Page 87 of Virtue & Vengeance

“I was an asshole before I met you. You made me a good man, angel.”

I lowered my head until my lips were on his, and with a firm thrust of his tongue, the kiss became something completely different.

His hands cupped my ass, and he picked me up, setting me on the top of his desk.

Thirty minutes later, we were both panting hard as he helped me fix my clothes.

I slipped off his desk, smoothing my hair and trying to even my breathing. He stood, pulling up his pants and putting himself back together.

“Dinner tonight?” I asked.

“Depends. Are you staying over tonight?”

My eyes narrowed at him. “Are you saying you’ll only have dinner with me if I spend the night?”

“I’m saying; I still think you should rethink my question.”

I sighed.

He acted like his question had a simple answer.

It didn’t.

Two months after my kidnapping, Zander had asked me to marry him. It had caught me off guard, and at first, I thought he was joking.

He wasn’t, but still, I said no.

There was no way I was going to agree to marry him only weeks after everything happened. Not while the memories of almost being killed were so fresh, and not while Zander was wrapped up in his sins.

When I finally agreed to spend the rest of my life with him, I wanted to know I was his and only his. I wanted us to both be healed inside and ready to take that leap.

We needed to be sure.

Since then, Zander had asked nearly every day, but still, my answer remained the same.

No.

So, I continued living with Aunt Kennedy, who was still adjusting to the idea of Zander and me. She wasn’t too pleased when I called to tell her about what happened with Allen and the entire dramatic kidnapping.

It was even worse when she rushed home to find Zander and me in bed together. We were only sleeping, but the sight of her boss snuggled up with her niece had been quite a shock.

Later that night, when I confessed that I was in love with Zander and I knew that he was in love with me, she gave me her blessing. I’d never been more than relieved and couldn’t hold back the happy tears when they rushed from my eyes.

These days, she was spending much of her time in Mesa with my mom. After thirty days in rehab, Aunt Kennedy moved her into the better part of town and was helping her while she got back on her feet.

I was planning a trip to see them in the upcoming weeks.

Kade had also returned from New York, but unfortunately, his reasons for returning had less to do with my drama and more to do with his sick father.

He had received a call only hours after Kennedy left New York and was told his father had fallen ill and things weren’t looking good.

Kade and his family had a falling out because they disagreed on how he lived his life. A wealthy family like his wasn’t too happy to have a casino owner on their family tree. They were also worried about how Kade would spend the millions he would inherit once his father passed away.

It was a big mess.

Then again, it usually was when money was involved.

Two days after Kade got the call, his father died. Thankfully, he made peace with his dad before he passed.

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