Once she was spent, she collapsed forward on his chest, her breathing and heart rate matching his. His hands slipped to her ass, and he moved her gently against him, coaxing yet more pleasure from her body. A woman could really get used to this. And she planned on doing exactly that.
After, she slowly slid off him to curl up at his side and drape her leg over his.
“Do you know how perfect you are?” she whispered. “My true partner in every way possible.”
He slid his fingers into her hair, caressing her face with his warm hand. “We’re perfect together.”
“I never expected any of this,” she said, tears welling and threatening to roll down her cheeks. Braden’s gentle thumb came to wipe them away, but more replaced them. “I knew we were a good team, and when we became lovers, that was even better. But at some point, even before any of that, I felt there was something between us. That I had found my soulmate. The love of my life.”
He smiled, and it made her heart squeeze in her chest. Then he started to chuckle, and even though she had no idea why he was laughing in the first place, she couldn’t help but join him.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“I was just imagining what my dad is going to say when I tell him I’m going to marry my partner, a former thief who breaks into places and steals things for the federal government.”
Her heart started thudding harder than it had during her orgasm. “Marry?”
He grinned. “Yeah. Isn’t that what two people do when they love each other and can’t stand the idea of ever spending a moment apart?”
She nodded like an idiot, grinning from ear to ear. “Yes, that’s definitely what two people who love each other do. Was that just a proposal?”
“Not a very good one, no. But it’s what’s in my heart, and I think that’s important to say. I love you, Dreya. I have almost since the moment I slapped those cuffs on you. I promise to do this properly when I get a ring, but for now, I need you to know how incredibly important you are to me. You know that, right?”
She nodded, giving into the euphoria and climbing on top of him to kiss him. “I love you too, Braden. Maybe not from the moment you arrested me, but close. And I don’t need a ring to make this official. Saying the words is enough.”
Braden shook his head. “No. There has to be a ring. Rings are very important in my family. So we’re going to do this all over again once I find a ring worthy of you.”
She kissed him again, loving his silly, traditional ways of doing things. Then she smiled. “If rings are that big of a deal for you, we could run down to one of my storage units. I have about a hundred diamond rings you can sort through. That way, we can make it official tonight.”
When he gave her a look, she settled down beside him with a sigh, her cheek against his chest. “Okay. We can do this your way. The old-fashioned, expensive way.”
“You’re worth it,” he whispered as he pulled the blanket up over both of them.
She sighed again and snuggled into his warmth. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was. Finding Braden, this job, this life. It was almost perfect.
There was just one small thing she needed to do.
* * *
Braden barely felt Dreya move as she lifted the covers and ghosted out of the room, but the moment she slipped out of bed, his eyes snapped wide open. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was barely after five in the morning. They’d only been asleep a little over an hour.
Out in the kitchen, he heard her pick up her keys from the counter where she’d left them the other day. All at once, his heart began to thud in his chest. He had his clothes on in a flash and was just grabbing the keys to his car when he heard the soft purr of Dreya’s motorcycle on the street below.
He cursed and hurried out of the apartment. He knew exactly where she was heading.
The roads were relatively empty at this time of the morning, so he hung back, not wanting Dreya’s kitty cat senses to pick up on the fact that he was behind her. He caught up with her as she merged onto I-295, following her to the exit for Chadwick-Thorn.
Even though he’d known that this was where she was heading, it still hurt like hell to find out he was right. By the time he pulled up to the curb, Dreya was already off her bike and over the security fence that surrounded the building. He opened the door and started to get out of the car when he realized he was wasting his time. He knew how good she was. He’d never be able to catch up to her in time to stop her. More likely, he’d get the both of them caught.
So he got in his car and waited, his guts churning at the thought that she was in there alone, that she hadn’t said a word to him, and that she was doing something so damn stupid in the first place.
Braden felt like punching something. He thought he and Dreya had something real, something good enough to keep her from doing stuff like this, but apparently, Dick was right. Dreya was so addicted to the rush of doing something dangerous that she was willing to walk into Thorn’s heavily guarded facility. Even after they’d had to deal with a crap storm of the ex-senator’s making only hours ago.
He swore out loud, calling himself every kind of stupid. He’d been going with his gut a lot lately, but if he kept letting his gut lead the way, it was going to get Dreya killed. Just like it had gotten Tommy killed.
There was no fucking way he was going to let that happen again, no matter what he had to do.
He had his phone out and was punching Coleman’s number before he remembered how early it was. But the deputy director answered on the second ring.
