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I don’t know why I’m telling her this. It just seems… important.
In the past, Delphine’s been frustrated by my lack of transparency about my feelings. I’m not a feelings guy and probably won’t ever be, but one thing that’s important is that she always knows where we stand. Where she stands.
She softens. “I know you meant it.”
“Nothing will ever take you away from me again. Not even you.” Even though she can’t see me, I smirk at her and run my hand along the arc of her neck. “We’re a team, Phi. Okay?”
“Always,” she whispers. “Always, Jon. I love you.”
I kiss her, almost too heatedly, or else risk starting up another round of sex. “Go head up. Light the candles. Start a shower for us. I’m going to do one last check and make sure everything’s good. Then I’ll be up.”
Delphine disappears upstairs. I move through the first floor and verify the doors and windows are locked, collecting our discarded clothes, and pause at the kitchen door to peer out the glass. The security team has managed to make progress on the truck—it’s only partially stuck in the sand dune now.
I shake my head and turn away. I probably won’t sleep well tonight. Only because this situation with the power still feels unpredictable. Paranoid? Maybe.
But in my line of work, you have to be. Particularly when staring down the final stretch of a war with your father,theFather of the Family. One of the most powerful crime lords in the country.
I have every reason to be paranoid. Yet, as I start up the stairs to join Delphine, I’ve never felt more confident. I meant what I told her—we’re a team.
Nothing’s taking her away from me again. That alone will motivate me to win.
* * *
We have sex again in the bathroom. It starts as we’re getting ready for our shower and ends with us dizzy from hard orgasms slamming into us. It’s half past two in the morning by the time we’re settling down for good, buried under the warmth of our comforter.
Though the storm’s let up slightly, the rain hasn’t stopped altogether. The power hasn’t returned.
Delphine yawns, her drowsiness a distinct mood in the air. “We’ll have to come back during a better season. When it’s not so… wet.”
“Wet’s not so bad.”
“As we found out tonight.”
I can practically feel the sleepy smile on her face as I stroke my hand along her spine and hold her close. Her voice carries that dreamy lilt that’s a telltale sign she’s moments away from drifting off. While she’s on the verge of sleep, I couldn’t be more awake.
“We’ll come back,” I say, more so to the dark than her. “Maybe in the summer.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… with our new puppy.”
“Jon,” she snorts, burying her face in the crook of my arm. “I’m being serious.”
“I am too. You said you wanted to start our future together.”
She shifts in my arms, enough so she can tip her head back for a glance up at me. “But is that whatyouwant?”
“I want you… and I love you. Any future I have is going to be with you.”
“Am I dreaming?”
“You could be. I can’t imagine it either—me being certain things.”
Her soft lips press into the side of my neck. “Like what?”
“You know what,” I answer. My skin warms. It fuckingwarms, like I’m an embarrassed child. “Can you honestly say you see me as those things?”
“Jon.”
