Swallowing, I started to turn. His stare was unnerving, and I assumed he was working hard to not start a fight in mixed company.
But I barely moved when he grabbed my shirt with one hand and gripped my neck with the other, his fingers threading into the loose hair under the bun, his lips crashing into mine.
My hands gripped his leather, pulling him down closer. My body trembled as I soaked him up. The release of all the hurt and anger melted away with each stroke of his tongue.
His arms engulfed me, drawing me to him, and I couldn’t get close enough.
It was only when cheers and whistles filled the room that we slowed and he pressed his forehead to mine.
Fighting back tears of relief, I whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Just say you’re not angry with me anymore,” he said under his breath.
“I’m not angry with you.”
He kissed me again, creating more cheers. He stopped, pulling me closer and shouted, “Knock it off!”
“Oh, give ‘em a break!” Mama Hen shouted back.
He leaned down for another kiss, a quick peck on the lips, then gripped my chin gently. “We have some business to handle.But we’ll talk later.”
“Okay.”
He wrapped me up in his arms and squeezed me, so I wrapped mine around his waist as tightly as I could. I drew in his warm fragrance and my body relaxed. After a few beats, he finally pulled away and reached for the mug. “Thank you for this, Kitty Kat.”
Smiling, I turned and went back to the kitchen to finish helping. But as I did, I let out a huge sigh of relief. There wasn’t anything he needed to say, but I wanted to tell him exactly what he meant to me when we spoke later. If I wanted to be the First Lady, I had to first let him know I didn’t see myself just as his wife, but as his woman.
Chapter 30
Hawk
I finished my breakfast so we could check in on Keys. He’d texted as soon as we sat down, so I’d already told Niko and Eagle we had to hustle. I also got a text from Jackal that some shit went down and he and Shiv ended up in Alabama. Once they got Shiv’s patient settled, they’d be headed back. He confirmed it wasn’t the Hellbound Heathens and said he’d fill me in when they returned.
My mind had been elsewhere, still. That was until my Kitty Kat came over. I wasn’t sure what else I could do to temper her ire and it was eating me alive. Her throwing knives was better than pretending to be asleep, and much better than whenshe was sneaking around trying to avoid me.
I’d watched her sleep enough times to know what she looked like when she was in deep sleep, so I tricked her into talking to me. I figured she’d try to sneak in when I was in the shower, and I was right. Even so, we got nowhere. And it was breaking me. I wasn’t trying to hurt her and thought she understood how I felt. There was a coldness in her eyes that was haunting me. It hadn’t been all fun and games since we met, but this was different. She was deeply angry and hurt because of me, and I hated it.
So when she brought me coffee, and didn’t toss it on me, that was all I needed. The light in her eyes was back and I realized it was her stubborn way of showing me she had let it go. And that was enough. I had needed to kiss her, hold her, all night. I didn’t care that everyone made a fuss. I wished we could have some time to clear the air and just be together, but we were getting closer to finding Pop’s killer. I’d be sure to make time later, but this was importantandfor her safety as well. I couldn’t abandon everything to be with her, and hopefully that was one thing she did understand.
Once we all finished breakfast, we headed to Church and Keys came to give us an update. His dirty blond waves fell into his eyes. He brushed them to the side, only for them to fall back into place. “We’re still going through the phones and address book, but we did catch a break on something else. One of Martinelli’s top guys was spotted at Peaches-N-Cream.”
“How do we know it’s one of his guys?” Falcon asked.
Keys pulled a few printed pages from a pile he brought in and held them up. “Blue messaged me late last night to saysome fresh blood showed up looking to party. Heavy northern accents, well dressed. He put them in a party room and kept them going for hours. I tapped into his cameras, but he did us one better and had a dancer snap a selfie with this guy,” he said, holding one print higher. “So we kept eyes on them, started a facial recognition, and came up with this.”
He pushed the prints toward me. One was the selfie, and the other was a collage of mug shots and a photo from a newspaper. It was definitely the same guy. “There’s our confirmation they’re in the area. Any idea where we can find them?”
Keys gave me a long dead stare. “No respect for my craft.” He shook his head as he pulled more papers out and passed them my way. “Blue had a guy go scout the parking lot at my request and we narrowed it down to these vehicles. These two are from out of town,” he said, jamming his finger to the paper.
Leaning up, I asked, “Did they leave with any women?”
“Unfortunately yes, but we followed them via red light cameras for a good stretch. We eventually lost them but had checked hotels in the area and came up empty.”
My brow furrowed. “Then we have nothing to go on.” I leaned back in my chair, a heavy sigh leaving my chest. “What now?”
“Can you trust the process?” Keys asked as he patted his chest.
Niko reached over and waited for me to nod, showing approval for him to grab the pictures. “I know this man. Leo Mancini. Capo. He’s the one we suspected was here. He won’t be alone.”
