Chapter Twelve
Aaron stared at the ceiling, listening to Bailey’s breath settle back to normal again. A sheen of sweat on his brow spoke to the exertion they’d both just thrown themselves into. Even now, he could hardly believe it had happened.
From the moment their lips had touched back at the restaurant, he had known how he wanted this to end.
He wanted to take her to bed, just like he had craved all those years ago.
The desire and need were so strong he could hardly breathe, only this time, she wasn’t his rookie.
There was no reason to deny himself any longer.
They had driven back up to his cabin, his hand on her leg, the anticipation crackling in the air between them.
How long had it been since they’d first met?
And how hard had he worked to keep his feelings to himself?
To finally do something about it felt electric, especially when he had never expected to see her again after what had happened between them.
They had stumbled through the door of his cabin and fallen into bed together, bringing to reality all the fantasies he’d had about her over the years.
It had been so needy, so desperate, so full of all the built-up passion that they’d never been able to do anything about.
It felt so damn right he couldn’t believe it had taken them this long to finally make it happen.
He looked over at her, grinning, and she flashed him a smile. Her hair was a mess, her cheeks flushed, but she had never looked more beautiful to him.
“Good?” he asked her, reaching over to brush her hair away from her face.
“Oh my gosh, yes,” she breathed, and she leaned over to plant a kiss on his lips.
He couldn’t get over how good they felt together, as though they had been made for each other.
He knew he could never have done this when she was working as his rookie—it would have put both of their careers at risk.
Besides, all that mattered was that they had this now.
She was finally his, the woman he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about, even after all these years.
She turned on her side and reached an arm over his chest, pressing her face against him and inhaling deeply, like she wanted to lose herself in his scent.
He knew just how she felt. They had been apart for so long, it seemed as though they had so much catching up to do, so much of this passion to enjoy.
“I can’t believe it took us so long to do this,” she murmured, running her hand over his chest so she could feel the beating of his heart.
He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he’d been with someone—since before he came to Warrior Peak, at least—but he hadn’t wanted anyone else, anyway. Only her.
“I know,” he replied. “But you know the trouble it would have gotten us into if we’d done this before.”
“Mmm,” she agreed, and she closed her eyes for a moment.
Of course, if they had done this before, he might not have been able to send her away when he needed to.
It would have made his eventual betrayal of her—no matter how well-intentioned—hurt even more deeply than it already did.
This was the right time for it, the time that made sense, and he was glad it hadn’t happened before now.
“Yeah, everyone would have thought I was sleeping my way to the top,” she remarked, grinning.
“Hey, if you’re that good at it, it would probably have worked,” he joked back.
She burst out laughing, burying her face into the pillow.
“Hey, glad you appreciate my skills,” she said flirtatiously, turning to face him. A huge smile spread over her face as she looked at him, and he raised his eyebrows at her.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she replied, shaking her head. “I just… I just thought about this a lot when we were first working together. I guess I had come to terms with it never actually happening, but…here we are.”
“Here we are,” he agreed, and he reached out to wrap his arms around her and pull her in close.
Closing his eyes, he pressed his face into her hair, breathing in the scent of her deeply.
Like her, he’d long since had to let go of the thought of something like this ever happening between them, but now it seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
He listened to the sound of her breathing as she began to doze off in his arms, and he just lay there for a while, enjoying the feeling of finally having her in his arms. After all this time, they were both right where they needed to be.
He wasn’t sure how long this newfound peace was going to last. But he would take as much of it as they could before their pasts caught up with them again. If anything, this was only going to bring them closer together, make it easier for them to work alongside each other once more.
His eyelids started to feel heavy as he drifted off to sleep. Contentment settled in for the first time in what felt like forever. All because of her.
Bailey.
Finally, they had cleared the air and were mending what he’d broken all those years ago. They had finally admitted their attraction to each other and were able to act on it.
They’d made their way back to each other, despite everything.
And now, they had to take on the corrupt cops who had driven them apart in the first place.