Page 104 of The Retaliation You Deliver

“No. I’ve got something I need to do. I won’t be long though.”

“You haven’t changed your mind already, have you?” It’s meant to be a joke, but I hear the insecurity in her voice.

Reaching out, I wrap my hand around the back of her neck.

“About you? Never, baby.” I brush my lips over hers. My need to deepen the kiss and take exactly what I need is almost all-consuming, but I somehow manage to pull back. “You trust me?”

She hesitates for a second and my stomach sinks even after everything I’ve told her, all the darkest secrets that I’ve confided in her that she still doesn’t.

“Yeah,” she finally says. “I do.”

“Thirty minutes,” I repeat, kissing the tip of her nose and waiting for her to get out.

The second she closed the door, I hit the gas and peel out of the parking lot.

I’ve just given myself one serious time limit to get what I need done.

* * *

I’m late getting back and I fucking hate myself for it.

I fly into the parking lot already planning my grovelling speech to get back on her good side.

Thankfully, the second I spot movement over by the building, everything in me relaxes as she stands from the wall she was sitting against.

“I’m so sorry,” I say, rushing over to her. “I got held up.”

She stares at me, her face impassive but I can tell from the set of her shoulders that she’s annoyed.

“It’s okay,” she says, pushing from the wall and moving to walk around me.

“No, it’s not. But I couldn’t find what I wanted. They’d moved it.”

Her eyes narrow on me and despite telling myself that I’d wait until we were back in my room, I pull one of her gifts from my pocket.

“What’s this?” she asks, looking down at the box in my hand.

“Open it. Find out.”

Placing her overnight bag against the wall, she hesitantly takes it from me.

“It’s not a bomb, Mace.”

“I-I know. It’s just… no one’s ever…” She trails off but she doesn’t need to say the words for me to know what was coming next.

“I thought as much. That’s why I wanted to get you something.”

Her eyes are full of unshed tears when she looks up at me.

“Who are you and what have you done with my wicked Leon?” she jokes, trying to push aside the magnitude of the moment.

“He’s still here, baby. Unlike most people, you just get both sides.”

Heat colors her cheeks and spreads down to her chest.

Nudging her hand, I encourage her to open it.

It’s not much really, just something I saw when I was out one day that made me think of her. The way she’s acting, anyone would think there’s an engagement ring inside or something crazy.