Page 92 of Chris

What do I do now?”

Valeria’s voice was a whisper, her gaze locked on the stall instead of him where he wanted it. Chris didn’t mind because he figured everyone had to protect themselves, and Valeria’s way was like this. He didn’t take offense, even if he wished this woman knew he was doing everything in his power to get her away from this place, and happy again.

“You give me time, and before you know it, I’ll be back to—”

“No, me, I mean. What am I supposed to do now?”

Chris tipped his head down and pressed a kiss to the line of Valeria’s naked shoulder. He couldn’t resist her on his lips—her scent had mixed with his, and it reminded him of woman, sex, and heaven. “I don’t understand, love.”

Two blankets he grabbed from the stable shelves kept the hay-covered floor of the stall soft enough for them to rest comfortably on. The other, he’d used to wrap around his shoulders before he tightened the ends around them both. The high stall door allowed them to remain unseen from the stables, and other than the six-inch space at the bottom where he saw out into the main corridor, no one had a view of them unless they opened the door.

No one came into the stables this late though.

He knew because he watched.

“You,” she whispered.

Chris made a noise under his breath, thick and unsure. “Val—”

She sighed. “You know, before when I was on the run, I went years without being in a relationship—but is that what we can call this? Should we call it that?”

Huh.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “but we can call it whatever you want to call it. I want what you want that’s all.”

Hadn’t she figured that out yet?

Chris didn’t think it needed to make sense, but frankly, why should it? They hadn’t met under normal circumstances. She wasn’t the average woman, and he wasn’t every other man, either. They couldn’t simplify anything they did together down to one label, but he didn’t care. As long as he still had moments like this with her, rather it be now or when she was away from here, then that was all that mattered to him at the end.

Valeria tipped her head back and rested it against the crook in his shoulder. It gave Chris the perfect chance to kiss her cheek, and then the corner of her mouth. So, he did just that. He thought about this woman, and all the things he wanted to do with her—to her—far more often than he should.

This job turned out to be more than he expected, but he wouldn’t complain. How could he when, he’d found an angel?

Someone was looking out for him.

“I meant …” Valeria gave him a sweet smile when he used the pad of his thumb to trace the line of her cheekbone while he watched her. She didn’t possibly know it, but he found her most fascinating like this. She didn’t have to pretend to be someone else. Happy, pleased, and content. All his. As she should be, he decided. “I tried to date, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” he rumbled.

Not that he would tell her, but Chris was a jealous motherfucker. Even the thought of Valeria spending time with another man—before him, it didn’t matter—had his green monster beating at the bars of its cage. He kept the bastard in place if only because he didn’t think she would appreciate it. Hadn’t she put up with enough bullshit from a man who thought he owned her?

Chris would not be another.

Valeria peered up at him, her pink lips curving into a soft smile as he stroked two fingers up and down her arm under the blanket. “I was young when they forced me to marry Jorge, but you know that, don’t you?”

“I do, yes.”

“He was the first man …” She flinched, but added, “He was the first for me. And then I ran, stayed running for years, and kept busy raising my daughter because she was always most important.”

Ah.

Chris thought he might understand what Valeria had been trying to tell him, but he remained quiet, and allowed her the chance to say it without his input. This woman didn’t use her voice enough, and when she did, God knew she watched every single word that came out of her mouth.

Shame, that.

She said beautiful things.

People were missing out.