I shot up my eyebrows. “I was smiling?”
“You were. What were you thinking about?”
With a gentle tug on her fingers, I stopped her strides and gazed down at her. “Home. Going home. Being home. With you.”
She looked up at me, the dying sun dancing in her eyes, her lips curling. Then she closed the minute distance between us and pressed her body to mine. “Just so you know, I was never scared,” she whispered and shook her head.
I smoothed my hands up her back and pulled her closer. “Why not?”
“Because I knew you were coming.” Rising up onto her tiptoes, she brushed her lips over mine. “And because you would tear the world apart to get to me.”
Fuck, I loved her. “If I didn’t make it?”
She chuckled. “Well, then I would have had to tear the world apart to get to you.”
She could do it, too. Of that, I had no doubt at all.
“I love you, Ronnie,” I stated.
“Of course you fucking do,” she murmured, eyes twinkling. “I’m awesome.”
I laughed and kissed her.
For a long time. Truly kissed her.
And then we went and found a jacked-up Cadillac Escalade in White’s garage that could fit the six of us.
* * * *
Because I’m not a bastard, I offered to take everyone to whatever motel/hotel they wanted to go. We could have driven through the night to get back to the resort in Key West, but I don’t think anyone wanted that.
And if they did, they didn’t say anything.
All I wanted was to strip Ronnie out of the dress White had made her wear and make to love to her.
Maybe I was being selfish, but I needed to be alone with her.
I needed, truly needed, to begin living with her.
Fluffy and Tannah had no problems checking into a room at whatever hotel we settled on. William blustered in the back of the Cadillac about going to the police, the hospital, the feds, each word becoming surlier until Tannah pivoted in her seat and told him very calmly to shut the hell up.
I saw Fluffy almost preen in the rear-view when William did just that.
We lived a truly unusual existence. I didn’t believe in God—how could I with everything I’d seen—but I thanked whatever higher power had decided I needed the Marine, Lila, and Tac in my life. And Ronnie…
I found a radio station playing classic jazz music, and everyone fell quiet, absorbing the soothing sound, lost in their own thoughts.
We checked into a Holiday Inn thirty minutes later.
Thank fuck, no one suggested dinner together. With the way Tannah and Fluffy were looking at each other, I had a suspicion I knew what was on their menu.
Muttering under his breath, William took the key to their room and started stomping away. Could I have asked him and Janice into our room to talk about what had happened? About what might happen next? Probably.
Did I open my mouth to do so?
Yeah, I actually did. William was Ronnie’s father. He was never going to approve of me, but for Ronnie’s sake, I needed him to be able to look at me without wishing me dead.
Ronnie, however, clearly had other ideas.