Page 66 of Traitor

That sounded like my grandmother.

Mike leaned forward and cupped my neck in his hand. “I almost had a fucking stroke when I saw you leaving Lubbock—I thought—” He grew quiet and I realized what it was that he thought. That I’d been taken—like Elizabeth. Like Katya. Like my mother. In that moment, I was so damn grateful that he’d insisted I download theFind My Friendsapp—without it, I’d definitely be on my way to becoming a zombie right about now.

He leaned in until our noses were touching, breathing me in. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Red.”

All of my anger had evaporated out there on the road. A tear fell onto my cheek as I nodded. “Me too. I thought I was going to die after hitting that rooster. He just came up out of nowhere.”

Mike’s mouth twisted into a smirk. “Rooster? Darlin’, that was no rooster. Was it flying around?”

I nodded. “And then it came right for me.”

He chuckled. “Yeah baby, if it’s the same thing that’s hanging out on the front of your car, that’s a turkey buzzard. Roosters can’t fly.”

“Oh,” I replied.

His eyes dropped down to my mouth. “Can I?”

When I nodded, his hand tightened around the back of my neck, pulling me in closer. His mouth pressed against mine, tentatively at first, before becoming more urgent.

It reminded me of showing up at his house after my car was bombed. We’d ripped each other wide open, needing to let the pain bleed out. This time though, we were rebuilding everything we’d lost since January.

Mike kissed me so hard that my head fell back, hitting the window with a soft thud. His stubble scraped against my skin, but instead of fighting it, I welcomed the pain.

Where I was still shivering from the rain, Mike’s body radiated heat, and I found myself trying to burrow into him. He was like my own personal heating pad. My top lip fit perfectly against his bottom one. And, it sounded impossible, but his mouth reminded me of something that I’d never even experienced before—home.

His kiss only reiterated everything he’d said out in the rain and I wanted to make it work. To make us work. No matter the cost.

He pulled back and said, “I’m an addict—after everything that happened with us, I fell apart. Hard liquor. Coke. I was hellbent on self-destructing. The thing is, I was able to get clean and walk away from all of my vices—except one. You. You’re an addiction that I’ll never be able to kick; and Darlin’, no matter how many times I think I’ve sobered up, I will relapse again and again until I take my last breath.”

I sucked in a soft breath as my eyes misted over and cupped his cheek in my hand. “I only ever wanted you, Mike. Not some version of you that was acceptable to society, but you. All the messy and broken parts.”

His mouth flattened into a thin line and tears ran down his face. “I want to take care of you, Red.” At the look on my face, he amended, “Fuck, I know you can take care of yourself, but you shouldn’t have to—not anymore. That’s my job.”

I had taken care of myself; to rely on anyone else was just begging for trouble. Was I capable of putting my wellbeing in someone else’s hands? I knew then that I at least wanted to try.

I nodded and whispered, “Okay,” and the final wall came down. I was vulnerable and still bore the wounds of my past, but I felt it. He was piecing me back together with his love and I only hoped that I could do the same for him.

I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck, guiding him back down to my lips. With his forehead resting against mine, his hands found my hair. Mike wound the strands around his fingers, yet his mouth never left mine.

His tongue pressed lightly against my top lip and I grinned before opening up to him. The hands that had found my hair so fascinating were now furiously undoing the buttons on my blouse and pulling it off of my shoulders. Our kiss had gone from lazily snacking to hangry in a matter of seconds.

I reached out and began loosening his tie, while simultaneously removing his light gray suit jacket. “You in a suit, even if it is covered in mud, is so incredibly hot,” I murmured against his cheek.

His tongue darted out and licked along my jawline before he growled, “Yeah? Let’s see how hot it gets you, baby.”

My bra joined my blouse on the floorboard and then Mike’s hands were on my skirt, unbuttoning and unzipping until I was left in just my panties. He pulled them to the side before easily pushing two fingers inside of me.

“That’s my girl,” he praised, as he moved them in and out. My walls worked to grip his fingers tightly, yet he still pulled away before pushing them back in even deeper, forcing me to accommodate him.

His lips moved impatiently against mine as if we’d been apart for years, while his fingers worked me up into a frenzy. With a pant, he broke away and his head dropped down to my chest. His lips hovered over my left nipple, each warm exhale sending shivers throughout my body.

My eyes closed involuntarily as he sucked it into his mouth, his teeth closing lightly around me. When he curled his fingers inside of me, my back arched, but I remained pinned in place with his teeth. His hand moved again and I saw stars. I bit down on my lip, but before I could get there, he pulled his hand free. Cold metal closed around my wrist with a click and my eyes flew open in surprise.

“Mike? Did you just cuff me?”

His eyes had a wicked glint to them as he answered with a smirk, “Just in case you get cold feet and decide to run on me again.”

I didn’t protest; if anything, it just made me wetter. Even more so when he looped the cuffs through the handle at the top of the window and placed them on my other wrist.

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