Page 39 of Dating the Don

When he puts his fingers to his lips to tell me to hush, I immediately cover my face with both hands and give him a firmnod. He gestures for me to step back. Without asking any more questions, I do. I have no idea how he got here. I'm ecstatic to see him even though I have no idea how he knew exactly where I was or which room they had brought me to.

Cristiano fires two shots against the glass, which sounds like someone popping knuckles. The glass moves upward, allowing himto easily enter my bedroom.

I lunge towards him, almost bringing him down completely, and give him a hug. He releases thepistol and it sounds like a gentle tap on the carpet, allowing him to give me a hug in return. He wraps me up, wholly and tightly. The fear that was beginning to seep into my stomach disappears.

“Are you all right? Did they hurt you?!” He asks as he pulls just far enough from me to hold my face.

My smile nearly splits my face in half. “No, I’m okay. They… they haven’t touched me.”

I could cry. Well, I might be crying out of joy for seeing him. I don’t know what I was thinking, playing spy like this. I always wanted to be at his side to do this.

“Good. Because after all of this, I could kill you for scaring me like that,” Cristiano says as he pulls me back against his chest tightly. “Can you run? Things are going to happen very quickly now, Maeve.”

He takes my hand and pulls me back to the window and I see Al standing at the bottom, looking up at us from the ground. More of Cristiano’s men are gathered and closing in over the lawns in heavy-looking black gear. Is he going to toss me out there? Is that why Al is standing there? He’s going to take me back home,isn’t he? I’ve forced them to make a move they didn’t want to make just yet and now he’s going to bench me because of it, isn’t he?

“I’m not leaving,” I say as I wrench my hand from Cristiano’s. “I won’t go.”

CHAPTER 22

CRISTIANO

“What?” The word tumbles from my mouth before I can stop it.

Maeve digs her heels in. Physically and metaphorically. “I have come this far, I’m not leaving now.”

For a moment, I have a lapse in sanity. “The guards will have been alerted that I have just broken their window. Their people will be mobilized and you’re still on this same trip?”

I wasn’t going to throw her out of the window. That would risk her getting hurt. I will not do anything that will possibly allow her to get hurt any more than just her being here already has. Al is likely already on his way up to that ledge in the first place. I might be good at hand-to-hand situations, but I’m notthatgood.

“You’re not going to exclude me from this, Cristiano! You shouldn’t have come here at all if you think that?—”

I grab her face firmly by the chin to stop her talking. I pull her close and kiss her on the lips. “Stop talking. If you want toargue about this later, fine, but right now we have a situation to handle.”

She looks like she’s about to argue again. I can see her familiar temper flaring up and ready to spew more nonsense that she doesn’t understand. Somehow, I don’t think that she fully grasps the reality of the situation that she’s found herself in. I don’t think she properly grasps that if this goes wrong, all of us could die. Right here and now. We could be killed.

The bedroom door is kicked open just as I'm lifting the window,and Al swings up through it. I grab my gun and drag Maeve behind me right away. Just before Al charges at the remainders, I take out the one on the far right. Quiet and efficient so that we can save as many bullets as possiblefor the fight that’s about to go down. Three men down, no telling how many more to go. I’m sure that they will be alerted to the threat quickly. Even if Maeve did come here of her own volition, it would be silly to assume that she did so rather than having her serve as a kind of Trojan horse for me.

I watch as Al checks the hallway and clears it in a militant fashion. Just as he should.

I move to follow him out of reflex. I’ve trained with Al for so many years that it’s only second nature to move as a unit with him. But before I can get even a single step forward, Maeve grabs my arm.

I shake my head. “Absolutely not, you need to stay put. We will be right back.”

“I don’tneedanything! I’m not some doll that you get to put up on a shelf until I’m useful to you Cristiano! I’m coming with you! You can either take me with you as part of your team or youcan deal with the consequences later! This is just as much of my revenge as it is yours!” Maeve shifts her weight to one foot and crosses her arms over her chest.

Stubborn streak a mile wide.

“It’s not safe. I don’t need you to get in my—” I stop before I finish the sentence because I know good and damned well how it will backfire on me if I don’t.

“Get in your way? Are you kidding me right now?! Do you think that I’m just some damsel who needs to be saved?”

I groan in frustration. “We do not have time to argue about this. This needs to be handled swiftly. You are not trained. You do not know how to move as a unit, Maeve, and I say this with as much kindness as the situation will allow, but you will be a liability if you move incorrectly.”

Maeve steps into my space, lifting onto her toes so that she can snarl in my face. “Thenlistento me, Cristiano. I am no damsel. You are not the one to save me. If you get inmyway then….” She trails off, fury in her eyes. I see the threat for what it is. It’s not a physical one. “I had a plan, you know! I had a plan! Before you came in here guns blazing like a jackass! I am here because Iwanted to be!”

I blanch slightly.

I shouldn’t have underestimated her. I should have given her more credit, that’s for sure. I suppose I was expecting her to be somewhat grateful that she had backup. If she had told me her plan… well, I would have stopped her.

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