Page 118 of Revenge & Ruin

“Go already!”

She all but shoves me out the front door and slams it behind me.

I smile to myself. She’s a force of nature, really.

“We don’t need to go out if Cas bullied you into it.”

I turn on the alarm to see Teo waiting for me, leaning as elegantly as ever against the sports car. Sometimes, I think he likes to match his suits to his cars. My gaze lingers on the flash of skin revealed beneath his dark collar.

“I thought Martino was picking me up?” I make my way down the steps toward him.

“I had a bit of time to spare. Thought I’d save him the trouble.”

I eye him suspiciously before greeting him with a chaste kiss. “When have you ever had spare time?”

“For you, my love, I would spare all the time in the world.” He returns my kiss with a longer one. A deeper one. One that makes me consider dragging him back inside and asking Cas to take the kids to her place.

It’s a distraction, and we both know it. But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it.

“In that case, can we finally talk about upgrading your central processing unit because if I have to do another job where I’m waiting for the damn thing to keep up with me?—”

He silences me with another kiss. “I said I have time foryou.Not work.”

I hum happily. “Where are you taking me, Vitale?”

“You’re not getting anything out of me.” He pulls away somewhat reluctantly before opening the car door for me. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

The journey is swift, and Teo keeps his hand on my knee most of the way. It’s almost as if he’s reluctant to let go of me for even a second.

I don’t recognize the building we stop at, nor do I have any real sense of where we are as Teo leads me through the back door and into an elevator.

“If I didn’t know any better,” I mock-whisper as we watch the levels on the monitor get higher and higher, “I’d guess you were kidnapping me again.”

“Would that be so bad?”

“I’m not sure our daughter would ever forgive us.”

It still feels weird to say it. Every time it leaves my mouth, it sounds like some kind of miracle. It makes my heart clench that Teo and I could even make something so beautiful.

He throws an arm over my shoulder, and I’m enveloped in that all-too-familiar scent of vanilla and sandalwood. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind for a couple of hours. It’s not like she’ll remember it.”

I scoff. “Are you kidding? The moment she’s old enough to retain memories, I’m telling her about all the times you stole me away.”

“You can’t indoctrinate our daughter.”

“I need to do everything in my power to protect her from ending up with a man like you!” I tease.

He pulls me around so that he can lay a possessive hand around my waist. Facing him, it’s far harder to tease him. The intensity of those endless eyes melts my playfulness into desire.

“And how did that work out for you?” he says with a smug expression on his lips as he catches me glancing at them.

“Horribly,” I reply instantly. Breathlessly.

His hand reaches to tilt my head up to his. “Seems like it.”

I can’t help it; I stretch onto my toes. But he denies me my kiss and pulls away, just as the elevator pings open.

It’s a warm evening, a fact that makes stepping out onto the rooftop an instant relief. A cool breeze brushes across my sweltering skin as I look over the skyline.

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