From the very first day, I’ve been in way over my head.

Now or never.

She holds the gun in her hands.

“What do you think I’m going to do now?” she says. Her eyes fill with tears. “Say it, Sam. Tell me honestly. What will I do? Am I going to hold this loaded gun on you and call the cops?”

I look at her face and I know the truth.

Lila loves me, and we’ll get through this somehow together.

I reach up and rub my knuckles along her cheek. With my thumb, I wipe away a tear threatening to spill out of the corner of her eye.

“You’re going to unload that damn gun and put it away. That’s what you’re going to do.”

She nods and blinking back her tears, takes the clip out of the gun. Sliding off the bed, she walks to the dresser on the other side of the room and sticks the gun in a drawer.

By the time the drawer slams shut, I’m already across the room and right behind her. I whip her around and wrap my arms tightly around her, pulling her close against my chest.

“Sam! What are you doing?”

I tilt her face up and capture her soft lips in a deep, searching kiss. After a long minute, I pull back and touch my forehead to hers.

“You love me,” I say.

Her eyes immediately fill with tears again that quickly flow out of the corners.

“You believe me?” she answers.

“Don’t cry,” I say, rubbing away the tears with my thumbs. “Everything is going to be okay. We’re both in a hell of a mess, but we’ll get through it together. We’ll figure this out. I love you, Lila. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.”

She sniffles and wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand.

“I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know. I have so many things to explain to you.”

“We can talk about all of it later,” I say. “Right now I need to make long, sweet love to my girl so I can calm the fuck down. For the last hour, my heart has been racing out of my chest. I may be getting ready to have one of those heart attacks you keep warning me about. And then I need to call Flint.”

She smiles up at me through her tears.

“Is that what we’re doing now? Making love?”

I scoop her up in my arms and carry her back to the bed.

“It’s what we were always doing, sweetheart. You just weren’t paying attention.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Lila

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I slide out of bed quietly so I won’t wake Sam. Even dead asleep, he looks exhausted. I’m sure I do too. Neither of us has slept much since the day I left him.