Page 69 of His Juliet

She shrugged. “It helps me find new music.”

“For the low, low price of suffering through ridiculous commentary and millions of commercials.”

“The commentary and call-in games are just a fun bonus. It’s nostalgic.”

I rolled my eyes, but my smile never left my face. How could it, when I was just hours away from seeing Juliet? Between work and Sofiya having her baby, I hadn’t seen her since Christmas. It had been torture.

Hopefully she would let me spend the night again.

After sleeping next to her, even in her shitty little bed with springs digging into my back, any night spent sleeping without Juliet plastered to my body was a waste.

Before our date tonight, though, I was heading upstate with Sienna to pick up some sort of custom rocking chair for Matteo and Sofiya’s nursery. Baby Clementine had been born a week early, prompting a snarling Matteo to demand we pick up this chair so the nursery would be perfect for Sofiya. Seeing him in over-the-top dad mode was fucking priceless.

Clementine had been home for a day now, and I was pretty sure she’d spent her entire short life in someone’s arms. Mainly Matteo’s, because he refused to put her down, but we were all completely obsessed with her. I’d never given much thought about having kids, but holding Clementine against my chest? It made me feel… something.

Did Juliet want kids?

“So… how are things going with you and your bookstore owner?” Sienna’s sly question pulled me from my daydreaming and set me on edge. Part of me felt like a dragon, wanting to keep Juliet hoarded away in my lair. But the other part wanted to show her off to the entire world—or at least, to my family.

“I’m seeing her tonight.”

Sienna poked my cheek and laughed. “You can’t even stop yourself from smiling when you talk about her.”

Yeah, that was because she was perfect.

But then my smile faltered. “I’m going to tell her who I am.”

“Oh, shit.”

I glanced over at her shocked expression. “Do you think it’s a bad idea? I thought you said I should.”

She reached out to grab my arm. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I was just surprised. This is a really good thing.”

I swallowed hard. “I tried to create some distance between us, but… I can’t stay away.”

Sienna squealed. “I’m so happy for you. Are you going to have her move in? I can’t wait to get to know her better.”

“It’s probably too early to ask her to move in,” I grumbled.

She threw me a look like she knew I was full of shit. And fine, I had been fantasizing about what it would be like for Juliet to live with me. Waking up wrapped around her in the morning. Fucking her all through the night. Watching her pad around my apartment, wearing my clothes.

“Sofiya and Matteo had known each other for approximately two hours before they moved in together.”

I rolled my eyes as I followed the GPS instructions and turned left onto a quiet back road. “Arranged marriage is different. And they’re both Mafia. Our world doesn’t operate normally.”

“I know. But that doesn’t mean?—”

The rest of her words were cut off by a series of loud bangs and the screech of metal. Bullets from the oncoming car created spiderweb cracks across our windshield and side windows.

“Get down and call Matteo!” I screamed, putting my hand on the back of Sienna’s head and pushing her forward. The SUV was bulletproof, but it wasn’t indestructible.

I grabbed my gun from the side console and cursed that I hadn’t brought more men with me. With the Butcher’s departure from the city, I’d grown complacent.

The car that shot at us pulled a sharp U-turn and accelerated in pursuit. I pushed the SUV faster, my eyes flitting to the rearview mirror as I tracked the car. Sienna stayed bent over in her seat as she hurriedly told Matteo what was happening.

“Fuck!” More bullets pinged off the SUV from a new car driving towards us. This time, they succeeded in hitting our tire. Sienna screamed as we started spinning. My knuckles were white on the wheel as I tried to straighten us out, but we went off the road and came to an abrupt stop in a ditch. We were right on the edge of a heavily wooded state park north of the city.

I gripped Sienna’s shoulder. “You okay?”

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