Page 49 of Keegan's Promise

I brush my lips across her temple, breathing her in. “You don’t owe him sympathy, sweetness. You did what you had to do to protect yourself and Lily. Even if he dies, that’s not on you. It’s on him. He started this. If it ends with his life, that’s just karma, baby.”

“Yeah.” She rests her head against my shoulder. “We all have to pay sometime.”

I tip her head back, meeting her gaze. “Not you. You’re too goddamn sweet to pay for a single thing. You haven’t done anything wrong. Don’t ever forget that.”

“Thank you.”

My brows furrow as I glance down at her. “For what?”

“For seeing me the way you do,” she whispers. “For loving me the way you do.”

“Jesus.” I brush my lips against hers, my heart pulsing. “Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done, Landry baby.”

I mean that shit, all the way down to my soul. Loving her is simple, effortless. Like breathing.

Chapter Fifteen

Landry

“Sweetangel,”Iwhisper,stroking my hand across Lily’s head as she nestles in the bassinet at the clubhouse, sleeping peacefully. Tate checked her over as soon as we arrived and promised us that she’s perfectly fine despite our frantic dash into the woods.

I don’t think I was able to breathe fully until I had his verdict. I trust his word far more than the EMTs who looked her over back at the house. Perhaps because he knows what it’s like to be in my shoes, afraid of losing his baby girl, of not being fast enough or good enough to protect her when needed.

Today, I was both. Somehow.

And so was Keegan. He got to us and protected us just like he promised. I was terrified when I heard those gunshots, scared Garrick had shot him to punish me. That he’d taken him from me. When I stumbled out of the woods and saw him on the porch with Garrick on the ground…that’s not a sight I’ll forget anytime soon. It’s not a feeling I’ll ever forget, either.

“I love you, baby girl. Sweet dreams,” I whisper to Lily, leaning down to brush a kiss across her tiny head. She doesn’t even budge. She’s sleeping like a rock, as usual.

When I straighten, Keegan is standing across the room, watching us the same way he always does. Like we’re the only things he sees. His expression is soft and full of emotion as he holds his arms out to me silently.

I’m across the room, burrowing into him in two steps. And when his arms close around me, I feel safe in a way I never have before now. Because, for once, I am safe.

The Sons of Loki aren’t a threat anymore. The DEA and FBI scooped up the remaining members a couple of hours ago. They were already crawling all over the compound and the club before Dillon called to let them know about Garrick. The girls the MC intended to sell are free. Sonny is in handcuffs. His wife probably will be too before all is said and done. And my uncle is in the hospital, recovering from his stab wound with an around-the-clock armed guard on the door. The only place he’s going when he’s medically cleared is jail and then prison.

Lily and I are finally free. Finally safe.

“I love you,” I whisper to Keegan, the man who made it possible. He gave me a reason to stay, a reason to believe, and a purpose beyond running. He gave me hope when I had none, and a perfect daughter when I had no one. He’s given me the world in a matter of weeks.

I want to give it back to him every single day of forever.

“I love you too, sweetness,” he murmurs.

“Show me.” It’s the same thing I always say, not because I need the proof, but because there’s nothing more perfect than the feel of his hands on my body. Than him moving inside me. Than his weight on top of me, shutting out the rest of the world.

When he’s in me, his love courses through my veins. It surrounds me. The past doesn’t exist. Neither do pain, fear, or any of the awful things that have gotten us to this point. It's just us and the intense connection we forged a year ago in a hotel room in Colorado Springs. And that’s beautiful to me.

He sweeps me up into his arms, his lips on mine as he carries me the few steps to the bed. He returns to my lips again and again as he strips my clothes off in record time. I work to get his clothes off with the same urgency, not because we’re in a rush but because we simply can’t wait.

By the time he crawls between my legs, I’m already trembling on top of him, already squirming with desire. He flicks his tongue against my clit, groaning my name softly, and my fingers sink into the quilt as if that’ll keep me from shattering.

I already know it won’t, though. Not with him between my legs, working his magic with his tongue and teeth and lips. He eats me as if I’m the perfect meal, licking up every drop I spill and then coming back for more. Again and again until I’m gasping beneath him.

I fall over the edge with his name whispering from my lips.

And float back to earth with him hovering over me, his eyes locked on my face as his cock nudges at my opening.

“Come here,” he groans, pulling me up into his arms as he leans back. He ends up on his knees with me on his lap, my legs around his waist. “I want you just like this, sweetness. So I can hold you while I’m in you.”

---