by Meghan March
With that declaration, he pushes inside, and there’s no hope of me staying silent. His name falls from my lips and echoes in the warehouse.
“Yes!”
He’s buried to the hilt, and my nails dig into his shoulders as he begins to pull back.
“Not yet.” There’s something I need to say to him before I lose my mind with pleasure.
Because I’ve never needed a man to feel complete, but I can’t argue how strong and beautiful I feel with Kane. I could have lived without him, but I never want to. And that, I believe, makes all the difference in the world.
His gaze finds mine.
“I love you too,” I tell him, and it’s as if a wave of relief washes over his body.
He glances up toward the metal beams above us. “Thank God.”
When he meets my gaze again, I see everything he feels for me reflected in his blue eyes.
“I need you.”
My words unleash a category five hurricane. Kane is a force of nature as he pulls back before pounding into me, over and over, finding my clit and wringing orgasm after orgasm from me.
He won’t stop, even though I’m not sure I can handle another climax. But he doesn’t slow. He doesn’t relent.
My screams echo in the warehouse as I take everything he gives me, and give back just as much.
When he roars and I shatter one last time, I know the truth.
I’m never letting him go. No matter what.
Kane is mine.
20
Kane
Contentment is a feeling that has eluded me my entire life. I’ve lived in solitude, never truly connecting with another human being.
I’ve never needed company or companionship to keep myself entertained. All it took was a quick trip to the club to watch a scene and get off, or maybe find a stranger for the night that I would never think about again after I walked out the door.
With Temperance, everything has been different from the beginning.
I didn’t know I could want or need someone so badly. In the past, I would have worried about whether having a woman of my own could be turned into a weakness that could be exploited. But watching Mount and Keira has shown me that the right woman can make a man even stronger. Even more purposeful and deadly. Because there are no lengths to which he won’t go to protect her.
Regardless of what happens next, we will be fine.
It’s with that thought I doze off in my bed, my limbs tangled with Temperance’s.
We’re on top of the world. Not a damn thing or person can come between us.
Or so I think until I wake again.
The side of Temperance’s face is pressed to my chest and she shifts, opening her eyes.
“Give me a couple hours, and I’ll have the strength to go get your stuff from your apartment and move it here,” I say as I absently stroke her hair.
She stills. “What?”
“Your stuff. You’re moving in. The warehouse is yours, anyway. Might as well use it. Plus, it has everything you need to work, and I’ll get you anything else you want.”
She rolls off my chest and props herself up on an elbow. Her dark eyes look too serious.
“What’s wrong?”
“We need to talk about a few things first.”
“Like?”
“The fact that I don’t want to move out of my apartment again so you can keep me locked away from the world until you deem the threat has been eliminated.”
My thoughts had been exactly that. “I won’t compromise on your safety. You can’t expect me to.”
“Then I guess you’re moving in with me, because I’ve decided that I’m going to live for real this time, which means not being shut away from the world.”
Fuck. Of course she would want that, and I’m not going to stand in her way . . . but with one stipulation.
“I can’t move in with you. What will your friends think? The guy who killed your brother and came back from the dead? That’s not going to happen.”
“First, did I ask you to move in with me?” She tilts her head.
“Temperance—”
She interrupts me with a laugh and a smile. “I’m kidding. I am asking you to move in with me, and you don’t have to worry about the rest.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t tell anyone anything.”
I blink at her several times. “What?”
The humor fades from her eyes. “I wasn’t exactly functioning, and even if I had been, I wasn’t going to tell everyone how stupid I’d been. Keira said she didn’t know who you were. So, I assume that means only Mount does, which means . . . you can move in with me. You can have a life outside the shadows too, Kane.”
The realization stuns me.
A life outside the shadows. That’s not something I’ve ever tried. Keeping to myself was always the easiest solution, and everything else presented too many problems to deal with.
But for Temperance, I would find a way to solve every single one of them. I wouldn’t have to watch her live, I could do it with her. It was like someone handed me the keys to a kingdom I never contemplated entering before.
“Okay.” The word sounds rough, but so are my emotions.
She smiles. “You can also have the warehouse back. And the cars. I don’t want them.”
I think of how I watched her start for the gas can in her anger and pain. “You were going to burn it down.”
She nods. “So let’s agree that you need to take it all back.”
“If lighting this entire place up was going to make you feel better for even a second, I would’ve let you.”
Her smile disappears. “It wouldn’t have made me feel any better. Probably worse.”
“I know, princess. That’s why I stopped you.”
Her eyebrows go up. “Not because you wanted to save the cars?”
“They don’t mean a damn thing compared to you.”
Her face softens, and she leans against me once more.
“How about I make you a deal? I keep the cars here, and you and I both work here. But when you’re done, we go back to your apartment at night.”
Temperance’s eyes go wide. “You’d do that?”
“Mount’s the only person who knows I was the one who shot your brother. The witnesses would describe the disguise.”
“Yes. Good.”
“And even if that weren’t the case, I’d find a way to make it work. Because, apparently, you haven’t gotten the message yet that I’d do anything for you.”
She presses a kiss to my chest. “Thank you.”
“But I need you to do one thing for me.”
“What’s that?” she asks, once again finding my gaze.
“Tell me you love me again.”
When she said those words, it felt like my heart was going to explode. No one has told me they love me in over fifteen years, and to get those words from Temperance, with all the promise in her eyes, was a miracle.
“I love you, Kane . . .” Her lips flatten as she trails off.
“What?”
“I don’t know your real last name. Can I know it?”
Only two people know that Kane Savage is still alive, and giving that information to Temperance is also handing her the keys to bringing down everything I’ve built.
Considering I’d hand her a gun to put a bullet in my head if she asked, it’s not a tough question to answer.
“Savage. Kane Savage.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Seriously?”
I nod.
“Your name is Savage?”
“Formerly Sergeant Kane Savage of the United States Army.”
“That’s a good name. A strong name.”
“My father was army too. Didn’t make it home from Vietnam.”
“I’m so sorry.” Temperance’s expression turns introspective.
“Thank you.”
Her mouth moves like she’s debating how to ask another question but can’t find the right words.
“You can ask me anything.” When I say it, I’m surprised to find I mean it completely. Whatever Temperance wants to know, I’ll tell her. I’m done keeping secrets.
“How did this all start? What you do? I know that’s not part of the army sniper program. Or is it? Do you work for the government still?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Do you have somewhere to be?”
“Nowhere but with you.” That’s also the honest truth, so I start at the beginning and tell her about my past.
An hour later, Temperance is staring at me, dumbfounded. “You did this all for your mom? To keep her safe?”
I swallow the lump in my throat that always crops up whenever I think of Ma. I’ve kept close tabs on her over the years through the one person I trust who knows I’m alive—Jeremiah Prather, the owner of Bulletproof, and the one who probably saved my life by calling Mount in—but it’s not the same.
“If you want to get down to it, yes. I loved being a soldier. It was a good life. I loved it. Gave me purpose and a cause. Knowing that I was doing what I did for the greater good. I didn’t care that I could make a better living by pulling the trigger for different reasons.”
She cuddles into my side. “Do you wish you were still in the army? That you’d never walked this path?”
I tighten my arm around her and stroke her arm. “No. Because then I wouldn’t have you.”
21
Temperance
I’m still full of warmth and happiness the next afternoon when we finally make our way back to my apartment. As I lock my Bronco, I realize I haven’t exactly prepared him for my eccentric landlady.
“Shit,” I whisper.
“What?” Kane asks.
“I have a landlady. She’s . . . different. To say the least. She doesn’t know much, but she knows I met a guy at the club, so we need a plan for how to introduce you. Who you want me to introduce you as.”
“Use the name we did at the distillery. I used it with enough people that it’s the smartest choice.”
“So you’re going to be Ken Sax to everyone we meet?”
Something dark passes over Kane’s features, and I wonder if he’s thinking about how his stepfather’s actions and his reactions to them stole not just his life from him, but essentially took his entire identity. It must be incredibly hard to never use your real name, so I’m doubly glad he trusted me enough to tell me. He will always be Kane Savage to me, and no one else, regardless of what I need to call him in public.
“For now.”
I want to ask what his answer means, but decide this isn’t the time or the place. As we walk toward the gate that leads from the sidewalk into the courtyard, questions form in my brain.
Is Kane going to try to reclaim his life? His stepfather is dead, but he never said what happened to his dirty DA of a stepuncle or the crooked sheriff.
I’ll save those questions for later.
When we stop in front of the gate and I fish out my keys, I glance over at the small sculpture Kane’s holding that I made this morning for Harriet. It’s a small thank-you for her constant support—not only over the last month, but for as long as I’ve known her.
I think she’s going to like the man and woman I welded together in what is undoubtedly an erotic pose. Anyone else might think this piece is inappropriate to give a seventy-something-year-old woman, but Harriet is special.
Although, now that I think about it, I’m a little terrified what kind of conversation this piece is going to evoke with having Kane there. I’m used to Harriet’s outspoken nature, but Kane . . .
“I really do need to warn you—”
“Temperance? Is that you, darling?” Harriet calls from the courtyard, her voice carrying through the brick pathway leading into it.
And . . . my chance for warnings is over.
“Yes. I brought a friend with me.”
I add that last bit because one of the few times I brought my brother here, Harriet was skinny-dipping in the small splash pool and had to quickly grab a robe after Rafe and I both saw things we’ll never be able to forget. And then we had the body painting she was doing more recently . . . and before both of those times, there was a gentleman friend I once saw way too much of.
“Don’t worry. I’m decent. Mostly.”
With the gate clanging behind us, we walk into the courtyard. Harriet is wearing a lemon-yellow silk caftan, and it’s clear she’s gotten out of the pool recently.
“How was your swim?” I ask.
“Lovely, but not nearly as lovely as this man with you. A gift for me? He’s quite delicious,” Harriet says.
I choke on the spit in my mouth, sputtering, but Kane is way ahead of me.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am, and while Temperance does have a gift for you, I’m not it. She’s the only woman for me.”
Harriet presses a hand to her chest like she might swoon, and I grip my purse tighter because I might too.
“Oh, I like you. Come closer.”
Kane steps toward her, and Harriet shows no shame as she inspects him from head to toe.
“Yes, I approve.” She looks to me. “Temperance, where did you find this fine man? Did you put him on your bucket list? If so, I need to go get a piece of paper and put in an order with the universe, because I’ve not yet had the pleasure of so much muscle and ink and rawr.”
I’m slightly mortified by Harriet’s claw-like motion and lioness roar, but Kane’s laughter booms in the courtyard.
“Thank you, ma’am. I’m sure the universe will be happy to grant your wish.”
“Now, where’s this present you mentioned?” Harriet asks, her gaze landing on the sculpture in Kane’s hands. “Is that it? Did you finally make me one? I’m not above begging shamelessly because I’ve been dying to beg, but didn’t want to pressure you. I should’ve pressured you. If that’s not mine, I will beg.” Harriet’s tone gets more insistent with each word, and I want to kick myself for not making something for her sooner.
I take it from Kane and hold it out to her. “Of course it’s yours. Long overdue, I know.”
She takes it from my hands and holds it like it’s a priceless piece of art, and I hope someday it will be.
“It’s beautiful.” Her tone is hushed as she turns it, inspecting all the small, intricate pieces I welded together to form the bodies. “Absolutely breathtaking. I’ll treasure it, as soon as I get done rubbing it in the face of all my friends that I have a Temperance Ransom original.”
A Temperance Ransom original. That doesn’t sound too bad. Actually, it sounds freaking incredible, and that’s before Harriet keeps talking.
“One of my friends snapped up one of the pieces you sold through Noble Art, and she’s been rubbing it in all of our faces. I wanted to tell you, but you weren’t ready to hear it. Now you are.” She pins me with a wise stare. “Go make some more, because you’re going to make a damned fortune, girl.”
“I will,” I say, blinking back the stray tears burning behind my eyes.
“How did your boss take it when you told her you were quitting?” Harriet’s tone is conversational as she sets the sculpture on the table next to her glass of wine. Her question assumes I’ve done the thing I haven’t quite worked up to doing.
“Uh, I haven’t actually quit yet.”
Beside me, Kane squeezes my hand.
“What are you waiting for?”
“Guts?”
Harriet laughs. “Girl, you’ve got more guts than anyone I’ve ever met. Now, take your man upstairs and try not to break the bed or fall through the floor. But tomorrow, you go tell that boss of yours that she needs to replace you on a permanent basis.”
It might sound like Harriet is giving me orders, but she’s only reinforcing what I already know I need to do next. It’s time. I decided that when I was at Noble Art.
Lord, was that only two days ago? It feels like a lifetime. Maybe because my entire life has changed since then. I’m no longer alone i
n the world, fighting feelings of guilt, grief, and betrayal.
Now I have the man I love beside me, his promise to never keep secrets from me again, and my brother is somewhere working to end this and get back home to where I can slap him upside the head and then hug him.
Even with the little bit of fear I still have churning in my gut about Rafe hunting down a human trafficker, I feel better than I have in over a month.
All because of the man beside me.
Am I crazy to put so much faith in him so quickly? I refuse to think so. I see the way Kane looks at me. With everyone else, he might hide his truth, but he’s letting it shine with me.
He loves me, and he’s going to keep the promise he made.
There are certain things you just know.
We leave Harriet after twenty minutes of listening to her incredible stories and make our way up to my apartment. I forgot how small it is until Kane is looming over me, filling the tiny space with not only his body but his presence.
I glance at him. “We need a bigger bed, don’t we?”
22
Kane
Temperance and I are both introspective as she drives to Seven Sinners, fighting morning rush-hour traffic in the Bronco. The passenger seat isn’t my normal spot, but Temperance needs to feel in control of her life. After everything I threw at her, I understand why she needs it, and I can give that to her. Hell, I’d give her anything. My blood. A kidney. An arm.
She’s already got my heart, and I never want it back.
I love you hasn’t exactly been part of my vocabulary in a long time. I’ve only said it to one other woman on the planet, and she doesn’t even know I’m alive.
These past few weeks, after my second “death,” I’ve thought a lot about Ma, and how much I’d like to see her again up close and not through binoculars or in pictures taken by Jeremiah. I’d like to tell her she still has a son. She’s not alone. That I love her, and the only reason I disappeared was for her. To give her a chance at a happy life, even if it didn’t include me.