Dare To Love

He half smiled, slowly unwrapping the hamburger. “I meant like a fiance or something.”

“Why? Were you going to bribe him for more money if I did?”

“No.” Matt shook his head. “It’s tough imagining a woman of your quality not having a man in her life, that’s all.”

Now Kai was confused. His tone was intimate, inviting her to try to relax. “My career gives me a great deal of satisfaction, Mr. Taylor.”

“Call me Matt,” he urged. “Tell me about your work.”

Kai hesitated. Just having him near mended her frayed nerves. He represented a barrier between her and Boyce. Suddenly she was grateful for his continuing presence. But the wary part of her reared its head. Did he want her just as Boyce did? Was he using different tactics to achieve the same goal? Kai searched his exhausted face. Her brain screamed, don’t trust him. Her heart won the battle.

“I’m a nurse in the navy. I work as a physical therapist at the Bethesda, Maryland hospital.”

“Why the navy?”

“My father was in the navy when he was younger, before he started wildcatting for a living. It felt right to follow in his footsteps.”

Matt smiled, dividing the hamburger and offering half of it to her. At first she stared at it and then reluctantly took it. A genuine smile crossed his face. Kindness was a rare commodity in his world, and it was a pleasure to exercise his more human side. Maybe he wasn’t a complete animal, after all. He bit into the hamburger. It was cold but edible.

“Try it,” he coaxed. “It doesn’t taste as bad as it looks.”

Her stomach was growling. She hadn’t eaten anything since the night before. Lifting the hamburger to her lips, she took a taste. Instantly nausea rosé in her throat. Kai shut her eyes, handing it back to him. “I’m sorry, I can’t….”

Matt retrieved it from her outstretched hand, placing it back in the sack. “How about some coffee instead? Maybe that will stay down,” he muttered in apology.

“I’ll try it.”

“It’s black.”

“That’s the way I like it.”

Their fingers grazed as he handed her the paper cup. Kai was acutely aware of the contact and quickly took the coffee. She sipped it cautiously.

“Is it going to stay down?”

The warm liquid slid down her raw throat, soothing it. “It tastes wonderful,” she murmured gratefully.

Her response pleased him for no particular reason. The huskiness in her voice was like balm to his darkened soul. A slight smile played on Matt’s mouth.

“Did you pick up your love of coffee in the navy?”

Kai nodded. “Actually, it was a matter of survival. If you didn’t drink it first, the coffee would come hunting you.”

Matt grinned, relieved to see that her humor was surfacing. “You still haven’t really answered my question. Why the navy? You’re a woman who could make it anywhere on her own terms, I’ll bet.”

Perhaps it was the coffee soothing Kai’s jittery feelings, making her feel more relaxed. Her shoulders drooped, and she released a sigh. “I wanted to see the world. I thought it would be a great way to meet people and at the same time be of service to others.”

“You enjoy helping people?”

“Yes. Why are you giving me that look?”

He shrugged. “It’s hard to believe someone born with a silver spoon in her mouth would admit to something like that.”

“We’re all supposed to be selfish snobs, is that it?”

“Don’t take what I said personally.”

“Oh, of course not. That’s like me saying a criminal is an animal, even though you’ve displayed some humanity. How do you like being classified like that?”

“I am one,” Matt said simply.

Kai quirked her lips. “Yes and no. You aren’t like Boyce, thank God.”

“I’m like him in many other ways.”

“Then why haven’t you tried to rape me?”

Matt glanced at her. “It’s not my style.”

Kai stared at his mouth. It was a mouth drawn in at the corners by…pain? She couldn’t identify the emotion. The timbre of his voice flowed through her. Yes, she could imagine his mouth on her lips, his hands intimately touching her. Kai shook herself, shocked at her thoughts. She had almost been raped by Boyce. How could she be thinking of lovemaking with Matt Taylor less than an hour later? Agitated, Kai remained silent, mulling over the complexities. She sipped the coffee for nearly five minutes before breaking the silence.

“You have a streak of humanity in you,” she told him quietly. “Maybe all criminals aren’t alike.”

“Like all rich people aren’t snobs?”

“Exactly.”

“Maybe we’re both horses of a different color.”

“I know I am,” Kai murmured. “And if my instincts serve me, so are you.”

“The lady runs on her feelings, eh?”

“Don’t most of us?”

He enjoyed her indignation. “Don’t nurses have to be pretty objective so that they don’t get hurt while dealing with their patients’ suffering?”

Kai grimaced. “Who told you that?”

“Just an observation.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know a nurse alive that hasn’t shed tears for the patients in her care. And there are times when we want to yell back at them like they’re yelling at us. Or cursing us because we’re asking them to move their bodies which are already in pain. It’s a thankless job sometimes.” Her voice lowered. “But a worthwhile one, I think.”

He reached over, grazing her cheek, erasing the last tear. “You’re easily touched, Brat.”

Kai froze, stunned by his simple gesture. Matt’s strong fingers had touched her cheek like the kiss of a butterfly, and her flesh tingled afterward. Just the way he uttered the nickname “Brat” made it an endearment meant for her alone. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Kai forced out in a whisper, “Who are you?”

Matt dropped his gaze to avoid Kai’s pleading look. In that instant, he wanted to kiss away those tears forming in her eyes. And kiss her deliciously shaped mouth that was begging to be caressed. With a supreme effort, he tore down the burgeoning dream of someday loving Kai. She was a woman of immense emotional capacity. Money could neither buy nor make the unique person who sat before him. Only life experiences had made her special.