Page 37 of Danger Close (Mourningkill #3)

You Look Beautiful

Cobra

Thirty years is a long time to live as a shadow. I was the villain’s villain. I was the thing the bad guys feared most. I had wielded that persona like a weapon against the woman I cared about the most. Second only to my child.

“I’m sorry, Princess,” I whispered into the empty foyer, unable to bring myself to say it to her.

There’d be time to grovel… after the wedding. I wasn’t ready to have a fight. I wasn’t ready for cross words. I just wanted to get through this wedding without disappointing our daughter.

When she stepped out of the room, walking sheepishly down the marble steps, whatever anger I had fell away.

“You look beautiful.” I waited for her at the bottom of the steps.

Her slow gait didn’t bother me in the least. I knew she was hurting. But the swelling on her lip had gone down, the rest was hidden by makeup. The makeup artist we’d sent had definitely done her work.

Even more enticing was the burgundy colored dress with crystals down the bodice, floating to a long mermaid tail that floated beautifully around her ankles, barely grazing the ground.

I’d had Yuliya find her a fur wrap to keep her arms warm.

We’d put heaters in the barn, but it would still be far from anything that resembled “warm”.

She looked like something from an old Hollywood film, her hair in a french twist, her lips a pale pink, with eye shadow that matched her dress. Her gold complexion was perfect, and all the warm, red tones just emphasized how deep and blue her eyes were.

At the bottom of the stairs, she took my arm. I tried not to react to how much weight she put on me. I was tempted to just carry her, especially when her feet wobbled on the gravel.

I opened the passenger door of an armored SUV, and helped her climb in. We would be alone, as per my request, but in a convoy formation for our own security. Mostly hers, really. The SUV was bulletproof. It was like driving a tank.

“Who are in the other cars?” she asked, her voice whisper-soft with her hesitance.

I hated that she was scared of me. I, like whatever bastard was tormenting her, had diminished her light just a little bit more, and I was a fucking asshole for it.

“In the front is my brother, Jericho and his wife, Aoibheann.” I put the car into drive, and started down the road as soon as Jericho’s tail lights shut off. “Behind us is Yuliya, my sister, and Dave Beaufort. He’s…”

I chewed my bottom lip, wondering how much I should tell her.

Then, I opted for the truth. “He’s helping me on a project.”

“What kind of project?” she asked, her fake innocence just adding fuel to the fire.

The urge to kill traveled through my body like electricity. I had a hit list that was at least four people deep. Probably more, if I really tried to examine it.

“Kill the man who makes you flinch away from me.” At the end of the day, that was the thing that will kill him.

He made my wife flinch from my touch, and for that, he had to pay. Every other sin was just another hour of torture added to his execution. It was another scream of agony I would elicit from his dirty mouth.

“You don’t know what you’re doing.” Teri’s voice cut into my thoughts, her voice muffled, with the snot in her sinuses. “You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

She was a martyr, her hands together on her lap, her posture straight, and her eyes on the floor.

“I just hope that he only takes his pound of flesh from me . Not anyone else.” She shut her eyes, her feelings were getting the best of her. She took one deep breath, then let it out through her plump, beautiful lips. “I’m ready.”

“Ready for what?” I couldn’t help asking.

She looked away, her eyes watching the landscape as it passed us by.

“For… all of this to be over. If that is what has to happen.”

I brought the car to a halt at the four-way stop.

The blue barn looked different today. One of the large doors was opened.

I was surprised that it could still do that, the ancient hinges holding on for dear life.

I idly wondered if I could buy a barn and refurbish it into a home. Would Teri like that?

Either way, I thought about a house that had that color of paint. Maybe something a little darker, to match Teri’s eyes.

“Come off of it, Teri!” I snapped, putting my other hand on the steering wheel, trying like hell not to pull the car over to the shoulder, to grab her and put her on my lap. “Of all the people in the world I ever thought would be so fatalistic I never dreamed that it would be you–”

“Because I learned!” I felt the heat of her angry stare on the side of my cheek. “I grew up. I was stripped of my illusions of what a life for someone like me could be. Look at me.”

She didn’t mean it literally, I knew that. But I looked over at her anyway, just for a second.

“I am a miserable creature, with no one and nothing to my name. I have reached this age with nothing to show for my time. Why must I waste any more years?” She began to wipe her cheek.

I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket.

She took it and lightly dabbed at her face.

I looked over at her once again, and even with the slight puffy redness to her eyes, she was what she had always been. Perfect.

“You’re beautiful, Teri. You always have been.”

I didn’t often use her name. Not when the word Princess rolled so sweetly off my tongue, reminding me of older times.

“There’s more to life than one’s looks. Mine have never served me well–”

“I didn’t say you look beautiful. I said you are beautiful.”

“What’s the difference?” she scoffed.

“The difference is that if you were covered in scars, burns, if you lost a limb, gained or lost weight, or altered your entire appearance, you would still be beautiful.” I swallowed, staring straight ahead.

“In fact, I look forward to seeing your black hair turn as gray as mine. I look forward to seeing you grow old with me. Even if we live to be a hundred, you will still be beautiful. Inside. Outside. The entire package.”

I reached over, taking her hand. I joined our palms, and interlaced our fingers, resting them on the center console.

I could feel her confusion, but also her joy. What I’d said made her happy. She squeezed my hand, and I drew gentle circles with the pad of my thumb. We were an old married couple. Maybe not on paper. But in reality, that was what we were.

That was my dream come true.

We turned onto the farm’s long drive, where we lined up behind three cars waiting to cross a security check point made of armed men in black.

“What’s going on?” she straightened, her fingers tightening, as she reached over with her other hand to touch my forearm. She was anchoring herself to me. She was leaning on me.

The latent helplessness I felt when Charlotte called me to say she’d been hurt dissipated, replaced with a possessive satisfaction.

“It's the Secret Service.” In fact, some of them were familiar. “Give me your ID.”

She complied, going into her wallet to pull out her Pennsylvania driver’s license.

“Secret Service?” she looked around, frantic. “Are you sure?”

“Sure as shit,” I said, as our car crawled up when a car crossed the security line. “I recognize one of the guys. Who else do you think it could be?”

“Name, and ID, please,” said the security officer with an M4 strapped across his chest.

I handed him our IDs, my eyes still on Teri as her gaze darted around, looking at faces. Looking for someone.

“Wait… is that you Guerro?” The agent pulled up his cap to see my face more clearly. “It is you!”

“Sure is.” I lifted my sunglasses off my head as I leaned out to shake his hand.

I turned to him, a smile on my face as he handed back the IDs. I handed Teri hers and once she put it away, I reached over to hold her hand again.

“Hey, guys!” the guard called to his buddies. “It’s Guerro!”

“No shit?” One of the far off guys jogged over to Teri’s side of the car, and I rolled down the window to greet him. “Guerro! Great to see you! What are you doing here?”

“We’re the parents of the bride,” I said, beaming with pride.

“Oh, daaaaaang!” A second agent trotted over. “How are you Mrs. Guerro?”

The first agent was practically leaning into my window. “I didn’t know you were married.”

I chuckled, biting my tongue, not giving Teri a chance to correct him. “There’s a lot you folks don’t know.”

“Kinda gives me hope for the future. If you can keep a family together, maybe I can too!” the second agent called out. “In fact, I’m going to tell Sheila exactly that when I get home.”

Sheila was a D.C. lobbyist who resisted his talks of marriage because she didn’t want to marry a person in uniform. Too much effort. Too unpredictable.

“It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Guerro!” The first one waved like a little fan boy.

I wasn’t used to this reception. My retirement life had come with a certain notoriety. My cover was burned, and all my cards were on the table. Sunlight had disinfected the past, and I was a new man.

“Pleasure to meet you, too.” Teri blushed, and it made her look decades younger.

The agent waved us through. I resisted looking at Teri, knowing that if I did, I’d be unable to keep a straight face.

I parked beside Jericho’s vehicle, cutting the engine and undoing my seatbelt before I looked at her, holding back a smile.

“You don’t know me very well, Princess.” I tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “We never knew each other. We were too young to even know ourselves.”

I reached down, taking her cold hand in mine. I brought her hand up to my lips, kissing the tips of her fingers.

“Let me tell you a bit about myself now.” I placed her palm on my thigh, my hand on top of hers to keep her from pulling away.

I needed to feel her. “I’m one of the most dangerous men in the world.

I’ll spare you the details on what I can do, because I’d rather you never know.

I don’t know who this Ray creep is, but I am far more connected, and much more lethal than he can ever hope to be. He has every reason to fear me. ”

Her eyes widened. I reached out to cup her cheek.

“Ray hurt something that’s precious to me.” I kissed her cheek. “There are consequences for harming Cobra Guerro’s family. As the kids say, he and his minions fucked around, and they’re about to find out.”

“I’m not family.” She averted her eyes, her blush traveling from her cheek to the tips of her ears. There was no conviction in her words. “I’m not actually your wife.”

She slowly pulled out of my grasp and I let her go. I’d get her back.

“I am not yours.” Oh, sweet, little Princess. She had no fucking clue how much she was mine. “Much less something precious.”

She swallowed, and when a tear gathered on her lower lashes, I reached out, wiping it before it could damage her meticulously applied makeup.

She continued, “You were right to leave me.”

I’ll stay with her forever.

“You would not have this fabulous life, your reputation, your accomplishments, if you hadn’t.”

Everything I have is yours.

“Don’t make the same mistakes as the past. You’re far better than that.”

You are the most precious star in the universe.

“Shut the hell up, Mrs. Guerro,” I said with a small smile, shaking my head. “You might not be my wife on paper.”

I leaned forward, cupping the nape of her neck. I leaned over the center console, drawing her in. I brushed my lips against hers.

“You are mine.” I tilted my lips up to place a small kiss on the tip of her nose. “The mother of my child.” I kissed one cheek. “My family.” Then the other.

I covered her mouth with mine. I kissed her hard, stealing her breath. It was a kiss to mark, to remind her of what we were. I was careful not to press against the cut on her lip as my tongue delved inside her mouth, tasting her. She moaned into the kiss. I eagerly responded in kind.

How had I lived for three decades without her lips? Without her touch?

I couldn’t fathom how I thought I’d just get over Teresa Louise Guerro. How did I think that I could end my days without her touch, her kiss, her absolute perfection.

I reluctantly ended our kiss, my eyes fluttering open to the beautiful sight of Teresa’s hooded, lustful gaze.

“You don’t have to believe me right now.” I booped her on the nose. “But you will.”