Page 102 of Criminally Yours

Millie crawled higher and moved Strike, so he rested against her chest. “You punished yourself.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Strike—”

“Please call me Caleb. Today, I want to be the man who doesn’t know how evil the world is. I want to be the guy who ate sweets in a shed with the neighbour he crushed on as she tried to help him with his homework.”

“Caleb, promise me you’ll stop punishing yourself. You made a mistake. You were human. But you did it because you cared. There were moments I hated you and wanted to scream at you, but more than anything, I missed my best friend—the man who I loved to watch smile, the man whose trinkets fill my memory box. We can be like a memory box, tucking away only the good memories to revisit repeatedly. Do you want to try to lose the bad memories forever? Do you want a future?”

She held her breath as she waited for his reply.

He pressed his lips hard to hers. “I want everything with you. I’ll try anything.”

She kissed him back. It was a sweet kiss of the future, with the taste of salt from his tears of the past.

He lay back against her chest.

His breathing slowed, and she whispered, “Will you be able to sleep tonight?”

“I always sleep better with you. You keep me safe in my dreams.”

“When this is all over”—she paused, choosing her words carefully—“when we’re safe and attempting a future, do you want to visit Parky’s daughter together?”

He sighed, and his body relaxed against hers. “I’d like that. She’ll be seven now. I’m still in contact with his husband.”

“Maybe you can start a memory box for his daughter of things her daddy said.”

“I love that idea. I missed you so much, Sunset.”

CHAPTER 44

Millie

Sun peeked through the curtains of Strike’s bedroom the next day.

Millie was back in what was becoming her favourite position: on her side with Strike spooning her. He held her tight, and his thumb stroked leisurely beneath her breasts. She wiggled her bum against his erection.

“Morning, baby,” he murmured, his lips brushing her ear. “You snore like my grandad.”

“What?” she shouted, competing with the seagulls squawking outside her window.

His chuckles were infectious. After the night’s revelations, it was as if another of the walls that imprisoned him had fallen away. She jumped on him, straddling his leg. “I know where you’re ticklish. You’ve forgotten I know your weaknesses.”

As she reached for his hips, his hands curled around her wrists. “You know my ticklish spots, but I know where to touch you to turn you on.”

“Someone woke up horny.”

“Says the woman who ground her ass into my dick all night.”

“I didn’t. Did I?”

“Like you were desperate for my cock. Where do you want it? In your mouth or somewhere else?” he growled.

Her face heated as he smirked. “Wherever you tell me to take it.”

She held her hand to her lips, waiting for judgment, but instead, he pinned her hands behind her back.

“You don’t need to be scared to tell me your fantasies. That’s why we have a safe word. And if you want to discuss anything before we do it, tell me, because I’ll only go as far as you want us to.” He sucked her neck. “Okay?”