Page 220 of Affair

Because she took out the trash here, again, Alexsandr Dominik’s last two hired assassins were somewhere, waiting to enact their revenge.

Yes, she was guarded by Marines, and she had the chutzpa to take care of herself, but he was doubting leaving.

So he stalled a bit.

Raphael seemed to be none the wiser, and he was humoring him.

What started as picking up beignets, turned into more shopping to waste more time.

Now, he had to get presents for everyone.

That was only right, especially since he now had a child that he and Ethan absolutely adored. Gene loved being a girl dad, so he was making sure to get her something she’d love.

Willa needed a big green and gold teddy bear. So, he bought that.

Then, he got each kid a present, starting with the two oldest boys. He found model cars they could put together some evening.

Then, he hit up the girls with pretty necklaces with different colored stones in them.

There was a pretty tea set for Bethe.

Gene was pretty sure it was her fifth tea set, but the kid really liked a tea party with her sisters.

For Charlie, luckily, Gene found a kids sized belt buckle, since she wanted to be her mother’s mini-me.

Daniel got a kaleidoscope, since he loved things like that, and Cat got a taxidermied bird.

It was weird, and he knew it would be taken apart at her earliest convenience as she‘autopsied’it, but the kid liked seeing inside things.

Plus, it kept the dogs off of her radar—because Elizabeth really loved her German Shepherds.

As he walked around a shop, Raphael hovering and drawing attention, he kept his voice low.

“My dude, I know you’re stalling. Want to tell me why?” he asked. “The jet landed an hour ago, and we’re really getting too much attention.”

Gene knew why.

He’d been on the news with Ethan more than a few times. They’d had a date night here and there, and they’d handled that case back inPhiladelphiathat reopened an old can of worms.

Since Ethan was synonymous with Elizabeth, the second they were in the media spotlight, he was now a target of the press.

They loved sensationalizing stories about him.

How he was cheating with Ethan behind Elizabeth’s back…

How he was breaking up the family…

How he was caught up in some kinky wild orgy at the taxpayer’s expense…

That wasn’t even close to the truth, and he knew it. The only person he was dick diving in was his hot half-Native man.

Since Raphael’s job was to keep him safe, he did the most logical thing.

He lied.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he admitted. “I’m just shopping.”

Raphael looked at his watch.