I stood outside in the darkened night, hovering like a creep in her backyard, waiting for her to stir inside. She’d been quiet for hours, hiding out in her bedroom with just a single lamp light on.
If I knew her at all, she would be up and headed downstairs for her evening cup of coffee soon. My Princess liked her habits, and she wasn’t one to acclimate well to change or upheaval.
Which is why finding a fucking arsenal of weapons and top-secret surveillance photos sprawled on my floor earlier today had probably destroyed her. A cleaver laced with poison had sliced my heart wide when she’d run down the sidewalk earlier today and rushed away in that yellow cab. I’d known exactly where she was headed; she had no other place to go in this city.
The second she’d pulled away, I’d darted up the stairs and headed straight for the garage and my car. I would give her time alone if she needed it, but not without first ensuring her safety. I peeled out onto the street and drove to her home, the house I’d been camping out at for months. This was a ride I’d taken countless mornings before, just like when she slipped out on me the day she was kidnapped. The front door opening had sent an alert to my phone, waking me from my restless sleep to find Erin gone. A quick trace with my GPS app had shown her at the corner of Waverly and Beacon where I knew she often met her mother for coffee. I’d been there, watching them before. And so I’d launched into action, arriving only minutes in advance of her abduction. That’s how I’d known where to find her, how I always knew where to find her. The day that stopped was the day I would lose a vast portion of my heart.
I shook my head, exasperated, feeling the shame of my own deceit weighing me down. Maybe it was time to explain all of that to her. Tell her what I couldn’t before–that Agent Peters of the FBI had infiltrated JW’s gang, and if not for that guy, I’d be dead right now. He’d been one more body protecting her when I couldn’t, another secret I’d been forced to keep.
The entire raid had followed an intricate plan that required getting JW alone, but when he’d taken Erin into that office with him, my mind had fried. That was as close to losing her as I’d ever come.
My eyes darted up to the imposing brick house that occupied one full corner of the quiet street. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling right now, but if I knew her at all, betrayal would probably be the first reaction on her mind.
But she would come to her senses. I hadn’t betrayed her, not for a second. I’d kept secrets close to my chest out of necessity, for her own safety and mine, but betraying her was something I would never do. She was everything. Maybe she didn’t see it, but I saw the love that shone in her eyes. She was the only human that had ever loved me without condition or malice. I’d throw my own body in front of a tank before anyone would hurt a hair on her head, even if that person was me.
A light flickered on then, bringing me back to the present and catching my attention as, just like I’d predicted, her soft silhouette came into the kitchen. She was a vision. I’d never stood a chance, from the day I’d first pulled up to her house and seen her rushing up the steps, tight ass in dark jeans and a curtain of dark hair falling down her back.
She’d seen me that first time, she just didn’t know it. Her head had turned quickly, her dainty profile lit in bright golden sunlight. Her eyes darted up to the sky, before eyelashes fanned across her face as she seemed to soak up the light. Her chin wavered, and then her sensual, dark eyes flickered open, her gaze landing directly on me, sitting across the street. She was bewitching.
Time ceased, the world vanished, and I fell into dark depths I’d never find myself free of again. Like being caught in a vortex, I sat rooted and unblinking, stunned with something I’d never felt before and hadn’t been able to place. Love.
From day one I’d loved her. I just hadn’t known it.
