Page 148 of The Complete Truth Duet
That one was easy. I feared that the next one might be where we ran into issues. “And promise me you won’t kill Thomas.”
His whole body jerked. “Cora, I—”
“I can’t chance losing you again. I just can’t.” Tears welled in my eyes. “You promised you wouldn’t lie to me. So if this is what you’re planning—”
“Hey, hey, hey. Shhh… Relax. I’m not going after Thomas again. It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it. But we are, okay? We’ll figure it out. As long as he can’t touch you, I’ll learn to accept whatever happens to him.”
It was my turn to jerk. “That easy?”
He scoffed. “No. There was nothing easy about this decision. But living without you for the last few weeks, then getting you back… Well, it’s put some serious shit in perspective for me.”
“Was I the serious shit or the perspective?”
His lips twitched. “Both, smartass.”
I smiled and it forced a tear from each of my eyes.
He groaned and brought his hand up to clear my face. “Any chance you can stop crying and talking about Thomas while my cock is inside you? There is a solid chance I’m about to go limp.”
Laughing, I leaned forward and kissed him, deep and reverent.
“And one more thing,” I murmured.
He rolled his hips, proving that there was nothing limp about him. “Make it fast, baby.”
“When this is all over and you buy us a completely ostentatious house, I want a shower like this one. And—okay, so two more things—you have to promise that River can paint stars on the ceiling in her room.”
Penn was rugged and handsome—the picture of pure masculinity. But, right then, a huge boyish grin lit his face. “You moving in with me?”
I shrugged. “You kinda burned my apartment down.”
“I did,” he said proudly. “I so fucking did.”
I lost his length as he stood up, but I gained so much more as Shane Pennington—my Penn—laid me down on the tile floor of his shower, the warm water flowing over us and washing the lies down the drain, and made love to me for the very first time.
Penn
“Relax. I’m not driving you off a cliff. I’m not sure if anyone’s told you this, but there is humankind outside of Chicago,” I told Cora as we pulled out of the parking garage.
Unconvinced, she nodded, anchored her hand to my thigh, and went to work worrying her necklace like she had a vendetta against it.
Twenty hours later, while the gate slid open, revealing the tall, three-story house I’d shared with Lisa, she was offering me reassurance.
“Relax. I’m right here.”
We left Chicago the very same day as the news broke about Manuel.
He was still on the loose. But, regardless of how small the world felt sometimes, it was actually a very large place. So, rather than sitting around and waiting for Thomas to make his move, we’d decided to take the girls and get the hell out of Dodge. If Thomas wanted to find us, he would. Same with Manuel. But I sure as hell was going to make him bring it to my turf—a state where he had little to no connections.
Nothing like thirteen hundred miles to level the playing field.
Going down to Florida had actually been Drew’s idea. Initially, I’d balked at the thought of going back there. I wasn’t real eager to bring Cora to the house I’d shared with Lisa. But it was big enough for all of us, furnished, and far enough away to give us time to figure out our next move.
He hadn’t said it yet, but I knew Drew well enough to see that he had no intention of staying in Florida. While Cora and the promise of a future together had rearranged my personal priorities, Drew still had his heart set on vengeance. I had not a single doubt that, one day, we were all going to wake up to find him gone. This meant, if I was going to try to talk him out of going after Thomas alone, I had to act fast.
We weren’t sure what to do with Catalina’s information yet. If Manuel was out there, gathering the troops, our taking Thomas down in the eyes of the law was only going to put a bigger spotlight on Catalina. The media would have had a field day with that story.
Our best bet was to lie low for a few days, maybe a week, and see if the cops could do their damn jobs for once. If we could get Manuel out of the picture again, I was willing to do whatever I had to—including knocking his ass out—to keep Drew from going after Thomas before Catalina had the shot.
Drew wasn’t my brother according to DNA, but he was my family all the same. I couldn’t stand the idea of losing him. That was part of the reason why all those years ago, when we’d first decided to find Lisa’s murderer, I’d declared that I was the man who was going to kill him.
