Hell Breaks Loose (Devil's Rock #2)(72)

She shook her head. “I promised my father.”

“You promised yourself.” He closed the space between them and seized her face. “You love me. I know you do. And I love you.” He kissed her again, and she let herself drown in sensations again before breaking away.

“I can’t!”

He stared at her a long moment before lowering his hands from her face. He shook his head, his eyes so sad and dejected it tore at her heart. “Then you’re not the girl I fell in love with. I don’t know who you are.”

He started to back away, and every step felt like another shovel of dirt falling on her grave.

She shook her head and looked up helplessly to the sky. “I promised my father I would do what he wanted if he pardoned you.” The moment the words were out, her gaze shot back to him again.

Reid froze, his face going pale. “What?”

“I told him I would marry Charles.”

“For me? For my freedom?”

She nodded.

“Fuck that.” In two strides he gripped her arms again. “I promised him if he pardoned me I would leave you alone.”

“What? He went to see you?”

“Yes. Right before I was released.” He shook his head. “I don’t care what he does. I’m not staying away from you.”

She nodded, tears blurring her vision. “Yeah. Fuck that.”

He laughed, and before she knew what he intended, he tossed her over his shoulder.

She beat on his back. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t expect you to get very far through the grass in those shoes.”

She bit back a giggle and hit him in the shoulder. “You know kidnapping is a federal offense.”

“I’ve beat it before,” he replied, walking down the uneven slope of ground. “How does Vegas sound?”

“What?”

“We can drive through the night. Be married by the morning. It might be harder for the president to go through the effort of revoking my parole if I’m his son-in-law.”

She went utterly still. Her silence must have worried him. He stopped and lowered her to her feet.

She shivered and he uttered a quick curse. Shrugging out of his coat, he slipped it around her shoulders. Beneath that endless blanket of stars, he took her hand and held it between them, looking almost nervous. “I know I don’t deserve you—”

“You deserve everything,” she quickly rebutted.

Still holding her hand, he dropped to his knees on the cold earth. “Grace Reeves, will you marry me?”

She exhaled and looked up, gazing at the lights of a million stars. Looking down again, she saw the same brightness in his eyes, in him, in the love reflected on his face. “I will.” Leaning down, she pressed her mouth to his. “Now we better hurry before the Secret Service figures out I’m gone again.”

“On it.” Rising, Reid swept her up and carried her down the slope.

She leaned toward him to press tiny kisses to his throat. “Maybe we should head to a hotel before we start for Vegas?”

He turned his head and caught her mouth in a short, hard kiss. “Tempting, but not happening. The next time I have you in a bed, you’re going to be my wife. And when the goons in the suits catch up to us, I’ll be able to wave a marriage certificate at them.” He nuzzled the side of her face with his mouth. “Because I’m not letting you ever go again.”

Grace smiled. “I’m okay with that.” More than okay. It sounded like a perfect kind of forever—one she had never thought possible. Never had the courage to seize for herself. Until him. Until he showed her courage. Until he showed her love.

Now it was real. And it belonged to them.





Epilogue




Ten months later . . .



Reid hurried up the winding sidewalk, his arms full of grocery bags. He felt his iPhone vibrate in his pocket and gave a start. He still wasn’t used to the damn thing. One of the many new technologies he was getting accustomed to since he and Grace had moved to Boston. Grace assured him it would make his life better. He didn’t know about that. She was the thing that had made his life better. Technology, he could live without.

He took the three flights to the apartment he and Grace shared in graduate student housing. She had accepted her deferred offer, and he had applied and been accepted into grad school as well. He was getting that masters in Criminology after all.

Delicious aromas wafted from their apartment, and he knew Grace was still hard at work in the kitchen where he’d left her an hour ago. Classes let out yesterday and she had sent him to the store three times since then. She swore that his first Thanksgiving was going to be perfect. He told her they could order a pizza and it would still be the best Thanksgiving he ever had. Because he was spending it with her. His wife.

Even her parents coming to dinner didn’t dampen his happiness. They had come to terms with their marriage. If they didn’t love the idea, they accepted it. He suspected her father might have helped with his admission to grad school. Probably figured it was better having a son with viable career choices.

Reid used the weight of his body against the door to hold up the grocery bags as he unlocked it. Grace was taking a fresh pan of corn bread out of the oven as he walked in, her dark hair pulled up into an adorable ponytail. He set the bags on the table and moved into the kitchen. Ear buds dangled from her ears. He came up behind her and folded her into his arms.