Xavier (Vigilance 4)

“Yes, dammit.”

“Aren’t you usually awake by this time?”

I nearly hung up on him. “You told me to take a damn vacation.”

“I didn’t expect your island to get invaded.”

“If I waited around until there wasn’t any trouble, I would never take another vacation.”

He snorted. “True enough. How’s Emilio?”

“Is that why you called? To inquire after Emilio’s health?”

“That good, huh?”

“Giorgio!”

“Devil, Niall, and I are flying out in an hour. I thought it would be best if you knew when to expect us.”

“I would know anyway since you’re using my plane. My pilot never departs without sending me a flight plan and manifest.”

Giorgio huffed. “I’ll let you know when we’ve landed and are on our way to the island.”

“Afraid if you approach without warning I might shoot first and check your identity later?”

“Knowing you, I’d be a fool not to think that, but I’m more concerned we’ll catch you and Emilio naked by the pool.”

“Giorgio, I’m warning you—”

He laughed. “Are you really going to tell me there’s no chance of that?”

“I’ll keep up with the time so I know when to expect you.”

“You’re saying if you didn’t, there would be a chance of it?”

Why had I ever wanted to work with this man? “Giorgio, do you have anything important to say?”

“Watch your back, and don’t have too much fun before we get there.”

“Fly safe.” I ended the call.

“Who wassat?” Emilio asked, his voice slurred from sleep.

“Giorgio. He, Niall, and Devil are leaving Boston in an hour.”

“Oh.”

“You sound disappointed.”

“No… um… Well, yes. I like having you all to myself, but that’s ridiculous when…”

“I like having you to myself too, which means we need to lure these fucking bastards here as quickly as we can, eliminate them, and get back to doing nothing but fucking and walking on the beach.”

“And reading poetry.”

Heat filled my face. “You really liked that?”

“So much. You’re such a fucking romantic.”

I started to shake my head, then remembered what Sandra had said. He needed to know all of me. “Don’t tell anyone.”

“It can be our secret.”

The day passed quickly, much faster than I wanted it to. It had been easy to convince Emilio some slow, luxurious frotting was a wonderful way to start the day. After we’d gotten sweaty and sticky, we showered together, had breakfast, and went for a walk on the beach. We spent an amazing morning together. I was so caught up in how I felt about Emilio I almost forgot we needed to find a way to end yet another phase of this never-ending mission.

After lunch, I got a message that Giorgio and the others were on St. Croix, preparing to head over on a boat owned by one of the Marchesis’ allies. I knew Emilio and I weren’t going to have much time together for the next few days. I wondered if we’d ever have time like this again.

No, that wasn’t a possibility. Emilio was mine. When the mission was over, I was going to make sure he knew when I’d said he was mine, I’d meant he was mine forever. We just needed to get through these next few days. I would have to focus on the mission because if I didn’t, we’d all be in much worse danger.

As soon as the others arrived on the island, Emilio withdrew into himself. He’d been so open with me. I’d forgotten how shy he’d always seemed. He spent hours alone in the safe room using my equipment to plant the seeds of deception we’d created.

When Emilio wasn’t in front of the top-of-the-line equipment, he was in my room. I didn’t like having him out of my sight, but I needed to make plans with the others, and he wasn’t comfortable around all of us at once for more than a few minutes.

I was in my office looking over a detailed map of the island with my team. Leo had joined us by video chat, and after a long monologue about how cruel we were to leave him behind, he gave some excellent suggestions for the best positioning so we would be prepared for an attack from any angle.

“I think that will work,” Niall said, pointing at the diagram we’d most recently devised. “Between your security team here and the four of us, will have all navigable points of entry covered.”

“Who’s to say the bastards won’t swim in?” Devil asked. “Isn’t that likely how the other guy got onto the island?”

“Even if they swim in, they won’t be able to deal with rocks like these,” Niall said, pointing to one of the areas where no one would be patrolling the shore.

Devil frowned. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve seen people do crazier shit.”

“You’ve done crazier shit,” Leo said.

“Exactly, so we have to be prepared for anything.” I sighed and ran a hand over my hair.

“Since when are you this fucking jumpy?” Devil asked.