“Faith,” she whispered.
“Faith in us.” He focused on her mouth and leaned in, kissing her in that tender way that always made her melt.
“Seems like you went through a lot of trouble for such a blurry concept,” she said against his lips, her vision smudging with tears. “Who does that?”
“People have been killing each other because of faith for hundreds of years.” He smoothed a hand across her cheek.
“Because of religion, Matias, which is based on control and fear.”
“But it starts with faith. Some believe strongly enough they die for it.” He leaned in and touched his forehead to hers. “You took that step tonight. You believed in us so passionately you walked into that house and risked your life.”
“You’re insane.” She wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders and sighed. “I love it. Everything you said was wild and inconceivable and could be argued until the end of the burning sun, and that’s why it makes sense.” She kissed him, softly, deeply. “Every reason, justification, and argument leads us to the same result. We’re together because that’s where we belong.”
He pulled her into his arms, and they settled into a cradle of silence. Voices and footsteps trickled from the house. The constant noise of whirring life echoed around them, and a thickening mantle of sorrow and relief smothered the air.
“How are you doing with this?” He nodded at the door.
“I experienced that whole thing way, way down deep.” An unreachable shiver jolted inside her. “All those feelings are still there, lodged somewhere between my heart and stomach. When they decide to resurface, it’s really going to hurt like hell.” She rubbed her face. “Those girls, Matias…God, I can’t…I just can’t think about it.”
“Don’t.” He kissed her cheek, brushing his nose against hers affectionately. “It gets easier, I promise. And I’ll be right at your side every step of the way.”
Golden fire, kindled in a Texan citrus grove and forged in a decade of hell, burned in his eyes.
She drew him close and touched her lips to his scruffy jaw. “What happens to them now?”
“The women will take them to a foster home, one of the many I vetted and trust. I fund every step of their recoveries. I also put the fear of God in those foster families to ensure they provide the best environments for the children I send to them.”
“There’s my crime boss.” She stared up at the sky and smiled to herself. “You’re a good man, Matias.”
“Then I haven’t scared you enough.” He lowered his mouth to her shoulder, pressing a kiss there while never taking his eyes off her. “I'll have another chance to do that before we head home.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Córdoba cartel is waiting at the helicopter to ambush us.”
Her face went cold. “What?”
CHAPTER 27
“What do you mean? Why are we just sitting here?”
Matias felt the worked-up rasp of Camila’s voice like a hungry tongue on his cock. “We have time.”
“Time for what?” She sprung nimbly to her feet and stepped off the porch.
Dark jeans stretched over her sexy curves, paired with a plain black t-shirt that molded to her perfect rack. Illuminated by the glow of the porch light, shiny black hair framed her gorgeous face and hung in windblown waves around her shoulders. There wasn’t a square inch of imperfection anywhere on her.
The savage need to claim her in front of God and everyone stirred in his blood. Wrong fucking place and time.
She stood in front of his perch on the steps, putting them at eye level. “This better not be one of those I-ask-you-don’t-say-shit conversations.”
He combated her glare, but goddamn, she made him hard as a rock. “We’re catching a different ride home.” His annoyance with the deal Nico made coiled tension into his shoulders. “I lost my favorite helicopter.”
“Wait. Hold up.” Brown eyes full of spark, she anchored her hands on her hips in the feisty pose he’d loved since they were kids. “You said there’s another cartel waiting to ambush you?”
“Yes. Los Córdoba.”
“How do you know this?”
“I set it up.”
“You what?”
He smirked, enjoying the angry flush in her cheeks.
She cast her gaze heavenward. “Santa Madre de Dios, give me the strength to not strangle this man.”
The crunch of tires on gravel sounded in the distance and grew louder up the driveway just as Nico stepped out of the house.
“We’re on our way,” Nico said into the phone at his ear. Ending the call, he strode down the steps past Matias.
As the black sedan pulled up behind Camila, she pointed at Matias. “Keep talking.”
“In the car.” He moved off the porch, toward the driveway, and opened the rear door for her.
Burd relinquished the driver’s seat and headed into the house. As a lower-ranked member, he’d been vetted for the vigilante portion of this trip, but not for the next part.
“Are the others coming with us?” Camila stared after Burd as she slid into the backseat.
“Frizz and Picar will stay with the girls for a couple days.” Matias latched her seatbelt, trailed a finger across her bottom lip, and shut the door.
He met Nico’s eyes over the roof of the sedan. Matias preferred to be the fake bodyguard and chauffeur—the guy no one paid attention to or targeted. But as Nico climbed into the backseat beside Camila, Matias reconsidered the whole decoy thing.
It was purely an emotional reaction after a godawful night. He didn’t want anyone else protecting her or sitting by her. He sure as hell didn’t want people thinking she belonged to Nico.
Fuck, that sounded ridiculous, even in his head.
Wiping a hand down his face, he lowered into the driver seat, cranked up the A/C, and drove away from the house. He only had about ten minutes to prepare her before they reached their rendezvous point.
“Last week, you gave me an idea.” He
