“I don’t know if my heart is any fonder because of our time apart. I mean, it was already as fond as it could be, but it sure as fuck made my dick harder.” I pushed up off of her and lowered my face to hers so I could kiss her smiling mouth.
“I like you in the suit, Benny. You look good but maybe next time you can take it off, though I do like the tie. You can leave that on.” She used her hold on it to pull herself into a sitting position and then she slid down the front of my body so she could tug me in the direction of her bedroom. I’d found it when I picked the lock earlier and went looking for my watch. I couldn’t believe she’d left it under her pillow where anyone could walk off with it.
If I had been her, in her shoes, I would have hocked the damn thing and moved to a better neighborhood. She was moving; she just didn’t know it yet.
“Well, I got a new job so I have to dress the part.” I let her lead me like a puppy toward the bedroom, watching the sway of her ass and the dimples at the base of her spine like I hadn’t just been buried inside of her as deep as I could go.
She looked over her shoulder at me and lifted an eyebrow. “You got a new job?”
I nodded and reached out to wind one of her curls around my finger. “Yeah. Turns out I’m really good at getting into the places where the bad guys who pretend to be good guys do business. Those guys need problems solved even more than the guys who don’t bother to hide how bad they are.”
She scowled at me but I held up my hands in surrender before she could lay into me about going back to my old ways. “I’ve got a new handler with the Marshals. He seems like a decent enough guy and he found you for me when I asked. I told him I would be happy to be an informant for him if he needed me to be. I’m not good at many things but I am good at knowing who has the power and the lengths they will go to keep it. I can get in places they can’t and I already have a sleazy, shitty history that those entitled money men will never question.”
Her eyes got big but she didn’t protest when I tumbled her to the bed. She started tugging on my tie and working on the buttons on my shirt. “You’re going after the wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
I nodded. “I am, but those wolves are more like house pets. They don’t stand a chance against a guy like me. I figure it won’t hurt to earn some karmic brownie points now that I have a reason to behave. I had a good run working for the bad guys; might as well see if I can make a difference working for the right side.”
“It sounds dangerous, even for the Big Bad Wolf.” She pushed my shirt off my shoulders and let out a gasp when she saw the kaleidoscope of bruises on my side where my ribs were still healing.
“Being under Novak’s thumb was dangerous. Getting locked up was dangerous. Making a deal with the devil was dangerous. Being stranded with no reason to live in the woods was dangerous. Selling out rich CEOs and crooked government officials is going to be a walk in the park. Besides, I have you to come home to and I promise I will do my best to never let you down.” I cupped her face in my hands and gave her a kiss that had every promise I intended to keep within it. “You’ve lost enough, Echo.”
She nodded solemnly, and I noticed a sheen of moisture in her pretty eyes. “Good thing you’re hard to kill, Benny.”
“I had a purpose for sticking around, Pop-Tart. I just didn’t know that reason was you until you came crashing into my life.” I kissed her and told her with one hundred percent honesty, “That was the best night of my life.”
She made a choking sound and pulled me down by my neck so she could bury her face in the side of my throat. “It was the worst night of my life, but you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
That night she’d had vengeance in her heart and wanted to avenge her sister so that she didn’t have to deal with her grief and pain. I tried to show her that the best way to honor the memory of those she’s loved and lost was to live the best life she could. She deserved forgiveness for her past sins and she deserved acceptance and happiness moving forward. She deserved a man who would fight for her, and fight against her when she tried to run.
I was going to give her the best life I could.
Everything I used to take for myself, I was going to give to her.
I was going to make my second chance count because I knew deep down into my bones that this was the one and only shot I was ever going to get at loving and being loved.
Good thing I got it right on the first try.
The End……….