Page 115 of The Best of Us

“I promise you, whether you stay with me or not, I will always watch out for you both. I will never let anything happen to either of you. You have my word.” His knuckles skimmed my cheek, his touch light but unwavering. “And you have my family, too. Any one of us would take a bullet for you.” His voice dropped, raw and unshakeable. “That’s non-negotiable.”

He waited for my nod of acceptance, and I knew when to pick and choose my battles. This was one I’d never win. So, I nodded, my throat too tight for words.

“We’ll go to Hell and back to keep you safe. We’re a package deal.” His voice cracked. “You get us all.”

Emotion surged through me, an unstoppable wildfire. “That sounds like a deal I’d be crazy to refuse.”

He searched my gaze, needing more.

I blinked, setting my tears free. “Do what I asked yesterday.” My voice wavered. “Ask me to stay. Askusto stay.”

I reached between us, flicking the brim of his hat to better see his eyes.

His forehead creased, his body taut with emotion. A tear rolled down his cheek, touching his mouth as he rasped in a guttural tone, “Stay.”

Chapter35

Constantine

“Kiss me.”Juliette parted her lips as an invitation that I’d never refuse.

I shifted my hand up into her hair and leaned in just as Colin interrupted, “Shit, sorry!” which had me startling away from her.

“It’s okay,” I said, groaning under my breath.

“Later,” Juliette mouthed, and now later felt like forever.

We turned toward the door to acknowledge Colin. A hand covered his eyes as if he’d caught us having sex on my desk. Not a bad idea. Well, not the being-caught part.

I tugged at the brim of my hat, working to get my shit together. I’d told this woman my life story, and she didn’t run. She was still here, wanting me to kiss her and trusting me to protect her and our son. It was safe to say I was a fucking mess on the inside, but oddly, in the best possible way.

It wasn’t lost on me, either, that our first kiss in seventeen years almost came after two men tried to abduct our son. Of course, nothing in my life was ever ordinary—certainly not my feelings for her—so why wouldn’t this moment we’d shared happen in the same way?

“You can look, silly,” she said when Colin had yet to lower his hand.

“So, you’re an adrenaline junky, too, huh?” Colin pointed at his mother, his tan skin a little red in his throat. “Action turns you on, Ma?”

Juliette was the one now covering her mouth in mortification. I was about to be there with her in a second.

Time to shift gears really damn fast and go full-on dad mode. “Please tell me it doesn’t for you.”

At least Colin didn’t seem as shaken up and rattled by what happened not even an hour ago. And while it made sense for him to be, something told me he’d control-override the way I would and move forward.

Hell, the same way his mother seemed to be doing. She was handling everything far better than I could’ve hoped.

“Ah, what’s that?” Colin bypassed my comment and went straight for the room behind us.

Juliette closed one eye, shooting me an adorable and slightly self-conscious smile before we followed our son into the room as he did a three-sixty.

“Promise you’ll teach me to use all this stuff here?” He twirled his finger like the blade of a helo.

“Not a chance,” Juliette beat me to it.

Although, I was more inclined to say maybe instead of a flat-out no.

“Wait, is that real-time footage?” Colin walked over to the largest screen mounted on the back wall. Four quadrants displayed rotating views of different angles from inside and outside Lennon and Jamie’s hotel. “This is my girl’s hotel, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I said casually. “I’ve been keeping an eye on them. We have a guy parked outside on overwatch as well.”

---