Page 144 of Beautiful Revenge

I smile. “Then it’s official. You’ll visit Winslet. My new mission in life is to make you fall in love. You’ll never want to leave. If I have to emotionally blackmail you, I will.”

Jett turns his frowned gaze at Devon. “You must be a glutton for punishment if you signed up for this.”

Devon presses his lips to the top of my head. “It’s the other way around, mate. She signed up for me. There’s not a moment I take that for granted. I consider myself her broody ball and chain at this point.”

“Don’t listen to him,” I say. “He’s a softie at heart. A real marshmallow.”

Devon gives me a warning squeeze. “If you call me a marshmallow again...”

My smile swells into a grin, and I turn to Jett. “See? Total softie—as long as you’re not creating havoc in the world or selling state secrets.”

Jett finally relents. “Looks like I’m taking my first vacation in over a decade.”

“Tell me when you’d like to travel. I’ll send a plane. A jet for Jett.”

“This will be a whole new experience,” Jett says.

I pull out of Devon’s hold and force my new brother to accept the hug I’ve wanted to give him since he opened the door to us hours ago. He’s reluctant but finally reciprocates.

Tears threaten again, and my voice is thick with emotion. “Thank you. We’ll go from there. I can’t wait to move forward and have you in my life.”

His muscled arms tighten around me. “For so many reasons, me too, Harlow. Me too.”

After we say our goodbyes, Devon and I walk hand in hand silently to the car. I quicken my pace and struggle to keep my feelings in check. Devon barely has the chance to close the passenger door of our rental before I completely lose it.

As with so many other things since he entered my life, he knows exactly what I need. Without a word, he puts the car in drive and reaches over to wrap a possessive hand on my thigh, but he gives me the silence I need.

We zip through Iowa cornfields to make the thirty-minute trek back to the tiny airstrip that was closest to the town where Jett lives. This is where he grew up with his grandmother. He said nothing is holding him here, he just didn’t have anywhere else to go when he got out of the Army.

We’re almost to the airstrip when Devon finally breaks the silence. I’m surprised he’s given me this long to sit quietly in my feelings. “Do I even need to ask what you’re going to do, or am I correct in assuming that you’re dead set on saving the day?”

I blow my nose and wipe the tears from my face. These aren’t eloquent tears. I’m all out ugly crying. “Why would you even ask me that?”

Devon exhales as his hold on me tightens. “Baby?—”

“You can’t talk me out of it. I have to. If I don’t, I’ll never forgive myself. I have to know.”

He takes the final turn and pulls into the tiny parking lot. The Stonebridge Capital plane looks out of place waiting on the short runway. Devon turns to me with a pained expression and cups my face. “But what if?—”

I rest my hand over his and don’t let him finish that thought. “You know the answer to that. I have to do this.”

His eyes narrow, and his jaw goes tight, but he doesn’t try to change my mind. He grasps my face in both hands and pulls me to him. His kiss is deep and possessive and laced with pained emotion for reasons very different.

When he finally breaks the kiss, he rests his forehead against mine. “We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it.”

“Yes,” I agree. “But if I do get to cross that bridge, there won’t be a question, Devon. You know that.”

He kisses me one more time, gently and slowly, savoring it. “I know, baby. I know. Forever the philanthropist. I wouldn’t expect anything different.”

“Thank you. I mean it with all my heart. Thank you for always being what I need.”

His gaze drags heavy over every feature of my face like he’s memorizing me. “Let’s go home, baby. The future will play out the way it’s supposed to be. Let me have you in the present.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

THE DONNELLYS

Devon