Page 130 of Burn Bag

I swallowed hard at the memory. “He’s still out there, but the threat is neutralized. For now.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, pushing up on her elbow. “He’ll come back? Is he still after you?”

How the fuck did I even explain something like that to her without going into detail? There was too much shit going on to fill her in without scaring the piss out of her.

Cupping her cheek, I brushed my thumb across her soft skin. “If I ask you to trust me, will you?”

I could see the battle in her eyes. Frankly, after what I just told her about Isla, I wasn’t surprised the answer would be no. But then she surprised me. “Yes.”

“I swear, if anything ever comes of it, I will tell you everything. I already fucked up one relationship with lies. That won’t happen with you. Not ever.”

“Thank you.”

I surged up, pressing my lips to hers in a heated kiss. Rolling her to her back, I pressed my body between her legs, ready to take her again, when I felt something touch my foot and jerked in response, my whole body shriveling up in terror.

“The snake is on the bed,” I whispered.

“Maybe we should…”

“Good idea.”

After a very terrifyingtwo hours alone with the snake and my wife, we decided to drive him to the zoo. I wasn’t sure they would take him, but after many tears from my wife, they agreed to take him on the condition that he passed some test for snakes to see if he had some disease.

I pretty much blocked out everything they said afterWe’ll take him.

“Thank you,” I said as we got back in the truck.

“For what?”

“For getting rid of the snake.”

Leaning against the window, she smiled at me. “Did you really think I would choose the snake over you?”

“No, but you would have convinced me to keep the snake in my house, and that’s more terrifying than anything else.”

Still smiling, she twirled her hair around her finger as we left the zoo. I couldn’t stop looking over at her, which was fucking distracting on a good day, but downright dangerous since we were driving.

“You should really stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Smiling. Looking so fucking beautiful. You’ve already been in one accident this year. I don’t think we should try for a second.”

“I didn’t realize sitting here was a distraction.”

“Baby, anywhere you go, you’re a distraction.”

I thought about all the shit Edu said and realized if I was going to have an actual marriage with my wife, we had to clear up a few things. “So, you said you have enough money to never have to work.”

“Yes,” she smiled.

“How did that happen?”

“Why? Are you planning on stealing it from me?”

Her teasing didn’t lessen her appeal. If anything, it only made her more attractive. “Well, I wouldn’t consider it stealing as much as payback for taking in all those cats.”

“You love those cats.”

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