Page 36 of Keegan's Promise

“I love you,” he whispers…and I fall to pieces.

I shatter with a strangled cry, the whole world going white as a wall of ecstasy slams into me, dragging me under. But I don’t fall alone.

I hear him calling my name as I writhe and convulse. Feel him groan against my throat as his cum splashes inside me again and again, coating me in the strength of his desire and the evidence of his love.

And I admit the truth I’ve been fighting for days.

“I love you, too.”

“Landry baby,” he breathes, falling on top of me. Shuddering against me. Clinging to me like I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

I cling too, unwilling and unable to let him go now. Even if it leads to ruin, I can’t let him go.

In the stillness, as the sweat dries on our skin, he pulls me closer, his lips ghosting along my cheek. “I’ve loved you since Colorado, sweetness.”

I choke on a sob, clinging to him as if the force of my grip will keep him in my arms forever. “I’m so fucking scared they’re going to take you from me or hurt you, Keegan. I can’t…I can’t…”

“Shh, baby, I know.” He cradles me closer, his fingers drifting through my hair. “You’re allowed to be afraid, but I need you to trust me. I need you to know that I’ve got you. I promise you that they aren’t going to take you from me.”

“You can’t p-promise that.”

“Yeah, I can.” He cranes my head back, meeting my gaze. The conviction in his eyes, the absolute certainty that he can give me this, steadies me in a way nothing ever has. “Marry me, Landry.”

I gape at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“Marry me,” he repeats, his voice steady and sure. “My ring on your finger means you’ll never belong to them. You’ll be mine in every way.”

“I…”

“Think about it, sweetness,” he whispers. “It’s easy to make a woman with no ties disappear. It’s a lot harder to make one with a family vanish. They know it, too.” He wraps his pinky around my ring finger. “And my ring right here will remind you, every fucking day, that you belong right here. When you feel like running, you’ll know you have someone to run to, not something to run from.”

“You can’t just marry me to protect me, Keegan,” I object feebly. Being tied to him sounds so damn good, like a dream come true. But I don’t want to be something he regrets, someone he marries because he’s the kind of guy who would make that sacrifice for my protection. He deserves better than that.

“Who says I am?” His eyes blaze with heat when they meet mine again. They burn with something else too, some level of desire I’ve never seen before. “I want my ring on your finger because you’re mine, Landry. Because I’ve loved you every single second of the last year, and that will never change.”

Conviction and devotion vibrate in his voice in equal measures. This isn’t something he just decided on a whim, or something he’s doing for me. I think maybe it’s something he’s been thinking about…maybe since we met a year ago.

“Yes.”

His eyes flutter closed, a look of complete bliss on his face.

Seeing him wearing that expression stitches together another of my broken pieces. The ground firms beneath my feet, and my tenuous hold on hope becomes a little more solid.

Because of him. Because this man is willing to fight for me when no one else ever has. And he loves me in a way I don’t think anyone else ever will.

It’s enough. God, it’s more than enough.

Chapter Eleven

Keegan

TheweekbeforeLandrymarries me is the best goddamn week of my life. My fiancée and daughter are at home with me, where they belong. Dillon is building a case against the Sons of Loki and her uncle. The MC has my place locked down tighter than Fort Knox.

Most importantly, Landry seems at peace in a way she never has before now. She doesn’t push me away or fight me. There’s a light in her eyes that’s brand new. It’s hope, and it’s fucking beautiful.

The day of the wedding, Samara and Elodie arrive early to take her and Lily to Elodie’s to get ready. We don’t have a big ceremony planned. We’re going to the courthouse and getting married in the judge’s chambers, where he’ll keep the license until the Sons of Loki are handled. But my sister and Samara want to make the day special for her anyway.

She deserves that. Hell, she deserves every goddamn thing under the sun.

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