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11

MAEL

Two days passed before I could see my girl again.

Fuck, but everything had been messy. Who knew one little black book would be so hard to find? And who knew a man with no mob connections, so to speak, and no importance in the public sphere besides being considered upper-middle class would be so hard to kill?

I didn’t usually spend so much time on a target.

Being paid to kill people—bad people at that—was easy. Mostly because they were usually the lowest of the low on this rotten earth we all occupied, and people didn’t usually miss those people when they went… missing.

But Leo fucking Briggs was smart. Smarter than I gave him credit for. And careful.

There was nothing on him that I could tie to the underground human trafficking ring he ran with Luckas Whitlock, Lia’s father.

It was a lucrative business.

So it didn’t make any sense to me why Leo would hire me to kill Luckas.

But I would find the reason soon. And once I did, I was going after dear old Leo myself.

Until then, I was stuck lying low and doing shit jobs the fucker threw my way, as if to show just who was in charge.

I nearly smiled at the proverbial dick-measuring contest.

I’ll let you have your fun for now.

The only downside to all of this was that it kept me from my girl. I stayed away from her that first week she saw me in her bathroom to give her some time to recuperate from the shock of it all, but fuck if I didn’t miss her. So here I was, at the coffee shop, hoping for even a small glimpse of her.

The place wasn’t busy for a Tuesday afternoon when I got in, and there was no line as I walked up to an unmanned counter. My eyes quickly found Lia, so drawn to her, I was sure I could make her out in even the darkest of nights.

She was bent down, grabbing something from the lower cabinet, her shapely ass on full display, encased in the tight black pants she wore. I shifted, feeling my dick twitching at the sight and my mouth watering.

Fucking beautiful.

She straightened after grabbing the stacks of paper cups and turned around, pulling up short when she noticed me standing there.

I held in my smile, fucking loving the fact that her eyes were eating me up as if she couldn’t get enough. She didn’t know how to control her facial features, and hell, if I didn’t find that to be so endearing.

Everything the girl did was endearing to me.

“An Americano?” she asked me.

“Yes, that would be great,” I said, stepping up to the counter. “Thanks for remembering.”

She blushed and looked away shyly. She needed to be careful. If she got any cuter, I might just forgo any plans I have involving her and take her back to my place, never to let her leave until she fully admits to being mine.

I shook away the thought and the possessiveness that ran through me as she put my order in. I paid, placing a twenty in the tip jar, and walked over to the counter, waiting for her to make my drink.

Her hands shook as she did it, her movements awkward. Finally, she brought the drink over to me. I let my fingers touch hers when I grabbed the cup, lingering a bit and feeling that strange jolt of electricity pulsing around my skin from the simple contact. The way her breath caught told me she felt it too.

I wasn’t the only one affected by this feeling… this connection.

“Enjoy,” she said when I pulled away.

“Thanks, sweetheart.”

That blush deepened, and I forced myself to walk away to one of the tables around the coffee shop before I did something reckless like pull her into my arms.

This distance was too much.

I was like a druggie going through withdrawal. For fucking days, I couldn’t think of anything but being near her.

I was losing my mind.

She made me feel like I was completely losing my mind.

I watched her while she worked. The coffee shop didn’t get any busier. It wasn’t one of those shops that got much foot traffic and probably lost more money than it brought in, but hell, if she liked to work here so much, I would keep this place open for years.

It hadn’t been the best investment I made, but it was well worth the money when I discovered she worked here and the owner was looking to sell.

Slowly but steadily, I was pushing myself into every crevice of her life until there was nothing she did, nothing she had, nothing she was that didn’t include me in it.

Her eyes watched me as she worked and pretended not to.

I smiled a little when I heard some giggling in the back between her and one of the two girls working as they tried to inconspicuously glance over at me.

It was cute.

I would have been annoyed had it been anyone else but my girl, but I was quickly beginning to realize that nothing she did annoyed me. I was fucking infatuated.

And I needed her to love me—so irrevocably—there would be no turning back for her. It was the only way she could forgive my… dishonesty.

After all, asking for her forgiveness would be easier than convincing her that me stalking her now—as a complete stranger to her—was a good thing.

I smiled into my coffee, just imagining the look on her face if I had gone up and told her that.

I was halfway done with my drink when she finally came out from behind the counter, a rag in her hand. She moved around, wiping down the tables nearby, starting from the ones furthest away from where I sat. She didn’t want to get too close.

I made her nervous.

Good to know.

I should make her nervous. After all, she was leaving me feeling unnerved most of the time. I waited for her to get closer to me before I spoke.

“Have I seen you from somewhere else?”

She paused, giving me a look of deer in the headlights, her light-brown eyes prominent against her pale skin and small face. A small blush took over, and the hand holding the rag tightened marginally. I waited for her to answer, either to admit she remembered me from the bar or to lie to me.

What would my Lia choose?

She didn’t disappoint when she tried to control her expression and shook her head in a careless manner. “I don’t think so.”

I shook my head and smiled at her. “I’m sure. Maybe at a bookstore or on the street?”

She looked almost offended that I didn’t remember where I had seen her. She was fun to play with.

“I don’t think so,” she said, her voice turning into a grumble.

“At the bar?”

She didn’t say anything.

“There, then.”

“Maybe,” she allowed.

“What are the chances I would be running into you again?” I said. A hundred percent. That was the chance—I made sure of it. “It must be fate.” It was my obsession.

She softened a little. She liked the idea of fate a little too much. Fanciful girl. I could give her a hundred of those little sappy moments if she wished for them.

“Fate,” she said slowly as if trying out the word for the first time. A small, amused smile tugged at the corners of her lips right before she lied to me by saying, “I don’t think I believe in that.”

I blinked at her, letting my gaze roam over the girl who was mine in every possible way another person could belong to someone else, and feeling this rightness in the center of my chest. And she knew it too. Perhaps not consciously, but somewhere deep inside her, she knew she belonged to me. I could see the curiosity in her eyes and how she leaned in ever so slightly toward me, wanting to get as close as she could. I caught a whiff of her scent. Its familiarity was like home.

“Well, what would you call it, then?” I asked, leaning in closer to her, my voice nothing more than a soft whisper, as if we were sharing a big secret between the two of us. She didn’t move away from me. “Two strangers at the same bar, and by some cosmic coincidence, ended up seeing each other again in the same coffee shop. Seems like more than just chance to me.”

She laughed, the sound moving through me and settling contentedly in my center. I watched as she shook her head, her eyes twinkling. She was enjoying this way more than she would ever admit. “Maybe you’re just a really dedicated coffee drinker.”

I offered her a half smile. “There are very few things I am dedicated to.” Killing Leo Briggs was one. And her. I was wholly dedicated to her. “But not coffee.” I lowered my voice conspiratorially. “Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something.”

She blinked at me as if she didn’t know what to make of my statement. Perhaps I was coming on too strong? I shook my head. It didn’t matter. Lia might not be shy or skittish, but some part of her told her she needed to be wary of me. Rightly so. Not that I would ever hurt her. Not like that , anyway. I’d fucking cut off my own arm first. “Maybe,” she allowed. I’d take it. A stray hair had come out of her ponytail and fallen over her face. She tucked the strand behind her ear, her eyes darting away from mine for a brief second. I almost felt robbed. Any moment in which I couldn’t see her eyes was just fucking unacceptable to me.

I leaned forward, my elbows resting on the table, and tried to bring her attention back to me. “I’m Mael. I don't think I introduced myself at the bar.”

She hesitated for a moment. “Lia.”

“Lia,” I repeated, savoring the taste of her name on my tongue. I thought of her name a thousand times… a million times since I knew of her existence, but never out loud. As if I were bringing danger to her if I did. But fuck if I didn’t love the sound coming from me. “It’s beautiful. It suits you.”

She shot me a small smile. “Thanks. It’s short for Amelia.”

I knew that. I nodded, gesturing to the chair across from me. “Would you like to join me? Just for a moment? I promise I don’t bite.”

I smiled, showing her my teeth.

She looked back at the counter, where her coworkers were pretending not to watch us. It was almost comical. “I… I’m working.”

Her thoughts seemed to be running a million miles a second, debating. “I have to get back to work,” she said, turning away and all but running back to the safety of the counter—as if something like fake white granite could keep her away from me. I let her hide.

But just this once.