Page 41 of Toxic Devotion

Mike was whispering something, his mouth in Aidan’s hair. Aidan leaned back in his arms and Neil felt like an interloper as he watched them look at each other with something deep and meaningful in their eyes.

“Why don’t you go make some hot chocolate?” Mike suggested, smiling down at Aidan.

Aidan looked up at Mike and nodded. He threw Neil a cautious glance but walked past him to the kitchen.

Neil headed toward Mike and the wary look on the man’s face told him he was well aware that he hadn’t been able to hide a thing from Neil.

“The thing about playing with fire, Mike?” He stopped next to Mike, turning his head to look into the man’s eyes. “Youwillget burned.”

He knew from experience.

Marco

The one-year anniversary of Alicia’s death was coming up soon and whatever progress he’d made in his grief seemed to disappear. The only thing keeping him afloat was Dante. The kid was talking and running around. He certainly made his nanny earn her salary.

He wanted to spend all his time with Dante but the older he got, the more of Alicia he saw in him. It hurt his heart so fucking much that he let it affect his relationship with Dante. The kid had already lost his mom. He couldn’t lose his uncle, too.

So, he tried. Hard. But some days he simply couldn’t. Dante didn’t understand, of course, and it broke his heart that he left the kid confused and hurt. At least Rome was a constant in Dante’s life. The man loved the kid, and it showed. Aside from the way he was with Dante, new toys kept accumulating in his room. Rome was spoiling Dante and as much as he knew that he should probably tell Rome to dial it down, he couldn’t get himself to do it.

He turned in his chair, gaze rising to land on the painting on his office wall. It was the last one she’d painted. He’d never met anyone with as much talent as her. She could’ve sold her paintings for millions, but she didn’t want to paint for profit. She’d wanted to paint for love. He saw that love in this painting. The bright colors. The purple sky. He saw hope. A future. He kept Alicia’s paintings up all over the house for Dante but also to remind himself of her. To remind himself of what he’d lost.

Giggles had him heading down the hallway and into Dante’s playroom. He was sitting on the floor with a green and black checkered teddy bear he hadn’t seen before.

“What are you laughing about?”

Dante looked up at him with all the cheek of a two-year-old. He put his finger over his lips and shushed Marco, then whispered, “Issa secret.”

Marco shook his head and stepped closer so he could pick him up. He smoothed back Dante’s unruly hair and said, “Is that a new one?”

Dante nodded and squeezed the teddy close to his chest.

“What’s its name?”

“Gray,” Dante said in a whisper.

Marco’s heart skipped a painful beat, and he froze for a second.

He closed his eyes and held Dante tighter until the kid started to wiggle. He put Dante down and when the nanny, Isabelle, returned with a plate of fruit for Dante, he left them to it.

He walked into his office and headed for his desk. He had a few ledgers he needed to go through, and he’d put it off for days already.

“I need you to do something for me.”

Marco’s shoulders shot up, his body tensing. Not at the words but at hearing that voice. Even after all this time it still did things to him, to his body, and he hated it.

He slowly turned around and silently cursed his heart for skipping a beat when he laid eyes on Neil. His dark hair was slicked back, his suit looking pristine, his tie the same shade of smoky gray as his eyes. He looked absolutely gorgeous. Flawless.

“You really have the nerve to show up here and ask for favors?” he growled at Neil.

Neil’s expression didn’t change.

“It’s for Cade.”

Marco cursed out loud then.

As much as he wanted to stab Neil with his letter opener?preferably right in the eye?he couldn’t. He owed Cade.

“Cade can ask, then.”