Page 74 of Forbidden Need

“After you take care of our unfinished business.” Which was? They had unfinished business? “But what?” She didn’t get it. “McLeod said nothing in the car, but… what?”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“Your story, the night you met Vex. You started and didn’t finish. Your brother always said you could call no matter what, and he said nothing in the car, but…”

Glimmers of a past conversation tickled the edge of her consciousness. “Oh my God, you…” Shock stunned her. They’d had that discussion two months ago. “How do you remember that?”

“Because when I ask questions, people answer them.”

And she hadn’t. “I… can’t even remember what I was going to say.”

“Your brother picked you up from the club. Start there.”

“Lach always told me I could call and he wouldn’t get angry. We rode the whole way back in silence, but I knew he was disappointed. He didn’t have to say it; I’d disappointed him.”

Something she’d done again when he learned about her current relationship, of where her heart lay.

Scooping his fingers between hers, he put them on his body. “Now who do you call if you’re in trouble?”

“Strat,” she teased and laughed when he grabbed her hip to jerk her against him. “You. I’ll call you. Except…” She frowned. “What will we do if we find the murderer first?”

“What do you want to do?”

Were they deciding together, or did he expect her to know the right answer?

“I don’t know.” He gave her time to think. “If it’s Silvio related, there are rules, right?”

“Aye, I can’t hit him, but I doubt he was the triggerman.”

“Was it the triggerman’s fault if he was following orders?”

“How’d that work out for Pietro?”

Another good point. “Losing my grandfather is difficult. Losing you would be a whole different kind of hurt.”

“Why would you lose me?”

“Because if we find him first and take care of the problem, everyone else will still be looking. What will be the point of us pursuing an assailant we know is already dead? Except when we give up the investigation or lose interest in it, we’ll draw attention from the others in our task force, and I don’t want that.”

“Unless we’re kissing in public.”

“Well, yeah, that’s a different—wait, are you saying you don’t want—if you don’t want physical contact or for us to acknowledge each other in public, we won’t. Shit, I didn’t think much about how outing us affects your credibility. I’m sorry.”

He jerked her against him again, pressing her down into the mattress when their bodies met, his grip tightening.

“You’ll do a helluva lot more than acknowledge me.” He’d said the battle was one she fought only with herself. “If I am your kingdom, you better be ready to stake a claim. There are no limits, no boundaries between us, Cushla Machree.”

“Strat’s scared I’ll spiral without an anchor. I told him, in my own way, I didn’t value my life. I have been… crazy recently, taken risks and pushed limits. Being without you, lost and alone, maybe I wanted to hurt myself…” She sighed. “Or maybe I wanted your attention, to prove to you I can be strong and worthy of standing at your side.”

“Cushla Machree.” He kissed her. “You are a warrior and my queen.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

OFFICIAL WORD.

Authorization.

Permission.

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