“You’ve had plenty of opportunity,” she answers, “and you’ve been nothing but nice to me. Nicer than anyone has ever been.” She whispers that last bit, and I can’t help it. I reach out to cup her chin and raise her eyes up to me.

“I would never hurt you,” I confirm, looking right into her eyes as I say it.

“I know,” she says before her tongue darts out to wet her lips. My eyes are drawn to her full, puffy bottom lip, glistening with moisture. I feel my head drawing closer to her until my lips are only a hair’s breath away from hers. Her breath hitches, but before I can taste her lips, there’s a loud knock on the door that breaks me out of her siren call.

I get up to go get the pizza and tip the guy—through I probably shouldn’t considering the moment he’d just killed—before heading back to the couch with the pizza box and a couple of cans of soda in tow.

“Dig in,” I tell her as I set the box on the coffee table.

She grabs a slice, takes a bite, closes her eyes, and moans. Christ, does she always have to eat food like she’s having sex? If she makes those sounds when she’s eating, I can only imagine what kinds of noises she’d make with me in between her thighs.

“Possession with intent to distribute,” I tell her.

“What?” she asks, stopping mid-bite.

“What I was in for,” I explain.

She shakes her head. “I didn’t ask.”

“I know,” I tell her, “but I think you have a right to know.”

She nods slowly before asking me, “Did you know what you were doing?”

My chest constricts. No one’s ever asked me that before. They just heard my charge and just assumed I was a piece of shit drug dealer.

But not this sweet girl. She gives me the benefit of the doubt. She sees me for the man I really am, the man I was before all the shit hit the fan that night five years ago. If I wasn’t obsessed with her before, I sure as hell am now.

I shake my head, “No. I didn’t know what I was transporting. I knew I was working with shady people. The money was too good for me to assume otherwise, but no, I had no idea what I was holding when I got busted.”

I still remembered it like it was yesterday. I went to drop off the package and out of nowhere was surrounded by a slew of FBI agents.

They’d tried to offer me a deal—immunity to snitch on who I worked for, but I knew better. I’d kept my trap shut and been lucky to get off with five years in the pen. I haven’t went near that crowd since I got out of prison. I’d been a stupid kid from the wrong side of the tracks, so when they’d approached me for an easy gig, I’d taken it. No questions asked.

After I’d gotten out of prison, though, I’d gotten the job at Rick’s garage. Rick and I had grown up together, and when he’d found out what had happened to me, he knew the kind of guy I was. He’d been the only one in the city to give a felon a chance. He was the closest thing I’d ever had to a true friend.

She nods. “I believe you.”

My chest swells at those three little words. She believes me. No questions asked. She trusts me.

She’s an angel.

I watch her take another bite of her pizza. She closes her eyes and moans again, and I fight back a grin. The girl really enjoys her food.

I’ll feed her whatever she wants every day. I’ll do anything to keep her safe and happy.

She’s my angel, and I’m going to take care of her.


Tags: Emma Bray Romance