Page 223 of Sinful Like Us

I shake my head. “No.” I keep shaking my head, upset at what I’ve done. “You always say that you’re being unfair to me somehow, but tonight, I feel like…” I swallow a rock, my bloodshot eyes on fire and filling. “I feel like I threw you to the fucking wolves, and you deserved better.” I blink and tears track down my face, slipping off my jaw.

Jane quickly sets the cup on a tray table, and I watch her walk to the corner of the room. She drags over a stepstool and climbs up. A foot taller, she reaches my exact height.

I breathe stronger.

We’re eye for eye, and her small hands brush the wet lines off my face, before staying still on my jaw. “I’ve fallen madly in love withyou.” Her powerful blue eyes flood with tears, and I hold her wet cheek while she says, “And theyouthat I know is all unwavering strength and resilience and South Philly grit—and every day, you risk your life for me and for other people who needyourstrength and resilience and grit.”

I almost shake my head again because I still feel like I let her down.

Gently, I place my hand on the top of her beating heart, and I stare deep into her tearful gaze. “You’re my duty. My heart, and you come first.”

“You think you put me second or third tonight?” She frowns. “You didn’t, Thatcher. I was safe.” She clutches my jaw stronger. “Your entire life is built on service to others. I don’t want different. I don’t need different. I need you exactly as you are, just as you’ve loved me as exactly as I am.”

It crashes against me. There are no words.

I wipe her face; she wipes mine.

And in this moment, I let go of the seven-ton guiltI was ready to bear. Our breaths come heavy, and then I just bring her lips to mine. Her fingers coil around my hair while I deepen the kiss. Sensual and slow, eking out emotion that strings me to her and her to me.

* * *

We break apartwhen SFO spills into my hospital room. They all ask how I’m doing, and I tell them, “I’m good.” Coffees are passed around.

Toothpick between his teeth, Banks comes closer, and we share a look that says,you’re my brother. I love you.It’s simple and silent.

We’ve never needed to say much for the other to understand.

Heaviness leaves, and as Banks passes, he yanks down my pants and spanks my bare ass. “Looking good, Cinderella.”

A shadow of a smile plays at my mouth.

Half the room laughs. Flush creeps on Jane’s neck, trying not to look at my dick, and after I raise my pants loosely on my waist, she smooths her lips together and braves a glance at my crotch.

Standing next to her, I whisper, “It’s yours.”

She heats. “Forever?”

“Forever,” I confirm.

Jane sips her coffee, smiling. “I like it up here.” She’s still on the stepstool, surveying SFO bodyguards and Maximoff as they gather around. “You and Banks have a nice view.”

My lip wants to lift.

Mood is light, but tense as the room quiets and everyone glances to each other.

We’ve experienced a lot of shit as a team and with our clients, but a fire that took down a whole house—that’s new terrain we just crossed together.

Akara steps into the middle. He snaps his fingers to his palm. “We have a lot to cover.” He’s including Jane and Maximoff in this impromptu security meeting. “First, I’m opening the floor for questions.”

I have one. “Any word on the cause of the fire?”

“Electrical?” Donnelly leans on the bathroom door.

“It’s an old house,” Oscar agrees, eating a mini-can of Pringles. “Kitchen appliance could’ve blown a fuse.”

Quinn slouches forward on a chair. “Why didn’t the fire alarm go off?”

Maximoff is rigid and stares hard at the ground, and everyone goes quiet. That question hit a nerve. I should’ve rechecked the alarm too.