Guarding Antonia Page 5

  He and his team had heard all about the four-couple wedding the guys on the Delta team had had from Wolf. Having met both, Truck and Ghost, he was glad it had gone off well.

  When he walked into the room, the two girls were deep in conversation, but the connection between him and Antonia tugged at him, pulling him toward her without conscious thought. She lifted her head and locked her gaze with his the second he took his first step into the room.

  There was room on her other side on the couch. He acted entirely on instinct and sat next to her, resting his arm across the back of the couch so that his fingertips brushed her shoulder.

  A little of his tension dissipated out of him when she leaned into him, and placed a hand on his thigh, her familiar scent of lemon and peppermint swirled around him.

  “Okay you guys, what the fuck is going on between the two of you,” Erin demanded. “And don’t tell me nothing. You two have been playing some sort of cat and mouse game for over a year. Now it looks like the cat has caught the mouse and I want answers.”

  Antonia looked up at him, panic in her eyes. He squeezed her shoulder in reassurance. Letting her know in that simple touch that, like always, he had her six and they’d face this together.

  Antonia received the message Robot was transmitting to her—they’d deal with the fallout of their announcement together.

  What was going to piss Erin off the most was the fact that Antonia had kept it all a secret in the first place. They always confided in each other.

  “Why are you waiting so long to answer me?” Erin asked. “And don’t try coming up with some stupid lie. I’m not going to buy it.”

  As if she’d ever lie to her friend. Choosing not to tell her about being married wasn’t the same as lying—was it?

  Another squeeze on her shoulder had her looking up at Robot, the question plain to see in his eyes—did she want him to say it? She gave a slight shake of her head. This was her responsibility. She could do it.

  Making sure all her attention was focused on the magazines strewn across the coffee table and not on her friend, because if she looked at Erin, she might lose her courage, she took a deep breath and began.

  “Robot and I are married.” Five little words, seemingly so easy to say, after all. But, like a stone thrown in a pond, the ripples of her declaration could be far reaching. As it was Robot hadn’t said how the guys had taken it.

  “What?”

  Oh, fuck. This wasn’t good. Erin’s response was quiet and calm, not a screech like she fully expected. Maybe if she said it again, she’d get the reaction she wanted and could deal with.

  “Robot and I are married.”

  Erin shot up from the couch and put some distance between them. For once her life, Antonia wished Carlos was around, but she’d heard the baby cry when Robot appeared in the doorway and figured he was off attending to his son.

  “I thought I told you not to lie to me, Toni. So how about you tell me the truth.”

  Well, this was definitely unexpected. She hadn’t thought Erin wouldn’t believe her. She pulled away from the warmth of having Robot beside her and walked over to her friend, placing both hands on her shoulder so Erin had no choice but to look up at her.

  “I’m telling you the truth, Ren. We’re married.”

  Whether it was the tone of her voice or the fact Erin could see the truth shining in her eyes, her mouth dropped open and she looked between Antonia and where Robot sat on the couch, still and silent.

  “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” Then Erin slapped her on the arm. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

  Now here was the Erin she knew and loved. Without thinking, she pulled her friend into a hug, just needing to know she hadn’t ruined their friendship by keeping a secret from her.

  “Because I thought it was over and I’d never have to see Robot again.” As far as explanations went, it was a pretty pathetic attempt at one.

  “Yeah, I don’t believe that.” Erin looked at her and then over at the man sitting on the couch, observing them both in that freaky SEAL way of his.

  The man of the hour stood. “I think, as far as explanations go, we need Italy here, too, so we only have to tell the story once. How about I got get a bottle of wine for you girls and a couple of beers for me and Italy, then we can all sit down and talk about it.”

  “Stop trying to control every situation,” Antonia huffed out. She’d been in charge of her life for a long time, she wasn’t going to relinquish control now. He was taking this whole ‘still married’ thing too far.

  This was why their marriage needed to be dissolved as soon as possible, they got on each other’s nerves too easily.

  And yet you loved having him by your side today.

  Today was different, she told the voice in her head. All their interactions since their lives bounced together again had been contentious, to say the least. Robot always making smart-ass comments then she’d bite his head off. If she thought about it too hard, she’d have to admit that his comments weren’t that bad. More tongue in cheek, like when they were all waiting for Suzie’s baby to be born and he’d whispered in her ear that if things had been different it could’ve been her giving birth to their child but wasn’t it lucky that it wasn’t them. She’d called him an asshole, because he had been. It had been like he was giving her a dream and then snatching it away.

  Deep down she wanted to have children and for a split second she had imagined what it would’ve been like if they’d been expectant parents. Her reaction was just because Erin had been pregnant and blissfully happy. Suzie appeared happy with Joker and, yeah, jealousy was a bitch emotion.

  The pop of a cork releasing from the neck of wine bottle burst the bubble of her thoughts. So deep in her remunerations she’d missed Robot leaving the room to get the drinks and Carlos walking with in Kieran.

  Her eyes were drawn to the little bundle wrapped up in a lime green bunny rug. Although little was an anomaly now. Kieran was getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.

  The need to hold him almost overwhelmed her. After the day she’d had, she wanted the comfort holding a new life could bring.

  She walked over to where Erin sat. “Can I hold him?” she asked quietly.

  Erin handed over the baby without question, as if she instinctively knew this was what Antonia needed.

  Kiernan’s little face peered up from the blanket, his lips stretching into a gummy grin when he recognized his godmother. “Hey little man, you’re getting too handsome for your own good.”

  He waved his arm as though he agreed with her. She laughed and controlled the shimmy in her stomach when Robot slipped his arm around her waist.

  She turned her head to look at the big tough Navy SEAL in time to see his features soften as he reached out and traced a finger down Kieran’s perfect chubby baby cheek.

  Antonia willed herself to keep rigid and not melt into his side, no matter how much she wanted to. This could almost be like she’d imagined in the hospital waiting room all those months ago. Her and Robot and their child.

  She took a step away from his heat and sat on the couch. She really needed to get her shit together. Her emotions had to be running high due to everything she’d been through since this morning. That’s the only explanation she’d allow herself for picturing a future with her and Robot.

  She needed to try harder not to like the guy. Sure, he was sexy as sin and together they set the sheets on fire, but that wasn’t the basis of a good relationship.

  “You guys wanna explain how you’re married?” Erin asked pulling her, once again, from all her internal thoughts. She had to stop being so vague otherwise the story will never be told.

  Shifting Kieran to a more comfortable position she took a deep breath. “So, you know in Friends when Ross and Rachel got so hammered in Vegas that they got married?” She waited until both Erin and Carlos nodded. “Yeah, well, that’s what happened with us. We were wasted, didn’t know what we were doing and decided to get married. It was a tot
al mistake.”

  “Dude, seriously? You, the guy who never makes mistakes, got so drunk you got married in Vegas? I don’t believe you didn’t know what you were doing?” Carlos stated, staring at his team lead incredulously. “You never fuck up like this. I don’t buy it.”

  “What don’t you buy, Italy?” Robot asked, his tone low and expressing no emotion. He didn’t even look her way.

  “Exactly what I said, you never do anything on a whim. You always know what you’re doing. I’ve seen you pretty wasted, and not once, have you done or thought about doing something like getting married.”

  A small, traitorous part of Antonia perked up at what Carlos was saying. Sure, she’d been drunk on alcohol, but she’d also been drunk on the man sitting beside her. His masculinity had wrapped itself around her like a warm coat and she’d sunk into it gratefully. All she’d wanted was to be taken and protected by him, so she’d suggested marriage.

  On a whim.

  On a joke—but really kind of meaning it at the same time.

  She’d expected him to run away as fast as he could, instead he’d framed her face, kissed the beejeezus out of her and rushed her to the chapel.

  Morning regrets had pummeled her faster than a flying fist of a heavyweight boxer. It had been she who had said the marriage needed to end. Not Robot. He’d lazed in bed, his sexy chest on display with the sheet barely covering him and stared at her while she stuttered through the little speech she’d prepared in the bathroom. Her head was pounding at the time and heart was telling her to leap back into bed and give the marriage a go.

  She ignored her heart. Nothing good ever came of trusting emotions. Her parents’ numerous marriages and divorces displayed just how sacred the thought love was to them. She didn’t trust the emotion and, while she wished all the people around her who were falling in love well, experience had shown her, when things got tough, everyone ran. Would Robot have run if she hadn’t been the one to push for the annulment? Or would he have wanted to see if their spur of the moment marriage would work?

  “I knew what I was doing,” Robot conceded. “I also knew what I was doing when we agreed to annul the marriage the next morning.”

  “I didn’t think a marriage could be annulled if you’d consummated it?” Erin piped up, her eyes darting from Antonia to Robot. Antonia fought to keep the heat from rising in her face. She knew Erin’s question had a hidden depth. Her friend wanted to know if she and Robot had slept together.

  Well, yes, they had. On more than one occasion.

  Antonia sighed. “You can get a marriage annulled with a variety of reasons, Want of Understanding is one.”

  “Then why are you still married now,” Erin asked. Sometimes Antonia loved her friend’s bluntness, other times not so much.

  “Seems my former lawyer never filed the papers,” Robot said. “And before you ask, I don’t know why, seeing as I only found out the other day via a voicemail and I haven’t had a chance to call him back because I was busy today.”

  Busy with a murder and the police and her.

  “And neither of you thought to check that the marriage was dissolved? Seems like that’s something that should’ve been looked into.” This came from Carlos, pulling her out of the whirlpool of anxiety threatening to pull her under, and his suspicious tone annoyed her.

  “Robot assured me that once I signed the papers and sent them back, he’d make sure everything was handled on his end and confirm with me when it was all done.”

  Carlos raised his eyebrow. “Clearly, he didn’t.”

  “Watch it, Italy. I don’t like the tone you’re taking here. Yes, mistakes were made. I should’ve followed up, but we went to Afghanistan on that mission that should’ve been an in and out, but ended up taking far longer than we anticipated. By the time I got back, the last thing I was thinking about was my Vegas marriage.”

  “What about you, Toni? Didn’t you think it strange you hadn’t heard from him?” Erin asked.

  Antonia shrugged. “I’d lost my phone, remember? I had to get a new number and add back all my contacts, so even if he tried, Robot wouldn’t have been able to get hold of me.”

  God, even to her own ears both their explanations sounded lame, they’d done the right thing and yet to the outside observer they hadn’t. She should’ve been more proactive in making sure the annulment was finalized, but she’d gone with the edict of what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. The mistake she was better off forgetting.

  “Well then, I guess it’s lucky neither of you decided to get married in the last couple of years. That would’ve really been a shitstorm,” Erin commented.

  “Tell me about it,” Antonia muttered. “Although, only knowing him as Robot would’ve made him difficult to find anyway.”

  “Dude, you didn’t use your name when you said your vows? That’s jacked.”

  Robot tensed beside her and Antonia wasn’t sure if he was about to jump up and knock Carlos out. She laid her hand on his him, letting him know she’d take point on this question. “I’m pretty sure he did use his full name, but the wedding is still a blur so I wouldn’t have been able to recall his name if I tried.” What happened when they got back to their room wasn’t something she was likely to forget. Even in her inebriated state, she’d recalled it was the best sex she’d ever had—until the weekend she’d walked into his backyard. The second he spied her he hadn’t let her out of his sight. Whatever had pulled them together in Vegas swirled around them the whole day and they’d ended up in bed again. The sex that night was unbelievable. Surprising how being sober can make a huge difference to reactions and experiences.

  “Now everything makes sense,” Erin mused.

  “What do you mean?” asked Antonia.

  Her friend smiled slyly. “Well, all the times you guys fought whenever you were within six feet of each other. Toni, the way you would never answer my questions about you and Robot and would always change the subject. They often say there’s a fine line between love and hate. I think you two are a good example of that. But I still don’t get why you didn’t mention the whole Vegas marriage thing.”

  The baby crying saved her from refuting Erin’s assertions or answering why she never mentioned her marriage. She neither loved nor hated Robot. He just created emotions within her she didn’t know how to handle, and she didn’t like not being in control of herself.

  Erin took Keiran from her arms and Antonia leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes to shut everyone and everything out. Not for the first time, she wished for a time machine that would take her back to that night in Vegas and she’d make different decisions. Although, she had a feeling that even if she could do things over, she’d still be drawn to Robot. Whether she’d met him in Vegas or had met him for the first time at the party at his house, there was an innate quality about him the drew her into his orbit. Now that she was in it, she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to leave. Yet, she couldn’t risk staying. She’d seen how love can turn on a person. The hurt love can bring. Walking away from Robot again was her only option.

  Chapter 5

  All Antonia wanted to do was go home and sleep for two days. The past couple of hours at Erin’s place had been intense. Thank goodness Keiran had cried and basically stopped the Spanish Inquisition being conducted by Erin and Carlos. A silent message must have been passed between Robot and Carlos because when Erin returned and went to start in again, Carlos had laid his hand on her arm and looked at her, obviously relaying Robot’s message.

  She’d told him earlier she didn’t want him taking over the situation, but right now she was grateful. She’d spent the whole day talking. Her throat hurt. She was tired and, not that she’d admit it out loud to the man beside her, she was too scared to go back to her apartment.

  Realistically, the likelihood of the murderer finding her was pretty slim. Well, at least she hoped it was. All her prayers at the moment were that he hadn’t seen her like she’d seen him. But even as she kept saying the silent pleas, the truth
knocked at the back of her head—he had as good a view of her as she had of him. Her only hope was, because the complex was large, he would have a lot of difficulty connecting the dots and working out which apartment was hers.

  “We’re here,” Robot said quietly.

  Already? Hadn’t they just got in the car?

  She opened her eyes and saw that instead of being at her apartment complex, they were parked in Robot’s driveway.

  She sat up a little straighter. “What the hell are we doing here? I thought you were taking me home, Robot.”

  “For tonight, you are home. I don’t think you should be by yourself. It’s been a difficult day for you.” He reached out and trailed a finger softly down her cheek, and she had to hold herself still to prevent herself from leaning into him. “I have a feeling you don’t want to be alone either.”

  Damn the man. How did he know that I was thinking this exact same thing?

  Fatigue slammed into her with the force of a freight train. She didn’t have the strength to argue with him. And he was right, why fight it?

  “I don’t have any clothes with me,” she murmured.

  “Erin packed a bag with some of her things for you. She also threw in a spare toothbrush and some other essentials, was the term I think she used.”

  Tears threatened to erupt from her again. So many people taking care of her. It was a foreign concept for her. She’d always looked out for herself and when people needed help, she was the first one to put her hand up to help out.

  “I didn’t see you carrying a bag when we left their place.”

  “That’s because Erin put it in the car a few minutes before we left.” He released his seatbelt and opened his door. “Don’t move,” he commanded and got out.