THIEF: Part 6 by Kimberly Malone

did.”
                  “Did,” he echoed.His tone told me he accepted my choice of words.Maybe, in a way, he could even agree.
                  “Anyway,” he continued, “Gordon's never going to bother you again.”
                  I narrowed my eyes, wary.“Why's that?”
                  “Let's just say the guy I hired is pretty persuasive.His main job is convincing people they'd be better off leaving town.Gordon pretty much jumped at the offer.”
                  Laughing, I placed my hand on his knee.“Thank you, Si.You didn't have to do that for me.”
                  “I wanted to.”
                  I resisted the urge to touch the eyepatch again, out of curiosity.Instead, I touched his chest, feeling his pulse against the muscle and bone.“Please stay, Silas,” I whispered.“You don't have to leave right now.Stay.”When he looked away, I added, “Why are you in such a hurry?”
                  “I don't know,” he said.“Maybe...I’m just tired of running.”He sighed, emotion strangling his words.“I’m so tired, Erin.”
                  I took his face in my hands and kissed him everywhere I could, even the eyepatch, until he stopped flinching, until he relaxed under my touch and let me show him what we could have, if only for a few days more.
                  “I’ve spent so long thinking of this day,” he whispered, “of when I could bring Emma home and she’d be fixed, when it would all be over and I could stop worrying and hiding and—and just praying for things to get better.For her, I mean.”He shook his head, and I saw tears filming across his eye.“Didn’t really stop to think about what would happen to me, once this day’s over.”
                  “Don’t think about it,” I told him.“Just think about now.”I made him look at me.“Okay?Just think about this.”
                  He stared at me, nodding, and for a moment I saw the person I'd met at the ranch, so long ago.A lifetime, pretty much.This time, instead of him taking my hand and leading me forward, it was me who showed the way things would go tonight.
                  Slowly, I lowered myself to the floor.His hand trailed away from my face as he waited.All at once, I took him into my mouth, feeling his member harden and grow as I made him forget everything else, at least for now.
                  “Erin,” he sighed, his fingers tangling into my hair.I looked up.In the dim light, I saw him tilt his head back, eye closed and brow furrowed, and knew he was focusing on this and nothing else.As much as he’d hurt me, he had done it for a reason: his child.I wasn’t a mom yet—I didn’t feel like one, anyway.But I could understand.And his wrongdoings would be punished enough, in the days and weeks and years to come.I wanted to give him at least one night of happiness, before it all began.
                  I worked my tongue around, caressing him, and bobbed my head to the rhythm of his hands as they pushed and pulled.He came quickly, faster than either of us expected, but I drank him down without hesitation, looking up at him and catching his gaze, riveted, as the pleasure hit.His chest rose and fell heavily; he bit his lip as he finished, a soft noise escaping his throat.
                  “Amazing,” he praised me, helping me to my feet.He kissed my stomach, resting his ear there for a moment, before nodding to the bed.I lay down and watched him stare, his eyes tracing every curve of my body.“I’ve never seen you so beautiful,” he said, voice low, and took his time kissing his way from my mouth to my neck, neck to breasts.He rolled one nipple between his fingers, working the other in his mouth, and I felt his erection return against my thigh.
                  “God, yes…”My back arched as his hand