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Axel
I secured the vest across my body. It only weighed ten pounds, but it was thick enough to stop a bullet or a knife. When I’d gone to the factory to save my wife, I hadn’t had the time to put it on, so I’d gone in blind and vulnerable. Now I had something to live for, so I was careful to watch my back and my front.
I hadn’t seen Scarlett most of the day, so I texted her.Baby, where are you?
In the kitchen.
I went downstairs to the bottom floor and into the second kitchen in the rear. It’d been a long time since I’d had a party, but whenever I did, people liked to congregate in the kitchen and on the barstools. So, I had a kitchen for entertaining and a kitchen for the actual cooking. I stepped inside and found the kitchen island covered with ingredients and hot pans on the stove. It smelled divine, and my stomach tightened even though I’d already had dinner.
I leaned against the counter and stared at her.
She stirred the contents of one pan before she moved to the other and flipped a piece of chicken.
“I wish I’d known you were cooking. Would have skipped dinner.”
She gave a slight flinch like she didn’t know I was there. “Shit, you scared me.”
“I just asked where you were. You didn’t think I was on my way?”
“Guess I was distracted.” She finished what she was doing before she dragged her dirty hands down the front of her apron.
“What are you making?”
“I got this idea for a recipe and wanted to try it out.” She moved to the sink and washed her hands free of the oil and butter that had caked her fingers. “The more I think about it, the more excited I get about running a restaurant. How cool would it be if I got a Michelin star?”
“That would be cool,” I said. “But you already have the Michelin star in fucking, and no one likes an overachiever.”
She rolled her eyes, but my comment made her smile.
I smiled too.
She dried her hands before she leaned against the counter and looked at me.
There were moments like this when the light hit her in just the perfect way that her eyes shone like emeralds. Her skin had a natural glow that made her look like living gold. The world got quiet, and I knew I could stare at her forever. “I’m going out tonight. Not sure when I’ll be back.”
“Oh…”
Ever since I’d gotten married, I’d rearranged my schedule to be home with her in the evenings. I didn’t like the idea of her sleeping alone in my bed. Abandoning her during the most vulnerable time of the day made me feel like an inadequate husband. But tonight couldn’t be helped.
“Some of my guys are going to be on the property while I’m gone. I ask that you don’t leave.”
“Okay…now you’re making me worry.”
“Nothing to worry about.”
“You’ve never left me with a small army before.”
“After what happened with your father, I’d rather be cautious.”
Her arms crossed over her chest. “That means you’re doing something dangerous tonight.”
“Everything I do is dangerous.”
“No, it’s not,” she snapped. “Most of the time, you attend snobby cocktail parties and make deals in the back room.”
“Baby, it’ll be fine.”
She ignored what I said. “What are you doing?”
