His voice turned her inside out. He could sound so completely gentle, so tender, at odds with his tough image. She forced her lashes up so she could look into those black, fathomless eyes of his. What she saw there shook her. Took her breath. For the first time, there was no doubt in her mind what he felt. It was there in his eyes. Not lust like she’d seen several times. Not a mixture of lust and love, which she thought she’d seen the night before. Just plain love. She might have never had it from a man before, but she recognized it.
Everything in her settled. All the doubts were swept away. He’d told her their relationship belonged to them, no one else. Bellisia obviously had a good relationship with her man. It was different than Zara’s with Gino because they were different. Neither was wrong or right, just different and that was okay. She let her breath out, the last of the knots in her stomach unraveling.
He kissed her gently, his lips brushing over hers, sending a million butterflies winging their way to her deepest core. “Tell me you’re okay. I can take you for a drive if you feel you need to get away for a little while.”
She brushed at the strands of hair falling around his face. She loved the way his hair seemed impossible to tame. “I’m good, Gino.”
“You really upset over me listening?”
She knew what he was saying. If she said yes, they would be talking about it more, but he wouldn’t back down. She shook her head. “I’ll tell you if I need total privacy.”
He frowned at her. “Remember what we agreed, baby. You think about that. We don’t have secrets.”
“You’ll have them,” Bellisia said.
“Okay, baby, that’s enough,” Ezekiel said. “I’m done with this weird shit you’re pulling because you’re not one hundred percent behind your girl with Gino. He’s a good man. He’s in love with her. They can work out their own relationship.”
Bellisia shook her head and looked down. Ezekiel instantly put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She lifted her head and looked at the couple. “I’m sorry, Zara. Gino. I don’t know why I’m so afraid for you, Zara. I’m trying to feel it’s right, but there’s a part of me that knows you’re very vulnerable and fragile. Not just now, all the time.”
Before Zara could say anything, Gino sank back on his heels. That put him eye to eye with Bellisia. “I know she is,” he conceded. “I saw it right away. She’ll never have to worry when she’s with me. She’ll learn that eventually, but we’re still new. She’s getting there. I’m glad she had you to look out for her when she was at Whitney’s compound. I’m glad you’re here to be her family with me. When I’m away, I’ll know you’ll have her back, and when you’re away, you’ll know I have it.”
Bellisia glanced up at her husband and then looked back to Gino. She nodded. “Thank you for being so understanding. It’s difficult to let go of that role.”
Zara cleared her throat. “I’m right here in case no one noticed.”
Gino stood, leaned down to brush a kiss over the top of her head and then disappeared once more into the shadows. “Princess, I always know exactly where you are.”
“I want to talk about the storage unit you have in your head. It’s pretty damned innovative, Zara,” Ezekiel said. “I’m with Gino, I think we should bring Trap and Wyatt in on this and if you don’t mind, I can talk to them tonight. Trap will have all kinds of questions for you to answer. Who would ever conceive of anyone planting an SSD in the brain?”
Zara nodded. “If Whitney hadn’t gone off the rails, he’d be so far ahead of the competition, the United States would never have to worry about losing the cyber war, or the one on the ground.” She realized what she’d said after the words came out of her mouth. Whitney had really gone off the rails, he was insane. His genius had corrupted him. She was no longer willing to listen to his voice in her head telling her she was inferior, that she wasn’t good enough for him, a failure and a coward.
“It’s pretty cool that you can ‘talk’ to machines,” Ezekiel said. “Trap may ban you from his beloved laboratory. Wyatt’s is first-class, but you have to see Trap’s. It’s state-of-the-art. Once he and Wyatt disappear into that lab, we all know we might not see them for a week.”
The others laughed, but she didn’t. She understood. She knew what it was like to be so passionate about her work that she couldn’t break for something as mundane as eating or sleeping. She’d holed up for more than a week a few times. When she’d been in her teens, Whitney had locked her in the lab and told her she couldn’t come out until she’d solved the problems he’d put in front of her. She’d learned that behavior from those earlier days. First it had been Whitney keeping her there, but then she wanted to be there. She loved the various projects she worked on, and she could escape into her work.
Zara felt Gino’s eyes on her and she slowly raised her gaze to his. He sent her a slight smile, but his eyes weren’t smiling as he gave a slight shake of his head. A small shiver went through her. She knew what that headshake meant. He wouldn’t have her staying for a week in a lab or anywhere else doing research. She would be coming in at night and sharing their table and their bed. He’d already made that clear to her.
Did she mind? She thought about that too. Not really. Again, she saw it as caring, the opposite of the way Whitney had treated her, or the way she knew Zhu would. Zhu would be like Whitney, force her to work no matter what if Cheng wanted something from her. If she wanted to work late, she was certain Gino would come to her, probably with food. His kisses would be enough to distract her into going to bed with him. She sent him a reassuring smile.
Gino never really looked tense, but she was beginning to read him after spending so many days and nights with him. He definitely relaxed when she smiled at him. She tried to keep her attention on what Ezekiel was saying. He was attempting to help, and it was important to remove the data from the storage unit so Whitney would lose interest in her.
“I love the idea of PEEK-carbon being used. It’s completely translucent. The idea that you can walk into any lab and steal data right out of a computer without a single person having a clue you took it is extraordinary. Add building an SSD out of the nanotube of PEEK-carbon, and you’re the ultimate spy.”
Zara felt her body tensing up. Ezekiel had a lot of clout in the unit. He was an officer. She knew Gino was one as well, but Ezekiel had been running the rescue mission, and like Joe, his word was law. If he decreed she had to go retrieve data from somewhere, or suggested she do that for his major general, she would be in trouble. She’d be forced to continue a life she detested.
She loved her work on artificial intelligence. She saw it as the future—something that could really help mankind. She didn’t mind talking about it with others equally as enthusiastic, or those wanting to learn. If she was stealing from those people, she felt tense and sick. There was no way to have light conversation when she knew she’d stolen their hard work just so Whitney or someone in the government could piggyback on the work others had done. She sat still, frozen in place, feeling threatened. Ezekiel’s enthusiastic voice receded as she stared out to the river.
She needed a porch on her house. She began building it in her mind. It was the first time she didn’t count or do math problems to go somewhere safe. She built her home. A two-story house with wide sweeping stairs. Little alcoves along the way where she could put pictures of the children. A closet under the stairs where she could put their backpacks and jackets—although she was in the swamp so the humidity might stop them from having to wear jackets. She’d have to ask Nonny.
“Princess.” Gino’s voice was low. Gentle. It cut through the large living room she was putting together in her mind. She looked up at him. “Zeke isn’t going to throw you to the wolves. Neither is Trap or Wyatt. We’ve all had our share of shit, baby. Bellisia, and if we ever find your friend, Shylah, and you, have had too much as well. We’re building something here together. Homes. Family. We look out for one another. You’re mine, and baby, make no mistake about it, nothing will ever touch you like that again. I’m a hunter. It’s what I do best.”