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Magnus’s pain-shrouded gaze shifted to me. “I’d planned to have the movers pack up all her stuff and put it in storage for Matty. I figured he might want to go through everything one day…see what she was like, the things she liked.”
“Makes sense,” I said since I really didn’t know what else to say.
“Anyway,” he began, turning his attention back to the bottle label. “I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you. I know you were just doing your job.”
That surprised me because I hadn’t ever expected him to acknowledge my reason for being here. An unwelcome flare of excitement lit up deep inside my chest, but it took nothing more than remembering how this man had dismissed me in Ronan’s office the day of the wedding to snuff it out.
“And I didn’t mean anything by that comment about you saying my house was nice and saying my name a few times…”
I had overreacted to that and I still wasn’t sure why. “It really is a nice place,” I said, in the hopes of keeping the peace. Magnus shot me a doubtful look and I clarified, “Yeah, it’s looking a bit run down at the moment, but that shit’s easy to fix.” I glanced at one of the broken shutters and unthinkingly murmured, “I could probably help you out with some stuff.”
What the hell had possessed me to make that offer?
Heat crawled up my neck as Magnus looked at me. He was clearly as surprised by the offer as I was.
When he didn’t say anything, I stammered, “Or…or whatever…no skin off my-”
“Dante,” Magnus interjected and I met his gaze. “I’d appreciate that.” He leaned forward to run his fingers over a broken porch rail. “I was going to just sell the place as-is, but since we have some time before the trial starts and after I testify too, maybe we can get some things cleaned up and I’ll be able to get rid of it more quickly.”
Between watching his finger rub over the worn wood in front of us and the softness of his voice as he actually accepted my offer, I was both turned on and suspicious at the same time. He wasn’t even going to ask me if I knew anything about construction or home repair? I watched his finger return to his beer bottle. He took a long swig and I immediately focused on his throat. I had no idea why I was so obsessed with that part of his body, but every time I saw the strong muscles flex, I imagined what they’d feel like beneath my hand as I wrapped my fingers around his neck and held him in place while I fucked into him. I wasn’t into breath play or any of that shit, but the idea of holding him down, feeling his pulse beating frantically beneath my fingertips as his pleasure built…knowing he had the strength to force my hand away but chose not to…that was what was doing it for me.
I shifted in the chair as my cock began to thicken in anticipation. I desperately tried to think of something that would distract me so I wouldn’t be forced to excuse myself so I could take care of my body’s untimely response to his presence and realized Magnus had actually given me the opening I needed to find out more about why I was here.
“So, the trial isn’t starting right away?” I prodded.
Magnus shook his head. “Jury selection happens on Friday. The prosecutor will call a few witnesses before me, so I probably won’t testify until Tuesday. Whole thing should be wrapped up in about a week or so and hopefully the jury won’t take more than a few days to reach their verdict. It’s not a slam dunk case, so who knows.”
“What kind of case is it?”
“Murder.”
Fuck, that was bad. Ronan and Memphis hadn’t given me any details about the trial since it wouldn’t have changed my job…I was there to keep Magnus safe whether he was testifying against a mob boss or a jaywalker. From my perspective, anyone and everyone was a danger to Magnus until we were back in Seattle.
Before I could even ask, Magnus continued. “Victim was a sixteen-year-old girl who was being used as a drug mule to smuggle coke over the border of Mexico. Feds had gotten a tip that their suspect was moving a lot of product at once, but they didn’t know which border crossing so they asked for the Rangers to provide support. Turns out the informant gave them some bad intel because they weren’t using vehicles to get the drugs in.”
“They were using people,” I interjected.
Magnus nodded. “By the time we realized that was what was happening, there was no way to know how many people had crossed or how big an operation it really was.” Magnus paused long enough to take another drink. “We probably wouldn’t have even known if it hadn’t been for the girl.”
