Page 84 of Vengeful Vows

My breath catches when she smiles before she slips her hand into the one I’m holding out in offering.

Being touched and not balking is still extremely fresh, but I can see it becoming addictive if it is done by Mara.

After tightening my grip, forcing firmer contact, I slide my finger on my spare hand across my phone screen, unlocking it. My missed call was from Rafael’s private cell. The follow-up buzz is a message from the same number. It displays the urgency of his contact.

Rafael:

112

Raf doesn’t use that code for anything but a dire emergency, and it instantly rears up my guards.

With his message seen as delivered, Rafael sends another one.

Rafael:

I’m downstairs.

It is the fight of my life not to kiss the living hell out of Mara for her understanding of my friendship with Rafael. “Go. Tillie is usually in a carbohydrate fog for a week after a sleepover at Mrs. Lichard’s. She’ll be cranky if I don’t give her the chance to put her best foot forward before meeting you. That won’t be until sometime in the p.m.”

Her strength flourishes the more time we spend together, but I am still hesitant to leave. She was only attacked yesterday. Leaving her alone now is unwise. The second wave hasn’t even hit yet.

I mutter for her to get out of my head when she says, “I amperfectlyfine being left alone.” Her shoulders rise as predominately as the assurance in her tone. “And it isn’t like you’re going to order Darius away from my apartment anytime soon.”

She isn’t peeved I have a security detail on her apartment.

She’s pleased.

Her screwed-up nose assures me of this, not to mention the loved-up expression brightening her diamond eyes when she says, “I’m safe here.” The tilt of her kissable mouth speaks the rest of her reply.I’m safe with you.

“Are you sure you want me to go? I can stay.”

Again, she smiles and nods before she gathers up my clothes and hands them to me.

I pull her in close and breathe in her scent, confident it is the only way I’ll be able to leave guilt-free, before getting dressed.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Take all the time you need,” she replies, walking me to the door. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Her “we’re” isn’t solely referencing her and Tillie. I’m included in that dynamic as well. The sentiment in her eyes announces this, much less the way she brushes her thumb ever so slightly over the crinkle in my brow.

She is more fearful about touching me than wondering if I will return.

That’s how solid our connection has become.

Her breath fans my cheek when she gasps from me leaning into her embrace instead of repelling from it. She’ll probably think it’s a ploy to get my way when I ask for her hand in marriage again, but the words leave my mouth before I can stop them. “You know we could skip half the shit about to be flung at us if you’d accept my proposal.”

I’m not meaning to pressure her. I just want her to be my wife more than my lungs crave air. I feel like I will be able to protect her better being her husband than her boyfriend. There are more privileges with a legally bound relationship than a casual one.

“I won’t have a job if there aren’t any messes to clean.”

I growl at her. It makes her giggle. It is as breathless as she makes me feel when she presses her lips to my mouth to kiss me goodbye.

We kiss in the doorway of her apartment until the ache that I’m leaving lessens. I am still disinclined, but since I am hopeful my departure now will reduce the likelihood of future ones, my strides aren’t as short as you’d suspect.

As I reach the sidewalk of Mara’s building, I crank my neck back and peer at the ominous clouds above my head. A storm is on the horizon, but for once, I’m going to remember the rainbow we’re meant to be rewarded with after the deluge.

“Sir,” Darius greets when he spots me approaching an idling SUV at the front of Mara’s building.

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