Page 105 of Trigger Happy Ending

Chuckling, I tell her, “Guess I evolved.”

Silence settles over us, and I feel her pulling inward, building walls brick by brick.

“What are we, Soren?”

“Whatever you want us to be.”

I reach for her, hands settling on her bronzed thighs, warm and slick beneath my palms.

“I can’t give you a suburban life, the white picket fence and all that bullshit,” I tell her quietly. “But I can give you a place that’s ours. No rules or asshole handlers. No one watching our every move. You could wake up and live the rest of your life however you choose to.”

She smiles, but it's not real.

“When my mom died,” she says softly, “I promised myself I’d never care about someone enough to lose them again.”

There it is. Her real enemy: herself.

“If I leave with you,” she continues, “they won’t chase us immediately. They’ll wait. A week. A month. Maybe they’ll let years pass by. They’ll let us believe we’re safe. They’ll let me taste it.” Her voice cracks just slightly.

“What?”

“The life I’ve always dreamed of.”

My heart beats and thrashes inside my chest.

Raine’s voice drops and breaks. “Then they’ll take it away.”

I know what she’s about to say, but I don’t want to hear it.

“They won’t come for me first,” she whispers. “They’ll come for you.”

Her fingers lace through mine.

“They’ll kill you.”

Take a sword to my gut and split me open. I don’t care as long as I get time with her.

“I can’t let that happen.”

It hits me square in the fucking chest. Like a fucking axe to the heart. She’s not rejecting me; she’s protecting me. And somehow that hurts even more.

***

The yacht rocks as I slowly guide the jet ski to the platform. I toss a rope to a waiting deckhand, whose gaze lingers way too fucking long on Raine’s body. He catches my eye, and I give him a look that says if he looks again, I’ll cut him into little pieces.

Raine climbs up behind me and ignores the hand the deckhand has outstretched for her to take. She simply struts past, swaying those hips towards the towel rack.

The young man has the balls to watch her. His tongue practically falls out of his mouth. I climb off the jet ski and stand directly in front of him, blocking his view as Raine dries herself.

“Hey. Is there a problem?”

“Sorry, sir.”

“You never seen a woman before or something?”

He swallows. “Not one like that.”

I turn and glance over my shoulder. She’s underneath the outdoor shower, rinsing off the salt, rubbing her hands all over her luscious body wearing nothing but that tiny, string bikini. Her tits are sun-kissed perfection, and that ass … She knows what she’s doing.