Page 134 of Duty

“You’d think that would be the night when people would want to go out, and get rid of their stress. The start of the week, and all that shit.”

“Maybe.”

Her quiet, but not interested, reply made Andino frown. “Hey.”

Finally, she glanced over at him. He wished he could find some warmth in her blue eyes, but all he found staring back at him was coldness.

“Hi.”

Andino nodded. “I’m sorry I’ve been busy. The last couple of weeks have been—”

“Don’t worry about it, Andino. I’m not.”

Ouch.

Her tone came out as sharp as a razor blade, and cut at him like one, too.

“Haven,” he said.

He got nothing.

“Haven.”

Still nothing.

Fine.

Andino stood from the stool, put his hands on the bar, and launched his body overtop of it in one fell swoop. He landed almost soundlessly on his feet, and reached for Haven before she could even think to protest.

There were a lot of things he couldn’t say to her right now. Some, he just wasn’t ready to speak out loud, and other things … well, he had to figure that shit out on his own. But he came to her time and time again because it was with her that he found some semblance of fucking peace in his chaotic days.

And he was sorry—fuck, he was so goddamn sorry—if she felt unimportant to him because that was so far from the truth, it wasn’t even funny. Maybe he needed to work a little harder at trying to convey the shit he just wasn’t ready to tell her.

Starting now.

Andino closed the distance between them, and practically handed his blackened, ruined soul over to her with a kiss. He was quite aware that she was working, and this was not the kind of thing she would usually do … but it didn’t matter to him.

All that mattered right then was the way her body felt tucked against his, how she grabbed his jacket to pull him closer, and the way she kissed him back. Those were the things that made Andino think, this is worth it; it’s far more than worth it.

The longer he kissed her, the more she relaxed.

The better they felt.

All too soon for his liking, Andino pulled away, and then just as fast, dropped a soft kiss to Haven’s forehead. Her work was forgotten about for the moment, and the club around them just disappeared while they dealt with them.

“I’m still a little mad at you,” she admitted softly.

“I like a woman that can hold grudges better than even me.”

She laughed. “Is that so?”

“Very much so, baby.”

“I don’t really want to keep being mad at you, Andino.”

Yeah, he knew that.

She was due her feelings, though.