And it wasn’t like she could seduce him into loving her. They’d been sleeping together for over a week now, and the sex was hotter than ever, but feelings were never broached. Never discussed. Of course she was the idiot who had set up the parameters for their relationship. Practical. Convenient. Fun. Yeah, right, she’d even been kidding herself. This was a mess, one of her own making.
Gigi was in love with a man who didn’t believe in the emotion.
If she couldn’t come up with a way to make him love her, then there was only one solution. The same one she employed when it came to opening her Emporium. Act professional, smile, don’t get distracted by the chaos, head down and everything will turn out fine.
Act normal. Act normal? She felt like she’d forgotten how to breathe, and she was supposed to act normal? What she really needed was— “Don’t suppose you fancy grabbing something cold and incredibly alcoholic?”
“Mierda, yes.” Nico grabbed her hand casually.
No, don’t read anything into it. That was for public consumption. Gigi, fighting the urge to cling to him, already it felt like her time with Nico was slipping away.
“Gigi.”
She glanced over at Nell. Though pale and sweaty, she all but glowed. A smug smile teasing the edges of her lips up constantly. She’d never looked more content, or more beautiful. “Once I’ve slept for like a week, you and I need to have a conversation about that happy lollipop you gave me. I never thought about your magic before in relation to pain or treatment management. But this could be a game changer for some of our magical patients who are mundane drug resistant or intolerant. Okay?”
“Sure. Let’s talk.” Mentally Gigi was adding a few details to her world domination plan. Hmmm, natural medicines that tasted good for you? Even if it was just for the supernatural set, it could be lucrative, and with Nell advocating it, then none of the family would be bleating constantly for Canary to taste test it.
“Sounds like a celebration is in order.” Nico squeezed her hand, reaching out to open the birthing suite doors when thunder rumbled, no, it was Drum.
“Thanks Gigi, that pep-up pill saved my ass.”
“You’ve very welcome.” Pep-up pill? And she had a name for her first product. “We’ll let you three have some alone time. Welcome to the world Sunny Montgomery.”
Both new parents looked down at their sleeping daughter, the trio glowing softly for a split second once more. Worry gripping Gigi for a moment. Damn, she didn’t want anything to destroy that glow. She could tell by the slightly harder squeeze of herhand by Nico that he agreed with her instincts, the threat to baby Sunny wasn’t completely eradicated yet. And that meant until Qetesh’s curse was lifted from Nico, he was potentially still in play as a tool by the lurve demi-goddesses, and more worrisome, their still free to go about her plotting and planning mother, Hathor.
Gigi and Nico shared a grim look. This wasn’t over yet. There was still work to be done and a baby to protect.
Chapter Nineteen
“Does Darcy really think I’m going to go all golden, lose my mind and make a snatch for the baby?”
“Pardon?” Gigi looked up from the kitchen table where she’d been glaring at her phone, daring it to beep. She’d had nineteen messages since dawn. Eighteen of them split rather evenly between Gaia, and her mother, Meagan. The nineteenth had been her phone provider advising she was low on minutes left on her allowance for the month. Hah.
“The Enforcer patrol out there doing fifteen minute circuits.” Nico glared down at the duo casually strolling past Gigi’s back deck. The swords strapped to their backs negating the fact they were just out for a bit of fresh air. “It’s a waste of manpower having them watch me, they should assign them to patrol Nell’s place.”
Gigi wandered over to the picture window to stand beside Nico. “They do have Nell’s place under guard.” The phone beeped in her hand, again. “Seriously? Dinosaurs?” She was going to kill her relatives. Theo’s first birthday was just under five months away. Civilisations might rise and fall between then and now. Choosing a theme for the party was beyond irrelevant at the moment. “Ten minutes ago it was farm animals. Before that, sea creatures. Why isn’t this bothering you more?” She glared at Nico, who was busy scowling down at the Enforcers.
“Because it doesn’t matter what the theme is for the kid’s party, the savoury dishes won’t change.” His attention still locked upon the Enforcers. “Yeah, nothing to see here, move it along, dipshits.” Okay, he knew that was unfair, they were just following orders. But Nico couldn’t help feel a little betrayed by their presence. Hadn’t he earnt a bucket load of trust? He’d bled for this cursed supersecret deputy assignment. Although beingaccused of being a trojan horse, that did kind of suggest a really unpleasant surprise was looming just around the corner. But he had things under tight control, and he had Gigi in his corner, 24/7, keeping the gold tide at bay.
Gigi, who was looking gorgeous today, even wrapped up in three layers of knitwear, appeared annoyingly unperturbed by the Enforcers presence. They were waiting to hear back on some blood test results. Her cousin Carl promising to put a rush on things, but as yet no one had contacted them. Still, even with the purple mohair sweater, black leggings and scarf around her throat, Gigi looked a little pale, her lips white. Without thinking he wrapped his arms around her, sharing body heat.
“Paranoid, much? Those guys aren’t out there watching you. They’re watching over her.”
“Who?”
Gigi couldn’t help feel a little pleased that Nico hadn’t noticed Vaia sprawled out on a towel down by the water’s edge. The dark orange bikini displaying her voluptuous curves impeccably. More than one of her elderly male relatives out for a stroll along the water’s edge was sneaking a passing look as they went by.
“What’s she doing out there?”
“Relaxing. Sunbathing. What does it look like she’d doing?”
“What I mean is, why isn’t she being interrogated by Darcy or Elijah? She should be locked up at the very least.”
“I’m pretty sure she’s staying at Great-Great Aunt Millie’s place, nothing gets by Millie. And clearly when she’s not there the Enforcers are watching over her.”
“But she’s in on it. The planning. The plotting.”
“I’m not so sure about that. She did help us escape Qetesh’s clutches in Florence.”
