by Alice Ward
“They were from Cyprus.”
“No, turns out they had nothing to do with mine or my mother’s past. They targeted me because of my money. The man they work for had completed a successful ransom in some small town south of here. Apparently, he was ready to try the big time so he targeted me.” His jaw ticked.
“So they were just after you for money? It didn’t have anything to do with your family and where you’re from?”
“Right. They were following you to determine just how valuable you were to me, I guess. And they were doing the same with Florentia.”
My cheeks grew hot. “Because of me. They followed me to her house. They must have.”
He stared straight at me. “Probably.”
I tried to swallow the hard lump in my throat, but it wouldn’t go down. “So I guess you know now what a liar I am.”
His eyes went wide. “Blaire…”
I shook my head ferociously. The movement made my shoulder hurt, but that was fine. I deserved the pain. “I don’t know why I didn’t just tell you about what I did. I don’t know why I didn’t tell anyone. I just… it was exciting, but I didn’t know if I wanted to be a PI forever. And I kind of just wanted to wait…” I hung my head. “God. It sounds so stupid. It doesn’t even make sense.”
“I’m trying to understand,” he offered.
“For years, my identity depended on one thing. I was in the army. Even when I was in the reserves, my life still revolved around that. And then I left… and it was a little scary at first. But it was also freeing. In Chicago, not a lot of people knew about my past. Where I’d been, what I’d done. I could be anything I wanted to be. And I liked that. I liked being a girl who didn’t know where she was going or what she was doing. But there was this other side to me, this part of me that craved excitement. And so when Evie’s cousin offered to get me certified for PI work, I said yes.”
“But you didn’t tell anyone?”
I sighed. “No… if it even matters anymore, this job was going to be my last. I’d already decided it wasn’t for me. And then I met you…” I bit my bottom lip, silencing myself. Perhaps I was over explaining and anything I said from then on didn’t matter. Likely, Cristiano had already made his mind up about me anyway.
His eyes flicked back and forth as he searched my face for something. Whatever it was, I hoped he found it there. I so desperately wanted to be anything and everything he needed from life.
“You could have told me,” he said, a hint of hurt in his tone.
“I…” My voice cracked, and I tried again. “I wanted to, but there was something else too. Florentia wanted me to wait. She wasn’t ready to meet you. And then you and I started seeing each other, and the days flew by. By the time I knew that I wanted to tell you, that I needed to tell you, even if she wasn’t ready to meet you, it was too late. I was ashamed. I thought you wouldn’t want me anymore.”
Two hot tears spilled from my eyes and fell on my cheeks. Cristiano reached forward and used his thumb to wipe one of them away.
“I know you might hate me,” I whispered.
His shoulders sagged. “I don’t hate you. How could I? After what you did for me and for my mother. You risked your life for her, more than once. She told me you were going to take her to a safe house.”
I laughed ruefully. “Yeah, I sure did good job of that, didn’t I?”
Cristiano rested his hand on my leg. “You did everything you could.”
I smiled the tiniest bit. “And look at you, a big hero.”
He smirked. “Unintentionally.” He shook his head. “I should have brought my phone with me. When I got your voice mail, I was just so shaken, I walked out and forgot it.”
“Where did you go? Florentia and I were looking for you. We thought the men had gotten you.”
“I was walking. For hours… just trying to make a decision. And when I finally realized I was ready, that I needed to meet my mother, I went back and got my SUV out of the garage. I had the address memorized. It was the only thing playing in my mind. I didn’t even think about my phone.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “There you were just walking around, and we thought the worst thing possible had happened to you.”
“I guess we all make mistakes.”
“Don’t say that,” I begged. “Don’t act like what I did is as innocent as leaving a cell phone at home.”
His hand squeezed my leg. “Do you not hear what I’ve been saying, Blaire? I’m not angry. I was shocked, yes. But I understand why you did what you did. I see how complicated everything got, and how quickly. And I love you.”
The last three words rang in the room. “Say that again,” I whispered.
He took my hand and lifted to his lips. “I love you.”
I laughed, giddy and in shock and exhausted and amazed. “I love you too.”
Cristiano grinned wide, showing off nearly all of his sparkling teeth.
A dry sob escaped my chest. “I can’t believe everyone is okay.”
Cristiano wrapped his arms loosely around me, careful not to press against my bad shoulder. I burrowed my face into the crook of his arm and absorbed his comforting scent. “What now?” I asked in a muffled voice.
He pulled back but kept his hands resting on my legs. “You come home with me and let me take care of you until you recuperate.”
“Okay,” I smiled, loving the sound of that.
“And don’t be afraid to ask me to wait on you hand and foot. I can take it.”
I chuckled, feeling so good that the joy itself made me slightly guilty. Was it all right to have a life this amazing?
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “We’re out of the woods. I promise.”
I picked his hand up and kissed the back of it. “The only thing you need to promise me is that you’ll just keep being your amazing self.”
His lips pursed like he was trying to stop himself from smiling so wide. “Nice gun, by the way.”
“Shit!”
“I took it off of you before the ambulance came. I didn’t know if you had a permit for it.”
“I don’t.”
“You are a woman of many mysteries, Blaire Daniels.”
“No,” I corrected him. “Not anymore. Now I’m a woman of honesty.”
Cristiano’s eyes softened. He parted his lips, but before any words escaped, the door banged open.
“Blaire!” Evie squealed, running over to the foot of my bed. “You’re awake!”
“Yeah,” I smiled at her. “I am. It was just a… um, what happened, exactly?”
“You got shot in the shoulder,” Cristiano explained. “Just one bullet.”
“And I fainted?” Thank God Seth and my other army friends weren’t there. Passing out over a bullet in the shoulder was downright embarrassing.
“The doctor said it was because you were weak,” Evie explained. “That you were dehydrated and exhausted.”
“Ah. Okay. That makes more sense. Are you all right?”
Evie clutched the bed rail and looked solemnly down at me. “I’m fine. I think I probably just had the adventure of a lifetime, so now I’m good for the next sixty years.”
“I can’t believe I got you into all of that.”
“Don’t,” she fiercely said. “We’re not going through all of this again. Anyway, it all turned out all right, thanks to you and Cristiano. You guys are both, like, heroes.”
I smirked and gazed at the man who I cared about so very much. “He’s more than just that.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
e
“Are you sure you can make it all right?” Cristiano asked as he opened the car door for me.
“Cristiano,” I nearly snapped. “It’s my shoulder that’s injured, not my legs. I can walk.”
“It might tire you out. I can get you a wheelchair.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “If I do get tired, it will be good for me. It’s not like I have plans to go anywhere.”
That was the trut
h, and it made leaving the hospital a bit scary. I already told Michael I had no interest in taking on any more clients. My doctor’s instructions told me not to use my arm for at least a few more weeks, which meant working at the orphanage was likely out of the question. Days stretched ahead of me — my whole life stretched ahead of me, actually — empty and waiting to be filled. Talk about terrifying and exhilarating.
Cristiano offered me his hand, and I took it, letting him help out of the car. Everyone in the lobby was exceptionally friendly, smiling and asking if I needed anything. The arm sling meant to stop me from moving my shoulder made me look helpless. Don’t worry, I humorously thought about saying. I was just in the middle of a shootout. I took a bullet. No biggie.
Cristiano kept his hand lightly resting against my arm the whole way up to the apartment.
Once inside, he scurried around, getting pillows and a blanket for the couch, asking me what I wanted to drink, seeing if I was hungry, and arranging the TV remotes in a straight line on the coffee table.
“Cristiano,” I said. “Really. Just sit down.”
He froze in the middle of fiddling with the curtains. “It’s not too bright in here?”
“It’s perfect. Come sit down with me.”
“Don’t you need more ice in your water?”
I laughed out loud. I couldn’t help it. The man in front of me seemed so different from the one I initially met. If you’d taken me back to that day in the orphanage’s back yard, I never would have guessed that Cristiano could be hurrying around like this, willingly waiting hand and foot on a woman.
“No,” I chuckled. “I’m fine. Why are you freaking out?”
His jaw tightened, and he came to sit next to me. “I want to make sure you’re all right.”
I stared at him. “I am. See? Don’t I look fine?” I started to move my injured arm just to show him how great I was but ended up receiving a shooting pain in protest. “Ow,” I hissed. “All right. Maybe I can’t move my arm yet. But I’m sitting here, aren’t I? And trust me, I won’t need any help going to the bathroom.”
“I would help you there if you needed it.”
“I would call Evie,” I sharply replied. “And then just hold it until she got off work. Let’s at least try to keep a little bit of romance in our relationship.”
One corner of his mouth turned up in a tiny grin. “All right.”
The way he was avoiding my eyes wasn’t lost on me. “What’s wrong?” I prodded.
He rubbed his palms together. “Uh, I… I was ridiculous.” He finally looked up at me, uncertainty etched across his face. “To not believe you when you told me about my past.”
I clucked. “You don’t have to feel bad about that. Really. I mean, you forgave me for what I did…”
He nodded. “Yes, but I just want to be better to you. I need to be better to you.”
My heart melted. “You’re amazing,” I said through a thick throat. “You’re the best man I’ve ever known in my life… the strongest and most passionate person I’ve ever met. And the way you’re doting on me… well, it’s a little over the top and annoying, but I have to admit I do kind of like it.”
Cristiano grinned and gently pushed some hair back from my face. “You’re worth it.”
I didn’t know what to say to that one. The only thing I could really do was stare back at him, analyzing and committing to memory each curve and line of his face. It seemed I already knew it so well, and yet I wouldn’t stop staring until each millimeter was imprinted in my brain.
“Have you talked to Florentia today?” I asked.
He nodded. “While you were changing. She said the moving truck just arrived.”
“You can go and help her. Maybe you should go and help her.”
“She promised that she’s fine. There are enough movers…” His eyes drifted off to the side. “But I will go and check on her later. Just to make sure the apartment is all right.”
Too worried about another attempted kidnapping or assault, Cristiano had bought Florentia a condo just a few streets away from here. The whole drama had only happened a few days ago, but he already had the place closed on and ready to go. But that was Cristiano, always working fast.
“I hope she likes it there,” he murmured.
“I think she will. She seemed euphoric when she told me about it.”
He ran his palm over his jaw. “Perhaps I should just go ahead and move her into this building.”
“Cristiano. It’s been taken care of. The police are on to that Ken guy. They’re going to take him down. No one is going to try to hurt Florentia, me, or anyone else.”
“Hm,” he offered, looking uncertain.
I grabbed his hand. “She’ll be safe there. From the way she described it, the security is only a step away from the White House’s.”
“It is good,” he agreed. “And I hired a bodyguard service to keep an eye on her.”
“Wow… seriously?”
He licked his lips. “I haven’t told her yet.”
I snorted. “You… are…”
“What?”
“Awesome,” I finished. “Simply that. Just awesome.”
He leaned in for a quick kiss. As he pulled away, I grabbed his shirt with my good hand and drew him back to me, making our second kiss longer and deeper. He made a little sound of pleasure when it ended, moving back from me slowly to examine my face.
“She’s been telling me a lot.” His honey eyes seemed to glow with emotion. “About Cyprus.”
“About what your life was like there?”
He nodded. “Yes. And about my father. According to her, he was assassinated because of his involvement over working conditions in the textile industry. It sounds so crazy, doesn’t it?” He shook his head. “He was just trying to make people’s lives better, and he was killed for it.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I agreed, sympathy tearing at my heart.
He inclined his head. “At the moment, it was about that industry, but over the longer period it was about other issues.” The smallest smile flickered on his lips. “My father was an activist for equal rights. Florentia says that in his younger years, before becoming a politician, he was quite the vigilante.”
I laughed. “So you’re a lot like him.”
He looked at me with interest.
“You both have strong personalities,” I explained. “It sounds like he took things into his own hands and did what he thought needed to be done and didn’t ask anyone else for permission… like you.”
“Mm… I would be honored to someday become half the man it sounds like he was.”
My eyes grew hot and wet, and my vision blurred.
“What is it?” Cristiano quickly asked, looking panicked. “Why are you crying?”
“It’s just…” I sniffled and went on. “I’m so happy that you found your mom, and that you know about your dad. It’s great.”
Cristiano smiled wide. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me in for a hug. “It is great,” he said into my hair.
I pulled back and wiped the last tears away. “Go over there and help your mom out. You guys have missed out on enough time.”
“I will. I’ll go later. Right now, I want to be here with you.”
His hands ran over the tops of my thighs, warming them up.
“Really?” I pressed, dropping my head to the side and trying to play it coy.
Cristiano pressed his face against my neck. He’d neglected to shave the last couple mornings, and the stubble rubbed against my skin, both tickling and abrasive.
“Really, really,” he whispered into my ear, and a shiver went down my back.
I dropped my head to the side, giving in as he nibbled on my ear lobe and planted kisses on my neck.
“Too bad you can’t move very well,” he said in a voice that told me he wasn’t that upset about it at all.
I snickered. “Whatever. I bet I could still beat you up.”
His hands went under my shirt to grip my
waist, and I fell silent. One touch of this man’s hands and the whole room set to spinning. Even speaking became difficult.
I turned my face slightly to the left so our lips could meet. His velvet ones pressed against mine, embracing me and drawing me in. At the same time, he worked on my jeans, undoing the button and slowly pulling down the zipper.
One of Cristiano’s arms slid around my back to cradle me. Still kissing, he leaned forward, gently pressing me down onto the couch. My head made a soft impact on one of the cushions, making a light puff sound. Cristiano finished pulling my pants off and then swung my legs up and onto the couch. I rested fully reclined, trapped underneath him but not wanting to be anywhere else.
The kisses changed from shorter to longer, but they were always soft and gentle. Cristiano had kissed me in many ways, but never before like this. There was something new to the touch, something unexplainable I couldn’t grab hold of.
I let my weight sink fully into the couch, my arm in the sling propped up on the edge of the cushion. Cristiano’s fingers hooked onto the edges of my underwear so he could pull them down. The fresh air kissed the inside of my thighs and invigorated my senses. My legs naturally opened, ready to welcome whatever Cristiano had to give.
His knees pressed against my thigh, the fabric of his pants slightly rough against my own exposed leg. I opened my knees farther, getting them as wide as I could on the couch. Still kissing me, Cristiano unzipped his own pants and pulled out his cock.
I opened my eyes and broke our kiss, tilting my head to the side so I could look down and steal a peek at his pulsing dick as he rolled a condom on.
One of Cristiano’s hands went under my head to cradle it. I flicked my eyes back up to take his face in. The softness there nearly overwhelmed me. This was right. We were right. I was home, right where I needed to be.
Cristiano pushed his hips forward to press against me. Instead of entering, he slid it up and down, running it against my folds. I whimpered, asking him for more, but he only silenced me with another kiss.
His tongue pushed between my teeth, forcing me to open my mouth wider. I relaxed into the kiss, letting my jaw go slack so I could totally open up to him. His tongue pushed against mine, pulsating and massaging.