“I could say the same thing about you,” he growled.
“I’m sure you have.” I smiled. “The difference is one of us will be in her life forever, and the other is a paid employee. You have no guarantees, Kimble. So, watch your fucking words, and your fucking games and help me find her assistant. Or you’ll be cut out of this equation before she steps foot in her house again. I can promise you that.”
“In her life forever?” he repeated. “You think you’re going to marry her?” It was hard over the roar of the engine to discern if I heard pain or surprise in his voice. Maybe it was a mixture of both.
“I know I am.” I pulled into the courtyard driveway. “As soon as we find out who the family is that’s playing this damn game.”
“Where are we? This isn’t the Martin compound.”
“My new place,” I explained. I stood from the car and tossed the keys to my valet. “Come on,” I directed Kimble. He seemed to be in shock. He followed me inside. “Too many people at the office and I don’t know that Kennedy’s place is secure.” I wasn’t willing to take him to the stables either. “I have a guest suite where you can shower.” His suitcase was in the backseat.
“Has she agreed to this?” He studied me. “To your plan about the future,” he clarified.
“To being my wife?” That was what he was stuck on? The woman I loved was in danger and Kimble was worried about Kennedy’s answer.
He slid the sunglasses off his face. “Did she say yes?”
I exhaled. “Kimble, focus. We have work to do first.”
“So, you haven’t asked?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but no. I haven’t. All of this shit happened before I had the chance.”
He didn’t have to say a word. I could see the relief on his face. His forehead relaxed. Was that a grin? Bastard.
“I guess we should get started.” His tone was lighter.
I didn’t have time to dissect how he thought. Minutes were too important to waste on the inner workings of how he processed information.
“In here,” I directed him to my new office. There was a white board in the middle of the room.
“What is this?” he asked.
“I thought we could use it to get started.” I quickly jotted down a list of places where I had looked for Crew. I stopped scribbling. “These are the places Seraphina has been able to cross off.” He peered at it. “She visited locations that Crew frequents. Like I said, it’s a start.”
Kimble walked closer to the whiteboard in my office. He grabbed the eraser off the ledge and wiped down the board.
“This is shit. We’re going to have to start over.” He tossed the eraser on a table and picked up the marker. I didn’t like the possibility that Kimble’s renewed energy came from the knowledge that I hadn’t proposed to Kennedy yet. It fueled him somehow and that was going to be a problem for us working together.
Chapter14
Knight
We had been at it for over an hour. It was an hour I didn’t have to give. I knew the stopwatch was ticking away. Crew’s parents were likely at the police station by now. Kimble hunched over a map of the city. He had stretched it across the top of my desk.
I poured a drink, but I couldn’t touch it. The idea that my head would be anything less than clear if Kennedy or Seraphina needed me wasn’t an option. I had to stay sharp. Focused. Alert. I left the glass of bourbon on the counter.
I wandered to the bare bedroom. I sat on the bed, letting the heaviness of defeat sink down onto my shoulders. I needed a fucking minute away from the body man. He grunted. Sniffed through his nose. Stomped his foot every time he picked up the damn marker. I needed space.
My phone rang. It was Seraphina.
“I don’t have any updates for you,” I explained before she even said hello. I stood from the bed and walked over to the window.
“Knight, shut up and listen to me.”
“What is it?” She had my attention. I moved the curtain to the side, watching a couple walk
“I’m in the car. I’m on my way back from mom’s. We met there for lunch.” She was talking so quickly I was afraid I’d miss something. “Knight, she was happy.”