“Impressive.” She holds her good hand out for him to shake. He gives her the once-over, but it’s not in a sleezy kind of way, so I’ll allow him to keep his teeth. For now.
“What can I say? I’m a man of many talents. And you must be the lovely Delphi. I’ve heard so much about you.” He kisses the back of her hand.
I decide that teeth are overrated. He can still do his job without them.
“I’m scared to ask.”
He winks at her as he releases her hand. I take the moment to wrap my arm around her shoulder and tug her to my side. She looks up at me and frowns.
“Not at all. Seems bossman here is quite smitten.”
I sigh. “Nathan.”
“Smitten?” Delphi chuckles.
“He’s got a thing aboutBridgerton. Don’t ask.”
“Got it.”
“What are you doing all the way down here anyway? I thought you weren’t coming in until next week.”
I nod to Delphi. “Someone got bored.”
“Someone can still hear you.” She pokes me in the ribs, making me grin.
“How about you go do what you’ve got to do, and I’ll give Delphi here the grand tour?”
I open my mouth to tell him it’s not necessary when Delphi jumps in. “Sounds good. Kruger?”
I sigh. “Fine. I won’t be long. Here, take your phone. Text me if you need me.”
“Will do.”
She gets up on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek, making Nathan smirk. Oh, he’s going to drive me up the wall over this. I can see it now.
Nathan tugs her from my hold and offers her the crook of his arm. I narrow my eyes at him, wondering if he could still do his job without his fingers, too. I guess there’s only one way to find out. Seeing me watching him, he drops his lazy grin and gives me a nod, letting me know she’s safe in his hands.
“Alright, have fun, kids.” I wave them off. It will be good for Delphi to talk to someone other than me for a little while. I don’t have to like it. I can’t stop her from living her life, and I can’t bewith her every second of the day. But that doesn’t mean I can’t watch her.
The first thing I do when I arrive at my office is turn on my computer and pull up the building’s cameras so I can keep an eye on her. Am I being a creepy motherfucker? Probably. Do I care? Not one bit.
I try to focus on the shit that needs to be done, but my eyes drift back to the screen every five minutes. I give up all pretense of working. Instead, I lean back in my chair, kick my feet up, and watch her face illuminate as she laughs at something Nathan says. I know he won’t make a move on her. He’s a naturally friendly guy. It’s weird that all our clients, both male and female, like him so much. Hell, he’s even on good terms with all three of his ex-wives. I still hate that she’s giving him laughs and smiles that should be mine.
“Fuck me, I’ve turned into a psycho.” My phone rings, jolting me out of my thoughts. I pick it up and frown when I see it’s Hannibal. “Speaking of psychos,” I mumble as I answer.
“Hannibal. How’s it going?”
“Good. Need a favor though.”
“Alright, tell me what’s going on.”
“Had a guy reach out to me about setting up a security firm in town, not dissimilar to yours. Wants to offer a percentage in the business to us in exchange for Raven Souls’ protection.”
“Alright. Who is this guy?”
“That’s just it. I’ve had Byte do some digging, and the guy comes up clean. Too fucking clean, considering he just approached an MC for protection. I might be turning shit around, but this chapter still doesn’t have the best reputation, so I know it’s not word of mouth that sent him our way. I even got G to look into him, and nothing came of it. Not even a speeding ticket. The only thing that seemed to spook him was when I mentioned your name.”
“Maybe he’s just not a fan of horror movies. You gotta admit—between you, me, and Amity, we have the market cornered on creepy-ass names.”
