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“Sweetheart,” he breathes out on my lips. He pauses like he’s going to say something. Instead, he slams his lips onto mine in a passionate kiss. A kiss that tells me everything he wanted to say.

“I’d tell you to get a room, but then you’ll go back to the bedroom, and I don’t need to hear you fucking. On my plane,” Max grates out.

I laugh against Aiden’s mouth. When I pull back, I stick my tongue out at Max. Aiden chuckles and mumbles “cock blocker” under his breath. Max shakes his head at our less-than-adult responses. We start our descent and my leg starts shaking in excitement. We’re almost there.

After throwing our bags in the back of the SUV, I hold out my hand to Aiden. He tilts his head in question.

“Keys,” I say, wiggling my fingers.

His head jerks as he straightens. “Woman, you are not driving.”

“Yes, I am.” He shakes his head like I’m crazy.

Max barks out a laugh, hopping into the backseat.

“I miss driving and I want to drive,” I say forcefully and stomp my foot, not backing down.

“I’m a little scared right now,” he admits but hands the keys over slowly. I jump up and down, skipping to the driver’s door.

Aiden is staring at me in wonderment as I adjust my seat. When I start the engine, it snaps him out of it, and he dramatically puts on his seat belt.

I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. “Jerk, I have been driving since I was sixteen. Actually as long as I’ve shot a gun and look how good I can do that.” I turn and stare at him, raising both my brows.

He looks at me stunned. Well, shit.

“Too soon?” I wince. Aiden is still worried about how I’m dealing with the Marco incident. I’m still meeting with my therapist three times a week. I’m dealing with it. But just now, I wasn’t even thinking about Marco. I was thinking about him. God, that makes me sound like a gun-toting lunatic. Oh, which shooting were you talking about, Addison? You’ve been involved with so many.

“Addison …” He pulls me from my self-deprecating rant. Reaching his arm over the console, he rubs my head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to take you there.”

“I’m fine,” I say, putting the SUV in drive. “I’m thinking maybe I need to stay away from guns.”

“It was self-defense,” he says firmly. “Both times.”

I laugh out bitterly. “I was not in danger with you.”

“You were very well in a dangerous situation, Addison,” Max says, scooting up between our seats. “You shot Aiden for a reason. You escaped from being held prisoner without causing a lot of harm to Aiden.”

“So, why didn’t I just immobilize Marco and wait for the police to get there?”

“I think we all know that answer without needing to say it,” Max says, sitting back.

I nod because I know. The bullet placement shows my intent, but there is no way they can prove that.

I hate that he tried to rape me: shot to the groin.

I hate that he killed because of me: shot to the heart.

I hate him for making me kill him: shot to the head.

And he was never going to touch Lexi again. She can grow up without having to look over her shoulder like I did my whole life. No more worrying that someone will be coming back for her one day. I was going to make sure of that.

Silence fills the air the remainder of the car ride. My thoughts make enough noise that I don’t even notice. When we pull into the driveway, Max hops outs first.

Before I’m able to open my door, Aiden stops me and grabs my hand. “Don’t second-guess yourself. Nobody has ever questioned why you did what you did. He killed twelve people, Addison. He would’ve killed you, too,” he says in a serious tone.

I blow out a harsh breath. “I know.”

He leans over and kisses me. “Now, let’s go see our girl.”