Page 21 of Dangerous Intent

“He does have people for this sort of thing, but he feels he should handle this situation personally, and he trusts Milo and me to hold it together here while he’s gone.”

“Even with me around?”

“As long as you behave and don’t do anything erratic, we should be fine.”

“I can’t make any promises.”

“We’ve come full circle.” I kissed the top of her head. “But there is the matter of keeping you safe.”

“There’s something I need to tell you.” She curled tighter against me. “I probably should have said it last night, but I was so tired and…”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait. I have to discuss something with you.”

Now wasn’t the time for her to confess whatever absurd thing she had done. As a matter of fact, what could she possibly have done? She hadn’t been out of my sight in days.

“Is it so important that you don’t want to hear what I have to say?”

“I always want to hear what you have to say, but time is of the essence, and this has to do with keeping you safe from any and all threats.”

“I trust you can do that.”

“I know how I can do it better,” I said. “But you need to hear me out on this. I don’t want you to overreact, because it’s going to sound abrupt, but really, it isn’t anything you haven’t already agreed to.”

“You mean you’ve already made up your mind and you expect me to go along with it?” She waved her hand in the air. “Does it involve me going back to a safe house or to the penthouse? I really like it here, but if that will make things easier for you, I’ll go.”

“No, we can stay here, but I appreciate your willingness to compromise.” Maybe this wasn’t going to be as tough as I thought.

“What do we have to do?” she asked.

“Get married.”

“We are getting married.” She pointed to the ostentatious rock I had placed on her finger last week. “You asked, and I said yes.”

“We didn’t really get to celebrate you saying yes, did we?”

“Well, your father’s timing could have been a little better.” She shrugged. “Ricardo and I haven’t had a chance to start planning, but we will now that the funeral is over. I’m ready to make wedding planning my full-time job. I hope your bank account can handle it.”

“I know you want the wedding of your dreams, and I’ll give you that, but we have to get married today.”

“Today?” She laughed. “Stop being silly. Not even I could pull that off.”

I gazed into her eyes.

“Oh my God, you’re serious.” She hopped off the loveseat and crossed the room. “No!”

“I asked you not to overreact.”

“We’re not doing some shotgun mafia wedding!” She stomped back and forth in front of the window. “This isn’t an arranged marriage.”

“Lissia, princess?—”

“Don’t princess me! We’re not doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“Fighting over when we’re getting married.”

“I don’t want to fight.” I got up and held her arm to stop her from pacing. “We went over this when I proposed. If you’re my wife, people will back off.”