Rock Me Deeper (Licks of Leather #5) - Jenna Jacob Page 0,67

could form a single word or attempt to string a coherent sentence together myself.

“Amazing,” I whispered, proud of my one-word achievement.

“You’ve always been amazing, angel. It’s just one of the thousands of reasons I love you.”

I love you?

My heart sputtered as butterflies dipped and swooped in my belly.

He still loves me.

After everything I’d said, all the guilt and hurt I’d lobbed at him in LA?

After stealing his money and running away?

After getting him shot, postponing his tour, and forcing him and his friends to hide out in the middle of Texas…he actually still loved me?

All those nights I’d sat alone in that jail cell convincing myself I hated Syd, deep down, I’d known it was a lie. Known my anger was born of sadness, rejection, and fear, because I’d never stopped loving him either.

Time had been powerless to diminish a love that was real and true.

The kind of love that Syd and I once shared was still alive…very much alive.

Tears of happiness and redemption stung my eyes.

I lifted my head and cupped his cheeks.

“I love you, too,” I whispered as I pressed my lips to his and kissed him with all the love, longing, and passion I’d locked away for far too long.

Syd cinched a hand in my hair before deepening our unbreakable connection and claimed my heart, mind, body, and soul.

Chapter 17

Syd

When the words I love you slid off my tongue that afternoon in bed, I’d held my breath, terrified of Caris’s reaction. But when she repeated those three little words with such fierce devotion, I’d come alive again…more alive than I’d been in forever.

We’d spent the rest of that day and night in bed, making love, laughing, and talking, building a bridge that spanned the years we’d been apart. Redeemed ourselves without accusations, apologies, or guilt.

The days bled into weeks, but I was grateful for each hour I spent with Caris. We were growing closer, closer than we’d been as kids. My shoulder had healed enough that I could play the bass again. We’d even recorded three new songs for our next album. But more importantly, I could make love to Caris now any way I wanted.

The only obstacle between us was the future.

I didn’t know if she still believed our lives wouldn’t mesh beyond the snow globe of perfection we’d found at the lodge or if she planned to return to Diamond City once the threat of Zattman had been resolved. I was afraid to ask. Afraid my world would be kicked out from under me.

Instead, I basked in Caris’s love, laughter, and wicked body while the elephant in the room got bigger, fatter, and more oppressive. But I knew I had to start asking questions soon. It was getting harder and harder to sidestep the enormous beast.

Mind churning for solutions to my dilemma, I watched the sun sink toward the horizon as I sat on the front porch, drinking beer with the guys. Dustin was riding his red and yellow Big Wheel on the driveway while the girls were inside helping Lucia prepare dinner.

The aromas wafting through the screen door were making my mouth water. I could hear Quinn talking on the phone in the living room, accompanied by the soft tap of Ava’s fingers across her laptop. Aside from a couple of flights to and from Chicago—under McCoy’s imposing presence—the couple seemed to have adjusted to working remotely.

“How much longer you think it’ll take the FBI to find that fucknut?” Ross asked in a voice low enough that Dustin couldn’t hear the colorful slur.

A few nights ago, at our evening update, Quinn informed us that Carl Zattman had failed to show for his pre-trial hearing. The judge didn’t hesitate and seized the prick’s mansion. But when the DA submitted evidence that Zattman had liquidated all his assets and fled the state, the judge issued a federal warrant for his arrest.

The bastard had vanished, like a fart in the wind.

I foolishly hoped he was sitting on the beach of some tropical island, sipping mai tais, and wasting his money on hookers. But Zattman wasn’t magnanimous enough to pay for play. He was a malevolent cancer who fed off the pain and suffering of innocent women before disposing of their bodies.

The scar on my shoulder was proof enough the monster was vengeful. And a constant churning in my gut told me Zattman wasn’t going to disappear without exacting his revenge on Caris first.

“No clue,” I replied, glancing up at Tony, perched on a tree stand in a