Page 132 of The Locksmith's Promise

I stilled as the moment imprinted on my brain, a turning point, a new beginning. Then I dipped my head.

Slanting my mouth over hers, I forced my way inside, swallowing her yelp of surprise.

I couldn’t get enough.

Not close enough.

Not deep enough.

And she gave as good as she got.

“Maggie, my sweet Maggie.” I rained kisses over her face. “I love you so much.”

“Bax,” she gulped, tearing her mouth away. “What we did to Jenny.”

Closing her eyes, she curled into my chest.

Sliding my hand down her leg, I lifted it around my hip, urging her to wrap herself around me.

Her other leg followed, and I settled into the cradle of her thighs.

Her emotions swung all over the place, but it was exactly what I expected. We had a fuck of a lot of ground to cover.

Maybe I was wrong to push us to walk through all of it tonight, but my desperate desire to pick up my life and my dreams where I left them eleven years ago wouldn’t let the past rest.

I pressed my lips to her crown. “I know.”

She continued, her voice muffled. “She cried so hard yesterday, Bax. And she sacrificed so much for both of us.”

I swallowed audibly. “She did.” With everything that had happened in the past 24 hours, the one thing I hadn’t processed was Jenny’s suffering in our mess. “It was my father’s fault. All of it.”

“We were at fault, too,” she reasoned.

“We were, but there comes a time, when the dominoes are stacked just so, they can’t help but fall into place. He stacked them. And he tipped them over.”

She nodded.

“And he took out me, you, and Jenny in one fell swoop. That’s on him. How we treat Jenny going forward, both of us, that’s on us.”

I paused. “I’m not going to be her friend, not without you, but I won’t ignore her or treat her badly. She deserves so much more than that from both of us. Without her, I’d be living out my days in a penitentiary.”

“I know,” she replied, her voice small.

“You need to check your jealousy and leave it behind. There’s no basis for it,” I stressed. “None.”

We needed to finish this and move on. “That whole mess wasn’t Jenny’s fault, or your fault, or mine. It’s his. But now that we know the truth? If we don’t learn going forward, it’s on us.”

The tension in her body eased, and she splayed her palm over her name on my ribs.

With that touch, my cock surged to life.

Tunneling her fingers through my hair, she drew my mouth to hers and tentatively pressed her lips to mine like it was the first time she’d ever tasted me.

Easing a breath away, she sighed sweetly into my mouth.

And I remembered the aftermath of our first time.

Remembered her flushed face, glossy eyes, and swollen mouth.

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