Page 65 of Desperate Victory
His grandmother. My heart fisted tight.
“It would be my pleasure. Just one request?”
“Name it.”
I grinned. “Give me time to change into something that isn’t last night’s dress or just your shirt?”
His long sigh held amusement and teasing. “If you insist.”
“I do.”
We were already chuckling.
Breakfast passed almost too swiftly, but I savored the moments. Then it was time to shower and change. The fact Bodhi had clothes for me here—perfectly sized and in my style—told me all I needed to know about how he’d already begun to plan ahead. I checked in with the boys while he took a call.
We’d be back at the penthouse after this meeting. Then it would be time to make our next move. Our meeting with his family kept us in the city and only a couple of blocks over at a lovely little pied-à-terre that reminded me a bit of Bodhi’s loft that we’d just spent the night in. Having a secure little private getaway in the city was just smart thinking if you didn’t live here regularly.
Having it for us to escape to when we shared our living space? Also smart. I was going to have to look into doing that as well. But that was a later problem…
The elevator carried us swiftly up from the garage to the apartment itself. “It’s a locked building,” Bodhi assured me. “Without the proper code or the invitation, the elevator will lock people out of any residential floor.”
That was smart.
Waiting for us were a pair of older women, dressed casually, yet I didn’t mistake their easy smiles or assessing looks as anything other than what they were. They wanted my measure and they were both protective of Bodhi. Even more, Bodhi clearly respected them, as well as held them in great affection.
That made me like them even more.
“Sophia, Aunt Eliza, this is Elaine Benedict, but you can call her Lainey if she permits.” The introduction carried just a note of warning. One that Sophia seemed to notice immediately even as the wattage of her smile increased.
“Oh, my darling boy,” she said, laughing even as she extended her hands to me. “It is a pure delight to meet you, Miss Benedict.”
“Lainey,” I insisted, accepting her grip and smiling at her. There was just something so classically beautiful about her. Like she wore the air of another time and age settled on her like a crown rather than a weight. “Please. I am very glad to meet you as well.”
“Very nice, I know your grandfather,” Eliza said as she accepted my handshake. “Leopold always enthuses about you.”
I grinned. “Grandfather is proud, but he’s also a little biased.”
Sophia wrapped an arm around me. “He’s very biased,” she said with a laugh. “But we should always be about the ones we love. Now, you must come and sit with me and let me ply you with some cakes and tea, then ask you all manner of inappropriate questions.”
Bodhi cleared his throat.
Chuckling, Sophia gave him the most impudent of looks. “Only if she agrees. Don’t tut at me, Bodhi. It’s impolite.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Affection and amusement vied for supremacy in his tone and my heart just squished like I’d been squeezed into the biggest hug. These women were not his mother, but they seemed to love him like they were. I loved that for him.
“You may ask me anything you wish,” I offered as we reached the table the women had already set. “But I reserve the right to keep some secrets.”
“Oh,” Eliza said slowly. “I like her, Bodhi. I like her very much.”
“Me too,” he said, grinning at me and I winked. It wasn’t the pleasurable haze we’d woken up in, but it was warm and wonderful.
Chapter
Twenty
MILO
Iclimbed the steps from the subway to street level. The colder air was a brisk slap in the face after the warmth from the train. Course, it was also not as smelly up here. Not everyone on that train had showered recently. Still, I liked public transport, particularly if I wanted to flush out any tails.