His hand tightened on my shoulder and his eyes briefly closed. He let out a sigh of relief that almost blew me back and when he opened his eyes, I could see that I had given him something he would cherish forever. “I found you in the middle of a blizzard, on the side of a mountain, Pop-Tart. I will always find you, anywhere, everywhere you happen to be.” It almost sounded like a threat, but his roughly spoken words made me happier than I’d ever been in my life. I always felt like the people I loved were letting me go and here he was, promising to hold on forever.
He cleared his throat and pulled me closer so that I had to wrap my legs around his waist to avoid toppling off the counter and onto the floor.
“Well, then, we only have one problem left to solve.” His deep voice rasped against my skin as his lips touched the pounding pulse point on the side of my neck.
I squirmed against him in anticipation and offered up a breathy, “What’s that?”
“How do I get you out of your clothes and get inside of you before I lose my mind? Like I said, I really fucking missed you, Echo. You’ve been burned into my brain and branded on my heart. The thought of you makes me hard but the reality of having you, of knowing I get to keep you, well, that makes me feel like I’m going to break in half. If there is something more than hard, that’s what my dick is right now.”
I groaned in anticipation and smiled up at him. “Good thing you’ve never met a problem you couldn’t solve. I’m sure you’ll figure it out in no time.”
Neither one of us would ever be the kind of people that could be described as good (I was obviously a lot closer to redemption than he was but only because he showed me the way to get there) but there was no arguing that we were great together.
Neither one of us had ever been better.
Chapter 12
Benny
I leaned into her, pushing her back onto the counter, feeling like I was finally right where I was meant to be. She was the promise of everything that could be. She was the fairy tale come to life. She was the dream I got to have while I was wide awake. She was what kept me going, what kept my head on straight when I submerged myself back in the sludge and slime that infiltrated every corner of my hometown. She was the thing that kept me focused when all the familiar temptations that had led me to being a man with no morals and no ethics reared their ugly little heads and beckoned me closer.
She was the reason I had gone to see my mom and tried to make amends and rebuild bridges I’d burned. I tried to tell her I was a changed man, that I was moving forward, making better choices, but too much water had passed under that broken bridge, too many years of her being disappointed in me. She sent me on my way with a goodbye and a “I don’t ever want to see you again.” She still refused to touch the money that I left in an account for her and, even though the petty part of me was tempted to clear it out and blow it on something extravagant, I refrained. I did, however, clear out all the accounts I had open under an alias the feds had never found and bought myself a new wardrobe, which was a lot like my old wardrobe, and a new car. I was supposed to blend in, but I’d always had a preference for things that stood out. Like Nassir said, I was never a stupid man so I’d been smart with all my ill-gotten gains over the years. I had plenty to sustain my new, legal and legit lifestyle, even if came with the flash and fancy of my old one.
It took longer than I thought it would to get a lead on the girl Nassir wanted me to find. I knew every alley and hole the rats in the Point hid in. I wasn’t as familiar with the fancy hotel bars and corporate meeting rooms the guys running the affluent part of the city conducted business in. It was easy to see why Nassir sent me in for him once I got through the glass doors. These guys were all aging, doughy, pale skinned billionaires that would never let a guy with a questionable heritage and known criminal background sully their pristine country club grounds. They really did put the white in white collar crime. On the streets, it didn’t matter what you looked like or where you came from. The man with the most respect and the baddest reputation was the one in charge, and I had to say I preferred it that way. In the Point, loyalty was earned; here on the Hill it was purchased. Once I was back in my old skin, I fit right in and it only took a few pointed questions, a little bit of blackmail, and one fight with the mayor’s paid protection. I held my own but I’d been out of the brawling business for a while, so he got in a lucky shot. By the time it was all said and done, I had a solid lead on the girl and enough information to get the devil off my back—as well as a black eye and some busted ribs.
All of it was worth it, because as soon as the girl was in Nassir’s hands, I was free. Well, as free as someone that was going to be spending the rest of their life in WITSEC and at Nassir’s beck and call could be. But I was free to introduce the me I was going to be from here on out to my girl and I couldn’t wait. I hoped she liked a guy in a snazzy suit, a guy that decided it was time to use his problem-solving skills for good instead of evil going forward.
I slid my hand up the back of her leg and pressed myself into her soft center. Her eyes widened at the feel of my thick flesh against her and her mouth dropped open in a little gasp. I rubbed my nose along the line of her jaw and worked my hands underneath the slouchy sweater she was wearing. Her curls were cut shorter than they had been up at the cabin and I could feel the points of her hip bones and the edge of her ribs as I uncovered her skin. Her bra was a pale pink, made of lace and silk. It was pretty, but not as pretty as the full mounds and pointed tips it was covering up. I dragged my tongue along the lacy edge and curled my fingers around her waist.
“I dreamed about you every night.” I slid a hand up her spine until my fingers touched the clasp on her bra. “I jerked off to memories of you in the shower every morning.” I popped the clasp open and sighed when I ended up with a handful of warm skin. The velvety point of her nipple stabbed eagerly into my palm and her eyes got heavy lidded and languid. “During the day, I would wonder what you were doing. I couldn’t stop worrying about you. Were you finally grieving for your sister? Did your shoulder heal right? Were you taking care of yourself? Were you waiting for me?” I bent my head and kissed the upper swell of each of her breasts, biting down on one so that my teeth left marks on her perfectly pale skin. I wanted to devour her. “I was consumed by you, obsessed. It made me feel crazy. I would’ve done anything to get back to you.” I licked up the line of her throat and stopped to nibble where her pulse was pounding under her skin. “When I was younger, all I wanted was power and respect. I wanted everyone to know I was someone, that I had made something of myself.”