Page 73 of No Sweet Goodbyes

Dom kisses me, pausing his movements so that he can lay claim to my lips. Our bodies collide in the same brutal way they did when we fought, two pieces of a broken puzzle that fit perfectly together.

When stars dance in front of my eyes, I let go and embrace the way my body arches off the bed, only for Dom’s arms to wrap around me and hold me against him. Until my body is limp with satisfaction, and I’m leaning back for him to let me go.

Dom follows me down, his mouth seeking mine in the darkness.

“Fucking perfect.”

When he carries my aching body into the shower for round two sometime later, I go with a smile.

He doesn’t push for an answer or demand that I tell him I’ll marry him. Instead, he shows me with his body that he isn’t going to let me go. That he’s holding on while he can.

And between the moments of connection, when he’s holding me in his arms, I can feel the tension leaving my limbs slowly.

“Ask me again when you’re done with the Reserves,” I tell him later when he wraps me in his arms after a slew of lazy kisses. “I won’t ask you to choose, but I can’t go through another deployment.”

I’m so caught up in the warmth of his embrace and the promise that I’m making that I don’t realize he freezes around me.

Not until my bedroom door creaks open and a bullet hits the wall above my bed.

25

DOM

I’ve had bullets fly at my head before. Not once has it ever happened while I’m naked. In bed. With the woman I love.

Technically, it’s one bullet, and I’m pretty sure that the culprit doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing with the gun in his hand, but still.

“Have you lost your damn mind?” I’m up and shouting, even if I’m naked, before the plaster settles on Emma’s head.

Is it the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life?

No. Not even close.

Lying to Emma still takes the cake on the idiocy front. But I have to protect her, and if that means acting like a dumbass so that Emma can get out of bed and to safety, so be it.

Emma, who definitely isn’t an idiot like I am, slides out of the bed onto her ass and grabs my t-shirt to put on so she isn’t confronting the crazy man naked.

For the first time in my life, I have something to live for, and here I am, standing in front of a man holding a gun, ready to die if it means that she’s okay.

“Can I put some pants on before you shoot me?” I don’t mean for the question to come out as snarky as it does, but the man has a gun pointed at me and I can’t control the asshole inside myself.

I’m more than a little pissed at myself for letting my guard drop. I’m only naked because I didn’t hear a single sound coming from anywhere in Emma’s house. Not until he was opening the bedroom door.

Honestly, I’m surprised that he can hold a gun, let alone successfully fire the damn thing. When he stares at me wide-eyed, I realize that he wasn’t expecting me to be in the room.

“Pants,” I snap. “Can I put pants on?”

He nods, and the action lets us see who it is that brought a gun into Emma’s house.

“Jesse?” Emma steps into the pale light offered by the moon. “Jesse, what are you doing? How did you get in my house? Is Bee okay?” She leans over. “Is Bee with you, Jesse? She’s not here, is she?”

What Emma doesn’t ask is how Bee’s uncle knew where she lives. Nor does she do anything that will agitate him any further than it is clear he already is. She’s taking the attention off the hostile situation that we’re in, and she’s bringing it to something innocent.

“What am I doing?” He waves the gun in my direction, and his voice rises with every syllable until he is screeching at the top of his lungs. “What the hell is he doing here?” Jesse doesn’t answer the question about his niece, though. “He shouldn’t be here. He doesn’t belong here. He needs to leave. He shouldn’t be here.”

While the other man is obviously having a mental breakdown, I grab my pants with my toes and lift them up. No one needs to get shot while they’re completely naked. When I have them in my hand, I start to make a plan. My gun is at my house, in the safe. Emma has a gun safe too, but I know for a fact it’s in the closet behind Jesse, so that is out of the question.

Which means that the only resources I have to defuse the situation are right here. And the first thing I need to do is put my pants on.

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