Page 104 of Lucky Strike

My heart sinks. He leaves every night, but this feels more ominous than usual. “You’re leaving already?”

“Terry and Mitch are downstairs, okay? Call them if you need anything.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have errands to run.”

“At this hour?” He looks like a thief. Or an assassin.

A small smile plays at the corner of his lips, but I see the tension in his eyes, the faint lines in his forehead. “It’s barely nine o’clock.”

“Luc—”

“I’ll come back here when I’m done, okay?”

That catches me off guard, and I pause. “You will?”

He nods, thumbs flying across his screen as he texts.

“Why can’t you just stay, then?”

Putting his phone down, he walks over and kneels in front of me. “Because I need to take care of something important.”

Something’s going down but the Vicodin is kicking in big time, giving me a false sense of peace at odds with this situation. “I hate when you’re evasive.”

“I know.” He kisses my knee. “Go to sleep, okay? I love you.”

“I love you, too. Please don’t go.” But my thoughts are scattering, my anxiety dissipating as it floats to the fringes.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to protect what’s mine.” Lucky kisses the other knee. “You and my boy.”

“You’re mine, too,” I whisper, fighting the dreamy fog that’s rolling in. “Stay with me.”

“I can’t.” He kisses my thigh. “You’ll understand soon enough.”

I shake my head slowly. But I do understand. He’s doing what he has to do. He’ll always do what he has to do. I knew this when I fell in love with him. Whatever he’s up to tonight, wherever he’s going, is non-negotiable. No matter how much I beg.

“How do you feel?” he asks, sucking gently on the inside of my thigh. “Are you still in pain?”

“No,” I say, melting even more as he lays me down. He drags wet kisses up my thighs and pulls my panties off. “Conlan,” I breathe, caught in the liminal space between arousal and oblivion.

He spreads my thighs and glides his tongue over me. I moan, fingers twitching, wishing I could run my them through his silky, dark hair. The fuzzy awareness that he’s doing this to distract me, to put me to sleep, drifts away like a child’s lost balloon. All I feel are warm waves of pleasure rippling through my body.

“Tell me if this is too much,” he whispers, swirling his tongue around my clit.

I’ve really missed being close to him in this way. I can barely move,but I can feel this, feel the way he loves me. The pain I live with all day evaporates, even when I suck in a deep breath, and when I start to come, I feel almost euphoric. My eyes close, and I disappear.

28.Lucky

Now

They’re here.

How many?

They came with 3 more.

It’s 11:27 p.m. I look at the rearview mirror, where Finn’s alert eyes meet mine from the back seat. “Ready?”

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