Page 68 of Demanding Mob Boss

"For how long?" she asks. And she's not talking about just tonight.

Fuck. Am I ready for this conversation?

I have an answer, so I guess that means I'm ready. "I'm never letting you go, Anna. You're mine."

"I have to agree."

"You did."

"But then you fired me."

"I didn't fire you. I created distance so you wouldn't be a target."

"What if I'm already a target?"

That is what I am afraid of. Legit afraid. I'd spent twenty-eight years never knowing what fear felt like. Now I do and I can fucking do without it.

"I'll double your protection detail."

"Won't that make whoever is watching realize that I'm important to you?"

"I'm not risking you."

"Am I really safer in Jimmy's office?"

"Yes. He has his own security and he can up the number of his guards without painting a target on you."

"Can't you do that?"

"Everyone who comes into my office sees you, Anna. There are going to be a lot of dangerous men coming and going over the next weeks."

"More dangerous than you?"

"Fu—no."

"So?"

"I don't want them all knowing about you."

"But don't they already? They've been in and out of the office already."

"Those were my men. These will be men from other syndicates."

She jumps up and the covers fall away from her, but she doesn't seem to care in her agitation. She starts pacing. "I don't like this. I feel sad. It hurts. You said you would watch me and then you sent me away."

Leaping to my feet, I pull her body into mine. She doesn't fight me, but she doesn't relax against me either.

"I will always watch you. I will never let you go. Let me keep you safe,mo chroí. Please."

She lifts her head and stares at me. "What doesmo chroímean?"

"My heart. Most people would tell you I don't have one. Hell, I thought I didn't have one, but apparently I do. Only it's not in my chest." It's sappy shit, but it's also the truth.

This woman makes me feel. She is my beating heart.

Anna's arms come around me and she hugs me tight, her tits pillowing against my torso. "You can keep me safe." She pulls back, all the way out of my arms and frowns up at me, her blond hair a messy halo around her head. "You tell me things. You text me. You call. Not Connor. Not Lachlan.You."

No one tells me what to do. Except for her apparently.

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