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“Like you wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Which is exactly how I feel now. Even though danger is lurking all around me with Chad on the loose, having kidnapped and God knows what to Eva, I still feel like I’m untouchable when I’m with you. I know you were a nice guy doing bad things that night. Haven’t we all?”
I could sense there was something more she was hiding. There always were more with emotions. “That’s all?”
She shuffled in her seat. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been hoarding a secret crush on you that I didn’t even know about myself. It may have even made you a nicer guy than you really are to me.” She shrugged. “Oh well. When your true colors start to show, I’ll just whoop your ass with the unicorn again.”
Relieved that was her ruling on the topic, I started to laugh and couldn’t stop. “As long as you kiss me afterwards, I’m game.”
She scoffed, “A kiss will be determined by how bad you get.” She was no pushover.
I had done the ultimate bad things—killed, maimed, destroyed civilizations all in the name of freedom. Deep down, she knew that too, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker with her. This woman sought out the best in people. This woman, I could learn to love.
“If I get worse, you have permission to kick my ass and send me to bed without a kiss at night. That’ll hurt me more than anything.”
Maybe, I should’ve kept the extreme way for her to torture me to myself. Sensitive information in the wrong hands costed lives. She’d take my soul. Once I’d kissed this woman, that was it for me. No other kisses or lack of them would do. Cherise bit her bottom lip in a sultry move that had me slyly readjusting the titanium-tough dick in my pants.
“I like your kisses too, Tobin. Maybe a little too much than is healthy for us both.”
Best news I’d heard in years. “I love your kisses, sweetheart, and there’s no such thing as too much when it comes to me and you.”
“What about too fast?” she probed.
“Nope, doesn’t exist with us. For fifteen years, I didn’t think I’d ever be good enough for you. If you’re giving me a chance to prove I’d give everything between us my all, then I’m taking every opportunity to do so. I promise not to let Chad touch you.”
She pecked my lips, then smiled. “I know you won’t, and it’s good to know that you’ve learned that none of us are deserving of anything. We’re all flawed and bound to fuck up sometimes. Our all is all we have to give. You’re welcomed to mine.”
“Mine was yours from the moment I saw you again.” I glanced at my bite-sized feisty woman. I reached onto the backseat and grabbed her unicorn. “Here. You were the reason I wanted this and why I went into the military. Your light shone through the dark and lit up my world. I couldn’t live in the dark anymore after that. I wanted to be deserving of someone like you.”
Cherise’s mouth had fallen open somewhere in the middle of my confession. “Me?”
“You,” I established. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you in this lifetime again.”
“It’s my pleasure to be your motivation to better yourself. I like to believe that’s my purpose on this earth, and I’m more than happy that you found me again. Now, when are you gonna confess that you’ve been watching out for me all week?”
My heart dropped. “You knew?”
She cackled in that ‘all-knowing’ way and tapped me on the side of my head with the unicorn again. “I considered it the morning you met me outside my gate. You gave yourself away when you said you’d keep watching out for me on your own if I didn’t hire you as my hero.”
“Your hero,” I tested that out on my tongue as we drove up to her gate. “I like it.”
“Me too. You’d still better not scare me like that again. Tell me about your friend Andre.”
On the way home, I told her about Andre and how I met him. We arrived at the gate. Because Cherise was on the wrong side, I looked to her for the access code.
“It’s 9137. My landlord changes it once a month for security purposes.” Smart.
I punched in the digits. The gate whined as it rolled backward. I drove through a little faster than normal so that Andre had enough time to enter too. Making sure no one else came in behind him, I instructed Cherise to wait for me to get to her side of the car, where I helped her out. Andre brought up the rear as we approached the front door that swung inward for Malaysia in a hooded dress. The was more hood on her head than dress on her body. It was missing some vital sections like the sides and part of the front. Andre was going to have a field day with that.
Obstructing the doorway with her slim presence, the light from inside the condo slunk around her to illuminate the porch. If she didn’t have something snarky to say, I’d eat my boots. She folded her arms across the material that drooped below her arms. “Oh, great. There’s two of you jokers now. Cherise, you could’ve called and warned me we were having a whole lot of company tonight. I’m barely dressed.” Malaysia had come through with the snark with flying colors. Despite the attitude that was meant more for Andre and me, I didn’t have to worry about
eating my boots tonight.
Andre lost his cool points tripping up as he swerved around us to surge up onto the porch first. A barely-dressed woman was his weakness. “Don’t get uncomfortable on my account, Malaysia. I’m Andre, and I’m here because we had some trouble at the carnival with Chad Lowell.”
She raked over him with narrowed-eyed regard, doing the same to Cherise, then back to Andre. “I guess you better come on in and get comfortable then. Cherise, there’s something in the fridge for everybody to drink, I’m sure. I need to go change.” She cat-walked away.
Basically rejected, Andre had a hard time containing his horror as he went in after her. That was the first time his smoothness after a rarely-needed fast recovery didn’t do him a bit of good.
Cherise cupped her mouth with one hand to deaden her giggles behind his back. “She’s more pissed at me for not calling ahead to tell her to stop lounging in her bedwear before we showed up, Andre. I promise she’s not as scary as she seems.”
