“Maybe.” He shrugged those broad shoulders. “But there’s another way of looking at it.”
“What way is that?” she scoffed.
“That they are protecting my woman from her ex-partner for me.”
“I— You— You’re what?” She had no idea how to categorize their relationship, and she doubted Knox did either, but she certainly didn’t think they were at the my woman stage.
“Just give up arguing, Ellie,” he advised lightly. “Whether you like it or not, my guys are staying in place, on my instruction, and that’s the end of the subject.”
Truth was, Knox hadn’t bothered asking any of the Wynter family what their opinion was about Linus spending time checking on Day for him and for Knox to then redirect a team to protect Ellie and follow Andrew Day.
None of them had asked him for an explanation yet either. He could only assume that was because Linus had already told them about the digital surveillance he was going to do on Day, and that they had all drawn their own conclusions from that information.
Which was that protecting Ellie was personal to Knox.
Knox had no doubt he’d get a phone call from Magnus in the next few days. The nosy bastard would probably ask him when the wedding was and if he could be best man.
As far as Knox was concerned, the answer to that was “the sooner the better, and yes.” Angel and Karen could be bridesmaids, if Ellie was agreeable, and as her closest male relative, Geoff could give her away. The twins could even be the ringbearers.
The only reason he hadn’t specifically asked Ellie to marry him yet was that he knew it was too soon for her.
Just as he knew she had been acting a little skittish when he picked her up from the HERA offices a short time ago. Because in the hours since he’d seen her, he knew the barriers had been put back in place. Just as those overlarge glasses had once again been perched on the end of her nose, hiding the emotions in her eyes.
Knox might accept that it was too soon to ask Ellie to marry him, but he wasn’t going to allow her to put up any barriers between the two of them. They had kissed and made love in her office earlier today, and he intended to repeat the experience very soon, hopefully this time somewhere more comfortable and where they couldn’t be interrupted by Benny or Sally at any moment.
Not that he or Ellie had thought of that at the time, but he was pretty sure Ellie would have thought about it later.
He had known, the moment he held her in his arms again and kissed her when he went to her office this evening, that she had somehow managed to wash off the scent of his cum he had rubbed possessively into her flesh earlier.
Probably in the office bathroom with the door locked for privacy.
He had been feeling feral when he guided spurts of his cum all over Ellie’s abdomen and between her legs, recognized that the urge to rub it into her flesh was a positively primitive one.
He had done it anyway.
Done it and enjoyed every moment of staking his claim.
“It isn’t funny, Knox,” Ellie snapped in response to the smile currently curving his lips.
Knox glanced at her and then back at the road. “I wasn’t thinking about that.”
“Then what were you thinking about?”
“How much, when you do meet them, the Wynter family are going to love you.” He deliberately opted for a safe subject, not one that was going to make Ellie retreat even further.
“They are?”
“Oh yes. I know Angel will, especially.”
“You said she was Magnus Wynter’s stepdaughter?”
He grimaced. “In every way that matters, she is Magnus’s daughter.”
“Her real father is out of the picture?”
“Have you ever heard of Marco Carlucci?”
She frowned. “I’ve heard of the Carlucci family. Roman Carlucci, mostly. He lives in DC, I believe. For years, it’s been rumored that he’s Mafia.”