Page 135 of Javier

“Nothing outside so far,” Ferranti reported.

“Keep at it,” Dagger said before he returned his attention to me. “This is your one chance to sort out your shit.” Dagger used his cane to poke at the hedges and part the branches aside. “You won’t get a second one from me.”

“Okay.” The clatter of dice began in the back of my mind. This was my only opportunity to bring Dagger to my side. I took a deep breath.Here goes nothing. “I’m really confused. Hell, I don’t even know if I’m a passing fad in Missy’s life or if she’ll want me for the long run. You know what I mean?”

“The ideal candidate, you are not.”

It was the brutal truth.

“On the other hand,” he put in, sweeping his stare over the ground as we moved across the lawn. “She could do worse.”

Strolling beside my boss, I did a double take. “Come again?”

“Given that we don’t know how this will pan out in the end, this conversation is preliminary and hypothetical.” Dagger was not about to pull any punches. “But I’ll point out that between your signing bonus, your hazard pay, and your compensation package, you’ve got enough to support her, maybe not in the uber-luxury she grew up in, but in comfort. Unless you’ve gambled it away already?”

“You’ve kept me so busy that I’ve had zero time to splurge.” I came clean. “I haven’t been to Vegas in months. I got me some BB stock. The rest of the money’s still in the bank.”

“Well, that’s something I guess,” he muttered. “I suggest you devote some attention to growing your net worth, even though the reality is that Missy’s got more money than you could ever make, a huge inheritance that Thena currently manages. I won’t have anyone mooching off Missy.”

He took his role as guardian and brother to Missy very seriously.

“What I wanna know is how you feel about that,” hecontinued. “Can your fragile ego and your bloated pride take the hit?”

“Fair question.” Was I threatened by knowing that Missy was an heiress to a vast fortune and would always have access to more money than I could ever dream of?

Money had never been an incentive to me. I’d never gone hungry, but I’d never had it in excess, either. I’d had enough to play around between deployments. You didn’t sign up to serve in the military to make mega bucks. Everyone knew the pay versus risk ratio stunk. Now that I thought about it, money didn’t matter much to me. Hell, not even the pigs ate it.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass if she’s rich or poor,” I answered honestly. “Like you said, if she lets me, I can take care of us. I don’t want her money. She can do with it whatever she wants.”

“Good answer, Guzman.” Dagger tossed me an approving glance. “If you don’t make her money a problem, it won’t be. You also have some things to offer.”

“Like what?” I asked, curious.

“You’re a reliable asset, a valuable team member, and a standup kind of guy,” Dagger said, shocking the hell out of me. “You’ve got your own sense of right and wrong, dicey at times, but better than none. You’ve got guts. You’ve proven this many times, including during this mission, when you risked life and limb to fish Missy out of that viper-infected shower.”

“Whoa, boss.” I stared at the man in profile and couldn’t help but grin. “For a second there, it almost sounded as if you liked me.”

“Don’t push your luck,” he snapped, but his lips twitched. “You also respect women. I like that. Thena thinks highly of you. That’s key. You’re funny and charming, when you’re not being a dick, but that’s a double-edged sword when courting a woman like Missy.”

“Courting Missy?” I blinked several times. “Is that whatI’m doing?”

“That’s what you’ll be doing if you want me to take you seriously. You copy?”

“Copy, boss.”

This was so fucking weird. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation with my boss, of all people. I’d expected him to fire me off the bat. Instead, he was taking his valuable time to help me digest emotions I hadn’t been able to tackle until now.

“You’ve put us both in a pickle.” He climbed the hill with me in tow. “Missy’s an Astor. If she wants you, there’s nothing I can do to stop her. You’ve got only one option.”

“And that is?”

“To be the best man you can be, for her and her alone.”

Holy shit. It sounded so simple. This was the answer I’d been looking for, the only way forward that could earn me Missy’s heart.

“Then that’s what I’m gonna be,” I pledged. “I’m gonna make her happy.”

The moment I made that promise, the clatter of dice in my head stopped. The gambler in me walked away from the table. In his stead stood a man who didn’t need to wager anymore. A man vested in earning Missy’s heart and creating a new life with her by my side. A winner, if only because I had a real chance at her.

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