“Sarah picked it up for me and delivered it to the restaurant.”

I chuckled. “Conspiring with my mother now.”

“You do it all the time.”

“Yes, but she’s my mother.”

She swiped her finger across the icing and stuck it in her mouth, sucking it off. Suddenly the best place for the icing wasn’t in my stomach, but on my cock.

“Well, it’s hard to surprise my caveman husband who can’t stand an hour without me.”

I gave her a pout. “Makes me sound like a dependent pussy.”

She laughed and patted my hand. “Dependent? Yes. Pussy? Hell no. You can be a controlling asshole… You’re so possessive of me.”

“Because you’re mine.”

She bit her bottom lip and smiled. “Because I’m yours.”

I leaned forward and kissed her, savoring the taste of her mixed with the buttercream frosting. When I sat back, my eye caught a familiar onlooker staring at us. I’d seen him before, but had no clue who he was. That didn’t matter, because I knew why he was there.

“Where are you going?” I asked as she moved to stand.

She smiled down at me. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to the ladies’ room.”

I nodded, watching her go as I finished up the last bite of cake. I was mid-sip when my stalker sat down in front of me, a smile on his face. “Hello, Mr. Thorne. How’s your driving these days?”

The blood drained from my face as I remembered why he was so familiar—he held the gun in the car that ran us off the road.

It took every ounce of will in me to keep my reactions cool and calm, but inside I was trying to keep the anxiety from exploding, though anger and fear prevailed. My hands twitched, begging to wrap around his throat and choke the life out of him.

Dead men couldn’t talk.

I would do anything to keep her safe.

“Get the fuck out of here.” The words barely made it past my clenched teeth.

He wasn’t even fazed. “Getting rid of me won’t stop him.”

Fuck. How could I be so stupid? I’d relaxed, taken a breath and enjoyed the moment, and gotten comfortable with a deadly man so close.

“Why are you here, talking to me?”

He smirked. “How’s your wife?” Hatred flamed in me, my muscles flexing and ready to destroy. His smile broadened. “Mr. Marconi would like to congratulate you on your marriage.” His gaze flickered over to the restroom entry. “She’s beautiful.”

My teeth clenched tight, and my whole body vibrated. “Don’t you fucking touch her.”

He laughed as he stood and walked away just as Lila returned. Her gaze moved to him and then to me.

“Nate? What’s wrong?” Her hand reached out to touch me, and I shot up from my seat.

I ran to the door. He hadn’t gotten far—just a few steps ahead of me. It only took a few strides for me to catch up to him.

He turned just as my fist collided with his face, knocking him back against the brick wall. I didn’t waste a second before hitting him again.

His skull was hard, splitting my skin.

Beat him bloody.

Beat him dead.

Protect Lila.

The surprise wore off and his fist swung forward, connecting with my ribs. All breath left me as pain flooded in, giving him the opening to smash my face. My vision blurred, and he hit me again.

Lila screamed in the background, and I swung out, hoping to strike. My hand scraped against the brick before connecting with the side of his head. He stumbled back, and we both got a moment to catch our breath. He cursed when he noticed the crowd around us.

He spit the blood that filled his mouth out onto the ground and glared at me. “You knew, Thorne. I’ll let Vincent know you said hello.”

Before I could get to him, a car pulled up and he got in just as Lila grabbed hold of my arm. I watched them tear down the street and out of sight.

I grimaced in pain, bending over as the adrenaline started to wear off and the effect of his hits settled in. When I turned, Lila was staring at me, eyes wide in shock. I stepped forward and scooped her up in my arms.

“I won’t let them hurt you. I’ll protect you.”

She nodded against me, her hands fisting into my shirt.

Murmurs from the gathered crowd brought me back. With her close, we headed back toward the restaurant. The manager gave me a dirty look and blocked the doorway, but I shut him down from speaking when I pulled out my wallet. I slapped three one hundred-dollar bills into his hand and continued walking.

“Should we call someone?” Lila asked as we headed home.

I couldn’t stop scanning the street, waiting for someone to pop out at us. “Who could we trust?”

The list was short, and possibly getting shorter.

The event alarm pinged on my computer, opening a window in the middle of my document. I cracked my neck, stretching it out. I’d been staring at my screen for more than two hours without moving and was happy for the distraction of the end of the workday.

I saved my progress and shut my computer down. There wasn’t much time, and we needed to get going. I slipped my jacket back on and grabbed my phone before heading out the door, locking it behind me.

A few feet later, I popped my head into Lila’s office. “Are you ready?” It was almost five-thirty, and she had an appointment with Darren in half an hour. It would take nearly that long with traffic to get there. “Honeybear?”

Both Lila and Owen failed to acknowledge my presence, still typing away. I shook my head and sighed.

“Yo! Wife of mine, come on.”

Her head snapped up, eyes blinking in confusion. “Fuck,” she hissed as she noticed the time. “Give me a sec.”

“It’s never a sec in this black hole.”

She held her finger up, not even looking at me anymore. I licked my lips, thinking about giving her a little spanking for that later.

Leaning against the door frame, waiting, I took a good look around the room. It wasn’t my first view since I’d vacated it months ago, but it was broken in with Owen. Not much had changed, with the exception of Owen and his personal belongings. A photo of him and his girlfriend sat next to his monitor along with a Scooby-Doo figure.

Any trace of the nearly one year I’d spent there was gone. I kind of missed that time—missed being so close to her.

She closed up the file in front of her and played with her computer before shutting it down. There was a frazzled edge to her as she located her purse and stood to face me.

“Okay, ready.”

She stepped toward me, and I grabbed her face, pulling it close as I licked her lips and kissed her. When I pulled back, her lids were heavy and she was leaning into me.

I grabbed her hand and started down the hall. She pouted.

“That was mean.”

My lip twitched. “What?”

“You know what, mister.”

We stopped at the elevator bay and pressed the button. I leaned down, kissing her neck as I squeezed her ass.

“Just wanted to show you how much I missed you.”

The moment of fun was just what I needed at the end of a long day.

During the drive, she took my right hand in hers, placing kisses on my busted-up knuckles. She swiped her fingers across mine, soothing us both.

I’d gotten a good five or six punches in on the bastard, but he matched me. The hit to the brick wall behind him had me hurting the worst.

As we pulled up to Darren’s office, three police cars sat outside with their lights flashing. Red and blue lights bounced off the building.

My stomach dropped out, and I grabbed for Lila’s hand, encasing it in mine. We walked up to the office and found Darren standing outside talking to an officer. His eyes widened, only for a second, but it was enough that I noticed.

“Darren, what’s going on?” I asked as we approached.

He spoke to the officer and turned toward us. “Someone broke into my office over lunch.”

Lila’s eyes widened. “What?”