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“What? What’s wrong?”
Growler looked at the woman in his arms, and he wanted to lose himself in her. Kiss away her fears and his worries. All he wanted was to be able to tell her that everything was going to be okay. That nothing bad would happen while he was around. But as Astrid had pointed out, it already had. Somehow, someone from the Ramirez cartel had gotten to her house. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t been home at the time of the delivery—he hadn’t kept her safe. And now he looked like he’d have to potentially go wheels up in two days—something he hadn’t done in quite a while.
The words he wanted to say lodged in his throat. He didn’t know how to get them out. How to let her know that he would be leaving her. Or for how long.
“You’re scaring me, Callum.”
Her words pulled him out of his turbulent thoughts, and he pulled her tight, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I’ve got something else to tell you. Something I found out moments before I came into the house.”
“Something more about the delivery?”
If only that was it.
“No.”
He dropped her hand and pushed the stool back a fraction, putting a little distance between them. A moment of hurt flashed in Astrid’s eyes at his actions. To be able to tell her this, though, he needed to not have her pressed so close to him. It was now or never.
“Ox decided a while ago to add another service to Alliez Security. He got a call from someone today about it.” Growler thought the less Astrid knew the better it would be, though that made explaining it all even harder. Also, he didn’t know what he could and couldn’t say about his possible trip. Better to keep it as generic as possible. “The new side of the business is going to involve going away for periods of time.”
Astrid pulled her hands away from his, and he wanted to grab them back. He didn’t though. If she needed distance, he would give it to her. “When?”
Growler sighed. “I’m not sure exactly, but Ox said it could be in two days.”
“What about me? After what happened today, you’re just going to go and leave me to fend for myself?” she asked incredulously.
“I would never leave you unprotected, which is why I won’t go. My priority is to you, and Ox knows that and understands it. He doesn’t expect me to go.”
Quiet settled over them, and Growler couldn’t work out what was going through Astrid’s mind. Her face was a blank slate, as though she’d shut down and was hiding from him.
No way could he leave her, not when she was like this.
“You want to go though, don’t you?” A hint of sadness tinged her words, and yet they hit him with the accuracy of a sniper hitting its target.
“I’m not going to lie to you—yes, I do want to go. To go and do what I used to do, not in the same capacity, but still, going on a mission feeds my soul. But also, things are different now. I have you, and you are what’s most important to me.”
“You’re important to me, too, and I don’t want to hold you back.”
Growler got up and pulled Astrid into his arms. He needed this closeness. Needed her to know that his words were true. She was number one in his life. “Ah, Comet, you’re not. I’m here because here is where I belong.”
He pressed his lips to hers and showed her how true his words were.
Pedro was pleased with himself as he sat in his car down the road from Astrid Conway’s house. Seeing the mayhem surrounding his gift was better than he expected it to be.
He didn’t give a fuck what Javier or Mr. Rook had said. He was going to eliminate the chef. He’d already set his plan in motion. Prior to being told to back off, he’d found out that she hadn’t been able to give the police a good description of him, only that she’d heard the shots fired. If that was the reason Mr. Rook wanted him to back off, then it was a pathetic one. Regardless of what she’d given the cops, she was still a threat to him, and he wanted her gone.
He hadn’t seen Javier since that afternoon in his hotel room. As far as Javier and Mr. Rook knew, he was headed back to Mexico. But he wasn’t leaving Los Angeles until he’d finished what he started. He would prove to Mr. Rook he had what it took to be a valuable member of his organization.
He was the best at extracting information, like he’d told Mr. Rook. The fact Enrico had been a tough bastard to crack was neither here nor there as far as Pedro was concerned.
Now all he had to do was wait for the moment when the bitch chef was by herself. And there would be one time. No way would the guard be constantly by her side.
When that time came, he would be ready. He would take her and make her regret going to the cops and saying anything. He would show her what it was like to be with a real man, and then he would get rid of her. Either by killing her or selling her for the highest price possible. Or maybe he would keep her for his own personal use. Maybe he’d bring her back here and have her hiding in plain sight, under the nose of the guy who was supposed to be protecting her but had failed. He would know when the time came what to do.
Of that, he had no doubt.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Morning came way too soon for Astrid. If only she had to get up and go to the studio and do a shoot, but the show had wrapped, and until she was green lit for another season, her days wouldn’t be as full as they used to be.
