Page 77 of Hell to Pay

“All the time in the world,” Jude said. “Nolan and Rafe are going to meet with our source tonight. You and I are going out to dinner. I’ll make the reservation for later so you can get a nap in.”

I sat up. “I want to go,” I said. “To talk to the source.”

Jude shook his head. “Not this time.”

His voice was firm, a rarity since he almost always gave me what I wanted, and I knew this was one of those times when he couldn’t explain. I was just going to have to trust him, something that was getting easier to do.

I sighed and lay back on the comfy bed. The down comforter puffed up around me. “Fine.”

“Except before you take your bath, Nolan wants to check your heart,” Jude said.

I propped myself up on my forearms. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He grinned and shook his head. “He already has his stethoscope out, the freak.”

I sat up and crossed the room. I wasn’t going to complain because I knew for a fact there were worse things than having a hot former Navy SEAL obsessed with hearing your heartbeat.

50

JUDE

I usually gotFOMO when Nolan and Rafe worked without me, but this time I’d definitely gotten the better end of the deal. A night alone with Lilah in the City of Lights, complete with a fancy dinner and a walk through Paris at night?

I was all the fuck in.

Besides, I didn’t need to be there for the meeting with Ghost, one of the few guys we’d served with in the SEALs who hadn’t bought into Sandoval’s narrative about what had happened in the desert, about what he’d said we’d done.

Ghost left the service two years ago and set up shop in a suburb of Paris after he fell in love with a Parisian woman. He was a gun for hire, but not the way Rafe, Nolan, and I were: Ghost focused entirely on protecting rich people and their fancy houses and their fancy boats and their fancy kids.

We were hoping he’d know something about the estate where the MdM (we still had no idea what that stood for) was being held on the 16th. If he didn’t, we were going to have to dig into some of our less cooperative sources, some of whom were connected to the Paris Mob.

Definitely not our first choice.

While Lilah took a bath, I took a shower, then dressed in a silk black button-down and tailored black slacks that ended just above my ankles. After all, we were in Paris, where black was always king, which suited me fine.

I came out of my room dressed for dinner and found Nolan and Rafe heading for the elevator, both dressed in jeans and T-shirts.

Rafe stopped in his tracks. “You fucker.”

He’d been more transparent about his feelings for Lilah since they’d fucked in the gym and he was obviously figuring out that he’d made a critical error by volunteering to talk to Ghost while I stayed with Lilah.

I laughed. “Sucks to be you.”

“Just take care of her,” Nolan said.

I scowled. “You don’t have to tell me, bro.”

Somewhere along the way Lilah had become the most important thing in my life — in all our lives. She’d become our VIP security client without even realizing it and without paying a dime. She probably didn’t even notice the way we worked around her, but we were always in some kind of formation, always packing heat, always on the lookout for potential threats.

Because no one was getting within five feet of her unless we allowed it. And I wasn’t going to allow it.

They continued to the elevator.

“Give Ghost my best.”

Rafe flipped me off without turning around.

I was still laughing when the elevator doors closed, but I wasn’t laughing a few seconds later when I heard Lilah’s voice behind me.

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