Page 17 of Their Property
My throat suddenly went dry, and I suppressed a cough. I’d need a drink to wash this bagel down.
“We should get going, Miss Vance.” Anita hovered by the table while I helped myself to a cup of grapefruit juice.
“Let’s give them another minute,” I said, feeling antsy as I glanced at their door again. “If they’re not up soon, we’ll—”
The knob turned and the door opened with a soft creak. My breath felt stuck in my chest as three imposing figures walked through and swallowed up all the remaining space in the loft.
“Mornin’, ladies,” T-Bone greeted. His eyes immediately went to the breakfast spread and lit up. “Oh, fuck yeah, cinnamon rolls.”
On his shoulder, Munin let out an enthusiastic chirp, as if he shared the same feelings about cinnamon rolls.
“Ah, morning, guys,” I said, my voice higher and breathier than I intended.
“Good morning, Kyrie. Did you sleep well?” Dyno hung back while T-Bone and Grudge went for the food, amusement dancing in his dark eyes. Dyno had two braids running back on each side of his head today, making him look even more like a Viking than normal.
“I did, thank you. How about you guys?”
He grinned like we shared a private joke. “Well enough.”
“Oh, this is my assistant, Anita.” I turned to the woman who now stared bug-eyed at the three men devouring half of the breakfast table. She clutched her agenda to her chest like a shield. “Anita, this is T-Bone, Dyno, and Grudge. The Sons of Odin MC.”
“Hey,” T-Bone said around a mouthful of cinnamon roll. “Nice t’meetcha.” He picked up a bowl of some granola and trail-mix concoction and held it up to the raven at his shoulder, who pecked at the food.
The other two men grunted out greetings in between bites of food and slurps of coffee. To me, the scene was comical, if even endearing. Anita, on the other hand, looked horrified.
“These are your, um…bodyguards?” she asked in a small voice, eyes darting around.
“Yes!” I chirped, maybe a little too cheerily. “It’s okay, they won’t bite.”
“I mean, if you want us to, all you have to do is a—“ T-Bone’s offer was quickly cut off by an elbow from Dyno.
“There will be no biting of my assistant!” I struggled to keep the laughter out of my voice, but couldn’t hold back the grin or the heat running up my neck. Especially not as T-Bone took another massive bite out of a cinnamon roll, chewed it slowly, and licked the frosting from his lips. He also got a little bit on his finger and stuck the digit in his mouth to suck it off.
His whiskey-colored eyes then locked onto mine, catching my blatant staring, but I still couldn’t look away. Not until Anita cleared her throat loudly. “Ahem.Should we get going, Miss Vance?”
“Ah, yes.” I spun away from the Sons as if I could hide how red my face had already become. “Meetings, great! Let’s get started.”
SIX
KYRIE
The morning meetings were just as boring as expected. Once my first-day jitters settled down, I struggled to keep my eyes open as a room full of fifty-plus year-old men told me their very forgettable names and mind-numbing stories of their positions and duties to Sevier. Thankfully, Anita stayed glued to my side and took copious notes. If I ever had smaller, more personal meetings with these men, at least I’d have a cheat sheet.
Mymasculinestyle of dress seemed to raise a few eyebrows as we walked in, but it was my bodyguards who stole the lion’s share of the attention. Without a word, T-Bone took the seat to my right as if he had every right to be at that table. He and Munin swept their gazes over the room as if daring anyone to voice an objection. No one said a thing.
Every so often, I got a whiff of cinnamon, icing, and coffee when he swiveled in the chair. It made me want to lean into him, to nuzzle into the worn leather draped over his broad chest and find out if he smelled as good up close. But I kept my focus on the officials making their introductions, staying poised despite the desire to curl up against the man sitting next to me.
Dyno remained standing, posting himself at the door we’d come through. Grudge walked around the long conference table to the opposite side of the room, found a spot against the far wall where he could see all of us, and planted himself there. No matter how boring the introductions got, his eyes remained steadfast on me, T-Bone, and Dyno. Well, it was at least comforting to know they took the job seriously.
I wasn’t the only one with bodyguards. Some of the higher-ranking officials had their own posted next to or behind them. Some guards were clearly military officers, sharply-dressed in camouflage uniforms with blank, stoic expressions. Others were rougher-looking with threadbare clothes and aged, dusty boots.
A stocky, brick house of man stood a few feet away from Grudge, directly behind his client’s chair. His thick arms remained crossed over his chest during the whole meeting, eyes sweeping back and forth over the table with an occasional furrow from his bushy eyebrows. I didn’t care for how long or often those eyes lingered on me.
When the tedious introductions were finally over, I smiled with relief. “Thank you all for the warm welcome. I’m excited for the coming months of working together and bringing Sevier to its full potential.”
“Excellent.” Governor Perry beamed. “On that topic,” he flipped a few pages on the legal pad in front of him, “here are some of our goals for the territory over the next five years.”
Everything he rattled off from the list sounded reasonable, from improving infrastructure to building new schools, hospitals, business districts, and residential neighborhoods. My father did all of that in the past decade and Four Corners was flourishing. The one thing I was waiting for, but didn’t hear, was how he planned to improve the lives of citizens already in the territory and currently struggling. I wrote a note down in my own legal pad to bring up that topic later.
