Page 11 of Between Steel and Secrets
She huffs under her breath. “Like I’m not aware of the shit that goes down here every single day.”
Nova is a bit of a spit-fire. I like that about her. She stands up to her father and isn’t afraid to call him out on his crap.
She grabs a nearby lawn chair and slides it over to sit. It’s not like she needs to be close, it’s still warm this summer evening.
I’m looking forward to winter when I get back on the ice with my friends and teammates. It isn’t coming soon enough for me.
“Are you going to stand there or join me?” Nova quips.
I crack a grin and stalk over toward her chair, pretending to sit on her lap.
“Go ahead.” She gestures for me to sit with her.
I’m pretty sure I’d crush her if I sat on top of her. “Switch with me,” I offer and wait for her to stand before I grab her chair and then pull her onto my lap.
Nova immediately leans back, letting me embrace her as she sits on my lap. “You’re not worried about your father seeing us like this?” I ask, my breath tickling her ear as I wrap my arms around her waist.
Her eyes widen and she bolts right off me like lightning just struck.
“Where are you going?” I ask as I watch her dally off from the fire.
“To grab another chair!” She heads across the lawn, grabbing a second chair that was near the back garden before the forest, and drags it with her to sit beside me. “Chair thief.” She playfully snarls at me, and I blow her a kiss.
“Don’t do that!” Nova holds a finger up at me, warning me to behave.
“Why not?” I’m all smiles. The girl has the ability to make me forget about the exhausting day, the threats, the death, and turmoil.
“My father might see!” Her eyes widen and she glances around outside. It’s dark, and unless someone is watching from the window, I doubt the cameras can pick up subtle movements.
“Your father?—”
“What?” Nova asks and glances over her shoulder like he’s coming.
Except he’s not.
Her father knows about us. He’s not happy about the arrangement, but he’s never threatened me over it. He did, however, try to get me to marry Harper. Perhaps that was his way of trying to break the two of us up?
It seems Nova isn’t aware that her father knows about our relationship. We have been mildly keeping it a secret. I haven’t screamed from the rooftops that I’m fucking her.
Although, according to Luca, that might not be the case.
“What’s so bad about Moreno knowing we’re dating?” I ask, curious why she’s so gung-ho about him not finding out.
“He works for the mafia!” Nova stares at me, like I should be on the same page as her. Except, I’m not.
“Obviously,” I say and smirk. I reach for her hand, missing the close contact. I liked when she was seated on my lap, even if only for a moment.
She squeezes my hand and then pulls apart.
“Come on, what’s the worst thing that could happen?” I try not to smile, because the way I see it, Moreno already knows, and Nova is the only one panicking over absolutely nothing.
I scoot her chair closer to me, putting us right next to each other. My fingers move to her thigh, my thumb circling over her skin, inching slightly higher as she squeals and shoves my hand away.
“You’re intolerable!” Nova’s eyes are like two saucers as she glances around.
“What’d I do?”
“There are cameras everywhere! Don’t you value your life?” Nova’s voice trembles, and I can’t stop myself.
