Page 77 of My Vigilante Valentine

“Okay, well, that’s not the case.” His hand fell to his side.

Straightening my shoulders, I let out a breath. “Okay, well, I’m glad that’s not the case. Because I liked it. Last night.The kissing part, not the fight with the serial killer part, and definitely not the watching you give yourself stitches part.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “I liked it too. The kissing part.”

I waited a beat.

Then two.

“But...?” I prompted, losing my patience.

It reallywasa pretty setting, and I was all for it if he just wanted to show me the view. But I knew that wasn’t what was happening, and didn’t he realize he had me holding on for dear life over here?

Jax finally sighed, closing the distance between us again. “But… I didn’t get him.”

This time, it was me who had to pause before I spoke. And when I finally recovered, all I could manage was a bewildered,“What?”

“He got away. He drew blood, and then he got away.”

“Uh,no, he didn’t.”

Jax made a strangled sound, confusion all over his face as he looked around. It was like he was trying to figure out if he’d been dropped in an alternate reality, and, in this one, The Valentine Villain was behind bars where he belonged.

I threw him a bone, placing a hand on his forearm. “Jax, he didn’t get away. We did.You gotusaway fromhim.”

His next breath was shaky, and I zipped my lips, letting him chew on that.

If he thought I’d let him torture himself about losing The Villain after heroically blurring us out of there before things turned deadly, he was out of his mind.

“Something was up with me,” he said quietly. “I couldn’t move like I normally do, and I’m?—”

“Human,” I cut in. “You are, right?”

A nod.

“I don’t know what happened with your powers last night,” I said, wrinkling my nose at him when he made a face at that word. “But I do know that you can’t blame yourself for the way things went down. You saved us. End of story. And trust me, I am the queen of doom spirals. Did you even hear me when we first came out here? I get what you’re feeling, but I can’t let you do it.”

He licked his lips and looked away. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” I replied. Then I poked him in his good side. “Really, don’t mention it ever again, or I’ll just repeat all of that over and over again until you blur away just so you don’t have to hear it anymore.”

This time, I got a short laugh out of him, and I beamed in response.

But his brow furrowed once again as he reached for my hand. “I just need you to understand… What happened last night? That’s not unusual for me.”

“We better not be talking about the kissing part again.”

He leveled me with a look. “No, Menace. Now we’re onto the other stuff. The blood. The stitches.”

“Don’t remind me,” I grumbled.

“I need to remind you. Luna, I get hurt. I make enemies. And the thought of something happening to you because of me...”

“Hey.” I reached up, standing on my toes so I could cup his face in my hands. “I handled all of that pretty well, you know. And now that I watched you stitch yourself up, I have a new skill.”

He leaned into my touch, closing his eyes as I continued to cradle his face.

“Now, is this settled?” I asked. “Or do I need to make you mad by calling you broody first?”

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