Page 19 of Read This Before the Villain falls in Love with You

"I have two working legs and eyes. I can duck on my own without you crushing my ribs."

I slide my gun back into my holster. "You're in my house, Blake. Nobody shoots you while you're under my watch."

She steps right into my space. "You don't get to grab me whenever you feel like throwing your weight around. I don't care if people are shooting. You don't put your hands on me without warning."

Adrian skids onto the terrace with two men, weapons up. I hold up a hand. "Clear the grounds. Two more possible on the east wall. Live if you can. Questions if not."

He nods once and peels off. The bodies stay where they fell. Blood crawls across the marble in thin red rivers toward the drain.

Nora marches across the tiles, turns around, and walks right back toward me. "I deal with crazy people with guns for a living. I don't need a bodyguard diving on top of me. All you had to do was yell duck."

I flick a speck of stone dust off my lapel. "You would've stood there asking questions and ended up dead."

"Then that would've been my problem." She taps a rigid finger against my chest. "Don't treat me like glass. I know how to fight dirty. Ask Matteo what happened with the fork this morning."

"Matteo deserved that fork," I admit, watching her chest heave.

"You'll get worse than a fork if you keep slamming me into stone floors."

I close the space between us, smelling her perfume over the stink of hot gunpowder. "Are you done yelling at me?"

She folds her arms tight over her chest and glares up into my face. "I'm just getting started. The next time bullets fly, you shout jump and get out of my way. You don't throw me like a piece of luggage."

I tilt my head down at her. "You're not a soldier. You were standing right in the open while three men had guns on you."

"Then maybe your goons shouldn't have shoved me into a car in London and brought me to a shooting range." She rolls her eyes with utter disgust.

I laugh once, short and dark. "Noted."

She glances down at the assassin lying motionless near the rose trellis, her shoulders locking rigid. "You did not hesitate at all. Not for a fraction of a second."

"No," I answer without looking down at the corpse.

"Do you always do that? Just shoot three men before dinner like you're taking out the trash?"

"I kill anyone who breaks into my house," I say quietly. I look down into her wide eyes. "Especially when they aim a gun at you."

"You didn't even blink," she whispers, her throat working as she stares up at me.

I take a slow step forward until the tips of our boots touch. "I don't need to blink. You're alive, Blake. That's the only thing that matters right now."

"What matters is you grabbed me without asking. Dead hitmen are your problem. Putting your hands on me is mine." She pushes a stray strand of hair behind her ear, leaving a smudge of white stone dust on her cheek. "And your aim made a complete mess of the floor."

Color rushes back into her pale cheeks. "I'll send the bill to Vincenzo Bellini."

Her lips press together in a sharp line. "Make sure you charge him for my ruined dress while you're at it." She lets out a slow breath and glances toward the dark yard. "Are more coming?"

"Yes," I say simply.

"Great. Just wonderful. Am I supposed to run from bullets in these heels all week, or will you give me a gun?"

I step right into her space and close the distance. "You stay behind my back."

"I just told you not to tell me what to do." She squares her shoulders and refuses to back away.

"Then prepare to stay angry."

"I've been angry since your thugs grabbed me off the street, Luca."