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I kiss her forehead again, letting her words twist through me. She has no fucking idea how much she owns me. There is no one else for me. I would kill for her, no questions asked.
"It was more than that, though," she says, playing with my fingers. "You were really mad."
"I don't do well with crowds, baby. It's hard to watch your back when you're crammed into a small area with hundreds of people, any one of whom could slip a knife between your ribs before you blink." I learned early on in my career to watch my back and to always be prepared. When you deal with gangbangers and cartels, with people who have no problem stabbing you in the back and then slinking away in the shadows, you learn to avoid crowds. It keeps you alive.
"With everything going on," I say, "I don't know what to expect. I don't know what's coming. I don't want you to be a target, and I'm fucking terrified someone will see you with me. That they'll come after you to get to me."
My partner's wife and son were targeted because of him. It's hard not to worry about the same thing happening to her. With Guerrero taking out everyone he perceives as a threat, it's hard not to wonder when he's coming for me. If he figures out that Brady had a partner, it's going to lead him to me. It's impossible not to think about that when I was the one who sold him the fucking guns. If he puts two and two together, he's coming for me.
Even if he doesn't put it together, at the rate he's taking out everyone who can connect him to anything, it's hard to imagine my name not being on that fucking hit list too.
Tahani is safely tucked away in Sacramento, hours from here. He can't get to her. Mila's right here with me, though. I've never wanted the things she makes me yearn for. Until her, I never wanted a woman in my home, in my bed, or sharing my life. I'm still trying to work through the fact that I want those things with her enough to have risked bringing her here.
I can't fuck this up when her safety depends on me doing this right.
"I'll be okay, Roman," she says, her voice soft and sweet. "Even if you don't think you'll be able to keep me safe, I know you will. I'll be okay because I know you'll make sure of that."
Her faith in me kills me a little. I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I'm fucking grateful for it all the same. Warmth spreads from my chest and twists through my abdomen. I fall a little bit deeper in love with her.
"I want to give you everything," I confess, pressing my lips to her temple. "It fucking kills me that I can't."
She turns in my arms, wriggling until she's straddling my hips. Her eyes meet mine, her expression as soft and sweet as that voice. "I don't want everything. I don't need bars and dancing. I don't need nights out or any of that." She rests her forehead against mine, her breath a little sigh against my lips. "I just want you. That's it."
"Be patient with me," I whisper, brushing my lips across hers.
"Always," she promises.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Mila
"So I need you to book the flights and hotel for everyone going to the convention," Missy Beck, my new coworker and mentor, tells me, tapping a pen against the planner spread across her messy desk. Her dark head is bent, her brown eyes running over the neat rows of notes scrawled in the margins. She's cute, with a heart-shaped face, sparkling brown eyes, and long, auburn hair. "Emerald, Libby, and Dax prefer to stay on-site, but you'll have to book April at a different hotel, preferably a few miles from the venue. She freaks about crowds. Anxiety."
"Got it," I say, hurriedly jotting notes so I don't miss anything. It's only noon and my notebook is already crammed full of instructions and reminders.
As soon as I finished filling out the new hire paperwork, we started getting me up to speed on how things run at Triton. Missy doesn't waste time. She's in her early twenties with big wire-rimmed glasses and a ready smile, and she talks about sixty miles a minute. I love her already, but my head is spinning a little bit.
"You'll need to check with Davion to make sure all the swag gets picked up from the printers," she continues, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "You'll also want to confirm the packing list with Marion and double-check that everything is ready before you pass it over to Davion to ship. Everything needs to be shipped by Wednesday so it arrives on time. I have the address around here somewhere."
My phone buzzes as she flips through her planner, snagging my attention. I flick my gaze up to her before I slide my phone out of my pocket to read the notification. I'm not sure what the phone policy is around here, and I don't want to get in trouble on my first day.
When you get home, I want you to sit on my face until you come for me.
Heat rolls through me as soon as I read Roman's text. I have to bite my cheek to keep from moaning out loud. He's been insatiable since our disastrous outing to Venice on Friday. He barely let me leave the bedroom all weekend, but he's been a lot less stressed. Even if things didn't go well at the bar, I think going helped him see that we could leave the house without all hell breaking loose.
And I'm taking that ass tonight, baby. I've been hard all day thinking about it.
Dear God. I think he's trying to kill me.
"Mila?"
I jump, dropping my phone to the floor. My gaze flies to Missy to find her watching me, an amused smile on her face.
"I'm so sorry," I mumble, reaching down to grab my phone. Before I can shove it into my pocket, it buzzes twice in rapid succession with incoming messages. I hurry to silence it and then put it in my pocket. Heat scorches my cheeks. They're probably blazing red.
I'm going to kill Roman. I cannot believe he texted me on my first day at work!
"I don't know what he said," Missy says, waving me off when I apologize again, "but judging from the look on your face, you're in for a good time tonight."
