My pillow shifts, causing me to release a grunt of dissatisfaction, before I register the faint sound of a vibrating phone.
“Shh, Baby.” A big hand strokes down my back, and I keep my eyes closed while I burrow my face further into Nero’s warmth.
“What?” Nero’s voice is quiet as he answers, and I hear it in stereo through his chest. “Yeah.” His hand doesn’t stop moving as he listens. “He’s here now?” Another pause. “Alright. We’ll be down.”
My eyes crack open when he uses the word we.
Nero’s chest expands as he yawns.
“Did you get any sleep?” I ask, wiggling my fingers and toes to start waking myself up.
His arm raises from behind me, and I imagine him checking his watch. “Two solid hours.”
“Two? I can’t remember the last time I took a nap, let alone a two hour one.” I tap my fingertips against his sternum. “Well, I guess yours doesn’t really count as a nap if you were up all night. It’s more like finally going to bed. Fully dressed,” I add on, remembering he’s wearing everything but the suit coat and shoes. His black socks are in my line of sight, and I wonder for one second if he’s ticklish.
He yawns again. “Some shit came up when I was heading home last night.”
“Bad shit?” I instantly realize it’s a stupid question. Any sort of shit that comes up in the middle of the night is bound to be bad.
Nero settles his hand over mine, stilling my dancing fingers. “There have been rumors about some assholes trying to move in, and now that two of my men have been found dead in Chicago I need to go take care of it.”
I press my hand firmer against his chest. “I’m sorry about your guys.”
“Thanks, Baby.” The hand at my back strokes down one of my braids.
“Why were they in Chicago? I thought all of your, um, business, was here in the Twin Cities.”
“Most of it is. I don’t run Chicago, that’s someone else’s, but we do business with him. And it was on one of those shipments that shit got fucked.”
“So, you have to go there?”
I can feel his body shift as he nods his head. “I’ll fly down in the morning. Should only be for a couple of days.”
A blanket of sadness drapes over my mood. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too.” Lips press against the top of my head. “But I have something that might help pass the time while I’m gone.”
“Really?” I tip my head back so I can look up into his handsome face.
“Really. But we need to go downstairs.”
Recalling his phone conversation about someone being here now I scrunch up my nose. “It better not be a bodyguard. That’s not exactly company.”
Nero tugs my braid. “That’s not what I have to show you. But you will have bodyguards. Plural. And when I’m not home, you don’t go anywhere without them.” He gives it another tug. “I’m serious, Payton. You don’t even wander around the yard without telling someone first. Okay?”
“Okay.” The yard thing sounds ridiculous, but I can hear in his voice that there’s no point in arguing. “Is it because of that woman giving me the invite, or because of Chicago?”
“Neither. Both,” Nero sighs. “It’s just how it’s gonna be from now on. But you’ll get used to it, and when you do, you won’t even notice the guys anymore.”
The concept feels foreign to me, once again feeling like a movie, but he warned me from the beginning that being with him would be dangerous. I guess this is just a part of that.
“Alright,” I accept.
“Alright,” Nero repeats.
And I’m left wondering how I’ll pass the time. “It’s gonna be weird not working. I’ve had a job since I was fourteen.”
Nero grunts. “I’ll get credit cards with your name on them, but anything you need, just tell me.”
I bite my lip. Living here is one thing. Being handed a credit card, with a limit I’m sure I can’t even imagine… that’s something else.
Nero slaps me on the ass, before rolling away from me and out of bed. “I’m sure you’ll stay busy.”
I follow him off the comfortable mattress, thinking about what I’ll do all day while he’s gone. “Will I need to feed them?”
“Them?”
“The bodyguards,” I clarify.
“No. You just ignore them.”
I frown but take the hand Nero holds out to me. “Seems rude.”
“They’re here to work, not drop their guard over sandwiches.” He opens the door, leading me out into the hall. “And they’ll be outside.”
“All day?” It’s nearing winter, leaving them in the elements feels ruder than ignoring them.
“Trust me, Sweet Girl, walking the perimeter of our yard is the best gig they’ve ever had. I pay better than the mercenary companies most of them came from, and there aren’t a bunch of fucking terrorists trying to blow them up everyday.”
“That’s something, I guess,” I concede. “But don’t they get cold?” I can’t help but ask, even as my eyes dart around as we walk through the house.
I’m pretty sure this is a different stairway than the one we took last night.
“I’ll give you a tour of the property when I get back, so you can see that they have their own, whole ass house, on the far side of the garage, with plenty of heat and food.”
“Seriously?” I glance at him before focusing back on the steps.
“Most places with round the clock security do. The number will change when we need to bump it up, like right now, but there’s always at least four guys working on staggered ten-day shifts. So it’s easier, and more secure, for them to live here.” He pulls me to a stop when we reach the bottom of the steps. “And if you need them, all you have to do is open a door and scream. Their most important job now is protecting you, and they know it.” He uses his free hand to tip my chin up. “Understand?”
“I understand.”
Nero presses his lips to mine. Just once. But I’m nearly panting when he pulls away. “Now, for your surprise.”
I blink. I’d completely forgotten about the surprise.
“What…?”
A jangle. A little metallic jangle sounds from somewhere in the house. And my heart stops.
Nero whistles, and the jangling gets louder. Accompanied by the unmistakable sound of doggie claws on hard floors.
“You didn’t?” I gasp, and my eyes are already filling with tears before the most beautiful creature rounds the corner.
“Oh my god, Nero,” I sink to my knees. “You didn’t.”
The dog’s wide chestnut eyes dart between Nero and myself as he approaches. He’s covered in a wiry light brown coat and the cutest white paws. He’s somewhere between the size of a lap dog and a Labrador, his thinness making him seem a little smaller than he really is.
“Hi, little guy. Or girl,” I whisper, holding one of my hands out for him to sniff.
“He’s a he.”
His tail, covered in the same brown fur, gives a tentative wag, and I nearly choke on a sob.
“What’s his name?” I can’t stop myself from whispering, worried that talking too loudly will scare him away.
“Doesn’t have one.” Nero lowers himself to a crouch beside me. “But I was thinking he might look like a Toto.”
I sniff as I nod my head. “He does,” I laugh-cry. “If Toto was on stilts.”
“If you don’t like him––”
I snap my head over to look at Nero with an affronted gaze. Though the sternness is surely muted as my emotions continue to drip down my cheeks. “I love him.”
Nero’s face breaks into one of those far-too-cute smiles. “Just like that?”
A damp nose nudges against my hand, and I turn my head back to look at Toto. “Just like that.”
“You love him as much as you love me?”
The dog shoves his way between us, circling around me, his tail in a full wag, his lithe body bending with every swish.
I grin. “More.”
