Of course, we wouldn’t be staying in the lodge unsupervised. Porschay had kim with him. Macau would have one of his own bodyguards, and Carlo was accompanying me. He’d barely left my side since vegas made him my personal bodyguard a year ago.
The forest finally opened up before us, giving way to the beautiful timber lodge situated next to the lake surrounded by firs. The sun was glittering on the blue water.
“I can’t wait to take a dip,” I said. The temperature was in the high nineties, and I desperately needed to cool down.
“The others probably won’t be here yet. Plenty of time to go swimming before dinner.”
I nodded, then slanted arm a curious look. “Are you excited about seeing macau again?”
He’d blocked every attempt to talk about his engagement to macau so far.
“I won’t be spending time with him. I’ll only spend the night because I don’t want to drive right back.”
“You don’t seem happy about your bond.”
arm let out a short laugh. “pete, arranged marriages aren’t about happiness, they’re for tactical purposes.”
My lips thinned. “But what kind of tactical purpose could there be? Our families will be linked through my marriage to vegas anyway.”
My wedding to macau will solidify the union.”
I could tell that he wouldn’t say more. He parked the car in front of the lodge. Carlo’s car was already parked off to the side. He’d headed out two hours ago to make sure everything was in good condition.
I didn’t waste any time to storm to the guestroom I usually chose and change into a shorts and a sleeveless loose shirt —a white knit piece I’d fallen in love with the second I saw it. My skin wasn’t tanned enough to build a strong contrast to the pale fabric, but I was determined to work up a decent tan during our time at the lake. My bangs reached my eye, so I had to put them back with pins or they’d cover my eyes, and the rest of my hair almost touched my neck by now.
When I rushed back downstairs, familiar voices reached me from the living room. I headed straight for them, finding porschay, Leonas, and kim talking to arm and Carlo.
I made a beeline for porschay and threw my arms around him. When he pulled back, he nodded appreciatively. “That shirt looks hot on you. Good choice.”
I grinned, flushing when I felt everyone’s attention on me.
“Yep, you look like a hot piece of ass,” Leonas drawled as he leaned against the back of the sofa like a goddamn king.
“Shut it,” kim growled. He sounded as if he was already at the edge of his meager patience. As usual, his furious eyes sent a shiver down my back.
Arm walked over to Leonas and hit the back of his head. “Watch it. You’re not a Capo , so we can still kick your scrawny ass until your balls shrivel to the size of raisins.”
“As if they were ever bigger than that,” porschay muttered, giving Leonas a smug smile.
kim sent him a hard look. “I don’t care if you two torture each other. The only thing I care about is that you’ll return to home or less alive and that you don’t get on my fucking nerves.”
“I’m heading to the guard house. I’ll trust you to keep them alive” kim said .
Carlo grunted, which was the equivalent of a yes from him.
I nudged porschay. “What’s gotten into him?” I rolled my eyes toward kim’s broad retreating back.
“Let me change. I’ll tell you at the lake.”
