Alejandro already warned him. In these Mexican neighborhoods, weapons were everywhere. And it wasn’t even shocking to see kids handling them—while anywhere else, at that age, they’d be messing around with damn Legos.

“I’ll never get used to this." He muttered, one massive hand gripping the wheel of the SUV, his gaze briefly caught by the horizon.

Beside him, he could feel you. Right there. So close. And that… that was something he doubted he’d ever get used to either.

You had this way of throwing him off balance. On missions, you made him reckless, more hot-blooded than usual. All because he liked you. Love was a hell of a stupid thing sometimes.

“No wonder Alejandro’s got so much guts around here. Did you know he grew up in this place? I didn’t.” The Scot’s voice cut through the silence as he shot another glance at your profile. Too pretty. Way too much for his liking.

He swallowed hard, his brow tightening ever so slightly.