“No, for the first time in my life, I feel like I’m thinking straight. Minus the bride part.” He kisses just below the corner of my lips.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have left the hospital.” I shiver as he drags his lips to my ear.
“It was the weirdest thing… my girlfriend wouldn’t kiss me until I was out of the hospital.”
I shake my head. I’ve been both upgraded and demoted in relationship status in the span of a minute. I’m happy to stick withgirlfriend. “You poor man.”
“So, you see why I had to do it.”
“Possibly.”
He spins me around, settling me against the wall.
“Be careful! You’re recovering from two gunshot wounds and a broken rib an—”
“And all I need is a kiss to feel better. Trust me, there’s nothing more the doctors could do for me. I need these.” He brushes his lips over mine. “Or rather… you.”
My stomach swoops, and my skin tingles with anticipation. I’ve waited long enough. I gently grab the back of his head and meet his kiss. This is nothing like the first kiss, or even our last. This kiss whispers secrets shared and promises long spoken. This kiss is the beginning of the end for me. There’s no one else I want to kiss. There’s no one else for me. I don’t know how we can make it work. But whatever it takes, I’ll do it. This is what I want—what I’ve wanted since I was a fourteen-year-old girl. For so long I was hiding, but now I’m found.
His hands get tangled in my hair as he tilts my head, deepening the kiss. I gently run my fingers over the bandage, then up to the tattoos on his side. He pulls back, lifting his arm to show me more.
He grabs my fingers, dragging them to the willow tree that’s barely visible above the bandages. Only now that I look closer can I see the legs of two small figures beneath the sagging branches. “That’s you and me,” he whispers. “The memory I keep closest to my heart. I promised myself that as long as this was on my skin, I’d never stop searching for you.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. “It took you a really long time.”
“I think we are just in time.” He brings his hands up to cup my cheeks. “And I plan to keep you forever.”
I can’t help myself; I slip the cuffs from my back pocket and lock them around his wrists.
“That will be hard to do from jail.”
His head pops up. “Seriously, we’re still doing this?”
“You insisted.”
“I did.” His eyes glimmer with humor. “Perhaps we can wait for a bit?”
I bite my lip like I have to think about it. “I suppose that can be arranged.”
“We can run away; you can come with me.” He kisses down my neck.
“I’m tired of running.” I sigh into him. “Don’t worry, I have a feeling you won’t face any actual jail time, Mr. I-know-the-director-of-the-FBI.”
His head pops up. “Did I forget to tell you that?”
“Now’s your chance.”
He lets out a breath. “When I first ran, they found me. Instead of arresting me though, they recruited me. Only two people know of my involvement with the FBI.”
I purse my lips. “I didn’t make the shortlist, apparently.”
He shakes his head. “I was still cutting deals with bad men. I needed to keep it a secret. After Amelia found that box, the FBI came across a couple of emails from someone called “The Boss” to someone in the department who mentioned me. They wouldn’t let me into their system to figure out who, for some reason.”He rolls his eyes. “But they used me as bait to draw the traitor out. The day you came for me was the day they figured out which bureau computer the email was sent from.”
“Ford’s,” I say.
Liam shakes his head. “Yours.”
“Mine?” My heart drops to my stomach. “Ford set me up?”
