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His fingers played with the strip of skin at her low back where her shirt ended She wasn’t a tiny, delicate flower of a woman, but he made her feel feminine all the same

“For the first time, I wanted to know,” he said

“To knohat?” Her heart raced as she waited for his answer Part of her wanted to run because she kneas going to change things Force her to take a terrifying leap off a very high cliff

“To know if someone could accept what I’ve done I killed three people in cold blood, Izzy, and never had one second of regret Theto be lived turned into a murderer who people fear And you know the craziest part?”

She tilted her head and squeezed his shoulders “What?”

“I’d do it again for any of one back to my staid life when it was over, but I chose to join the Handlers Copper would have let me walk There wasn’t any pressure Once darkness entered my life, I embraced it And I chose it Now I live with it in sole day My ould have hated the man I am today” He shook his head “Makes me sick sometimes”

Ahh, there it was The real devil that wouldn’t release its grip on Jig’s soul Izzy i in She didn’t have a clue how to free hiuilt, but in so lost in his own skin For years, she longed for love, affection, connection, but forced herself to harden, shove those feelings aside, and mold herself into a wout “I think you’re wrong,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck

“Excuse me?” There was a bite to his words that hadn’t been there o, but Izzy could handle that The man was entitled to whatever eh

Sharp teeth didn’t bother Izzy, anyway She raised an eyebrow “You told mental You told me howof so Izzy feared was jealousy pinched her heart What kind of horrible person did that make her? Jealous over a man’s prior love for his dead wife

“I don’t think…” Izzy said, sing past thickness in her throat “I don’t think it sounds like there was anything you could have done to make her hate you”

Please let that have been the right thing to say

Jig stared at her so hard it was as though he could see straight through to her insides Two broken souls afraid of leaning on others for coh the universe didn’t see Izzy and Jig together and forcing both to confront feelings they hadn’t before She sed There was so him hold a little piece of her vulnerability and vice versa Not that she was ready to admit that out loud

He slid his hand up her spine until he reached the back of her head Bringing his mouth a breath away from hers, he whispered, “Thank you”

Then he captured her lips in a kiss so deep it stole her breath Gentler than their last kisses, it was so powerful all she could do was hold onto his arms while he explored her mouth and zapped her brain

Minutes, or it could have even been hours later, he released her mouth As they panted for breath, Izzy stared at his lips wet froerous, so potent she al her distance

Almost

“Why haven’t you kickedto offer you No future, no happy ending Just a one-percenter withyou at least a hundred times a day”

Izzy grinned “You don’t scareNeither does the darkness inside you” At least not physically And she’d have to find a way to keep hi her heart “I’m no one’s ilante killer? No, but I don’t judge you for what you did” She shrugged and gave hirew serious “I don’t trust anyone, Jig You get burned too many times, and you learn to only rely on yourself At this point indifferent So I have nothing to give you either” Izzy ground her hips on the erection that had grown between them after she’d climbed in his lap “Except this And maybe some kind of friendship”