Page 47 of Burn Bag (Owens Protective Services #31)

“No. I was on my way back to the city to deal with my father—” My throat closed up unexpectedly and I had to take a minute to deal with the torrent of emotions that rarely hit me anymore.

“My father and I had a very complicated relationship. I walked away from him when I was eighteen and refused to speak to him until recently. He was basically holding information ransom from my boss.”

“And that’s why you agreed to go back to work for your dad.”

I nodded. “I thought he was being his shitty self when I headed back to the city. But it turns out it wasn’t him. He agreed to meet me at a bar, and I was finally getting through to him.”

“About what?”

I couldn’t stand to think back to that conversation.

I was so fucking close to finally getting my dad back.

I could feel it. “He was about to tell me some important information, and then—I didn’t even hear the bullet pierce the window.

I just saw the light go out of his eyes as he fell to the ground. ”

I heard her gasp, but couldn’t look at her. I was stuck in that moment, reliving it again and again. “He was gone so fast, and I never…we never made things right between us. I thought for sure that was our breakthrough, but…”

“Shit,” she whispered, her hand tightening on mine.

“I had the funeral for him, and I stood there over his casket after they lowered it, and I saw a glint in the distance. Just enough to fucking know things were about to go to shit. The bullet hit my neck and I fell into his grave. It was fucking morbid as hell.”

I felt her fingers on my neck and flinched slightly, still caught up in the memories. “That’s what this is,” she murmured.

“I was fucking lucky to have lived. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars for the guys who had my back that day.”

I saw her blink back tears just before she laid her head on my chest, and then I felt them drip from her cheek onto my heated skin.

“Who was it?” she whispered. “Did they catch whoever shot you?”

I swallowed hard at the memory. “He’s still out there, but the threat is neutralized. For now.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, pushing up on her elbow. “He’ll come back? Is he still after you? ”

How the fuck did I even explain something like that to her without going into detail? There was too much shit going on to fill her in without scaring the piss out of her.

Cupping her cheek, I brushed my thumb across her soft skin. “If I ask you to trust me, will you?”

I could see the battle in her eyes. Frankly, after what I just told her about Isla, I wasn’t surprised the answer would be no. But then she surprised me. “Yes.”

“I swear, if anything ever comes of it, I will tell you everything. I already fucked up one relationship with lies. That won’t happen with you. Not ever.”

“Thank you.”

I surged up, pressing my lips to hers in a heated kiss. Rolling her to her back, I pressed my body between her legs, ready to take her again, when I felt something touch my foot and jerked in response, my whole body shriveling up in terror.

“The snake is on the bed,” I whispered.

“Maybe we should…”

“Good idea.”

After a very terrifying two hours alone with the snake and my wife, we decided to drive him to the zoo. I wasn’t sure they would take him, but after many tears from my wife, they agreed to take him on the condition that he passed some test for snakes to see if he had some disease.

I pretty much blocked out everything they said after We’ll take him .

“Thank you,” I said as we got back in the truck.

“For what?”

“For getting rid of the snake.”

Leaning against the window, she smiled at me. “Did you really think I would choose the snake over you?”

“No, but you would have convinced me to keep the snake in my house, and that’s more terrifying than anything else. ”

Still smiling, she twirled her hair around her finger as we left the zoo. I couldn’t stop looking over at her, which was fucking distracting on a good day, but downright dangerous since we were driving.

“You should really stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Smiling. Looking so fucking beautiful. You’ve already been in one accident this year. I don’t think we should try for a second.”

“I didn’t realize sitting here was a distraction.”

“Baby, anywhere you go, you’re a distraction.”

I thought about all the shit Edu said and realized if I was going to have an actual marriage with my wife, we had to clear up a few things. “So, you said you have enough money to never have to work.”

“Yes,” she smiled.

“How did that happen?”

“Why? Are you planning on stealing it from me?”

Her teasing didn’t lessen her appeal. If anything, it only made her more attractive. “Well, I wouldn’t consider it stealing as much as payback for taking in all those cats.”

“You love those cats.”

“I do,” I chuckled. “Never thought I would say that.”

She sighed, shifting in her seat. “It’s really my parents’ money. They put it in a trust for me when I turned twenty-one, but I don’t use it.”

“Why not?”

“Because they set it aside, hoping I would follow in their footsteps.”

“Which is what?”

“They’re archaeologists. Which isn’t exactly a lucrative career. But my dad came from money, and they invested a lot and all the things that you should do with money. And since they don’t really care about money, they live off what they earn and they left the rest to me.”

“That brings up another point. You said you went to school for archaeology. Why aren’t you out there digging up dinosaurs or something?”

“Well, I wanted to, but I got distracted. ”

“By what?”

“Life? Animals. See, I have two passions. If you haven’t noticed, I seem to be somewhat of an animal activist.”

I winced, thinking about how I made her drop the snake off at the zoo. Many people thought zoos were inhumane.

“My latest rescue is what brought me out here.”

That drew my attention. “Your latest rescue? Why did you?—”

“The kittens.” She sighed heavily, turning to face me. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

Fuck, I always hated it when people said shit like that. “Well, I sort of…rescued the kittens from a man who was going to take them on an expedition.”

“An expedition,” I repeated.

“Yes. He…he’s this nut job I met through my archaeological circles. He’s one of those weirdos who believes that cats are protectors of the underworld.”

My skin chilled at her words, remembering a time I spent with a cat to protect myself from a very Egyptian curse. God, I didn’t even want to ask.

“And why would he need all those cats for protection?”

She shrugged. “Anyway, I couldn’t let those kittens be subjected to a life of forever protecting some creepy man. So, I stole them. Let’s just say he was not happy with me. I barely escaped and?—”

“And what?” I asked, feeling the anger rise inside me.

“And that’s why I came out here to marry you. I needed to get away from the crazy man before he came after me for theft. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know who I am, but?—”

I yanked the truck to the side of the road and shifted into park as Daphne barely hung on. When I turned to her, I felt all my protective instincts flaring to life at the idea that my wife had run for her life over cats.

“You really shouldn’t frown like that. Didn’t your mother ever tell you your face would freeze like that?”

I wasn’t at all impressed with her joke. “You ran away from a man who might harm you, and you didn’t think it was important to tell your husband—who happens to be skilled in protection and knocking the crap out of people— that you could be in danger?”

She frowned like she hadn’t been expecting me to be angry over this. Over the fact that my wife could potentially be in danger. When the fuck was she going to learn that I was her husband and I wanted to take care of her?

“Well—”

“Daphne, I am your husband. These are things you’re supposed to tell me. How the fuck am I supposed to protect you if you don’t let me know there could be danger?”

“I didn’t think I was actually in danger,” she countered. “I mean, really, it’s not like he’s going to follow me across state lines to steal his kittens back. He’ll just get new kittens!”

“That’s beside the fucking point!” I snapped. “I’m your husband. You’re supposed to fucking talk to me!”

“Like you do?” she countered.

“What exactly are you saying?” I asked, my voice narrowing.

“I’m saying that you did this whole dating app thing because the woman you really wanted to marry ran off with another man, and you couldn’t handle that.

I’m just a second choice.” But then she laughed humorlessly.

“I’m not your second choice. Emily was, but she chickened out. I’m the choice you never wanted.”

“Don’t ever fucking say that,” I snarled.

I undid her belt and tugged her across the console, settling her across my lap.

Fuck, having her sit astride me like this was not smart when we were sitting on the side of the road and all I could think about was burying my cock inside her and showing her just how much I fucking wanted her.

“Bradley—”

“You are not my second or third choice. You’re the woman who wormed her way into my life and fucked everything up.”

She fucking rolled her eyes at me. “Gee, thanks?—”

“Do you think I had some epic love with Isla? She was my childhood friend who I thought I was in love with. But it turned out, I didn’t really know what the fuck I was doing. It was obsession and…it was all wrong. I can see that now. ”

It was clear as fucking day that I never really had anything with Isla.

We were wrong from the start, and since I’d realized that, I hadn’t even really thought about her.

The only thing I could focus on was finding the woman I was meant to be with, and she was sitting right the fuck in front of me now with tears in her eyes.

She bit her lip, blinking back the tears. “But she’s so possessive of you.”

“That’s her fucking problem.” I slid my hand around the nape of her neck, gripping her hair in my hand.

“Daphne, whatever she said to you, that’s on her.

She doesn’t fucking speak for me, and her bullshit does not have a place in our lives.

We may not have the most conventional relationship, but it’s fucking real.

I knew it from the moment you first cried. ”

Her brows pinched in confusion. “You?—”

I shook my head, not feeling even an ounce of terror at what I was about to admit. That was how I knew it was real. “Your tears fucking shred me. I can’t even be mad at you when you cry, and that’s something you’ll most likely use against me for the rest of our lives, but there it is,” I teased.

“I would give anything to make sure that you never cry again. Hell, when you crashed my truck, I actually said it was my fault because I just wanted to make you stop crying.”

She laughed, her tears shining brighter, but more beautiful. I brushed my thumb across her cheek, wiping them away.

“You are by far the most chaotic woman I’ve ever met, but I’ve never been happier than when I’m in the hospital with cat scratches to my balls. Or a kick to the balls because you thought I was an alien intruder. Or?—”

She pressed her fingers to my lips, shaking her head in laughter. “I think we can stop listing all the times you’ve ended up in the hospital because of me.”

“I’d do it a million more times,” I admitted.

“Even when I bring snakes home?”

“Even then,” I grudgingly admitted. “My life is never boring with you. ”

“I could try.”

“Don’t even fucking think about it,” I grinned. “I’m perfectly happy with my chaotic life.”

“And your cats,” she added.

Rolling my eyes, I had to agree with her. “Fine, yes. I love the cats, alright?”

“I just wanted to hear you say it again,” she grinned, leaning in to press her lips to mine, but she stopped at the last second. “Um…there’s probably one more thing I should tell you.”

I steeled myself for whatever she was about to say. She secretly had a pet rat. A parakeet was hiding in the downstairs bedroom. Hell, she’d gotten together with Fox and expanded the kitten army to include rhinos.

“Okay, I’m ready. Hit me,” I said, blowing out a breath.

“Um…my parents…I haven’t exactly told them yet about you.”

I released a breath on a chuckle. “Okay, that was not what I was expecting. Baby, I can deal with parents.”

“Well…the thing is, my mom raised me to be this independent woman, and she’s not exactly going to understand why I chose to marry someone and settle down in Kansas. And she definitely won’t understand how we met.”

“It’ll be fine. We’ll work it out.”

But before I could lean in to kiss her, she pressed a hand to my chest. “And one last thing…”

I held my breath.

“I think I love you.”

A grin split my lips as I yanked her to me. “I think I love you, too.”