Page 89 of A Light in the Darkness
“We keep going.” Kent says. “We can’t abandon them.”
“Of course.” I agree with him, truly, but that doesn’t mean that what he’s suggesting is even possible. “But what is that going to look like? We’re about to get your wife back, and you probably already know, but it’s not going to be easy. You’re going to have to be patient with her, spend extra time with her making sure she knows you aren’t giving up… how do you plan to maintain that balance yourself?”
“I don’t know.” He swallows his grudging admission. “But we’ll figure it out. We have to.”
Chapter fifty-two
Remy
When Simon lands us in the middle of the field, I have to wonder if we’re really in the right place or whether this was all some elaborate hoax. There’s nothing in eyesight—not a single place I could see captives being stored. Of course, she could be with a private buyer, but none of the buyers on Davos’ radar would live out here in the middle of nowhere.
Claire stands just a second before I do, getting to her feet as the plane’s just barely touched ground. I push her back down without a word and shake my head.
“The deal for you to come was that you stay here. So,stay!”
Her lips part in surprise, but she has no response for that until I’ve already turned my back. “Back to treating me like a bitch in heat?”
Michael chuckles as he brushes past me to join Kent and Rich. I hear Rook’s little gasp of shock from where he’s leaning against the bar top, but I ignore him as I turn back to Claire. “Don’t tempt me sweetheart.”
Despite the fact that I’m entirely serious, I realize she’s laughing, having stood up again. More than that, though, her eyes are full of something like… desire. It’s the first hint of it I’ve seen since that night I fucked her on my boat… the last time things between us had been right. I was mad at her for prioritizing Wes over her own safety, but otherwise, we’d been so good. Now, there’s the first sign that we are getting back to who we were…whatwe were.
“I can come withyou.”
“You’ll comeonme…” I tell her, not caring whether Rook or any of the others hear. They’ll figure it out when I take her to the room anyway. “When I get back, I’ll remind you of what a bitch in heat really needs.”
Claire grinds her jaw together, trying not to look amused lest it take away from the fact that she clearly wants to be in the action. “I can help, Remy. I can…”
I shake my head. “I don’t doubt you could, baby. I’ve seen what you can do, but if you’re with me, I won’t be able to focus on helping anyone else.” I press my forehead to hers so that I can whisper the words over her lips, without Rook hearing this one… not because I care, but because these words are for her alone. “Watching you get vengeance is the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. Don’t make me compromise my team for you, because I would in a heartbeat.”
I feel the gasp rather than hear it, our mouths are so close together. I let her have that air a moment before I seal my mouth to hers and steal it back. I kiss her harder than I ever have, enough that I think I feel her knees go weak as she loses a little bit of the resolve she’d been holding onto.
Her breath becomes mine as her hands come up my neck, pulling me tighter against her. For a moment, I think she may be trying to meld us into one, to flatten ourselves into a single body. I take advantage of the moment, knocking her back onto the couch without following.
She’s boxed into the seat by my arms braced on the couch, and when she opens her eyes to see that, her lips still parted, waiting for my return, I trace them with my thumb. I want to do so many things to these lips, to her. We have a lot of time to make up for, and we’ll start as soon as I get back.
Pulling away from her is agony, but I’m sure Kent and Rich are already getting irritable, so I force myself away.
“Now stay… or I’ll have Rook puta leash on you, too.”
Red flushes up on her cheeks, and I think about making her do that over and over, again and again.
My cock is hard, aching at the thought of leaving her, but if I don’t go now, I may never make it off this jet. Rook hands me the Kevlar vest on my way out, and an unspoken command passes between us. He knows to protect her with his life, and I know he will if it comes to it.
But before I get to the door, her voice calls my name, prompting me to look back. Beyond the desire written so obviously on her delicate features, I can see something else… realization, maybe, though I’m not sure what for until she lets out a shaky breath.
“I love you.”
The words come out in a rush, like she’s afraid that if she doesn’t get them off her tongue in that moment, that she never will.
It’s probably the worst timing for such a confession, but it’s not unwelcome. I glance out the door, where my men are waiting, and then back to Claire, who looks absolutely terrified, as if somehow, I won’t say it back… as if I were capable of such cruelty.
I would burn worlds for her, turn my back on anyone, kill so she can bathe in the blood of her enemies. But I’d never hurt her… I never will again.
Fuck it.
I close the space between us in an instant as if she’s just reeled me in by some invisible thread and drop to my knees so that I’m level with where she sits, leaning forward nervously.
She’s a marvel.
