With Every Breath (Slow Burn #4) - Maya Banks Page 0,106

man was hers.

She was loose and limber, completely sated and content. Her eyelids were slowly closing as she surrendered once again to the lure of sleep when the peel of Wade’s cell phone startled her, making her flinch.

Wade came instantly awake, rotating to his other side to reach down and snag his phone.

“Sterling,” he said shortly.

There was a pause as Wade listened to whatever the other person was saying and then Wade’s next words froze her to the bone.

“No. He’s mine. Sit on him. Do not let him out of your sight, and make sure he goes nowhere until I get there. My men will remain here to protect Eliza. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and then swiveled, turning to look at Eliza. She saw the inevitable in his eyes. She’d only heard his side of the conversation, but it was clear what was about to happen. She pushed herself up to her knees, staring at him pleadingly, her heart in her throat.

“Please don’t go, Wade. Don’t do this. Not for me. Let’s just leave. He can’t control me anymore. He is no threat to me. Let’s just go. I’ll go anywhere you want, do anything you ask. I don’t want to lose you,” she said brokenly.

“Come here,” he said quietly.

She scrambled over the bed, launching herself into his arms, clinging desperately to his neck, biting into her lip to staunch the scream that echoed over and over in her heart. He pulled her into his lap and then turned so he was perched on the edge of the mattress, his feet planted on the floor.

He cupped her face and kissed her hard. Fierce. His tongue tangling wildly with hers until his chest heaved from lack of oxygen. Then he pulled away, cradling her face in his hands as he stared intently into her eyes.

“Baby, I can’t let it go,” he said gently. “I’ll never breathe easy if he’s alive and out there. I’ll never allow a threat to you to exist. He damaged you. He hurt you. He made you doubt yourself. For that alone he dies. He took something from you and I’ll be damned if he ever takes you from me. I have to do this, Eliza. I need you to understand that. You know who I am, the kind of man I am. You’ve accepted that part of me that I hope to God never touches you. And after this, nothing ever will. You did what you had to do. I didn’t like it but I understood. It was important to you. Baby, this is everything to me and this is something I have to do. Don’t make me choose between loving and protecting you with my every breath or losing you anyway because you can’t forgive what I have to do.”

She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his, emitting a sigh she knew he would recognize as her acquiescence.

“I love you,” she whispered. “Promise me you’ll come back to me. Swear it, Wade. I can’t lose you. Not when I’ve finally found myself and a man who knows every ugly secret I have and loves me anyway. How can I not do the same for you? Swear to me this doesn’t touch you, doesn’t lead back to you or implicate you in any way because I will not let you take the fall for me,” she said fiercely. “I swear to you, Wade, if this falls back on you I will make a full confession and I will plead guilty and swear under oath that I was the one who killed him.”

Wade’s eyes went soft with so much love that she felt shattered. He stroked her cheek and kissed her lovingly.

“Baby, I don’t say this to freak you out, and after this, I will never talk about anything like this with you again because you’re going to live free and you’re going to live in the light, never in the shadows and I’ll break my back to make you happy and to make sure you live free and in the sun. But I am good at what I do. Not saying I’m proud and I’m not bragging. It just is. I’ve done a lot of shit in my life, shit I will never share with you and I hope that doesn’t hurt you but this is me protecting you and busting my ass to make you happy every day. I