Page 124 of Vow Of Fire

“He wants to have tea.”

“Tea?”

“Yes, he invited me over to his place for tea on Saturday morning. Eleven o’clock sharp.”

“Did he say why?”

She shrugged. “I think he just wants to talk about art.”

I grunted and pulled out my phone. That wasn’t implausible. “I’ll let Kyle know.”

Kyle had taken to driving Evelyn to the gallery every morning, while Max drove her home. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the two jackasses were smitten with my woman. A few days ago, Evelyn had bought Max’s baby girl a birthday present. I’d known Max for six years and didn’t even know he had a daughter.

“Did you ever think to ask?” Evelyn had asked me when I’d said as much to her.

Communication wasn’t my strong suit. Then again, conversation led to friendships, friendships led to relationships, and relationships led to feelings.

Feelings led to a whole bunch of other problems.

Besides, the Marcellis weren’t the type of family that talked about our feelings. We preferred to keep them buried under years, if not decades, of suppressed emotion in the hopes that we’d never have to deal with them. It had worked for me so far.

Until she’d come along. The copper-haired vixen who made me feel far too goddamn much.

The worst part was, I didn’t totally hate it.

Even though I knew it could only end in disaster. One way or another, we were doomed to fail. Our whole relationship was built on a bed of lies, blackmail, and coercion. Evelyn was only here because she felt she had no choice.

And I was taking full advantage of that.

Our driver pulled into the underground garage and cut the ignition. I was so caught up with my thoughts that I barely registered the second SUV idling at the far end of the concrete level.

I stepped out first and rounded the vehicle to open Evelyn’s door. The second she climbed out, gunfire erupted across the garage.

“Down!” I grabbed her wrist and hurled us both behind a concrete support pillar just as bullets sprayed the side windows of the SUV. Glass exploded everywhere. Evelyn screamed as I dragged her against my chest and shielded her body with mine.

I drew my Glock as shots thundered through the enclosed space, deafeningly loud. Twisting my head, I saw muzzle flashes from both sides of the black SUV at the end of the level. Two shooters at least, using the armored doors as cover. It looked like a professional job.

My guess was they were here for Evelyn.

Reaching for my phone, I texted Kyle one-handed. He’d get here with reinforcements before the cops would.

Our driver hit the ground with a curse, clutching his leg. Blood spread rapidly beneath his calf.

“Stay down,” I barked as he reached for the pistol under his jacket. At least he was in front of our SUV, out of the line of fire.

“I’ll cover for you,” he gritted out before letting off a volley of shots.

I joined him, adrenaline sharpening everything to a crystal clarity. The bastards must have seen us leave and been waiting for us to come back. Had we been on foot, they’d have picked us off from the rooftop, I had no doubt.

I made a mental note to double our security. Right now, however, I had to get Evelyn to safety.

“What do we do?” she squeaked, flattening herself against the pillar. Her eyes were huge and fearful as she stared up at me.

“It’ll be okay.” Cold fear flashed through my chest. No way was I letting her die here on the concrete. “Stay behind me, no matter what.”

She gulped but nodded.

“Good girl.”