“Would you come to Boston?” I asked before I could stop myself. My heart was beating faster. It was probably a result of the car chase, I decided. An echo of fear coming back from my unconscious.
Teo gave a slow smile. “Sure. I’d be honored to come see you get ordained. If that’s what you want.”
“Ofcourseit’s what I want,” I insisted. “I’ve known my whole life that I was called to the priesthood.”
“I meant—if you wanted me to come to Boston.”
“Oh.” Slightly embarrassed, I ducked my head. “Well, if Finch insists on sending a contingent, then I’d appreciate it if you would come along. You’ve saved my life twice now. I believe God has a purpose in that.”
“Mm. Maybe God could just stop these fuckers—excuse me, these jerks—before they get anywhere near you.”
I had to smile. “Maybe God is working through those fuckers as well.” I wasn’t exactly used to cursing, but I grinned as I said it. Teo gave a chuckle. “The Lord works in mysterious ways, remember.”
“They sure are mysterious,” Teo said, his amusement passing into something more thoughtful. He hadn’t taken his eyes off my face.
My heart was racing again. Teo being so close was reminding me of his closeness in the car, when he’d leaned over to cover and protect me. Had he beenthisclose? My eyes dropped to his mouth, to his lips moving, pressing together and then parting—
“I’m afraid Finch is implacable,” Luca said, coming back into the room. Teo leaned back from me, and I cleared my throat and I shuffled further left on the couch, closer to the armrest. “He really is insistent about staying with Tara. He’s been looking for excuses lately to reach out to her.”
“Perhaps it’s a good thing,” I said softly. Finch’s relationship with his sister Tara had been strained for many years and for many different reasons. I knew how much he longed to reconcile with her, although the only thing he’d said to me was that their oldest sister, Maggie, had been a problem between them. As Maggie Donovan was now dead, I couldn’t quite see what still came between them. But Finch would never say, and I did not like to press him. I was not, after all, his therapist.
I was not even his confessor, nor would I ever be, since Finch was an atheist. A vision of his brazenly golden hair sitting in the audience at my ordination came to me again, and I sighed. Still, hehadbeen raised Catholic, and he had impeccable social manners when he chose to display them. Perhaps the gravity of the occasion would dampen his more gratuitous tendencies.
“For all we know, Tara might be…” Luca began, then thought better of it. “I’d just rather he stayed well away from Boston,” he said instead, and his tone was quite unlike the Morelli Don who had previously offered me protection. “It’s dangerous for him there.”
“It’s dangerous for him here in New York, too, Boss,” Teo pointed out. Luca glanced at him as though he’d forgotten Teo was in the room at all. I supposed that was the sign of a good bodyguard—unseen, unnoticed, until he had to go to work.
“I suppose that’s true,” Luca said. “If Angelo were here…” he muttered. It was a phrase I’d heard more than once in the months since Angelo Messina had left New York. “Still,” Luca said, and again he seemed to be speaking to himself more than us. “Angelo is making good headway where he is, and we need to build bridges here as well. Boston could be a good idea.”
We heard footsteps coming slowly down the stairs, and all of us looked over to the archway of the room entrance as Finch appeared. His mouth was smiling, though his eyes were not. “It’s all set,” he said. “Tara would be happy to receive us—in town,” he added, with a significant look at Luca. “Innisfree is currently undergoing renovations.”
“Innisfree?” I asked.
“That’s the name of the Donovan estate outside the city,” Finch said, but his eyes were still on Luca.
There was a tension between the two of them that I had never seen before, but it was broken when Luca crossed to him to pull him into a hug. “That’s probably for the best. She has room in the house at Beacon Hill?”
“Oh, yeah,” Finch said easily as Luca let him go. “The house in town—it’s called Hillview—has six floors, including the attic, and every one of them has bedrooms galore. Oh, seven floors, I guess, if you count that room in the basement. Anyway, we’ll fit, even if there’s a Roman Legion of us.”
“I don’t think we’ll needthatmany rooms,” Luca said.
“So we can go?” Finch asked, the same note of vulnerability in his voice.
“Of course, angel. Nick Fontana can take care of business here while I’m away.” He looked across to me. “Well, Aidan? Will you accept our help?”
“Teo should come, too,” Finch added quickly, as though that were incentive for me.
Perhaps it was.
It had all been organized already, and it would have been difficult to object. Besides, I could see that Finch thought this would be an opportunity to mend his relationship with Tara Donovan, and as long as there was not a whole contingency of Morellis traipsing around Boston, I saw no harm. And Finch had been right—I did not want to make my own parents a new target.
Then there was Teo Vitali. I liked the idea of spending more time with him, although there was something inside me that felt sinful at the idea as well. Something dark that writhed in pleasure when I thought about Teo sleeping under the same roof as me.
“I would very much appreciate it,” I told Luca, though I could not help glancing at Teo as I said it.
“Then that’s settled,” Luca said with a nod. “We’ll go tomorrow—by car, I think, would be the easiest.”
Finch put his hand up in the air and bounced as though he were dancing at his nightclub, Kismet. “Road trip to Beantown!” he whooped, and laughed at my pained expression. “I’m originally from there, too, Priest Boy, so I get to call it that if I want.”
