Page 89 of His to Bedevil

“He’s paranoid about the Aspen trip. Thinks it’s ill-advised to be taking a trip right now.”

She runs her top teeth along her bottom lip. “What do you think?”

“I think I want to go to Aspen for the holidays.”

“But when Berto was paranoid before, he ended up being right.”

“Come here, my love.” I lean back in my chair.

She smiles and gets up to round the desk. I pull her into my lap, sitting her sideways. Her arms wrap around my neck, and she leans her forehead against mine. “We can always do it next year. Make sure we’re alive for it,” she sasses.

“I don’t want to hide, but I don’t want you in danger.”

She chews that bottom lip of hers, so I flick it with my tongue, making her smile. “What if... we do a test run?”

“What do you mean a test run?” It’s hard to concentrate when she’s so close to me. All I want to do is kiss her and fuck her.

“Like a decoy. Plan a trip let’s say in, like, two days. As if we’re all going somewhere. See if anything happens.” She shrugs. “Then, even if nothing happens, we go on our trip a day later or a day earlier than originally planned. So, if somehow they know, they’ll be thrown off?”

I place both of my palms on her cheeks and bring her lips to mine, where they’re just barely touching. “I’ll run the idea by Berto. But I think it’s a good idea, my love. Now kiss me.”

Irma

We rented a huge place on Red Mountain, also known as Billionaire Mountain. It was necessary for how many people we have with us. Not including me, Alejo, Lucas, Berto, Benita, Juanita, and Diego, we also have six maids and twenty of their guys. Alejo sent out half the crew ahead of us, and I hadn’t realized that it was our decoy until he told me about it. I should be pissed that he would risk a bunch of lives like that, but nothing happened and now we’re here. One of my favorite places in the world.

Now, I’m snowboarding down the side of the mountain with the wind in my hair and the cold air slapping my skin. When we started our day, we left Benita and Berto with a skiing instructor, and Alejo, Lucas, and Diego trusted me to introduce them to snowboarding. Which they annoyingly caught on quick to.

Stupid manly men. Good at everything.

I get down to the bottom of the trail and turn around to watch the guys coming in behind me. Alejo stops beside me with such grace, you wouldn’t believe he weighs over two-hundred pounds. He grins at me when he sees the jealousy on my face, and I retaliate by sticking my tongue out at him.

Then our attention goes to Lucas and Diego barreling down the mountain. Diego manages to turn his board to stop, landing on his ass, which most amateurs do. Lucas is yelling at the top of his lungs as he zooms past us and tries to stop himself the same way, but he falls forward instead and slides on his face several feet. The snow flies up all around him, like a car running into a snow bank.

I bend over, clutching my stomach as I laugh my ass off, and I hear Alejo and Diego both laughing as well. I laugh so hard my stomach hurts and tears form in my eyes. When I look up to see if Lucas is okay, he’s sitting up and chuckling too, his face covered in snow. I’d say today was a complete success. Not only did I get these big mafia men to snowboard down a mountain, but I also got the tough guys to smile and laugh. Especially my very overworked husband, who rarely lets out his playful side. My life is complete.

My favorite place to dine here is Cloud Nine Alpine Bistro, but Alejo put his foot down about venturing out too much, so we’re having them cater dinner for us. Since there are technically thirty-three people to feed, it is definitely a catering event as it is. Not that it would matter anyway. Alejo would make them cater for us even if it was just him and me, simply because I said it was my favorite place here.

Christmas is in two days, and for the first time since I can remember, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve spent every Christmas alone since I was fifteen years old. And before that, it wasn’t really celebrated in the foster homes I was forced to stay in. When I was still with my mom, I was too young to remember what we did for Christmas. Now, I finally feel like I have a family. A brother I never wanted, a grumpy, overprotective uncle, a wonderful and caring mother who has a backbone made of steel, a crazy cousin, a sweet and overbearing grandmother, and most of all, I have an amazing husband. One who I hope loves me. Sometimes if I sit and think about my current life, it brings fat tears to my eyes that I have to swallow down. I cannot believe the happiness I feel.

“So, how did you like skiing?” I ask Benita, who’s sitting next to Berto across the table from me as we sip our lattes.

Benita smiles while Berto grunts next to her. “I actually rather enjoyed it.” She hides a grin behind her cup.

“What?” I grin. “Did something happen?” My eyes bounce back and forth between her and Berto.

“Apparently, Berto and snow don’t go well together,” Alejo muses beside me.

I raise my eyebrows. “Did you not enjoy yourself, Berto?”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s not for me,” he mutters bitterly.

Benita giggles. “Poor Berto couldn’t stay off his ass most of the time. Or off his face.” She hides her grin again into her cup. Alejo and I both chuckle, and Berto scowls at us both.

“How about you,mijo? Did you like snowboarding?” Benita asks.

I roll my eyes, and Alejo grins at me. “He was annoyingly good at it. Like he’s been snowboarding for years. Lucas and Diego picked it up pretty fast as well. Other than stopping, they were great.”

“Oh, great. And what are the plans for tomorrow? I have the decorators coming first thing in the morning,” Benita announces. She had told me before our trip that she was going to hire decorators to come and decorate the house for Christmas. A large tree, lights, everything. And from what she was able to pull off for our wedding, I’m sure it will be nothing short of magical.

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