Page 26 of Love Without Control

“Anything else I can do for you, Rod?” I choked out.

To my surprise, he pulled back, grabbed my face in his wrinkled hands, and kissed me hard on the forehead before whispering, “Live, Damiano. Just live.”

Chapter 9

Iwatchedthroughthewindow as the two men embraced. It looked like a goodbye type of hug. But why would they be saying goodbye? Weren’t agents supposed to travel in pairs?

Unless…

The door to the car swung open, and Rodrigo extended his hand for me. Taking it, I stepped out of the vehicle. With his hands braced on my shoulders, his eyes commanded my attention.

“Evie, it was a pleasure getting to meet you.”

My stomach clenched. “You’re not coming with us?”

“No, I’ve got to… take care of some things, but Damiano will keep an eye on you.”

For some reason, it made me sad that we were parting ways, which was bizarre because I’d only met the man last night. But he’d been nothing but kind to me. Hell, he’d bought me underwear. If that didn’t forge a bond between two people, I wasn’t sure what did.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Damiano will explain everything to you. Can you do something for me?”

I nodded, and he gave me a sad little smile. “Take care of my boy for me. Down deep beneath all that he is, he’s got a good heart. Just remember that and show him some grace, okay?”

“O-okay,” I stammered, still not sure what the heck was going on. Especially when I saw that Damiano was heading into the hangar. Panic—a sense I was becoming way too familiar with—set in. “Why is he going in there? We’re not taking the bomb chopper, are we?”

Rodrigo chuckled and placed a hand between my shoulder blades, guiding me to the side of the hangar. “Nope, you’re just switching vehicles.”

My eyeballs almost popped out of my head when I saw where he was leading me. A sky-blue Cadillac sedan almost blinded me with its glittery exterior. The alloy wheels were huge and shiny, and a chrome grill took up the entire front of the car. A figurine of a naked woman dangled from the rearview mirror.

“Let me guess,” I deadpanned. “That’s Flava Flav’s car.”

“Well, it was.”

“Was?” A sigh huffed from my lungs. “Damiano got shooty again, didn’t he?”

Rodrigo chuckled. “I like you, Evie. You’re refreshing as hell.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve got it,” Damiano grumbled, walking by with his hands full of bags.

The older man winked at me. “Get in the car, and I’ll help him.”

As the guys walked back inside, I opened the Caddy’s car door and almost passed out from the stench of way too much Axe Body Spray. It floated out like some kind of fog I was convinced would either burn off my skin or give me hallucinations if I didn’t let it air out a bit.

“Jesus, Flav. Subtlety was not your strong suit.”

A minute later, they had the car loaded and Damiano and I were climbing inside. He coughed, rolling down the windows after cranking it. Then he yanked the naked woman figure from the mirror and tossed it in the back before searching for something in the GPS device.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re dropping this car off at Guido’s house.” His eyes swung from side to side as he drove across the tarmac.

“Why?”

“So no one knows he didn’t leave here.”

“Why does that matter?”

---