Page 24 of Echoes and Oaths (Guardian Security Dynasty #4)
"I realized," she continued, "that you became the man you needed to be. You did what you thought was right. I never want to lose you again. If you want to take us to America, we will go with you, but you still have so much work to do. Love isn’t enough sometimes. I need to be able to trust you won’t leave us again.
That you will stay beside us. It is a fear that may take years for me to get over, if I ever do. "
Her voice broke, but she pushed through.
"My uncle and cousins can take over operations here. When Raven says it’s time to go, you don’t have to worry about us. We’ll go with her. We’ll leave, so you can do what you need to do … and then you can come back to us and prove your words."
“I will spend the rest of my life proving my words. They are true. My love is true. You’ll see. I will make you see.” He swallowed hard. “We’ll be a family. Maybe someday we’ll have a girl as beautiful as you.”
Without hesitation, she crossed the porch and sank to her knees before him. "No. That can’t happen. There’s something else you need to know," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I can’t have any more children."
Jinx stiffened, the words hitting hard.
"Things went wrong after Teo was born," Eira continued. "My mother had to drive me into Maracay. I was hospitalized for three weeks after they did the surgery."
Jinx leaned forward, cupping her cheek with infinite gentleness, feeling the fine tremble in her body.
"Dear God," he breathed. "I’m so sorry." He felt as if someone had stabbed him in the gut and twisted the knife. What this woman had been through. The pain, the suffering. No wonder she didn’t trust him to stay beside her.
But he would gain her trust. He would prove he was more than an enforcer and an assassin. He was hers. Body and soul .
She leaned into his touch, her eyes swimming with pain. "Will it make any difference? In how you feel about me?"
For a moment, he was too stunned to speak. His mouth opened, then closed again. Finally, he found his voice. "Good God, no," he said fiercely. "The fact that you gave me Teo … that you gave me him …it’s a blessing beyond anything I ever deserved. I love you, Eira. Nothing will ever change that."
He leaned down, brushing a soft, reverent kiss across her lips. He wanted to crush her to him, to swear she would never hurt again. But he didn’t have that right, not yet.
When he pulled back, she looked up at him with tears streaking her face.
"Mateo … I’m afraid," she admitted, her voice raw. "I’m afraid you’ll hurt me again. But I’m willing to try. Take me inside." She grasped his arms, nails biting into his skin, anchoring herself to him. "Take me inside and show me how much you love me."
Jinx rose to his feet, pulling her up with him. He framed her face with his hands, gazing down at her as if she were the most precious thing in the world. "You don’t have to do this," he said roughly. "Not now. Not until you’re ready."
Her fingers dug deeper into his arms. "Mateo, you’re here. You’re alive. I’ve never stopped loving you. Yes, I’m afraid. Yes, I’m confused. But I know I love you more than life itself. Take me inside. Make me feel the way we used to feel. Make me feel the love you still have for me."
Jinx lifted her gently into his arms, cradling her against his chest as if she might shatter. Eira clutched the front of his shirt, holding onto him like he was her anchor in a world that had spun too fast, too violently.
Neither spoke as he carried her inside the small house. The door creaked open on its old hinges. He kicked the door shut behind him with a soft thud, sealing them off from the world.
He could see the sheen of tears still clinging to her lashes in the dim light from a single lamp near the couch.
She was so beautiful it wrecked him. He set her down carefully, but when he tried to pull away, her fingers fisted in his shirt, keeping him close.
Her gaze was wide open, vulnerable, trusting, and filled with a fierce love that hit him savagely.
Jinx cupped her face, brushing his thumb across her cheekbone. "We go as slow as you want," he murmured. "You tell me what you need, Eira."
Her answer was a whispered plea against his mouth. "Just love me. "
Jinx bent his head and captured her lips in a kiss that was both reverent and desperate, a clash of the time lost between them. Eira melted into him, her hands threading up into his hair, anchoring him to her.
His mouth moved against hers slowly, savoring the taste of her and the soft whimper she made when he deepened the kiss. He framed her face with his hands, brushing his thumbs over her heated cheeks, pouring everything he couldn’t say into how he touched her.
Eira tugged at his shirt, her fingers eager. Jinx pulled back just enough to help her, stripping the shirt over his head before tossing it aside. As she stared at him, her breath caught. She traced a finger across every scar on his chest. Each line had been etched by the life he’d led.
He caught her hands in his and kissed the tips of her fingers. "I’m here," he whispered. "I’m not going anywhere."
Her answering smile trembled, but her hands moved to the hem of her shirt, and he helped her, peeling the garment over her head. His breath hitched at her. Below him, she was bare, vulnerable, and unbelievably stunning.
Slowly, reverently, he bent his head to press kisses along her collarbone, down the slope of her breast. Eira arched into him, her body trusting him even if her heart was still stitching itself back together.
He lifted her into his arms again and carried her to the worn bed tucked into the corner of the room.
Lying her down, Jinx followed her, bracing his weight so he wouldn’t crush her. Their bodies aligned naturally, lovers and soulmates finding each other again.
For Jinx, every kiss and touch was an apology. A vow. A promise. Eira gasped his name, and he soothed her with soft words in Spanish, the language slipping out like a prayer.
" Eres mi corazón ." You are my heart.
When he finally entered her, it was slow and deep. The moment claimed their past and each other’s souls as much as their physical bodies. Eira clutched him to her, tears slipping from the corners of her eyes.
Jinx kissed them away, whispering her name over and over. They moved together, a rhythm built on old trust and new promises, neither rushing nor holding back. The past, pain, and loneliness disappeared until nothing was left but their love.
When they fell over the edge together, it wasn’t frantic or desperate. It was complete. That was the healing his body and mind had needed. He prayed it was the same for her.
Jinx collapsed beside her, gathering her against his chest, his heart thundering under her ear. She curled into him, sighing in contentment.
"I love you," she whispered.
He kissed her hair, holding her tighter.
"I love you more than life, mi alma." My soul.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, Jinx believed he might actually deserve the future shining just beyond the horizon. A future with this woman. His woman.
The night wrapped around them like a cocoon, the world outside fading into nothingness.
Eira laid curled against Jinx, her head resting over his heart, her fingers tracing slow, lazy patterns across his chest. His arm was wrapped firmly around her, anchoring her to him like he couldn’t bear to let go even for a second.
Jinx closed his eyes, breathing in her scent, her soap, warm skin, a hint of the earth, and sunshine that always seemed to cling to her.
His fingers moved slowly up and down her spine, feeling the small shivers that danced along her skin. It wasn’t cold because Venezuela’s night was thick and warm, but she pressed even closer to him, sighing contentedly.
For the first time in years, he felt still. Settled. Whole.
"You okay?" he murmured against her hair, his voice a low rumble.
Eira shifted just enough to tilt her head up and look at him. Her eyes were soft and heavy-lidded but filled with a peace he hadn’t seen in them for so long.
"I’m better than okay," she whispered. "I feel safe. I haven’t felt that in a long time."
His chest tightened painfully, and he bent his head and kissed her forehead, lingering there.
"You’ll always be safe with me, corazón," he said, the words a fierce promise.
They laid there in silence for a while. The only sounds were the faint rustling of leaves outside the open window and Teo's occasional sigh in the other room.
Jinx stared up at the rough wooden beams of the ceiling, feeling a slow, cautious hope uncurling in his chest. For so long, he’d believed he didn’t deserve happiness, that his hands were too stained and his soul too battered.
But Eira ... Eira was showing him that maybe redemption wasn’t something you earned. Maybe it was something you were given.
He tightened his hold on her, feeling her heartbeat thrum against his skin.
"I’m going to build us a life," he said quietly, almost to himself. "We will no longer just survive. I want to give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of. A real home. A future."
Eira smiled sleepily against his chest.
"We already have everything we need," she murmured. "We have each other."
Jinx swallowed hard, emotion thick in his throat. He kissed her again, softer that time, reverent.
Outside, the stars blazed like scattered diamonds across the sky. Jinx dared to let himself dream of tomorrow for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.
Sunlight spilled through the old wooden shutters, slanting in warm golden beams across the bed. The air was cooler in the early morning, fresh with the scent of damp earth and blooming bougainvillea outside the window.
Jinx woke slowly, blinking against the light, feeling the weight of Eira still nestled against him. She was sprawled across his chest, one leg tangled with his, her soft breath fanning his skin in slow, steady puffs.
For a long moment, he didn’t move. He should get up and tend to the cows, but moving might shatter the sensation he was feeling.
He just laid there, memorizing the feel of her in his arms. The steady beat of her heart.
The faint rise and fall of her chest. The way her fingers still curled lightly against his side, even in sleep.
It was everything he’d dreamed of and once believed he could never have.
When a soft giggle drifted from the doorway, Jinx turned his head just in time to see Teo standing there in his tiny pajamas, one thumb in his mouth, the other hand clutching a battered stuffed donkey by the ear.
The little boy’s eyes were wide, curious, and bright with mischief. Eira stirred against him, her lashes fluttering before she blinked herself awake. She lifted her head, following Jinx’s gaze, and smiled.
"Good morning, mi amor," she said softly to Teo.
Teo beamed, waddling toward the bed with the determined energy only toddlers possessed. Jinx sat up and reached for him, lifting him easily onto the mattress. Teo immediately flopped against Jinx's chest with a contented sigh as if that were exactly where he belonged.
Eira laughed quietly, brushing Teo’s messy curls out of his eyes.
"I think someone likes you," she teased, glancing at Jinx with a smile that melted him from the inside out.
"I … I love him," Jinx said gruffly, pressing a kiss to Teo’s head.
The three of them sat there in the soft morning light, tangled together, the world outside forgotten for a little while. Jinx let his eyes close briefly, feeling the boy’s tiny heartbeat against his chest, the familiar weight of Eira beside him.
He could have stayed like that forever.
But reality had a way of creeping in. The now rather urgent moos of the cattle carried through the window.
“I’ll go take care of them,” Jinx said as he stood and dressed.
"Breakfast will be ready when you come back," she said softly, a knowing look in her eyes.
He smiled faintly and nodded.
Together, Eira and Teo climbed out of bed. Eira padded into the kitchen, barefoot and beautiful in the oversized shirt she’d thrown on, with Teo bouncing happily in her arms as Jinx followed but veered out the front door to do the morning chores.
When he returned, she’d dressed, and Teo wore fresh shorts and a T-shirt. He was playing on the floor when Eira handed Jinx a battered mug, their fingers brushing, and for a moment, their eyes met, and a smile passing between them.
No matter what came next, they were in it together.
Teo giggled, climbing onto one of the chairs and banging his fists on the table in excitement. Eira laughed and set out his breakfast, a few eggs, and some bread. It was simple, rustic, and absolutely perfect.
Jinx took a long sip of coffee, watching her move around the kitchen, Teo babbling happily. He’d fought wars. Walked through hell itself. And yet this … this messy, imperfect, beautiful morning was the hardest and most important battle he’d ever won.
Family.
Home.
It was reality. Yes, there was a storm in their future. One that he would win because, for the first time, he wasn’t just fighting for his company or the good of humanity. Now, he was fighting to return to his family.