Page 79 of Falling for a Killer

“Mmhm,” I hum, reaching over to take his hand. “How long have you been holding that one in?”

“Since I first sat out here and watched the sunrise while Jude ran around being crazy,” he says, watching him climb the same tree now. It’s crazy to think he’ll be seven this year. “Our favorite little accident.”

Ahh, yes. Three months after we decided we weren’t going to have kids, I got pregnant. He’s the best whoopsie I’ve ever had in my life, but the older he gets, the more I’m reminded why we didn’t want kids. He’s the spitting image of his father with startling blue eyes and messy dark hair, but his attitude is all Mama. It’s like arguing with a miniature version of myself, only this one can already beat me at arm wrestling.

It just worked out Violet got pregnant a few weeks after.

“Think they’re almost here?” I ask.

“Probably. Jude’s been dying to hang out with Nick even though it’s only been like three days.”

And he’s been dying to hang out with Greg, but I won’t tease him about his bromance. Not yet anyway.

“They act like it’s been a lifetime. Maybe for them, it has been. I don’t really remember what time was like back then, just that it never really seemed to move fast enough.”

“And now it won’t slow down,” he finishes. “I still can’t believe it’s been ten years since that verdict, and I still dream about it like it was yesterday.”

I squeeze his hand a little tighter. “I know. But that’s why we’re celebrating today. Ten years since you got away with murder.”

I’m utterly incapable of hiding a giddy, almost insane smile, just like every other time I make a joke like that. It really isn’t as funny as I think it is, yet he chuckles alongside me and leans in to kiss my cheek. “Killed the bad guy, got the girl. Man, I made out.”

“Luckiest bastard in the world.” Suddenly, my jaw goes slack. “Wait a minute, am I still your prisoner? You never actually formally set me free.”

“And I never fucking will.” He tugs my hand closer to him and squeezes it tighter. “I know what I got, and you’re not going anywhere, Roo. I’m just as obsessed with you as I was the day I laid eyes on you — actually more, because now I can’t live a day without you, so I’ll lock your ass up if I have to. You’re my captive for life.”

My stomach still flips when he says things like that, and I don’t think it’ll ever stop.

It also means it’s time for my favorite game.

As nonchalantly as I can, I wiggle my hand free and then take off at a run, down the porch steps and into the front yard.

The grass is cool under my bare feet, the wind even colder whipping through my hair, but I’m alive. I’m free and I’m alive, running from a man who I can’t wait to catch me.

When he does, he lays me softly on the ground, and the explosion of color above his head makes him look like art.

“Whoops,” I tease. “I guess you’re still faster than me.”

“Even if I wasn’t, I’d never stop chasing you,” he admits, leaning in to kiss my nose. “I don’t know how I got so lucky, Joey. Fuck... marry me.”

“Marry you?” I snort. “We’re already married, Killer.”

“I don’t care. Do it again.” His voice is deadly serious, but the playful expression on his face is priceless. “Every day I wake up wanting to marry you again because I still choose you. I told you I’d never get sick of this and I meant it.”

It took me a while to truly believe him. Longer than I’d like to admit, actually. But he’s still as obsessed with me as he was that first week in Windwinter, and I swear it’s only gotten stronger.

I guess it’s true what they say that when it’s right, the honeymoon phase never ends.

“Fine. Donna’s a judge these days and she’ll be here for our celebratory dinner, so we’ll ask if we can renew our vows. Good enough?”

“It’ll do for now,” he jokes, leaning in for a much slower kiss, and as we hear tires crunch along the gravel of our drive I know our sweet morning is about to become chaotic.

Greg honks his horn at us as my sister yells out how gross we are, echoed by our son yelling “Eww” as he streaks across the yard to greet his cousins.

Whatever. I’ll never be upset that Killian is showing Jude how real men treat women. Not today, not ever.

It’s one of the things that makes him such a good dad.

Getting up, I high-five Avery and ruffle Noah’s hair just to hear him complain. Nick is already chasing Jude into the house.

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