“Don’t worry.” Markus squeezed her shoulder as they walked. “He won’t feel put on the spot. If he’s not willing to do it, he’ll just say no.”
“Really?”
He nodded once. “That’s the kind of guy he is.”
Only one cashier was open. After paying for their goods, they went back into the parking lot—but not before Markus made them hover behind the store’s entrance while he scanned the area for any signs of danger.
At the car, Viv sat with the passenger’s side door open and had another banana. Now that there was the possibility for a positive resolution to all this, her appetite had returned. Oddly enough, as well, she suddenly loved bananas, a fruit that had never done it for her in the past.
Pregnancy cravings, most likely.
The thought made her smile. The baby couldn’t get here soon enough.
A second later, and her lips turned down. No. That wasn’t true. They needed a safe environment for the baby to enter into. Viv didn’t want to raise her son or daughter while on the run, separated from their relatives.
Leaned against the car, Markus made a call on the burner phone.
The banana churned in Viv’s stomach. It was the middle of the night, and Ryder could have gone in any direction. Hell, he could be on a boat, sailing into the Atlantic, unable to help even if he wanted to.
“It’s me,” Markus said suddenly, making Viv sigh in relief. “We’re okay. You? Uh-huh… Okay, so Viv has an access key to HW, where Dagger works undercover as her former boss, Mr. Romano. She thinks that if she gets in there, she has a chance of finding something we could pin Dagger for. Now, it’s only a chance, but… okay. Really? … Meet us at Riverside park. Our usual spot. We should be there about dawn.”
Closing the phone with a clip, he looked at Viv.
“He’s in?” she asked.
“Yeah.” He smiled. “Sounded really eager.”
“Good.” She buckled up her seatbelt. “Let’s go.”
Markus got into the driver’s seat, but he didn’t start the car.
“What?” she asked.
“You can still change your mind. Even if we get all the way back to Jacksonville, you can change your mind. Even if you’re in his office, you—”
“Markus.” She took his hand and peered into his face. “Do you know what the most important thing to me in the world is?”
“What?” he asked, reaching up and tucking some hair behind her ear.
“Family. The one that I already have…” She rested her hand on her belly. “And the one that I’m starting.”
Markus put his hand on top of hers, his head bowing forward. “That’s why it’s hard for me to let you do this. I should go in there, instead.”
“No. If I’m caught, it will be easier to come up with an excuse. Even if I have Ryder with me.”
His silence agreed with her, even though he probably didn’t want to.
“Family is important to me, too.” He lifted his face to hers. “You’re my family, Viv. I can’t lose you. Not when we’ve just begun and have a baby on the way.”
“Then let’s do this right. Come on.” She touched his cheek. “With your bad boy background, I know you can come up with a solid plan.”
He smirked. “I’m not that bad boy anymore.”
“Maybe you can be him for one more day.”
He shuffled forward, and his lips grazed hers. A delicious shiver went through her. It had only been a number of days since they’d been lost in each other’s arms, but it already seemed a lifetime ago.
“This will all be over soon,” he said. “And then I’ll make you the happiest woman in the world.”
She let out a pleased sigh at the promise, knowing he meant it one hundred percent.
“You already make me very happy,” she whispered.
Her lips pressed to his, while he looped his arms around her waist. The kiss was heated but loving. Safe. Tender.
Over way too soon.
Markus broke off and turned on the car. “Come on. Let’s take care of business, bad girl.”
Chapter 19
Viv
She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Viv managed to sleep most of the way back to Jacksonville. She’d offered at least twice to drive, but Markus had waved that away.
Turned out, a nap was much needed. Right as they were pulling up to the park’s edge, she woke up. A man leaned against a tree, hoodie pulled over his head and face in spite of the Florida warmth.
Markus killed the engine. “You woke up just in time.”
“Yeah.” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stretched.
Her limbs ached and her head throbbed—hopefully symptoms of the recent stress and not of pregnancy.
The man, who turned out to be Ryder, pushed his hood back and came to Markus’ window. “Glad to see you two alive.”
“Same to you.” Markus gave him a fist bump.
“All right, so we gonna do this?” He rubbed his hands together. There was a gleam in his eye, and Viv got the sense he wasn’t pretending. He really was excited about breaking into HW.
“The sooner we get it done, the better.” Markus hooked his thumb at the backseat. “Get in.”
“Nuh-uh. I have my ride over there.” He nodded behind his shoulder, at the car parked closer to the road. “I know where HW is. Already checked it out. Park around the corner, and we’ll meet in the bushes on the east side of the back parking lot.”
“See you there.”
“Thanks, Ryder,” Viv managed to say before Markus rolled up the window.
With a salute, Ryder spun on his heel.
It felt surreal, to say the least, returning to HW. Not because she didn’t work there anymore; she’d only been gone a day. It felt odd because now she had a completely different perspective on her time there.
On the drive over, she went through her mental files, wondering if there had ever been signs pointing to Mr. Romano’s nefarious double life. She recalled at the conference the other day, when she’d bumped into him having a conversation in the hotel and seen the gun.
But even that wouldn’t have been enough to ever make her suspect something weird was up with him.
“Hey,” Markus said, noticing her watching him. He took one hand off the steering wheel to clasp hers. “Remember. It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“I haven’t changed my mind.”
“What are you thinking about over there?”
“How…” She paused, not wanting to give him the wrong impression. “How you can never really know most people.”
His lips turned down. “Like me?”
Reaching over, she put her palm on the back of his neck. “You’ve shown yourself to me.”
“I hope you think that.” He gave her a wary glance. “Because I have. What you’ve seen, this heist, my work, that’s all there is to me. Or what was me.”
Tears of emotion filled Viv’s eyes. “I believe you.”
Suddenly, Markus pulled into a street-side parking spot.
“What are you doing?” They were still at least five minutes from HW.