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Quentin raised an eyebrow at me. “You’reokay, you mean. We don’t kid ourselves that it’s the rest of us he’s so concerned about protecting.”
I elbowed him playfully. “Aw, he likes all of you too.”
Niko looked as if he was suppressing the urge to wave at our supposedly low-key guards. “How’s his alliance with the Harvester working out?”
I grabbed my keys to unlock the building’s door. “Pretty well, from what he’s told me. I guess that the business they went in on together has been really profitable. I’m sure he’ll have lots to tell us about that tonight.”
My heart lifted at the thought of Rafael’s visit. In his role as the new Deadly Rose, he needed to spend a fair bit of time in Austin in the old Cordova mansion, keeping the main underlings in line. But after he’d gotten everything under control to begin with, he’d picked out some key people who could run things well when he wasn’t there. Now he usually stayed with us for at least a couple of days every week.
But I always looked forward to those visits. As much as I understood why he couldn’t be here every day like my other men, I treasured every minute I could get.
Once things were more settled for all of us, we’d find a way to be together all the time.
Rafael had made an alliance with the Harvester shortly after he’d taken over the Deadly Rose title, and part of their deal was that the Harvester’s people in Boston kept a lookout to make sure no one threatened us. But so far the rest of the Devil’s Dozen had left me completely alone since the World Championships, thank God.
The elevator let us out right outside the door to our two-story unit. With as many as five of us sharing the space at any given time, and some of them men with very strong opinions, we’d figured it was best to leave lots of room for people to spread out. We all had our own small bedrooms on the second floor, and the first floor was divided by the furnishings into several distinct areas with a different focus.
I was just raising the key to the lock when the door swung open on its own. A massive figure grinned down at me.
I dropped my bag and flung my arms around my former bodyguard. “Rafael! You got in early. I didn’t think you’d be here until later tonight.”
Rafael hugged me back tightly and then eased back to enjoy a lingering kiss. “I’ve been here for about an hour—and I made Cuban sandwiches for everyone. I figured all that work on the ice has probably left you awfully hungry.”
Quentin’s eyes gleamed eagerly. “You know it. Where’s the grub?”
Rafael laughed and motioned us all into the loft. I made a beeline for the table, which he’d already set out with a sandwich at five of the six chairs. “Is everything okay in Austin?” I asked over my shoulder. “How’syourwork going?”
Rafael sank down next to me. “I’ve sorted out some things that needed sorting—faster than I thought I’d be able to. But you handed the job over to me because you didn’t want to be bothered with all the details, right?”
I wrinkled my nose at him, but he had a point. “Fine. But if there’s ever anything youwantto talk about, you know you can. We all have a lot more experience with that part of my old life than I wish we did.”
Rafael offered me a softer smile and gave my ponytail an affectionate hug. “And I’d like to make sure you never have to experience any more of it. Don’t worry—I’m enjoying the challenge. And I’m happy with how the changes I’ve made are panning out. What about all of you? Anything new on the skating side?”
An answering smile sprang to my face. “We’ve really hit our stride with our new free skate routine. So much that Coach Valdez wants us to increase the difficulty.”
His eyebrows rose. “Again? I thought you were already pulling off some kind of miracle.”
Quentin smirked. “They do call this guy Saint Jasper for a reason, I guess…”
I got the impression that Jasper kicked his one-time rival—lightly—under the table. He turned to Rafael. “In the skating world, you always have to be looking for ways to stretch your abilities even farther. Because everyone else always is too, so otherwise you get left behind.”
The corners of Rafael’s mouth curled with amusement. “Sounds a lot like the criminal world, actually.”
“Their routine is going to be jaw-dropping with the new addition,” Niko declared around a big bite of his Cuban sandwich. “It’ll be fantastic if we can all make it to Prague next year.”
I glanced at him, knitting my brow. “Prague?”
Niko grinned at me. “That’s where the Winter Olympics are being held, remember?”
Electricity zinged through my veins. I hadn’t let myself think that far ahead. The idea of competing at the actual Olympics felt like a dream within a dream.
But it really was within our grasp, wasn’t it? We’d won gold at Worlds. The Olympics would be a similar level of competition, even if it got a lot more fanfare.
Díos mio, the number of people who’d be watching if we performed there…
My heart fluttered with excitement, and I caught a matching gleam in both Jasper’s and Quentin’s eyes.
“Yeah, that’d be amazing, all right,” Jasper said.
