Page 120 of Pink

What?

Snatching his daughter’s hand within his own to keep her from darting away from his side, Lev stood and turned to find she was right. A sheepishly smiling Gigi waved a hand as she weaved between a row of parked cars. The line of men in black suits with comms in their ears followed behind at a respectable distance but none of them looked very pleased.

Lev said nothing until Gigi was standing just two feet away. “What are you doing here?”

“I made your guys find out what was going on and then I had my driver bring me here.” She offered that information like it should have been obvious. Her next statement explained exactly why that was. “Before you say anything, I know I didn’t have to come here. But didn’t I? Maybe I didn’t answer you the way you wanted me to at the restaurant … or I just wasn’t clear because things are a mess right now, and I’m still trying to figure things out, but what’s happening with us is important to me, Lev. Even if the things I don’t know or understand about you scare the hell out of me. It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s today or in two days after I walk the runway or a month from now. If this whole thing was the universe’s way of giving us a second chance at … whatever, us, then I’m not throwing it away. Okay?”

He swallowed hard, acutely aware of his daughter at his side who glanced between him and Gigi with more interest than she had previously shown. Beyond that, his heart thundered so hard in his chest that he was sure the organ was trying to escape. He wasn’t sure what this woman was doing to him, or with him, a lot of the time, but they kept coming back to the same thing. Them together.

“Really shouldn’t order the guys around,” he said, nodding toward the enforcers currently chatting with her regular team of security. “It confuses them about who’s in charge, you know?”

That earned him one of her sweet laughs.

And a beautiful smile.

“That’s what you say back to me after I spill my guts?”

Lev grinned and stepped forward, closing the space between them with Arely coming along for the ride. Not that his daughter seemed to mind. Nor did she say a thing—except for her soft giggles—when he slid a hand around the back of Gigi’s neck to pull her in for a kiss that set his heart on fire the second their lips melded together in a now-familiar dance. His chest grew tight when he pulled away just enough to rest his forehead against hers, their eyes locking in on one another’s like missiles finding the target.

“You made yourself clear,” he murmured. “I hear you.”

She rubbed her lips together, probably tasting him, and nodded. “Okay. Is everything good here or—”

Lev chuckled dryly, pulling away and then lifting Arely up from the ground to rest on his hip. “Without details because someone—” he nodded to his daughter “—doesn’t know the full story, yeah. Prank. Bullshit. Scared the hell out of me for nothing. I sent her enforcers home once I finally got here because I was ready to rip their heads off, and it wasn’t even their fault.”

He was seriously considering asking Andino if it was possible to bribe his daughter’s school into allowing Arely’s enforcers inside the building while she attended classes. Shit, maybe they could be class helpers. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? Sarcasm was his new friend.

“Sorry, but at least it was just a false alarm,” Gigi said. Then to Arely, she beamed, saying, “Good to see your daddy let you take your bag. I thought he might hide it on us.”

“I would never.”

Lies.

He totally considered it.

Arely held the backpack high, as proud as could be. “My teacher made me hang it up on the high hook in class.”

Gigi snorted. “I bet.”

“Miss Gigi, will you be returning to the hotel with Mr. Arsov, or will you be needing your driver?”

“We’re having pizza and gelato,” Arely said, bouncing in her father’s hold.

The question from one of the men a few cars down the row had Gigi turning to Lev with an apology already on the tip of her tongue. “I do have to get back to the hotel. I wasn’t even supposed to be out today. Kayla canceled my meeting with my agent, so I could have lunch with you. She just got in; I wasn’t in the mood. She’s supposed to be around later, though, so—”

“It’s fine,” he told her. “Besides, only a couple more days, right?”

“Right,” she replied, “only a couple more days and things will be a lot better. I can walk you to your Jeep?”

“Sure.”

The walk to the Jeep didn’t take long, but Lev was pleased to see his daughter’s earlier sadness drifted away with Gigi there. The two of them chatted on and on while he tried to let them have their moment. After all, it wasn’t just about what was happening between him and Gigi, he knew … something was happening for Arely, too.

The second his vehicle came into view where he parked it at the end of a row, Lev knew something was different. The piece of yellow paper flapping under the windshield wiper caught his attention instantly. Setting Arely down to the ground beside the Jeep, he reached for the paper, already seeing the black words scrawled boldly across the bright background.

His heart stopped.

Ice slipped through his veins.