Matching tattoos that went beyond skin.
Stronger than any vows spoken.
Our bodies had made a pact, long before we were even born.
We came into this world halves, and when we crashed into each other, we were fused, entirely whole.
Setting my arms around his neck, I rested my head against his. He swam us around, not a care in the world. I sighed. I sensed his grin after.
“You going to throw a rock at me this time?”
“You want me to?”
He laughed again, and the vibration sent a hum through my blood. It was so pleasant, like the hum of bees. I melted it into it like honey.
“Take your best shot, baby,” he said.
“I already did.”
“True that,” he said. “I wear the proof of that on my finger every day.”
“Me too,” I said, admiring the shine of my rings as the sun hit them just right. The tanzanite and diamonds against the clear water almost mesmerized me. But it wasn’t only how beautiful my rings were.
Looking at them brought back memories. Something that hadn’t truly come to the surface of my thoughts before then.
“Baby,” he said.
“Hmm?”
“Evelina,” he said, his tone sounding like he was repeating himself. It solidified the thoughts swimming around in my mind.
That was a sore subject. Not everyone was happy about the man who’d claimed her in Russia.
“What about her?”
He became quiet, then took us under. When he came up, I let go with one arm and wiped my face, running a hand through my hair.
“Time to eat,” he said, and started moving us toward the rocks.
It was probably best if we didn’t discuss it. He was always one foot in and one foot out of the situation.
We sat next to each other, sharing the food we’d brought, letting the sun dry us.
“Baby,” he said. I breathed out, not meaning to. He’d taken my right hand and put his mouth over my fingers, stealing my grape. He bit me a little and then gave me a smile that made my bathing suit stick to me like it had melted. “What’s on your mind? You’re preoccupied.”
“I—shit!”
He was on high alert at once, scanning my face and our surroundings. He might have taken a security position—Mac, Evelina, and his brothers designing software for the Fausti family—but, like his father, he would always be ten steps ahead or die trying.
“My ring!” I said, holding out my hand for him to see. “It must have slipped off—”
He already had the bag open, pulling out his cellphone.
“What are you doing?”
“Going to find—” His eyes narrowed against the screen, forehead tight. His features didn’t relax, even when he looked at me.
“This?” I said, holding it up. When he didn’t bother denying it, because he couldn’t (not that he would), I slipped it back on and held my hand in front of his face. “You put a tracking device in my ring, Rio!”
“Fucking right, I did. Lock it down and throw away the key.” He picked me up. I made awhoo!noise at the abruptness of it. He was a powerhouse. “When you have what I do in my arms, you take no chances.”
“You took one on me,” I said. I refused to even think about where I’d be if he hadn’t forced me to see what was right in front of my face.
Everything.
He stopped before we were fully emerged in the water. “No chance,” he said. “Destino.”
I held onto him as we finished our swim. I’d hold onto him forever. Like the rings around our fingers, we each had a measuring device in our chests, that beating thing called our hearts, always reminding us of the distance between us and keeping us on the same path.
Mycuorewould alwayslead me tomydestino.
