Page 39 of Mob Princess

“Sean, can we stay like this?”

Forever. “Yes, little one. Let me hold you until we sort this out.”

“Could I fall asleep like this tonight?”

“I’d like nothing more. I know we need to deal with this, but we came here for you to have a nap. Do you want to sleep now?” I run my hand up and down her bare back while my other hand cups her arse.

“I do. But we need to sort this out.”

“It won’t go away today. Sleep, little one.”

“I suddenly feel so sleepy, nounours. I’ve never been so comfortable as I am right now. Feeling you inside me like this makes me want to curl up and drift off.”

“You’re safe with me, Lina. At least, I can promise you that in here. You can let your guard down and let me worry about this.”

“No. I don’t want that. I don’t want you to worry about it at all, and definitely not while I sleep and leave you to deal with it.”

“Thinking of different solutions is what will relax me. That and holding you. If staying like this lets you sleep, then I’ll feel better.”

She leans back far enough to see my face. “I could sleep for a week if we stay like this. I don’t want solving this shit to be what relaxes you. I don’t want there to be shit to solve.”

“But there is, and we knew there would be. Please let me take care of you.”

I need that more than anything. My possessiveness and protectiveness are in overdrive. I need to shield her, even if that only means having my arms around her. I need to know I can take care of her if this is going to work. It’s not that I want her needy and dependent on me—though it would be kinda nice because I’m already feeling that way about her—it’s that I need her to trust me. I want her to trust me.

She returns her head to my shoulder, and I start to stroke her back again. She sighs, and I feel the tension ease from her.

“Teddy bear—I like that as much in English as I do in French—if you can sleep too, will you let yourself? We’re safe in here, aren’t we?”

“Yes, little one. I know you saw my gun with my pants. I haven’t tried to hide it. Would you feel better if I had it within reach? I don’t believe I need it.”

“I don’t want you to need to, but I know you probably carry it most places you go. That was before you met me. I’m certain you have a knife, too. There’s inherent danger with you being in a confined space on the fifteenth floor. This adds to it. I don’t think Justin would break in, but someone else might. I’m not a pessimist, but we’re both naked and in an intimate position. It makes us more vulnerable if someone does. I have one in my purse, Sean. There was no way I was coming to New York to spy on your family without one.”

“You believed we’d shoot you?”

“I believe if you’d found me in the wrong place at the wrong time and couldn’t tell I was a woman, someone in your family would shoot first and ask questions second. I met with the head of Tokyo’s most powerful syndicate. If not him or someone with him, then me meeting with him might piss off someone else. A spy isn’t welcome in any syndicate unless they’re on that syndicate’s payroll. I want to be protected in case I run into anyone else who’s pissed my brother sent me.”

I kiss her forehead. Everything she said is true. No one in my family would shoot an unarmed woman. We want to believe we’re returning to the old homeostasis where my family doesn’t target and manipulate women and get them stuck in syndicate business. But my family shattered that golden rule, and I can’t guarantee the other syndicates would play nice if they found her. I definitely don’t think Nishida would feel honor bound to leave her alone if he thought she were a threat.

An armed woman willing to kill us always nullified that golden rule because all of the Four Families—mine, the Kutsenkos, Mancinellis, and Diazes—have faced female mercenaries. They’re fair game when they’re paid to off us. An enemy combatant is an enemy combatant. But Lina should be untouchable. Maybe she is as a mob boss’s granddaughter, another boss’s sister, and now a general’s girlfriend. Any of those could be enough to protect her; any of those could be enough to make her a target.

“Cailín, I’m glad you have a means to protect yourself. I hate you have to know how. This just makes me want to hold you even more while you sleep.”

“I want you to hold me. I’m so comfy, I just need to close my eyes. I’ll be asleep fast.”

I kiss her forehead again before I rest my cheek on the top of her head. I continue to run my hand up and down her back while my other hand has a firm hold on her arse. She twitches twice but doesn’t stir. Then I feel her breathing slow, and her body goes completely lax.

I reach for my phone that I tossed aside before we had sex. I never ordered the condoms. I guess that’s unnecessary now.

Me

I need to go to Boston. Can you come with me? I have to kill Ewan.

The response is immediate.

Shane

Do you need it to look like me?

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