Page 111 of These White Lies

I don’t answer right away, because the truth is—it terrifies me. Not that he’s suggesting it, but that I want it so badly. That I want to take this risk with him.

“I know you’re busy,” he continues before I can speak. His tone softens but still carries that edge that makes my insides tremble. “But you can take a little time off.”

I chew my lip, nerves knotting tight. “Will it be a problem for you? That I work so much?”

His brows lift. “Problem? No, you like working. It’s part of who you are. One of the things I like best about you.”

I swallow hard at that—like.

His hand comes up to stroke down my hair. “I’ve never done long-term, never really wanted to. My job isn’t exactly nine-to-five. If I’ve got a client, I might disappear for a night, or take off with no notice. If I were with someone who needed me around all the time… It wouldn’t work.”

“And with me?” I hold my breath waiting for his answer and feeling foolish for doing so.

His arm tightens around me, pulling me closer into his chest. “With you? I want to do whatever we need to, to make it work. It’s agoodthing you love your work as much as you do. You won’t resent me for doing mine.”

The weight I didn’t realize I’d been carrying lifts so suddenly it almost makes me dizzy. Keith had resented my hours, my ambition, every moment I wasn’t orbiting his needs.

Brady is different.

He accepts me. Respects me.

The thought makes my chest ache in the best possible way, and I burrow deeper into his shoulder, my cheek against his bare skin.

“You’re not very soft, you know,” I murmur, trying for lightness to hide how emotional I feel.

He huffs out a laugh

The crunch of tires on gravel cuts through the quiet. Headlights sweep across the yard, bright beams sliding through the windows of the house and spilling over the back porch.

Brady goes still. In one fluid motion he rises, muscles taut, his hand sliding to the gun I know is tucked into his waistband.My breath stutters, heart slamming at the sudden change in the air.

But then the car doors slam, and the unmistakable sound of my mom’s laughter carries across the yard, light and unguarded. Even at the back of the house, it reaches us.

Brady exhales, the tension easing from his shoulders, and his hand drops.

It strikes me all at once—This is the reality of his life. If it isn’t me, it will be the next client who needs saving. Even if I break free of the Lapidarists, danger will never be far if I choose a life with him. And yet, watching him there in the porch light, I feel the same bone-deep certainty I did minutes ago—this is the man I want beside me. Forever.

31

BRADY

A sharp call cuts through the haze of sleep, and for one second, I’m disoriented by the loud nature sounds outside the window. Until I realize the soft, warmth I’m wrapped around is Elizabeth. Her back is pressed tight to my chest, her hair a tangled mess against my jaw, the faintest scent of her shampoo reaching my nose.

We’re both still dressed, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling her everywhere—the curve of her hip under my hand, the heat of her lower back, the length of her thighs locked against mine.

With my eyes closed, a sense of peace washes over me. It doesn’t matter that whatever this is between us has developed fast, or that everything around us is a mess. Elizabeth fits. Like she’s supposed to be here, in my arms... in my life. I lie quietly behind her, savoring the moment.

Her breathing changes as she shifts, slow and drowsily, her ass brushing against me. My hips arch toward her on instinct, and a sultry noise lets me know she’s awake. She shifts again, more deliberate this time, then rolls to face me. Her blue eyes are still heavy with sleep, and her mouth is only inches from mine.

I kiss her. It’s so natural it happens before my brain is fully engaged. Soft at first, but when her lips part in a sigh and her tongue brushes mine, heat shoots through my veins. Her nails scrape through my hair. In the back of my mind, the thought that we are in her childhood bedroom with her parents nearby intrudes, but when her thigh presses between mine, my brain clicks off, my body fully taking over.

My hand slips beneath her shirt, meeting warm, soft skin. Her scent rises, clouding my senses, and the quiet moan in her throat shoots straight to my cock. She hooks a leg over my hip, pressing flush against me, aligning us perfectly. I’m achingly hard, and my hand grips her ass, holding her firmly as I rock into her.

“Brady.” The pleading whimper punches straight through my control, ripping a curse from my throat as every cell in my body demands I take more. Give her more.

Elizabeth’s nails skim up the back of my neck, digging in when my hand curves over the swell of one breast, my thumb finding her nipple. The quiet cry she makes as I tease the tight peak snaps what’s left of my control. Rolling her onto her back, I brace one hand beside her head, as I grind into her.

“Oh my god.” Elizabeth head tips back giving me more access, and my lips descend to suck at her pulse, visibly pounding at the base of her neck.