Texas Hold 'Em (Smokin' ACES) - By Kay David Page 0,82
his arms, folded them around her, and held on so tight he found it hard to breathe. “I can’t believe you did this for me.”
“I was willing to give up my identity and pretty much everything else in return for keeping her—and you—alive, until I could locate her and catch Ortega. I took too many risks. And realized I had to accept what I’d been trying to push away all along. If I really loved you as much as I knew I did, there’s one thing I couldn’t do any longer—to be dishonest with you. The only way I knew to convince you I had changed and you were getting the truth was to put my money where my mouth was. I had to let her go.”
The wind shifted and the piercing cry of a mockingbird came to them. The sound seemed out of place. Then again, maybe not. The bird didn’t have a song of its own, all it did was sing others’ tunes.
Nothing was what it seemed in West Texas, not even the animals.
He tightened his hands against her back. “I have no idea where your mother is, and I don’t want to know. All I hope is that it’s somewhere good. She deserves a second chance.” The sound of his pulse echoed in his ears. He’d faced stone-cold killers with less trepidation. “I hope you’ll give me one, too.”
She pulled back to look at him, her eyes filled with tears. He was struck by how they glistened, and he realized he’d never seen her cry before. Not in all the time they’d been together. Not even when they’d parted before.
She grabbed his hands, and suddenly his breath was trapped inside his chest. “Oh, God, Santos, I’ve made such a mess of things. I’m the one who should have realized you were only doing what you thought was right. All you’ve ever wanted was to do your job, and all I ever did was try and stop you. I was so wrong. I— I don’t know what to say.”
“‘I love you’ was good enough.” He grinned. “You can’t top that.” He looked down at their entangled fingers, his heart thumping faster than he thought was possible. “But I’d really appreciate if you let me stay in Rio County and finish what I came here to do.”
“Of course, I’ll let you do that. I love you, too. Too much to ever to let you leave. We can’t ever let that happen again. And that’s a feeling that’s never going to change, no matter how much trouble life may throw at us in the future. No matter the arguments, no matter the troubles, no matter what. All that counts is we found each other again. You’re staying here, even if I have to arrest you to make it happen.”
“Even though the night we made love you said it didn’t mean anything?”
She smiled. “Maybe you’re not the only one who doesn’t always tell the truth.”
He pulled her back into his arms and held her against him, a fierce wave of love washing over him. His embrace said everything he didn’t have the words to describe, and he realized from her tremble that she understood. He cursed himself again for the conflict that had almost stolen from them the most precious thing anyone could ever have—their love. All he could do was pray that time would heal the hurt. Something told him that restoration had already begun in her heart and his.
He tightened his arms and cradled her closer. “Can you stand being known as the sheriff in love with the biker?”
“Can you stand being known as the biker who fell for the sheriff?”
“I can handle anything, as long as I know we’ll end up together when this is all over.” He covered her lips with his and kissed her over and over, leaving no question that he meant every word. “You’re right, Rose. Together is the only way we can end up because you’ve got my heart—the heart of the man I used to be, and the heart of the man I am—in your hands.”
“I’ll keep your heart safe,” she promised. With a soft smile, she brought his head down to hers and kissed him again, her hands knitting in his hair. “But when this is over, you’re not getting it back. That heart belongs to me—now and forever.”
Follow the Cowboy
The west Texas sky looked endless overhead, pinpricks of starlight decorating the vast darkness for as far as Kingston Landry could