Page 26 of Meet Me In The Dark

“Lola's going to be pissed,” he commented, damning the relief and elation that filled him at seeing her, not just safe and whole, but here. With him. He couldn’t decide if he should punish her, or kiss her. After all, her presence proved how much she cared, more than even her words would.

“How'd you really get away?” he asked.

“Turns out you highly trained criminals are suckers for an emotionally vulnerable woman,” she said.

He whistled, low. “I'm impressed. Billy’s not a sucker for just anyone.”

“Fuck that,” she exploded. “I can't believe you were just going to leave me there with him!”

There was murder in her eyes, and behind that a deep, unrelenting pain. It was the pain that stabbed him in the chest.

“What the hell, Micah,” she continued, getting more and more worked up as she went on. “And I know what you're going to say. I'm a hindrance, you'll be too worried about my safety to do what you need to do to bring Luke and Conor home. And I know it's selfish of me to say this, but I know that you aren't sure you'll make it back alive, and I'm terrified if I take my eyes off you again, you'll disappear for good. And Micah, I'm not sure I'll survive that.” She swallowed, the next words clearly hard for her. “I need you, and I need to be with you. I need all of you, and I need to save them too, or die trying.”

“No one's going to die.” He could barely control himself at the thought of something happening to her, toanyof them, but he forced his voice to remain even.

“You think you are,” she said.

“You can't risk losing me, baby? I can't risk losing you. I need to know you’re safe.”His voice cracked.

“And you'll know that with me out of your sight, out of touching distance? Chris got me once—what’s to say he couldn’t do it again? Do you really trust Billy to keep that from happening? Do you really think I’m safer with Marcus? Think about it, I've only been out of your sight once in the past two years. Even when you left me in that Airbnb in New Orleans on Christmas Eve, you made sure you still had eyes on me—Luke's eyes. And that one time you didn't have me in your sight...” she trailed off.

He'd almost lost her. Forever.

Reading his mind, she nodded. But there was no triumph in her gaze, just sadness.

“Please, Micah. I've helped in the past. I came with all three of you on the run. I created a distraction and shot that man, and I was the one who figured out where Jean Pierre's wife is. I can help you now. Don't hide me away behind protective glass like a trophy. Make me your partner. Take me with you, so we can keep each other safe.”

Fuck.He'd been wrong earlier that night when he'd left her in the motel room. It wasn't make plans and god laughs. It was make plans, and the woman you love cries.

He watched her for a moment. He’d hurt her, and he hated he hurt her. So when she joined him, he immediately pulled her into his arms, squeezing her tight and burying his head in her neck, breathing her in.

She hugged him tighter, her arms wrapped around his back. They held each other like that, neither speaking, just sharing warmth and safety, unspoken love and a promise to see this thing through, no matter where it took them.

Finally he pulled back, brushing sexy purple hair—if he did say so himself—behind her ear.

“I'm a little impressed with your manipulation tactics,” he admitted.

“I learned from the mastermind.”

He shook his head. Fuck, he loved her. “I'd be proud, if I didn't want to spank your ass for it.”

Tears filled her eyes, but she squared her shoulders. “That's Luke's job.”

“Exactly,” he said. “So let's go get him.”

And then, because he couldn't resist it—could never resist it—he kissed her. It was soft, and heartbreakingly sweet, and so consuming he forgot for a moment that they were out in the open at an empty gas station off the highway,in the middle of the night, sitting ducks for whoever came after them. He didn't give a shit in that moment, focused on the feel of her gentle, needy lips on his, her tongue deep in his mouth, circling and driving him higher and higher, with no end in sight. Ever since the kidnapping, Kara hadn’t initiated kissing. Something had changed. He’d claimed her, again and again, but this was her claiming him, marking him as hers with her lips and teeth and tongue.

And he fucking reveled in it.

He wanted to kiss her forever. He wanted to find a soft surface and love her the way she deserved. Fuck that, he wanted to bend her over this damn car—or the one she'd abandoned in a shadowy corner of the gas station beneath the trees—and fuck her hard, so she remembered that as much as he was hers, she was his, too.

But he couldn't risk it. He couldn't waste the time.

As if she'd heard his thoughts, she pulled away, pressing one last kiss to his lips, a gentle promise.

“Let's go get our guys,” she said, going around to the passenger seat.

“Yeah,” he said, buckling her in, unable to resist the assurance it gave him. He placed a kiss on her forehead, memorizing the smell of her. Just in case.

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