She moved toward him, wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head against his strong chest. “I’msorry.”
His arms came around her, a shelter from everystorm.
He held her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. “I’m not looking to kill your spirit, Aria. I’m not trying to change you. I’m just trying to protectyou.”
“I know that,” she said. “I just… I need to do something. All these weeks of planning since the shooting at Velvet… I’m tired ofwaiting.”
He smiled a little. “No one understands that more than me. I’ve been itching for blood for months. But we have to be smart. We have to be disciplined. That’s what makes us different from men like Anastos andGatti.”
And men likePrimo.
He didn’t say it, but she couldn’t help thinkingit.
She nodded. “You’reright.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Would you mind repeatingthat?”
She punched playfully at his shoulder. “You’re right. You’re always right. My wanting to go was never aboutthat.”
He pulled her close. “I understand, but I need you to trust mehere.”
“I need you to trust me, too,” shesaid.
“I’ve never trusted anyone more,” he said. “It’s everyone else I don’t trust. Athens is still Anastos’ home turf. We have no idea what we’re walking into. If you’re with us, I won’t be able to do anything but worry about you,Aria.”
She knew what he was saying. If she insisted on coming along, she would be a weakness, not because she couldn’t handle herself, but because Damian would be preoccupied with hersafety.
Is that what she wanted? For Damian to be distracted in Anastos’ city because ofher?
She exhaled all the tension she’d been holding, all the frustration. “You have to give me something to do here,” she said. “I’ll go crazyotherwise.”
“I can do that,” he said, relief visible on thisface.
“But this doesn’t mean I’m always going to wait at home,” she continued. “I’m not going to be the little woman, Damian. I’m never going to bethat.”
She didn’t know how the other Syndicate wives worked, how involved they were in Syndicate business, but Damian was herman.
New York was hercity.
She would always fight for them to be safethere.
“Do you really think there’s any danger of that happening?” He laughed and shook his head, then bent his head to kiss her. “I wouldn’t want you to be anything but what you are, my love. But you’re going to have to work with me alittle.”
She tightened her arms around him and leaned her head against his chest, found the drumbeat of his heart, her favoritelullaby.
“I can do that,” shesaid.
She was pretty sure she believedit.