Surrender

“Is that even possible?” I didn’t want to give the hope a place to live, but it was swelling in my chest. Wrapping around my heart. Making it pump faster and harder.

“We?

?re going to do this together. And I’m going to marry you. We’re going to have a house full of kids. And a dog. I’ll buy you five dogs if you want. We are going to be so damn ordinary.”

I laughed. “Really?”

He cupped the side of my face. “Really.”

He tasted like the wine. Our mouths crashed in hungry force. As if we were fighting to stay alive. Fighting for each other. Fighting for that beautiful future he promised me. His tongue twisted and turned, drawing purrs from my throat. I could see the dream he painted. Living somewhere in the European countryside. There was a garden and dogs running in the yard. And I was pregnant with Vaughn’s baby. There was even a picket fence in the yard like I had seen on so many of the houses here. We didn’t care about Blackwing anymore or running from investigators. We didn’t live with shadows overhead or around the corner. All we cared about was the family we were making and the life ahead of us.

He rubbed the side of my cheek. “Is that what you want, Em?”

“God, yes. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

He kissed me again before offering a hand to lift me from the bench.

He pressed his lips to my temple. “I never wanted it before. But I want it now. I want it with you. I want to have the most boring ordinary life with you.”

I laughed. “Boring? I don’t see how five dogs and three babies could ever be boring.”

He tipped my chin forward, catching my mouth with his. “I’ve never wanted boring so badly.”

“Me either.” I breathed.

He slung an arm around my shoulder as we headed back to the apartment.

“Everything has to stay normal inside,” he warned. “Keep talking about everything we usually do. Don’t change your schedule or any of your habits. Eloise will notice.”

“I don’t like that she knows so much about us.”

“I don’t either.”

We waited for a car to roll past so we could cross the street to our building.

“One last thing.” He stopped in front of the giant doors.

“What’s that?”

“I think you’re going to have to get that code from Aubrey.”

“What?”

He brought his finger to his lips. “At least let Eloise believe you are. We’ll work it out. You can fail. But she needs to believe you are trying. It will buy us some time while I build the door.”

“How do I let her know?” My head was trying to figure out how to organize all the information.

He huffed. “Don’t worry. She’ll be back in touch. Maybe even tomorrow. She’s not the kind of woman who is going to let what you did slide.”

“God, she’s horrible.”

“Yeah, well, she’s made a reputation for herself by being the best in the company. She has a way of motivating people.”

“Motivating? That’s a lovely way to put it.” I rolled my eyes.

“I’m switching our phones again tomorrow,” he explained. “But I’m adding a second phone. Not a Blackwing phone. You can’t call me on it in the apartment, but you can text me. Just don’t forget to use the first one like you always have. The activity needs to look consistent and normal.”

“Blackwing monitors our phones?” I eked. I thought about the sexy texts. The private messages. The plans we had made.