Mr. and Mrs. Rossi

“Hannah?”

The duo turned, still hugging. Javier looked worse for the wear. Dark circles planted under his eyes. It had only been a few days since she’d seen him but he looked tired and thinner. Hannah used Harley as a support board to help stand up. Once on her own two feet she took off for Javier’s waiting arms.

Dante reached down and extended his hand. “Those two are in love.”

“Must be nice,” Harley hummed, allowing Dante to tuck her underneath the crook of his arm. “Thanks for coming.”

“Did you think I wouldn’t?”

Harley inhaled deeply, “That’s right, Marchette.”

“Let’s not twist this,” Dante pulled her from his side, braced his hands on her shoulders and forced her to face him. The agents around them went to help each girl. The Undesirables, as Harley had come to know them, picked up left over machinery from the ground. “I came to get Marchette, I stayed for you.”

“Dante, I,” she searched for the words to begin to apologize.

“Listen, I didn’t expect to find you here when I arrived. All I know is when you stepped out of that limo, covered in blood—.”

“It wasn’t mine, I disarmed Bobby’s guard.”

Dante shook his head, his lopsided smile filled her heart. “That’s what I love about you. You’re such a badass.”

“Love?” She realized she had no idea about love at fifteen. Puppy love maybe, she thought to herself. She spent a year loving him and a year getting over him. She’d hardened her heart all these years, protecting herself from love. And in a matter of days, Dante broke through her exterior bringing her to levels she never experienced before. She smiled and batted her lashes.

“Don’t go all soft on me,” he shrugged, “let’s just say for lack of a better word. I mean, if you’re gonna get all girly on me.”

Playfully she went to swipe at him with her hand but he turned his shoulders away from her. His T-shirt shredded and exposed bloodied skin filled with charred debris. “Oh my God! You practically took a bullet for me!”

Dante turned back around, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her up against him. “More like a bomb, but whatever. I think you can repay me by giving me at least a week’s time without you disappearing on me.”

“Well,” Harley smiled, “we never had a honeymoon.”

“Hell, let’s get started right now.” Dante balanced her with his right arm and fiddled with something in his pocket. The next minute she was being handcuffed, his left to her right.

“What in the hell?”

“Yeah, I’m not taking any chances on you giving me the slip ever again.”

****

Five months later Dante walked out of Harley’s shower using the towel for his body to dry the back of his head. “It was a really disappointing shower I took there,” he said looking at Harley’s long legs cushioned on top of her mattress. She wore a purple bra and panty set. He didn’t need to see if the back was a thong or not, he was already to go another round with her.

Harley looked up from the screen, the blue of whatever she was looking at lit up her face. “Are you done already?”

“We can go again?” He stood in the doorway of the bathroom. “Ready?”

“Just a minute, come here.”

Dante threw the white terrycloth towel to the floor, “You sure you want to get these sheets wet?” he inclined his head toward the three sets of sheets crumpled to the floor they’d already gone through. The last five months couldn’t have gone any better between them. He knew when he’d spotted Harley at Chet’s bar there was something special about her—not just the fact he needed her phone to verify Leonardo’s location. Once again Leonardo’s father whisked him away to an unknown location. Dante let his lifelong mission to bury Leonardo aside. The powers that be at the Special Tasks Bureau were so intrigued with the camaraderie between him and Harley, they put them together on various assignments together when the time called. Every mission was a honeymoon for them. It wasn’t hard to act like a couple in love, they were.

“Did you find another secure line to talk to Hannah?” he asked, climbing into the bed with her. Her soft shoulder twitched from the water dripping from his body. “You know that goes completely against policy, right?”

“Please, Elliott was the one who gave me the connection.”

The last thing Hannah and Javier were able to do before going into Witsec was to have an impromptu wedding. No one told her of her biological parents and her father, Anthony Tomasello, gave her away at the courthouse.

“Okay then,” he kissed the spot on her shoulders where there was a droplet of water. “What do you want to show me?” Harley turned her iPad toward him. The blue and green screen blinded him briefly. “Okay, what am I looking at?”

“My wedding gift to you,” Harley grinned, she looked at him with her long lashes. His heart swelled.