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I believed him. Call me stupid, call me naive, call me whatever you want, but I believed him.
His eyes closed, and for a few moments, neither of us moved or spoke. It was almost like he was relishing the feeling of my hand on his face, like he had to memorize the touch of my palm on his cheek, breathe me in and commit me to memory.
This… it was almost too intimate. Even though we were both clothed and nothing was going on, my truth was laid bare to this man, this man who was a stranger to me in all respects—and yet, at the same time, he wasn’t a stranger.
He came to Cypress to take Miguel down, but more than that, he followed me here. I intrigued him. He came to the party with all the heirs to see me. He bought me a beautiful gun that was now forgotten in the Moretti residence, even etched it with my name, for me. He leaped at the chance to take me away from Miguel—and he had no idea the things Miguel would do to me before handing me over.
So maybe this man, this Atlas, was more than a stranger to me after all.
When his dark eyes opened, he was looking right at me. With his face still turned in toward my palm, it was a very intense expression, one I felt in my core. His chest rose and fell with heavy, ragged breaths, and he growled out, “You will have your revenge, Giselle, I swear to it.”
It occurred to me then that Atlas, the leader of the Greenback Serpents, the man that had been a thorn in Miguel’s side for so long, was beside me, kneeling. Kneeling for me. Kneeling to be close to me.
My hand was slow to slip off his face. “Do you get on your knees for everybody, or is it just me?”
That smirk turned into a full-blown grin, and Damian’s answer was perfect: “Just you.”
“Mmm. Interesting.”
“Oh,” he breathed out, “it’s very interesting.”
My lungs suddenly felt tight, and it was a struggle to even say his name, “Damian, I—” Whatever else I might’ve said died in the back of my throat, so instead of trying to find the right words, I simply slipped off the chair and sank to the floor with him.
Before I knew what I was doing, I leaned into him, pressing my forehead against his cheek and hugging myself to him. I felt his arms slowly wrap around me, and though part of me wanted to stiffen out of habit, I managed to stay relaxed.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Oh, don’t thank me yet. We ain’t out of the woods yet, but we’ll get there. We’ll—” Whatever else he was seconds from saying, he stopped himself when I brought a hand to the other side of his face.
I lifted my forehead off his cheek the same moment I turned his head toward me. Our noses touched. He was so close my eyes couldn’t focus on him properly. All I could think about, all I wanted… was to forget, forget the shitstorm that had become my life, forget the truths I’d learned, forget everything.
And the only thing I wanted to do? Well, in that moment, the only thing I wanted to do was discover what his lips felt like on mine.
I wanted to kiss him, and I wondered if he wanted the same thing.
I didn’t get the chance to find out. Before anything else happened, before I brought my lips to his, the front door to the place burst open and someone rushed in, holding a gun. Damian responded in kind, leaping to his feet while simultaneously pulling out his own iron, which he then pointed at the intruder. The men he had guarding the place must’ve already left to get me what I needed, which meant it was just me, the intruder, and Damian.
The two were at a standoff, and the intruder said, “Step away from the girl.” A familiar, low voice that brought back certain memories… certain dimly-lit memories.
“Like hell am I gonna do that,” Damian hissed back, finger on the trigger.
Oh, shit.
I jumped between them, yelling, “Don’t shoot each other!” Please, God, the last thing I needed was for these two to shoot and kill each other. I stood between Damian and the intruder… AKA Cade Cunningham.
Cade, who, I might add, looked downright devilish in all black, with thick black gloves on his hands and a silenced pistol pointed directly at us. At Damian, really. His wide, strong chest rose and fell with furious breaths, and his green eyes were narrowed in our direction.
“Step away from him, princess,” Cade whispered.
“Yeah,” Damian agreed. “Move out of the way, baby girl. Let me handle this asshole.”
They both fumed, and from what it sounded like, they both really wanted to shoot the other. I, however, was not going to let that happen.
I placed my hands on my hips, whipping my head between both men. Damian might not be as tall or as physically impressive as Cade, but that’s because he wasn’t from a family of assassins. Cade killed people for a living. Damian killed, yes, but it was a different beast entirely.
I settled on the gang leader behind me. “Damian, I trust Cade.”
Damian didn’t ask why, though he did take a while to lower his gun. Around the same time, the door Cade had bust through completely fell off the hinges, crashing to the floor as the last hinge still hanging on tore off the door frame.
