Luciano walked in, eyed the men. “We’re taking off.” Luciano fixed his gaze on Gabriel. “You got protection?”
“I’ve got Teddy,” Gabriel replied.
“I won’t let the Bratva near him,” Teddy said.
Luciano squeezed Teddy’s shoulder. “Grazie, fratello. You put us first.”
“Every damn time,” Teddy replied feeling the pressure ofeveryfucking thing.
The three men returned to the kitchen, and Teddy homed in on his target. Sydney was saying goodbye to his grandmother. The pull to be close to her had him moving in her direction.
“Grazie per la cena deliziosa e per avermi incluso nella vostra festa di famiglia,” Sydney said.
Nice.
“Thank you for the delicious dinner and for including me in your family celebration,” Slash translated.
“Sissy, where’d that come from?” Caroline asked.
Sydney did an adorable wiggle. “I know my Italian, babeeeee.”
Her smile sent a bolt of energy charging through him.
Elsa kissed each of Sydney’s cheeks. “Torna quando vuoi. Due dei miei nipoti hanno messo gli occhi su di te.”
Sydney stared at her, then said, “I got part of that. You said, ‘come back anytime.’”
“Molto bene. Very good,” Elsa said.
Sydney flicked her gaze to Teddy. “Help.”
Teddy translated. “Elsa said, ‘two of my grandsons have eyes for you.’” He winked at her and, damn, if her cheeks didn’t pink.
“You see all, like the wizard in Oz,” Sydney said to Elsa, and the group laughed.
“That’s definitely Elsa,” Luciano said. “The great and powerful nonna.”
Sydney shifted toward Teddy, her heated gaze drilling into his. “See you tomorrow.”
“Absolutely,” Teddy replied.
“Speaking of tomorrow,” Greystone said, “I got a meeting, and you gotta come with.”
Teddy dragged his attention from Sydney to Greystone. “I need to spent time at the restaurant.”
“Our meeting is twenty minutes, max,” Greystone said, “but my ride’s leavin’, so I’ll call you.”
“Where is it?” Teddy asked.
“The White House.”
Beyond The Day of Destruction mission, running the restaurant, and being there for his brothers, Teddy had no life.
As he watched Sydney saunter toward the front door, he had every confidence all that was about to change.
SYDNEY
That evening,as Sydney crawled into bed, her phone binged with a text from Tank.
