Raw Redemption (Crossing the Line #4)(76)

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“If we weren’t engaged, I think my mother would actually try to adopt you,” Henrik muttered into her neck as their elevator ascended to the fifth floor. When Ailish had been restless from spending far too many hours in a hospital bed, she’d made a few decisions. After having her mother’s body excavated from the backyard and given a proper burial, Ailish sold Caine’s house. She and Henrik had used some of the money to buy a two-bedroom condo near Connor and Erin’s apartment. Her very own home she could decorate herself and roam about at will. The second bedroom would be occupied by their future son or daughter, but for now, Henrik’s parents occasionally spent the night. Making up for lost time, they called it.

“I thought they were going to follow us home from dinner.” Ailish laughed. “But your father definitely caught you making slashing motions behind his back.”

Henrik lifted her off the ground, sighing in satisfaction when Ailish locked her heels around his waist. “He’ll get over it. I needed you to myself tonight.”

Her back met the elevator wall on a gasp. “I need that, too.”

When the doors rolled open, revealing the fifth-floor hallway, Henrik stepped out into the dimness, moving toward the very last door along the wall. Their home. Ailish smooshed her grinning face onto his shoulder as they walked inside, greeted by the familiar scent of gardenias, which she kept in a vase on the dining room table. Henrik’s hands slid along the outsides of her thighs, gliding beneath her dress to cup her bottom, and she forgot all about homey scents. Ailish shifted and felt his need where it grew between his thighs, eager to be planted inside her. Her limbs growing simultaneously languid and tight from arousal, Ailish dragged her teeth down the side of Henrik’s neck and listened to his growl of approval.

“You’re officially engaged to a cop after today,” Henrik said, laying Ailish out on the bed and stripping the damp panties down her legs, leaving them forgotten on the floor. “How do you feel about that?”

“I’m engaged to you, no matter what you are.” She sat up, moving to a kneeling position so she could divest Henrik of his tie and dress shirt. When the final button had been undone and the garment fell, she ran a flat palm over the fresh keyhole-shaped tattoo over his heart. The one that corresponded to the shape of her necklace perfectly. “Do you remember what I said to you that first day in the park?”

“I’ll remember it until I leave this earth,” he said, his voice gruff. “You said, ‘Do you ever wonder whose side you’re really on, Officer?’”

Ailish nodded. “I know the answer now. We’re on each other’s side. We already were that day, weren’t we?”

“Yes.” Henrik hissed the word as Ailish stroked his need, hard, the way he liked it. “I’m hungry, Lish.” He plowed his hands into her hair, wound the strands around his fists. “I liked the way you looked at me today.”

Looking up at her fiancé through the shield of her eyelashes, Ailish undid the fastening and zipper of his pants. “What way is that?”

“Like I was a man you could be proud of. That you are proud of.” His grip on her hair increased just enough to part Ailish’s lips. “Now I want you to look at me that other way. Like you need to tell me I’m being a little too rough, but you can’t form the words.”

“Oh. That way,” Ailish breathed, drawing his erection out and massaging the whole of him with both hands. “Can I tell you I love you before I stop being able to speak?” She pressed their foreheads together. “I love you, Officer Vance.”

Ailish was flat on her back in seconds, legs held apart. “I love you, Ailish O’Kelly—” Pushing deep inside her, Henrik broke off on a groan. “Forever.”





Acknowledgments

I’m very sad to see the Crossing the Line series end. Really, it’s not just the end of one series, but the final note of my Line of Duty series, too, because we’re saying good-bye to Captain Derek Tyler, who helped me thread two unforgettable groups of characters together. And no one could have done it but him. He’s been with me since the beginning, and I love him dearly. I can’t tell you what it meant to me, leaving him on the stage, a legend among the department.

There are other (real) people who were vital to the existence of the Crossing the Line series. But number one will always be the readers who spent their hard-earned money on each book and allowed me to tell them a story. Thank you for trusting me and taking journey after journey with me—I promise I’ll never take it for granted.

Thank you to my husband, Patrick, and daughter, Mackenzie, for getting me through every day. Sometimes I worry about things outside my control and then I look at you guys, and realize you’re the only thing that matters.

Thank you to my editor Heather Howland, at Entangled Publishing, for encouraging me to spin off the Line of Duty series and being all-around invaluable when making my words make sense.





About the Author

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Tessa Bailey lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and young daughter. When she isn’t writing or reading romance, she enjoys a good argument and thirty-minute recipes.