Page 37 of Maid For The Mafia Informant

“Think about it. We could have a similar beach, maybe… but not such a nice house,” he teases me. I punch his rock hard abs softly, making him fake a groan of agony.

“How much have you got? We could leave tonight,” he adds, and we both laugh for a while, but it’s no use.

We both know it’s more serious than that.

“I do have contacts, Sophie,” he says, blowing that dulled warm coal back to life. “We could if you really wanted… and money? I got that too,” he promises, his hand gripping me so tight I almost agree on the spot.

But then again, we both sink back.

He has his job to do. To get his justice. That’s what I know makes Ben Slade tick. Not just money.

Not anymore.

And me? I’m too tied to the idea of trying to make it on my own, away from my police superintendent dad, but I know he wouldn’t let me leave the country, let alone for good with Ben Slade.

Can we just have tonight? Just the two of us?

I know we can’t now, we already had our day in the sun and I slept through half of it.

We sit just holding each other, and I know neither of us wants to move in case it brings on something else.

In case some more of the world out there tries to force its way in. Past the incredible silence I’m suddenly aware of.

“It’s so quiet, isn’t it?” Ben asks, reading my own mind.

“Mexico’s quiet?” I ask, trying to be funny again, but we both fall silent as I sense the one question, the one thing I know would make me go with him tonight if he’d only ask.

It’s not my phone, but Ben’s email that pings this time that breaks the moment.

Before either of us looks at the screen of his laptop, we hold each other’s gaze for a moment longer, telling the other everything we can’t with just words.

I feel a part of me break loose. Gone forever.

The old me sloughs off like a hunk of ice, cracking free and slipping into endlessly deep waters as I realize that Ben is my world now, and I’m his.

We understand one another without words, just a feeling that’s come from a bond that we both know can never be broken.

No matter what happens.

Ben’s hand moves to close his laptop, but I stop him, urging him with my eyes to keep it open, for him to do what he has to do.

“No matter what,” I remind him and lean in just long enough to kiss him so he knows I mean it.

“If it’s this late it might be important,” I tell him. “Isn’t this the only way they can reach you?” I add.

He nods slowly, groaning under his breath but opening his email.

I hop off his lap, not wanting to be a complete snoop, but linger close by, suddenly wide awake.

If Ben’s not taking me back to bed then I want to be here for him, to do what I can to help in other ways.

God, if only dad wasn’t such a jerk sometimes, I could call him up and ask him for his help. He has an entire police force at his disposal.

And that Partridge guy, where the heck is he in all this?

My own overactive imagination starts to run away from me, but Ben motions me over, breaking the spell.

“It’s Partridge, again,” he muses. I scan the open email myself and get the gist.

“The DA wants back in on protective custody… for real this time,” Ben says with some satisfaction.

I caught that much, but I’m not sure I follow completely.

“Ever hear the story of the DA who cried wolf?” he asks me with a grin which disappears as he considers his position in all this.

“Like me, the mafia promised her a whole lot if she did what they wanted. And she did. She directed them straight to me and no doubt, held up as many cases against them as she could using her position.”

“And then what?” I ask, leaning closer, needing to know more.

Ben shrugs.

“Then they got what they wanted and were most likely going to kill her… but somehow she got away. Now she needs help. Real help. She tested the waters with me earlier in her other email but now I know she’s at her wits end if she’s gone to the Feds, she’s confessed her part in everything. See for yourself.”

Ben leans back, still looking a little smug and I guess I can see why once I read how his so called superior was the one who’s been setting him up for the past few months.

Partridge got Ben into protective custody just in time by the looks, but Miss Fellini faked her own drama, requesting the same level of protection and somehow managed to land right across the hall from Ben which she dutifully reported to the De Falco family once she found out.

---