Page 178 of Five Fingers of Death

A low growl rumbled through his chest as he pulled me tighter to him. “Be careful. I might ask you to stay with me.”

“No demands?”

He shook his head. “I will never take your choices away again. I fucking swear it.”

“And if I want to stay?”

His eyes flared with heat. “Then I’ll make sure you know every fucking night just how much I love having you in my bed.”

I flinched as Carli tugged on his shirt. “Why do you love having her in your bed?”

I flushed bright red, burying my face in his shirt.

He cleared his throat, chuckling uncomfortably. “Because she keeps me warm at night.”

“Daddy, you’re always warm,” she chastised. “Can we get ice cream now? I got her to come out of her house.”

I gasped as I stared at Jason’s beet red face.

“That was supposed to be our secret,” he muttered.

“Jason, did you bribe your daughter with ice cream so you could see me?”

Carli giggled as Jason shifted, taking her hand in his big one. “I plead the fifth. And you,” he said to his daughter, “we’re going to work on keeping secrets.”

“You told me secrets are bad.”

“I did,” he sighed, glancing over at me. “Am I still forgiven?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“Are you going to kiss me?”

“All the fucking time.” His lips crashed down on mine and he wrapped me up in his arms, holding me tight. This was right. Exactly what I needed. I was a fool to stay away for an entire week. I never wanted that much space from him again, even if that meant I had to give up the freedom of my house to stay with him. Because I already knew that was what I really wanted. Just the three of us, learning to start over as a family.

“Eww! Daddy, you kissed her with your tongue!”

45

JASON

The threat is gone for now.

I read the text over again for the tenth time, but I hesitated to believe it. Striding into the conference room, I nodded to Lock as I took my seat and waited for the rest of the team to arrive. Eva would be joining us for this meeting, and I hesitated to tell her what I already knew.

She was the last to arrive and looked just as wary as the rest of us. But she took her seat beside Lock and nodded that she was ready.

Lock stood and looked at each of us…Asher, Jack, Johnny, Eva, and Rae. “Jason received a message earlier today from Cash. The threat is gone for now. I can only assume he’ll stay in touch as he can, but if not, stay on your toes and don’t go anywhere alone. We have no idea if any blowback will land on us.”

“So, you’re saying it’s safe to head home, but not to trust anyone,” Asher snorted. “That’s great.”

“You’re always welcome to stay,” Lock suggested.

He shook his head. “I have a different life now. Holly is pregnant. I can’t stay around here and get more mixed up with this shit.”

“We understand, but you always have a place here if you need it.”

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