Page 120 of My Rose

He moved to stand in front of me, the lightness in his shoulders almost as visible in the dark as mine felt. “You know damn well why I took her from that place. Didn’t need anyone’s eyes, hands, or even feet near her. And selling her?” His jaw jumped. “I would have shot Ben myself right then and there if he tried anything like that with her.” His shoulder brushed mine as he made his way to the front door. “Going to go check on her. Don’t wait up for us.”

I turned to follow. “You both need to be gone by the morning.”

He tapped the door frame as he passed it, then glanced over his shoulder at me. “Sure thing, boss.”

Rose knew not to leave our bedroom until I came for her. I unbuttoned my jacket and shrugged it off as I entered, unable to move my eyes from the woman who made everything possible.

“Rose, baby.” Her attention didn’t shift from the gun in her hands. My gun. My promise to her that I wouldn’t take it as far as I wanted to, and that if anything had gone wrong, she’d have it as protection against him. I sat down beside her on our bed. “It’s over.” I held my hand out while hers trailed over the fully loaded weapon.

She finally placed it in my hand, and I removed the magazine before placing it on the bedside table. “I don’t think I’m afraid of itanymore.” Her startling, beautiful blue eyes met mine, shining with a vibrance I hadn’t seen in a while.

“Guns?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” My fingers threaded through hers. “Are you okay?”

“Never been better,” I replied without having to think if that was right or not. I was now the CEO of a company I thought I’d never want, and I had the woman of my dreams at my side. I smiled softly as I lifted her chin and pressed my lips to hers. “I’m going to spend every last minute of my life showing you how much I want to be everything for you. How much I love you. You make me want to be better. You havemademe better, Rose.”

Her fingers wrapped around my wrist. “You’ve always been good, Briggs.”

I slid my arms around her waist and pulled her flush to my body as I laid back. “Tell me you still love me and that I didn’t fuck anything up.”

Her laugh was delicate, just like her. “You didn’t fuck anything up.” Her soft lips brushed over mine, those teeth she never tried to hide anymore, taking my bottom lip roughly. “I love you,” she whispered, making warmth course through my veins. I rolled us, putting her on her back. Rose fit so well beneath me that my entire body hummed above her—all of my adrenaline saved for her. She flattened her hand on my chest before I could take it further, and I pulled back with a groan. “Tell me one thing first.”

“Anything.”

Her brows dipped together. “Are you going to forgive her?”

I wasn’t expecting her to ask that so soon. I thought for a moment, then decided against waging a war in my head when my other one was ready for much naughtier things.

“I don’t know,” I replied truthfully. “Should I?”

She bit down on her lip, seemingly just as conflicted by not wanting to think too hard about it. “I think if you don’t want her to be in our lives, then that’s what we’ll do. If I’m being honest, I wanted to reach across the table and slap her when she showed up this morning.”

I chuckled, her wrist slackening enough to let me lean in. She brushed my hair from my face, her hand warm against my skin as it settled behind my neck. “You mean to tell me my little viper wanted to strike for me? And here I thought I was the only one refraining from turning murderous.” I’d been honest about whose blood was on my fingers when I returned home. I’d also been honest about letting him live. Neither one made her kick me out, so I believed I did the right thing.

“She hurt you, which hurts me.”

I kissed her neck. “I’m very familiar with the feeling, Rose.”

“If you want me to hate her with you, I will.”

“Let’s decide that later.” I kissed her with everything I had, my tongue sliding in with hers like heaven to my senses. “As long as I have you, my life is already complete.”

Epilogue

“The burden which is well borne becomes light.” ? Ovid

ROSE

1 year later

“The amount of times I let you drag me somewhere without knowing where I’m going isappalling.”

Warm breath brushed the shell of my ear, sending pinpricks down my back as my eyes remained closed against the blindfold. “I might leave you like this by the time we get there.” Heat seared my stomach, making it hard to walk in front of Briggs to wherever he was guiding me. “Watch your step here, baby.”

His warm hand slid into mine. “How much further?”

He chuckled and kissed my shoulder. Being blindfolded the minute I stepped into our home wasn’t entirely new, but he usually just slung me over his shoulder—then, seconds later, I’d be either in our basement or on my back in our bed. My feet were tired from standing in the archives all day long, and I was just ready for a—“Surprise.” He lifted the blindfold, and it took everything in me not to cry.

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