Epilogue Three
My phone buzzed, and I ignored it.
Weeks had passed, fucking weeks since I’d been inside Ellie Maxwell, and ever since, I felt like I was losing my mind.
I was impatient. Ornery as fuck. Short-tempered. And I couldn’t sleep for shit.
Ellie. Ellie Maxwell. Why won’t you let me in?
No, I wouldn’t use her piece of shit ex’s name when I thought about her.
I’d been putting in sixteen hour days, doing everything I could to stop myself from hunting her down.
There was something about her. Something untamed and wild behind her eyes. Something I wasn’t sure she even knew about herself.
But I recognized it as something special.
She called to me like a siren’s song.
Attracted me like no one else ever had.
I knew where she was. I knew exactly where that fine as fuck woman parked her sweet ass every night.
But what kind of fucking animal would I be if I stalked a woman on the run from her abusive ex?
That motherfucker.
I growled and tried to focus back on work. Ellie was none of my business. Neither was her ex.
She obviously wanted nothing to do with me.
Well, nothing anymore.
Thinking back to the amazing sex we’d had in her living room, against the fucking wall, half-dressed, and panting—fuck!
My cock was uncomfortably hard just from the memory, and I wanted her all over again. I wanted more of her soft skin. More of her sweet sighs. More of her fiery passion.
The attraction between us wasn’t normal. From the first time I laid eyes on the woman with the pixie cut and the enormous hazel eyes, I was a goner.
She had this sweet persona that I had no doubt was real. But that was only half the story.
When she pinned me to that sofa and fucked me with glorious abandon, I saw a side to Ellie I never suspected existed beneath her snug blue jeans and peasant blouses.
She was dominant. Demanding. Confident. And sexy as hell.
I’d been dreaming about that night ever since.
There wasn’t another force on earth that called to me with the same powerful pull as my attraction to Ellie.
Life dealt her a rough hand, but that just made her perseverance even more spectacular.
She was one in a million.
Ellie might have an abusive ex, but she was not a cowed woman.
She just didn’t know her own strength. And fuck, I wanted to be the man to see it when she finally understood how powerful she really was.
My phone rang again, and this time I stopped and looked at the screen.
Unknown Caller?
My heart caught in my throat.
Fuck. Ellie. Sammy. Did something happen?
“Hello?” I asked, my heart pounding.
Meredith, Josef’s wife, outfitted all the women who came through her shelter with untraceable burner phones, which meant Ellie had one too. And she was the only person with an Unknown Caller ID who had my phone number.
I’d made sure of it.
“Andres? It’s me,”she said, her voice sounding tinny through the cheap phone.
“Ellie, is everything okay?”
I closed my eyes, forcing my pulse to stop racing. If something was wrong and she called me for help, I would give it.
No matter what.
“Yes. Well, not really,” she said.
“Which is it? Do you need me to send a security team?”
I already had my other phone in my hand, ready to send a team from Sigma over to make sure she was safe.
“No, no. Um, I was wondering, would you, that is, if you don’t have anything better to do,”she mumbled.
I could almost picture her cheeks burning red as she tried to work through whatever she was trying to ask me.
Curiosity about why she called warred with pride that she’d come to me with a problem at all. But curiosity won out. I wanted to know what she needed help with, and if it brought me into close proximity with her again, I was all for it.
“Ellie. Spit it out.”
“Would you be willing to marry me?”
Well. Shit.
Whatever I thought she was going to ask, I wasn’t expecting her to say that.
“Oh my God! I’m being dumb. I’m sorry. Um, forget I said?—”
But before she could spiral, I cut her off.
“I’m coming over,” I said, clicking end call, before jumping out of my seat.
This wasn’t the kind of thing you talked to someone about over the phone.
My heart thudded inside my chest, and that wild attraction, the insane pull I felt towards Ellie was stronger than ever.
It seemed to increase with every inch as I moved closer and closer to her.
I’d never considered marriage before. Hell, my mother was always yelling about how the Ramirez line would end with me if I didn’t find a girlfriend. I loved my mom. She was awesome.
It was too soon to say if I loved Ellie. But I was attracted to her. I wanted her. And when she asked me to marry her, my instinct was to say yes.
It was always good to follow your instincts, wasn’t it?