“Who does that?” she whispered back and he saw it happening deep in her eyes.

She was losing it.

Nick shifted closer.

“Georgia just called Gill, ordered a cleanup and asked when we could reschedule our meeting. Now who does that?” she asked.

He lifted both hands and framed her face.

“Nair was awful,” she said. “Everyone knows he’s awful. But now he’s dead and I’m just supposed to go to the grocery store and go home and make dinner and that’s it?” She shook her head in his hands. “A man is dead.”

“Livvie—”

She lifted her hands too, curling them tight around either side of his neck.

“I don’t want this to be my life,” she whispered fiercely. “But now, I don’t want it in your life. Don’t you see? Don’t you see now why I can’t do this? Why I can’t have you? Why I can’t have anybody?”

Before he could react to that, as in put a stop to where she was heading, she let him go, pulled out of his hold, jumping off the stool and taking a big step away. Throwing an arm out wide to take in his kitchen, she kept talking.

“Honey, I’m home,” she called out sarcastically. “Oh good, sweetheart. Taco extravaganza for dinner and, oh, by the way, this afternoon, Dad murdered someone in front of me.”

“Liv—”

She bent toward him, the movement so abrupt it appeared painful.

“That’s insane,” she hissed.

“Baby—”

She leaned back. “And what do you do? You can’t call the cops. Or you can. Then, as retribution, my dad makes you dead or I’m dead or your brother’s dead or the mother of his children is dead or—”

He took two strides to her, yanked her in his arms and ordered, “Livvie, stop.”

She held herself stiff then sagged so deep he had to take most of her weight.

“We can’t do this,” she said into his chest.

“I’m getting you out,” he declared.

She went stiff again.

Then her head jerked back and she asked, “What?”

“I’m getting you out.”

“Nicky,” she whispered, her hands coming up, going into his jacket and curling into his shirt at the sides of his waist.

She did that but said no more.

His family called him Nicky when he was a kid. He loved it until it was the time in a boy’s life to hate it. No one had used that name for years. Decades.

He loved it again from Olivia.

“I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, I’m just gonna do it,” he stated. “I’m gonna do it so you’re safe, I’m safe. Everyone’s safe. No worries. Just free. You just gotta give me the time to figure it out. And as much as I’d like to see that happen right now and do that by callin’ the cops and lettin’ them know your dad committed homicide today, I’m thinkin’ my plan’s gotta be more intricate than that. So we brave it out, suck it up, eat taco extravaganza, whatever the fuck that is, and I’ll get you safe as soon as I can.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible,” she replied.

“I am,” he returned quickly and firmly.

Her eyes registered surprise.

Then her mouth whispered, “You believe that.”

“Absolutely.”

It took a few beats. It came slow.

But that was when pure beauty entered her gaze.

“Why is it that you believing makes me believe?” she asked in her gorgeous, delicate voice.

“Because I’m the man who’s gonna eat taco extravaganza, whatever the fuck that is, just because you made it. I’m also the man who’s gonna put the effort into making you come for me after, more than once, even though it’s highly likely taco extravaganza is gonna sit in my gut like an anvil. And I’m also the man who knows every day I wake up you mean more to me than you did the day before. And I’m the man who knew you meant a fuckuva lot to me yesterday, so you meaning more today means everything. And I’m the man who’s got two priority missions. To get you free of a life you hate and to get you to a place that you smile, frequently and easily.”

The beauty in her green eyes didn’t leave.

But it did get watery.

So Nick had no choice but to lift a hand to her cheek so he could catch the wet that leaked out with his thumb.

“Right, that’s why you believing makes me believe,” she said, again with that soft, sweet, gorgeous voice. A princess voice. His princess’s voice.

“That’s why,” he confirmed.

Wet leaked out of her other eye where he didn’t have a thumb to catch it. Seeing as he didn’t want to take his arm from around her, he had no choice but to sweep it away with his lips.

This he did.

She slid her arms around his middle and held tight.

Since he was there, he dropped his forehead to hers.

She took in a deep breath that hitched.

He just stayed close.

She got it together.

He pulled away a couple of inches but only to look toward the kitchen.

He did a quick inventory and looked back.

“An entire bottle of French dressing?” he asked.

“Trust me,” she answered.

“Boxed mac ‘n’ cheese?” he went on.

“Trust me.”

“What is taco extravaganza?” he asked dubiously.

And then it happened. A moment he knew he’d never forget. Not in his life.