Page 65 of It Takes a Thief
Yes, she’s royalty and we come from two totally different worlds. But, for the first time, I realize I’m not a nobody. I’m the man who loves Merritt Fontaine. The man who will take care of her and protect her until my dying breath. And, dammit, that means something.
I’m hoping it will mean everything to her.
“Hey!” a voice yells. “Get out of there!”
Bonecrusher makes the mistake of looking over to where I’m sure a cop is now entering the cage. The interruption comes at exactly the right moment. While he briefly takes his focus off Merritt, I race forward at full speed, straight toward them. By the time he realizes what’s happening, I plow into his kneecaps, driving him backwards, and an unholy crack splits the air. He screams as bones shatter from the impact, releasing Merritt, and we slam backwards into the barbed wire fence.
Bonecrusher’s back takes the brunt of it, no doubt stabbed with the tiny razors, and he lets out an agonized howl. Instead of going in for the kill, I release him and step back. He falls forward, his broken knees hitting the dirt hard, and cries out, rolling onto his back.
“That’s what happens when you touch her,” I growl, breathing hard, fighting back the feral fierceness throbbing through my entire body. “You’re lucky you’re still breathing.”
“Linc!”
I spin around as Merritt crashes into my arms. Tightening my embrace, I pick her up and tell myself it’s okay. She’s okay.
“Mer,” I rasp, burying my face in her hair. “I’ve got you, sweetheart. You’re safe.”
“I’m so sorry I doubted you,” she cries.
“I’m just glad you’re safe.” I pull back and press a firm kiss to her lips. There’s no way I’m letting her go. Absolutely no way. As long as she’ll have an old, washed-up fighter, I’ll love her fiercely and follow her anywhere. To the damn ends of the earth, if that’s where she goes.
Several policemen are swarming inside the cage now, and an ambulance siren mercifully shuts off as it pulls up. My head is pounding.
“He needs to be checked out,” Merritt declares in her best royal voice—the one no one dares to argue with—and I can’t help but grin as the cops let us pass and exit the cage.
“Don’t go too far. We need to talk to you,” one of them says, and Mer shoos him away.
“After he’s checked over,” she reiterates, and the cop nods.
My lips twitch as I look down at her. My fierce princess came to my rescue and was ready to slay dragons for me.
Her arm is wrapped around my waist and she’s guiding me over to the ambulance’s open back door. “Thank you,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
She looks up, blue eyes so big and full of worry. “For what?”
“For having my back.”
“Always,” she murmurs, helping me sit on the back ledge of the ambulance.
Her concern is touching, and even though I have some pretty good cuts and bruises, I’m absolutely fine. Bonecrusher, on the other hand, just got carried out of the cage on a stretcher. I don’t feel an ounce of sympathy.Serves him right, the cocky fucker.
For Merritt’s sake, I allow the EMT to clean me up and check for a concussion. He claims I have a mild one and gives me a couple of Tylenol, telling me to rest and avoid any strenuous activity for the next few days. He wants to stitch up the cutabove my eyebrow, but I’ve had much deeper ones and never got stitches.
“I’m fine,” I insist, and he ends up slapping a band aid over it. Besides, didn’t someone say chicks dig scars?
There’s only one woman I want, though, and I hope she’ll have me, scars and all. If not, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I suppose I could always spirit her away and attempt to steal her heart just like she stole mine. Hell, I am a thief.
I know we need to talk first. As much as I want Merritt in my life, if I’m going to try this relationship thing, I’m not just dipping a damn toe in. I’m diving straight into the deep end, and I’ll either sink or swim.
All or nothing, baby.
Merritt fills me in on how she followed me across the ocean and then called Addie for help. I’m grateful Addie called in her favor to Laurent, because I’m pretty sure he’s the one who called the police. He also left Dumas tied to a nearby tree with duct tape over his mouth. On the silver tape, he’d scrawled, “Guilty,” in a black marker. Finding Dumas is the most entertaining part of the evening.
By the time we talk to the police and share everything we know, it’s late. And once she hears I have a concussion, even a mild one, she refuses to let me get on a plane until my symptoms subside. Instead, we call her family’s car service to take us to her penthouse. Much like their pilot, the national company is on call twenty-four seven when any of the Fontaines are in the United States. I’m discovering there are quite a few perks to being a princess, and for those dating the princess.
I really hope I’m not assuming too much. What if she can’t see our future the way I can? What if she doesn’t want me aftershe finds out the truth? That I’m nothing but a thief who grew up on the wrong side of town and ran wild. What if that changes how she thinks about me and then she decides she doesn’t want to get tangled up with some no-class bum like me?
Stop getting in your head, Decker.The good thing is I know exactly what I want, and I’m going to fight for Mer harder than I’ve ever fought for anything in my life. Maybe I should thank Bonecrusher for knocking some sense into me. Because for the first time, I know this beautiful, intelligent, brave woman tucked under my arm is it. The end all, be all. She’s the one. And if she accepts me, I’ll gladly hand her my heart and everything that comes along with it.
