Page 18 of Becoming His Pet

“How do you know we’ll be okay here? If you own this place, the Santinellis will find it,” she said.

“It’s all listed under a corporate name. There was some trouble a while back that made it necessary to hide it a bit better than just using our names. And even if they figure that out, this place isn’t listed. It’s not on any map, and most of the roads we used to get up here aren’t even marked.”

All good points. She could breathe a little easier until she got a hold of Bernie and found a better place for her to go. But she couldn’t just leave him behind either; he’d been good enough to save her. Even if she hadn’t needed it. He was doing what he thought was right, and in doing it put himself in the middle of her mess. She’d have to bring him with for the time being until it was safe for him to return to his normal life.

Normal life. Wouldn’t that be nice. It’d been so long since she enjoyed something resembling the notion.

“What about you? Any family that will start looking for you? We can’t call from here, but I can ask Blake to get a message through if needed?”

Family. She buried her answer in the bottle of beer and took a long pull.

“No,” she answered, wiping a drop from her chin when he continued to stare at her, waiting. “No family.” That would want to hear from her anyway.

She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling through an occasional knot. His gaze was on her, searching her, she could sense the questions in him. She had fewer answers than he would probably accept.

“Hey.” He put his beer down on the table and sat across from her, placing his hand over her own. “I’m sorry for what happened today. Your boss—Antonio. Were you two close?”

The concern in his voice tore at her. He may have an arsenal of weapons in that secret room of his, but he didn’t give off the psychopath killer vibe anymore.

“Not really. I hadn’t been there long. A couple of months.” As close to the truth as she could come. Fuck, she hated not being able to spill everything. But doing so would only get him in deeper shit than he already found himself. And he was too fucking hot to be sporting a bullet hole in the center of his forehead.

“He didn’t deserve what happened to him.” He deserved worse, but she didn’t relay that bit to Greg.

“Maybe not.” Greg squeezed her hand. “I’ve heard stories about the Santinelli family, and if Antonio was working with them or for them, chances are he didn’t exactly stay on the right side of the law. And if the brothers wanted him dead, it was probably over money.”

Nora brought her gaze up from the table to Greg’s. Shouldn’t he be trying to comfort her, not insinuating Antonio got what he was owed?

“Not everything you hear on the street is the truth.” She pulled her hand from beneath his and sat back in her chair. The warmth of his skin on hers made it harder for her to separate from him. And that was goal number one. Get away from Greg so he could remain safe, and she could do the same.

“Very true. I didn’t mean to imply Antonio was a bad guy, just well, he probably ran with the wrong crowd.” Greg’s lips pinched together and turned up in a forced smile.

She laughed at his failed attempt to backpedal and shook her head.

“It’s fine.” She downed the rest of her beer, holding back a burp when it bubbled up her chest. Not exactly a sexy thing to belch across the table at the hero. Only Greg didn’t feel heroic to her.

Definitely a leader of the pack sort of man, but not a ‘let’s take on the world’ type.

“So, what made you get out of the marines? You seem kinda young to have retired already.”

His shoulders rolled back and his back straightened. The topic made him uneasy.

“Didn’t want to re-up is all. I missed my niece, Bella, being born, didn’t want to miss much more by not being around.” He grabbed his empty bottle from the table and brought it to the sink. Okay, so topics to avoid—the military.

“I think I’d like to take a shower if that’s okay with you?” She brought her bottle to the sink as well, brushing against his arm when she placed it beside his own. It was just a gentle touch, barely even noticeable, so why did it set a tingle through her entire body?

“Sure. There should be towels in there. We didn’t stop for clothes, but I have a shirt you can sleep in.”

“Okay. Thanks,” she said.

A shower. A cold shower. Just the thing.

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