35. Emmett

Chapter 35

Emmett

“You deserve to be happy,” Jenn whispered.

Did I?

I wasn’t a bad man. But I was a selfish one.

I’d wanted Jenn for fifteen years, and now that I had her, I wasn’t letting her go. Wasn’t about to trust her safety to anyone, not even a pilot, an airline, and five thousand miles of distance. Not that I could tell anyone, but it was the truth, deep in my soul.

Rav was right about so much. The members of our high-profile team all had histories of relationships that failed because they couldn’t handle the secrecy. Jenn might have been different, but Scarlett would never let her in on what we really did. So he was right—I was letting myself enjoy the moment, but I’d have to hurt her in the end.

How my own heart dealt with it didn’t matter.

She was what mattered.

Fuck, man, let her go.

I wrapped my fists in her scarf, forcing her close enough to kiss her again. Taste her. Just be nothing but the man making her sigh and smile.

Where Rav was entirely wrong was about how much I had to prove. To Jenn, to her father, to my sister, to Fenix…

To myself.

I wasn’t my father. No matter how many lies I told Jenn, I was doing everything to protect her.

Except her heart .

But in the end, I was selfish. I let her believe I was putting her wants above everything else, when honestly, I was putting my needs first. I needed to feel normal and in control again. She gave me both.

Fuck, last night, I’d had my first real sleep in four months. She gave me the peace I needed for that. I hadn’t even brought the gun into the room. The night before, I’d thought about it, but last night? I’d completely forgotten.

I broke from the kiss and wrapped my arms around her. “Let’s go back to the hotel. We have a few hours before we need to get ready, and I can think of a few things I want to do with this scarf.”

How would I survive going back to the real world without her?