Page 130 of Marcus

Tiffany sighed like a weight was off her chest. “Yes.”

“Don’t tell me what it is, okay?”

“I won’t.”

“Good. That’s what matters.”

Well, not really.

He wouldn’t break his girl’s heart, though. He was pretty sure Cella hadn’t intended for Tiffany to say anything about this surprise—Marcus had no fucking idea what it was; he was curious now—but he wouldn’t make the girl feel badly for it, either.

Besides, soon he’d arrive at Cella’s mother and father’s place where he’d meet up with her later in the day after she finished a consult with a client in Brooklyn, and surely, he would find out her surprise then.

This thing between him and Cella?

It took work to keep working.

Like weekends with her in New York, and then the next with him in Toronto. Or making sure Tiffany could visit her grandparents on a regular enough basis to make sure the kid never felt like she went without her family. He’d been lucky that for the past couple of months during the summer, Cella mostly took on jobs that were based in and around Ontario or Quebec except for this last one that came from a friend in Brooklyn who had apparently been waiting forever to get a design done. During that time, she even started looking for a place to move her Rochester office. He hadn’t asked her to do it, but she brought it up one night and he didn’t tell her to stop.

“Are we almost there?”

And just like that, as with most kids, Tiffany changed direction entirely.

“Almost,” he said.

Then, he had another thought.

“You know, I have a surprise for your ma, too.”

In the backseat, Tiffany threw her hands high. “Well, this is just impossible!”

Marcus laughed for the rest of the drive.

Man, he loved that kid.

“Marcus.”

“Lucian.”

The two men greeted each other with a quick shake of hands after Marcus helped Tiffany to remove her shoes and the backpack on her shoulders. The girl gave her grandfather a hug around his waist, and then ran deeper into the house. Probably in search of her grandmother.

“Remember, no telling secrets!”

“Got it, Marcus!”

He smiled, shaking his head.

“Oh, we have secrets, do we?” Lucian asked.

“Apparently.”

“Good ones, I hope.”

Marcus shrugged. “Have to ask Cella about hers, but as for mine … give me a few minutes.”

Pocketing his Mercedes keys to his pocket, Marcus tried to shake off the strange nerves that crawled around his throat. It wasn’t like him to get nervous, but here he was. Doing exactly that, it seemed.

“You said you wanted to chat?” Lucian asked.