Epilogue
The moonlight was bright on the waves. My elbows sank into the wooden railing of the balcony. I looked over my shoulder into the room. Emily slept. Her naked body wrapped in a sheet.
It was after midnight. The bungalows were quiet on this part of the beach.
I had given her paradise today. I didn’t know what I could give her tomorrow.
There was a weight on my chest. Pushing into my lungs and pressing on my heart. I had brought her with me because the thought of leaving her behind was enough to cripple me.
It wasn’t an option.
I looked for the moment. I searched for the night I didn’t dream about her. I begged for the morning I didn’t wake up missing her. They never came. They never fucking showed up.
I turned my back on the ocean and watched her sleep from a distance. I was in love with every damn thing about her. The soft lines of her body. The silkiness of her golden hair. The light in her laugh. The brilliance of her mind. The sadness in her eyes when she talked about her family. The entire fucking package. That girl had me on my knees the first night. And she hadn’t let up. Not once.
Walking away from her had been the hardest thing I had ever done. I would take a knife to my chest before I ever faced that again.
I had convinced myself she was the job. The mark. If I got some distance from her, the infection would heal. But it didn’t. It grew until all I could picture was her. I closed my eyes and I saw her hover over me. I remembered what it felt like to fuck her. The sexy sounds she moaned in my ear. What it felt like to be the kind of man she wanted. To see how she saw me in her eyes.
How she felt under my hands. Under my body. Her hand in mine. The moments she was wild. The minutes she was tender and vulnerable. She trusted me.
I took a step from the porch. The white curtains flapped in the breeze when I crossed into the room.
There was a price. There was always a price with Blackwing. I had given Emily my soul, but they owned it.
She wanted a life together. For now we had that. But those Thanksgivings she dreamed about. Kids. Whatever else was going on in that smart and pretty head of hers—well, I couldn’t give her a timeline. I couldn’t promise any of it. This might be the best I had to offer her.
And that scared the shit out of me. Was this going to be enough?
The covers moved. Her eyes opened.
“Everything ok?” she whispered.
I strolled to the bed. “Yeah. Checking out the moon. It’s full.”
“Really?” She edged up. The sheet fell from her shoulder, exposing her breast.
I growled. She killed me. She made me feel drunk. Unsteady. Out of control.
I pounced on the bed. Emily squealed.
I pinned her hands over her head. “Ever been fucked under the moonlight?”
She shook her head. “I hope I’m about to.”
I dragged my lips over hers. Our tongues twisted. I wanted to tie her up now and make love to her. The kind of love that was rough and primal. Searing my body into hers. I wanted her so fucking badly.
“Bed or balcony?” I asked, wagging my eyebrows.
“But people could see us.” I saw the alarm in her eyes.
“I don’t think so.” I kissed her throat. “Your choice.” There was a wide hedge of tropical plants and flowers. Someone would have to go out of their way to see what was happening on the porch.
“Balcony.” She breathed.
I grinned. She was perfect. I lifted her into my arms. I hated that she was smaller than when I left. I knew it was my fault. The hollow lines on her stomach. The bones on her hips. But I’d love her back whole. I would take care of her. And I’d never leave.
My mouth covered hers. I couldn’t get enough. I never would.
I wasn’t built to love. I wasn’t that kind of man. I didn’t get attached. I didn’t make memories and relish moments. I was never that man.
Until I met Emily Charles.
I spun her in my arms, so that her hands were planted on the railing.
Her back rubbed against my chest, while I stroked her breasts. Her nipples hardened at my touch.
“Ohh,” she moaned.
I couldn’t take it. She drove me wild.
My hands slid over her back, pushing her forward, hiking her hips toward me. I pushed my cock between her legs. As she jutted her ass higher I slid into her heat, wanting to bury myself inside her. Needing her warmth. Craving her pussy. She clenched and tugged around me.
I pumped hard. Drove into her. She called my name with ragged breaths.
“Vaughn, tell me,” she begged.
And that’s who I was. I was Vaughn Hunter to her. That was the man she loved. The one she needed. I would be him.
“I love you,” I moaned. “I love you, Em.”
“Oh, God.” She rocked into me so I plunged deep to her core. “I love you too.”
We scaled a sexual peak in record time. My spine gripped with tension just as I released inside her. She screamed my name as her own orgasm hit.
“Fuck, Em. Fucking insane,” I groaned.
I held her while her body jolted with pleasure. Bursts of electric sensation.
Her forehead rested on the railing, but I scooped her in my arms and carried her back to bed.
I kissed her as she nuzzled against my chest.
“There’s your moonlight sex,” I joked. I felt drunk off her. Drunk enough to fuck her again. All night. Every night.
“We have to leave tomorrow?” she asked. “I like the islands.”
“We can come back.”
“When?” She propped up on her elbows.
“Depends on how long the France job takes. And if there is one right after. I’ll bring you back, though.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. I knew she was thinking of another question. She never had only one.
“If you don’t like it will you tell them no?”
I exhaled. “It’s not like that. I don’t make those kind of calls.”
“But shouldn’t you? What if it threatens someone’s life? What if it threatens a country?”
“Slow down.”
She was up on her knees. “I can’t help but think about the defense contracts you stole. Who did they go to?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“How could you not ask?”
I sat up. “I’m a soldier. I was trained to take orders. That’s part of my DNA.”
“And I’m an attorney. I was trained to be curious. To pursue the truth. To ask questions.”
“And I’d like to add you’re excellent at it.”
Her lips were pouty. “Vaughn. This is serious.”
“I can’t be more serious. You and Blackwing have nothing to do with each other. Nothing. You aren’t going to get involved with my assignments. No questions. No moral compass shit. Do you understand?”
“But Blackwing knows about me?”
I nodded. “They do.” I wished like hell they didn’t. “And that’s where things end. Stay out of this, Em. If it helps go back to pretending I’m in investments. I’ll have a new identity in France anyway. A new career you can bug me about. But not this one. Not Blackwing.”
“Have you thought about leaving?”
“Emily.” My voice was stern.
“You have millions, right? Why can’t we just disappear? Maybe here on the island? I like it here.” She curled her hands around my torso. I felt the fire from her touch.
The danger we were in was mine to bear. The deal I had made.
“Babe, we need to get some sleep. We have to fly to France tomorrow.” I leaned up to kiss her. “You’ll see how things work. I’m going to take care of all it.”
She lowered herself to my chest. “Your heart is beating so fast,” she whispered.
I stroked her hair. “Moonlight sex,” I lied.
I swore I wouldn’t keep secrets from her. I promised I would answer her questions whenever she asked. But there was a limit. A limit that Blackwing had given me.
I never wanted to lose her again. It would break us both.
The only thing that could tear us apart was keeping her safe. Because there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make sure Emily always had tomorrow. Nothing.
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Enjoyed Resist? Read on for a bonus novel, Turn Over.