I groaned as I felt the cold sheets beside me. Ugh, where is he?

The growl of my stomach briefly interrupted my thoughts. Maybe he could be in the kitchen.

I jumped out of bed, shivering as the chilly air hit my naked skin. Quickly crossing my arms, I ran over to the closet to get a robe. Once the fluffy, warm fabric enveloped my body, I let out a sigh.

Quietly making my way down the stairs, I let out a yawn and haphazardly searched for Nick. I didn't see him anywhere on the way to the kitchen, so I shrugged it off for now and started to make breakfast, stumbling around while collecting all the ingredients.

BANG!

I jumped and covered my mouth, so I didn't scream. What the hell was that?

"Fuck," I heard a deep voice grumble. Looks like I know where he is.

I tiptoed my way toward the sound and saw Nick hunched over the front door to the house, metal tools laying on the hardwood floor all around him. Once I got closer to him, hearing my soft footsteps, he turned around.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you,"

I waved him off, "don't worry about it. You didn't," my gaze drifted toward the door behind him, "what are you doing?"

"Just some safety precautions," he shrugged.

I walked closer to the door to see what exactly he was doing, and what I saw had my jaw dropping so far down, that it would be halfway to China. Three giant deadbolt locks were attached to the side of the door, and from the looks of it, he wasn't done.

"What are you doing? Preparing for the purge?" Yes, we watched it last night.

An amused grin appeared on his face. "I'm just making sure nothing happens to you. My number one priority now is keeping you safe."

Even though my heart exploded and I wanted to cry from how much he cares about me, I though this was going too far.

"Nick, I'm sure one is enough."

"Maybe, but I'm not taking any chances. I have to do the windows after this too."

"You don't have to do this," I started.

"But I want to. It'll help me go to work and not worry as much about not being here to protect you."

I smiled at his words. "You worry about me?"

"How could I not? You're on my mind all the time." He stated nonchalantly while my heart was beating a thousand times a second. How could I get this lucky?

I walked closer and pulled him into a kiss, which he instantly returned. My hands made their way into his hair, and his arms tightened around my waist. I gently nibbled on his lip, which elicited a groan from him. He pulled me up to bring my closer and I wrapped my legs around his waist.

He started to carry me somewhere, but I didn't really care where. I broke the kiss with one last lingering peck to the lips, moving to the corner of his lips instead. I traveled from his lips to his cheek to his jaw and down to his neck, gently sucking and nibbling as I went. I could hear his breathing become heavier as I continued to kiss him down his neck. I moved over to his Adam's apple to give it a quick peck before I gently sucked on it, causing a sharp inhale from him.

I didn't even notice that he set us down on a nearby couch. He was sitting, while I was straddling him, sitting right over a very hard part of his. His hand gripped my butt as slowly moved down to his shoulders and then his chest, unbuttoning the top few buttons of his shirt. Right as his hands met the tie on my robe, our heated gazes met one another, he slowly pulled the rope to let the robe fall open. Just as I leaned in, flicking my glance to his lips, the door burst open.

I jumped startled, while Nick covered me up with my robe, pulled me closer to him, and drew his gun in the direction of whoever came in. I felt Nick relax a little, so I turned my head to see who it was.

"Oh god, what the hell did I just walk into?" Ryan groaned as he covered his eyes. This must have looked pretty bad for him. I'm sitting on Nick's lap with his hands pulling my robe around me to cover my naked body from his gaze, and he with his messy hair, half of his shirt buttons undone, and what looks like some brand new hickeys. I turned to Nick to see his facial features hard and angry as he glared at Ryan as if saying get the fuck out.

Ryan noticing this quickly said, "I'll go and empty your fridge for now," before he walked out. Must be important since he didn't leave.

Nick sighed, obviously frustrated since a certain part of him is still excited.

He quickly pecked my lips before mumbling in my ear, "what are you doing to me?"

I smirked as I leaned in and gently brushed my lips over his ear lobe, causing him to shiver beneath me, before I whispered, "I'm not really sure, but I'm definitely liking it."

He groaned as he picked me up and carried me upstairs, "come on, we need to get you some real clothes."

~*~

"He's been following us for the past couple of days," Ryan explained as I took the last waffle out of the waffle maker and onto a plate, Ryan and Nick patiently waiting for breakfast.

"Has he been following Amelia?" Nicked asked with a more serious look on his face.

"I don't think so. The guards you hired haven't seen anyone suspicious," Ryan replied.

"What guards?" I questioned accusingly at Nick while grabbing the strawberries and whipped cream out of the fridge.

Nick turns his head to glare at Ryan, while he just looks to the ceiling and whistles a tune.

"Nick," I warned.

He sighed. "It's for your safety. I hired guards to keep an eye on you from a distance. The restaurant isn't the safest place for you, and I feel better knowing some of my men are watching over you for me."

I nodded. "Okay...creepy, but I guess it's for the best." I started to cut the strawberries, noticing Nick's gaze travel to my fingers. "I'm not going to cut them off, Nick. I could actually cut much faster than this."

"Don't," he commanded.

I'm not going to do it.

I'm not going to do it.

I'm not going to...

Fuck it.

I took the next strawberry and chopped it up in about two seconds. That was pretty Gordon Ramsey like to me. I looked up to Nick to see a not so pleasant face. I looked down sheepishly, "sorry."

He shook his head with a small grin on his face, "I should know better than to tell you not to do something."

I started to plate all the strawberries on the waffles and put away the knifes and cutting board.

"So, back to Lorenzo," Nick started.

"Right," Ryan cleared his throat, "I think he thinks we didn't destroy the contract,"

"Why?"

"Maybe because we haven't declared war on them yet or something, but either way he's getting too close to us. He's in our territory and we need to find out whether he's with us or against us."

"Keep an eye on him. He hasn't made a move yet, but when he does we'll be ready," Nick ordered.

I shook up the whipped cream and sprayed it on the plates of pancakes and lastly in my mouth. I noticed Nick staring at me as I did so. There's no doubt in my mind his mind is full of dirty thoughts right now. I looked over to him and winked discreetly so Ryan couldn't see it. Quickly turning around to put the can back in the fridge before seeing his reaction. Turning around, I saw his hungry gaze travel around the curves of my body. I gave the boys and myself each a plate of waffles and forks and knives.

Ryan immediately took a giant bite. "Mmmm," he groaned, "you never disappoint."

I chuckled.

Nick's arm came around my waist pulling me to him. He gave a quick peck on my cheeks before saying, "my girl is amazing." My heart fluttered at the words my girl, a rosy tint dusting my cheeks. Noticing this, he smirked and kissed my cheek again. I turned away toward my breakfast and began to eat.

Nick and Ryan started to make conversation, while I drifted away into my own thoughts. Is his job really that dangerous that he was installing three dead bolts on the front door? He might have been going over the top, but just in case, shouldn't I do something to ease his worries? At that moment, Ryan laughed about something and punched the air a few times.

Hmm, I have an idea.