Kingpin(36)

“I’ll see you later, Dollface,” I say before finally letting her go.

It takes everything in me to do it after finally getting my hands on her. She doesn’t say anything, but that blush of hers lights up her freckles, reminding me of how many times I’ve wondered how far the blush goes on her body. How many other freckles does she have for me to find? What will she do when I kiss, lick and suck every one of them?

I leave her because I know she can’t get out of this place without my knowledge. When we enter Sal’s office, he walks over to his bar and pours me a glass of bourbon, then one for himself. I shoot it back, which is something I shouldn’t do. Bourbon like this is to be savored, but I need to take the edge off. Sal lets out a bark of a laugh as I set the glass down on the bar. Instead of sitting behind his desk, he takes one of the chairs in front of it, turning it toward me. I do the same next to him.

“I like her,” Sal finally says. I glance over at him. “She didn’t want to be here, but when my angel started to break down about being a mom, she jumped all in to help. Emma could have said it was too soon for her to come, but she stayed to soothe Thea. I appreciated that.”

I smile, not surprised by this. If there’s something I know about Emma, it’s that she’s sweet to the core. It’s one of the things I love most about her. It also scares the fuck out of me because I’m not sure she could ever accept my lifestyle.

“I don’t know if she can live this life,” I say, taking a deep breath and leaning back in my chair.

Sal nods. “I was thinking the same thing. But look at Thea.” He reminds me, giving me a trace of hope. “It’s not like we hurt innocent people. The people we have hurt had it coming. We’ve kept more people safe because of what we’ve done.”

I know he’s right, but still. We take the law into our own hands.

“I wouldn’t stand in your way,” Sal says as his eyes meet mine. “If you left to be with her. To start new.” He shrugs, letting the sentence hang.

I shake my head, hoping it doesn’t come to that. “I don’t want to leave you. You need me here. Our trust in each other is hard to find in this world. You could get hurt.” I don’t think he’s going to agree with me. He won’t admit to this weakness, even though I know it to be true. We might trust a lot of the men we hire, but like I said, our trust is unbreakable and never has to be questioned.

“I know,” he agrees, taking me by surprise. “You set up this master plan. So make it work.”

He’s right, I did. And now I have to see it through.

After that first day at the bakery, I followed Emma out into the street, keeping a safe distance so I wouldn’t spook her. She walked five blocks before she entered the hotel. I waited a moment before going to the front desk and asking for the manager, George.

The hotel was in our area and under our protection. George came out and gave me a curious glance, probably because he hadn’t called us. He’d wanted to take me back to his office, but I couldn’t risk it. What if she left during that time and I missed her? I didn’t want her to slip between my fingers.

“Redhead with eyes so blue you can’t miss them.”

He nods, turns to go over to a computer, and begins to type. A moment later I hear the printer go off. He grabs the papers and brings them over to me.

“She’s been here a few days and her room stays open. She mentioned waiting to get called for her next job assignment, which could take weeks, so we keep holding it for her,” he tells me. “She’s quiet. Orders room service about twice a day and leaves maybe once a day.”

The paperwork had all her information on it. I thanked him and called my guy with her name. Twenty minutes later I had everything I needed on Emma Walsh, a name she wouldn’t be keeping long if I had anything to do with it. But what shocked the shit out of me was that she was a live-in infant nurse. I’d heard Thea talking about wanting one. She said she wanted a nurse before the baby came, too, but Sal was only looking for the nurse to come after the baby came. They both liked the idea of having someone medically trained close by while the baby was so little since they lived a good drive from the hospital.

It was like luck was shining down on me. Or maybe it was fate. After checking her out and digging as far into her as I could, I brought my plan to Sal and Thea. Thea was all over it. She’d been dying for me to find someone. Sal was hesitant until he looked over everything I had. I don’t blame the man. This is his son we’re talking about.

It was a crazy plan, but I needed her to stop running from me. It was driving me fucking crazy. She was like a skittish cat and I finally got her cornered.