One of these days, I’m gonna get a decoder ring so that I can carry on a conversation with you.”