Page 104 of The Moments You Were Mine
“You can’t kill a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil without consequences.” When he started to respond, I interrupted. “I don’t want you to become a murderer for me, Parker. I couldn’t live with that. And as much as I hate JJ and everything he stands for, I wouldn’t want to be a part of killing someone. I saw…” I inhaled, memories of that day with Sadie washing over me. Hearing the gun go off as Uncle Adam shot Theresa in cold blood. Watching her body jerk. Hearing the sound of her gurgling. The way she hit the ground. No. I wouldn’t ever want Parker to do that for me. Not in cold blood. If he did that when he was on a mission, in defense of our country, it was bad enough. I wouldn’t let him take JJ’s life on my behalf. “I don’t want that weighing on my soul.”
His face was grim when he asked, “What did Maisey suggest?”
I hated this. I hated asking him to do this. While it was true it would solve some of our problems, it would also start a slew of different ones. But I’d spent the last two days thinking about it, weighing our options. I could ease his burden of caring for Theo alone, but I’d be adding two more lives to his shoulders. I could promise we wouldn’t be a bother and tell him that he didn’t even have to come home to the ranch when he wasn’t deployed, but I knew Parker well enough to know he wouldn’t do that. The honorable man he was deep inside would never agree to marry me and then just walk away.
“She suggested…” My body started trembling, and I bit my lip, trying to control it. Parker’s brows scrunched.
“Ducky?” He brought our twined fingers to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the back of my hand. It only made me want to cry more. To come so close to having everything I’d wanted only to ruin it by throwing this at him? It was so unfair. In the list of unfair things that had happened to me in my life, this was at the top.
I inhaled a shaky breath. “She suggested you and I might be able to solve both of our problems by getting married.”
His entire being stilled, stormy eyes turning almost black. But he never removed his gaze from mine.
When it felt like a lifetime had gone by, and he hadn’tresponded, I jumped into the silence. “It would just be on paper. So if JJ ever came looking, I could show the marriage certificate and the date and say the baby was yours. If he asked for a DNA test, I don’t know what I’d do, but for the most part, I’m sure I could persuade him the baby wasn’t his. I mean, he was always jealous of you. He always thought—”
“Yes.”
Surprise hit me square in the chest. “What?”
“Let’s do it. Let’s get married.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he said firmly.
“Wh-what about never wanting to get married or have kids? Don’t just toss an immediate yes back at me, Parker. You need to think about this. You’d have two kids tied to you who weren’t yours. I’d need the baby to have your name, have you listed as the father on the birth certificate, so it would make it more difficult for JJ to come after me.”
“Okay.”
Every response he’d spoken was sure. Solid. Unwavering. Instead of relieving me, it pissed me off. Not because I’d wanted him to say no, but because I was throwing a bomb into the middle of his well-thought-out life, and he wasn’t even blinking at it.
“Listen, Kermit—”
This time, he cut me off with a kiss. His mouth landed on mine with nearly the same fierceness as it had held in my bathroom after the shooting. It was strong. Unyielding. Demanding I shut up but also demanding something else, something I wasn’t sure I could truly let myself believe in yet. He wanted me. He wanted me regardless of the fucked-up nature of my life, regardless of the fact a baby was growing inside me who didn’t belong to him.
When I started to pull away, one hand went to the back of my head, holding me in place, and he deepened the kiss. His tongue slid inside, taking control, soothing and enflaming all at the same time. Goosebumps coated my skin, tingling from the top of my head down to the soles of my feet. I wrapped my arms around his neck, dragged our bodies closer, and dove in, demanding and taking as much as I was giving.
His fingers dug into the skin at my waist, and the warmthfrom his touch traveled up my body, a thundering wave of desire crashing over me. I hooked my leg over his hip, drawing us closer. One of us moaned. Maybe both of us did.
The entire world froze while we got lost in hands and lips and teeth as they learned each other’s curves and slopes and inner recesses. While the heart I’d given Parker a lifetime ago finally found its way home. While our souls rejoiced and danced to a beat faster and stronger and more intense than even the one our bodies moved to.
When he finally broke the kiss with a sharp inhale, it was me who refused to let him stop this time.
I needed this.
I needed him.
I needed to get lost in the wave before the surf broke and reality came crashing in as our boards met the sandy shore.
I shoved my mouth back at his, and he made an inarticulate noise, a grunt of pleasure and pain before rough palms slid below the hem of my shirt, skimming along soft skin. His fingers settled on my breasts, twisting and plucking. My core clenched, and a stunning flame rippled through me, burning me from the inside out.
I twisted, trying to get closer, and my head banged the headboard, causing a hiss to escape.
He jerked back, putting some space between us, even while his hands remained on my body.
“Not like this,” he growled. “Not when you’re still recovering. I want all your passion, Fallon, but I also want you firing on all eight cylinders when I finally make you mine.”
His lips were a vibrant red from our kiss, and his eyes were the color of skies that had been singed by lightning.
