Lane had been a rock at my side, even while dealing with his own shit, namely the high turnover rate at the department.
Johns was set to stand trial early next year, facing a whole slew of charges including aiding and abetting and conspiracy.Though he’d tried to flip on Addie, by that time, she’d already been declared insane, so any information he could’ve provided wouldn’t do any good. I hoped he would spend a long time behind bars, but we filed restraining orders against him as well. Just in case.
In the months since, Lane had let a handful of deputies go, ones who had helped Johns in his plot against Lane, or who had stood by and done nothing to stop him.
God, that sounded so cheesy, like the plot of some thriller movie.
In a much-needed stroke of luck, everything coincided with college graduations, which meant he’d had no shortage of applicants for the open positions.
Things seemed to be on the upswing. My house held too many bad memories now, so shortly after being discharged from the hospital, I put it on the market. Last week, we officially closed the sale to a wonderful newlywed couple.
After having our entire lives upended in the most dramatic way, I was grateful we’d returned mostly to normal.
“Where’d you go?” Lane asked.
I shook my head. “Sorry, just thinking about everything.”
He grinned, leaning in to kiss me. “How about I take your mind off it?”
In response, I slung my leg over his hip. We were laying side by side in bed, already naked from the night before, and it was too easy for him to roll his hips and slide inside me.
We both sighed happily.
Lane wrapped his hand around my thigh, holding me in place as he slowly fucked me.
“I was so scared I lost you for good,” he said as he rocked into me.
“Now you know how I felt,” I joked, though my laughter morphed into a moan as he hit that sweet spot deep inside.
There was nothing hurried about his strokes, and while the slow build drove me insane, it was also doing wonders to clear my head of all the bad shit we’d endured, exactly as he’d intended.
“Never again, sunny,” he said, pace increasing slightly.
“You got it, Chief,” I gasped, my legs starting to shake as pleasure coiled tighter in my core. “Now make me come.”
Rolling us so I was on my back, he gripped the backs of my thighs and spread me wide, pounding into me with enough force to make the headboard snap against the wall repeatedly.
“Fuck, fuck,” I breathed as the pressure got to be too much. “Ahh, I’m?—”
My words choked off into a scream as I shattered.
Lane followed me down, pulsing and spilling inside me, burying his face in my neck as he said, “Fuck, I love you.”
I smoothed my hands down the tense muscles of his back until he relaxed, then pulled out and flopped onto the bed at my side.
Turning toward him, he opened his arm, and I nestled against his chest.
“Not as much as I love you.”
He grinned and kissed my nose. “Agree to disagree.”
epilogue
. . .
LANE
TWO MONTHS LATER
