Page 49 of Salacious Devotion

She snuggles into me. “You did great.”

“Did I miss anything huge?”

She lifts her head. “The only thing I wish I had, which isn’t possible, is my phone. There were so many pictures on it.”

Fuck. I forgot about her phone. How the hell did I forget about that? I slowly smile at her before I ease her away from my chest and lean over to open the drawer on my nightstand. I unplug her phone and roll back to hand it to her.

She sits up so fast she nearly knocks me onto the floor as she snags the phone from my hand and flips it around. “Holy shit. Dane. How is this possible? You kept my phone?”

“Yeah. It was weird and morbid. I never told anyone because who the fuck would do such a thing?” I wince. It is the strangest thing I did after she died.

She runs a finger over the screen. “Too bad it’s useless. I’d never be able to retrieve anything from it. It’s not like it would still hold the data.”

I reach up and push the button to turn it on. “Everything is still there, baby,” I whisper.

She jerks her gaze to mine, her jaw dropping. “How?”

I draw in a deep breath. “Because I’ve been paying the bill all this time. I kept telling myself it was dumb. Every month I gave myself a pep talk, telling myself to stop the nonsense, but I couldn’t.”

Less than a minute after she declared that we were going to be happy and smile from now on, tears run down her face. This is my fault. “Dane…”

I swallow. “I felt more connected to you as long as I could still call you, hear your voice, leave messages for you. I talked to you.” I lick my lips. “There are hundreds of messages from me on there.”

Paige stares at me, tears streaming, lips parted. She doesn’t blink. Finally, she says, “You loved me so much.”

I nod. “Yes, baby. So fucking much.”

She looks at the phone again. “I’m going to cry for hours when I listen to these messages.”

“Yeah.” I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.

She turns it off and reaches over me to set it on the nightstand. “I’ll do it another time. I’m too emotional right now.” She slides back down on top of me and wraps her body around me.

I run my hand along the length of her back. She ditched the sweatshirt at some point, so she’s only wearing a T-shirt. Her body is warm against mine. I could lie here and hold her for days without moving. Eventually we have to get up, though. Her life won’t fully be hers again until I find Damion Tombeck.

We were working a pretty good lead yesterday. I’m hoping it will pan out, and I can put an end to my girl needing to hide. She hasn’t said much about her father yet, but I know she’d like to be able to contact him. She can’t do so until I find Tombeck.

I kiss her temple. “I need to get up, baby.”

She moans. “Can’t we just stay in bed for the rest of eternity?”

I chuckle. “I wish. I will promise you that the minute Tombeck is no longer a threat to you, we’ll go see your dad, get married, and then go on a long honeymoon.”

She lifts her head and grins at me. “I’d like that.” At least she’s no longer begging me not to go after Tombeck. She knows I’ll never give up, and she’s learned that my skills and resources are far beyond what they were three years ago.

I hold her for a few more minutes before I ease out from under her. I tuck the covers all around her and kiss her. “Snuggle a bit longer. I’ll make coffee.”

She smiles at me. “And eggs? And bacon? And toast?”

I chuckle. “Yes, baby. Any other requests?”

“Nope.” She keeps grinning.

I kiss her again. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I stare at her, stroking her hair off her face before forcing myself to break away.

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