AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I trail off, realizing precisely how Ford knows what’s gone on today. “You tapped her house, didn’t you?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that, V. Either way, I know what went down, and I think you’ll be very interested to hear all about it.”
* * *
Wren flops onto the couch beside me, rubbing her stomach. “Ugh, I’m so full.”
I lift a brow. “Are you really?”
She twists about at the sarcasm in my tone. “Yes, I am.”
“So, where did you go for lunch?”
“Dante. In the West Village.”
Her answer almost makes me smirk. She’s clearly done her homework.
“It’s good, right?” She nods enthusiastically. “What did you have?”
“Their chicken alla diavola.” She pats her stomach with wide, gray eyes, the very picture of innocence. “It wastoogood.”
I regard her with a tilt of my head. “The West Village, hmm?”
She smiles with a hum of assent before I continue laying my trap. “Not your usual style. Did you happen to run into Lucia on your travels?”
Her face pales as she sucks in a sharp breath. She swallows harshly, and I lean closer, sliding my palm around her slender throat, dusting my thumb over and back across her wildly fluttering pulse. “You deliberately disobeyed me, little bird.”
I shake my head with a tut. “You put yourself in danger, and for what? To confront that waste of space? Why would you do that?”
Her eyes flicker between mine for a long beat, the gray slowly darkening in intensity until I’m drowning in her stormy gaze. She reaches a hand up between us as her jaw tics, gripping the hand encircling her neck and slowly pushing me away.
She straddles me, legs on either side of mine, as she cups my cheeks.
“Whywould I do it?” Her sigh is filled with frustration as she gently brushes my cheeks with the pads of her thumbs. “Because shehurtyou. She could havekilledyou had Jules gotten there even seconds later. Don’t I deserve to protect the man I love?”
Her words hit me square in the chest. But even so, she needs to see my point. “You can’t run off half-cocked, Wren. You need to let me keep you safe.”
She sits back with an affronted grimace. “And don’t I deserve to be allowed to keepyousafe? To look out foryourbest interests.”
She quirks a haughty brow. “I’m notlessthan you, Vaughn. I’m your equal. And it’s about time you recognized that.”
“Don’t you see? It’smewho’s less thanyou, Wren.” I groan as I sit forward, cupping her flushed cheeks between my hands. My eyes are pleading when I look up into hers. “I don’t want toruinyou. I can’t have my darkness infecting you. Iwon’thave it.”
Wren presses a soft, fleeting kiss to my lips, pulling back just enough to whisper, “There was a time when you told me that even the devil was once an angel. Do you remember that day? That little girl?”
My chest warms as she feeds me the words I spoke so long ago, and I nod just once, swallowing awkwardly past the sudden lump in my throat.
Her eyes glisten as her lips lift. “You see, Vaughn. That’s where you’re wrong. We all have lightanddark, goodandbad within ourselves. Angelanddevil.”
My forehead crinkles at her words, and I wince as the movement pulls at the stitches by my hairline. She softly smooths the pad of her thumb over the evidence of my assault before her eyes find mine.
“Today, I let a little more of my devil show. And that’s okay when it comes to protecting the ones we love.”
Our gazes hold as her words imbed themselves in my mind until her eyes narrow. “And for your information, Ididhave the chicken alla diavola at Dante.”
She arches a brow paired with a smug grin. “Jules was anexcellentlunch companion.”
I shake my head with a low chuckle. “So, did you visit Luciabeforeorafterlunch?”
