Page 115 of Shadow and Skulls

He stares at me for a long moment before pressing his lips to mine.

I’ve never felt more seen.

“I love you,” I whisper against his lips.

His kiss deepens in response.

Epilogue

Dan

Jesse rolls away from me on her chair, grabbing a new roll of paper towels from the counter.

“I’m sorry. Okay? How many times do I have to say it?”

“I’m not mad, Jess.”

She wipes over my chest before going back to torturing me with her needle. “She needed him.”

I don’t say anything.

“Do you remember the day Lily tried to jump off the dock and my dad stopped her?”

“Jess, we don’t need to do this. I’m fine with the way things worked out.”

She bites her lip, her brows pulling together in concentration as she puts the finishing touches on the sunflower she’s tattooing in tribute to my mother.

“Bill knew she needed you that day.”

“Goddammit, little girl, I’m going to turn you over my knee if you don’t stop.”

“Little girl?” She laughs at this.

“Okay, you’re not a little girl anymore, but you’re making me regret giving you this chair.”

“Oh, this chair was mine from the day I stepped foot in your shop back in Trap.”

My head falls back. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Kelsie needed him, Dan. Going against your wishes was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Well, maybe not the hardest, but you know what I mean.”

“It’s all good, Jess.”

She rests her fist on my chest, staring at it. “I never wanted to betray your trust.”

This has been weighing heavy on her. “It’s okay. I’ve never told you this, but Billie Rose came to me … when she thought she might be pregnant.”

I stop, waiting for her wrath. But at least she will quit beating herself up over taking Kelsie to Tank.

A smirk pulls at the corner of her mouth, and she goes back to work.

“You’re not going to say anything about that?”

Her eyebrow arches high on her face, and she looks me dead in the eye. “I sent Billie Rose to you.”

Okay, I clearly don’t understand women. Especially this one.

She waves a gloved hand at me. “You helped me. I knew you’d help her, so I told her the story, you know, about how you helped me. I was hoping if she needed to, she would go to you.”

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