Defending My Mobster (BWWM Romance) (11 page)

“Where am I?” I asked suddenly.

“We’re in a safe house,” he answered. Furrowing my eyebrows, I wondered where exactly we were, but thinking it through was impossible. Instead I just hummed in response. Making words required too much effort and humming had always been a good relaxation technique for me. After a moment Angel sat up, and helped me into a sitting position, but even then I had to lean on him. I felt drained, weak, and it even took too much effort to blink so I didn’t bother opening my eyes.

“Make soup. Chicken noodle soup,” I asked. Speaking slowly, my tongue felt too big for my mouth, and stuck to the roof a little which made my words slurred. Nothing felt right to me.

“Yeah, bella, you lay down. I’ll take care of you,” he promised. Humming once again as Angel laid me back down, I could already feel myself dozing off.

Mark tried to kill me. Someone that saw me every day and brought my coffee had tried to murder me. Somebody that had every opportunity to kill me once I got back to work because I would’ve been none the wiser. It seemed like a smart plan, even in my current state.

“Ugh!” How could I have been so stupid?

The answer to that question was that I couldn’t have known. There was no way any of us could have known. I tried not to beat myself up over it, I was alive. That was what I decided to concentrate on.

“I’m sorry this happened to you, Nia,” Angel told me sincerely. Popping open one eye to watch Angel perch on the edge of the bed, I frowned deeply at the apology. It wasn’t really his fault. Well, maybe a lot, but that didn’t matter. Not to me it didn't.

“I’m good,” I tried telling him.

“No you’re not. You almost died. I almost lost you,” he said in a grief-choked voice.

Sighing softly, I didn’t even have the energy to argue about it, but I had some good points. One of which involved something about this being ‘commonplace’. I was sure that it would be, though. Angel was the head of a criminal organization, and probably had more enemies than I had fingers and toes. This kind of thing came with the territory. It seemed strange that I just accepted that fact, but I did.

“Okay,” I said instead.

Helping me sit up, Angel wrapped his arm around my back and set the bowl of steaming soup on the nightstand. He carefully pushed my hair from my face and caressed my cheek before pressing his lips to mine. It was a soft kiss, a hesitant one, and it made me melt. It was the best medicine I could have gotten.

“I would’ve gone crazy without you,” he mumbled as he kissed my face, making me smile. Sometimes he was just too cute to believe he was actually ordering someone’s death only less than a half an hour ago.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” he said.  At the absent demand, I couldn’t stop myself from giggling as much as I could.

Cute didn’t even begin to describe Angel.

“I’ll try not to,” I answered.

Angel fed me by hand in quiet, but every few minutes I would feel his cell phone ping. Since he didn’t pick it up, I assumed that meant everything was going good. At least things were going great inside the safe house.

“So-o… we’re going to be alone here and I don’t know how long,” he told me. With a full stomach and a groggy mind, it was hard to focus on what Angel was whispering in my ear. After a moment, though, I let out a soft huff before snuggling deeper into his chest.

He had such a nice chest, with only lightly defined muscles that were like a steel cushion. I liked cushions.

“Is almost dying all it takes to sleep with you?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Breathing out the response, Angel had picked the absolute worst time to be all sexy. Why, of all times to bring up sex, did it have to be when I was almost unconscious? Maybe it was all a dream. I have had some great dreams about Angel, I remembered.

“Sleep first. Sleep later,” I mumbled. I felt Angel chuckle at my near incoherent words before laying back on the bed. He moved me so I was tucked in his side, with my legs thrown over his because I just couldn’t move them.

“Sleep, bella. You deserve it,” I was told. I happily obliged.

When I woke up again I felt a lot better, by miles. It helped that Angel was passed out next to me and there was a thin comforter over us to keep me toasty warm. Pushing myself on my hands slowly, I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. Clarity was much more easily reached now and the seriousness of the situation was beginning to settle on me. Mark had tried to kill me, an intern at the firm I worked for. Angel was going to have him killed, but that didn’t really bother me, considering he did attempt to murder me. The thing about it was that Mark didn’t even try to do it in a manly way. He’d chickened out and used poison. I mean he didn't try with a gun, or a knife. Poison! That was considered by some to be a woman’s trick.

I realized my life was really messed up right now if I was thinking about this kind of stuff.

“Angel. Angel,” I said. Poking his cheek, I muttered his name before yawning, covering my mouth since I probably needed to brush my teeth. He did not need to awaken to bad breath.

“What is it, Nia?” Wrapping his arm around my waist lazily, Angel’s voice was husky and deep from sleep. It made me smile. Leaning down, I figured it was time to get him back for all those moments where he left me hanging.

“I want to take a bath,” I whispered softly, I felt my smile grow exponentially when Angel’s eyes popped open and rolled to look at me. The half of his mouth that I could see was curving, and after a moment he pushed himself up on his elbows.

“Oh yeah?” he asked. Biting my lower lip, I nodded quietly and straightened so he could sit up. Even that small movement, though, was making it hard to go through with my plan. He was really good looking with bedhead. Cute and sexy at the same time. He was truly amazing, I thought to myself.

“I should help you with that, you know, since you’re so weak right now,” he said graciously. 

Before I even had a chance to answer, Angel swooped me into his arms and threw his legs over the side of the bed. The action was abrupt and made me laugh even as a wave of dizziness swept over me, but I pushed it away as best I could. This was important.

I had to focus.

“We have a big claw foot tub in here, you know,” he told me with glee.

Chapter 14 - Angel

As soon as we entered the bathroom I knew that today would be the day. Somehow, some way, I was going to get into Nia’s cute little pajama pants. After all, we were alone in a slightly refurbished warehouse with no one to bother us but the ping of my cell phone to tell me everything was fine with the guards stationed around the building.

Setting Nia on her feet carefully, I made sure she was okay to stand by herself before walking over to the promised bathtub. It wasn’t fancy or particularly elegant, but it was clean and had hot water. We really didn't need anything more.

“Angel, what happens if you can’t find Mark?” she asked worriedly. Glancing behind me at the question as I turned the knobs to the faucet, I shrugged lightly before opening my mouth.

“Marshal will find him, Nia, the guy has never failed me before. Some idiot intern won’t be his first,” he said with confidence.

When I found Nia in her apartment two days ago it was hard to think straight. Nothing mattered more than her, and once I barged into the house of a friend of mine that lived nearby, who was a doctor, I felt like my priorities were being pushed and prodded and rearranged. If Nia had died, I would’ve put up my cuffs for good. It would have been time I handed the business over to Roman and disappeared.

She just meant that much to me. I knew that Nia didn’t exactly like my profession, but had more of a begrudging acceptance of it. Then again, who did like being in the Mafia when they’d lived their life outside it? It just proved that change was difficult.

“Do you want me to quit?” Posing the question in all seriousness, I held my hand under the spurting faucet and kept my eyes on the swirling, rippling water that gathered in the tub.

Nia, though, was probably rolling her eyes if her huff was anything to go by.

“No. I don’t want you to quit, Angel. This kind of thing actually isn’t all that nerve-wracking to be honest. I mean, it’s like being at a spa. I get a great bath, you feed me and I get to walk around without pants on.” Glancing up over my shoulder, I felt my eyes go wide at the fact that Nia was bare assed -- completely naked. When had she taken off her clothes? Why am I even asking that question? Her bronzed skin shone in the light that came from the giant factory window plates, and her confidence not to hide herself was giving me a problem in my jeans. It was not a bad problem, but a problem.

“Do you even know how long I’ve been waiting to see you naked?” Coming out as a choked kind of growl, my words made Nia’s face darken before she started to sway towards me. Her hips moved sensuously, and her long legs looked never ending. It was an incredible sight.

“Then why didn’t you just ask? Why did it take an assassination attempt to tip you over the edge?” she asked me. My mouth felt dry as she leaned over me and I had to lean back a little because she was just too close to form a response. She put her hands on either side of the edge of the tub, and her brown eyes sparkled as they bored into mine.

“Because I didn’t want to push you. If I tried too early you would’ve hated me,” I told her. Glowering, Nia’s gaze flashed something fierce before she lifted her hand to my chest. It was the best answer I had, though, and I was sure she knew that.

“Well I don’t think I like that explanation, Angel,” she said. 

Then she pushed me, not hard enough to do damage but just to make me lose my balance. The shock of the warm water hit me and I was instantly soaked, shaking my head furiously. Turning my glare on Nia, I frowned deeply as she stood with her arms across her bust and a triumphant expression on her face. Oh really, I thought.

Well two could play at that game.

“You did that on purpose.” The accusation made her smile before she gestured for me to get up.

“You deserved it,” she pointed out.

Wringing the water from my shirt, I didn’t really have a response for that because she was right. I did deserve it. No matter how many times I told myself I wouldn’t touch her, tease her, it just ended up happening.

“Alright, I have to go make sure everything’s okay. Don’t drown,” I finished. Turning off the tap, I stripped off my shirt and my soaked jeans. Since my boxers were wet too I just took them off. Besides, why should Nia be the only one naked? Smirking a little when I saw her triumph morph into a slightly slack-jawed, wide-eyed expression, I knew that the tables had turned. That always felt nice no matter the circumstances.

It was hard not to like the playfulness of the situation even though Nia had basically just woke up from a coma. Hell, I figured it was probably the best way to wake up from a poisoned state. Something happy.

“T...that’s not fair!” Hearing her groan when her plan had backfired made me chuckle and I could feel her burning ruts into me with her eyes even as I turned away.

“All’s fair in love and war, bella,” I told her. 

Sighing as I pulled on a fresh pair of jeans, I held my phone to my ear and dropped into a chair to wait for Marshal to pick up. He’d called twice, and I wanted an update anyway. The little distraction in the bathroom had been nice, but business was business. It always needed tending. Being gone for my trial had showed me if I did not tend to business, bad things would happen. Like pretty much everything now.

“I found him. One of our brothers in New York saw your contract and gave me a call about an hour ago. He’s got eyes and I’m en route. Do you want me to take out everyone he’s with? According to Sergio he’s staying with family,” he asked me.

“Good, and yes. You know the deal. Call me when you get there,” I told him. There were a lot of things I was comfortable doing, and Marshal even more so, but he’d never kill a kid. He had a few of his own, and it hit him right in the sweet spot. I just didn’t do it on principle, but I knew a few people that had before. Safe to say, they were the ones I called for dirtier jobs. Marshal was a good interrogator, but he was also an excellent marksman and had no problem shooting a high-powered sniper rifle.

The man was just versatile. Yet another reason I relied on him.

“What did he say?” The shout from the bathroom as I hung up made me want to laugh. Nia might not like it, but she was uncomfortably comfortable with what I was doing.

“He found Mark already. That was fast, though, even for him.” It’d been only a few hours since Marshal had concluded that Mark was working with Travis Burton, and I got lucky this time. The pharmaceutical tanker was going to be dead before nightfall, and everything was going smoothly.