Read Online Senshi (A Katana Novel) by Cole Gibsen - Free Book Online

that burned my fingers and pounded in my head. I closed my eyes. Even though I was drowning in fire, I wove my arms behind his back and pressed him closer. Sometimes I would wake in the middle of the night convinced this was all a dream. That my Yoshido was nothing more than dust in a 500-year-old grave. I pulled him tighter, pressing my fingers into his skin to assure myself that the arms I clung to wouldn’t dissolve when I opened my eyes.
    Kim pulled away and stared at me. The sinking sun reflected golden flecks within his brown eyes. He sucked in a breath and turned away.
    “Kim?”
    He didn’t immediately look at me but when he did, a thousand emotions passed through his eyes at a speed too fast for me to grab on to a single one. “I just wish I had a lead on the ninja. Every day I think about that night in the alley. I thought … ” He swallowed and tried again. “I thought I’d lost you … again. It was the closest I’d ever stood to hell.”
    “Kim, I’m so sorry, I—”
    “No,” he said, cutting me off. The breeze blew a stray lock of hair into my eyes and Kim brushed it away. “I just want you to know that I haven’t given up. I believe the ones who attacked you are hiding. But I will find them and I will make them pay. I won’t … I won’t lose you.”
    “You won’t,” I promised. “I’m not going anywhere.”
    He kissed me again, rolling us over so that I was on top of him with his arms locked tightly around my waist. His fingers lifted the edge of my T-shirt, searing my skin as they drew circles on my back, traced ribbons along my ribs, inching higher and higher until …
    The theme music from the movie Psycho blared from his pocket.
    Kim cursed under his breath as he gently lifted me off of him and dug for his phone. He didn’t have to say who was calling him; I’d set her personal ringtone myself—Sumi.
    Kim answered and before he could even say hello, Sumi’s shrill voice blared through the speaker.
    How did she do it? How did she always call at the perfect moment to spoil our time together? A dull ache throbbed in my jaw, alerting me that I’d been clenching my teeth. My fingers curled into fists. Sumi was a student of Kim’s that he allowed to manage the front desk of the dojo in exchange for martial arts training. But I knew it wasn’t martial arts she was interested in. She’d made it clear to me that she wanted Kim for herself and wasn’t about to let me get in her way.
    Kim’s lips stretched into a tight line. “Sumi, calm down. I don’t understand. What’s the emergency?”
    Of course. I rolled onto my back with a groan. It was always an emergency with Sumi. I wondered what it would be this time. Were they out of stamps? Maybe there was a spider on the ceiling? Perhaps the faucet was leaking? She would use any excuse to get Kim back to the dojo and away from me.
    Kim nodded to a question I couldn’t hear and sighed. “Alright. Try to stay calm. I’ll be there in a minute.” He hung up and flashed me an apologetic look. Before he opened his mouth, I held my hand up to stop him.
    “Save it. It’s not your fault. Just go and make sure everything is okay.”
    “Thank you.” He kissed my cheek. “I’ll drop you off at Sonic so you can get a ride home.” He stood and, after brushing the grass from his pants, offered me a hand up. “I was wondering … can I swing by your place later? I know you have school tomorrow and I won’t keep you up late. But between Network missions, training, and now the ninja hunt, we haven’t spent much time alone and … I hate being apart from you.”
    A hundred dragonflies somersaulted inside of me. I smiled. “Sure. Just don’t make me wait too long.”
    He shook his head and tilted my chin up for another kiss. “I waited a lifetime to be with you. I don’t plan to waste a second.”

12
    Q uentin, Michelle, Braden, and Drew sat around a picnic table outside the restaurant. Kim didn’t bother parking, only waved to the