Page 52 of Her Keeper
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We caught up with the girls again at Joseph’s house and found them mostly recovered. They were sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee and looking paler than usual but also safe, and that was enough for me. The moment I opened the door, Penny flew into my arms and clung to me. I wrapped her up and held her so tightly I was surprised she could breathe at all, though she didn’t complain.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” I murmured against her hair.
She laughed out a sob and hugged me tighter in answer. “Tell me something true,” she whispered.
Something true. We had a cleanup crew getting rid of the bodies of those men and were already changing the registration on our cars, to avoid being tied to the chase and the shootings. We didn’t know who had been chasing her or why, but we’d work on that.
There was a war coming, and she was going to be a player in that.
But I didn’t think any of that was the sort of thing she wanted to hear right now.
Also true: I was in love with the girl. I’d known it for a while, I realized, but it had become even more obvious as we were flying down that highway, when all I could think about was getting her back and having her safe in my arms.
And that right therewassomething she’d like to hear about.
Though I wasn’t sure I was ready to say it.
I leaned back and cupped her cheek with my hand, enjoying the feel of her alive and breathing under my fingers. “Those guys are dead and my father’s not after you anymore,” I told her gently. “And you have us around you, which means you’re safe.”
For the time being. We didn’t know how long that would last.
I didn’t say that, either.
“And I love you,” I told said, putting almost no thought into it beforehand. “I love you and I’m never going to let you go again.”
Her face lit up like someone had turned on a bulb inside of her and she laughed the most excited, joyous laugh I’d ever heard. And I knew right then that it had been the right thing to tell her. Even though I was a man who didn’t show my feelings, and even though I wasn’t positive I was ready to say things like that, her laughter was a bright, shining light in the middle of a world that sometimes felt lonely and very dark.
And that made it worth the risk. It made it worth everything.
EPILOGUE
PENNY
“Are you awake?” Michael breathed against the back of my neck.
I stretched, arching my back away from him in answer, and his hands came around to cup my breasts, pulling me back into him. I gasped and arched again, this time at the feel of him touching me. We were in one of Joseph and Sloane’s guest rooms, having spent the night here rather than going back out onto the street, and though both Sloane and Brooks had given me looks when Michael took my hand and started to lead me away, I didn’t care.
As far as I was concerned, Michael and I deserved to be together. We’d come through hell over the last couple of days and arrived on the other side still alive. There were a number of dangerous things still facing us but I was starting to think that as long as we faced those things together, we’d be okay.
I hadn’t shared that thought with Michael, yet. I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about me just adopting him as my full-time protector.
Then again, he had said he loved me.
“I’m awake,” I answered, breathless with what his fingers were doing to my nipples. “What are you doing up so early?”
He kissed the space behind my ear, sending more goosebumps chasing each other over my skin. “When it comes to you, Penny Lane, I’m always up.”
“Ha ha,” I breathed. “I’m serious. Why are you awake?”
Instead of answering, he moved his hands down to hips and then my thighs, opening my legs for him. I gasped when his cock slid between them and through my wet core, demonstrating that he was indeed up. He held me still and began to rock, sliding up and back between my legs and driving me crazy with need.
“I’ve been thinking,” he murmured.
“Thinking?” I asked weakly. “Seems a little bit early for that sort of thing.”
He chuckled deeply. “Maybe so. But I couldn’t stop it. Once my mind got started on this particular idea, it just wouldn’t shut up.”
