Chapter 19
chapter nineteen
when did we get this comfortable?
It turns out that Marcus Romano was a very easy man to crack.
“I’m still not happy about this,” he muttered from beside me as he drove into an open bay.
I turned to face him, eyes teasingly narrowed. “Really? I didn't pick that up the first eighty-four times you told me." He held back a laugh. Kind of love it when he did that. "And your smile is just… huge.”
Although he didnt avert his eyes from the wheel, I still caught how his smirk unravelled.
Contrary to the visions I’d had about strangling him, I actually really liked seeing this side of my shadow. Who I’d guessed he was when he sulked into his house at the end of every day, or who he was with his friends.
Oh God, were we becoming friends?
He put the car in park and sat back, a groan escaping him as he stretched, leather seats squeaking under his black hoodie. “Thanks, I’ve been practising.”
I let a smirk slip. “Suits you.”
He turned his head to me, his eyes sweeping over me in a way that made my stomach flutter. Not like it had any right to. This was still Marcus at the end of the day, the man who’d been a pain in my arse since the very second I’d met him. The man who, as we'd establised, was very, very off limits.
But I couldn’t help it; the more he was around, the more I felt myself looking forward to seeing him in the morning. The more he showed how much he was willing to help me, the softer I became with him.
As much as I tried not to think about it, our training session last weekened was a turning point.
But if he'd always planned on holding me against him agaisnt my will, that was always going to be the case.
There was nowhere to hide when your bodies were touching, in places where a girl and her guard should never touch.
I'm sure neither of us meant for it to be as intimate as it was, but it happened, and it was. And before I could stop myself, I was picking out the colours of his eyes and only remembering why that was such a bad idea when I reached number eight.
I shook the memories free before I zoned out and thought of nothing else for the rest of the night.
“So,” I mumbled, disturbing the silence that suited the run down street we'd found ourselves in. “Where are we on the Hunger Games assignment?”
He shrugged, eyes fixed on the gadgets he was fine tuning in his lap. “Haven’t got around to it yet.”
“Social calendar too busy?” My eyes were stuck on him, stuck on his jaw, which really was sharp, and very pretty when the low light hit it a certain way.
Was I ovulating? What the hell was wrong with me?
Distracting myself, I clutched my knees to my chest, my feet tucked beneath me on the seat.
He turned to me, eyes barely skimming. “You take up most of my time these days.” Before I could reply, he reached over, his hand wrapping around my ankle and placing my foot back down in the footwell, then doing the same with my other leg. All the while his smirk wrapped around me like a chain.
Yep. Definitely ovulating.
I dropped my eyes from his as I shrugged, then folded my arms like that would somehow hide the whole body blush that had no right to be there.
“I think you’ve only got yourself to blame for that fate.
” My stare found him again. “And besides, on the nights I’m not working, you’re in your house from sunset to sunrise.
You're telling me you've got no time to experience one of the greatest movie series of our lifetime?”
“May I remind you that I have an entire enterprise to run? I’m not just sitting around waiting to follow your ass; I’ve got more problems than just you, you know.” I saw the regret invade his face immediately. “I didn’t mean that you’re a problem; I just meant—”
“The missing files?” His eyes asked how I knew that. “I overheard you with Meg the other day after training. Sounded intense.”
His attention left the software in his lap as he scrubbed his hands over his face, some of the guilt melting away.
“It is.” His head fell back on the headrest. “All the information on Romano’s most high-profile clients has just been disappearing.
Private information. Everything that could ever possibly protect them has just vanished. ”
“Surely you have backups?”
“Of course I do,” his head shook. “Doesn’t change the fact that whoever is doing this was still able to get through our systems in the first place. It’s the biggest threat we could ever face.”
“Because it means someone’s potentially after your clients?”
His eyes dipped, darkening. Then his head shook. “Because it means someone is after me. The company.” That shadowy gaze flickered over me. “Everything that’s important to me.”
His head collapsed back on the headrest, something that looked like exhaustion chained with anger tiring his face.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I might not have said this a few weeks ago, but it’s very clear how much this company means to you. You don’t deserve this.”
With his yes on the roof, his shoulders rustled, like he was unravelling weeks of tension.
“Romano is everything to me, because without it, I probably wouldn’t be here.
I know I wouldn't.” Like he’d caught himself saying something he shouldn’t, like he’d already let that stoic mask slip enough tonight, he sat up, straightened himself, and threw on his usual bravado.
“But we’re getting close to nailing this guy. ”
I had to let go of all the questions stacking up in my brain, the itch of getting to know more than what was just on the surface. So I straightened, snapped out of it, and smiled. “Yeah? That’s good.”
He nodded slightly. “Whoever’s doing this is controlling it all from your beautifully complicated city.”
My brows raised. “London?”
His voice dipped into another accent. “That’s right, mate.”
My lips pulled tight, holding in my laugh. “Okay. That was Australian, for one.” His chuckle mingled with mine that, let’s face it, had no intention of staying quiet. “And two, does that mean you’ll have to go there?”
“It’s undecided at the moment.”
“Well,” I looked to him, hands folding over one another in my lap.
“If you do have to go, I’ll happily tag along so you don’t go missing on the Tube.
” His eyes turned to me, and I could tell he was still hiding that smile.
“I’m serious. If I don’t go with you, I can guarantee you’d stay holed up in your hotel room, with the curtains drawn because you hate the sunlight—”
“I don’t hate the sunlight—”
“And you won’t see anything of what my home has to offer.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I just don’t do tourist destinations.”
The only way to describe my expression was one of bewilderment. “You live in a tourist destination.”
His eyes went knowing. “And you wonder why I don’t leave the house?”
My lips curved in a way they hadn’t in ages. “I think you could love it if you let yourself.” I earned back his dark brown, and while I had him, I pounced. “Make me a promise that if you do go to London, I’ll come with. I don’t want anyone else following me around apart from you.”
I caught the way his eyes lingered on me, curious, like he couldn’t quite figure out what had gotten into me.
And maybe I imagined it, but for a second there was a flicker of something lighter, like he didn’t mind the attention.
Like I wasn't the burden I saw myself as whenever he groaned or rolled his eyes.
“Why?” He asked, his voice low, like a purr.
The leather seat slipped under my leggings as I shuffled closer. “Well, for one, if you’re helping me, it’s only fair I return the favour. I’m going to make you enjoy life again. Because it’s more than just work and darkness. Believe me.”
His expression didn’t change. Those perfectly casted shadows and handsome edges of his face stayed so still. “And two?”
Whatever was caught in my throat bobbed, as my stare fell deeper into his. “I’ve grown fond of you, I think.”
Finally, Marcus nodded, his eyes shining like he’d forgotten to keep them shielded. “Fine. Deal.”
For a moment, I forgot why we were sitting here, staring at each other, pretending we weren’t becoming more than just the guard and the crown. But just as I let my mind slip into that place it had during training, a rustle came from outside the car, jerking our attentions forward.
It was then, as my eyes scanned the cars ahead of us, the empty pavement, that I saw the face that had been haunting my thoughts every day since I last saw it.
He was in the doorway of his home, or what I thought was his home. Waiting on the doorstep, his foot perched on the threshold, his body leaned against the frame. His attention was on his phone, scrolling. And I hated how something so evil appeared so casual.
So… normal.
I suddenly became very aware of my breath, like one heavy one and Jamie’s head would turn directly at me, finding me. My lungs tightened the longer I stared at him, trapped in whatever trance I was in.
He looked the same. His head was still shaved, the tattoo on the left of his skull blurry against the fuzz. His skin seemed redder than the usual pale shade it always was, like he’d forgotten SPF this week.
I felt Marcus move beside me, but I didn’t dare move.
One wrong twitch and he’d know I was here.
I knew it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was watching me through his phone right now.
My eyes pinged to the street camera directly to the left of us on the other side of the street, then back to Jamie. All without moving a muscle.
“Breathe,” Marcus whispered.
I didn’t reply. Couldn’t. What if he heard me? What if he already knew I was here and was waiting for the moment I cracked?
Before I could do anything, I felt a hand cover mine, steadying it, which only made me realise how much mine were trembling. How much my whole body was silently shaking.
I slowly turned my head to Marcus, letting him anchor me as I blinked, something wet falling down my cheek.