Deadly Promises (Tracers #2.5)(14)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

She loved him? Jeremy couldn’t move as hope flooded him from head to toe.

CeCe had come back and she loved him.

He laid his palm along her cheek. “I’m sorry too, that I couldn’t tell you about so many things. I don’t have a criminal record anymore…”

Her forehead wrinkled with confusion. “What do you mean?”

“My entire record has been expunged. With the exception of boosting cars when I was a teenager, everything else on my rap sheet was created as a cover for my… job.”

She sniffled. “You don’t own a gym?” Her lips puckered in concern. Then her tongue slipped along her bottom lip.

All he’d thought about for the past sixteen days was CeCe.

Jeremy gave up waiting to kiss her. When he dipped his head, she cupped her hands on his face and opened her lips to his invasion. His world tilted back into place and started spinning forward again.

He kissed her over and over again, wanting to hold her like this forever. But to do that he’d have to tell her everything.

Slowly ending the kiss, he said, “Time for all the truth.”

She looked as though she prepared herself for the worst, then nodded. “I’m ready to listen.”

Using his thumbs, he wiped away the last of her tears. “In addition to owning this gym, I do contract work for an agency that protects national security.”

“Oh, crud. I had the thought that you might be law enforcement, then I blew it off when everything happened. I can’t believe what I put you through and…” She paused, blinking. “What kind of law enforcement?”

He smiled, then turned serious when he told her, “I work undercover for a group that has no public identity. I used to insert into prisons for intel, but the powers that be have decided not to use me that way anymore. I can’t share details about my work with you, so there will be times when I’m technically lying by omission, but I’ll never lie to you about anything between us. I love you too, and never want to lose you again.”

Tears started fresh again. She kissed him hard and passionately for what seemed like forever and not long enough, then pulled back with a worried look. “What about my family? Every one of my brothers is an honest businessman, but you of all people know how the past can cause problems. Will they be on your agency’s radar, because I don’t want to put my brothers or dad at risk… by me being with you.”

Trust was a bridge between them that could go crashing down or bind them together depending on if they could build it.

Jeremy trusted her so it came down to whether she could trust him. “I’m glad you have brothers who watch over you for when I’m not at home to protect you myself. As long as your family doesn’t threaten U.S. national security they won’t be on our radar. And I swear I won’t be watching them like an agent when I’m around your family, which is bound to happen. That is, if you stay with me.”

She didn’t hesitate this time. “I’m not going anywhere, because I trust you and love you. And I don’t want to ever lose you again either. You belong with me.”

She wanted to keep him.

Relief whipped across his skin, freeing the tension in his body. Jeremy lifted her off the floor, swinging her around and around in his arms, ignoring the pain throbbing in his shoulder. He could endure anything with her at his side.

CeCe’s laugh was music to his soul. He intended to hear that song played over and over. When he stopped spinning and settled her to her feet, CeCe’s eyes twinkled with a mischievous smile.

He kissed her forehead. “What?”

“Holidays with you and my family are going to be interesting.”