I thought about Burns and how I would never work for him. About Hayes and how I missed him in my bed.
But even with all that swirling around in my idiotic brain, I somehow fell asleep because I was jolted awake by the sound of the chain on the motel door slipping out of the lock. I scrabbled to reach for the gun beneath my pillow and sat up, aiming at the door.
“If you’re going to shoot, do it now.” That hard, raspy voice made me go still. “I’m fucking tired of having that gun pointed at me.”
Hayes. He was here. A thrill of happiness shot right through me. I’d missed him, even if it had been less than a day. I could smell him, recognize him anywhere by that dark scent.
I set the gun on the bedside table and flew out of bed in his direction. I stopped short of throwing myself at him, though. He might be here to turn me in. To bring me to justice for my crimes. I blinked in the darkness, finding the edges of his tall, dark form.
“You found me,” I whispered.
“Yeah.” He gave nothing away in the rough syllable. Not where his heart stood. Or his head.
My fingers tangled with each other, fighting to keep from touching him. “Are you here to turn me in?”
The air between us charged with electricity that only grew when he didn’t answer me at first.
“Is that what you need from me?”
I blinked in the darkness. Okay. Weird question. But it gave me hope. Hayes was here to talk about us, not about what he thought I’d done.
“No,” I whispered.
“What is it you need?” His voice was a low rumble. Not suggestive, but the anger I heard earlier was gone.
“You.” I spoke without thinking. Honestly. I should still be lying, trying to keep him out of this, but I didn’t have it in me anymore. I’d left my bludgeoned heart back in Sparks with him when I drove away, and I’d learned a few things about myself on that long drive.
That I didn’t want to live without Hayes.
That he was a man worth fighting for, and I’d been nothing but a coward. That I’d thought I was protecting him, but I was killing us both in the process.
I heard Hayes’ breath catch, but he didn’t reach for me. He didn’t reassure me or overpower me this time. He just stood there, leaving the last foot of distance between us.
“I was a fool to run.” My voice broke. “Stupid to push you away and leave you behind. You’re all that matters to me, Raf.”
Hayes caught my nape and pulled me in, stopping before our bodies collided, still keeping those few inches of separation between our bodies. They felt like a mile.
I tilted my face up to his, felt his breath feather across my lips. “Yeah?” His voice was rough and wounded.
I’d hurt him.
I knew that. He may still even think the worst of me–that I was the criminal mastermind behind it all like I’d wanted him to believe.
Yet he was here, asking what I needed from him.
I told him everything. Finally, I opened my heart to him.
“My dad was working with Burns all along,” I choked out. “It was a con to get me to do the job because he couldn’t with his broken collarbone. They showed up at my house and recorded me saying I’d stolen the dagger to blackmail me into joining them.”
My heart pounded as Hayes digested that without speaking. “And are you?”
“No. I’m going to try to find out where their meet is to sell the dagger and call in the FBI. I may go down with them, but at least I’ll be finished with this.”
“Alone.” He said it like an accusation. An arrow he pulled out of his own heart and thrust back at me.
“I fucked up,” I admitted. “I’m sorry, Raf. I should have come to you instead of running. I should have told you the truth. I was shaken by my dad’s betrayal. I felt tainted, and I didn’t want any of it to touch you. But I swear to you now that I'm done running. I'm done pushing you away. If you forgive me, if you take me back--” My voice broke. I drew in a steadying breath. “I will never push you away again. I'm all in, Rafael Rebel Reyes, if it's not too late. With you. With us."
Hayes lips slammed down on mine in a hard, bruising kiss. He grasped the back of my head to hold me firm as he slanted his lips over mine, swept his tongue into my mouth. The kiss went on for a moment, then he slowly eased back. "You'd better not ever leave again.”
“I won't, I promise.”
“That conversation you had on your stoop? Was it for my benefit?”