Page 92 of Hidden By His Side

“I want that, too.” She watched him walk backward toward the garage. The more he hesitated, the more contentment wrapped around her.

His hesitation proved he wanted to be as clingy as she did.

Chapter 29

They had the fire out at the office before it spread too far. Summer’s tea area was the only section destroyed. The wood from the hutch was blackened, unlike the porcelain cups, which had cracked and shattered when the hutch collapsed.

The fire was small, isolated, and targeted. Ramiro’s eyes burned from the lingering smoke as he stared at the part of the office that had been all for Summer, his hands twitching at his sides.

“Who in the cartel still knows about her?”

Seb grimaced. “Ovidio didn’t trust anyone. Not even his brothers.”

Ash leaned into the open front door, his hands on the upper part of the frame, his expression bored. “You don’t know this was about her.”

Ramiro stared at the destroyed hutch. “This was a message. Could Ovidio still be alive?”

Ash shrugged. “If he is, no one knows about it. I’m telling you, they’re pretty desperate. The Arenellos are already sniffing around, but most see that as a good thing. They’re hoping to make money again. The Guzmans have been losing steam for a while.”

“Because they can’t lie low for shit,” Seb said, kicking at a piece of charred wood that crumbled from the pressure. “Half are in prison and the other half are dead.” His arms folded as he glared at the mess. “They’re all idiots.”

“Don’t you mean ‘we’re’?” Ash asked, smirking at the other man as he turned his eyes on him.

“I have my moments,” Seb agreed, his tension fading as he moved over to the visitor chair and collapsed into it.

“Move aside,” Diego said, shoving past Ash, who had been blocking the doorway. “Fucking hell, that smoke smell is going to be a bitch to get out.” He dragged a chair to the corner to fiddle with the camera that had had a perfect view of the fire. It hadn’t picked up a goddamn thing.

“You two can take off,” Ramiro said to Ash and Seb. “Can you stop by tomorrow and clear out everything that’s not salvageable?” Bagging up Summer’s special corner would make him furious all over again. “I’ll get a cleaning crew for the smoke after that and work out of my house this week.”

“Tell Summer I’ll miss seeing her pretty smile in here,” Ash said, his own smile widening as Ramiro narrowed his eyes on him, more out of expectation than heat.

“Fuck off,” he said, but his tone was flat. He couldn’t rise to the teasing, not when he still wasn’t sure how best to strike back.

“I’ll see what I can scope out.” Seb pushed up from the chair. “A cousin took a bullet to the chest a while back, so I know of a surgeon they’ve used before. Maybe Ovidio showed up there.”

Ramiro nodded at him. “Appreciate it.”

Ash shifted into Seb’s shoulder as he passed by. “Teacher’s pet.” He chuckled as Seb gave him the side-eye, and they headed out to the parking lot, their voices muffled and calm.

Neither one gave a shit about anything. Ramiro couldn’t remember what that had felt like.

He crossed to Summer’s reception desk, checking on the computer equipment. The fire hadn’t spread that far. He’d bring it back home to set up a temporary desk for her in his office.

Diego stepped down from the chair. “I’ll check the outside,” he said, rubbing a hand through his messy hair, his tattoos a darker shadow beneath the fluorescent lighting that had turned on just fine, despite the fire.

The damage was minimal, but infuriating.

Ramiro sank into Summer’s chair, which was too small for his frame but held a hint of lavender under the smoke, as if her scent had soaked into the fabric.

He dragged his phone out, checking the feed at home again. Summer still lay on the couch, reading a book. She was safe. A part of him had worried that the fire was a way to get her alone,but no one even knew about his house. Hayes had buried his ownership of the property under multiple layers.

Summer smiled at something she read, a soft and small smile, but one that made his chest ache.

“The camera equipment looks fine,” Diego said, coming back in. “No wire cut, no tinkering at all that I can tell from this side of things. Get your hacker back on it. Whatever disruption happened, it had to be with the wireless feed.”

Hayes had already checked, and Ramiro knew if he said he had nothing, he had nothing. “Maybe they just knew the blind spots.”

“They busted in the fucking door. The camera’s pointed right at it.” Diego sighed, sinking into the chair Seb had vacated.

---