“Nothing you say is silly,” Gino assured. “You’re scared right now, which is very understandable.” He glanced at his watch.
She was determined to be honest with him and she hoped he’d always be honest with her. She cleared her throat. It wasn’t going to be an easy admission. “Gino?” She had his attention. He always looked straight at her and seemed to give her his entire consideration. “I’m afraid of everything. All the time. I hate being in public. I’m always afraid. I don’t want you to think I get any better than this because you’ll just be disappointed.”
He leaned forward and brushed her forehead with his mouth. His lips. They felt soft yet firm. Cool yet quickly heating. His breath was warm. “Zara, I have no expectations, so you can’t disappoint me. That said, I don’t like you being afraid because it isn’t necessary, not when you’re with me.”
She looked down at her hands. One still clung to his shirt, like a little child’s. The other was a fist in her lap and she could still see and feel those fine tremors, which meant, because Gino was so observant, he would see them as well. “I’m no fighter. I know you think we were all trained, and I was, but I’m not like Bellisia. Ask her. She’ll tell you.”
“She told me she loved you. That you were her sister and you had a gentle soul. She asked me to protect you and I will, with my life. It isn’t necessary for you to be a fighter. We have them. I’m one. You be the calm in the eye of that storm for me. I could use that. When I lose my mind, and I will, you can center me.”
Her gaze searched his. He meant it. He wasn’t patronizing her, he actually meant it. The relief was tremendous. She took a deep breath and let it out. “I can do that.” They were connected, and that connection was strong enough that she was certain she would be able to find a way to soothe him if he needed it. Still, he seemed awfully cool under fire, unlike her.
There was a knock on the door. “Look alive, Gino, we’re leaving in five.”
“Wrapping her up now, Draden. Rubin, did you pack the supplies I asked for?”
“Got them here, Gino.”
The voice was so close it made her jump. She hadn’t known there was another man in the room with them. He just seemed to come right out of the shadowed area near the windows. Had he been there the entire time? She was afraid he had. She hadn’t taken her eyes from Gino to even look around the room. She would never have made a good soldier and no matter the training, she still wouldn’t. She could defeat an opponent—but only with the element of surprise. She had knowledge, but she wasn’t fast enough nor did she generate the power the others had. She could kill, but just thinking about doing so turned her stomach.
“Babe, you’re going to have to let go of me so we can move,” Gino said.
She felt the heat rising under her skin. She tried to snatch her hand back fast, but Gino’s fingers tightened around her wrist, holding her to him. He waited until her gaze jumped to his. “Stop worrying about the little things. I like you holding on to me. Understand?”
She didn’t but she nodded anyway. His eyes burned through her to brand her somewhere deep.
“I’m going to wrap you up in the sheet and carry you out of here. My boys are going to surround us. No one will get to you. Understand?”
He seemed to say that to her a lot. Zara nodded again even though she was used to worrying about everything—especially the small stuff. He removed the IV that dripped a painkiller into her along with fluids and then he stood, planted a knee on the bed, tucked the sheet under her, lifted her easily and rolled the sheet closer around her body, then cradled her close. He did it so quickly and efficiently she wondered how many women he’d rescued. She didn’t want to sound jealous or possessive so she didn’t ask him. She caught him around the neck and held on as he carried her out of the room.
Rubin followed them, and just outside the door, the others were waiting. The one he called Draden as well as two others.
“Zara, this is Rubin and Diego, they’re brothers. Our boss, Ezekiel, and you’ve met Draden. They all serve with me in my unit. This is Zara.”
There were a lot of murmurings of “ma’am.” She felt a little underdressed to be meeting people. She flashed a small, strained smile to the group of them and then subsided against Gino’s chest.
“Can you wait to use the bathroom until we’re on the plane? I should have gotten you there right away when I knew we would have to leave fast.”
She nodded. She would definitely wait. She wanted on that plane more than she wanted anything. At her agreement, they moved quickly, in perfect step, Gino in the middle of the formation, through the hall toward the back of the embassy. A corridor led down another hall, and they went out a back door to a waiting vehicle with the back passenger door open. Gino, with Zara in his arms, slid onto the seat and someone closed the door.
She found her heart accelerating all over again. This was either going to go smoothly or all hell was going to break loose. Chinese soldiers could ambush the car. If Cheng got wind of their leaving, if anyone was in his pay in the embassy and they found out, his security force, all ex-military, could ambush the car on the way to the airport. Cheng could have his guards waiting at the airport.
Gino’s arms tightened around her as the vehicle began moving. “You’re not breathing.”
“This is nerve-wracking.” It didn’t seem to be for him. She swore his pulse hadn’t gone up at all. It was the same steady, reassuring beat it had been all along. His breathing hadn’t changed either. Her breathing, however, was coming in ragged puffs she couldn’t control. Panic was beginning to set in all over again.
“Zara.”
“I’m trying.” She was. She’d warned him.
“You’re cool as a cucumber talking in front of hundreds of people. I could never do that,” Gino said.
“I throw up every single time before I go out there to talk,” she confessed.
“That makes you even braver. You still get your sweet little ass out there and you give your talk, which, by the way, I can barely comprehend.”
She liked that he called her ass sweet, although she wasn’t certain if she should be as happy about the ass part as she was. “Once I start talking about the developments in AI, I can’t help but forget where I am or how many people are watching. I like sharing because it’s the future and there are so many wonderful uses.”
“I listened to a few of your talks they had online and I have to admit, I could hear the enthusiasm in your voice. I hadn’t thought too much about artificial intelligence, but you made it so interesting, I started studying it to learn everything I could.”
She liked everything he said to her. He made her feel as if everything she did was all right. Not just right, but extraordinary. Or perfectly okay if she wasn’t good at something. He gave her that as well.
“Breathe, baby. Look to me when you get stressed. Every time. I’ll be close.” His fingers caught her chin in a firm grip, but one so gentle her heart turned over.
He lifted her chin so her eyes met his. Outside the shadowed windows, the brilliant lights of Shanghai burst past like long, colored streamers. Inside, it was the two of them, separate, even, from the driver. Gino’s eyes were very black, so bottomless, a fathomless abyss that she found herself falling into her. His eyes were every bit as mesmerizing as his voice.