Aria spent the morning reviewing some of the data she and Nora had compiled on Malcolm while Nora touched base with her contacts at the Bureau. They didn’t know Malcolm’s exact location, but Aria had gotten word from a former associate of Primo’s that Malcolm had been in an underground gambling club three days earlier, and the FBI had spotted him talking to a surveillance subject a week ago outside a deli in Queens.

It wasn’t irrefutable proof he was still in New York, but it was something.

She tried not to think about Damian. Tried not to think about what might be happening at the strip club in Athens while she was puttering around the house on Kythnos.

She told herself it was good practice, that she wouldn’t always be with Damian when he was in danger. After their child was born, she would rarely be with him when he was in danger.

She’d be lucky if he let her go to the grocery store without security.

It was close to noon when Nora found her on the patio, staring blankly at the computer.

“How’s it going?” she asked Aria.

“Nothing new,” Aria said. “You?”

“Maybe.”

Aria had gotten used to Nora’s cryptic replies. It was probably part of her FBI training — Evasive Response 101.

Nora looked a little more closely at her. “I think it’s time for some sun,” she said. “What do you say?”

“Beach or pool?” Aria asked.

Nora scoffed. “Do you have to ask?”

Aria laughed. She’d learned that Nora was originally from Boston, but she’d become a California girl through and through.

“I’ll pack some food,” Aria said.

Nora grinned. “I’ll get the wine.”

Aria closed the computer and stood to stretch before heading for the kitchen amid a silent prayer of gratitude for Nora Murphy.

Aria had no doubt Nora would have been happy to stay at the house, working her contacts at the Bureau and reviewing the intel they’d already gone over more than once.

She’d suggested the beach for Aria’s sake, to get Aria’s mind off the operation now under way in Athens, and she’d done it without making Aria feel like a neurotic 50s housewife.

Aria hoped she would someday be as competent and strong.

She rummaged through the fridge and cupboard for snacks, throwing goat cheese, crackers, olives, and a few dates into a picnic basket. If all went well, she would be on her way back to New York soon. She might as well enjoy the fresh, local food while she could.

Nora returned to the kitchen wearing a black bikini and carrying a bottle of wine. She held it out to Aria.

“How’s this?”

Aria looked at the label absently. “I probably won’t have any, but it looks good.”

Nora’s gaze was shrewd. “How far along?”

Aria wrapped the wine in a cloth napkin and nestled it in the basket with shaking hands. “Almost three months.” She met Nora’s gaze. “Is it that obvious?”

Nora laughed. “Not to the guys, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Aria breathed a sigh of relief.

“I take it Damian doesn’t know?” Nora asked.

She shook her head.

“I don’t blame you,” Nora said. “He’d probably have you under lock and key if he knew. They all would.”

“All?”

Nora waved a hand in the air. “Damian, Braden, Locke… they’re cut from the same cloth.”

She tucked a gun into the basket, picked it up, and headed for the door.

Aria grabbed her towel and followed. “Are you saying they’re sexist?”

Aria stepped onto the narrow street in front of the house and Nora turned to lock the door. They started down the pathway leading to the beach.

“I don’t think sexist is the right word,” Nora said as they walked.

“What is?” Aria asked.

For a moment, there was only the sound of their feet crunching over pebbles, the race of waves onto the sand growing louder as they came closer to the beach.

“Protective,” Nora said. “They’re a little old school, I’ll admit, but not because they think we’re less than they are — because they think we’re more.”

It was an interesting theory.

“How so?” Aria asked.

“They think we’re better than them, more valuable,” Nora said. “I mean, I recognize the way Damian looks at you. Braden looks at me the same way. To be honest, sometimes he worships me to the point of annoyance.”

Aria smiled. “I’d say it’s a good problem to have, but I’m not so sure.”

Nora stopped her with a hand on her arm. “It is,” she said. “Especially in this business.”

They started walking again.

“Are we in the same business?” Aria asked.

“More or less,” Nora said wryly.

“But you’re here in Greece without Braden,” Aria said.

“Yeah, I am.”

“That wasn’t a problem for him?”

“Let’s just say we’ve had enough arguments over the past year or so about boundaries that he’s learned to pick his battles,” Nora said.

It didn’t sound promising. Aria didn’t want to fight Damian every step of the way. She didn’t want to spend the next year arguing over how involved she was allowed to be in the business that impacted both of them.

But if they did have to argue about it, she wanted to win.

“How did you get him there?” Aria asked.

“A lot of fighting.” Nora looked over at her with a smile. “A lot of making up.”

Aria laughed. “That’s not very specific.”

“I’m sorry,” Nora said. “I don’t mean to be flip. I know it’s a serious source of contention.”

“Did it help that you’d been with the FBI? That he knew you could handle yourself?”

“Not really,” Nora said. “We weren’t together when we were at the Bureau. That didn’t happen until after Braden left, so he didn’t really have a right to say anything when we worked together. Back then we were still kind of dancing around our feelings for each other. When it all shook out and we both found ourselves together and working with Locke, it was like all those years at the FBI had been in my imagination. All of a sudden, Braden wanted to keep me under glass.”

“How did you prove to him that you were competent enough to be involved?” Aria asked.

They reached the little beach below the house and removed their shoes before stepping onto the sand.

“I didn’t. I just told him,” Nora said.

“I don’t think that will work with Damian,” Aria said.

“It didn’t work with Braden at first either,” Nora said. “You just keep saying it. You keep trying. And you try to see his side of it too. He loves you. No, he reveres you. He wants to protect you, and before you talk about the fact that it’s the twenty-first century, you should know that I don’t buy into every argument of modern feminism.”

Aria did a double take. “You’re not a feminist?”

“I didn’t say that.” They stopped a few feet from the water and Nora paused their conversation to ask if it was a good spot to set up camp. Aria nodded and Nora continued as they lay down their towels. “I’m just saying I think you can believe men and women are equal without thinking they’re the same. These guys — Locke, Braden, Damian, all of them — are danger junkies on testosterone overload. Do you really think Damian’s going to be Mr. Mom after you have the baby while you run New York? Is that even what you want?”

Aria sat back on her towel. It felt subversive to admit that Damian’s sheer maleness was part of his appeal, that she’d been turned on from the beginning by his take-charge demeanor, his animalistic need to protect her.

Whatever Nora said, it was the twenty-first century. There was a lot of righteous — and usually rightful — backlash against traditional gender models.

But was it so wrong to admit that she agreed with Nora? To want to be seen as an equal in terms of intelligence and inner strength and courage while enjoying Damian’s physical prowess? His ability and determination to keep her safe?

Is that what critics would call trying to have it both ways?

Nora laughed next to her. “You’re overthinking,” she said. “I can almost hear the wheels of your mind trying to reconcile all the things you’re supposed to say with the things you want to say. It’s just you and me here. Why don’t you just tell me the truth?”

“I know Damian won’t ever be some hipster with a beard, playing guitar and staying home with the baby,” Aria said. “And no, I don’t want him to be.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Nora said. “So you like him the way he is, but you want to have a role in the business.”

Aria nodded. “I guess so.”

Nora sat back and closed her eyes to the sun. “That’s not so bad.”

“It’s not?”

Nora shook her head. “It sounds like you agree in principle. I’ve never seen Damian treat you with anything but respect; you just have to hammer out the details, and that may take time.”

“Time and a few arguments?” Aria suggested.

Nora turned her head, shielded her eyes against the sun. “More than a few, but won’t it be worth it?”

“Was it worth it for you?” Aria asked.

“Without question,” Nora said. “I work with Locke, same as Braden. Sometimes I push to get my way, sometimes he pushes back. We always work it out. Plus, he’s incredible in bed. Like, first-rate. And I’m willing to bet Damian is the same.” She closed her eyes again. “I’m telling you: it’s all that testosterone.”

Aria laughed. “I guess so.”

“You can’t change these men.” Nora spoke in a murmur, as if she were falling asleep. “This is how they come. The only question is whether you want him.”

It wasn’t a question. Aria wanted him.

He set her aflame every time he touched her, took her to physical heights she hadn’t known existed. He made her feel protected and loved.

Seen.

She rested easy in the knowledge that he had the physical ability to back up his bluster, that he would do anything to keep her safe.

What more could she want?

She tried to imagine their future. She would stay home with their child, working in the greenhouse and helping Damian on the back end while he stood in front of them. She would take on a role at the Cavallo Foundation, but she would also learn more about Damian’s cyber capabilities, about the financial workings of the business, which was where Damian saw the organization heading in the future.

She didn’t have to risk her life to be useful.

And if it ever came to that, they would have the argument when the time came.

She lay back on the towel and put on her sunglasses, shutting her eyes with a sigh, letting the breeze off the water caress her skin.

It would be good. Better than good; it would be perfect.

They would be happy. They would accept each other — and challenge each other when necessary.

But none of it could happen until Stefano Anastos and Malcolm were dead.

She turned her thoughts to Athens, sending her love to Damian across the water, willing him all the protection he’d afforded her since the moment he’d walked into her life.

Willing him back to her.