Page 54 of Sovereign Oaths

“Couldn’t agree more,” Derek said just low enough for me to hear with my shifter abilities. He claimed a chair on the deck above, giving us the illusion of privacy.

“Do you want to dock? We can go to the beach if you want,” Alessio offered.

I shook my head and pushed my glasses back up. “No. Too sandy. This is a long-term plan.”

Unfortunately, ending him now wasn’t an option. We still needed him. The Velez was nothing if not thorough, and they weren’t yet ready to tie everything up in a nice bow. I had to play nice, and dumb, for a while longer.

He cocked a brow. “So you’d like to simply exist on the beach? That’s the ultimate goal?”

“With a frozen drink in each hand that someone brings me every half hour so they can remind me to rotate as I tan.”

He nodded a few times. “And how is that different from today?”

The setting and company, for one. “This is what inspired my daydream. This is pretty ideal, but living on a yacht isn’t very realistic.”

“Ah, but living on the beach is?”

“You live on the beach.”

He beamed. “So you’re living with me in this future.”

“Fuck no,” Derek said.

I smiled. “Maybe.”

If there were any men in this hypothetical situation, it would be Marco, Cruz, Derek, and Javi. I’d even let them rotate responsibilities. One giving me massages, one making me drinks, one reapplying my sunscreen, and the other could... Oh, yeah. Cook me food. Tacos with chips and salsa, specifically.And we’d spend the nights fucking until we passed out from exhaustion. Hmm yeah, that was the dream.

“So you want to stay in Miami? You don’t miss California?”

I pretended to think. “The water there is too cold. I need to be able to swim year-round.”

“So Miami is in the running.”

I sipped my drink. “Or Cuba. Or Mexico. Or Bali. I’m open.”

“Well, I could make the first two happen. I’m not sure Bali is an option.”

Derek scoffed. “Bali it is.”

I sighed. “Fine.”

“We can visit though. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

Could I get a vacation out of this? Maybe that will piss off his men even more. Make him go technology-free while we were there. Let the other teams and Brazzi rain down havoc without anyone able to reach him.

Ugh, it would be a logistical nightmare for the guys though. At least one of them would want to come with, and they were already spread too thin.

I added it to the list of things to do when this was all over.

His phone rang, and he let out a sigh. “We can discuss more later.”

He stood as he answered and walked toward the cabin, allowing me to finally relax. Having my guard up and constantly having to think three steps ahead was exhausting. My job wasn’t as simple as lying next to him and sipping fruity drinks.

I was plotting. Listening. Observing. Coming up with ideas of how to spin whatever he told me as a weapon against him.

Even knowing he thought moving to Mexico was somehow a viable option was something to consider. Did he not view the threats his men received as potentially dangerous? Was he truly so oblivious to the power the Velez held? The damage and destruction they would rain down on his puny business?

Or was he overconfident?

---