In this world, we were soldiers, obeying as soon as the orders came through, but to lighten the stress sometimes, we fucked with each other. This was one of those times. Oscar was younger than me. Still in training.
“What?” She handed me the cup, an innocent expression on her face. Then she shrugged. “Nino was the head of our security for a long time. When I was a kid, I used to think he was Oscar the Grouch.”
I took a drink of coffee and set the cup down. I looked her over from head to toe. The glow of the monitors lit her up. The contrast between light and dark highlighted her bones and put her flesh in shadow.
She shook her head. “This is not normal. This thing between us.”
“That thing is measuring distance right now,” I said.
“Oh? Am I too far or close enough?”
I slid my hands underneath the shirt, a hand on each ass cheek, and pulled her forward. She fell into me, grasping me by the shoulders. Her breathing increased. I could almost hear her heart drumming. She shook her head again and then lifted her eyes.
“This is some fancy equipment.” She shivered when my hands barely caressed her skin. Her eyes narrowed and her face turned serious. “It’s like having eyes all over the place.”
“Yeah,” I said, my voice raspy. I cleared my throat. “It is.”
“Anything worth seeing tonight?”
“Other than you? Nah.”
She grinned but it faded quickly. “Rio—”
We both turned at a knock on the door. A second later, it opened, and my old man stood in the doorway. I stood, setting Mia behind me.
He looked between us and then gave me a number. It was the amount of the price on my head. Then he said, “Doubled.”
I could feel Mia’s curiosity from behind me. Even though I was honest with her, she didn’t have to know the gritty details. The only reason they put a price on my head was to fuck withherhead. They knew her and how far she would go to protect the people she loved.
My old man told me he would be back in a minute. Mia stared at me for a moment before she turned and went to leave the room. I called her name and she stopped, her back to me.
“Us,” I said. “Per sempre.”
She nodded and kept walking.
My old man came back a few minutes later and took a seat. His eyes lit up with the screens. He had something on his mind.
Finally, when he was ready, he looked at me.
“Keep your mind on straight. They’re going to try to use you to get to her. You need to be eleven steps ahead.”
He had noticed that I’d missed their arrival by the look on my face when he’d knocked. She was the sweetest fucking distraction I’d ever had. But we were battling, and the price of this war was my wife.
I nodded and took a seat next to him.
Side by side, we monitored the screens.
Chapter31
Mia
Something had changed. After we arrived at the fire station. After the night in the room with all the monitors.
It was like a switch had been flipped inside of my husband.
His demeanor could never be described as soft. I knew those kinds of guys—Carlo—but they never drew me in. I was used to rough exteriors, jagged personalities, close to zero vulnerability in a man.
Close to zero—because I’d seen it before.
