Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(76)

He rolled her over and settled between her legs. Her arms were around his neck. For a long moment, he just stared into her eyes. “Do you know how lucky we are?”

Her eyes widened. “You can’t mean that. If we were lucky, we’d never have been torn apart to begin with.”

“We found each other again. We get this do-over. How many people do you know who’ve survived a tragedy and gotten a second chance?”

“Owen?”

“Hmmm?”

“How am I going to make a life for myself?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer that. Did she want a life away from him? “Any way you want to.”

“I’m dead to the world.”

“We’ll fix that.”

“I haven’t paid taxes my entire adult life. I haven’t had a job and can’t get one without any work history. I have no credit. I’m an invisible woman.”

“All of that can be repaired, reversed, fixed. That’s the easy stuff. Being without you was the hard stuff. I’ll help you.”

“My boys need vaccinations. I have no idea how ready Augie is for school. Even Troy, for that matter.”

Owen smiled at her, feeling a little thrill that she was talking to him like a valued friend. “Wynn can do those assessments. Doc Beck can administer the vaccines.” He kissed her. “The real world is very demanding and very real, but it isn’t an issue at this exact moment. Right now, it’s just you and me. The rest will take care of itself…and you can be sure we’ll face it together.”

Those assurances didn’t ease the tension in her face. “Without a job, I can’t pay for any of that.”

“Your job has been surviving. You’re a rock star at that. For the rest, I have money. What I have, all of it, it’s yours, you know.”

“I want my own,” she said. “I need my own.”

“Okay. When it’s safe for you to go out in the world, you can take any job you want. And what your job doesn’t cover, I will. I don’t want you stressing over something I have plenty of, you understand? Stress and you aren’t friends right now.”

She frowned. “I need to be on equal footing with you.”

He shook his head. “Won’t ever happen. I will never be equal to you. You are so much more than me. Smarter, kinder, stronger.”

“But money is power.”

“Maybe, to an asshole like Edwards. But to me, money is just money. A means to an end. A tool. Nothing more or less.” He sighed. Running his thumb over her jaw, he asked, “If I promise that we’ll work it out so that you’re satisfied, even happy, can we let this go for now? Will you trust me?”

“I’m trying to trust. It isn’t something I’ve had much experience with.”

Owen smiled. “I’ll take it.” He kissed her. “Ready to sleep?”

“Sleep?”

“Yeah. You know. We turn out the lights, close our eyes, quit worrying. You start to snore.”

She punched his shoulder. “You don’t want sex?”

“I do. Desperately. But you’ve spent a lifetime having it taken from you. I don’t want that between us. I want you to come to me when you’re ready. Until then, I can take all the cold showers I need to.”

“Can I still sleep here?”

“I don’t want you sleeping anywhere else. Is Troy okay?”

“He slept in his own room before we came here. He’ll be fine. He’s even closer to me in this room than he was at the other house.”



Much later, in dark of the night, Owen heard his door open. He rolled over, tensing. The guys always knocked if they needed him in the middle of the night. No alarms were going off; no dogs were barking. Still, the hairs lifted on his neck when a little shadow walked over to the bed…dragging his blanket.

Troy.

The boy looked at him, then went around the bed to Addy. Owen rolled back over to watch them.

“Mom, I had a bad dream,” he whispered.

Addy lifted the covers to let him in. She tried to keep him next to her, but that didn’t work. “No. I want to be in the middle.” He climbed over her and got between them.

Owen tried not to grin.

“We can’t disturb Owen,” Addy whispered, easing her hand over the side of Troy’s face. “Be still. Go to sleep.”

Troy held himself as still as he could, but it wasn’t for very long. “Mom, I got to say something.” She didn’t answer him. Owen wondered if she’d gone back to sleep. “Mom. Mom. Mom.”

Owen grinned. If this was normal, how the fuck did any parent ever get any sleep?

“Shhh,” Addy said. “Honey, we’ll talk in the morning.”

“It can’t wait.”

“Then what is it?”

“I think we should keep Owen.”

Owen wrapped his arm around Troy and pulled him close. “I agree. Now be quiet.” He looked over at Addy and smiled, knowing she could see him in the dark.





24





Owen leaned against the corner of the bathroom in Addy’s room, watching her tuck her son in. It had been another long day spent trying to find Augie, Edwards, and Jafaar. Greer and Max had been monitoring Deputy Jerry’s communications. Owen knew something was going to break loose shortly…he just hoped they were ready for it.