A/N: Muchas gracias for the feedback again! I find things in your reviews that help me add more to the story and see connections that I may have glossed over, so keep it coming! Good luck to everyone tomorrow night, hopefully we don't get our hearts broken too bad. This chapter is a little longer because while the pesky story sometimes gets in the way of Bonkai interaction, when I finally do get to their shared scenes, I tend to go a little overboard. Enjoy!
CHAPTER SEVEN
Bonnie walked slowly back outside, not much paying heed to where she was going. All thoughts of Liv's bachelorette activities had completely fled her brain after the encounter with her grandmother's friend.
Maggie Durant, for all that she appeared to try and be helpful, had only offered cryptic warnings to Bonnie that didn't in way ease any of her misgivings. She knew at some point during the weekend, she would have to go seek her out. If only so that the older woman could stir real, honest to goodness hope-even a guarantee-that everything would work out. The way Grams would have, if she was still alive.
"Look who finally joined!" came someone's shout.
Bonnie glanced up and saw Liv approach with wobbly steps. She was dressed in army fatigues and boots.
Bonnie stopped and took in the scene before her. Under a wide expanse of the night sky, a row of lanterns illuminated the maze on the estate. It was two acres worth of tall, neatly trimmed hedges. Somewhere in the middle of it was a gazebo, where, if you climbed to the top, you could gain a better perspective to plot out your exit from the maze. Bonnie normally would have been tempted to try her luck, but as it was, she couldn't imagine a worse scenario for herself.
And now, it was a stomping ground for roaming teams of female paintballers at war. Some of them witches.
"What the hell were you thinking, Liv?" Bonnie asked.
"Two teams," her friend said, ignoring the question, her face beaming with excitement. "One coming in from this entrance, the other going through the eastern end. We meet in the middle where the gazebo is, and take as many enemy colors out as we can. Whoever puts their team flag up first on top of the gazebo, wins." She then lifted the flask at her side. "Don't forget your drink." She pointed to the bartender set up with his mixers a few yards away. "They'll fill it with whatever you want."
Bonnie couldn't hide her smile at her friend's obvious enthusiasm. "Oh, yea, this is going to go well," she said dryly, as she strapped on the equipment her friend handed out.
"Don't really get wasted, though, Bon," said Liv, hiccupping. "Cuz I'm kinda gone already and one of us has to stay sharp."
With that, she slipped her goggles on, tripped into the maze, and disappeared.
Bonnie gripped the paintball gun in her hand cautiously. It had been years since she'd done anything like this, and she wasn't sure if she was in the right frame of mind just then. Nobody else remained outside the maze, though. In the distance, she could hear the whoops and war cries coming from somewhere in the tall hedges, mingled with laughter and terrified screams.
Bonnie threw back her shoulders, put her own goggles over her face, and dove into the entrance.
She worked her way through the maze, keeping her body in a sideways stance. Jeremy had taught her this position made for a smaller, harder to hit target.
It took a few minutes for her to encounter anyone, and when she did, without thinking too hard about it, she let loose with a sudden barrage of shots. The woman was wearing heels. Clearly disregarding Liv's instructions on proper attire had done her no favors. She toppled over under Bonnie's onslaught, and lay on the ground, a mess of orange all over her flimsy outfit. But she also appeared to be drunk. Just when Bonnie would have offered her a hand up, the woman fell asleep.
"Arrrggghhhh!"
Bonnie whirled around, stepping aside to avoid the insane woman rushing her. She saw the other woman's rifle waving wildly, a spray of paint hitting everywhere, on the hedges, on the grass, on one of the lanterns tucked along the stone half wall. Bonnie ducked and swiped a leg out, tripping the woman. She looked at herself. Not a lick of paint on her clothes.
She smiled, drew her paintball gun up, and neatly clipped the woman on the shoulder with a splatter of orange.
"Aw, man," the other woman grumbled, obviously disgusted with herself.
Bonnie moved along.
After several minutes of turning the corners and hitting dead ends, she tried to clamber along one of the walls to get a view of what direction the gazebo could be. Her foot found a heavy vine twining up the stone, and she used it to leverage herself higher along the wall. She'd gotten high enough to see the top of the gazebo, a couple of yards south, when her foot slipped and she lost her grip, falling backwards.
"Oof!" She dropped, hard, and the ground underneath felt firm and muscular, and gave far less cushion than she expected.
"Ouch," the ground said.
Bonnie gasped, scrambling up and away on all fours.
She had fallen atop a large woman, who now lay prone on the grass. Wearing dark clothes, the woman blended into the shadows of the maze. The only thing Bonnie could make out were the pair of goggles on her face.
"Sorry," Bonnie said, her paintball gun trained on the newcomer.
The amazon got to her feet, partially stepping into the light of a lantern. She couldn't make out the woman's face, but Bonnie soon noted the lack of curves and the discreet play of muscles on the thighs and entire upper body. Not a woman.
His tall form sagged against the wall she'd just climbed, as he rubbed at a spot on his chest, waving a hand at her in dismissal.
"No worries," he rasped out. "Just knocked the breath out of me. Give me a sec."
He leaned his elbows on his thighs, breathing heavily.
"Who knew you'd weigh so much?"
Excuse him? Bonnie stood up tall, forgetting herself momentarily. "Oh, yea," she said in total disdain. "Because all five feet two inches of me is just clearly too much baggage for someone your size." She snorted. "Maybe you need to retool your workout routine."
Pushing away from the wall, he drew up to his full height, staring down at her in silence for a beat. He wore a hoodie that masked everything but his goggles.
"Or maybe," he drawled, his deep voice vibrating with soft laughter, "you ate too many of those cannolis I left you and Liv this morning."
Bonnie's stomach dropped. Oh, no. It couldn't be-
He took his goggles off, pushing back his hoodie. Kai Parker sauntered close, aiming his dangerous, lady-killer grin right in her face. "Hi, sassy."
Bonnie backed away, but he matched her step for step.
"You know, I couldn't figure out why Liv wouldn't tell me which of her friends was helping her fix her dress." He came to a stop before Bonnie, much too close for comfort. "Because I kinda felt like even with the door in the way, there was a spark, right?" He motioned between them. "I think we shared a moment there. And I figured, look around," he indicated with his hands around the landscape, "it's the perfect romantic setting for two people to meet and improve their intimacy."
His breath fanned her face, as Bonnie scowled into deceptively playful gray eyes.
"I asked myself, why does Liv not want me to meet her friend?" he said softly, his eyes moving over hers. Then he chuckled. "Well, the joke's on me, because it turns out, I already had. Except, this friend in question seems to change personalities like some people change shoes."
"So, Bonnie, care to explain why that is?" His eyes turned suspicious. "What're you hiding, hmm?"
Bonnie found herself holding her breath, every muscle rigid. She licked her lips nervously, saw his eyes drop to her mouth, and linger. She'd never been so glad in her life that she had applied her best lip gloss just before leaving her room.
She used the distraction to quickly lift her gun and fire a spray of paint all over his chest, toppling his large body backwards again. Then she ran like hell.
Kai fell on his ass under the assault. She'd shot him at close range, with probably everything in the cartridge. He lay on his back again, seeing stars that had nothing to do with the night sky. After a few seconds, he staggered back up and smacked his lips, testing.
She'd made him eat paint.
He licked his mouth and grinned.
With slow, meandering steps, he started his pursuit, allowing Bonnie to think she had a head start. Nearby, he heard the tell tale sounds of scuffling and the blast of a paint ball gun finding its targets. Using a cloaking spell, he followed the noises, going unnoticed by the few stray women he passed. All of them were covered in the same shades of orange he wore, but unlike him, all of them were inebriated and stayed on the ground, groaning. He couldn't be a hundred percent sure, but he suspected some of them had run into Bonnie. She played a good game.
His smile grew predatory, as he picked up a paintball rifle that lay discarded beside a snoring woman.
He continued his way along the hedges. It had gotten noticeably quieter in their section of the maze. He used more caution, as he sent out a trickle of magic to help locate his prey.
In a few seconds, he caught up to her, only to stop short as his eyes took in the scene. "Dammit," he muttered to himself.
Small wonder it had gone quiet. Bonnie had been cornered by Fiona and two other witches.
Still cloaked, he stepped silently closer, until he was just a few feet away from Bonnie, her face clearly in view.
Her paintball gun hung loosely from one hand, as she stood with her head thrown back in defiance, glaring at Fiona. They were a completely mismatched pair, Bonnie's petite frame in jeans and a plain shirt, while willowy Fiona towered several inches over her, dressed in a sleek black cat suit and heeled knee-high boots. She looked like a fashion model dressing up for a photo shoot.
One of her hands was stretched out to Bonnie, who suddenly grabbed her head in agony.
Kai bristled in anger, but he couldn't truthfully tell if he was more pissed that he'd just caught a witch blatantly disregarding the Gemini rules, or that someone else had beaten him to the punch when it came to prying out little Bonnie Hartwright's secrets.
Except his way, he knew, would have been much more pleasant.
When he noticed the blood trickling under Bonnie's nose, he moved forward with clenched fists, ready to disable the other witches, but halted when Bonnie suddenly said, "There's nothing to tell, I don't know anything!"
Fiona gritted her teeth. "How's that possible? You're his childhood friend! What's his worst secret? Has he been arrested for anything?"
"You're screwy if you think I'd give up dirt on my friend to you."
The other witches looked to Fiona with questioning glances. She raised her hand again, and Bonnie cried out.
"Spill it, Bonnie," Fiona urged. "Or I'll do this all night."
Kai saw Bonnie's gaze shift, so fleetingly he almost missed it. But he was close enough to touch her and he hadn't strayed his eyes from her once, so he caught the tiny difference. Fiona's spell was either not strong enough, or this firecracker of a female had a few tricks up her sleeve.
"I can tell you," Bonnie said, her slitted eyes bright with pain and fury, "that Liv's behind you and ready to tear your asses up."
The trio of witches whipped their heads back in a panic, only to see nobody else in the area. Those few seconds cost them. Bonnie lifted her paintball gun and shot one of Fiona's friends directly in her temple in a blast of orange bullets. She landed in a heap on the ground by Fiona's feet.
Kai saw the other friend rushing Bonnie. He squinted his eyes at the woman and she promptly dropped to the ground, asleep.
"No!" Fiona cried, her eyes turning in rage to Bonnie. She lifted a hand and the gun in Bonnie's right hand went flying out. Fiona stalked over to the smaller woman, glowering as she began chanting.
Bonnie's right hand began to blister with a first degree burn. "Argh!" she screamed.
Fiona smiled but it died quickly when, from out of thin air, a second gun appeared in Bonnie's left hand, cocked directly under the blonde witch's chin. Fiona's eyes grew round, as Bonnie arched one brow.
"Gotcha, bitch," Bonnie said, her voice ragged.
Fiona's chin erupted in a splotch of orange, as she was knocked out cold from the impact.
Kai stared at Bonnie, completely dumbfounded. Who the hell was this woman?
It was only after she started walking away, a slight limp in her gait, that he shook himself and ran after her. He dispersed the cloaking spell and touched her shoulder, only to stop short when she pushed his hand away with her paintball gun, and aimed it at his face.
"Easy," he said, putting his hands up slowly.
"What do you want?" she said, her voice little more than a growl.
Kai didn't smile, or smirk, or invade her space. He gestured to her burned hand and hurt leg. "To help." His eyes never leaving hers, he moved in slow degrees to crouch beside the leg she favored.
"What happened?" he said in a low voice.
"Your girlfriend threw me against the wall. Landed on my knee funny."
An angry scrape showed the tear on her jeans, at the edge of her kneecap, blood congealed on its surface. He placed one hand to hover above it, while moving his other to where her burned hand hung limp.
As he chanted, the skin on both areas healed themselves, restored to smoothness.
The grimace on her face disappeared, but her eyes were unreadable, as she scooted away from him nervously. "Thanks."
Kai pulled himself to a stand. They both took that moment to look around the dead end turn, surrounded on three sides by hedge walls. The only way out was behind them. His eyes returned to the woman before him, and he found himself again unable to look away from her, as she kept her head bowed and fiddled with her paintball gun.
"Am I safe from that?" he asked, tossing her a playful smile. "As a casual fan of Smashing Pumpkins, I still never expected to walk around looking like one."
Her eyes flicked up, wary.
He moved away from her, retracing his steps to where the unconscious witches lay. He moved to Fiona's friend, the one he'd disabled with a sleep spell, and shot her with a blast of paint on the side of her head as well. It wouldn't do if she woke up without any tell-tale paint on her face to explain why she'd been knocked out. He didn't put a lot of stock into the woman's mental acuity, but Fiona wasn't stupid and even if she didn't arrive at the correct conclusion-that Kai had been involved-who knew what assumptions she would make about Bonnie. For additional peace of mind, he murmured another incantation, his magic trailing along the three women as he repeated it.
"Meum locum recentia," he finished.
Catching Bonnie's watchful gaze, he explained himself. "Better they remember nothing about this whole incident. Otherwise, they'll just keep coming after you. They'll wake up thinking they got taken out randomly with head shots and got minor concussions."
The thought briefly crossed his mind that in doing this, he was giving Fiona and the Vansels a free pass on attacking one of the other guests. No matter that it was Bonnie, and she'd actually ended up winning the fight-it rankled him, that he couldn't dole out punishment in proper coven style. Such flagrant disregard of house rules from the Vansels didn't sit well with him. If any of his siblings were in his shoes, he knew they wouldn't hesitate to bring her and her friends before another small council. Although, Jesus, how many more of those did Liv's wedding need? But he didn't wish to put the spotlight on Bonnie, which would happen if he followed protocol and banished Fiona from the wedding.
"You're going to need to watch your back from now on," he warned her.
"I thought you were doing plenty of that already."
Kai rubbed a hand over his eyes, suddenly tired.
Bonnie continued eyeing him suspiciously as he made his way back to her. Seeing her shy away as he moved closer made him bristle. "What's it take?" he muttered to himself, looking around in disbelief. "Look, I'm sorry if I spooked you earlier, okay? And I'm even more sorry that you got hurt." He realized he was genuinely apologizing to this girl and decided to back track. "All of which is still not my damn fault. You came here under false pretenses. Clearly you're not an idiot. And based on your lack of surprise when I cast my spell, you're well aware that you're surrounded by a group of supernatural witches. It's called reaping what you sow." He crossed his arms. "And now I think it's your turn."
"Excuse me?"
His jaw clenched. "It's your turn to apologize. For lying."
He knew just from the angle of her head and the tilt of her brows that she was going to get fresh, and somehow that perked him right up. "Okay," she said sweetly. "I accept your half-assed apology. Now here's mine: I'm really, really sorry that Liv's unbelievably extended wedding has to include her paranoid coven and creepy brothers."
She raised her brows at him and gestured with her hands in a 'happy now?' way.
Kai let himself appear to be mulling it over. "Well, that didn't sound sincere at all," he said finally. "So, no, I don't accept your apology."
"However will I sleep at night," she said flatly.
At an impasse, they stood glaring at each other.
"Okay, I see that I'll need to be the mature one here," he said, recognizing the bite in his tone and trying again. "I came here-I was looking for you because I...I just wanted to ask you a few things."
Immediately, her guard came up. She backed away some more.
"Bonnie," he said, putting a hand out.
"You wanna do twenty questions about Tyler, right?" she asked angrily, evading him. "Why do you people keep obsessing over him? He's a good guy and makes Liv happy. Let it go." She looked back to where they came from, then glowered at him. "Did you sic your girlfriend on me?"
His anger rose, and it came out in a frustrated laugh. "You're good, you know that? I mean, you have me playing defense when you're the one who's been going around lying through your cute little teeth this whole time."
"What was so bad about me playing dumb? Lots of women do it!" She brought her hands up and shook them in mock horror. "Oooooh! Look at me, I'm smarter than I seem! Someone call the witch police!"
And now he was genuinely offended. "Okay, let's clear the air, shall we?" he said, as he deftly threw a spell around their area that froze them in that moment in time. He really didn't need any interruptions right now. "One," he started, walking up to Bonnie, eyeing her seriously. "Fiona never has and never will be my damn girlfriend. Two, I don't sic people on anyone. Why would I, when I can do it better myself. And three, I-" he stopped. "I don't intend to see you hurt. I just want to make sure you're not here to cause problems for my coven. And Tyler..." he stopped, realizing she'd honed in on something that he had completely forgotten.
All this time suspecting Bonnie, and by extension Tyler, and it had escaped his mind something that Liv had once told him. The town they were all from, Mystic Falls, was notorious for its unpleasant history with vampires. Tyler had lost his mother to one. Who was to say that Bonnie hadn't experienced the same loss? She was smart, tough, and resourceful, all skills one would have needed, growing up in a town like that.
"Honestly, the worst thing that I could accuse Tyler of doing," he continued solemnly. "Is possibly tying himself to a witch family to avoid any more problems with vampires."
Bonnie's face scrunched in disgust. "What? Where are you getting that from?"
"You grew up in the same town. Are you telling me that Tyler doesn't have a problem with them, the creatures responsible for his mother's death?"
She was strangely quiet and still, waiting for him to continue.
"The only reason Tyler appeared as a blip on my radar is because of all the attention the Vansels were giving him." He shrugged. "You might've picked up on the history Liv has with Noah. That relationship was what their family was riding on to move up in the coven, by marrying into ours." He wasn't sure why he was disclosing so much information to her, but figured it was a last ditch effort, giving her lots to settle her mind and in turn, see what he could receive. "Fiona tries hard, but it hasn't gotten her anywhere with my brothers. Or me."
"Why are you telling me all of this?"
He chewed the inside of his lip. "So you know that I'm not trying to crucify Tyler. I want this wedding to happen, Bonnie. The Vansels don't. You could easily get caught up again in their crosshairs. I-I want you to be careful."
"Why, what's it to you?"
He chuckled. "It's cute how prickly you are."
She still had suspicion in her eyes, but he figured progress had been made because she tucked her paintball gun away into the holster of her borrowed vest.
He quelled a sigh of relief.
She exhaled softly, her face tilting up to the sky, her eyes closed. Kai frowned as he took in her features, feeling a sense of deja vu. Something about this moment felt familiar. He zeroed in on Bonnie's features, his brow clearing as he recalled the woman he'd seen in the window this morning. It had been her, with the look of peace on her face as she faced the day.
Bitter irony rushed over him suddenly. He'd wanted to know for himself how that kind of contentment felt. But after a day immersed in his world, and right now in his presence, she'd obviously lost that feeling. She looked defeated and miserable.
He had a burning need to pick her brain apart with questions, but he simply couldn't bring himself to start.
"I want this wedding to be over and done with as much as you," she said, her voice soft and low. "But you're going to suspect what you want about me. So just ask yourself, have I done anything that makes it seem like I want to cause trouble?"
If he answered her honestly, he would have to admit that no matter her intentions, she was most definitely causing trouble. Mainly, to him. She bothered the shit out of him, and had since the first time he'd heard her voice. Even earlier, before she'd duped him with her airhead performance, his attention had been drawn to her, seated inconspicuously at the table.
Kai shook his head. "Maybe I'm not the best judge of that," he said. "I think everyone's trouble." He threw up a hand in disgust. "I should go find my own island to live on, away from people."
She stole another quick glance at him. "You're the all-powerful heir to the Geminis. You could probably just find your own dimension to live in solitude for the rest of your life."
That hit so close to home, he almost had trouble breathing for a second. Did she know? But she didn't seem to recognize the effect those words had on him. They didn't mean anything to her. After all, who would believe that he had in fact spent almost two decades doing just what she suggested? Living in a pocket world for six months out of every year with an old man desperate for his grandson to make something out of nothing, to create a spark of humanity in someone who appeared to be born with none.
His gaze searching, he stepped closer to her carefully, hoping she didn't shy away again.
"I saw you earlier, with a friend of mine. My only friend, I should say. Maggie Durant."
Bonnie lifted a brow. "You were spying on us."
"Justifiably, yes," he said. "The most interesting part about it was no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make out a damn word. You two were in your own little sound bubble, unable to be heard outside of it." He wagged a finger, chuckling. "Very clever, that. Was it you or Maggie pulling that trick?"
"It's none of your business, Kai," she said, crossing her arms.
He gritted his teeth, because it gave him a kick, the way she said his name, and he hated that he couldn't properly focus just then on the appropriate thing. Trying to gather his thoughts proved difficult before the clear green eyes defiantly challenging him.
"Are you a witch?" he asked.
"I have no powers. Can't you tell?"
"Bonnie-"
"Try me," she interrupted, all indignation now. This time, it was she who stepped closer. "Liv told me that you can siphon off magic from other witches. So. Try it."
It struck him that this was precisely the plan he had in mind earlier, if all else failed and she refused to give him any answers. But in the back of his head, he had expected-maybe a little prematurely-that they would end up having sex, where he could then have used the intimacy to deftly check if she had any powers to absorb.
Following that thought, explicit sexual images of himself with the woman who was currently standing too damn near invaded his brain. Momentarily, he wished that he'd taken Nadine up on her offer for a closet interlude earlier. All of the day's drama had him far too keyed up. It was messing with his concentration.
"I know all about the supernatural stuff, yes," Bonnie admitted, her voice low and soft. "But I'm telling you, you're not going to find magic in me. Go ahead." She brought her palm up, between their bodies.
The truth was, he could glean no paranormal aura from the woman standing in front of him. But the skin she was offering up was too enticing for the devil in him to spurn. He could see the beads of sweat from her exertion, smell the lingering sweetness of her perfume...
With clenched jaws, he tried to clear his mind. This wasn't the time to get distracted.
He narrowed his eyes. "Don't try anything like shooting me again with that gun of yours. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice..." he paused, taking her hand in his and twining their fingers together, "...and it won't just be shame on you, Bonnie."
He saw her swallow.
"I'll rain hell on you," he said, his voice like gravel.
Brow wrinkled in concentration, he tugged gently with his mind, waiting for the familiar tingle to start in his fingers. He waited. But there was nothing. Patent disbelief rose in his chest. He had to dig deeper. Skimming the surface was usually enough for most people, and his preferred method of stealing magical essences, since it didn't hurt as much for the other person. But when he wanted to? Oh, it could burn.
"I'm sorry," he said, genuinely this time, seeing the wariness in her eyes. "I have to try again, and if you happen to have powers after all, this might sting."
"Do your worst," she replied smugly.
He fought a smile at her spunk.
Seconds passed where he was strenuously pulling and getting nothing, while she remained unfazed by his touch. So in this, she hadn't been lying. At least one thing checked out with this woman. He felt a surge of relief mixed, oddly enough, with a tiny hint of disappointment. He'd been so sure she had magic...
Absently, he realized the tip of his thumb was rubbing the soft skin on the back of her hand. They had drifted nearer to each other, their joined hands resting against his chest. His head bent down towards her, and hers tilted up to his, they remained standing like that, even after he had ended the attempt to siphon from her.
She was just human, after all. With a lot of secrets, and a talent for paintball, but no obvious ill-intent towards his family. At the edge of his consciousness prowled the thought that, in the end, this woman had turned out to be just his sister's pretty friend. Exactly his impression of her when they'd first met. And much more multi-faceted than expected.
She would make for a fun chase. If he listened closely, he could almost hear the predator inside him howling for its prey.
For Bonnie.
Afraid to ruin the moment, he didn't move, or dare blink, as he breathed in her scent. Her own breath had slowed to non-existence, and he saw her gaze dart to his mouth.
"Kai," she whispered.
There was an invitation in how she said his name just now. It surprised him, but not really, because even if she was probably the biggest unexpected treat that had dropped in his lap in recent memory, even if she proved by tonight's actions her own unpredictability-he knew himself, and the sway he had with women. Bonnie, like everyone else, found him irresistible.
Closing his eyes, he bent his head lower-
And felt a small pair of hands shove him back, hard.
"What the hell are you doing?" Bonnie asked, looking pissed.
Kai blinked. "I would think it was obvious," he said. "Sorry. Were we not having another moment?"
She glared at him. "I have a boyfriend."
Now that, he knew was a lie. But he kept that to himself. "All right, all right," he said, lifting his hands up in defeat.
She paced a few steps, muttering to herself, "I can't keep doing this with you. We'll be here all night." She stopped. "Yes, okay, I misrepresented myself initially. I just didn't want to get pulled into anything with you witches. Thought if I acted dumb, I'd be left alone."
"Why?"
"I've lost too many people that I cared about to the supernatural."
As he'd suspected. It was a valid reason, one that he'd heard plenty of times before from other people. Most humans were afraid of exploring the hidden world, preferring instead to remain ignorant about the obvious bumps in the night. Of the ones who knew, some eventually tried their best to forget, because remembering hurt too much. So Bonnie was one of them. He wondered momentarily who she had lost, how many, at what age. And when her turning point had been.
He knew he'd been staring too long at her face, because she became antsy again.
"I don't want to get into it," she warned. "If I have personal things that I choose not to share with you or your siblings, don't hold it against anyone else. And by anyone, I mean Tyler."
He bit his lip in thought. "Kind of a tall order there. I mean, you've basically been dissembling since I met you. And Tyler's your friend, so...well, birds of a feather, right?"
"Trust your sister, then. There's a reason why we're in her life. She wouldn't have become my friend, and Tyler wouldn't be her fiancée, if we meant her or any of your family harm."
Kai pretended to consider this. It served him to keep her off-balance, still thinking that he considered her a threat. "Not bad advice," he said, but then shook his head reluctantly, adding, "unfortunately, Bonnie, my sister hasn't always been the best judge of character."
Bonnie's finger traced her brow and down the side of her face, the epitome of frustration. She threw her hands up finally, and just stared at him.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer," he said, throwing her what he hoped was his best wicked bedroom eyes.
"Since we're not getting anywhere," she said through clenched teeth, "I'm just waiting for you to let us out. I wasn't born yesterday. No way we've been standing here this long and coincidentally, not a single soul finds us. Lift whatever magic juice you're using."
Not a witch, just an incredibly smart cookie. That he absolutely wanted to take a bite out of. "I'm really digging this bossy version of you. Think she'll stick around?"
"Kai!"
"Fine!" He waved a hand dismissively, lifting the spell.
She immediately stalked off, but he followed her again, until he matched her stride. She walked fast, but his legs were much longer, so it was no effort to him to keep up.
"Was there something else?" she asked.
"Might've escaped your notice," he said, "but Fiona and her friends are gone, we don't know where they are, so I'm walking you back to the lodge to make sure it's safe."
"I can take care of myself."
"Humor me."
They followed the way back from where they had entered. The new moon peeked out from a clear night sky as they walked along the hedge path, their arms occasionally brushing. Each time it happened, she veered closer to the hedges, but the twigs poking her soon brought her shoulder right back into contact with his elbow. Her skittishness was adorable, and he struggled to hide his growing smile. Bonnie threw him another suspicious glance that he ignored, as he began whistling softly.
"Why is it so quiet?" she muttered, when they reached the exit.
"Uh, probably has to do with the drunk stupor all of those women are in," he replied carelessly. "I'm sure Liv is somewhere around here snoring." He looked up and caught a glimpse of the gazebo in the distance. "Oh, look, orange flag. Your team won." He grinned at her.
Bonnie stopped. "I should go get Liv and make sure she sleeps properly."
He blocked her way. "Bonnie," he chided. "Maybe you're a little bit more bad-ass than most, but you're also tired, tiny, and completely unequipped to haul Liv back to her suite." He placed gentle hands on her shoulders and guided her away from the maze. "I'll take care of it."
They trekked back to the building in silence for a few more minutes. And again, he felt her quick probing glances. "Something wrong?" he finally asked.
"You tell me. Am I...cleared by security?"
"Jury's still out on that, we may need to do a cavity search."
Her eyes rolled.
"Oh, come on," he said, laughing. "You gave me the perfect set up. Don't blame me."
She suddenly stopped, her attention on something else. "Um, speaking of stripping..." she pointed with her chin.
Kai followed her gaze to the roundabout driveway in front of the building, where a nondescript van was parked. And out of which several scantily clad women were tumbling out, each of them carrying small cases. He could see Dex standing in the lobby, like an overgrown schoolboy about to open a candy tin.
"I'm going to murder my siblings," Kai said calmly.
Bonnie squinted an eye, disbelieving. "Sure about that?" she said. "I don't need to be a witch to predict that lots of sexy thongs await you in your immediate future."
Kai chuckled softly, amazed that she could stand there, laughing at him over her little joke, throwing words like 'thong' around.
"Damn tease," he muttered to himself, eyeing her as she kept grinning.
Maybe she could be pretend to ignore the current that was like a live wire running between them, but he sure as hell didn't have to. Lightning quick, he pushed himself back inside her personal space, close enough that their chests touched. He tried not to picture heaving her against the wall, plundering her mouth, licking what little bits of skin she was showing, and shoving his hands inside her jeans to rip off her own panties. If she even wore one.
She was no longer laughing as she held herself rigidly, barely breathing.
"Trust me," he said, voice husky. "The only woman I want stripping for me in my immediate future, has yet to enter that building." He waited until she met his eyes, and when she finally did, he cocked a brow arrogantly.
"Good night, Bon," he whispered, his nose grazing her temple.
Through a heavy-lidded gaze, he watched her breath hitch as he slowly pulled back, winked, and walked away.