“Don’t take your anger out on the appliances. I can’t afford new ones,” Kayla yelled from the couch in the next room.

“I can’t find an ice pack,” he called back.

“That’s because, despite how many times I’ve been hurt this week alone, we’re not accident-prone around here. There are plastic bags in the top drawer. You can put some ice cubes in there.”

He popped freshly made cubes into the clear bag and joined her in the room she called the family room. Ridiculous word, he thought. It conjured images he wanted to run from. Visions of sitting beside Kayla in comfortable silence, of warm sheets, and confidences…of their legs tangled together in her bed. Leaving her wouldn’t be easy, but he had no choice. She deserved better than him and, Lord knew, he didn’t deserve her.

She’d propped her ankle on a double set of pillows. After checking out the swelling, he realized it wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d first thought. A bad bruise at the very worst. Still a little first aid couldn’t hurt so he laid the ice on her elevated foot.

A shudder rippled through her.

“Cold?” he asked.

She nodded.

He could warm her. The thought hovered unspoken, but the need to act on it was clear. Selfish, but clear. One minute he was kneeling on the floor by the couch, the next he was lying prone beside her-and not easily. The narrow cushions weren’t made for two.

“It’s cramped, but I like it,” she said.

He’d been around her long enough to recognize the sensual undertone. The unintentional but blatant desire in her voice touched something inside him, probably because he recognized the same longing in himself.

“I’m warmer now,” she murmured.

“I know.” Shared body heat had never felt so good. Her breath blew softly against his cheek and the swell of her breast pressed against his arm.

Before he could enjoy the sensation, his weight began a slow descent off the sofa’s edge. He caught himself before falling and jerked his hips back onto the couch.

Her husky laugh reverberated through his already tight body. “Your choice, Kane.”

He respected her for that. The days of power plays were over. He hadn’t planned a return to this house, but then he hadn’t counted on things playing themselves out the way they had. In the split second before he’d hit the street, he’d had a flash of Kayla lying sprawled on the pavement covered with blood. A scene he’d seen once before with a different end. She was alive, though, and offering herself to him.

A blatant invitation he could accept or decline. An invitation with no strings attached, because as she’d so boldly told him, she didn’t expect anything in return. Selfish bastard that he was, he couldn’t turn her down. He needed her too much. One last battle lost before he waged his final campaign. He glanced toward the front door, knowing his last battle was one he could not let himself lose.

Before gravity could pull him back toward the floor, he shifted his weight so his legs straddled her hips. The weight of him pushed against the V of her legs with unmistakable pressure and she moaned her pleasure. The sound twisted his insides in coiled knots only she could undo.

He reached for the buttons on the prim and proper shirt she’d changed into earlier at his urging. She’d already removed the wire on the way home. Keeping his eyes on the road had been damned near impossible, but he’d managed. Barely.

He worked at the buttons with shaking hands, reminiscent of his first attempt as a teenager in the backseat of an old beat-up thing his uncle had called a car. The only difference was this wasn’t nerves causing the problem, but overwhelming desire that could no longer be restrained.

“The hell with this,” he muttered. He grabbed the sides of her shirt in each hand and pulled.

Little pearl-like things popped and scattered in myriad directions. Kayla gasped. Kane looked down, and his breath caught in his throat. Her cleavage swelled above the lace border of her bra, while her nipples stood erect against the white material. He brushed each distended peak with his thumbs. She sucked in a ragged breath and her hips jerked involuntarily beneath him.

Catching him by surprise, she reached out and grabbed his shirt in her fists, pulling him down and easing him over her. He didn’t wait for her next move, but captured her mouth in a kiss as possessive as it was desperate. And wasn’t that what he was? What he’d been since the day he’d met Kayla Luck? Desperate for her love and acceptance, knowing he could take neither?

Her rounded breasts pressed flush against his chest, molding to his body as if she was made to lie against him like this, be with him like this, forever. Before he could react to that thought, she kissed him back, her tongue sweeping inside his mouth, in an act of possession all her own. She did what nothing else could-she distracted him, stopped the thoughts rolling in his head that told him he had to leave, until he could think of nothing but her. Until he was filled with her feel, her touch, her scent.

Her lower body mimicked the slick motion of her tongue as she writhed in frustration against the barrier of clothing still separating them. Her fingers, still gripping his shirt, curled tighter and pinched his skin. Without warning, her body began a violent trembling. She was obviously near the edge, as desperate as he was to join together on one last ride.

“Kane.” She spoke his name into his mouth.

“Hmm.” He raised his head and stared into the gorgeous green eyes that would stay with him always. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“My foot’s numb.”

“Huh?” That was the last thing he’d expected to hear.

“The ice. Get it off my foot,” she said with a frustrated laugh, shaking her injured leg in an obvious effort to dislodge the pack. “Please.”

He grabbed for the plastic bag with one hand.

“Ahh.” She drew the word out in a long, satisfied sigh.

He laughed. “And here I thought it was my place to make you sigh with pleasure…but if it’s ice that works for you…” He opened the zipped seal and reached inside. “Far be it from me to deny you.” He held one melting ice cube over her chest.

Her eyes opened wide, watched as he traced the outline of lace with the cold block of ice. He eased the cube back and forth, pausing only when water accumulated, to lick the droplets from her soft skin. Her eyes glazed with pleasure and need. The sounds coming from the back of her throat aroused him like nothing else could. His body screamed in taut agony, begging for release.

She grabbed for his shirt, this time pulling the edge from the waistband of his jeans. He helped her pull the shirt over his head and toss it onto the floor. But when she made a grab for his zipper-fly, Kane paused. He wanted to let her continue. He wanted to shuck his jeans, remove hers and finish what he’d just begun.

But that was the point. He’d just begun. If this was their final time together, he wanted it to last.

His fingers were damp with water and a small cube remained in his hand. He traced her full lips easing his finger inside her mouth and leaving the ice on her tongue. The kiss that followed was erotic and hot, a mixture of ice-cold and Kayla’s warmth. He nearly came right then.

But the bag wasn’t empty. With the last ice cube, he went back to the drawing board. He cupped her full breast in one hand and followed the pattern on the lace cup with the other. She groaned, then laid her head back on the couch in obvious submission. He took his sweet time, circled her breast with excruciating slowness. Each turn brought him closer to his goal, to the hardened peak at the center. At that last touch, her back arched and only his hips kept her anchored in place.

She raised her head and met his gaze. “Games are over, Kane.”

“Believe me, I’m not playing any…”

“Yes, you are…” She licked her damp lips with her tongue. “And they’re finished. Not that I’m not enjoying them, but control time is over.”

He shouldn’t be surprised she knew his intentions before he’d even figured them out himself. She read him well; she always had. Right now he didn’t care and wasn’t about to argue. He wanted her so badly he shook with it, he needed her so much he ached.

At that moment, Kane knew, he’d probably ache for the rest of his life. But not Kayla. She’d get over this, get over him. Not a thought he wanted to entertain now.

He paused only to remove the last articles of clothing that separated them, then swung one leg over her already parted legs. His touch found her damp and wet, waiting only for him. Bracing his hands on her outer thighs, Kane drove himself home.

HER SKIN WAS STILL tingling from where the ice had touched her flesh. Her heart was still beating in overtime from the intensity she’d found in his arms. Kane had done everything she’d dreamed of, and some things she hadn’t.

He’d lost control. Ceded a part of himself to her in passion. How ironic that in the giving, Kayla knew she’d lost him.

They dressed in silence, like the two strangers they’d once been, not the friends and lovers they’d become. But she’d made a promise and she intended to hold herself to it. I don’t expect anything from you. When this is over, you can walk away without looking back. I won’t stop you. Time to respect her own words…even if her heart was breaking.

He pulled his shirt over his head and tucked it into his jeans. The rasp of the zipper echoed in the awkward silence.

He turned toward her. “If the ankle swells, you’ll call…”

“I’ll call a doctor,” she reassured him. If he was going to leave, the least he could do was get out quick.

He nodded. “Good. You can use ice tonight…” His voice trailed off. Just the mention of the everyday item caused ripples of sensual awareness to prickle over her skin. Kayla rubbed her hands up and down her arms, but the chill remained. She supposed she’d have to get used to the feeling.

She rose from the couch, careful to keep the pressure off her injured foot. She wanted to face Kane for the last time standing and poised, not hobbling like an invalid. He was great at caring for the needy. The last thing she wanted was to be the victim who needed his protection once more.

The many facets of Kane McDermott made sense to her now. Not that the knowledge could change things.

In Kane’s mind, each case brought the chance to redeem himself for failing his mother, for failing himself. Remain in control, don’t lose focus-those were his mottos. And most especially, don’t give anything up emotionally…because if he did, he risked repeating the past. If he loved, he risked losing again. Kane had been closed up for too long to take that kind of risk now.

Kayla knew it from firsthand experience. Each time he opened up, the old fear gripped him and he shut down again. She glanced at the rigid set of his jaw. He’d shut down now.

She couldn’t fight the past for him. She’d just come through fighting her own. As a result, she had no choice but to let him go.

“Don’t forget to come down tomorrow and make your statement.”

She sucked in a harsh breath. She’d forgotten she wasn’t through dealing with Kane on all levels yet.

His expression softened. “I’ll be making mine tonight and I’ll be off all next week. Reid will take good care of you.”

Obviously he’d read her mind. She shrugged. “Whatever. If you’re finished taking care of me, would you mind just…” She gestured to the door, an excuse to swallow the lump in her throat. “Just go, Kane. It won’t get any easier.”

His curt nod was abrupt, his features schooled into that damned unreadable mask he’d perfected over the years. If only she hadn’t seen him laughing…or in the throes of passion…she might not hurt so badly right now.

He stood beside her. His hand reached out to touch her cheek. “If you need anything…”

She drew a deep breath. His unique scent enveloped her, making her feel warm and cherished. An illusion, she reminded herself. “I won’t.”

He nodded and withdrew his hand. His gaze met hers once more before he turned and headed for the door. The bleakness she glimpsed in his eyes betrayed him, but she knew better than to think he’d act on his feelings.

“Bye, Kane.”

The door closed behind him. A silent goodbye. She had to admit, the man was good. Too good, she thought and turned to clean up the remnants of living with Kane McDermott.

“IT’S BEEN A WEEK SINCE we swept the underworld,” Reid said. The older man rounded Kane’s desk and took a seat across the way. “And what a week it’s been.” He kicked his feet on top of the aging, dented metal and exhaled a grunt of satisfaction.