Page 22 of Disarming Caine

“Of cour—” I smacked her thigh. “Shit! The Constable!”

She tore her eyes away from her texting app.

I’d picked up extra appointments for the holidays to get me through the last weeks of waiting for Antonio to come home. People were on vacation this week, so I couldn’t shift them back. Next week, maybe. “Luce, think you can canvass that neighborhood for me? Sounds like I won’t have the free time I thought I would.”

“You got it, boss!”

Chapter 8

Antonio

IstrodethroughtheLansing airport, moving with the crowd from my flight, phone pressed to my ear. “Are you here yet, Sofia?”

“No, soon.”

“When you say soon, do you mean five minutes or one hour? Will you be inside or waiting outside the airport? I don’t have a winter jacket with me.”

She huffed. “Just wait for me at Arrivals.”

Shooting a look heavenward, I returned the phone to my pocket.

“Do you need a ride?” Kayla, a pretty woman with blond hair and freckles, had sat next to me on the flight from Detroit, and we’d spoken the whole way. Granted, I did most of the talking.

Laughing, I shook my head. “My sister knows how important this is. She won’t be late, no matter how she teases.”

“Why isn’t your girlfriend picking you up?”

My chest swelled at the thought of Samantha. Despite what I’d seen on our call Saturday night, she was still mine, and she was so close. “It’s a surprise. She doesn’t know I’m coming home for Christmas.”

“When will you see her?”

I adjusted the leather duffel on my shoulder with the few things I brought with me. No checked bags to slow me down. “I’m heading home first to clean up.”

She looked me up and down, raising an eyebrow. I did the same. White linen button-front shirt, sleeves rolled up, brown pants, and cognac dress shoes. Good clothes for travel, but not enough to see Samantha for the first time in three months.

“I need a suit. Perhaps a tuxedo. Do you think that’s too much?”

She laughed, covering her mouth with a hand. “Are you proposing to her?”

I swung my bag down and rummaged in an interior pocket, withdrew a small blue leather box, and eased it open to show her the ring.

Kayla sucked in a deep breath. “Wow.”

The band was platinum with channel-set diamonds, simple and straight-forward like my Samantha. The center stone was a brilliant-cut show stopper, barely two carats. Convincing her to say yes would be enough of a battle without having to argue about the weight of a piece of compressed carbon.

“I had it custom made for her a month ago.” It glittered as we walked, its fire reminding me of Samantha’s ferocity, overwhelming and yet breathtaking. I tucked it back into its zippered compartment, my heart fluttering. “I doubt it will be today. It may not even be this visit, but eventually, yes.”

“Well, if it’s not today, then a tux is too much. But to be honest, with a ring like that, it won’t matter what you’re wearing.” She laughed, shaking her head. “What about flowers?”

“No, she’s not a flowers type of woman.” That was a mistake I only made once. Samantha thought they were a distraction. Perhaps someday she wouldn’t doubt the sincerity behind them, but not today. “There’s a cafe in Brenton that makes her favorite pastries. I was going to pick up some chocolate hazelnut cornetti. We have a plan for a date by video chat at six, so I’ll show up at her door with food just in time.”

Kayla put her hand on my arm. “Antonio, you really give me hope there are good men left out there.”

I smiled back at her as we arrived at the top of the escalator. “I’m so excited to see her, I can hardly stand it.” My hand flared out in front of me, unable to express myself with words alone.

As we stepped onto the escalator, heading down to security and the Arrivals area, I’d planned to search out my sister. But my gaze immediately settled upon the most wondrous sight in all the world. Samantha. I didn’t have to scan the crowd—her soul tugged at mine, pulling my eyes to her.

“There she is,” I breathed, my hand frozen in mid-air. “Look at how beautiful she is.”

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