Page 56 of His Reluctant Savior

“You and me?”

He nodded.

“You’re mine. I’m keeping you.”

He rolled his eyes and snorted a laugh. “I’m not a pet, Sid.”

“You’re definitely my pet. My pet Boy Scout.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Weirdo. Seriously. I’ll admit, I’m still having a bit of a crisis.”

I rubbed his thighs on either side of me. “I figured you would. Falling for a killer must be hard.”

“Falling? I wouldn’t gothatfar.”

I smiled broadly at his pinking face. “You’resofalling for me.”

“It’s Stockholm Syndrome.”

It was my turn to laugh. “I’d have to kidnap you first for that to happen. I believe you’re here quite willingly.”

He didn’t look at me as his fingers gently combed through my chest hair. “I’m worried about what all this means. If…”

“Don’t be afraid to talk and be honest. If you’re going to shove me away, I’ll just have to convince you to stay.”

His brown eyes were so dark as they stared into me. “If I go back to being an agent, we can’t be possible, Sid. You must know this.”

“You won’t go back, though.”

Dalton raised a brow and blew an irritated breath. “This is serious, dammit.”

“Iambeing serious. You were betrayed by the very people who are supposed to be the good guys. And here is a bad guy doing a good thing. Morals are gray, Boy Scout. There is no cut-and-dry or black-and-white. You’ll never be able to trust them again, alwayswondering if the next evidence you find will finally lead to your death.”

He sighed and lay down on top of me. I ran my fingers along his back as he settled in. “Maybe you’re right. But I still have Owen to think about.”

I knew his son would come into the picture, but Owen didn’t have to know what I did for a living. “We’ll find a way to make this work because you are mine. You belong to me. I lost my chance with you once. I’m not going to let that happen again.”

“What if… what if you quit? Go clean?”

I’d thought about it, but only briefly. “And do what? Become a kindergarten teacher just like your husband? Be a lawyer and fight useless injustices against a system that oppresses the poor and rewards the wealthy and powerful?”

Dalton groaned irritably. “No need to be sarcastic, Sid.”

“I’m being dead serious. It’s impossible to ‘go clean’ after all I’ve done. There is no cleansing after that, no matter what I do.”

He tried to pull away, but I held him tighter. “I get it, Dalt. I understand. The thoughtdidcross my mind, but I’ve betrayed my family enough, and theyaremy family. I care about all of them. Well… maybe not Sully so much. He doesn’t make it easy.”

“Who’s Sully?”

I hadn’t meant to slip his name, but there was no taking it back. “He’s a true psychopath—a murderous one. But it’s not all his doing. He’s had a lot of trauma in his life, almost as much as me, although psychopathy is more genetic, which is why someone like me didn’t turn out to be someone like him despite all I’d gone through. He’s very complicated. It’s interesting how trauma shapes each person sodifferently.”

Dalton relaxed against me again, dragging his blunt nails along my scalp, relaxing me.

“I’m just trying to…”

“I understand. You want us to find a way. Look, they aren’t just family. My partner saved my life—literally. I would’ve bled out after I was beaten, stabbed, and left to die by a dumpster. My old organization gave me a chance to live, but I wouldn’t have had he not come to get me. I stayed with him for a couple of months until I got back on my feet. During that time, we made plans to create our organization from the ground up. It is as much a part of me as my limbs. It’s in my soul. I love it… the killing doesn’t excite me as it does others. I simply see it as a job. But the intrigue… fucking around with some politician because he lied and cheated to get where he was, and he gets caught. Or digging up dirt on a candidate, making sure the news gets spread like wildfire. That’s bliss right there.”

He said nothing, still lying on top of me, but his warmth and weight were pure comfort. Dalton belonged right there… forever. We definitely had to make things work and get to where we were both happy with our choices.

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