“When I was thirteen, I slipped into those mountains to disappear,” he told her, giving her a bit of himself, wondering if she would do the same. “Damned foster system sucked here then. I’d been in so many foster homes they didn’t know where else to send me. And, well, being a burden wasn’t my idea of fun.” He gave a short, almost amused laugh. “I wandered around I don’t know how long, several days. There was water, but I had no idea how to find food. I was about starved out when this old man, Castor Maddox, just steps out from behind a tree, shakes his head at me, then proceeds to set up a fire and roast this fresh rabbit he’d caught.” He chuckled at the memory. “After I ate, he pulls me up and we walk down the mountain to this farm a few miles from here. Toby Benning’s place. He and his wife had lost their only son about ten years before. So this old geezer takes me to the door, and when Toby opens it, old man Maddox pushes me toward it, swats me on the back of my head, and tells me to mind my manners and not shame him.” He glimpsed her smile. “Well, being the badass I thought I was, I turn on him and just ask him what damned business of his it was?” He shook his head, a part of him hating the memory, another part amused by it. “’Cause I found you, boy, makes you part mine, he said. Mind yourself now, don’t make me come back.”

“You weren’t alone anymore,” she whispered softly. “He wanted you to know you did have someone.”

The aching loss in her voice had him wishing there was something he could do to ease it.

She felt alone. He could hear it in her voice, sense it with an instinct he didn’t quite understand yet.

“We all have someone, baby,” he promised her, wishing he could find a way to convince her that if no one else was, he was there for her. “Sometimes, we just don’t know it.”

She had him, all she had to do was meet him halfway. He knew she was in danger, and she was smart enough to know she wasn’t fooling him. She had to tell him what the hell was haunting her, soon. There wasn’t a lot of time left. One of the three weeks Cord had given them was gone, and he knew the other man would be making a visit soon. Cord wasn’t one to sit and wait on a deadline, even if it was his own. He’d be touching base soon, and the confrontation might not be pretty.

*   *   *

No, sometimes, Kenni thought, you find out you have no one at all. But she kept the thought to herself as she drew away from him and rose to her feet.

“I should leave, Jazz. I can’t stay here.” But she hated to go. It was so peaceful there, so warm and so much a part of Jazz. But it was also a part of the young woman she had once been, the one who had believed with all her heart that Jazz belonged to her.

How naive she’d been that summer. So innocent and certain of herself, of her heart. She would stare at Jazz, and he always seemed to know it. He would smile at her, wink, or lower the ever-present sunglasses he used to wear before arching a brow as though asking what she wanted or if she had any idea what he could give her.

What she had wanted had shocked her at the time. No doubt what he could have given her would have shocked her as well. Would he have been surprised? she wondered.

She doubted he would have been, not then or now.

He rose as well, took her hand, and led her back into the house.

“We’ll talk about it after I clean up out here. Go on in and visit with the pups for a bit more, I’ll be finished before you know it,” he promised as he opened the door for her and shooed her inside.

Kenni moved into the television room where the pups were racing one another across the floor, barking for the sheer hell of it while their parents napped, confident the babies were safe. She was envious of that sense of security, of protection. It was something she hadn’t felt in so long that she’d almost forgotten the sweetness of it.

Wrapping her arms across her breasts Kenni moved to the wide sliding doors that Marcus and Essie lay in front of. The view of the side of the pool also afforded her a view of the grill deck, where Jazz was closing the steel appliance.

The shaggy fall of his thick black hair at the back of his neck made her fingers itch to burrow through the heavy strands. Broad shoulders stretched beneath the cotton T-shirt, strong shoulders.

And he would gladly stand in front of her and protect her from any danger she faced. It was a terrifying thought.

The memory of Gunny’s blood, so much blood, pooled on that warehouse floor was a nightmare. She’d waited, but he hadn’t come back. His belongings had been thrown around the warehouse, some of them broken. His knife—he would have never left without it—lay in the blood, a testament that something terrible had happened to him.

Because he’d tried to protect her.

Covering her lips, her fingers trembling at the memory, Kenni had to fight back the tears that would have filled her eyes.

Gunny had gone AWOL from the marines the night her mother had been killed. He’d dedicated his entire life to keeping Kenni safe and trying to find out who had given the order to kill his half sister and her daughter. He had given his life to protect her.

Jazz would do the same, she knew that now. He would stand in front of her and every Kin and Maddox who tried to harm her. And he would die. Jazz, Slade, Zack—they would all give their lives if they had to, too strong to realize they couldn’t win against the force that would descend on them. And even if they did suspect they were going to die, still, they’d give their last breath reaching for a miracle.

She couldn’t let that happen. Slade had his own family, a son, a wife, a baby on the way. The Kin would destroy all of them.

God, what was she going to do?

Pressing the fingers of one hand against the glass, Kenni tried to convince herself he would let her go home. If she could get away from him for just a few hours, then she could run. The Kin would follow her and no one else would be hurt.

Until they found her.

And they would find her, they always did.

Turning away from the view outside she moved to the couch, staring at the puppies as they settled down against their parents, obviously ready for a nap.

She continued watching the pups play as Jazz made his way into the television room, sitting next to her and watching her for long, silent moments.

“You have to take me home,” she told him, still watching the pups. “Everything’s fine, I promise, Jazz.”

It was so hard to walk away from him knowing she wouldn’t see him again.

“Don’t lie to me. And we both know you’re lying,” he stated warningly. “I won’t let you leave while someone’s out there trying to hurt you,” he continued softly. “Not yet. Give me a day or two to find that driver first. I promise, Slade and Zack are searching for him. It won’t take long to find him.”

“Jazz—”

“Don’t fight me on this.” Brushing her hair back from her shoulder, he let his fingers brush against the bare skin, the slight rasp of callused flesh sending a shudder of pleasure racing down her spine.

Her heart was speeding out of control, her flesh so sensitive, so starved for touch, that the stroke of his fingers had her inhaling sharply in reaction

“You’ll break me,” she whispered, desperate for him to touch her, terrified of what tomorrow would bring if she let it go any farther.

“Not in a million years,” he promised as his head lowered to her shoulder, his lips brushing over the curve, weakening her.

Oh God, how he weakened her.

A gasp left her lips when he lifted her, pulling her across his lap as his head lowered, their gazes locking as his lips whispered over hers. The softest brush of a kiss and she ached for so much more.

“Jazz.” What he made her feel was dangerous, for both of them.

“Come on, baby.” He breathed into that stroke of exquisite pleasure as a grin tugged at his lips. “Be bad with me. Just for a minute. We’ll deal with the rest of it later.”