He turned to the man in the hallway and the relief was evident in his eyes as he said, “How’d you know? Thank God.”
“It was something I discovered a few days ago. I found a plane ticket to Florida in Peaches’ name but Roger didn’t know anything about her taking time off from The Rusty Chain. Then, I caught Peaches and Monica talking after you’d left. Didn’t seem right. When I saw them hustle your girl into a car, I knew I had to follow and see what they were up to. Although, damn, I never pegged Peaches for a traitor.”
“Me either,” Bronx said, genuinely disappointed. He’d liked Peaches.
“Are they…dead?” Delainey managed to ask, trying to avoid looking at the blood slowly oozing onto the dingy carpet.
“Yeah,” Bronx answered, untying Delainey’s hands before going over to check the bodies. To the man he asked, “What happened?”
“I couldn’t take the shot without endangering the girl. So I waited for the right moment. Your girl provided the right distraction and I popped off Monica. Monica accidentally popped off Peaches.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked fearfully. “You just murdered someone.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Pyro said. To Bronx, he said, “Take your woman and go. I’ll clean up here.”
“You sure?”
“Go.”
Delainey sensed a deep respect between the two men but she didn’t have time to argue because Bronx was hustling her onto his bike. She hesitated, not quite sure if she ought to ride a motorcycle when she was pregnant but she realized she didn’t really have a choice. “Drive safely,” she told him sternly and he surprised her when he nodded gravely and the look in his eyes told her he wouldn’t do a thing to jeopardize their safety. She shouldn’t have been touched but she was. Until she remembered that he was a cowardly bastard who’d broken her heart and walked out of her life without so much as a fuck-you-very-much-thanks-for-the-chips-and-dip and she glared. “You may take me home but you may not stay. You hear me? We’re nothing, as you made so abundantly clear.”
He nodded and she climbed on the bike to gingerly wrap her arms around him. Goodness, that felt nice. She’d missed this. No! Do not fall victim to his charms, yet again. He’s a card-carrying asshole and proud of it, plus he almost got you killed!
In spite of her protests, Bronx insisted on walking her up to her apartment and then once she’d assured him she was safe, he ignored her and did a perimeter check inside the actual apartment, which was the size of a postage stamp so unless someone was hiding in plain sight, there really wasn’t anywhere that would work as a good ambush spot.
“You can leave now. I’m quite safe,” she told him stiffly. Her wrists ached from being tied for too long. She rubbed at the chaffed skin and he immediately went to her side to gently inspect her wounds. “I’m fine,” she told him when he lingered on the reddened skin. “You can go now.” He shocked her by bringing her wrist up to his mouth and brushing the sweetest kiss across the abraded skin. Her heart stopped and then began fluttering erratically. “Why’d you do that?” she asked, desperately wishing he was being a jerk instead of so incredibly sweet because her resolve was weakening.
“Because…” he stopped, his head hanging low as if ashamed but needing to say something before he lost his mind. “Because I thought I’d lost you.”
“You did lose me,” she reminded him softly, tears pricking her eyes. “Remember?”
He shook his head. “Every day. I remember everything. And I wish I could take it all back.”
Tears stung her eyes and she ground them out. “That woman…you slept with her?”
Here was that moment he’d dreaded since that terrible day. Time to come clean. If he were ever to earn Delainey’s trust, he’d have to be honest with her even when he knew the truth would likely kick him in the nuts. He drew a deep breath. “At one time, Monica and I were casual fuck-buddies. I never felt a thing for her. It was just…convenient. And then when I knew I’d lost you…there were a few times I messed around with Monica but trust me when I say that I couldn’t do it anymore. Tonight, before I realized she was there to fucking rob me, I told her she had to take the couch because the idea of being close to her made me want to puke.”
“I guess I can’t be hurt because we didn’t have any kind of commitment—“
He grabbed her hand and held it tightly. “Be mad,” he told her in earnest. “Rage at me if you need, too. I will take every harsh word, every tear, because you deserve far better than I could ever give you but know this…you changed me, Dee. I never knew the beauty of committing, nor did I want to, until I met you. I was fighting it, tooth and nail, because I didn’t think a woman like you would ever come into my life and then when you did…I got scared. I’m not scared anymore.”
“What if you get scared again?” she whispered.
“I have nothing to fear with you in my life,” he answered with complete honesty. “You are my rock. You are everything I ever wanted…but was too afraid to hope for. Please, Delainey…please don’t shut me out even though God knows, I fucking deserve it for everything I’ve put you through.”
The breath evaporated from her lungs and she fought to stay strong. “You don’t get to come in here and act like the hero as if you didn’t crush me. I spent weeks in my bed, unable to function. Zoe was the one who came to pull me out of my funk and that’s when I discovered I was pregnant. Zoe was the one who took me to my first doctor’s appointment. Do you hear me? Not the father of my child, but my best friend. Where were you? Why didn’t you come back? You just abandoned me.”
He had no words to defend himself apparently and he didn’t even try, which was a good thing because there was nothing he could say that would change what he’d done. But it wasn’t what he could say, but what he could do that would melt her defenses completely. He sank to his knees and gently pulled her to him, his head resting on her belly as his hand framed her hips. “I don’t deserve a second chance. I know I don’t. God help me, I’ve used up all my get-out-of-jail-free cards but I will do anything to be a good father if you’ll let me. Give me a chance to at least be a part of my child’s life in a way that my parents never gave me. I don’t want my child to ever believe that I didn’t want them.”
Oh, not fair. Tears crowded her sinuses and she sniffed them back. He glanced up with hope and longing and she wondered if she was being an emotional wreck because of the hormonal overload from the pregnancy. Or it could be that you’ve had one helluva traumatic night, too. Right. Oddly, she wasn’t freaking out about the fact that she’d just witnessed two people dying right in front of her. Maybe it was because those bitches had left her tied up in a back storeroom all night and had threatened her baby. Maybe she was a little bit cutthroat after all because she felt nothing but relief that they were dead. Who knew? All she knew was that in spite of her hot words, Bronx was her Achilles heel. She couldn’t help herself, she allowed her hands to curl into his dirty blond hair, taking a moment to savor the feel of him holding her and then she heard her own voice in her head when she’d counseled Zoe. Grab your opportunity. Don’t let fear stop you.
Times would be hard. He was a felon. She was hardly a millionaire and although she made a decent living, suddenly providing for two extra people would put a strain on her budget. But those were paltry reasons to push away the man of her dreams, right?
“And what about me?” she dared to ask. “Do you want to be a part of my life, too?”
He rose and pulled her in for the deepest, most soulful kiss she’d ever experienced and she knew without needing to hear the words that he loved her. Everything he’d said before, that had been the lie. He’d always loved her and now he was ready to embrace what that meant.
“I love you, Bronx Eugene Harris. From the moment you crawled through my window in the dead of night with a bullet hole in your side, I knew you would be mine.”
She must’ve uttered the magic words. He shocked her when he hoisted her in his arms with a grunt and a
promise in his eyes that made her bones shiver. “You really should raise your standards,” he advised in a low tone and she answered by tweaking his nipple hard. He chuckled with sultry promise, saying, “You shouldn’t start the engine if you’re not ready to drive.”
“Who said I’m not ready?” she countered with cheeky boldness, loving the way he manhandled her and yet held her with such care. And the fact that he was so strong! Damn, her man was like Hercules!
Her man.
Yep. She liked the sound of that.
Bronx wasn’t perfect, but neither was she. She knew in her heart that Bronx saw her for who she was and loved what he saw. That was enough in her book. Oh, and the fact that he made her toes curl until they cramped when he did that thing with his tongue on her lady parts. Yeah, she definitely liked that part.
Now, she just had to figure out a way to introduce him to her parents…