Page 60 of The Mafioso’s Bride

He bends beside me. "May I kiss you?"

"Yes."

His mouth presses against mine. He does not shorten the kiss for Polina, the open door, or the men moving along the corridor outside. His thumb rests along my jaw, firm, warm, and familiar.

"Home in ninety minutes," he says against my mouth.

"I have two hours of work remaining," I say.

"Ninety minutes."

"Agreed." I move my tea away from the files.

"I married a ruthless negotiator."

"You married a woman who can divide one hundred twenty minutes by two."

Polina laughs. Luca kisses my forehead and walks out wearing the tiny pin. Two soldiers step aside for him. Neither looks at his lapel.

Polina opens her container. "He calls you his tardigrade in front of everyone now."

"Yes."

"Do you like it?" Polina asks.

"Yes." I separate two pieces of pasta that have stuck together. "The meaning belongs to us."

She touches her fork to mine once. It is a strange toast, but we created it, so the meaning is ours.

After lunch, I carry the records to my quiet office two doors down from Luca's.

Ninety-three minutes later, Luca enters my office and closes the file beneath my hand.

"You exceeded our agreement," he says.

"Mattia delivered the additional records."

"Then I will punish you."

Heat gathers between my legs. "At home?"

"Wherever my wife prefers."

I place the Vance Thorne file in the locked drawer. "Home."

Our house contains more color than it did on my wedding day. My books occupy shelves in the sitting room. My blue mug lives beside Luca's black one. Susan asks before changing any meal we have planned, and the kitchen contains a separate toaster no one uses for seeded bread.

The room across from ours is mine.

Its door seals out most sound. The walls are pale blue. A long table stands beneath the window for my microscope and specimens. Books fill one wall, and a wide chair in the corner provides pressure on three sides when I sit in it. No one enters without asking: not Susan, the guards, or Luca.

I use the room whenever I want silence. I sleep across the hall.

Thirty-seven minutes after we arrive home, a knock lands against the closed door. Luca waits outside. He does not enter.

"Come in."

He steps into my room and loosens his tie. The tardigrade remains fixed to his jacket. "The office had many people today. Do you need more time alone?"