Chapter 169
Alcee looked at Torq after everyone was gone and they were the only two left. She went to her desk and sat down. He’d immediately cornered her there, his large body looming over her in the chair.
“Uh, what you are doing?”
“You scared me today.”
“Okay.”
“We need to get you a firearm.”
“I think we just need to boost my security detail. I don’t want to shoot people.”
“Your brother literally plotted to send you away. Tank was able to get into your brothers group chats, and they were talking about how much they hate me and how I’m a danger to you, I am not convinced that since Pavlidis walked away from the kidnapping you they won’t try something else.”
“They sold it to him as a rescue operation. They actually believed I’d want to go!” she snorted. “As if I’d rip my son away from his father.”
“Is this the only reason?” he leaned closer, his breath mingling with hers. His eyes dark and stormy with curiosity.
“Well, the d is pretty good.”
“Just pretty good?” he laughed at her teasing.
“Well, I mean it was a life changing experience for you. You’ve not had another woman since me. How could I rob you of a lifetime of me?”
He threw his head back and laughed loudly. “You’re doing it because of your altruistic nature then?”
“Definitely.” She grinned a mischievous smile, “out of the goodness of my heart.”
He kissed her mouth softly, “not because you like me?”
“Maybe a little bit,” she kissed his mouth back teasingly.
“I like you. More than a little bit,” he let his tongue tease her bottom lip. “It scared the fuck out of me today to know you were taken. Made me realize how much you mean to me. I’m tired of almost losing you, Alcee. At first I was thinking, oh, it’s just Mercurio and he’s stupid but then Tank brought in the backstory and fuck if it almost didn’t put me on my knees.”
The idea of this large man being desperately worried for her safety made her heart flutter, “I don’t ever want you on your knees scared for me, Torq. There are far better reasons for you being on your knees but that isn’t one I like.”
He smiled at the joke and kissed her tenderly, “I care for you Alcee. More than I was ready to admit but, it hurt,” he took her hand and held it against his chest, “in here. It hurt in here to think of someone taking you from me.”
“Do you want to know a secret?”
“What?”
“I like you more than a little bit too and,” she flexed her fingers on his chest, “I wasn’t scared.”
“You weren’t?”
“No. I was fucking angry, I was so angry, Torq Who would be so stupid as to dare try to take. me and our son from you? It took everything in me not to throw punches. I didn’t go with him because I was scared of him. I went with him to see what he was up to. I knew you’d get me. I saw Tito out of the corner of my eye and knew he would call it in. I’m never afraid of you not getting to me. I’m terrified of what I would do, even to my own blood, for daring to make decisions for me where you are concerned.”
“Your brothers were out of line,” he suddenly stood upright and lifted her clear out of her chair and carried her to the sofa. “I have so much work I need to
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Chapter 169
accomplish today and instead I’m so damn distracted. I need to hold you for a bit, okay?”
“Sure.” She snuggled into his chest aware he liked hugs as Ant liked his squeezes, “we can’t do more than this though because I think your office is going to be a revolving door of Genevra and Kylen and Bastiano. I can’t believe she signed the marriage agreement, I thought for sure she was interested in Kylen and he in her but all he did was push her right into Karolos‘ atms.”
“She was always a different kind of person, but I must admit, she impressed the fuck out of me today. She put Kylen in his place where he deserved to be. His sister was married to a marine. She got pregnant right before he went on tour. He died when she was about four months pregnant. He helps her out a lot. When the kid was about two, his sister started dating this wealthy older man. She gushed about him constantly. He liked her kid. He took them on trips and was spoiling her and loving her. She thought he was the one who was going to help mend her broken heart. Then Kylen and his father found out this guy was twenty years older than her. They felt it was weird how this older man was into this younger woman. He and his father got into it with her about the age disparity. They ended up ruining the relationship for her.”
“What? Why?”
“Kylen is a damn good man in terms of security. He did a deep dive on the man’s background. Managed to find out how he was married before when he was younger and had a daughter with his first wife who was in her late teens on a handful of years younger than Kylen’s sister. He abandoned them back in California. His excuse when his sister confronted him was that he was young and while he tried to make the best of an unpleasant situation by marrying the girl he knocked up in high school, they didn’t love each other and eventually ended up hating one another. He admitted he was a shitty father. He was never home and when he was home, all the time he was there, they fought in front of the kid. The kid was really close to her mother and when he took a job across the country here in New York, he decided it was best to cut ties. He sends monthly child support, but he hasn’t seen his daughter in ten years. He swore he loved Kylen’s sister, but Kylen and his father insisted a man like him would only do the same thing to her and they got into her head. They kept pointing out the age difference as the main reason. She couldn’t be with someone her family hated. It didn’t matter how good he was to her and her daughter.”
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