Page 55 of Bad Moon Rising
“He’s dead.”
She stopped at a red light and waited for him to clarify. “Did you kill him?”
“No. He was dead in his car up the street from the stores. Shot in the head.”
“Then, how do you know he threw the explosive at us?” This kept getting weirder and weirder.
“He had three more grenades in a bag next to him.”
“Who shot him?”
“No clue. No one else was around other than a few curious onlookers.” Roman pointed at the green light.
She hit the gas. “Does that mean there’s someone else on our team? I’m confused.”
“Me too. I don’t like it. I meant it when I told Flynn there’s a lot more going on than the king simply putting a contract out on you and asking me to eliminate you. Drive to the airport.” He rattled off turn by turn directions.
She broke their several-minute silence by reaching out to touch his forearm. “Do you need help for your back? We can find an ER or something.”
“I’ll shower at the plane before we get picked up tonight. Looks like your dress is still in decent shape. I tried to protect you from damaging it.”
She took his hand and squeezed. “Thank you for not leaving me there.”
He ducked away from her gaze.
“You could’ve run without me. If I’d died, the curse would stop hurting you.”
He didn’t look her way but stared out the side window and massaged his tattooed wrist. “I won’t do that. I won’t abandon you.”
“I swear the same to you. I won’t leave you unless you truly want me to go. I won’t hurt you, not willingly.”
He squeezed her hand back. “Thank you,tesoro.”
Chapter Fifteen
As the sun dropped in the sky, they walked to the end of a dilapidated dock free of people with a few small powerboats tied in. Roman adjusted the lapels of his dark suit. He wished he could ease the awkwardness between him and Nova, but he couldn’t. He’d never brought anyone to Sunday dinners. None of the brothers had.
Aside from that, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He swallowed. Her hair, pulled into a quick up-do, drew his attention to the long angle of her neck and the raised tattoos. There was a new, raised, pink mark on her neck, small and geometric.
Magic comes at a price.
It’s why Dom was covered in marks. The more powerful the magic, the more likely to develop a mark, or something worse. Perhaps her spell to help him caused it? Or the one to activate the car key?
Her thick hair fought to escape its pins in the breeze, a few strands brushing over the new mark. The dress she’d picked out with its lacy sleeves by some miracle didn’t look like she’d survived a bomb in it.
The shower to remove residual dust and the smells of explosive off him helped, but his mother would pick up the scent.
“You doing okay? You seem…I don’t know, tense,” she said.
“These dinners can be unpredictable.”
Nova acted so casual, as if she wasn’t short-circuiting his brain with the way the dress hugged her ass. Did she know what she did to him? Her sidling up to stand close, smelling all fresh, made his jaw clench. Did she really have no clue how un-fucking-believably sexy she was?
“Stop staring at me. I look hot. I get it. You staring opens that whole can of worms about you lusting but not acting on it.” She watched the horizon where the sun almost kissed the water in its descent.
Shoes against the wooden boardwalk echoed behind them
She turned abruptly, her body sliding against his arm and thigh. The smallest touch sent fire through his veins and made his teeth grit to hold back a groan. He didn’t need to look to know who arrived. He’d known the second their new arrival parked his rental car.
