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When I’m discharged,we head back to my apartment and as we reach the familiar space, Ana fusses around me like a mother hen. Fetching me coffee, making sure I’m comfortable and, for a man who’s never had that before, it’s addictive.
While we sit and attempt to distract our minds from the shit we’re in, we watch a movie and I love how she snuggles into my side, careful not to touch any part of me that may be sore.
I love the easy familiarity we share and realizing how different it could have been, I chuckle softly.
“I’m still not sure I’m safe.”
“What do you mean?”
Her anxious frown makes me smile.
“Mikhail.”
“What about him?”
“He warned me off. Told me you were of personal interest to him and to keep my distance.”
“When?”
The outrage on her face makes me laugh and I shrug. “That first night in your apartment after the shootout. He had been following us and knew everything. I suppose he thought then I wasn’t good enough for you and was playing the protective brother. I would be the same.”
“Well, I’m not so forgiving.”
She shakes her head and says angrily, “Wait until I see him. What right does he have to interfere in my life? I mean, do I go around and warn his women off him? No, it wouldn’t even cross my mind. I can’t believe it.”
I pull her back against my chest and kiss her on the head, whispering, “He was doing what was right—for you. In his eyes, I nearly got you killed and wasn’t up tothe job of defending you. I have no money, prospects even, and hell, I’m not even Russian.”
“Thank God.”
She rolls her eyes. “You may not have any of those things, James, but you possess something more valuable to me.”
“What?”
“You are kind, a little misguided in your choice of dates–” She raises her eyes, causing me to laugh out loud, “but you have a good heart and that is all I care about. Not to mention that you’re seriously sexy, a little moody, if I’m honest, and quite rude sometimes. So, just what I’m used to.”
“Well, you’re perfect to me and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
We waste no more words. Actions are what matters now and I may be hurting like hell, but I can still kiss Ana and show her exactly what she means to me.
CHAPTER 25
ANA
At exactly ten past nine, Adele walks into James’s office as if nothing ever happened.
She is every inch the potential First Lady, wearing a Dior scarf and oversized sunglasses, and acting as if she is the most important person in the room.
As she perches on the chair opposite him, you would never believe the relationship they shared. She has retreated behind her façade and gazes at us with a cool expression.
“What is this absurd nonsense about anomalies?”
James says nothing and turns to me, and from the expression in Adele’s eyes, she’s not happy about that.
I list the various companies that we are concerned about and she shakes her head when I’ve finished.
“Is that it?”
She laughs derisively.
