Page 204 of Phantom Mine

I run a reassuring hand through her hair before dropping my palm down to wrap around the back of her neck.

“You saved my life. I wouldn’t be here without you.”

She shakes in my arms. “You came for me.”

“Always.”

I stiffen when I look up and notice Valentina didn’t walk in alone. A tall, blonde woman wearing a flowy pink dress and sandals watches us with tears in her eyes. I can’t place her, I don’t think we’ve ever met, and yet—

A warning growl shakes the air. Thiago aims a furious glare at me, his gaze dark enough to drill a hole straight through the middle of my face.

“It’s going to be hard for you to catalog the color of Valentina’s dresses without your eyes, Leone,” he says in a threatening whisper. “Look away.”

He keeps his gaze pinned murderously on me as he walks over to the woman in pink and curls a hand snuggly around her waist.

She swats his chest affectionately, ordering gently, “Be nice.”

Thiago turns at the sound of her voice, magnetized. His features melt into an infatuated smile, one that sends a shiver down my spine.

It’s not that it’s not a nice smile, it is, I guess. It’s just that it’s… unnaturalon its wearer.

Like watching a fish suddenly attempt to climb a tree.

Weird.

This must be the wife he’s so obsessed with.

I share the affliction and understand it.

And yes, I can’t resist. Catching his gaze, I flick a pointed look between him and his wife and mouth, “Pathetic.”

If Thiago thinks he’ll make me bend the knee, I’ll go blow for blow with him. On everything, including this. I don’t care how petty it is.

The man looks back at me like he’s going to swing.

“I’m Tess,” the blonde says with a bright smile.

Thiago grumbles. “He doesn’t need to know your name.”

“Yes he does, baby,” she insists, looking fondly back at me. “He’s going to be my brother-in-law.” Tess wraps her arms around his bicep and smiles sweetly up at him to distract him. “Why don’t we leave them to it? They have a lot to catch up on.”

I focus back down on my fiancée. Her face is tilted up at me as she rests it on my shoulder. Her eyes are closed and she looks seconds away from dozing off. Up close, I can see dark smudges under her eyes. She hasn’t been sleeping well.

“I’m not leaving my sister with him when he just woke from a coma. We don’t know if he’s dangerous.”

Ignoring the bantering couple, I cup her cheek and hold her. Simply hold her, something I apparently went without for a whole month. The coma was nothingness and that’s exactly what life without her is like.

“The man with third degree burns on twenty percent of his body currently holding your sister’s entire body weight in his arms is not a danger to her, Thiago.” When he looks ready to argue, she pulls out a bag from her purse and shows it to him. His mouth snaps shut as his eyes grow heavy. “I bought your favorite candies from the gift shop. I thought you could put them to good use.”

He purrs. “You’re playing dirty,amor.”

“Not as dirty as I hope you’ll play in about five minutes.”

“Alright, get the fuck out,” I snap, keeping my tone even.

“That’s no way to speak to your future brother-in-law,” Thiago drawls, giving his blessing in a roundabout way. Not that I was ever looking for it. When my gaze shifts to his, he pierces me with a searching look. “You gave it all up for her. Why?”

“I love her.”

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