Targeted By Love (Between the Greys #1)

21. Rhodes

21

RHODES

“Mate, you okay?”

I turned around to see Maynard standing in the doorway of our bedroom, his eyes on me, concern flowing through our bond. I was still getting used to the way we could communicate emotions without even trying like that.

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, I’ve been calling you.”

“Sorry.” I hadn’t heard him at all. “I guess I was in my head.” I placed my hand on my stomach. “I was just thinking about things.”

He crossed over to me, wrapping his arms around me. “By ‘things,’ do you mean our growing family?”

“Yeah, things like that.” If you had told me even two months ago that I would rekindle my first love and be starting a family, I wouldn't have believed it possible, and yet, here I was doing exactly that.

“Good things?”

When we first realized I was pregnant, we were thrilled. We hadn’t intentionally been trying to conceive, but also, we hadn’t done a single thing to try and stop it either. I guess in our subconscious, we were ready for this step. Now that the baby was coming, good old-fashioned pregnancy anxiety was starting to settle in. I wasn’t a fan.

“Yes. No. Maybe.” I sighed. “Honestly, I was getting myself all worked up. There’s so much to do and so little time.”

I was barely a month along, but we had nothing prepared for this child. And it wasn’t just that there was still unresolved drama with my brother, and I was surrounded by bodyguards everywhere I went. There were so many big changes in my life all at once, and balancing them was fine most of the time, but when I stopped to think about it too long, the stress settled in.

Ever since I found out about Maynard’s career—or his second job, or side hustle, or whatever you wanted to call it—I knew our life wouldn’t look like the one I had imagined as a child. His day job was confusing to me but brought in money, and he was animated when he talked about it which was a huge win in my book.

It was the hitman part that messed with my head, but not in the way I’d originally thought it might. His ties to the mob were something I was oddly okay with, even if I wanted to stay away from it. It didn’t even freak me out too much that he killed people for money, and the not freaking out was what had me freaking out.

When you put it all together, there wasn’t a white picket fence in our future. Our happily ever after was going to look different than anyone else I knew—I just couldn’t quite figure out how different, and that got in the way of my baby planning

“It’s just a lot of changes.”

He gave me the look, the one he reserved for when he wasn’t quite sure I was being as open with him as I needed to be.

“I’m fine. Really. I’m sure it’s just hormones.”

“Hormones and being trapped inside.” He was right. Being stuck inside or with bodyguards all the time did suck.

“I’m not trapped. I can go places. It’s just… I can’t go alone.”

“Is there any place you want to go? I’ll take you. I know it’s not alone, but…”

“I didn’t mean alone alone, I meant extra people, not us.” A date. What I really wanted was a date. How human of me. But to be fair, I was a human, so it fit.

“You didn’t answer my question. Is there someplace you want to go?” He wasn’t going to let this go. Stubborn mate.

“Kinda, but it’s more than just a quick drive.” And ridiculous.

“Let’s make it happen. Where do you want to go?”

“No, it’s silly.” I was kicking myself for even considering mentioning it. Of course he would try and figure out how to get me there. That was what he did—Maynard spoiled me. It was kinda his thing. “Rhodes.”

He tapped my chin up so I looked him in the eyes. “Tell me what you want.”

I hesitated but finally confessed. “I was watching this food travel show again… I’ve been doing that a lot this week.”

His lips formed a knowing smile. I’d been kind of obsessed with them. Everything they made looked better than the last, which was a great sign. Last week, I couldn’t keep anything down.

“And what did you see on this show of yours?”

“Well, there’s this restaurant that does barbecue brisket. They only stay open until it’s gone. Some days it’s noon, others eleven at night. You never know.” As a staff member, that would irk me. As a consumer, it intrigued me.

“And you want to go there?”

“Yeah, but it’s really far away.” I waved my hand as if pushing the idea away. “It’s just a craving. We can grab a burger instead.”

“How far away?”

“Baltimore,” I whispered.

He paused, studying my face. “You’re serious?”

“I told you it was silly.”

“No, not silly at all.” He took a step back, pulling out his phone and tapping away. “All right, let’s do this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s a flight to Baltimore in a couple of hours. It looks half-full. We can buy tickets at the airport, hop on, and go to Baltimore.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that, and the best part is, because there’s no plan, there’s no way anyone could know we were doing this. We can go without bodyguards.”

“For serious?” Gods, I mated the best alpha to ever alpha.

“For serious.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll have to be careful, though. We’ll need my brothers’ help to lead anyone astray that might want to tail us.”

“Then I guess I better get my shoes on if we’re really going.” I’d worry about the logistics when it was time. I was too excited to ask questions that might lead to my mate changing his mind and deciding bodyguards were the best choice, after all.

“Yeah, we’re really going. Let me arrange everything with my brothers and cousins first.”

Better him than me. I was confident that at least one of them was going to despise the plan.

I rushed to get my shoes on, brush my teeth, and throw a quick change of clothes into my backpack, just in case I needed it. By the time I came back out, he was ready with a backpack over his shoulder too.

“Let’s go.”

It took us a lot longer to get to the airport than it would a normal couple. His brothers wore our clothes and drove off in his car, and we hid in the back of a van while one of his cousins drove us to the airport. Part of me thought it was ridiculously over the top, but the other… I was growing our pup. There was no amount of safety that was too much. Goddess, I even considered changing my mind about the bodyguards halfway there. But as Maynard was the most overprotective papa-to-be I’d ever met, I dropped the idea.

I’d never lived a life where just going to the airport and booking a flight on a whim was a possibility. But sure enough, since we weren’t checking bags and he had the finances, it was as easy as that. And my mate didn’t mess around—he even got us first-class seats.

I’d never flown first class before. As I held his hand over the armrest separating us, I smiled. “Thank you. This is wonderful.”

He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. “We needed this. Both of us.”

The flight was smooth and so different from anything I’d experienced before. The attendants were so attentive, which given their titles made sense, but still… it was... wow.

When we arrived, we opted to skip the rental car and go with a good old-fashioned taxi to be on the safe side. Maynard took his time deciding which he thought was “acceptable,” which I took to mean “the safest,” and we had the driver take us straight to the restaurant. I was starving.

Just as the show said, it was packed, but we managed to get seats at the bar. I wasn’t picky. All I wanted was to devour the brisket.

The food was everything I’d imagined it would be.

“This is better than I dreamed.” I licked my fingers, not pretending to have table manners. This sauce was too good to waste.

My mate watched my lips with heat blazing in his eyes.

“What?”

“Oh, just a little jealous of your hand right now.” He smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “If you play your cards right, you won’t need to be jealous for long. I can…” I licked my lips.

The elderly woman next to us gasped. Oops. I hadn’t thought I was being loud or too blunt. Wrong on both accounts.

After our late lunch, we walked around the city, stopping at a bakery for a slice of cake to share and taking in the sights. Baltimore wasn’t a destination city of mine. I’d never had a bucket list for this city. But now that we were here, I was discovering more places I wanted to visit.

When my mate asked if I wanted to spend the night, we ended up in the honeymoon suite of a posh hotel. At first, the staff looked at us like we didn’t belong. Or that was how they looked at me. My mate held himself and spoke in a confident way that carried a hint of wealth. Money talked, and their attitudes changed quickly when we told them what we needed.

I knew this wasn’t going to be my everyday life, but that didn’t have me enjoying the experience any less. In the morning, we’d fly back, and I’d once again be surrounded by bodyguards. I’d be worrying about when we’d get more bad news regarding my brother or when I’d have to face my mother. Our new normal would be back.

But for tonight?

For tonight, it was the perfect escape.

“What would you like to do next?” Maynard set our backpacks on the dresser.

“I was thinking I could use a little dessert.” I eyed his zipper and licked my lips, not wanting there to be any confusion as to what I was asking for. “Do you happen to know where I can get some?”

“I do.” He crossed over to me. “And for the record, I could use some dessert too.”