He gave me a slow once-over that gave me way too much hope, considering I’d just promised to keep things platonic.
“Tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Just come to the door. I’ll be watching for you.”
26
ALESSIO
THE NEXT NIGHT I tried to work. Really, I did. I’d promised King there wouldn’t be any distractions on my part, nothing that would have me making stupid mistakes, but I couldn’t deny that my mind was elsewhere. At least I wasn’t in denial about that.
And anyway, we didn’t have any pressing matters happening within our circle, nothing life or death, which was a nice change from the past few months. No stalker to track down. No retribution to dole out. Just keeping things running, double-checking accounts, all things that relied on muscle memory as my fingers moved quickly across the keyboard and my eyes scanned the screens in front of me.
Shep had left a while ago, encouraging me to do the same, since it was late, but no way in hell was I leaving. I found myself glancing at the time every two minutes, my leg bouncing up and down. The quiet of our underground space was usually soothing, but tonight I was hyperaware of every creak, the hum of the computers…my heart trying to take a flying leap out of my chest.
I hit enter, starting a scan of one of our accounts and sat back, scrubbing a hand over my face. My gaze shifted to the screens that monitored the long tunnel that branched offtoward St. Andrews, even though no one could enter without the tracking chip my brothers and I wore or without unlocking the checkpoint doors spaced out at intervals.
I checked the time again, groaned, and shot to my feet, shaking out my arms and pacing to get rid of all the nervous energy coursing through my body.
He’d come, right? Rafael wouldn’t change his mind…would he?
No.I shook my head and cracked my neck from side to side, then took another peek at the monitors.
He would come. What was that he’d always teased me about before?“Patience is a virtue.”
Yeah, well fuck patience, and fuck my virtue too. I’d lost that a long time ago.
Without seeing him, it was too easy to think that what had happened last night was all in my head, that I’d made up how perfect every single second with him had been. Had I made up those nipple piercings too? Becausethathad been a sexy surprise I never could’ve expected.
God, the way he’d looked naked was one thing, but the way we’d fit together again? The sounds he made when he came deep inside me? All of that had left their mark, but it was the way he’d looked at me when he told me he couldn’t leave me again that had me hoping…
And hope was a dangerous thing.
I checked the cameras again without meaning to and then did a double take.
Movement. Just inside the entrance from the church.
My breath caught as I moved toward the monitor and saw the familiar figure entering the tunnel. I caught a clear look at him briefly before the door closed and shut out the light. He was dressed in his usual black shirt and slacks, his collar on and hishands loose at his sides like he didn’t know quite what to do next.
A smile curled my lips and my heart skipped a beat.
Rafael was coming. I hadn’t imagined it. He hadn’t changed his mind. He stood there in the tunnel, the soft glow from the torches lining the walls illuminating him as he looked around and then stared straight at the camera up in the corner.
At me.
Something in my chest cracked open, and I quickly moved back to the keyboard.
With a tap, I unlocked the first gate, the sound of it unlatching echoing off the walls. Rafael walked forward, sure, steady strides as he moved through the tunnel.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he reached the second door, and I opened it as he approached without having to slow down.
Maybe I was a little eager.
He slipped past the third door, each barrier between us sliding away, one by one. It felt like more, somehow, like with every obstacle that was freed, he was making a deliberate choice. For the first time, it felt like Rafael was choosing me, every step he took bringing him closer, and not just physically. He felt within reach. It was impossible not to get my hopes up, not when everything I wanted was only two locked doors away, and I blew those barriers away quickly before running out of my office toward the last one.
It opened slowly, too fucking slowly, and I was breathing hard when I got there, waiting for him to appear.
And then…there he was.
