“Listen,” he shuffled closer, “You’re not alone. I’m here, right beside you. The second I feel the situation getting out of control, I will step in and take the heat. Nothing is going to touch you. Not while I’m here. Do you understand?” I wanted to say yes, but I had been let down by the people closest to me and my hesitation showed. “Do you hear me?” He took my face between his hands and forced me to look at him. His eyes blazed as he gave me a light shake for emphasis. “Nothing.”

And that reluctance?

It fell away.

Of course, I believed him. It was impossible not to when he spoke with such conviction.

I nodded and swallowed hard. My husband watched me closely for a long moment and then he lifted a knuckle and knocked on the limo window. The door opened and I unconsciously took the hand offered to me. It guided me out and when I lifted my head to see his surly face peering down at me, my light gasp was barely heard and I acted on instinct.

Marco grunted when my body collided with his. I wrapped my arms around his middle and his light chuckle sounded in my ear as he awkwardly patted me with one arm, keeping the other by his side. “Don’t tell me you’re actually happy to see me?”

When Tor lightly touched my back, I released Marco and backed into my husband’s tall frame, smiling at the curt brute. Tor’s arm slipped around my waist and his thumb lightly stroked my hip. “Well, I don’t know. You’re not going to chase me out of the crawl space again, are you?”

“Not today,” he said evenly, but his eyes were filled with mirth.

“Then, sure.”

And the asshole put both his hands to his chest, made a show of fluttering his lashes.

But as we both chuckled through our reunion, Tor wasn’t feeling much like laughing. “Focus.” The pressure was getting to him. He’d been crabby all morning. Marco, spotting the strain, instantly sobered when Tor asked, “Who’s in there?”

“Arthur, Cat and Anoushka. Striker’s ride just pulled in.” Marco checked his watch. “Roam and his boys will be here in a few and Vincenza often likes to make of a show of running late.”

I sighed lightly. Of course, she did.

Sometimes I wondered whether we were truly cut from the same cloth. Our appearance said we were, but our personalities were so different that we may as well have been from Venus and Mars.

“Better to get in before he arrives.” Tor squeezed my hip and when he began to walk, he took me with him. Marco stayed behind, waiting by the limo.