“I’ll make it safe for you to come back. Soon.” His eyes come up to mine. “I promise I’ll make it better, but I can’t keep you safe this week. I’ll pay to put you up somewhere safe until it’s done.”
“No! I’m not leaving you.” I drop my clothes to his bed, storm forward, and snatch my file back. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving town, I’m not leaving my family, and believe it or not, I’m not leaving you. I might not be important to you, I might not mean shit, but you mean something to me. It’s pretty fucking important to me that you live. It’s important to me that you get out and become a regular person.”
“I can’t get out, Jess! I literally can’t get out. I willnotlive after Hayes is done, butyoucan live. You need to live. You can even take your files and sleep with me under your pillow. I don’t care. But until Hayes is done, you can’t come back.”
“I’m not leaving!” With rough hands, I grab his jaw and drag his face back around. I’m open to him right now, pleading for him to see me. To choose me. “You wanted to fuck me? Go for it. This is me saying yes. I wanted to be with you the other day, too. I’ve wanted to fuck you since your file slid across my desk.” His eyes darken with every word I toss at him. “You wanna see my fingers in my pussy? I’ll show you. You wanna put your tongue in my asshole? Have at it.”
“Jess…” His cock grows between us. Tortured eyes meet mine,Noon his lips, but his penis grows between us – grows for me. “You need to be safe. You need to leave.”
“And every time we’re apart, I get hurt. I’m safer right here in front of you.”
“My world is too dangerous for you!”
“The whole world is too dangerous for me, and you’re the only one who can protect me. You wouldn’t send me away, would you? You’d never know if I was safe. I might just disappear one day, and you’ll never know what happened.”
“Jess… stop.”
“Fuck me, Kane. I was raised to be a lady, but I’m asking you to fuck me like a whore. Don’t send me away. Claim me, then tomorrow, we can work out the rest.”
“Jess…” He closes his eyes and drops his chin to his chest. “You keep making me choose. Between your life and theirs. Between your life and mine. You insist on making me choose.”
“I’m insisting again. You won’t send me away without tasting at least once. I know you won’t. Choose me for tonight, then we’ll discuss running tomorrow.”
I’m a liar. But I also know he won’t pass up this opportunity. He’s knows he should, he knows he’s being played, but he can’t walk away from what I’m offering.
He’s as powerless to my offer as I am to him.
I won’t run away. Nor will I stand by and let him go to prison for Hayes. It’s not too late for Kane, we can work it out. I’ll be his lawyer, and I’ll fight for his freedom.
Alex will fight me on it. There’s only black and white in his world, but now Kane exists in mine, which means gray exists.
Alex won’t like it, but Jules will fightwithme.
She’ll believe me. She’ll understand the innate belief a woman has in a man. She’ll ask me once, then when I give my answer, when I tell her my truth, she’ll go back-to-back with me, and she’ll fight.
Kane only stopped monsters – he was doing the world a favor. I won’t let him go down for that, not when both instances were to protect me.
He was protectingme; Alex will understand eventually.
Stepping closer, I release his jaw, only to take his hands and press them to my hips. Chest to chest, his cock on my belly, I run my hands over his pecs and pull the V neck of his shirt down to expose more of his tattoos. “I could kiss your cuts better. You don’t have to ink over them anymore.” I bite my bottom lip and wait for his eyes. “Would you like that? The book under my pillow isn’t the only magic I know. I can kiss your cuts better. Next time you get hurt, I could make it better.” I stand on my toes and hold my breath.
Rejection will hurt.
Rejection might kill me.
Bravely, I press my lips to the exposed skin at the center of his chest and smile when his hands tighten on my hips.
“You wanted me every other day. But not today. Why not?”
“I always want you, Jess. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
“So, kiss me back.” I angle my head and expose the silvering scratch Lance left on my neck. “You know about the magic already, don’t you? Kiss the injuries better. That’s why you licked me. That’s why you kissed my ribs. You know magic, too, don’t you?”
“I know I never want you to hurt again.”
“Sending me away hurts me.” I slide my tongue just above the neckline of his dark gray shirt and savor the salty flavor on my tongue. “Telling me I don’t mean shit to you hurts me.”
“You mean something, Jess. You mean everything.”