Page 43 of Forbidden Wish

“It is dangerous.”

“And you’d prefer I didn’t go there, but it’s really important to me that I find out the truth. Mila’s in a coma, her brain’s swelling, her bones are broken. I can’t just give up. I can’t stop—”

“Did I ask you to?” His interruption silenced her. “Wherever this came from, whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. One good thing about our history, about how long we’ve known each other, we know what we’re getting into. I know you, Genny. You don’t give up. Doesn’t matter if it gets hard or dangerous, you keep going.”

“You’re okay with it? With my investigation?”

“I’m worried about you, that comes with the territory. Nothing will change that. But I’m not interested in changing you or making your choices. You can make your own decisions, and you have to let me make mine.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, almost offended. “I would never stop you from doing anything you wanted to do.”

“Good,” he said. “Because whenever you go to Hustle, I’ll be right there with you. I won’t stop you from going, so you can’t stop me either.”

Touché. Did she want him with her? She’d be safer. Yes, she’d worry, but he was right, it was his choice.

“I guess you’re good cover,” she teased, curving a hand around the back of his neck.

Although she tried to pull him down for a kiss, he hesitated. “No other guys, Gen,” he said, intent on her gaze. “Not for anything. Yeah, it’s a good idea to keep this quiet from Ford for now, that doesn’t make you a free agent.”

“Understood,” she said, her fingers trailing to his chest. “But at Hustle you can’t…”

He tipped her chin up. “I can’t, what?”

“Distract me,” she said, stroking his body. “That first time we were there, I forgot completely why I’d gone in the first place. All I wanted to do was…”

Though she silenced, her smile bred his smirk.

“What we just did?” She nodded. “You’ve got those powers of distraction too, baby. I went to keep you safe and ended up being the biggest threat to you.”

“You’re a threat I can handle.”

With a little pressure and his acquiesce, she got him onto his back and climbed over to straddle him.

After a moment of admiration, something more discerning came over him. “I was sitting right next to him when he got the call,” Jagg said into the silence. Ford, when Ford got the call. “An accident. You were in hospital… All the way there, I couldn’t stop thinking it.”

“Thinking what?” she asked, her fingertips tracing up and down his torso.

His eyes met hers. “That we’d missed it. Our chance… I couldn’t even remember why I’d talked myself out of it.”

“Why you took this off the table.” It was on the table now. One hundred percent on the table given what they’d just done. “I’m sure about this.” Even if it was lightning speed. “Now it just feels like…”

“Like what?”

“We wasted so much time.”

“We had to get here. Everything had to come together just right or it wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “You were with the cop a long time.”

“Three years.”

“If you’re still getting over him—”

“Lach and I are done. He knows that. We both do.”

“You loved him.”

“Yeah,” she said and wouldn’t ever deny it. She didn’t believe love was restricted to just one someone. Losing Lachlan didn’t erase her chance of finding love again. Being with him taught her a lot, taught them both a lot. Their love served that purpose, it granted them valuable experience. “You’re right about everything coming together. I learned a lot about relationships and guys with him.”

His smirk became almost a laugh. “Not sure how much I have in common with the cop.”

---