Page 21 of The Killer's Payment

“I’ll take care of it,” I promise her, voice clipped.

The doors open then, and I gesture for her to precede me out of the elevator. She doesn’t say anything as we walk down the hall, hand in hand.

When we reach the room, she goes to turn the light on, and I grab her wrist. “Don’t. It will spoil the view.”

I lead her over to the floor-to-ceiling window and show her what I mean. Standing behind her, I wrap my arms around her as we gaze out at the Las Vegas lights—the famous Bellagio fountains, the Ferris wheel illuminated against the night sky, the mountains in the distance.

For a long moment, she’s silent, simply leaning back against me and taking it all in. But then she twists around in my arms, looking up at me with those wide dark eyes that I swear one day I’ll fucking drown in if I’m not careful.

“James…” she begins, voice hesitant.

“Yes, love?” I ask, cock hardening as I inhale the scent of peaches.

“Earlier, when you said you’d ‘take care of it,’ you didn’t mean…”

I take a step back, holding her at arm’s length. “That I’d kill someone—over fucking security camera footage?”

She nods. “Yeah, I feel stupid asking, but…”

“No.” I sigh. “It’s a fair question, but one you’d know the answer to if you weren’t so keen on interrupting me all the time.”

“So you won’t…?”

Releasing her, I walk over to the sitting area and turn on a lamp. In its warm glow, she’s more beautiful than ever. And clearly nervous. Fuck.

Sitting on the sofa, I pat the space beside me. “Sit.”

When she obeys, I kiss the top of her head. “Good fucking girl. And no, I have no intention of killing anyone—unless they try to harm you. Or our child,” I add, shooting a pointed glance at her still flat stomach. “When I told you I could change, I meant it, Sutton.”

She frowns. “So you’re just going to change your entire life for me? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Exposing a child to a life of violence is hardly fair, either,” I point out. “Look how well that worked out for your father.”

At this, she giggles—fuckinggiggles. “Maybe not for him, but it worked out okay for me. Didn’t it? But fine, point taken.”

“I was already getting out of that part of the business before you were dropped on my doorstep,” I admit, not wanting to have any secrets, however minor, between us. “I tried to tell you that in the car, but you were too determined to confess your love for me to listen.”

She arches an eyebrow. “Would you like me to retract that particular admission? Because I will if it pleases you.”

“It wouldnotplease me.” I pull her onto my lap. “In fact, you haven’t said those words nearly enough for my liking.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll tire of them eventually,” she says, voice airy.

“Not a fucking chance,” I growl.

And then I can’t help it—I have to kiss her again, meaning that it’s quite some time before she’s able to speak because the only thing I crave more than hearing those three words from her luscious lips are those lips themselves.

But that’s okay. Sometimes you don’t need words.

Sometimes you just know.

Epilogue

Three years later…

Sutton

Leaning backagainst a mountain of pillows, I sip the red raspberry leaf tea the midwife prescribed as Felix naps beside me. The taste has grown on me, but I’m still dubious that it will help with the labor as much as she claims. That said, I’ll take any help I can get. Felix’s birth was easy, but I’m nervous about this one…

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