Page 32 of Targeted By Desire

She added a smile to the end of her plea. One with a tilt of her head and subtle jut of her chin. One I couldn’t say no to even if I tried.

I sighed. “Fine. But if you’re gonna start bringing him around, you’ve gotta give me a heads up. Next time, he might actually end up with a bullet in his skull.”

I will. She gently shoved my arm. Now go wash up and we’ll try this again.

Nodding, I turned on my heel and headed down the hall towards the bathroom. There, I washed all the forest grime off of my skin and changed into a fresh set of clothes.

Again, I kept my feet light on the wooden floors as I returned to the kitchen. I peeked around the doorway, curious for a glimpse of whatever Maria had going on with Miles.

They were back at the counter again, Maria cutting up a head of lettuce, Miles behind her with his arms locked around her waist and his chin resting on the top of her head. His voice was lost between the harsh sound of the knife on the cutting board for me, but Maria was following it just fine.

Her relaxed shoulders and soft giggles were usually rare and short occurrences. Yet, since the moment I stepped in, I’ve yet to see any tension dare to touch her. Interesting that a man with as little muscle as Miles would be the one protecting her from all her demons.

Miles noticed me hovering in the shadows and immediately released Maria. Offering me a smile, he walked towards me with an outstretched hand. “I wanted to formally introduce myself,” he explained. “I’m Miles.”

I had half a mind to ignore his hand and give him the “break her heart and I’ll break every bone in your body” speech, but the sharp look Maria shot from behind him advised otherwise. Feigning a smile of my own, I shook his hand. “Mateo,” I replied.

Maria walked up to us and started shooing us with her hands. Go play video games or something while I finish cooking, she signed.

Despite Miles’ nervous chuckle and the shake of my head, we obeyed her command and walked into the living room.

“What do you play?” Miles asked as I booted up the video game console underneath the television.

“I don’t, actually. The consoles were Maria’s idea.” I handed him one of the controllers. “I don’t know what games she has on this thing.”

Raising a brow, he clicked a few buttons on the controller, easily navigating through the plethora of tiny icons on the screen. “You’ve never played with her?”

“No. I’ll watch sometimes, but…” I shrugged. “It’s not really my thing.”

He nodded. “Understandable. My best friend sucks at video games too.”

“I never said I sucked.”

“No offense, but you didn’t have to.”

I almost laughed. This guy was getting comfortable already. Maybe Maria was right. Maybe he was trustworthy.

He clicked on one of the military-themed games. “Let’s start with Call of Duty. First-person shooter games are easy. Then, when Maria is finished in the kitchen, she can show off her skills. She’s a badass in general, but in this game: whew, she can tear some shit up.”

“I believe it,” I said between my chuckles.

The evening with the two of them went better than I expected. Miles filled in the silence Maria and I usually lived comfortably in with conversation about video games, the tech he’s been tinkering with, and any other musings that crossed his mind.

I enjoyed talking to him more than I wanted to admit. In the little interactions I’ve had with him when I’ve done work with the Ruiz cartel, he was always sitting at his desk and clacking away at his keyboard, half-listening to the conversation at hand. It was nice to get to know the one hiding in the background.

Watching Maria’s body language was a treat as well. She sat inches too close to him at the dinner table. Her eyes, practically swelling with hearts, were almost always on him. And a tiny smile was stuck on her face like a golden sticker.

I’ve never seen her like this with anyone - not even the handful of men she decided were worth more than a few nights of her time.

A part of me was happy she found someone she really liked. The other half hoped I wouldn’t have to break him in half if she ever stopped.

After dinner, I gave them some privacy and retired to my room.

I sank down in the chair in front of my computer and booted it up. At this hour, I doubted there’d be anything important on there, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I didn’t check.

A notification from Simone’s security system popped up on the screen; it read “Camera Connected. Footage Stream Now Available.”

“Cameras?” I muttered, my brow raising. I closed the notification button and went onto the control system for her alarm system. To my pleasant surprise, there was an option for a view of the live streaming video footage.