Page 65 of Never Broken

I giggled, then sobered. “By the way, never,everdo that again, okay? You scared the shit out of me out there. I thought I was going to have to watch—well. By the way, you didn’t find it worth mentioning that you speak German?”

“No less worth mentioning than that I speak French.”

“What? Wait.” I counted in my head, so stunned that I forgot to ask him what Langer had said. “So that makes?—“

“Four,” he said as if it were no big deal. “Well, five, if you count ‘back to work, slave’ and ‘yes, sir’ in Romanian.”

Jesus. I scanned his face to make sure this was dark humor before proceeding. All clear.

“Eh, bien, merde,”I exclaimed.“Je le parle aussi. On aurait pu converser en français tout ce temps, n’est-ce pas?”?1

Without warning, he effortlessly scooped me up and dipped my head low enough that my curls brushed the lava rocks, making me giggle in surprise.

“Bien sûr, ma chérie, mais tu ne me l’as jamais demandé.”?2

“Let’s see,” I said. “Modern languages, rocket science, and camera demolition. What else? Music?”

“Actually, I used to play some piano.”

And just as I was wondering how he’d managed to find multiple new ways to turn me on justtonight.

“Areyouokay, though?“ he asked, of all things.

I took a deep breath. It was time to reveal what I’d kept from him earlier.

“I heard the gardener threatening you the other night,” I said. “And he—he cornered me at the top of the stairs. That was what started this whole thing.”

“I fucking knew it,” he growled. “Iknewit. Did he hurt you? I’ll fucking kill him.“ It’s like he was trying to get ten thoughts out all at once while simultaneously looking for a sharp knife.

“Calm down,” I said, placing my hands on his heaving shoulders, not sure whether to be scared or ridiculously turned on. “Nothing happened. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. He’s gone now. We’ll never see him again.”

“I’ll see him again because I’m going to track him down and strangle him with his own garden hose as soon as I get the chance. And anyone else who hurts you.”

“Wait. Really?” No one had ever said that to me before. Then again, I’d never lived the kind of life where anyone would have to.

But that was the only kind of life he’d ever lived.

“Really,” he said, pulling me closer, hands snaking protectively around my waist as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And somehow, it was. “I didn’t get that ‘dangerous’ label for nothing, you know,” he murmured cheekily into my ear. “Anyway, the real question is, why is this the first time you’re telling me about this?”

“I just … I didn’t think it was anything you wanted me involved in.”

“Well, frankly, no, it wasn’t. But now that I know you know, why didn’t youtellme? I could have warned you to stay away from him, and this whole thing never would have?—“

”Ialwaysstayed away from him,“ I said, bristling slightly. “I’ve been dealing with him a lot longer than you have. And yes, itwouldhave happened because he had a fucking video feed set up in the goddamn basement! Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. What I want to know is if you … had some kind of agreement with him.” I kicked the grass, not sure I should even mention this and risk killing the moment we’d been fighting all night for and just won. “He said something about keeping your word.”

“There was no agreement,” he said immediately. “He tried to get me to do something for him. I refused. He wasn’t happy.”

He didn’t mention anything about the map printout Langer had handed him, and I decided not to, either. For some reason, I doubted I’d get a satisfactory answer. I hugged myself and stared at the lava rocks my heels were digging into. “You’d better be telling me the truth.”

“Or what? You’ll whip me?”

I was horrified to realize how domineering my tone had sounded—one I hadn’t used with him in a long time. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m just—I’m worried about you.”

“It’s not your job to worry about me, Lou,” he said, then added, “It’s no one’s job to worry about me.”

I groaned. “Haven’t we had this conversation before?”

He sighed and turned away. “Yeah. We have.”

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