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He tries to hold my hand as he escorts me back to our bedroom, but I rush ahead of him, knowing he’ll make me pay for it later. Once inside, I sit on the edge of the bed and watch as he prepares for his meeting. He changes his suit and cleans up his hair. He’s too fucking beautiful.
Worry claws at my chest again. “Soo is going to be there with you, right? Will you have more back up? Do you have a plan for when things go south?”
He chuckles as he adjusts his tie until I throw up my hands and stalk toward him to help him myself. Once it’s perfect, I smooth my hands down his lapels and use them to drag his face more level with mine. I kiss him and pull away. “If you ever want to touch me again, you’ll stay safe and come back in one piece.”
The edge of his mouth turns up into a wicked grin. “Are you worried about me, a common criminal, princess?”
I glare and shove him away again, going back to sit on the bed. That’s when I notice a little black box on the covers I didn’t see before.
“Open it,” he says, “it’s a gift.”
Inside is a sleek black hand radio. I turn it over in my palms, inspecting it. “What’s it for?”
“It’s because I know you will be worried from the second I walk out the door. This way, you’ll be able to listen to the team’s communications about what is happening.”
The gesture loosens something near my heart. Fuck. When did he get so thoughtful? And why does it make me want to strip his clothes off?
A moment later, Soo knocks on the door, and both men leave.
I curl up on the bed with the walkie-talkie next to me on top of the pillow. The plan seems relatively simple by what I hear as the night progresses. They set one meeting with the dirty DEA agent and bribed him so that he will only work with the Marino sons. After that, they set another meeting with the Marino boys to make sure they are on board with the plan.
As I listen to the security team rumble back-and-forth, it truly hits me just how well organized Nic’s teams really are. It gives me some sense of relief about how his plans might go. Especially the ones that will eventually involve my father.
I listen to the radio until the teams say they are heading home. And then I take it with me when I go down to the foyer and wait for them to walk in. Soo enters first, and I ignore him. When Nic clears the threshold, I launch myself at him and wrap my arms around his neck. He lifts me up in his arms so I can hug him tighter and wrap my legs around his lower back.
He doesn’t say anything to Soo, only walks me up the stairs to our bedroom, where he gently eases me down to the bed. “It’s late. You shouldn’t have waited up.”
I swipe at his chest. “You know damn well I wouldn’t have been able to go to sleep until I knew you returned home safely.”
He leans in and nibbles my bottom lip. “Well, princess, I’m home safely. Now let me show you what I’ve been thinking about since the moment I walked out the door tonight.”
Then he sinks to his knees on the floor and spreads my thighs.
23
Nic
I know she feels confined in the house, but I can’t allow her to leave. If anything happens to her, I don’t know what I will do with myself or the blinding rage that would follow in the wake of her loss.
Now that the plan is in motion, I feel even more possessive of her. If any of the families get word we are making a move. If Ricci gets word… it might mean they take the offensive. That would put her even more in danger. Soo is careful with his information. It’s the security teams I always worry about. They have been fully vetted, paid well, and are loyal to Soo and me, but Soo is the only person I trust. Unfortunately, he can’t take on everything alone like the old days when we were first building our empire.
I know Celia is worried for me, and yet, all I can think about is her safety. If she truly knew how close I am to putting her on a jet and locking her in a big house on the other side of the world, she would be furious with me. The thought only crosses my mind about a hundred times a day.
Celia walks into my office in another little sundress, and I watch as she treks from the door to my chair. If she sees the hunger in my eyes, she doesn’t comment on it.
