The Mercenary Next Door (Rogues and Rescuers #2) - Lucy Leroux Page 0,88
are the most amazing fucking woman in the world. You know that, right?”
Laila’s chin jutted out. “Because I want to lick chocolate off your naked body? Mason, honey, there isn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t want to do that.”
“She’s right about that!”
Mason jerked. A middle-aged woman in a meter maid uniform at the edge of the parking lot grinned at him and gave Laila a thumbs-up before getting into her little cart and driving away.
Laila giggled.
He cleared his throat, his cheeks flaming. “What I meant to say is that I know it can’t have been easy, trusting a man again after what happened with that asshole,” he said, jerking his thumb behind him to indicate the station and its current occupant.
Silano better not let that worm wriggle off the hook.
“You make it easy,” Laila said, those golden-brown eyes seeing right through him to capture his soul. “I trust you with my life.”
“Good, because I want all of it—the next eighty years at least.”
Her brow puckered. “So we are planning on living past the century mark? Together?”
“Damn straight we are.” He laughed until Laila smiled. “And you know what?”
“What?” Laila asked, her heart in her eyes.
“It won’t be long enough—I’m going to love you for the rest of our lives and into the whatever comes after.”
Despite the emotional rollercoaster of their day, Mason felt like he was on top of the world. The scene in the police station had gotten ugly at the end, but it was over. Plus, Laila had handled seeing her ex with grace and strength. They still had some legal hurdles to overcome, but whatever happened, they would face them together.
Laila’s fingers twined in his filled him with a sense of rightness. It wrapped around him like a second skin. Forget the high after a successful op—all he needed to feel fucking invincible was to hold his girl’s hand.
Smugly self-satisfied and nearly bursting with pride in the woman at his side, he escorted her across the street. Since the lot around the station was reserved for squad cars and parking enforcement vehicles, Mason had parked the Mustang on a side street in a metered slot a few blocks down. They took their time, both aware on some level that this was it—they were about to start their life together.
When they passed a shop window full of women’s designer clothes, he tugged Laila closer to it, pointing to a red number that was both elegant and sexy. She laughed when he told her it would be perfect on her. She tugged him away after catching sight of the price tag hanging from the sleeve, but Mason made a mental note. He had to take Laila shopping and out to dinner…do normal couple things their history and circumstances had kept them from doing. They were overdue for some fun.
It took them nearly twenty minutes to make it down two blocks. The car was across the street. He led Laila into the street when the light changed, and that was when he heard it—an engine accelerating instead of slowing down.
The black SUV had tinted windows, and it had been specially modified. Mason recognized it as a high-end model favored by drug lords and politicians across the country.
He processed that in the split second he had to react.
Mason shouted a warning to Laila, pivoting and throwing himself at her, wrenching back toward the curb they had just stepped off. There was the impact of his much larger body against her small one, and then they were flying.
Instinctively rolling, he managed to twist in midair, so they crashed down with him on the bottom. The impact knocked the wind out of him twice, once when he hit the ground and again a second or two later when Laila landed flat against his chest. But his shoulders felt the difference—this wasn’t the blacktop of the road, he had made it to the sidewalk. Gasping in pain and relief, he rolled and rolled until they hit something—the wall of the building on the corner.
“Are you okay?” he asked Laila, his voice half an octave higher than normal.
Dazed, she shook her head. “What happened?”
He started to pull them up, rearing back to shake off the hand of a bystander. Belatedly realizing the man was just trying to help, he apologized, but he pulled Laila behind him anyway. Scanning for additional threats, he did a rapid assessment.
“Get inside there. Call Silano!” He pointed at the door a few feet away—a chain drugstore.