Page 60 of The Vow

“If you leave, your position here will be at risk,” my husband threatened, his voice silky smooth.

“And if you stay,” I countered, “your puzzle will be the next thing to join the pool party.”

“Next?” With almost comic coordination, the two men turned to the window.

“Are those…” His expression darkened. “My hats?”

I ignored him. “Your choice, Pat.”

The man’s ruddy brows drew up his forehead as he looked from me to Damon and then back to me, and then shook his head with a rumbling laugh and then gave an apologetic look to his boss. “Like you said, Damon, there are few things I like in this world, and my puzzles are one of them.”

“Pat…”

For the first time, I saw Damon’s steadiness waver. Like he was truly afraid to be left alone with me.Why?

The bigger man heaved a sigh that sounded like it splitthrough rocks in order to release, and his gaze took on a layer of compassion that I had the distinct feeling was more than uncommon and bordered on emotionally extinct.

“I already went along with one decision today I didn’t particularly like, and I think that’s my limit,” Pat said, making me instantly wonder what that decision was…and if Damon would tell me about it.

I waited for his response. Anticipated Damon’s next obstinate command, but it never came. This was the second time I’d watched the most wanted criminal in the world back down to someone who worked for him. Someone who was obviously a subordinate.And someone who obviously cared.

Before I had time to consider that thought any further, the large bodyguard stopped in front of me, his mouth in a thin line.

“Don’t threaten my puzzle again.” The corner of his lip twitched, piercing the tiniest hole in his grim expression.

“Understood.” I gave the slightest nod, curling my arm tighter into Damon’s jacket.

Pat glanced back at Damon, who stood with his fists flexed at his sides. “Take care of him.”

A frown dipped Damon’s perfect mouth. “You know, coming from a man who occasionally kills people professionally, telling someone to ‘take care’ of me could be inferred in a not-so-ideal way.”

Pat let out a low sound thatmightbe a chuckle, but probably only inside the four walls of this room. “Then I guess I’ll leave it open to your wife’s interpretation,” he told me with a twinkle in his eyes, and then left, making sure to close the door behind him.

The silence stretched like the finest strand of a web, sticky and invisible, as I looked over Damon again. This time, I noted every misplaced wave of his dark hair and the soft wrinkles andsubtle stains—not blood, but dirt or dust of some kind—on his shirt, but only in the parts that hadn’t been covered by his jacket. If I didn’t know…if I hadn’t seen how he’d relied on Pat for support to enter the room, I would be hard-pressed to look at him and say he looked injured.

“For all yourmy wifetalk, I’m surprised you’re trying so hard to get me out of your bedroom.” Maybe this would get him to open up. Or trip up. I was tired of only getting half-truths from my husband, and right now, it felt like a whole lot less than half.

The steel orbs of his eyes pinned mine and then dragged like twin daggers down the front of me. I had his jacket wrapped over my front, and yet, I felt more naked now than I did when I stood in nothing but my wet T-shirt.

With every second, my heart thundered louder, the deadly magnetism between us growing stronger.

“And for how much you say you hate me, you’re surprisingly insistent about remaining in it with me.” His beautiful mouth cast out the words.

I told myself I wasn’t going to be goaded. That insisting on my feelings for him—or lack thereof—was a distraction from whatever information he was trying to hold close to his chest.

“I’m insisting on an answer that you’re trying very hard not to give.”

“It’s painful, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“Wanting something you can’t have.” His statement was dipped in double meaning and decorated with desire.

I held his stare and then put one foot in front of the other, inching closer to him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of thinking he could dissuade me.

“What happened with Belmont? Why did you go without me?”

“Because I didn’t need you there,” he said, standing like he was afraid to move. Not afraid of the pain it would cause but afraid he wouldn’t be able to hide it from me. “I told you how we left things. What our next step is. That’s all that matters.”

---