“It was Papa’s. All I have left of him. The day he disappeared, I found it on my pillow. It’s how I knew he wasn’t coming back.” The golden brown stone shimmers in the harsh, winter’s light, but it’s warm to the touch. “I haven’t felt…safe enough to wear it since I left the cartel. Until now.” His smile sends goosebumps racing down my arms. “Ronan? I trustyou. I know you need me to trust your boss. Your coworkers. And I’m not there yet. But I’m trying.”
He steals glances at me as we reach the border between the South End and Roxbury, the silence in the car almost too much for me to bear. Until he finds a parking spot three blocks from Boston Mail Center and shuts off the engine. “You’re doin’ just fine, luv. It’s me who’s bein’ an arse. Never met anyone like you. I’m gone for you, and that makes me a bit…overprotective.”
“A bit?” Laughing, I tug the wool cap down over my hair. We stopped at a drug store on the way, and I touch up the purple lipstick that matches the polarized sunglasses hiding my eyes. With Ronan’s leather jacket covering a Boston Red Sox t-shirt, I hope I look different enough Oliver won’t immediately recognize me.
“Stay close,” Ronan says. We’re both armed. A belt holster holds his Glock 19, and he has a backup piece at his ankle. He had to cinch all the straps, but managed to get his shoulder harness to fit me so I can carry his Sig Sauer P238.
If I didn’t need my hands free, I’d tuck my arm in his. I want to staymorethan close. Locked in Ronan’s apartment for a solid week sounds perfect right now. Aruba would be nice too. A beach, a bungalow, some silly drinks with umbrellas in them. All things I’ve never allowed myself to want, because what good are they when you have no one to share them with?
Now, this handsome, gruff man at my side is talking about family and forevers, and everything I’ve ever dreamed of.
Suddenly, Ronan spins me around and presses me up against the wall of a used bookstore. Before I can protest, he angles his head to plant a kiss to the side of my neck. “The shithead who shot me is at my five o’clock. Don’t see your brother yet.”
Hooking my leg around his, I grab his ass and dig my fingers into the firm muscles under his black pants. “The mailbox place is on the next corner. Can you reach my phone? See if he’s texted Theo?” His hand slides into my back pocket for the device while I keep one eye on Theo until the man turns and starts walking the other way. “He’s heading south. You can stop with the groping.”
“You mean to tell me you didn’t enjoy that?” He cracks a brief smile and passes me the phone.
“Oh, I did. Very much. Except the part where I can’t tear your clothes off because we’re outside, in winter, with two people who want me dead a block away.” Despite my words, I grin up at him. “Tonight, I want you at least twice.”
“Your wish is my command, luv.”
“Shit. According to Oliver, they didn’t get an address from the PO Box, but they did manage to grab a pile of mail. They’re heading back to the car now. If we can get their license number…”
“Wren can track it,” Ronan finishes. “Come on, then. Feel like runnin’?”
Before he finishes asking the question, I’m already hoofing it to the corner. Oliver’s nowhere to be seen, but Theo ducks into an alley mid-block. “Check the store. Oliver hasn’t seen your face yet—not well enough anyway. I’m going after Theo.”
“No. We stay together,” he growls.
“I won’t get too close. But if we lose both of them…we won’t have any hope of getting a license number. Go!” I shove at him, angling my hands at the last minute to avoid his injured shoulder. He’s pissed, but nods and crosses the street, while I rush toward the alley.
Stopping two steps from the alley against an old, half-abandoned building, I take a quick peek around the corner. Hands grab my jacket, spinning me and throwing me against the opposite building’s wall. Rough concrete scrapes my cheek and the sunglasses shatter.
Fuck.
I can’t get to the gun before Theo’s on me again. The idiot’s huge—easily three-hundred pounds of solid muscle. Unable to fight momentum, I crash into the other wall. Sparks zing where my elbow catches a pipe protruding from the concrete, but this time when he comes for me, I’m ready.
Kicking my leg out behind me, I catch him in the balls, and he squeals like a little kid. “Didn’t know you had anything left down there, asshole,” I taunt, grabbing his shoulders and driving my knee into his nose. The crunch shouldn’t be so satisfying, but after all the pain he caused me, I need a little payback. “Steroids really do a number on those little raspberries, I hear.”
Shoving him as hard as I can, I expect him to go down, but he staggers back until he hits the wall, then uses it as leverage, tackling me and driving the breath from my lungs.
His massive fingers wrap around my throat, but before he cuts off my air, I grab his wrist with both hands and wrench it downward, breaking his hold. I use my whole body to knock him onto his side.
The wail of a police siren approaches. Shit, shit, shit. A quick glance onto the street and I know why. A man holds his cell phone at eye level, recording our entire fight.
He’s too far away to get a clear shot of my face, but that won’t matter if the police catch me. Theo takes off at a dead run, and before I can decide whether to follow him or go back the way I came, footsteps pound closer.
“Zephyr!” Ronan’s rough whisper sends relief flooding through me, but it’s short lived. He tosses me the car keys as he rounds the corner. “The cops are half a block away. Start runnin’. I’ll meet you back at the car as soon as I can, but don’t expect it to be for at least half an hour.” He’s blocking me from view of the camera man and holds his hands up. “Don’t shoot!” he shouts. “I’m no threat to you!”
Spinning on my heel, I take off in the same direction as Theo, and pray he’s so worried about the cops, he won’t eventhinkabout trying for round two.
* * *
Ronan
After the police run my PI license and call Second Sight to verify I’m still employed—a question that made me hold my breath until Marjorie relayed Dax’s answer—I give a quick statement.
“I heard shoutin’ and sounds of a fight, so I came to see if anyone needed help. Saw a big bloke runnin’ down the alley. He turned left. The woman pulled a gun. I put my hands up, told her I wasn’t after her, and she backed away a dozen steps or so, then bolted.”
