The soldier watches Addie while I’m not around. He protects her at a distance and reports to me about her day afterward. It’s a safety precaution and I’d never allowed another male watching if it wasn’t necessary.
“You said you’d rip out my intestines if I ever touched her unless she was in danger.”
Fuck, I did say that.
I hang up.
Energy ripples through my body as I walk out to the courtyard and my eyes zone in on Addie. She’s standing by the gates, her hands clutched around the bars and she’s dressed in a simple dress and a pair of clogs because she refuses to wear heels. A scarf holds her long hair together and my heart tears into pieces at the sight of her.
Her eyes are transfixed on the mansion, taking in the towers, the intricate and overly dramatic architecture and she gasps when she notices me coming. She doesn’t look at me the way she used to. Now there’s a sheen to her eyes that wasn’t there before.
“Lamb, what are you doing here?” I say gently, scowling at one of the guards who was about to walk over and give Addie a check. “Where’s the baby?”
“Back home with the nanny,” Addie murmurs, her gaze going from me to the mansion and she looks like she can’t believe her eyes. “Same nanny who told me where I can find you.”
When I hired her, I instructed her not to say a word about the real me to Addie.
“She shouldn’t have done that,” I grit between my teeth and I open up the gates.
“T’was a slip of tongue,” Addie murmurs and I hold my arm out for her and she takes it. “She mentioned the word mafia and aint no backtracking when using my husband’s name and mafia in the same breath.” Her eyes roam over the mansion. “Hells bells, aint this the most gorgeous place I’ve ever seen.”
Her words take a dig at my chest and I decide to show her around. The more she sees, the more excited she gets. She loves our pool, the library and murmurs something about the park in the back being great for the baby once she’s a little older.
I freeze, clasping her shoulders. “Why are you talking like you want to move in here?” My heart booms in my chest and she shrugs.
“Cause I do.” She puts her palms up on my pecs. “I wanna be close to you all the time. Every time you’d leave, I’ve wanted you to take me with you.”
Clasping her face I murmur, “How long have you felt this way?”
“Long time,” she confesses and her eyes shimmer. “Rev, can we move in here and still keep the farm? Can we, can we?”
“Anything you want,” I rasp, looking at her without blinking and I pull her closer and I can’t believe my luck.
She shakes her head. “All the dresses and jewelry you bought me. The handmade toys for Willadee.” Her eyes round. “The nanny who knows Krav Maga...”
My mouth curves and I let out a laugh. I think I’ve laughed three times in my life. When we got married, when our kid was born and now this. This moment when my family will know the real me. Not that it means my family will be familiar with anything that I do but it means they will be closer.
Addie will be close.
Clearing her throat a little, Addie whispers and I tense. “The twelve who died at the Inn? And those three guys who bothered us at the bar?” I nod and she shivers but something flickers in her eyes and she whispers, “You’re not the one I thought you were.”
I stop breathing. She was so convinced I was good from the moment she saw me, refusing to believe anything else. Will she even be able to accept her husband is a made man?
“You’re...colorful,” she says after a while and that’s a mild way of putting it. “Drawn outside the lines.” She licks her lips. “It’s...sexy...”
I let out a curse and I put her over my shoulder as she squeaks. “See that door over there? It leads to our bedroom.” I slap her ass with my hand and she moans. “And lamb, I’m gonna do terrible things to you in there.”
Marching over to our bedroom, I fill with masculine pride now that my wife knows her protector. Now that she knows her husband and I slam the door shut after us and put her down.
“Do terrible things to me, Rev,” Addie purrs with a swish of her hip as she saunters to our bed and my mouth waters. “Do it.”
And I do.
The End