Sweet Collateral

Her eyes meet mine, and she chews on her bottom lip. “I want to go to New Zealand.”

“Okay. Why New Zealand?”

“Why not?” She shrugs. “I found it on the globe, and I don’t even know what language they speak there.”

I smile, stroking her hair away from her neck. “English. What else?”

“I want to dance in the rain. And eat crepes.” Such simple things. She makes me want to hand her the world, just to see the wonder on her face as she explores it. “What about you?” she asks.

I slide a hand up the small of her back to the nape of her neck. “I have everything I want,” I tilt her head to the side and bring my lips to her ear. “Right here.”

“You sure about that?” She cocks a brow, a small smile playing over her lips.

“Very.”

Her arms wind around me, her fingers raking through my hair. “There was one more thing on my bucket list, but I’ve already done it.”

“What’s that?”

She pulls back just enough to look at me. “Fall in love,” she whispers. Her eyes drop to my mouth and then she’s leaning in, placing the sweetest kiss on my lips. She tastes like sunshine and desert sand. She feels like simple happiness; swimming in a lake on a hot day, the skipping of my heart when she flashes me a beautiful smile, and pure unadulterated joy.

This right here in this moment feels precious and unfiltered.

I’ve spent my whole life striving for more. More power. More money. More territory. I’ve never really appreciated anything outside of those things. She’s my pause button, a reminder to breathe. She makes me want to stop and just capture the moment with her, to create memories.

Anna Vasiliev is my air in a toxic world.

32

Rafael

I’ve spent two days with Anna, but I can’t avoid the office any longer. Samuel is fussing like a mother hen, and Carlos is convinced World War Three is about to break out on the streets. I have to handle some shit.

“Jimmy got shanked in broad daylight, Rafe!”

I lean back in my chair, lighting my cigar and inhaling. “It’s Juarez, Carlos. People get stabbed all the time.”

He jabs his finger down on my desk. “Not our fucking guys!” Granted, Jimmy was only a gang runner, but with known association to us. That makes a hit on him our problem, and we have to retaliate. Such is the benefit of the gangs working with us. Our name protects them.

Samuel steps forward and places a hand on Carlos’ shoulder. “We’ll deal with it.”

I glance at Sam. “Find out who did it. Make an example.” I don’t like gratuitous violence, but sometimes it’s necessary. I can’t afford any kind of miscommunication at this point. I can still feel Dominges hovering near my ass, just waiting to ram himself up there. I fucking know this shit is on him.

“You need to handle Jimmy’s replacement,” Sam says.

I nod. “Carlos, make some calls. See if anyone knows who took out Jimmy. I’ll go to Juarez today, and deal with the replacement.” They both leave, and I inhale another breath of my cigar before pushing to my feet. I leave the office, aiming to check in with the guards, when I catch Anna and Lucas sneaking around.

I step around the corner of the hallway, straight into their path. Lucas staggers a step, his face going pale. Anna’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second before narrowing.

“Rafael.”

“Avecita.” My eyes rake over her body encased in skin-tight yoga pants and a sports bra. The tanned skin of her stomach begs to be touched, and her tits strain against the fabric of the bra with every breath. When I meet her gaze, she stares back at me almost defiantly. She knows she’s caught. “Where are you off to?”

“Lucas and I were going to work out.”

“Work out?” She nods. “What kind of work out?” The thought of Lucas doing any kind of up close and personal self-defense training while she’s dressed like that has my pulse ticking up. He and I still need a little chat. I’ve just been too wrapped up in Anna to find the time.

“The usual kind,” she says evasively.

“Is that so?”

She squares her shoulders at me, and I almost smile. My little warrior, getting so feisty. Meanwhile, Lucas is practically crawling into the floorboards as though he’d do anything for the ground to just open up and swallow him. He won’t look at me. On a sigh, Anna grabs my arm and drags me toward the office, slamming the door once we’re inside.

“Do you have to terrify Lucas like that?” she says, pressing her back to the door and folding her arms over her chest.

I close the distance and cage her against the wood, plucking at the thick bra strap over her shoulder. “If you wanted to learn to fight so badly, you should have just asked.”