The Badge and the Bad Boy (Redemption Ranch, #1)

by Lena Hendrix

When I said that we were destined, I’d spoken the first word that came to me, and it was a simple truth. There was something more than Val and me meeting by chance. I felt it in my bones. I didn’t care that I was nothing more than a reformed criminal and she was an officer. There has to be a way.

“It’s never been like this for me.”

“You’re too much.” Quickly closing the distance between us, I pulled her to me. “I don’t fucking care if I’m too much, because I can tell you this: I will never get enough of you.”

“This isn’t just a meaningless fuck.” Irritation rolled through me.

How had I not shown her what she was doing to me? How she shredded my insides and I’d happily come back for more.

Evan Walker was funny, but sensitive under all that dirt and denim. I could love him. The thought was there before I could stop it—barreling

I could love Evan Walker. He was a broken boy, grown into a man who’d pieced himself back together. He deserved someone to hold the leftover pieces that didn’t quite fit.

Nothing mattered but the feel of this woman in my arms. I would ruin my whole life for her and beg to do it again.

“I know you should leave, but if you go now, you’d be taking my heart with you.”

“That’s fine. I like giving you what you need.”

“I could go a thousand lifetimes and never forget how good you smell.”

No one had ever seen me the way it felt like Val could.

“I can’t pretend that when you walk in the room, the temperature doesn’t shoot up twenty degrees. Or pretend that the ache in my chest isn’t from watching you walk away.” “Evan, you can’t say things like that.” “I can and I will. You deserve to know.”

A warm, melty feeling spread through me. Gemma’s laughter, Evan smiling with his hand on mine in the truck—I couldn’t imagine a more perfect night.

Everything inside me screamed mine as I watched her sleep in my bed.

“Baby girl, if I die with your pussy on my face, it would be an honor.”

“I want all of you.” “You’ve got me, baby girl. Every part of me is yours.”

I love her. I need her. Those thoughts should have scared the fuck out of me, but for once, I couldn’t find it in myself to feel anything other than bliss.

A few times I’d almost slipped and told her how I felt. That I fucking loved her more than I ever thought I was capable of loving, and it scared the shit out of me.

Losing her would destroy me. Val was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and I was the anchor tied around her neck.

I stared at the rearview as the town got smaller and smaller. I was headed toward a new future, but leaving my heart behind.

When you were here, it felt like family is supposed to feel.

There is nothing more important than love.

Turns out I left something here.” He moved his hands from his pockets and swiped one hand over his face. “What?” “My light.” In one swift move, he covered the distance between us.

“Evan, I don’t know what to do. I feel like I can’t breathe without you.”

“You are the most exquisite woman I have ever known. Thank you for showing me I was worthy of your love.”

“Just like I knew you were the one. It’s something I felt in my bones the minute I laid eyes on you at the ranch. I love you.” I was lost. Lost in his eyes, in him. This man was everything. “I love you too.”

all my worries, my fears about passing on the darkness to them . . . it’s quiet when I’m with you. I know that your light will fill them with goodness.