Page 69 of Surrender

Fox wraps his arms around my waist. “He does. And you’re definitely not invited to those.”

I kiss the top of Fox’s head, trying to let go of some of my barely banked anger. Just the idea of Silvano touching Fox… I pull out my phone and send a quick text to the person who handles our clean-up with the address, nothing more. There. That’s been taken care of.

“Come, little fox,” I tell Fox. “Let’s see just how much pain you can take.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

FOX

“If you ever change your mind about Silvano, just say the word,” I say, wrapping my arms around Cristiano from behind while he unlocks the door to his condo.

“If he ever hits on you again, shoot him in the leg,” Cristiano suggests, leading me inside. “And if you ever hit on him again, I’ll find out about it and punish you instead—and it won’t be anything as kind as a fucking gunshot wound.”

“My innocent ears,” Briar drawls from inside the living room. “How am I supposed to survive listening to this? Next thing I know, you’ll be talking about sex.”

“Innocent ears?” Cristiano replies with a snort. “Nothing about you is innocent. What are you doing here?”

Briar gives him a dubious look. “My job…?”

“Oh, hi, Briar,” I say sweetly. “Thanks for letting me borrow your suit. I’m sure the blood stains haven’t completely set in yet.”

“The what on my what?” Briar asks, looking at first dismayed then positively murderous. “Who told you you could borrow any of my clothing? And ruin it! You’d better buy me a replacement, and I hope you have money, because all of my suits cost more than a small village!”

“Money?” I look up at Cristiano and bat my eyelashes. “Daddy…? I think I need to borrow some cash.”

“I hope he takes it out of your hide,” Briar mutters, then adds acerbically, “Never mind. I hope he doesn’t. That would serve you right.” But they eye Cristiano, looking him critically up and down. Do you need a doctor?”

When Briar speaks to Cristiano, there’s affection in their voice, and I bristle at it a little.

I wrap my arms tighter around Cristiano and glare at Briar. “Nope, we’re perfectly fine. I took good care of him.”

Briar smirks back at me. “Oh, I’m sure you tried, baby boy.”

The condescension in their tone has me wanting to pull a knife on them.

“I’m not going to sympathize with you when Fox shoots you,” Cristiano remarks almost mildly, though there’s a slight edge to his own voice. “Because only I get to call him anything even remotely close to baby boy.”

Briar must sense the danger there because they back off, raising both hands and even taking a step back. “Sorry, sorry. Someone’s touchy today.”

“Yes, well, almost getting assassinated twice and being set up for murder tends to do that to a person,” Cristiano says.

I bite back the guilt I feel about being one of those attempted assassinations. I didn’t know Cristiano yet, I remind myself. He was just a job.

There are no more jobs like that on my horizon.

“Are you actually intending on sticking around to listen to us fuck?” I ask Briar, trying to keep a grin on my face. “I’m not that into exhibitionism, but if Daddy is…”

Briar shudders. “Hard pass,” they say. “I’ll come back tomorrow to finish cleaning up.” They flounce toward the door, bumping my shoulder hard with theirs on the way to the door. “Be good, you two. Or not.”

“Out, Briar,” Cristiano says firmly, even though he cracks a smile at Briar.

I wait until Briar has left before I walk around to Cristiano’s front and place my arms on his shoulders. “When I move in, Briar has to move out,” I tell him seriously.

Cristiano eyes me for a moment. “Are you jealous?” he asks, smirking at me as he touches my face.

“You’re mine, Daddy,” I tell him earnestly. “And I’ll keep a special pistol just to shoot anyone who dares touch you.”

Cristiano chuckles then kisses me hard on the mouth. “I’ll tell them to get their stuff out, but then what will you borrow in your times of need?”

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