Page 31 of Vicious King

“A real date?”

“Fuck yes.”

“I’ll ask Mildred to sit with Charlie. She should be getting him from school any minute.”

“That’s going to change too. I’ll get him from school after today.”

Rina takes a breath. “I know that you want to shift into a role that should have been yours since day one, but I also need you to slow down just a bit. Not for me, for Charlie. He’s so happy you’re here, but I don’t want things to change too fast. It’s a big adjustment. Mildred has been in his life since he was two, and she’s a constant for him.”

I don’t like it.

I want to be the one to get him from school. I want to be the one to do everything.

But she’s not wrong.

“Fine. For now. I’m doing a full background check on the woman.”

“Of course you are.”

Ten

RINA

Two dates in the matter of days after a seven-year dry spell is kind of wild. Men have been completely off my radar since that day I was snatched from the parking lot of the hospital in Vegas. I have a battery-operated boyfriend, but the batteries died, and I never bothered replacing them because who the hell cares?

Sex has been the furthest thing from my mind. I know that’s not exactly normal for a woman in her early thirties, but I’m a tired single mom, always looking over my shoulder, and I don’t trust anyone. Okay, I trust myself and Carson. And Mildred.

That’s the whole list.

So there’s no way in hell I would have been willing to get naked with some guy, totally vulnerable and open both physically and emotionally.

Fuck that.

Not that we’re having sex tonight. Just because we’re going on a date, and we’re married, and I love him so much I can’t see straight, doesn’t mean that we’re going to do that. Sure, we had sex on our first date all those years ago, but things are very different now.

Why am I thinking about this right now?

I frown at myself in the mirror as I finish curling my dark hair. I did my makeup, and I’m wearing a green shift dress that ends mid-thigh.

I gained weight when I was pregnant with Charlie, and my entire body changed. He was a big baby, thanks to his ginormous father, and I have stretch marks and a belly and yeah. It’s all different.

But I have good legs, and I like to show them off, so the dress is shorter, and I’m wearing the only pair of heels I own. I splurged on them a few years ago, and this is the first time I’ve had a reason to wear them.

When I walk out to the kitchen where Mildred and Charlie are having dinner, Charlie’s whole face lights up.

“Wow, Mom! You’re pretty.”

I grin at my boy. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Very lovely,” Mildred agrees with a soft smile. I’m sure she has a million questions about the fact that Charlie’s dad is magically back, but she hasn’t asked any of them yet. She will. I know her, and she’s biding her time for a moment when we’re alone and we can talk without little ears around. And I have to think about what I’m going to say.

I don’t think I can just say Yeah, well, there were Mafia connections, and I was kidnapped, and then I almost died, and was told that my husband died, and I fled what I’m pretty sure were human traffickers to make a life for me and my unborn child.

That’s a lot. She knows that I thought my husband was dead and that I came here to start a new life. And she’s been a rock for me and Charlie. She’s part of our family.

“Don’t worry, Mom. If you don’t come home tonight, I can take care of myself.”

I chuckle and kiss my boy on the top of the head. “Uh, no you can’t. And I am coming home. Where on earth would I go?”