Read Online After the Rain by Karen-Anne Stewart - Free Book Online

have quite the extensive, eclectic collection, thank you very much. I choose each selection carefully,” Erik reprimands, “you just don’t know good music when you hear it, Pierce.”
    “I happen to like Poison, I just don’t like having them embedded in my brain,” Kas banters, kicking Erik’s chair so it spins as it rolls across the room.
    Raina laughs when Erik grabs the edge of the long worktable to stop his ride. “For your information, my embedded brain has been very productive today,” he chuckles. “I’ve restored the hard drive on three computers and found a lead on a ring reaching from here to Atlanta.”
    “Any correlation to Parker?”
    “None that we could find.”
    “Lawson’s team is heading to Atlanta,” Erik begins, glancing at Raina who quickly looks down, her eyes reverting back to the screen in front of her.
    Kas follows Erik’s gaze and tugs on the back of Raina’s chair, “What are you two not telling me?”
    Erik lets out a hearty laugh and throws down a twenty dollar bill, “Remind me never to bet against you again, girl.”
    “Betting? What did you bet on?” Kas asks, his confusion mounting.
    Raina’s expression is sheepish as Erik fills him in, “Your superhuman abilities. It’s just freaky, and so not fair.” He turns towards Raina, “I bet you don’t get away with anything do you?”
    “Rain, spill . . . now,” Kas demands, not liking where this is going.
    Not making eye contact, Raina blurts out, “Lawson wants me to go with him and his team to Atlanta.”
    “Why?”
    “To be a sub,” she mumbles.
    “A sub? As in a technical or language specialist substitute or as in a submissive?”
    “Submissive,” she whispers so low Kas can barely hear her.
    Kas’ face is taut, and his voice is clipped as he asks, “What did you tell him?”
    “I said that I would need to talk with you first.”
    Erik chuckles, “See, she’s already practicing the role, being all docile and asking for your permission.”
    Raina shoots Erik a deadly look before her gaze finally meets Kas’. His face is tight, his eyes unreadable, but, thankfully, anger free.
    “We’ll discuss it later,” Kas states softly, knowing Raina isn’t wanting to talk about it in front of Erik, especially since he’s pretty sure she’s worried about his feelings of what occurred the last time she went undercover. Taking her hand, he pulls her towards him, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. The last thing he wants is for her to revisit the day he left her, the day he made the biggest mistake of his life. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” Pulling away, he studies her expression, making sure she’s alright. “I love you, Rain,” he tells her, his voice thick with the emotion.
    “I love you, too.”
    Erik shakes his head as Kas leaves, “It’s a good thing you’re so sweet and innocent. If Susanna could read me like that, I’d be a dead man.”
     
    Kas watches as Raina moves her roast pork and potatoes around with her fork. Knowing what’s on her mind, he wishes his mind would cooperate better and stop jumping around between wanting to demand her not to go and telling her to go so she won’t think he doesn’t trust her. Pushing his own plate away, he reaches across the table and grabs Raina’s hand, “First of all, I want you to know how much I love you. Second, I have complete faith in you, darlin’, it’s important that you know that.”
    Raina looks at him quietly for a few seconds, “Let me guess, your ‘thirdly’ is going to be something like, ‘but I don’t want you going, it’s too dangerous’.”
    A smile curves his lips at her astuteness. A pang of guilt nags at him at how her tone was kind, void of any contempt, when she guessed what he was going to say next, even though he knows she wants to go. Looking at her, he shakes his head from the absolute knowledge that if this were about anything else, she would do what she feels she needs to do. She would