Accidentally Yours (Merffy Kizzmet) novel Chapter 193

回

The morning was ordinary in all the ways that made it precious.

Sunlight slid across the hotel suite’s floor like warm silk, catching on dust motes and the chrome edge of Enzo’s espresso machine. The city beyond the glass was already loud–sirens somewhere distant, a fountain down on the Strip hissing into life–but inside it was just coffee, quiet, and the squeak of her sneakers because she couldn’t stop bouncing.

“Mall day!” she declared, arms flung wide like she was christening a ship. The hoodie she’d half xipped swung open, sports bra flashing; her braid wasn’t even braided yet–more like a rope she’d given up on halfway through. “I am going to buy clothes that aren’t traump- adjacent. Imagine!”

Enzo didn’t look up from the tablet he was reviewing, but the line of his mouth flattened like a dour closing. “You’re not going with less

than twelve men.”

She stopped mid–bounce. Twelve? That’s more than the president. Which–hate to break it to you–I am

“You’re worth more than the president,” he said, voice calm enough to be a warning.

God, that line shouldn’t make my chest hu

shoulder. “This is a mall run, not a raid.”

hurt the good way. “Enzo,” she groaned, grabbing a throw pillow and thunking it into his

“You don’t raid anything without me, he returned, eyes still on the tablet, but softer now at the edges.

She flopped across his lap dramatically, limbs everywhere, because being reasonable had never once worked on him. “Fine. But if all twelve soldiers follow me into Victoria’s Secret, we’re starting a rumor so catastrophic your grandchildren will feel it.”

His knuckles slid against her knee, absentminded. “Then Nico leads the detail. He’s enough.”

play the hits.” She cupped his jaw, kissed the corner of his mouth, quick as a bright

“Compromise,” she said, popping up. “I love when you play thing. “You’re a tyrant, but you’re my tyrant.”

Nico strolled in at the exact wrong moment to hear that. He paused, taking them in, then deadpanned, “If this is about me carrying shopping bags, I’m faking my death.”

“You would never,” Lola said, rolling off Enzo and onto her feet in one spring. “You live to suffer beautifully.” She pointed at him like a ringmaster. “Also, fries. The food court calls to you.”

One corner of Nico’s mouth tipped. “You think I can be bribed with fries”

“Everyone can be

bribed with fries,” she said solemnly. “God made them that way so the world could have peace.”

Enzo

finally set the tablet aside to look at her property. His gaze snagged on the half- muttered–santa pazienza [holy patience–and finished braid, the hoodle she hadn’t decided to zip or not, the way she was practically vibrating. The briefest smile, a ghost passing through. “Text me when you arrive. When you move. When you so much as look at a dressing room.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” she saluted, then stole one more kiss he caught and deepened until she forgot she was supposed to be sassy. He let her go reluctantly, like the word hurt in his mouth.

1/2

11:26 Thu, Oct 9

Chapter 193

I’ll bring you back something stupid, she thought at him a little prayer, a little promise. Maybe a ridiculous shirt he’ll pretend to hate

and wear in secret.

“Let’s go, trouble,” Nico said, keys already in hand.

Trouble. She pretended not to love that,

The motorcade slid into daylight with professional Indifference. Two black SUVs bracketing theirs, another in front, one more at the rear- Four men already ahead on foot in the mall’s outer ring, earpieces tucked, caps low–spotters disguised as morning juggers and bored tourists. Two pairs drifted the parking levels like lazy sharks. The last two rode shotgun in the flanking cars, eyes up, rifles cased but ready. Twelve, as promised. Overkill to anyone else. Baseline to Enzo.

Lota cracked her window and let Vegas air swirl in–hot concrete and cheap perfume, somebody’s cigarettes a lane over. She tucked her half–done braid under her hoodie and propped her chin in her palm, watching the Strip roll by like the world’s gaudiest conveyor belt.

“You ev

ever notice,” she said, “how malls are basically people zoos? Like enclosures. Teens in their natural habitat, moms with strollers doing migration patterns, dads sedated on benches holding shopping bags like ceremonial offerings.”

From the driver’s seat, Nico snorted. “You’re insufferable.”

right,” she argued happily. “The food court is

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify