Page 175 of Pawn's in the Bishop's Game (Checkmate 1)

Epilogue

I’m not sure Jess believed she was truly awake for weeks after my reentry back into her life. Not when I whispered my promises to her while she cried that night. Not when I continued whispering my promises while she slept. Not when I woke her up and kissed her until she opened herself up to me. Not when I slid inside, and not when I brought us both to peak and swore my love again and again.

The next morning, she looked at me like I was a wild animal. And worse; a total stranger. She kept her distance, so it was like I had to start all over again.

A man meeting a woman under normal circumstances. A man trying to convince the woman that although helookslike a thug, he’s truly a good person inside.

That he’s worthy.

And really, that’s what this is. A man meeting a woman. He’s already in love with her before the first date, but that’s okay.

I’m living on borrowed time, and so is she. Life is precious, and I vow to not waste a second of it. I have a lot of work to do: a woman to convince we need a lifetime together, a company to start, a brother to grieve, and a life to live.

“Are you sure about this?” Stopping in my upstairs bedroom two full weeks after I stepped back into her life, Jess has declared she’s ready to share again. We’ve had two weeks of living in my room in the house I sort of shared with Jay and Eric while we worked. Two weeks of not allowing any outside interference. No work. No family. No Eric. Just the two of us.

Two weeks of her staring at me with narrowed eyes, like she didn’t trust me to stay put. She was willing to sleep in my room, in my bed, but she wasn’t ready to accept I was truly back.

Her family have called every day. Five times a day. There’s no way they would let her escape so easily; and although she took their calls, though Alex checked in, and Eric ran interference and promised she was okay, Jess refused to go home.

She wasn’t ready to share.

And neither was I.

I spent months without her, too.

I spent months living only on reports from Eric. He was with me half the time. The rest, he was here watching. He told me of her Monday night practices at the shooting range.

He told me of the amount of time she sat at Paddy’s truck stop and wept in Dolly’s arms.

He told me of the hours she spent sitting at the lake staring at the stars. And when he told me that, I made a habit of sitting outside at night so I could stare at the stars, too.

I had an unfair advantage. I knew where she was and I knew she was safe.

She thought I was dead.

That’s unforgivable, but I was under orders. Orders I could no longer obey, so I handed my badge and gun back in and told them I was out.

Eric never thought I’d pull the plug. He thought I was venting, but by the fourth month of not being released from the program and told my life here was done, I handed my badge in and went back to civilian life.

Now I truly am an unemployed bum, but I have a plan. I have a woman to support for the rest of our lives, so if my plan doesn’t work out, I’ll bag those groceries and make do.

I step forward and pull her into my arms. She’s in those expensive as fuck heels, so she’s easy to pull off balance. I’m pretty sure she still has moments where she doesn’t believe I’m real, so I press my lips over hers and kiss until she turns weak in my arms.

When she can’t breathe, when she turns dizzy, I let her go and grin at her glazed eyes. “Am I sure I want to meet your family? Definitely. Are you sure you wanna take the criminal home?”

“Former criminal.” Chewing on her bottom lip, she drops her eyes in shyness. The Jess I knew before the fire at Infernos was never shy. She’s different. She lived through life changing shit, so she’s allowed to be different, but where it counts, right in her soul, she’s the same woman I fell in love with. “I’m sure. I miss my family, but I’m not willing to drive away from here without you. I don’t believe you’ll be here when I get back. So you come with me.”

“Well, while I’m happy to cuff myself to you for life, I also promise to be here when you get back. So you can go without me if you want. Your family deserves Jessie time, too.”

She shakes her head and turns on her sexy heels. Showing me her ass, she drags me from the room. “I want you to come. My family better meet the guy I’m gonna marry. They have to get used to the ink and stuff.”

My stomach flips with nerves. Not bad nerves. Just… life changing nerves. “You gonna marry me, Blondie?”

“Uh-huh. I’m not giving you up, so…”

“You don’t think you should wait for me to ask? Tradition and all that?”

“I don’t have time for tradition.” Moving down the hall, she slams her fist on the second bedroom door. “Eric, move your ass. We’re gonna be late.” She turns to me at the top of the stairs. “You can ask. You can do whatever you want. If you wanna buy a pretty dress so you can feel like a princess on your big day, I won’t stop you. But I just want the contract. The rest is fluff.”

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