My head snapped up in surprise. “You were shot?”
A cocky grin split his lips. “I’m good, but bound to run out of luck eventually.”
I nodded, not liking his words. “How many times?”
“Three. Two knife wounds. Nothing fatal, though.”
“Nothing fatal,” I repeated under my breath. It was hard to believe he could talk about it like it was no big deal. Gunshots and knife wounds were not normal around here.
“But that’s over,” he whispered. “I swear it.”
“How can you promise that?” I asked, staring at the far wall. I wasn’t sure I could look at him right now, all the time wondering if he was lying to me.
What surprised me was when he tipped my chin to face him. “I can promise that because I’m all in. Wherever this goes, I know what I need to do to keep you, and I won’t break that promise for anything.”
Swallowing hard, I took it all in, all the things that had changed in such a short amount of time. It was hard to believe any of it was real, and there was a part of me that wondered if it would all change in just a few days when he realized how much he was actually committing to.
But if I was going to give him a shot, I couldn’t go in thinking that he was going to fail.
“I have to get to work.”
Groaning, I squeezed him tighter, burying my face in his chest. “If I took off, so can you.”
“I don’t own my business. And I can’t drop Lizzy right now. She’s on bed rest.”
Rolling me over, he pressed me into the bed and groaned, kissing me hard. “Fuck, I wish I could. Stay here,” he whispered. “Right here in bed for me.”
“All day?”
“All day. Don’t move at all.”
“I may have to pee at some point.”
A small grin split his lips, the first I had seen in a long time. “Alright, you’re allowed to move for necessities, but that’s it. No clothes.”
“I’ll consider it.”
He kissed me hard, pressing his erection between my thighs once more before tearing himself from my arms. “You have no idea how hard it is to leave you right now.”
Propping my head up in my hand, I smirked at him. “I think I have some idea.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, shoving his fingers through his hair. “This is gonna be the longest shift of my life.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way to get through it,” I laughed, tugging the sheet down to give him one last peek.
“That’s not helping,” he grumbled, narrowing his eyes at me. “Alright, shower and then I’m out of here.”
“I could help you with that,” I said, pointing to his massive erection.
“As much as I would love that, I’m not sure I could keep my hands off you.”
I flopped on my back as I heard him walk into the bathroom. The shower kicked on, and I momentarily thought of joining him, but he was trying to be good. I couldn’t interfere when things were finally going right.
I laid in bed, thinking of all the things he confessed to me last night. Some of them worse than others. Yes, he had killed people, but no one who hadn’t deserved it. But then sometimes, he was a protector, watching over those who needed protection.
Did it sound like I was making excuses for him? Yes. I knew that, and yet, it didn’t make me want to pull away from him either. Was it so wrong to give someone a chance to change for the better? Even if this didn’t work out between us, I couldn’t judge him based solely on the past, not when I felt like there was something so much deeper to him.
Maybe I was fooling myself. Maybe I really was making this all up in my head, but I wanted this, and I was determined to see it through.
