Page 54 of Gilded Saint

“The bouncer will expect you. She’s in a private room. Do you think you can get her out of there without being snapped?”

Lina loves to make the tabloids, but even she won’t want to be photographed being carried unconscious out of a club.

“I’ll handle it.” I pull on my cowboy boots. That’s probably what the bouncer will look for when expecting Leo.

“I’m flying back. Do you think you can keep her at your place until I’m there?”

“She’ll probably want to head home.” Keeping Lina against her will isn’t a gig I want. She’s a spoiled hellcat, and that’s one hundred percent Nick’s fault.

“I’ll send a doctor ahead of me. If the tests are positive, I need you to keep her. Do whatever you need to do.”

“I’ll call you when I have her back here.”

I sling open the closet door. Willow’s wide blue eyes track me with a trace of fear. Fuck. She doesn’t need to be scared.

“Leo?” Nick asks through the speaker.

I hold a finger to my lips, giving Willow the universal quiet sign.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” And I mean it. He’s a friend. That’s the thing about going undercover that no one really talks about. If you’re any good at what you do, you genuinely like the people you’re spying on, and for someone like me, five years in, you develop real friendships.

I pull on a jacket and slip the mobile into a pocket.

“Sorry to wake you,” I say to Willow.

“You’re armed. Are you…” She sucks in her lower lip and those blue eyes lose focus. “Are you going to work?”

The mafia princess apparently learned a unique set of terminology growing up.

“Nothing like that. A friend’s sister partied too hard. I’m going to get her. I’ll bring her back here.” In the hallway, my gaze falls on the opened door to the guest bedroom. Nick knows that what Willow and I have is an arrangement, but I don’t trust Lina to keep her mouth shut. “Can you ready the guest room for her? We’ll put her in there. Maybe, ah, clear out your stuff? Don’t give her any reason to talk?”

I check the time, and my pulse kicks up a notch. Dante’s probably the only security Lina has, which means he’s a target until I get there.

Willow hesitates and her thumbnail slips between her sweet lips.

“You okay?”

She nods and drops her hand from her mouth. “I’ll get everything ready. Call me if you need anything.”

Her bottom lip glistens, as if she just licked it, and an urge to kiss her swells from nowhere. And for a brief second I consider she probably doesn’t have anything under that shirt, and that’s the thought that has me spinning on my boot’s heel and charging out of there without a backward glance. Last night was fantastic, but…fuck, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.

At this time of the morning, there’s no traffic on London streets, and I berate myself the entire drive. Five years I’ve been doing this, five years I’ve been good, and then she comes along. Of course, she came along in my shower. Still, I know better. I am better. And then, it’s my mom’s voice that whispers, “You’re always too hard on yourself.” But am I? My dad’s voice pipes in with, “Your mom’s too soft on you. On all of you.” One thing I do know, if I’m hearing my parents’ voices, I’m in over my head and acting out of line.

In no time at all, I screech to a halt in front of the club. The valet steps up.

“A hundred pounds if you drive this to the back entrance. I’ll be out in under five.”

“Yes, sir.”

I scan the sidewalk but don’t see any lurking paps. Doesn’t mean they aren’t here.

The club door opens, and a tall Black man with a head full of braids dressed like a K-pop band member waves me in. “This way.”

“How bad is she?”

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