Page 103 of Scarlet Angel

"Right, then," I say, the words coming out rough. "We'll work together, but there can't be any secrets between us. From here on out, we're a team."

Her eyes light up, relief flooding her features. "And I stay with you."

"God help me, yes." I pull her closer, breathing in her scent. "Though I might be signing both our death warrants."

CHAPTER26

SCARLET

“If something happened to you…” His eyelids close, and his facial muscles strain. He doesn’t need words. I feel what he’s saying.

His fingers comb through my hair, and he holds me, inches away. The light brush of his lips across mine raises goose bumps across my skin, and the small hairs rise in the brewing electrical storm.

He seals my mouth with his. What starts as a slow kiss strengthens into a crushing one. Our breaths go from slow to ragged.

He tugs on my hair, pulling me back from him. With his thumb, he dries my lips.

“I can’t risk it,” he says apologetically, or at least, for him, it’s an apology.

“No,” I say.

“No?”

“You said you won’t run.”

“And I won’t. I signed up for this. I’ll manage it.”

“But not alone.”

He palms my breast, and his thumb brushes back and forth. I luxuriate in the heat and intimacy.

I won’t go so far as to say I love him. I’ve never been in love, and I need to give myself time to be certain of the emotion. But I care for him. With Willow gone, I care for him more than anyone else in the world.

I don’t blame myself for him being in a precarious situation. He approached me. Whatever else is going on, I’ve no doubt it’s thanks to the choices he’s made. But I’m not ready to say goodbye to him.

I don’t fear death. But I do fear returning to a life without him in it.

“How did you dig yourself into me so quickly?” he asks.

The familiar stretch of a smile crosses his lips.

His thumb pushes my bra lower, and he tweaks my nipple.

My breasts grow heavy and aching. I don’t think I’ve ever been more conscious of my breasts, of my body, of an intensifying need.

“You stay with me, and there’s no way out.”

“You think they’ll win?”

His brows nearly merge. “What? No. The men coming after me will learn lessons. Plural.”

His confident smirk is the sexiest I’ve seen.

“When I say no way out, I mean for you, love. You bind yourself to me, and I’m not letting you go.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” I warn him as I tend to his buttons as he did to mine. “There’s always a way out. Have you forgotten my history?”

“If I ever betray you, I deserve your retribution.”

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