Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Roman searched Antonio’s gaze as he shook his hand, double-checking his gut to make sure he’d made the right move.
Four hours ago, both his uncle and Talon Fox had been cuffed and escorted from the hotel, and he desperately wanted to feel better, but he was struggling to shake the strange sensation something wasn’t right.
He wanted to pop champagne and celebrate they’d taken out the trash without any bloodshed, but . . . something held him back.
Thanks to the President of the United States, Roman wouldn’t need to worry about jail time.
The U.S. government made a deal with Spanish authorities that ensured Roman would remain a free man, and Antonio provided enough dirt to put Luciano away for three lifetimes.
Plus, and lucky for them, Antonio happened to have intel on many of Luciano’s “friends” living in Spain.
Lucky. He nearly let the thought, yeah, maybe I am a little lucky, fill his head, but he didn’t want to jinx it, especially not until the CIA wrapped up their “interview” with Talon Fox at the safe house ten klicks away.
He’d have loved to accompany the CIA officers assigned to interrogate the man, but he was a civilian in their eyes, so that’d raise some red flags.
Roman hesitantly pulled Antonio in for a quick one-arm hug, knowing his concerns weren’t with this man. “Thank you.”
“I should be thanking you.” Antonio smiled.
“Out from under the wings of that man. Immunity for both of us. A chance for a better life. A fresh start,” he went on, and Roman would swear it was as if he appeared a decade younger now.
“No idea how you pulled this off, but it looks like you have some important friends.”
Roman glanced at where Harper stood twenty feet or so off to their side in their new hotel suite talking to Finn. There weren’t enough words to convey how grateful he was that nothing had happened to either of them while he’d been with his uncle four hours ago in the conference room.
The echo of that single shot still haunted him, though. It loomed above his head like some ominous cloud. A storm on the horizon.
“You have my word that your family and friends will be safe. I won’t let anything happen to them.” Antonio smoothed a hand over his bearded jaw.
The man wasn’t Roman’s blood, but he felt far closer to him than any Riviera in Spain.
“Thank you.” I need to shake this off. It’s over. It’d been an intense twenty-four hours. “I trust you. I know you’ll clean up his mess, and I should have thought of this sooner.”
“I don’t know if I would have been ready to face your uncle sooner, to be honest. I think the timing was right.” He tipped his head Harper’s way. “She’s the one, huh?”
Roman followed his gaze to see Harper, and the smile came easy that time as he peered at the love of his life chatting with Finn. She had on skinny jeans and a tee that read: If my mouth doesn’t say it, my face will. His Harper was there. Safe and yeah, his.
And the little sneak, she must have smuggled more clothes than he’d thought on the trip. “She’s the one.” Speaking of the one. “I know you’ll have to stay married to my cousin for a while longer for this to work out, which is a big ask considering she’s—”
“Cheating on me?” Antonio grimaced. “I’m with her for the kids. But maybe one day I’ll find the one, too.”
Roman squeezed his shoulder as Harper and Finn joined them. “You will.”
“Feels like I can breathe again with Luciano gone.” Antonio extended his hand first to Harper and then to Finn.
“And Carmen?” Harper softly asked.
Antonio smirked. “She’ll get exactly what she deserves, don’t you worry.”
Most likely penniless and stripped of all luxuries, which for that woman would be a fate worse than joining Luciano in hell.
A satisfied smile crossed Harper’s lips, and Roman pulled her tight to his side.
“We’ll be in touch. I’m sure the authorities will need to speak to us both again, but we’re still wrapping up this current assignment.” And thankfully, POTUS ensured Roman wasn’t required back in Spain right now.
Jessica had already forwarded evidence from Roman’s laptop he’d gathered on his uncle and saved over the years to the Spanish authorities.
She’d been able to hack his computer from her location to send those files, too.
Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have been able to convince Spanish Intelligence to fly to Cape Town to assist in Luciano’s arrest at the very last minute.
“Thanks again for your help,” Finn said, and Roman walked Antonio out of the suite and said his goodbyes. “Well, that was a day,” he added when he returned to the bedroom.
“You can say that again.” Harper collapsed onto the bed.
“I’d love to be inside that safe house with Talon Fox.” Finn locked his arms across his chest, his gaze journeying back and forth between Roman and Harper.
“I think he’ll talk.” I hope so.
“Wasn’t there some Denzel movie called Safe House that took place in Cape Town?” Finn’s eyes narrowed as if trying to call up a memory, and also, doing the distraction thing.
“With Ryan Reynolds?” Harper smiled. “Yeah, I love Ryan. Super dreamy,” she said in a pillow-soft voice.
“Oh, really?” Roman asked huskily and moved to sit next to her, setting a hand to her thigh and lightly squeezing—officially distracted.
“He’s got nothing on you, babe.” Harper surprised him with a kiss, and damn did he need that.
“You, uh, know I’m still in here, right?” Finn asked with a teasing voice, and Roman stifled a groan and set his forehead to Harper’s. “So, how long were you two sneaking around? Like, give me the deets. Timeline. I’ve been trying to work it all out in my head.”
Harper must’ve been vague when she confessed to Finn in January about their relationship.
“I don’t think it started in Monaco in 2018. You all met for barely a minute. So, I’m gonna say nothing happened then. Harper joined us in 2019, but—”
“Last year,” Harper interjected and pulled her focus Finn’s way, which had Roman lifting his head to eye him. “Well, our first kiss was right before Christmas 2020.”
Yeah, that’d been unforgettable. One minute they’d been watching a movie, then he’d been playing her piano, and the next . . . their first kiss.
“So that long?” Finn tilted his head and nodded as if he hadn’t expected that revelation.
“No, we, uh, didn’t . . . eh hem . . . until the—”
“I think we can skip those specifics,” Roman interrupted Harper before she spilled any more details about when and where they’d had sex for the first time.
“The club. Jackson’s party.” Finn snapped his fingers triumphantly. “I fucking knew it.”
A soft blush worked up Harper’s cheeks. “We stopped seeing each other the first week of September.”
“Because of my uncle,” Roman tagged on the reminder, a bit shocked they were talking about this.
“Man.” Finn cupped his jaw for a brief moment. “So, like when we were on ops did you two . . .”
“I wouldn’t finish that sentence, brother.” Roman tried to hide a smile, but well, this was Finn. He reached for Harper’s hand and clasped their palms on top of his lap.
“So, maybe I’ll make a few calls and see what’s up,” Finn redirected the conversation. “Give you all some, uh, space.”
Sex wasn’t on Roman’s mind. Okay, false. Sex with Harper was rarely not on his mind. But right now, he’d give anything to crawl into bed and fall asleep with the woman he loved while they waited for their marching orders.
And before Roman knew it, Finn was MIA, and he and Harper were doing exactly that. She snuggled her back up to his front, and his hands were wrapped around her body with his chin at the top of her head on the same pillow.
He breathed in her scent and held her in his arms, finding himself aroused nevertheless, especially where her ass was positioned, but the pull of sleep was too much, and he passed out.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d slept, but when he woke up, Harper wasn’t next to him.
“Harper?” He nearly panicked and righted himself at the realization she was gone.
For a second, he’d wondered if everything since getting hit by a car had been a dream, but then he saw a small note on the pillow next to him.
Went to the roof. Didn’t want to wake you.
Shit, the roof? Without a second thought, he hurried out of the bedroom, almost forgetting to grab his keycard on the way out.
He knew it was safe now, well, it should’ve been safe with Talon and Luciano in custody, but he’d prefer Harper wasn’t out in the open without him .
. . plus, his gut was still nagging him like they were missing something.
It had been too damn easy. And that scared the hell out of him. Nothing was ever easy.
Roman rushed up the few flights of stairs to get to the roof, and when he swung open the door, he nearly collapsed at the sight.
Surrounded by pots of red, orange, and hot pink Barberton daisies, Harper danced in place in the lushly landscaped rooftop garden.
Her back was to him, and her wrists were linked in the air over her head as she moved.
That was his Harper. The woman he loved who sometimes just needed to jam out on a rooftop.
Although right now, she appeared to be doing some sultry and slow moves.
He didn’t want to startle her since she most likely had her earbuds in, so he stood and enjoyed the show. Annnnd there goes my dick. Waking right up.
The afternoon sun hung bold and bright in the clear sky, and the woman of his dreams appeared to glow like his own personal angel, and she was, wasn’t she?
“Harper,” he called out loud enough for her to hear even though he wanted to stealthily wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to his chest.
She quickly lowered her arms and whirled around, ready to do battle, but the moment she saw him, she broke into a grin that grew larger as he approached, using a hand to shield his eyes against the South African sun.
Harper handed him one of her wireless earbuds.
“Goo Goo Dolls?” he asked after listening for a few seconds. “Not what I was expecting.”
“I loved the movie City of Angels from forever ago. This was on the soundtrack.”
“Didn’t Meg Ryan die in that movie?” he asked in a near panic as if this moment was somehow going to predict their future.
Shit. Calm down. Control your thoughts.
She raised a brow when removing the other earbud. “Need to share some facts?” she asked as if reading his thoughts.
“No,” he said as he reached up to cradle her cheeks. “I just need you.”
“Kiss me,” she demanded, her voice low and sultry.
He smiled, happy to oblige, he captured her lips with his before skating his hands along the frame of her body and around to her ass.
“I’m going to cancel my lease in Virginia and New York,” he told her after pulling back from their heated kiss. “Let’s get a place together in Manhattan. We can be near your family.”
She didn’t appear shocked, more so . . . happy, just the way he wanted her. “You want to move in together?”
“What do you think?” He brought his mouth close to hers without yet allowing their lips to touch. “You know I’m all in.”