by Karin Harlow
Jax soaked it all up. If what he was saying was true, then he would be in danger she would not even be aware of. Could she live like that?
Could she be like that herself? She’d heard his words well. Heard him use the word “we,” not “I.” Was he talking of turning her, because she didn’t know—
“We’ ll take it slow, Jax.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So what are you offering me?” she asked, chin tilted challengingly.
“Life with me. Whatever kind of life you want.”
“As one of you?” she pressed.
“If that’s what you want.”
“And if I don’ t?”
He pressed his lips together, then shrugged, the casual gesture at odds with the fire in his eyes. “That choice is only yours to make, Jax. It will always be yours.”
Her thoughts were racing. Her options tempting her. And scaring her. “What if I remain mortal? What happens in fifty years?”
He smiled. “You’ ll be old.”
“And wrinkly, while you’ ll still be hot and studly.”
He laughed. “I could make love to you if you were one hundred years old.”
She slapped him. “That’s gross.”
“I’ ll change your mind. But Jax . . .” His face grew serious. “Jax, I cannot give you children.”
She shrugged. “I can live without children. I can’t live without you.”
He smoothed his hands across her face. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. We’ ll work out the details later.”
He smiled and let out a sigh of relief, then stood. Very slowly, he began to undress.
Jax sat back and, while she didn’t want to ruin the moment, she needed to tell him. “Marcus?” she quietly said.
He looked up from unbuttoning his shirt.
“Senator Rowland retired from public service. He’s taken Gracie on a world tour. They were both really torn up about Sophia.”
Marcus pulled his shirt off. “If they knew the truth about her, they would be dancing in the streets with joy.”
“She knows about you. Gracie knows she has a big brother.”
His eyes widened in stunned disbelief, and she saw the uncertainty there. “How?”
“Sophia told her after the pictures surfaced. Told her if anything happened to her and she needed help, to contact me and I would contact you.”
Marcus’s face froze to stone. “Why? She was a bitch of the highest order!”
Jax stood and walked to him. She rubbed her hands across the hard smoothness of his chest, then pressed her body against his. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.
“Because, Marcus, I think despite everything bad about Sophia Rowland, at her core she loved her daughter. And she knew you wouldn’t hurt her. That you would protect her. Even at her worst she trusted you with her most precious possession.”
She felt the hard thump of his heart against her cheek. She looked up into his eyes and saw pain, regret and resignation in them.
“At least in that she was right.”
Jax caressed his cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“So am I.” He kissed the top of her head.
Despite the weighty moment, euphoria fluttered like a wild mass of butterflies in Jax’s belly. She had her man. There was nothing else that mattered. Nothing. She chuckled and lifted him clear off the floor, and in a one-handed heave she shucked him onto the bed. He hit the mattress and looked up at her, speechless, stunned.
She laughed so hard she nearly fell to the floor. Once she gained her breath, Jax stalked to the foot of the bed. “You’ re going to pay for the last three months, Marcus Cross. And I am not nearly as forgiving as Aelia.” Jax stripped and leapt onto the bed and into Marcus’s arms.
Marcus laughed, rolling over with her in his arms. The joy of his happy laughter was music to her ears. This was the Marcus she wanted. The one she knew lived inside of the dark, angry man she had come to love.
“Show me no quarter, Jax,” he said, smiling as his lips captured hers in a long, passionate kiss.
And she didn’ t. Not then. Or the day after, or even the day after that.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR