Page 16 of My Favorite Kidnapper

But he shook his head, lifting his cup.

The chances he’d walked in here wanting coffee were nil.

He had come for me. I was certain of it. But I tried to bluff my way through and pretend I didn’t remember who he was. The kisses we’d shared.

“Would you like a refill, sir?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral.

“Yes,” he replied, pushing his cup toward me. I tried not to notice how my hand shook as I poured it. He didn’t say anything, and I began to turn around when he spoke, but I knew I had failed in fooling him.

His next words confirmed it.

“Hello, my little bee,” he murmured. “I’ve been waiting.”

I had no control. My fingers loosened, and the pot slipped from my hand.

All I could do was watch it.

Chapter Five

DANTE

I lunged, grabbing the coffeepot by the handle before it hit the floor. I straightened, setting it on the edge of the table, and stepped closer to Brianna. I towered over her small frame, somehow liking that fact. I felt invincible.

“Not happy to see me?” I asked.

She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She looked at the coffeepot, then back at me.

Then she did the most extraordinary thing.

She began to cry. She flung herself into my arms, burying her face into my chest, wrapping her arms around my waist as she sobbed. I had little experience with comforting crying women since I was usually the one who made them weep, but instinctively, I pulled her close, pressing her face into my torso, surrounding her. Protecting her.

Looking around at the shocked expressions, I glared, making people look away. I had a feeling my appearance was the final straw for my little bee today. She had looked worried, tense, and exhausted as I watched her. Her smile was forced, and her voice pitch was wrong. She needed something, and I decided right then what she needed was me to help her.

I lifted her, my instincts confirmed when she didn’t object and demand to be put down. I carried her into the kitchen, ignoring the looks of the patrons watching us covertly. At the back, the young man I had seen earlier was leaning against the counter, playing on his phone. A younger girl was hanging over his shoulder, watching, while another girl was filling cookie trays, ignoring them.

“You,” I barked out, getting all their attention. I focused on the young man. “Your name,” I demanded.

“Kenneth,” he replied, slipping his phone into his pocket.

“Well, Kenneth, stop being such a lazy ass and get out front. Clear the tables, pour the coffee—do your job.” I indicated the girl who’d been hanging over him. “Fill the trays out front. Both of you need to show some initiative.” I met the eyes of the girl who had been working. She had been the one to serve me earlier. “Make sure they do what they’re supposed to.”

“Is Bri okay?” she asked.

“She’ll be fine. Give us a minute.”

They left the kitchen, and I set Brianna down on the counter, standing between her legs. Her shoulders were still shaking with sobs, and I let her cry for a moment, still in shock at her reaction. I could hear the sounds of work happening out front, and I shook my head in frustration. Brianna didn’t seem the type to let others slack off, so why she was allowing herself to be worked to the bone while they did nothing was a mystery. I leaned my hands on the counter, lowering my head to her ear and speaking quietly. “Enough now, Little Bee. I’m here, and everything is going to be fine.”

She reacted to my voice, lifting her head. Her deep brown eyes glistened with tears, her rounded cheeks wet from the salty liquid. I ran my finger under her eye, staring at the wetness on the end of my finger. I slipped it into my mouth, tasting her sadness. She stilled as our eyes locked, her sobs ceasing, her shoulders drawing back.

“Even your tears are sweet,” I murmured.

I didn’t know who moved first. If I grabbed her or she reached for me. Our mouths melded together, and nothing else mattered.

* * *

The kitchen door opened, breaking us apart. Kenneth gaped at us.

“The front is cleaned. I was going to fill the trays.”