Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“Thank fuck we have the apartment above the pawn shop for now. And even if we get pulled from the task force and put on desk duty with our respective departments, there’s always my place.”
His place?
Before she could respond to that, he had her pulled into his arms and smashed against his chest. She could hear and feel his heart thumping against her ear.
She was still a little too tense to appreciate the embrace, but she wrapped her arms around him anyway, squeezing him just as tightly. If this was what he needed, then she’d give it to him. Though, he was a man. Most likely he thought she was the one who needed consoling.
“You okay?” he asked again and pressed his cheek against the top of her head, burying his nose in her hair.
Some of the tension she’d been holding onto began to disappear. Admittedly, him holding her was a bit comforting. “You asked me that already.”
“Jesus fuck, Nova,” he breathed into her hair. “I thought I was going to fucking lose you. I almost busted the door down without a thought and came in guns blazing.”
She pulled her face away from his chest and tipped it up so she had a clear view of his face. “Um, Fletch?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s exactly what you did.”
He shrugged. “But I thought about it first.”
“For how long?”
His lips twisted. “Less than a heartbeat.”
With a smile, she pressed her face back into his broad and very warm chest. “I had everything under control.”
“Yeah, you’re right. You would’ve done just fine without me.”
While that might be true, that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate him being there and for doing what he did.
Everything worked out mostly because of who he was and what he did for a living. If any other man had been with her, the situation might not have turned out the way it had. She might’ve ended up bleeding out on her condo floor instead of Russo’s two soldiers.
She whispered, “Thank you for coming with me.”
“Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, Nova. No matter what shitstorm’s about to come next.”
Yeah, they’d both be put through the wringer until they were cleared and allowed to go back to doing what they did best.
However, one important thing was now apparent after today’s clusterfuck and staring death in the eye.
Fletch was no longer only her task force partner. No longer just a convenient sex partner.
He truly was so much more.
Chapter Twenty-Five
As they waited for Crew to show up, Fletch paced the pawn shop’s side parking lot in an attempt to loosen his tight-as-fuck muscles. He really needed to go for a run to clear his head, but that would have to wait until they saw what their near future held.
He wasn’t worried they wouldn’t get through the investigation. An investigation they were now the subjects of, not the one they were supposed to be a part of. He had confidence they would.
It was a good shoot for both of them. Despite that, there’d still be plenty of red tape to hack their way through.
What worried him the most was that one or both of them might be pulled from the task force. And if that happened, that meant he and Nova would no longer be living together.
Yes, he fucking knew it was only supposed to be while they were undercover with the Dirty Angels. However, over the last few weeks they had settled into each other’s lives like a real couple.
They were no longer only playing Ghost and Kitten, a biker and his ol’ lady.
They had become “Fletch and Nova.” A true team in more ways than one.
While at first it had been a work arrangement out of necessity, their personal relationship had fallen in sync more naturally.
Professionally, they worked well together and, personally, they simply clicked.
Now he couldn’t imagine waking up every fucking morning without Nova by his side.
It was crazy. After two failed engagements to women unable to handle his career, fate, luck, or whatever it was, had brought Nova into his life.
He thought they were simply having fun in bed but earlier this morning, after the potential of losing her, he had a wake-up call. He realized she was the perfect woman for him.
He also realized there would be no other.
Nova was it.
She was the type of woman he’d hoped to find as a life partner and failed. Twice.
Maybe the universe had dropped her into his path out of pity.
Or maybe it had only been dumb luck.
He wasn’t going to question it, but he did question how Nova felt about him.
The woman reminded him of lava. A cooler, thick crust on the outside, but molten just under the surface.
In the past few weeks, they had never talked about anything beyond their current living and working situation. They mostly focused on what needed to be done on the task force, in Shadow Valley and with the Demons. That was it.