TORMENTED_ Jani Kay - Jani Kay Page 0,84

me as a knee-jerk reaction because she was grateful I’d saved her, there had to be something there that would help us through this crisis. She’d said she loved me, and I simply had to believe that it was enough.

I took a few steps forward and held out my hand. She placed hers in mine as she stepped into the plane, her breathing still jagged from running.

Unable to resist, I pulled her into a hug. I wanted to shield her from looking to the back of the plane, but mostly I just needed to feel her against me. Both our bodies trembled as we clung to one another for a few moments.

“Please take your seats. We’ve got to take off in the next five minutes.” Savage’s voice boomed through the cabin and brought me back to reality.

Pulling Eva into a front row seat, I helped her buckle in. Her cheeks were flushed, her hands shaking, and her breathing still erratic.

“Just breathe, Eva. Just breathe.”

She closed her eyes and took a few long, slow breaths. I buckled myself in and leaned over to cover her hands in her lap with mine.

“It’s okay, baby. You’re safe, I promise. All the boys are here to protect you. In six hours, we’ll be back home and we’ll put all of this behind us.”

She laced her fingers through mine and squeezed. “Thank you.” Her voice choked. “For everything.”

“Baby, if you meant what you said back there in the room, I’m the luckiest man alive. I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

She turned her head and gave me a small smile. “I meant every word. I love you, Harrison.”

“I love you too, Eva. I can’t wait to finally make you my wife.”

She flinched. “We need to talk.”

This wasn’t the place to launch into a full-scale discussion because I already knew what was on her mind, but the least I could do was to let her understand that my love for her was strong enough to overcome anything that came our way.

“We’re going to be okay. Nothing will change my mind about how much I love you. I want you to understand that, baby. And I mean nothing.”

She sucked in a breath, reading my eyes to find meaning in their depths.

We sat staring into one another’s eyes for the longest time, just drinking one another in. It calmed my soul like nothing else could. The love we beamed at one another was both healing and cathartic. I could do this all day.

“Close your eyes, sweetheart, and try to sleep for a while. I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

The smile I got as a reward blew me away. She snuggled closer and lay her head against my shoulder. Seconds later, her breathing evened out and she was sleeping.

It gave me time to think. One thing about flying I’d learned was that since I was stuck for several hours, I might as well settle in and use the time to think through things I normally didn’t have time for.

What surprised me most was how my mind kept wandering back to the Scorpio Stinger MC and the people in it. Never had I seen a tighter bunch of guys, willing to lay down their lives for one another. Such a deep sense of brotherhood wasn’t something I was accustomed to and truth be told, I really liked the idea of such a strong band of brothers working toward a mutual outcome more and more.

Lucas Savage and Dirty Harry were the only two people I worked with who I trusted with my life. Given that I’d been in my line of work for more than a decade, that was a sad state of affairs.

White-collar crime was on the increase. People who were supposed to be the salt-of-the-earth types, the people we were supposed to trust to do the right thing, were revealed as skimming off the very people who depended on them.

Disillusion and disappointment roiled through my gut. I’d been so blinded by my own prejudice that I couldn’t see the real bad guys for what they were.

Until Senator Nolan fucking Parker. I’d actually voted for the prick before I got to know him as Eva’s ex-fiancé. Go figure. I would’ve liked to believe that I wasn’t a fool or taken in easily by appearances, but the man certainly had me duped.

I’d been harsh on bikers since Amy and my friends were mowed down in a crossfire shoot-out, but I was beginning to come to terms with the fact that