and closed a few cabinets until he found a package of shortbread cookies. Once the tea kettle was whistling, he pulled it off the flame. He then grabbed a couple large handle coffee mugs, tossed in a couple tea bags, and filled them with water.
I watched his every move loving that when he didn’t know what to do, he diverted to finding a way to comfort those he cared for. He steeped each tea bag and then tossed them into the trash before reaching for the honey and a bottle of Jameson. After giving each cup a couple shots of Irish whiskey and two squeezes of honey, he grabbed the cups in each hand, the cookie package tucked up under his arm.
“Here, baby. This should help warm you up.” He handed me a steaming mug and set his on the coffee table along with the package of cookies.
“Tea and cookies,” I whispered, my eyes filling with tears as I looked at the man that I’d come to cherish above all others.
“Isn’t that what your mother makes when things are tits up?” He looked at me over the rim of his cup. “Except I added a little oomph with the whiskey. Figured we’d need it after today.”
I smiled sadly and sipped my tea letting the warmth soothe my rattled nerves before I set down my cup and put my hand to his knee.
“I know you don’t want me to apologize for everything that’s happened, but I can’t help but think that all of this insanity is the last thing you need in your life.”
Killian sighed, set down his mug, and took both of my hands. “Addison, the day we met is the day I started living again. It wasn’t just your beauty, your gorgeous body, or even the fact that I could see my own sadness in your eyes. It was the fact that I knew in that moment you were meant to be mine. Meant to be part of this new life I was going to start living. One where I let go of old demons. Lived the life my brothers in arms didn’t get the chance to. You’re my second chance at happiness. And there is nothing that will prevent me from doing everything within my power to ensure I get that second chance.”
I closed my eyes and let the tears fall. “It’s so dangerous to be with me.”
He cupped my cheek. “Addison, it’s more dangerous being without you. The time that you’ve been here, making love to you, waking up to your smiling face in the morning…it’s why every soldier fights the good fight. To make the people we love safe.”
“Are you saying you love me?”
“Baby, I fell in love with you the very second I saw your face for the first time through the lens of my camera.”
His honesty tore through my chest. “I love you too,” I croaked as a sob ripped from my lungs. Killian scooped me up and into his lap. Against his powerful chest I cried, letting the newest fear and struggle seep out of me.
The door opened and the guys strolled through. I sniffed and wiped my tears away with my shirt sleeve and shifted until I was thigh-to-thigh with my man.
He took my hand, lifted it, and kissed my fingers. “We will continue this conversation in private. Not letting what you just said slip by without giving it my full attention. Which will mean me and you, alone in our bed. Got me?”
I smiled through my sniffles. “Okay, baby.”
He leaned over and kissed my temple, wrapping his long arm around my back to keep me close.
“You guys realize we can’t have you staying here alone, right?” Ryan announced, and my heart sank.
At this point there was nowhere I could go. Nowhere my family could run that would keep them all safe. He’d taken pictures of my niece. A child. An innocent little girl.
“What do we do?” I asked.
Jonah and Ryan each took chairs opposite the couch. Jonah stretched his knees out, bent over, and rested his elbows on them, clasping his hands together as he looked at us.
“We have a couple options. You go into witness protection and we put you in a safe house, or we up security for all of you. With my face and Simone’s in that picture on the wall, it’s going to be hard enough to keep my ass on this case.”
“They would take you off it?” Killian’s shock was not hidden in the least.