Page 50 of The Coffee Shop

“Oh, baby girl,” Sebastian says, brushing away her tears with his thumb. “I’ve been in love with you since long before I carried you out of that coffee shop. I’m sorry it took me so long to voice it.”

She looks at him, a mixture of relief and surprise, then looks at me.

“You know I’m in love with you Leena. This isn’t in your head. I don’t ever want to spend a day without you, Ican’tlive without you.”

“And I can’t stand doing the fucking dishes, so I guess I can’t live without you either,” Sebastian says, his sincere smile betraying his humor. Leena sobs out a laugh, then slaps his arm.

“But clothing is nowoptionalfor that particular activity,” I add, remembering the sight of her and how goddamn lucky we are.

Leena buries her face between us and we hold her tight. Hold each other tight.

Suddenly, a noise behind us draws my attention. I whip around and Sebastian and I immediately move Leena behind us as we reach for our weapons.

“Hands off!” the man shouts, one hand aiming his pistol straight at us, the other clutching the wound at his chest as he staggers to his feet.

I’m not sure how this man is still alive, but he won’t be for very long, which makes this even more dangerous. Because he has nothing to lose.

And I haveeverything.

“You’re fucking dead! All of you! Look what you did!” He shouts, the weapon flails with every word as he glances around at the carnage. “No wonder the whole deck wants her dead! And the King fucking deserves itafter what he did! He betrayed us all when he went to the feds!”

The feds?

His hand shakes as he squeezes the trigger and I quickly step in front of Sebastian and close my eyes.

The shot rings out.

My body goes rigid, paralyzed. The deafening sound embedding my body with fear. Not for my own life, but for the life we could have had together. For losing the memories we’ve already made.

I feel no pain.

Slowly, I open my eyes and see the man lying crumpled on the ground, blood seeping from the hole in his skull.

I turn to find Leena standing beside me, her arms outstretched in front of her, her delicate fingers wrapped firmly around what looks like Sebastian’s nine millimeter. I turn to him just as he pulls up his shirt to find the one from his waistband is missing.

Leena lets out a breath, lowering the weapon as she relaxes her stance and turns to face us.

We just stare at her, eyes wide.

“I told you I was a good shot.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

LEENA

It’s been over a month since that day at the warehouse and so far, no one has come after me again. That might be because I’m currently living with my two ex-cop bodyguards, but I’m not complaining about that.

Not one bit.

The nightmares of what happened to me seem like a far off memory and even the wound on my side is starting to fade.

Luke and Sebastian are sitting at their usual table in the coffee shop. It’s my last shift and they’ve been here for the past few hours, waiting for me to get off work.

Their not so subtle glances andhighlyinappropriate text messages have had me giggling and smiling like a teenager all day. I can’t wait to leave with them tonight.

We ditched my shitty apartment weeks ago when I moved in with them, then finished packing up their apartment this morning. As soon as my shift is over, we’re getting out of this city.

Word has gotten out that my guys got me out alive and took down an entire gang single handed, so their phones have been ringing off the hook. Apparently, thereare a lot of non-gang related people in need of bodyguard services. And now that they have a reputation, they are booked out clear through next year. They have even been talking about expanding. If they can hire on a few more guys, then we might even be able to have some semblance of a normal life, with weekends and holidays together.

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