Page 12 of Deliverance

He grinned, swooping down and placing a quick kiss on my lips. “That was the plan originally, but now I don’t want to let you go.”

I melted and snuggled into his chest. “Okay.”

“Oh, so when I snuggle you it’s a hostage situation, but when Adrian does it, it’s okay?” Sebastian took a seat across from us, pouting.

“You’ve had her all day,” Adrian said. “You need to share.”

“Oh, I think I proved that I share just fine today.” Sebastian wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I rolled my eyes even as my cheeks burned.

“Stop teasing her,” Alexander chided. “Help me carry this to the table.”

Sebastian grumbled but shot me a teasing wink and stood to help. Marcus set the table while Alexander and Sebastian carried the food. Steam rose from the salmon, green beans, and those lemon herb potatoes I loved. Dominic took a hesitant seat next to Sebastian, as if he wasn’t sure he was welcome. I smiled when his eyes met mine, and he returned it. His smile did something inconvenient to my pulse, which I chose to ignore.

Adrian didn’t let me up from his lap and filled his plate for both of us. I stopped him from feeding me, though. I shifted so I could lean back against him and eat. He wrapped his arm around me, hand resting on my thigh as he ate one-handed.

After dinner was done and the plates were cleared, I shifted off Adrian’s lap. We needed to make a plan for the coming weeks. I needed to shift into Evelyn the leader, not Evelyn the girlfriend. As much as I would rather stay in this cozy bubble forever, people relied on me. They needed me focused, not half asleep on my boyfriend’s lap.

The guys responded to my change in seating by also sitting up around the table.

“How was the office?” I asked Marcus.

“Fine,” Marcus said. “Daily operations are running smoothly. We put a halt on new contracts or clients temporarily, and I briefed our VPs that we may be absent for a bit. They’re stretched a bit thin, but with the halt on new contracts, theirworkloads should balance out. I also told them to keep an eye on their departments to see who may be ready for a promotion, and that will help ease their loads as well.”

I bit my lip. I still didn’t love that they were going to lose business because of me.

“It’s not just because of the Kingfisher situation,” Alexander said, reading my mind. “We’re at capacity with all the new Citadel clients coming in. And I don’t want to hire randomly and risk having another leak. We’ll take our time and grow strategically. The clients will still be there.”

That was fair, and I nodded.

“There was nothing on the traffic footage Liam could find surrounding your HQ in the last few weeks. No unusual activity or repeating vehicles. We can’t rule it out completely, but if they did case the place, they were smart and switched out vehicles. Whoever this crew was, they’re professionals.”

“That fits the bill of who Kingfisher hires,” Dominic confirmed. “He wouldn’t use anyone except the best.”

“Well, they may be good, but we’re better,” Alexander said.

I wanted to believe in his easy confidence, but I wasn’t going to underestimate Kingfisher. He was smart. We had to be smarter.

“Did you get anything from SID?” I asked Dominic.

He shook his head. “Agent Mercer didn’t share any details with me. He also isn’t giving me any details on the girls, other than that they’re safe.”

“Well, we predicted that Agent Mercer wouldn’t share any information, but it’s still frustrating,” Alexander said. “Hopefully he changes his mind in the future.”

Dominic nodded. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I got an email this morning from the FIA Deputy Director that all FIA operations are suspended till further notice, and agents are placed on leave, pending the SID investigation.”

“What does that mean?” I frowned. Was he planning to go home? Kingfisher probably wasn’t going to be too happy Dominic helped arrest the director.

“That means I don’t have anything going on for the next few weeks at least, so I’m happy to help.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That is, if the offer to stick around still stands. I’d understand if you wanted me out of your hair.”

“No,” I said, maybe a little too quickly. “I think it would be safest if we stuck together. For the time being,” I clarified. “I don’t think Kingfisher is too happy with you since you helped us take down the director.”

“Okay.” The tension in Dominic’s shoulders eased slightly, like he had been more uncertain about the answer than he let on. “I’ll stay.”

“We’re all in agreement that the director is not Kingfisher, right?” Marcus asked, looking around the table.

I nodded. “I don’t think he is. The way he talked, for one, the messages Dominic got sent afterwards, HQ…it’s all pointing to him not being Kingfisher.”

“Could he have arranged it from inside or ahead of time?” Adrian asked. “Some kind of fail safe?”