"Good. Stay the fuck down.” I lift my boot off his hand and stand up. He stays on the floor, groaning.
Bethany’s hands are flat on the mattress on either side of her and her face is pale. I get my hand under her chin. I tilt her face up, checking her over. then kissing her. I scoop her off the bed, lift her against me, and walk us both out into the corridor.
“Princess. There's something I should have said on that mountain and I didn't. So I’m saying it now. I love you. You said something true and I sat on the answer, I'm sorry for it.”
She's crying now. “I left because you didn't say it back. And I thought…”
“I know.”
“I should have stayed. I should have talked to you instead of running.”
“You ran because I gave you a reason to. That won’t ever happen again.”
Wrench appears from around the corner. “Striker. We need to move.”
“Bethany. We're going.”
Wrench directs us down the back stairs. He covers the corridor behind us until I'm past him, then falls in behind. Out the side door into the night, the gravel loud under my boots. The Lodge is lit at the laundry-room end and quiet here, but the lights are coming on as people react to the alarm inside.
She presses her face harder into my throat.
“Striker?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m worried about my brother. Rico said something about Christopher's access being important to his superiors.”
“Tell me everything once we're home. Prez will want to know, too. We’ve been fighting against Rotmere for eighteen months, undercover. Now they know I’m onto them. They’re not going to lie down and take it.”
“It’s not over yet?”
“No. But you’re with me and you’re safe. They won’t ever touch you again. Now you need a hot shower and a long sleep. And then I’ll make you come as many times as you want.”
She smiles for the first time.
“It’s a deal.”
EPILOGUE - BETHANY
Two weeks later
“Morning, gorgeous. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”
I laugh into his chest. He gets one hand into my hair and tilts my face up, kissing me.
“Shower.”
“Now?”
“Now. I’ve been havingverydirty thoughts about you.”
The shower in his bathroom was built for a man his size. He turns the water on hot and steps in first, and I watch him for a second before I follow him in. The water hits his broad shoulders and runs down his muscled chest. Wet inked skin glistening, he reaches for me.
He gets one hand to the back of my neck and pulls me under the spray with him. His massive cock is hard against my belly and his mouth is on mine before I have time to wake up properly.
Breaking the kiss for a second, I gaze up at him. “I have a request… I want it fast. I want you to fuck me hard against the tiles.”
His eyes go dark. “My pleasure.”
