Page 59 of The Fixer

As he left, he sucked the air from the room. The loss of my previous life hit me again, the promise of his words inspiring both hope and dread. Because that life, the one thing I’d always wanted more than anything else, wasn’t the only thing I wanted anymore. But in my heart, I knew I couldn’t have it all. I couldn’t have a life at D’Angelo’s table with Eliza Westbrook at my side.

15

Jet

Eliza dropped into a chair at a table, head falling into the cushion of her arms across the top. Her shoulders heaved with an exhausted sigh, and something inside me clenched.

I wanted to help her. Fix whatever it was that troubled her. Make things right.

“Eliza?” I knelt at her side, aching to reach for her. My hand settled on her knee, her smooth skin just as soft as the silk that covered her body.

She lifted her head, lifted her gaze, and gifted me with a glorious but sad smile. “Jet,” came a little gasp from her lips, and I wanted to steal that sound straight from her mouth. She reached for my face, then stopped, as if some static charge had shocked her. That smile fractured and fell, that hand settling in her lap.

I slid my fingers up that smooth silk until they were tangled with hers. “Are you okay?”

“I am. Just… tired.”

“Let me take you home.”

She swung her gaze across the room, to where Meg was finishing the final instructions for the team cleaning up.

“Please,” I murmured under my breath. “You need your rest.”

Her gaze shifted and a new look crossed her face. Eyes guarded, brow pulled down. I looked over my shoulder and found Santini coming toward us.

“Meg said she told you to go home twenty minutes ago,” he said, quiet accusation in his voice.

“Eliza?”

Her chin dropped and she covered our hands with the one she’d left on the table. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“She told me to make sure you were removed from the building and seen safely home.”

I gripped her chin, tugging until she was looking at me. “Is that true? Did Meg tell you to go?”

The girl nodded as much as she could with her chin still locked in my grasp. “Yes.” There was a tightness to the word, and though she wouldn’t look me in the eyes, I could see a glimmer in hers, like tears gathering, ready to fall.

This time, when I said her name, she flinched. A second later, her hands were yanked from mine, her arms flung around my neck. “I’m sorry.”

Wrapping her up, I pulled her to me. “Shh, it’s okay,” I told her, even as my throat clenched, the press of her face into my neck enough to steal my breath. Though this time, it was a sharp flicker of lust that had me choking, not the tormenting memories that swirled and crashed. My hands clasped and clung, grip tightening as I pulled her as close as I could, standing because it meant I could get more of her body pressed against mine.

“Please don’t be angry,” she whispered, lips grazing my jaw below my ear.

And suddenly, that lust tamped down into dust.

“Never, sweet girl,” I promised. “I only want what’s best for you. I want you healthy and safe. I want you to come home with me, to go to bed. Let me take you home.”

Eliza nodded, arms squeezing tighter. “Okay.”

I didn’t want to let her go. Wanted to hold her close, to keep her in my arms. To take that concession as more than what it was. To take her to my home, to my bed. To take her body and make it mine.

A shuffling behind me drew my attention. I loosened my grip around Eliza and reached for the gun at my back before I realized it was Santini, scuffing his feet. Watching the two of us, standing there locked in an embrace.

“Shall we?” he asked, the amusement in his eyes not found in his voice.

Shifting, I tugged Eliza into my side, keeping her close as I ushered her out of the ballroom and down to the street. Santini’s SUV was waiting at the curb. He opened the back door for us, as if he were our chauffeur, before climbing in front.

Eliza tucked herself into my side, head on my shoulder, one tight fist balled up on my stomach. I breathed her in, relishing the way her scent surrounded me, filling my senses with everything good about this gorgeous girl. Making me feel, at least for a moment, that her goodness could be enough for the both of us. Could make up for the spark of reprehensible darkness that consumed my heart.