Page 66 of Her Intense Protector

She made it down to the kitchen and had the blender primed and the eggs going by the time Ezio was down and dressed in his fatigues. “Is a paintball gun involved?” she asked, tongue in cheek.

“If that’s what you need to believe,” he answered with a laugh.

“But nobody’s going to get hurt, right?”

“Not unless somebody is extremely stupid, and that is not a description I would use for a member of either team. What’s more, there are a hell of a lot of safety redundancies in place to make sure no accidents happen.” He picked up his smoothie glass and took a long swallow. “Yours tastes better than mine, what do you put in it?”

“I’m not telling. How will you tell who wins?”

“Whoever captures the other team’s territory, which will be Night Storm.” He started eating his cheesy eggs. She could tell he liked those too. “You do something different with these too, what is it?”

“A girl can’t give away all her secrets. If you’re starting a day early, that means you’re going to be gone at least two days, right?”

He nodded as he wiped his mouth with a paper towel. “I wanted to talk to you about that. I’m picking up Leo today, his truck’s in the shop. He’s got a lot of gear, otherwise I’d take your car and have you take the Jeep.”

“Huh?”

“Honey, remember, I’ve been driving you to work for a reason. Those assholes know what you’re driving.”

She put her hand over his. “It was Murray who knew what I was driving. He’s been apprehended,” she said soothingly. “It was only Murray who knew where I lived.”

“We’ve been over this. Do you believe in unicorns too? You filled out a form, they all know where you live. Just stay away from your apartment, and get Toni to drive you into work.”

“Come on. According to Toni, Phil has gone back to his house.”

“Yeah, well, Phil wasn’t the one who broke up the game, put that underground casino out of business, and has someone who is probably mob-affiliated on the run. That was you. You stand out.”

Sam squirmed in her seat.

“What?” he asked.

“I guess I’m not used to people being mad at me. I’ve got to toughen up.”

He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. “There is not one thing about you that I’d change, you do not have to toughen up. You’re perfect.”

She could drown in his green eyes. Then she giggled. “You sure as heck weren’t saying that the night of the poker game,” she teased.

“Really? You’re going to bring that up now when I have you on a pedestal?”

“That’s the perfect time.” She stood up and whisked the plates off the table and took them to the sink. She looked over her shoulder at Ezio standing there in his camo pants and black T-shirt. Her heart did a little flip. She wanted to keep him.

Whoa there. It’s too soon.

No, it’s not!

He picked his gear up from in front of the door and hoisted it up on his shoulder. “So remember, no driving your car. No going to the apartment. Are we clear?”

“We’re clear.”

* * *

“Ah, hell.”

Yes, I need to really swear.

Toni was on a job-site in Chesapeake, Eden was in D.C. for the day, and the Uber she ordered hadn’t arrived.

“What do you mean you have no record of my call?” Samantha demanded. She’d tried to use the app, but it hadn’t worked, so she’d been forced to call, that sure hadn’t worked, now she was desperate. They had a client meeting in less than two hours. She still had to get things prepped at the office and the stained-glass piece samples that she needed were sitting on her apartment doorstep.