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We didn’t have to worry about most things anymore.

The money in the account was way more than they’d anticipated. They took what they needed for Jesse’s treatments, which were going well, and donated the rest to multiple cancer foundations. Nobody wanted to keep the money Thorne had earned from the suffering of others, so it was used to try and help ease the suffering of strangers.

Court kissed my cheek, his hands running along my ribs, my hips, my thighs, then back up.

I wanted to say something, anything, but my mind was blank. Just a dull buzzing filtering through fragmented words that I couldn’t put together.

This bastard.

It was unbelievable, really, the things he made me feel. Because this man had been determined to bring forth every single part of me I had been so sure didn’t exist.

And the promising reality that stretched before me was full of love and happiness and him.

The man who’d saved my life.

I belonged to him now.

I smiled at him, and in true Court fashion, he smiled back—and then licked me from my chin to my nose.

“Yeah,” he said, smacking his lips. “This mean little mouth still tastes like trouble even when you’re smiling. Delicious.”

With a laugh, I slid off his lap. He raised his brow in question, and I took a few slow steps back. When he realized what I was doing, the shift in his expression was so tempting. The lust in his eyes as he slowly rose to his feet had heat spreading through me.

“I’ll give you ten seconds,” he said huskily.

I turned and sprinted away, my hair flying behind me as elation rolled through my veins. I heard Court count to two, and then the sound of his boots on the dirt road had me laughing.

No matter how far I ran, he’d always catch me.

BONUS EPILOGUE

ONE YEAR LATER

My mother always told me I would find an angel of my very own one day. I was sure when she said that, she didn’t think that my angel would be quite so…vicious.

Or that I would love that viciousness as much as I did. Love her as much as I did. And fuck, did I love her.

After the job was done, Cade and I put together what was needed for Jesse’s gene therapy treatments. It had been a long while of constant visits to the hospital, fever spikes and gut-churning fear that he would never get better. But his health started to improve and he gained back some of the energy he’d lost. And now, a year later, his cancer had gone into remission.

I had never in my life cried like that, and Whitney had been there to kiss the tears from my cheeks.

She was always there now. Everywhere I looked. I didn’t ever have the chance to miss her because we were always together. Frank had given her an accounting job at our construction company, and she took to it like a natural. Had an affinity for numbers and she loved staying busy and working with people she trusted.

And when I offered her my name, she cried harder than I’d ever seen her cry. She already was, but officially, she’d become a part of our family soon.

“You should wash that shit off yourself. I don’t think Whitney’s gonna be too happy if she sees it. You did make her a promise.” Cade had dropped the asshole act—as much as he could—and was committed to protecting Whitney from every little thing. Including me.

Fuck.

I forgot about the blood.

I pinched the hem of my shirt, pulling it away from my body so I could get a better look at it. It wasn’t too much blood. And it was so dark it was almost brown, it could be dirt or oil or anything.

Nah, I wasn’t gonna wash up. I wanted to see how she’d react.

But I did make her a promise. I thought technically this didn’t count. We’d helped Frank with a quick transport job, and yeah, Cade had dropped his side of the body after tripping over the receiver’s garden hose, but shit. It had only taken an hour and we owed Frank. We owed him for everything. I didn’t think this counted as “something dangerous”.

You promise me, asshole. Promise me you won’t do anything dangerous anymore.