A slew of curses woke me up. I sat up.

“What’s wrong?” I asked Gavin.

“It’s past eight—are you going to be late to work?”

I fell back onto the cushy pillow. “I’m off today…or rather I was fired.”

“What? Why? Because you were late?”

My brain was still fuzzy with sleep.

“Not exactly. Long story, but I’ve been transferred.”

“Good, I thought maybe…”

I pulled his arm and he lay back down on his side to face me.

“I have news,” I announced.

The little space between his brows crinkled.

“I’ve been transferred back to D.C. Isn’t that great?”

He scrambled to sit up and his confusion turned into a full-blown scowl.

“No, it’s not great. I can’t be with you in D.C.”

I sat up again and rested my back on the padded headboard, pulling the sheet to cover my chest. “Why not? Do you have a girlfriend back there or something?”

“Or something. This is fucked up.”

He swung his legs over the other side of the bed and got to his feet. He spotted his clothes, which I’d draped over the chair. He grabbed his jeans and started putting them on.

“Where are you going?” I asked, watching with growing horror.

“I need to think.”

As much as it hurt my heart, I had to say it. “If you leave, don’t come back. I can’t keep doing this with you.”

He pivoted on his heel and glared at me. “I’m not leaving. I just need to figure shit out.”

“Figure what out?”

It was time he told me everything.

“How I can be with you and keep you safe in D.C.”

“Safe from who?” I demanded.

He folded his hands on top of his head and paced. I watched his turmoil and understood, as I felt the same.

Finally, he sat at the foot of the bed, but didn’t face me. “I told you my mom died, but I didn’t tell you how.” There was a long pause and I was sure what he said next would break my heart for the boy turned man. “She was shot to send a message to my father to keep in line.”

I got to my knees so fast and crawled over to him. I wrapped my arms around him from behind and laid my head on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

He covered my hand with his, which rested over his heart.

“I don’t want that to happen to you. These guys…they would use anyone they thought I cared about against me. It’s bad enough they use the threat of death of my father over me, and they do the same to him. I refuse to give them another target.”

How was it that two of the most important men in my life had the same problem?

“So that’s why you kept pushing me away.”

He nodded. “I don’t know how far their reach is, but I’ve only met guys in Maryland. They mostly just see me as my father’s son, not one of the family.”

“Family?”

“That’s what they call themselves.”

We were silent for a while until he muttered, “If I was a better man, I’d let you go for good.”

I scooted around him and got to my feet to stand before him. His hand tapped the bed in a rhythm I’d knew meant he was nervous or agitated.

“Don’t you dare.”

“But Angel, I just don’t see how it could work without putting you in danger.”

His head hung low, but I bent forward to stay in his line of sight.

“My mother is a prosecutor. I can’t tell you how happy she was that I was moving to New York because she’s too afraid that the criminals she puts in jail will come after me for the same reason you just said. And my father…” I paused, but I was done with secrets. He’d confessed to me—somewhat. It was time I did the same. “They say my father is the illegitimate son of Alonso Aparicio.”

* * *

I lifted my chin and met her eyes. “Holy shit.”

“Exactly,” she said, with her hands on her hips. “You get it now. My father is transferring me back because he’s afraid they’ll find out who I am to him. No matter what you do, I’m in danger.”

I hated that for her. The idea of someone laying a hand on her made me murderous.

“That doesn’t mean I have to add to it.”

“No, but Mom’s dating an FBI guy. And my dad has money and influence. I’m not saying that will keep me safe. It will probably put a larger target on my back. But I can’t run scared. I’m connected to these people for the rest of my life. You leaving me isn’t going to make my life safer.”

“Full disclosure. I know your mom’s boyfriend. He isn’t going to put in a good word for me with her. She’ll probably hate me on sight.”

“He’s sleeping with her, not me or you. I don’t care what he thinks.”

“You have to give me a few weeks to try to figure things out.”

She shoved at my shoulders and I let her.

“A few weeks?” I shook my head yes. “You promise you’ll come back to me.” Again, I silently agreed. “I need you to say it, Gavin, because I won’t let you break my heart.”

“I promise, I won’t break your heart, not intentionally.” She glared at me. “I’m sure I’ll say the wrong things and piss you off one day not meaning to.”

I drew her to me and pressed my head to her heart. She combed her fingers through my hair. I let my hands drop from her waist to grab her sweet ass.

She giggled. “None of that. I have to be out by eleven.”

She explained everything her father told her. The part about her uncle pissed me off. I could excuse the fact that he had no idea she was family. But the idea he’d made her feel uncomfortable infuriated me. She had to talk me into leaving. I wanted to stay and introduce myself. I didn’t give a shit whose son he was.

Packing turned out easy because she’d only come with clothes.

“I wasn’t sure where I’d be living and what I needed. I knew I would have roommates. So I waited. And this place had everything.”

“Do you want the food?”

We’d finished the pizza she’d had delivered last night.

“We can leave the milk. I don’t think it’ll last the drive back. But I’ll take this other stuff. I’m not sure what will be in the house.”

The house. Her dad had bought her a house in Georgetown. Though he’d bought it when she was a kid, houses there had to run in the millions.

Good thing this building had a garage. I ended up walking the few blocks to get my truck and used the keycard from a swanky leather-bound welcome package to park on the lower level to bring her suitcase, a couple of bags of food, and the orchids I’d bought her.

She’d gotten a call and when she hung up, some of her good mood was gone.

“Is everything okay?”

She sighed. “Yeah, that was Misha, the human resources manager. She was really happy to tell me my services were no longer needed.”

I’d gotten the whole story that her dad had concocted.

“She doesn’t like you or something. Who can’t like you?”

She smiled. “Well, it turns out her niece is filling my position. So that’s probably why she didn’t like me. Still, she wasn’t happy I was being transferred.”

“Well it’s not like you’ll see her again.”

“True.”

“Tunes?”

That brought out my girl’s grin. I turned up the music and held out my hand as we drove back to D.C. I didn’t let on, but I was still worried as shit about any of the family finding out about her. No matter what she said, the family would use her to get me to do their dirty deeds.

When we pulled onto M Street it was jammed. We turned up a side street and another before we drove past her impressive house.

Again my thoughts turned to worry. I couldn’t imagine her being used as a pawn like my mother. That was never going to happen again.