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I huffed. “I guess you’re right,” I said, shaking my head because it was still not quite believable. “Crazy,” I whispered.
“Speaking of which,” he said, sliding his hand back up to my abdomen.
Hey, wait!a very greedy part of my body cried.
“Are you sure this is what you want, darling?” he asked, though I had a feeling we were no longer talking about our relationship, but the other thing.
I sighed and, for some reason, shifted closer to him, enjoying the feel of his warm body against mine. It was sexual, yes, but it was something else too.
“I don’t ‘want’ it—I’m not quite that insane. Butsi,I still intend to do this.”
‘This’ was less than twelve hours away. Tomorrow, that’s when we’d dangle the bait and wait for Domínguez to bite.
“Do you remember what I said?” he asked.
He’d said a fair bit. I couldn’t quite hone in on what he was talking about.
“You stay alive, darling. I’ll get to you no matter what.” The easy way he spoke combined with the conviction in his tone made it almost impossible not to believe him.
“It kind of takes the thrill of the risk out of it when you put it that way,” I said, smiling, hiding for now how much I liked the sound of the conviction in his tone, and the way I felt comforted by the harsh glint in his eyes.
I shouldn’t need comfort, and I damn sure shouldn’t need him to come to my rescue. But he would; there wasn’t a doubt about it. And knowing that felt about a million times better than it should have.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Greta
My nails were done. My hair was trimmed. And I had two shopping bags in the trunk from a trip to a little clothing boutique I’d been admiring from the window for months.
And here I was, still uncaptured.
Just to sell it, I’d spent half the morning on the phone with Raven, yapping on and on about how I’d needed a down day after the stress of the past few weeks—which wasn’t a total lie. It would have been more relaxing, though, if I hadn’t been waiting for Domínguez’s men to snatch me up at any second.
It didn’t help that it was possible I was on a fool’s errand here. We only knew about the three men he’d sent—Fred and the two men we’d killed outside Onyx. That could be it. There could be no one left to take the bait.
I stepped out of the nail salon and fought the urge to look for Gabe’s brother, Caio—he was the one on watch duty at the moment, or at least, he was if they’d stuck to the schedule.
Gabe had insisted on having eyes on me the whole time, first Deo, then Gabe, thenZiettoVito, then Caio, all of them with a surveillance feed that fed back to the computer in Nico’s office.
They’d kept their distance; I hadn’t spotted any of them, but they were there. I could feel it, like a warm ray of sunshine on my back. Not that it did me any good. It wasn’t like one man was going to be able to do much if Domínguez threw them for a loop. But I understood the need; I’d have felt the same way if it was Gabe out here.
Still fighting the urge to look around, I headed for my car. I’d parked at the side of the building, giving Domínguez’s men the feeling they could scoop me up easily without any bystanders noticing.
I’d gotten halfway to the car when I felt him. It was a vague sensation at first, just like the eyes that had been watching me all day, but this sensation was cold, like a breath of ice instead of sunshine.
I wanted to spin around, to confront him, tofighthim. But I kept walking. Calm. Serene. Like a woman who’d spent the day pampering herself. This “job” had done wonders for my acting skills.
As I crossed the last few yards to the car, I let what was about to happen run through my head.
They knew me better thanEl Víborahad; they’d be expecting me to fight and to fight well. At the same time, the more I fought, the more they’d fight. I didn’t want to end up injured enough that I’d be incapacitated. Just enough that they’d buy the act.
I could envision it now, walking through it in my mind step by step.
They wait for me to reach the car, when my hands are busy with my keys. One man grabs me from behind, an arm around my chest, the other hand over my mouth. He gets real close to make us as small and unobtrusive as possible to keep anyone around from noticing what’s going on.
He’s got my arms pressed against my body, but with one quick jerk, I get my elbow back and shoot it into his solar plexus.
He gasps for breath, but he doesn’t give up his hold; he tightens it.
