Page 19 of Ruthless Love

Gone are his nice sweatpants, decent t-shirt, and tennis shoes.

In their place are jeans that are worn just right, those pair of boots I bought him, and a flannel button down with the sleevespulled up. That sexy as hell tattoo he's had since his twenty-first birthday is right there, too. Before I can ask him if he wants to stay in, instead of going out, his deep voice breaks my thoughts.

"Goddamn you look beautiful."

A smile spreads across my face. I reach out, circling my arms around his neck. "You don't look so bad yourself, Miller."

FOURTEEN

CAIN

I'm a lucky bastard.More lucky than I should be. I've been an ass when it comes to my wife, ignoring all the signs she tried to give me. But now I'm here, and I'm paying attention. The last time I saw her before she left, she'd changed her makeup, curled her hair, and put on a dress. Instead of telling her how hot she was, I'd made a smartass remark about who she was dressing up for. When I'd come home, her letter had been on the fridge, held by the magnet we picked up on our first wedding anniversary trip.

She pulls back from where she's hugging my neck, and I take the opportunity to shove my fingers through the nape of her hair and yank her mouth to mine. No more easing into anything with her. She's my wife, and as long as she's on board with how I want to treat her, I'm not worrying about it.

"You're so pretty," I whisper as I pull back from her, taking a nip at her neck.

"You're damn hot yourself." She grins, tilting her head back to expose the column of her throat to me.

I allow myself a few minutes to kiss her the way I want to, but then I come to a stop. "What time does your livestream start?"

"Shit." She pulls her phone out of her back pocket. "In thirty minutes, so we need to head down. Sorry."

The old me would've been irritated that she wasn't paying attention to me, but I've learned from not having her in my life for the last six months. "Let's go." I hold my hand out to her, helping her down the stairs. These aren't the most sturdy I've ever been on. I make a note to tell Alex to come over here and check them out. They need to be strengthened, for sure.

"Look at you, being a gentleman," she teases.

"I can be sometimes. I'm not always thinking with what's between my legs, I promise."

A husky laugh escapes her throat. "I like when you do that, but I also like when you don't."

Following her, once we hit the ground, I'm surprised when she takes me around to the side of Enchanted Chapters. "Where are we going?"

She turns, looking at me over her shoulder, and offers a wink. "Do you think I do the livestreams up there?"

When I watched them, I often wondered where she did them, but it's not as if I can ask her those questions. Then she'll know that I've been spying on her. "I have no idea where you do them. I just learned about 'em. Remember?"

"True." She tilts her eyes up to the sky. "We're going over here." She points to another set of stairs that appears to lead down, I'm guessing, to a basement.

"This is surprising. I've looked at the plans for this building before when we had a standoff across the street, and I don't remember there being anything down here." That's not a lie. The first year I was on the force, we did have someone who holed up in the building across the street and we'd had to look at every possible way he would be able to get out. There were some thoughts that since these buildings are so old, there were underground tunnels. I was the person who'd gone andrequested the blueprints, and I was the one who'd looked at them. There definitely wasn't anything under this building.

"I was surprised too. When I signed the lease on this place, the realtor never told me about it. One night I was in here stocking, and I heard something, and I assumed it was underneath the building. I thought it was a stray cat or something. I walked all the way around the back, trying to find a way so that I could get under there. At one point, I thought I was going to have to call you," she laughs. "Not that I thought you would come save me."

I tuck her into my side. "I will always save you, no matter what's going on between us. I'm sorry you didn't think that before, that I made you question how much you meant to me. I'll never forgive myself for that, Marissa."

"It's okay."

"No, it isn't. I'm sorry I've not been the man I should be where you're concerned," I reach out, cupping her cheek in the palm of my hand. "We took each other for granted, and I take responsibility for that."

She shakes her head. "No, we're both responsible for it. We need to stop apologizing and start living the life we're destined to live. I'm ready to move on."

"Is that with me?" I question, terrified of what her answer is going to be. "Those divorce papers are still hanging out there, Ris."

Her voice is firm when she answers. "My plan is to move forward with you."

Those are the best words I've ever heard, and a weight is lifted off my chest. A grin works its way across my face, and I lean down, stealing a kiss. "Go do your thing so we can have dinner."

She leads me into the dark room, and for a split second I'm worried there are no lights. That's when she flips them on, andI gasp at the surrounding space. It's luxurious in a way I hadn't expected. The walls are papered with gold and black flowers. There's a velvet rug on the floor, a phone set up with a ring light, and some of the most beautiful book spines I've ever seen. "Wow, Ris. This is incredible."

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