by Addison Jane
He laughs softly as his hand moves through the water, mixing the cold with the hot. “No. We don’t run.”
“Until now.”
He shrugs. “Circumstances change.”
“People change,” I say softly, watching as he hardens his body in order to stop the inevitable cringe that’s coming.
“That they do,” he murmurs as he goes back to stirring the water.
We step into the piping hot tub. Kace first, his back to the edge of the tub, his legs open for me to step between them. The water stings as my foot slips through the bubbly water, but I welcome the burn. It reminds me that I burn for Kace, every inch of me is on fire for him as I slip down into the hot liquid. It wraps around me as I sink down, my back pressing against his front. His arms quickly sweep up my front to my breasts massaging and removing his cum from my body. My head falls back onto his shoulder enjoying his touch, as his calloused hands feel somehow like silk with the water flowing over me.
For the first time since we started running, I feel safe, like nothing can hurt us in this moment. It’s just me, Kace, and this beautiful room, together. No secrets, no operatives trying to kill us. Just us, in the light, together.
“I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you. You know that, right?”
I turn my head looking at him and smile. “I know. That’s why you’re trying so hard to protect me. I know how you feel, Kace. I feel it too. You just need to let the feelings in. There could be so much good in your world if only you’d let it in.”
He exhales and rests his forehead against mine. “I feel it. I’m just scared if I say it then everything will come crashing down. People like me, we don’t get happy ever afters.”
I smile bringing my arm up to caress his face. “Who says? Your story isn’t written by anyone but you, Kace. You choose your ending. You choose how the story goes.”
He looks into my eyes and takes a deep breath like he’s struggling with something on his mind. His jaw tenses and something clicks in his eyes. They light up and his lips turn up on one side. “Lily… I love you. I want my story to end with you.”
Without hesitation, I turn around in the tub and straddle him wrapping my arms around his neck, water splashes out all over the floor. But I don’t care, as I look deep into his eyes so he knows I’m in this with him.
“Kace Colt, I love you, too. Without question. Without hesitation. Darkness and all. My story ends with you, too.”
He smiles as his hand slams into the back of my head grasping at my hair and yanking me forward. Our lips crash together in a hungry need, searching desperately for each other. The kiss is passionate as our tongues go rogue like never before. This kiss is needy and forceful, but full of so much affection it has me practically panting with want. His free hand wraps around my back pulling my body flush against his and my nipples harden into tight buds as they press against his warm flesh.
Being with Kace is easy, effortless, when it’s just us two. Loving him is complicated, but oh so worth it. Even if I were to die tonight, knowing he loves me back has made my life complete. And even though being on the run with a government trained assassin has been… challenging and scary as hell, it’s been worth it to get to this point.
He pulls back as we both pant for breath from our frenzied kiss and rests his forehead on mine, looking into my eyes. “I mean it, Lily. I thought I’d drown in my self-loathing. Especially after what I found out from Mark, but you manage to keep me grounded. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
I smile and shake my head leaning back, the water sloshes and I sigh. “You’ll never have to find out, Kace. I’m not going anywhere.”
He nods and takes in a deep breath as his hand moves up my body to continue washing me down.
After having a long romantic soak in the tub and confessing our feelings for each other we got dressed and headed back out to the main area to continue our dinner that is now completely cold. More than likely we’ll have to scrap it and start again, even though it’s getting really quite late. But we’re both on a high and feeling good. Even though tomorrow, we’ll be out of this romantic bubble we’re in, and back to the reality of running from the SO7.
Kace is in the kitchen and I walk up behind him wrapping my arms around his back holding on to him from behind and kiss his shoulder.
“Do you think after dinner we can maybe wreck that couch a little more?” I ask.
He chuckles turning in my grip to face me and wraps his arms around me tightly. “I think that can be arranged.” He leans down kissing me as we both chuckle, then a loud screeching of tires breaks us apart. My muscles clench as Kace’s head shoots up and he looks directly at the door.
“Shit! Lily, run upstairs, now!” he yells pushing me.
My feet fail me briefly as he pushes me again.
“Go!” He moves with me ushering me toward the stairs, and I finally head that way as he runs swiftly toward the door, but it swings open making me stop in my tracks. Kace is too far to get to me and he’s too close to them to stop them from hurting him. I gasp out loud as Luca aims his gun right at Kace’s head.
I stare straight into the eyes of my best friend, my teammate, my brother. There’s venom and anger seeping from him, slowly filling the room. My hand clenches around my gun, my heart heavy with what I know is about to transpire.
“It’s over,” I say to Kace, trying to keep my voice from cracking. I notice Lily shuffling nervously out of the corner of my eye and I feel sick.
“This is my team,” Kace growls. I can see his body swaying toward Lily, his instincts to protect her growing stronger as the tense vibes fill the air.
“Not anymore.” The sounds of car tires screeching outside suddenly makes everything very real. “Time’s up. Tanner, take Lily upstairs.”
Tanner grabs Lily’s arm and the feisty blonde fights back.
“No! Kace! Please!”
“Leave her alone,” Kace snaps his gaze flickering to the woman who I know has stolen his heart. Part of me wants to be mad at her, feeling it’s because of her that we’re in this bullshit motherfucking situation. But Kace has gone after her, he’s shown a weakness and weakness gets you killed.
I raise my gun slowly. Guilt and apprehension sitting uneasily in my stomach. I almost want to sob out loud. Another man probably would. But I’m not a crier. I’ve been raised hard. It’s the reason for my humor, like a reflex to cover the hell that burns deep inside me.
The door behind me bursts open, men in dark S.W.A.T.-like clothing rushing inside. The Agency sent reinforcements.
“Kace!” Lily’s screams from upstairs are soon silenced by a single gunshot.
I see the moment the pain hits him and he lunges at me. I pull the trigger on my gun twice, the two rounds hitting their target with practiced precision. They jolt him backward and his body falls with a deafening thump to the floor. My men crowd around, all of us staring for a second at the man who brought us together.
This is not how this was meant to happen.
It didn’t have to be this way.
Tanner appears in the room, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “It’s done.”
I nod. Out of the corner of my eye I spot Axel drop a small device onto the ground and mutter, “Just found this. It’s armed, we have twenty seconds.”
My men begin ushering the team from The Agency out the door. Things may not have gone the way they were meant to, but they could fuck themselves if they thought for one second that I was going to let them have what remained of this clusterfuck.
With the room empty, I turn and jog to the door. Taking a deep breath, I throw one last glance over my shoulder. I can’t help but smirk at the now empty room.
“It’s done.”
With that, I rush out, not even bothering to close the door behind me. Just as I’m halfway down the front path, the house explodes. I drop to the ground, covering my head as pieces of wood and glass rain down around me, the heat from the blaze licking at my skin. I just
sit and stare at what was once a beautiful family style home in the middle of suburbia. A home I bought and made a safe house with Kace. My best friend, my brother, who was now gone, a ghost in the night.
Who knows what will happen from here.
The world is changing, and after the events of tonight, I’m irrevocably changed now too.
There’s a storm coming, it’s brewing, bubbling away under the surface, threatening to tear away everything we stand for.
This isn’t over yet—this shit-storm has only just begun.
Next in the Series
Coming Soon
Liberate – The Vindicated Series Book Two
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ADDISON JANE
Addison Jane is a born and bred kiwi girl with a passion for romance and writing.
When she gets the chance she enjoys the little things in life such as reading, dancing, music, and Facebook, but her world really revolves around the little girl who calls her Mum. It’s an awkward balance between alpha males and Disney princesses, but it works.
Growing up on a small farm next to the beach will always make her a country girl at heart. But since moving away to a small town close to the city, she’s discovered a dangerous love for shopping.
Writing stories has been something that’s come naturally since she was young, and with the massive support of her friends and family, she finally decided to step out of her comfort zone and share them with the world.
She enjoys bringing her books to life with strong female leads, sexy, passionate men and a rollercoaster of twists and turns that lead to the happily ever after that her readers desire.
K E OSBORN
Australian author K E Osborn was born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. With a background in graphic design and a flair for all things creative, she felt compelled to write the story brewing in her mind.
Writing gives her life purpose. It makes her feel, laugh, cry and get completely enveloped in the characters and their story lines. She feels completely at home when writing and wouldn’t consider doing anything else.