Riskier Business (Crossing the Line 0.5)(34)

“I’ll take option two.”

“Good.” Her voice resonated with sincerity. “Because I’m yours until the end, Troy Bennett.”

Love burning in his chest, he brushed his lips over hers. “Then I hope the end never comes.”





Epilogue


Ruby closed the door behind her mother and leaned against it for a moment. With a small smile, she turned and began to clear dishes from the table. Dinner had gone well. In the three weeks since Troy had been shot, they had made significant progress. They’d talked about the past in bits and pieces, although one of them usually changed the subject before the conversation turned too heavy. Their relationship would never be even remotely conventional. Thank God.

For the last three weeks, taking care of Troy had been Ruby’s number one priority, not to mention, her pleasure. She’d been working at home as much as she could, only running to the workshop to pick up supplies, or relying on Pamela to drop off new work orders. Before her father had returned, she’d thought her relationship with Troy was strong, their bond unbreakable. Now, however, their strength as a couple had increased tenfold. They had even begun communicating in new, subtler ways, through touches and simple intuition. The terror of nearly losing him, that emptiness she’d felt on the ambulance ride to the hospital when he’d been bloody and unconscious, had forced her to acknowledge feelings she’d never realized existed. Troy was a part of her. They held each other’s hearts in their hands. Exposed, and yet completely safe.

She would never again, for a single second, take that kind of love for granted.

By the time she’d told Troy about Bowen being her half brother, his jealousy had become merely an afterthought. Something irrelevant and in their past. He’d even tried to help her locate Bowen, to thank him or even just to talk, but her wayward sibling wasn’t ready to be found just yet. They hadn’t seen him since that night in the alley behind Mancuso’s.

She hadn’t told Troy about the look she’d shared with Bowen. It wasn’t one she could interpret or put into words, nor did she understand it, anyway. But it came with the certainty that, unless she fought and pushed, her relationship with her half brother had ended in that alley.

So someday very soon, she would fight. Like she’d been taught. Like hell.

Ruby put the final dish on the drying rack just as Troy’s arms slipped around her waist. Complete. She felt so complete. Her fingers trembled when she thought of how close she’d come to never being held by him again. Never encountering his scent, his voice, his solid form. Every time she closed her eyes for the last three weeks, the what-ifs came. Would they ever stop?

“You okay, baby? You’re cold.”

“I’m fine, I just—”

A loud thump against the front door of their apartment sent a jolt zigzagging like lightning through her middle. She didn’t know why such an innocuous sound alarmed her to such a degree, but it did. It sharpened her instincts like two blades striking against each other. Troy’s body stiffening behind her told Ruby he shared her concern.

Without making a sound, Troy reached around her hip to open a kitchen drawer, taking out his department-issued Glock and turning off the safety. He laid a soft kiss on her forehead. “Everything is going to be fine.”

With a stilted nod, she disengaged from Troy and followed him slowly toward the front door, ignoring the nightmarish image of it swinging open, some unnamed danger rushing in. Watching Troy get hurt again, when he finally stood so solid and reassuring before her. With a finger pressed to his lips, reminding her to stay silent, Troy looked through the peephole into their building’s hallway, his blue eyes showing no signs of seeing anything lurking on the other side. After positioning himself in front of her, he turned the dead bolt and opened the door.

Sitting on the floor near her feet sat the leather knapsack her father had fled the motel room with three weeks prior.

She dragged the heavy bag inside, and Troy bolted the door closed behind them. Opening it in the manner that one would rip off a Band-Aid, she gaped at the contents. Money. So much money. She took quick stock of the neat stacks. Fifty thousand dollars. Her father had come back, at his own risk…to give it to her? A message. But what kind? Was this his way of apologizing? The little girl inside her wanted to weep, grateful that he’d thought of her. Wondering if the gesture meant he loved her, even a little.

The woman inside her wanted to burn it.

“What do you want to do?”

Keeping the money never even crossed her mind. “Do you think we could find someone who needs it? Maybe through the police…”

“Of course we can. Tomorrow.” He took her hand, pride shining in his eyes. She let him pull her into his side and lead her away from the door. Always protecting. Placing himself between her and the danger. Halfway to the kitchen, Troy pulled her back against his chest. “What were you thinking about before? In the kitchen.”

No secrets. “I almost lost you,” she whispered. “The fear. It’ll never go away.”

He made a gruff sound. “I’m here.” His warm breath sent a shiver vibrating through her belly. “Let me show you how much I’m here.”

Automatically, her head tilted to the side so his lips could run up the side of her neck. When one warm hand pressed against her abdomen, bringing her bottom back onto his lap, Ruby groaned.