Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Holding Kairo helped the lingering terror subside. He’d just found this man. He couldn’t lose him already.
Kairo tried to apologize again, but there was no need for it. He didn’t care that Vanko was dead. He didn’t care that they still didn’t have the answers they needed. He had faith they would uncover the truth. All that mattered was protecting Kairo and his family.
Of course, after he was done holding Kairo, he scrubbed every centimeter of his body and gave him a blowjob that curled his toes and left him clinging to the tiled wall.
While Kairo was relaxed, reinvigorated, and ready to jump into his work, Isidore was reconsidering his role in Kairo’s life. Which was why the next day he specifically sought out the two more dangerous men he currently knew: Alexei and Westin.
Isidore located them in the large backyard of the house that abutted a neighboring olive orchard that gently climbed up the slope of Mount Parnassus. His eyes slid over the silvery green leaves dancing in the afternoon breeze that was coming in off the gulf. The house was simple but nice. However, he was finding his favorite part about staying here—other than being able to cuddle up with Kairo each night—was the olive orchard.
The grove of trees reminded him of the farm he owned in Messinia on the Peloponnese peninsula. They were still a few months out from the harvest. He’d hoped to be there for it as he had been for the past several years. Would Kairo be interested in taking time off to join him for a little while?
Just past the patio that had a scattering of wrought iron chairs and a table for relaxing in the evening, Alexei and Westin stood. They both held two handguns with silencers. No, suppressors. West had already given him a lecture on how the movies had the wrong word for that device. They were using suppressors to muffle the noise of their shots. They were a good distance from other neighbors and the occasional gunshots weren’t unheard of as ranchers and farmers used the noise to scare off foxes, wolves, lynxes, and wildcats when they ventured too close.
The two men were amicably chatting as they took aim at a series of random targets they’d set up on some boxes and even hung from a couple of the trees.
He edged closer to them, his hands in the back pockets of the new jeans he’d recently acquired, trying to look relaxed when his stomach was twisting into knots. It wasn’t so much that talking to these men made him nervous, but rather what he wanted to ask.
After setting one gun on the table, Alexei lowered the gun he’d been shooting and popped the clip from the butt as he half turned toward Isidore and offered him a smile. “What’s up, Izzie? You wanna fire off a few shots with us?”
Oh! That worked out better than he’d been expecting.
“Actually, yes. I was hoping that you could show me how to shoot a gun,” Isidore announced.
Not only did Alexei’s eyes widen on him, but West spun completely around to stare at him, his gun pointed safely at the ground.
“Seriously?” West inquired.
“Yes. Definitely. Seriously. I’ve never held a gun, but I thought now might be a good time for me to learn how to handle one of those properly.” He waved one hand at the guns both men held while pinning the grin on his lips so they couldn’t see his growing nerves.
Alexei and West exchanged a look, and Isidore couldn’t decide whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. After a bit, West shrugged one shoulder. “Why not? You remember your gun safety lessons?”
A snort left Alexei and he smiled broadly. “My uncles and mother all beat that stuff into my head.” He glanced over at Isidore and waved him over. “I’ve spent my life surrounded by guns. My family made sure that I understood their dangers and proper uses. But that’s what you get growing up with a pair of assassins.”
Isidore had so many questions about Alexei’s very interesting life, but he shoved them down. When the young man moved closer, he could see that Alexei had gone all out on his eye makeup, giving himself smoky cat eyes—terms he only knew thanks to having a sister. Alexei also had the longest eyelashes he’d ever seen. Were they real? It was probably rude to ask. He definitely shouldn’t ask or try to touch.
He turned his attention to the gun in Alexei’s hand, focusing on why he’d gone looking for him and West in the first place. Before he even got to the parts about firing the weapon, he spent many minutes walking through how to turn the safety on and off, how to check whether the gun was loaded, and how to properly hold the gun when he wasn’t planning to fire it. Isidore loved this part. This was all about keeping the people he cared about protected from him screwing up.