Chapter FORTY-TWO

MEREDITH

It took some convincing, but I finally got Mario to agree to drive me to my stepfather’s place, just the two of us.

I really didn’t want to wait for the other guys to return from the grocery store. Even though I used the fast pickup app, they were going to be at least another half an hour. And I wanted to get home before Josef got there.

Excitement pumped through my veins, and I bit my lower lip. One week was long enough without my husband.

It was funny, or not, depending on how you thought of it, but we’d been apart for fifteen years. I hadn’t realized I’d been living a half-life in all that time without him.

Josef was like my own personal missing link. I needed him like I needed air and water and food.

He was the breath in my body.

My reason. My hope. My dream. My beautiful reality.

Christ, I loved that man.

“Everything okay, ma’am?” Mario asked.

“Do not call me ma’am. You make me feel like I’m a hundred,” I said, trying my best to glare at my bodyguard.