Page 86 of Redemption

I press my lips to her shoulder and stand up, slowly pulling out of her warm heat and she groans at the loss of me. I untie her restraints and slide onto the edge of the bench, pulling her onto my lap. I rub at her shoulders and wrists, working out any of the tension I caused, all while trailing my lips across her neck and her back.

“Do you think we were quiet enough?” she asks.

I snort. “Fuck if I care.”

“You really don’t care if your daughter heard us?”

I smile into her shoulder at that. My daughter. I pull Bella farther into me. “I love it when you say that.”

She brushes a piece of hair off my forehead. “I wish I could have told—”

I hold my fingers to her lips. “Don’t. We can’t change that.”

“I know.”

“And for the record, I don’t think she heard us. I think I finally found a way to keep you quiet.”

She slaps at my chest. “I thought you liked it when I was loud.”

I press my lips to hers. “There is a time and a place.”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say that.”

I kiss her again, shutting her up before lifting her up and placing her on the bed. I move the glass I tossed on it earlier to the bedside table and crawl into the bed next to her, pulling the sheet over us both.

She turns to face me, wrapping her leg over my hip and threading her arm around my back. “Thank you.” She stares into my eyes as if she is studying the color. “Thank you for making sure Aria and I had somewhere safe to go. If you weren’t around, I don’t know what we would do.”

I press my lips to her forehead. “If I didn’t kill your brother, you might not be in this situation.”

“Let’s not talk about him. He deserved what happened.”

“If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be here.”

“I just said—”

“No, I mean, we would never have found each other. He led me to you.”

She runs her fingers down my back. “He was still an asshole.”

“That he was.”

She pulls her hand away from my back and cups my jawline. “I love you, Kilian. I love you more than I know how to say.”

I press my lips to hers briefly. “I love you too,anam cara.”

* * *

“Do you have to leave today?” Bella asks me as we eat breakfast.

I’ve spent two days here with her. More than I planned to. But I couldn’t leave her, not when I know how worried she is. And I couldn’t leave Aria. We still haven’t talked about her. Figured out a way to tell her the truth. “I have things I need to take care of.”

“Are you going to be safe?”

I drop my hand to her thigh and squeeze it. “I always am.”

She frowns at me then goes back to eating. I know those aren’t words she wants to hear. I know she wants me to stay. But I need to figure shit out with Giancarlo. And the only way I can make the dream we have a reality is if I go directly to him. But I can’t tell her that because she will throw a fit if she knows I am going to walk directly into enemy territory.

Aria is sitting outside working on schoolwork. I am still blown away that she is mine. That I have a kid. The forever playboy. It hurts to think I missed out on so much of her life. To see her first steps, to hear her first words. To take her to the first day of school or play football with her. But if I can make this work then I’ll get those things with her, not those firsts but the others.

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