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thing if he wasn’t okay, but he’s still not here. He’ll be here soon. Stop fussing. I tell myself sternly as I carry trays of sandwiches to the dining room for Blake and Xavier’s men who are still here. I take another one to the living room and set it on the coffee table along with a large carafe of coffee for anyone who is interested. The room is filled with the sounds of tears. Margot’s granddaughter is still sobbing apologies while being comforted by her grandmother.
A pair of teenage boys wrapped in coarse looking, grey blankets drop to the floor beside the coffee table reaching for food with dirty hands, moaning when they take their first bite then stuffing their mouths full. Food was a good idea. I watch them for a minute, my heart swelling with sorrow for what they’ve endured. What all of them have endured.
Hot tears splash onto my cheeks and I hurry back into the kitchen where no one will witness me breaking down. My hands are shaking, and I feel a little sick to my stomach. My heart hurts. The police will be here soon and I’m not sure if it makes me a bad person or not, but I know that I can’t go back out there.
Leaning over the sink I let the tears continue to fall, my shoulders shaking until a gentle hand settles on my waist. I flinch at the unexpected contact, whirling around to find Blake so close that I feel his cool breath on my face. He looks tired, but okay, the lean lines of his face tight with emotion.
“I can’t…” my voice cracks as his arms close around me, propping me up. I’m grateful that I don’t have to say anything else. He understands without me needing to explain.
“You don’t have to, babe. Weaver’s on her way. She’s arranging for everyone to be admitted in the hospital overnight. That way her team can take statements while any necessary treatment is administered and get in touch with their families.”
I know that Weaver is the FBI agent who Xavier’s been working with, from things I overheard, but until this second I had no idea it was a woman they all referenced with a combination of respect and dislike. She must be something else to garner that sort of response from these men.
“I didn’t know Weaver was a woman,” I mutter. Not that it matters.
Blake chuckles dryly. “Yeah, she’s a ball buster. I think she wants to bring Xavier down as bad as she wants Dominic, but he’s never done anything to justify it. I’d hire her in a heartbeat if she ever wants to leave the Feds.”
His words are a surprise, distracting me from my emotional turmoil. From what I’ve heard about K&S I guess I thought that they were a boy’s club. The only woman I’ve heard any mention of is Becca, and she is the office manager, not an investigator.
“Do you have any women working for you besides in the office?” I ask, untangling myself from his arms and moving to get us both plates. I need to do something. He takes them from my hands and sets them on the table before pulling out a chair for me to sit at the kitchen table.
“Just Becca right now,” he crosses to the doorway and slides the pocket door closed, muffling the sounds of voices from the living room. I love that even in the middle of something as big as what is going on, he wants to be alone with me. Even after I spent a week locking him out.
I put a sandwich on my plate thoughtfully, “What kind do you want?” I ask, indicating the pile of sandwiches still on the table.
“Whatever you’re having is fine,” he lowers himself to the chair beside mine, stretching out his leg with a groan. “Did you think we wouldn’t hire women?” he questions me, his eyes sparkling with humor.
I place a sandwich on his plate then add one to mine, “Faye said the only woman working there that she met was Becca, so I wondered.”
“Travis and I were deployed with enough women to know that they can do the job. We just haven’t had much interest from women looking for work yet,” he says.
I pick up my sandwich and take a bite. He does the same, familiar comfortable silence falling between like it usually does. When both of our plates are empty, he places them in the sink and stands there for a while staring at me, not saying a word.
“I’m glad you’re ok,” I whisper. “I was worried about you.” There. That wasn’t so hard to admit.
He crosses the distance between us in two long strides, pulling me to my feet and crushing me against him. “Most of the time I do tech support. Safest job out there.” He reassures me, raining soft kisses all over my upturned face.
My hands slide up his arms and over his shoulders, almost of their own accord, until I’m holding his face between them. “I’d be so sad if anything happened to you.” I tell him seriously, my heart screaming for me to tell him more. To tell him the way I felt when I watched him leave earlier. How badly I had wanted to join my friends when they sent their men out the door with kisses and words of love. How sorry I am that I didn’t.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me, angel. I pr….” I press onto my toes and kiss his lips, stopping the word before he can finish it.
“Don’t make promises like that, Blake. Bad things happen, no matter what precautions people take. No one knows that better than me.”
He pulls me tighter, his delectable mouth claiming mine in a brief tangle of tongues and urgently bumping teeth. The sound of the door sliding back open breaks us apart and I reluctantly step away from him. Faye and Ana peppered me with enough questions already. Until Blake and I define what this is going on between us I don’t want to give anyone anything to speculate about. Not even my friends.
“You okay in here?” Faye asks, walking in with a big pile of plates in her hands.
“Yeah,” Blake says stepping closer and wrapping his arm around my shoulders, “Everyone gone already?” She gives him a look that clearly asks where the heck he’s been and nods her head.
“Yep,” popping the P loudly like she does sometimes, reminding me of my sister. “Time to do the dishes so I can go home to bed!” She yawns widely, making me yawn too. We both laugh quietly, as I cross to the sink and turn on the tap.
“I’ll start the dishes if you don’t mind getting the rest of them for me,” I offer. I had no idea we had sat here long enough for the authorities to have come and gone. I figured they would want to talk to everyone here, but I guess I figured wrong.
“Deal,” Faye says, turning and heading back for another load of dishes.
“How about I promise that I will always do everything I can to be safe and to keep my team safe?” Blake asks when we are alone again, not ready to drop the subject, pressing against me from behind and pinning me to the spot where he kissed me stupid and gave me an orgasm just a few hours ago. With everything that has happened, it feels like days have passed.
I lean my head back against his chest and nod. “Deal,” I breathe, mimicking Faye’s term of agreement. Restrained laughter rumbles in his chest making me smile. “Now let me do these dishes. Mama called earlier, she needs me to come home tonight.” I can’t help my disappointed sigh.
