“Do you hear me? I’m going to make this right.”
She pushes me off abruptly, and her hands shake while wiping at her face. “I don’t need another man to fight my battles. I don’t need you to kill him or to save me. I don’t know if I wanted to die or to wake up somewhere else. To wake up and be someone else.” She turns her head, staring out at the surf, not willing to let me touch her again. “I didn’t make up the amnesia, Kevlar. I really didn’t remember. It’s only today that I did. You can believe me or not. I just can’t go back to being Heather. Never. Not for him. Not for you. Not for anyone.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
Chapter Twelve
Lacey
“No one is killing anyone,” I whisper. My words are lost on Kevlar as he flexes his hands, balling them into fists and releasing the tension again. “I’m not your problem.”
“Is that what you believe?”
Everything hurts.
My head.
My heart.
My soul.
“I’m not worth you spilling blood over.”
“You are,” he says, so low it barely escapes his lips. “You’re worth all the trouble in the world. You’re mine, sweetness.”
“I just want to be free of him. Free to live life my way.”
“When I put a bullet between his eyes, you’ll have that.”
“Not if you’re rotting away somewhere in a jail cell.”
“You saying I’ll get caught?”
“Think about your sisters. They depend on you and I’m just some girl you hardly know that you found on the beach.”
“You’re not some random girl. You’re you.”
“I’m no one.”
“You’re mine.” He grabs me by my hips, pulling my body flush to his. The ocean roars behind us, but all I can hear is my heartbeat hammering in my ears as he gazes down at me.
“I’m…” he cuts my words off by sealing his lips to mine. Kevlar kisses me hard and deep. He kisses me with so much force that I almost forget my name again. He owns me in this moment.
I forget our fight.
I forget about my horrible husband.
I forget everything but his touch.
His hands grip my ass, anchoring me to him. My knees are weak, and my tongue turns clumsy. My kisses rushed and sloppy. Frantic. But I keep kissing him even though I’m dizzy and wildly terrified of what happens next.
“I’m not letting him get away with hurting you.” Kevlar peppers kisses along my neck and back to my mouth. The ache between my thighs is stronger than the ache in my head. I want to crawl inside him and never come out. Not even when the world threatens to burn the two of us alive.
He pulls away first. “He’ll never hurt you again.”
“You believe me?”
“Sweetness, you could tell me the sky is really the ocean, and I’d believe you. Your word is all I need. He’ll never lay eyes on you again if I can help it.”
