Cade Burns
I planned to keep her at the house for the out-of-town event, but all my plans changed when I heard that there was a hit on her head. Aria wouldn’t be leaving my side, and I didn’t particularly care how she felt about it. So I sent a dress to her room yesterday with specific instructions to wear it and meet me in the foyer at three o’clock sharp.
It shouldn’t have surprised me when three o’clock came and went, and I had to storm up the stairs and toward her room. If she wasn’t ready to go, I
would drag her into the car, and I’d make her get herself ready during the two-hour car ride. I didn’t care how she felt about it. Aria had proven to have no regard for her own life on multiple occasions, and I wondered if she even realized that the time we spent together was for the sake of her safety, not my preferences.
Hell, if I could leave her here and trust that she’d be alive when I returned, I would do just that.
I finally reached the door and didn’t hesitate to slam it open and take a step inside.
There, on the end of the bed, Aria sat as she strapped a silver heel to her foot. Her makeup had been done, and I wanted to curse my sister for lending it to her. Combined with the dress and the heels, the makeup was… a problem.
There wouldn’t be a single man in the crowd who wouldn’t look at Aria tonight.
“You’re late,” I said, frustrated at how difficult it was to push the words past the shock of seeing her so dressed up. I knew how stunning Aria was with her dark hair and supple curves, but seeing her dressed like this did something to me that I tried and failed to shove away.
“And you’re being impatient like usual,” she shot back, not even bothering to look at me as she finished securing the strap of her sandal.
I scowled at her as she stood, a few inches taller than her ordinarily short stature. She still came nowhere near my height, but the difference was notable as she strode forward, moving past me and leaving me in the doorway. I had no idea what I felt as she continued making her way downstairs, and I turned and followed silently.
I didn’t say a word to her as we loaded into the car and began the long drive toward the event. I kept my eyes on the road, so they didn’t veer toward her on instinct. It sickened me that I reacted in such a way from the mere sight of her.
“I wasn’t aware that mafia bosses went to black tie events,” she said from the passenger’s seat. “Suits are too expensive to get blood all over them.”
I recognized it as a sly remark. “If you think I can’t afford a new suit, you’d be mistaken.”
She leaned back and said nothing more as we continued the drive. I expected her to say at least something else, but it wasn’t until we pulled up to the venue that she asked the first question. “What is this?”
“This is a dinner party aimed toward our most wealthy clients. It’s a cover event to hide what’s going on beneath the surface,” I told her. “This is the annual event when we ship out our largest yearly drug shipment.”
She nodded as if that were a perfectly reasonable reason to be here, and I was reminded that she had grown up surrounded by mafia dealings. Aria wasn’t oblivious to our ways. “So, it’s a coverup.”
“Precisely.” I stepped out of the car and made my way to her side, opening the door and hooking my arm through hers. “Is it too much to ask that you behave tonight?”
She shrugged, following me inside. “I don’t think so,” she mused. “But we’ll see.”
We made our way inside the event, and I saw all the people in their positions. If everything went according to plan, I wouldn’t have to worry about touching a dime of the money exchanged tonight. I knew that my guys were in the basement, taking care of the nitty-gritty details, and I was in charge of ensuring everything went accordingly up here.
Aria looked around the room as we strolled through the center of it, making small talk with men and women from different parts of the world. Many of them were New York City residents, but we held the event far enough from the inner workings of the city to avoid the complications of Italians interfering and demanding a stipend of profit from here.
It was the reason we came all the way here for the trade.
Aria’s keen eyes worked through the crowd, but she didn’t notice how many eyes rested on her.
I did.
I caught each gaze and held it until they looked away. I’d ensure that every person here knew she wasn’t on the market. If I was forced to act irrationally tonight because someone got touchy with her, I would jeopardize the entire event, and I couldn’t afford for that to happen.
So I kept her close, pleasantly surprised at how civil she acted toward all who approached us. I watched as the evening unfurled exactly as it had been planned, and by the end of it, the weight on my shoulders had diminished exponentially. Aria and I sent the last donor from the building, and I exhaled deeply as we followed, locking up behind us.
“A drug deal covered up by an auction,” she mused as we got in the car at nearly midnight. “I’ve never seen something disguised like this.”
“You’re used to seeing drug deals in mafia territory where law enforcement had a general understanding to back off of matters like that,” I told her. “If I use Italian mafia territory to do my business, I run the risk of starting a dispute over territory and funds.”
“You could use Matteo’s,” she proposed. “You two are allies now.”
I shook my head. “It’s still considered the Italian Commission’s general territory,” I told her. “If they caught wind of it, my ass would be on the line.”
She made a sound of an acknowledgment as we made our way to a hotel just across the street-one of the more luxurious ones in the area. She straightened. “Are we not driving home?”
I shook my head. “They’re doing the transport tonight, and if anything goes wrong, I need to be close enough to handle the situation.”
She didn’t argue, and I found it a welcome surprise as we made our way through the halls of the hotel and toward the room that I had previously booked. Exhaustion from the stress of the day wore through me as I slid the key card into the door and pushed it open, gesturing for her to walk inside first. I closed the door and made my way in the direction of the small room.
“You motherfucker,” she said, stopping in the narrow hallway and blocking my path.
“Can you put away the crazy for one night so we can both get some sleep?” I asked as I veered into the bathroom to take a piss. I was too exhausted to care about anything tonight as I pulled down my pants and sent a stream of urine into the bowl.
“I’m not doing this again,” she said, pushing through the bathroom door with no regard for the fact that I was still peeing. “You had a good enough excuse the first time, but not tonight, Cade.”
I huffed and pulled back up my pants, turning and moving past her. I didn’t have nearly enough energy to deal with her tonight, so I moved into the room, pausing at what I saw. I had been sure to request a room with two beds, but in the center of the room sat one large king-sized bed. “I asked for two beds,” I told her.
“For some reason, I doubt that.”
I scoffed and narrowed my eyes down at her. “Why do you think I would have requested one bed? Do you think that I want to wake up next to the same woman who can’t seem to take a five-minute break between starting arguments with me?”
“You insisted last time,” she retorted.
I clenched my jaw. I had been exhausted, in a lot of pain, and dealing with the stress of an unprovoked attack. At the time, I thought it was the only option, and when she’d been leaning over me, cleaning my gunshot wound, I hadn’t been able to think clearly. She didn’t seem to have any idea what she did to me.
“It’s different this time,” I finally said, shaking my head and stripping down to my boxers.
“Hell no,” she shouted as I dropped my pants and worked to lift my shirt over my head. “I’m not sleeping in a bed while you’re naked.”
“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”
Aria’s eyes darkened for just a moment as I eased myself onto the side of the bed and leaned back against the pillows. The volume on my phone was all the way up, but I hoped nobody would call until tomorrow morning.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as she shuffled around the room, huffing in frustration. When she finally went silent, I opened an eye to see what she was doing.
She lay on the ground, cocooned in a small quilt that had been across the end of the bed. She didn’t even have a pillow, but she didn’t complain. I knew I could leave her there and have the bed to myself. I considered doing that as I closed my eyes once again, deciding not to deal with her bullshit tonight. But rather than falling fast asleep, my mind lingered on where she lay uncomfortably on the floor.
Had it been anyone else, I wouldn’t have given a shit. Hell, I shouldn’t have cared if Aria slept on the floor, especially after she’d spent the past ten minutes blaming me for the hotel’s mistake.
I should have wanted her to sleep on the floor after everything that had happened.
But I didn’t want that.
Anger fueled me as I realized that I wouldn’t fall asleep as long as she lay there. I was angry at myself for feeling that way when I knew she deserved to spend many nights on a cold, hard floor. What was wrong with my fucking mind to care about something like that-to care about her comfort-after all that she’d done?
I flung my legs off the bed and stormed toward her. She didn’t even have enough time to look over her shoulder as I lifted her, blankets and all.
“Hey,” she protested, kicking around in my grasp.
“You’re not sleeping on the floor when there’s a king-sized bed.” “Why the hell do you care?” she asked.
I had no idea how to answer that question, so I tossed her on her side of the bed and moved back toward mine. “I’m not going to touch you,” I told her. “Stop being stubborn, and go to sleep.”
She huffed, but fortunately, she didn’t bother arguing with me. Instead, she only turned over soundlessly. Having her close didn’t seem to help my inability to sleep. I clenched my fists as I considered why I’d done anything to make her life easier. She didn’t deserve it, I reminded myself. There was no reason for me to care about her at all.
“If you touch me, I’ll cut off your dick,” she said.
No, I wouldn’t be getting a lick of sleep tonight, and it was my own damn fault.