Up in Smoke - Tessa Bailey Page 0,106

looking down at Connor meaningfully. “You never had a weapon, Bannon. I fired the shots.”

Connor shook his head, a frown marring his brow. “I’ll face the consequences of my own actions. I don’t need you to shield me.”

Derek climbed a few more feet and glanced back over his shoulder. “Who’s going to shield me when they find out where you got the weapon?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “A man died on my watch and I’ll own up to it. Frankly, taking credit for this one won’t keep me awake at night.” Erin watched silent communication pass between the two men. Connor’s expression was a struggle between reluctance and gratefulness. Derek’s was firm. “I’ll see you both at work next week. Don’t be late.”

Erin took Connor’s hand and started to follow the captain, but he pulled her back. “Wait until they cover his body up. I don’t ever want you to look at me…and see that.”

“I could never.” She glided back into the water, wrapping her legs around his waist. They both let out a shaky breath when his hands molded to her backside and drew her closer. “I only see one thing when I look at you. I saw it the first day. I see it now. Hope. You made me hope.”

“You don’t have to hope anymore, Erin,” he whispered at her lips. “Hope implies you might not get what you want.” Their tongues mingled in a kiss. “If I’m what you want, hope is futile, because I couldn’t belong to you any more completely than I already do.”

Heart overflowing, she laughed through happy tears. “If that’s a challenge, I accept.”

Epilogue

One month later

Connor bent Erin back over the kitchen counter and swirled his tongue inside the hollow of her neck. She tossed her head on a gasp, pushing her breasts up for his attention. Jesus. What he wouldn’t give to pull the top of her strapless yellow dress down and suck his fill. Of course, he couldn’t, because they were at a fucking barbecue and one of fifty people could walk into the kitchen at any minute.

“Remind me again why we’re out of bed on a Sunday?”

Erin rubbed the arch of her bare foot over the curve of his calf, giving him no choice but to rock his hips against her. She slipped her foot even higher in response, teasing the back of his thigh. “The captain just closed on this house and we’re christening the backyard with grilled meat and beer.”

“Right.” Fuck, she smelled good. “Not a good enough reason for you to be wearing clothes.”

“You either,” she breathed, tugging his head down to fuse their lips together. It only took one slide of her damp mouth for him to deepen the contact with a groan. Getting as close as possible to her was always a requirement. As was his habit, he let his hands wander to the hem of her dress, curling his fingers into the soft material. At this point, he would usually draw it up to her waist to give himself access to the sweet flesh beneath, but he was hindered by their surroundings. He rubbed the hem up and down on the outside of her thighs instead, chafing the skin and making her sag against him as he devoured her mouth.

She still favored her combat boots and crop tops, but two weeks ago, his mother had taken her shopping and created a monster. She’d come home with dresses and high heels and painfully sexy underwear he seriously hoped his mother hadn’t picked out, trying on all of her purchases for him with an enthusiasm that had stolen his ability to speak. Watching her blossom within a friendship with his mother made him so goddam happy, he hadn’t found a way to put it into words just yet. Erin never had to be anything but her beautiful, unique self, and they’d found an unlikely kindred spirit in each other. They’d both encountered difficulties in their past to come out on the other side with their spirits intact.

When Erin started to move against him in that way that signaled the point of no return, he pressed their foreheads together and let her draw oxygen. “You look so innocent in this dress. It’s making me crazy.” Difficult as it was, he forced himself to draw back the desire she stoked in him. It only got stronger by the day. The minute. “We’ll have some fun with that later. Won’t we?”

“I might have my middle name