Dead Drop (The Guild #2)(90)
When I woke, though, she wasn’t as close as when I’d closed my eyes. She still faced me, her angelic features soft and her dark lashes splayed over her pale cheeks, but the distance had been created by the big brown hand around her waist. That fucking hand had wiggled her out of my embrace and into its own.
Simmering with blind fury, I reached my hand underneath Danny’s pillow, my fingers closing around the hilt of the knife she kept there.
Her eyelids snapped open the moment I tried to slide the knife out, her gaze locking with mine.
Don’t, she mouthed at me, her glare hard with warning.
I scowled back, shooting a death glare at the slumbering giant wrapped around her back. Motherfucker must have crept in like a damn mouse not to wake us up. I would have been impressed if I wasn’t plotting his bloody demise.
“Let me kill him,” I breathed, soft enough that he wouldn’t hear me. “Please. I’ll do it so quick.”
I tried pulling the knife from under her pillow again, but she wrapped her fingers around my wrist, stopping me.
“No,” she whispered, unwilling to even negotiate.
My eyes narrowed and my jaw twitched with frustration. “Why not?”
She exhaled a sigh, then turned her face slightly to glance at the dead weight draped over her. The way her expression softened, though, was like a cigarette burn to my heart.
“Because,” she finally whispered, shifting her eyes back to me with that soft, loving look still on her face. “I like him.”
That only made me want to kill him more. But that look was my kryptonite.
Swallowing my murderous desires down, I forced myself to release the knife under her pillow and withdraw my hand. “Fine,” I muttered, accepting the defeat.
She reached out and touched a hand to my cheek, turning my face back to hers. “I like you, too, Bunny.”
I smirked. She didn’t like me. She loved me. But knowing what I knew about her upbringing, it didn’t worry me that she couldn’t say the words out loud. She hadn’t grown up with a therapist for a mother, like I had, forcing me to confront my own thoughts and feelings at every session. According to my darling mother, our own mind could be our strongest enemy or our most valuable ally. The difference was in whether we ran from our truths or confronted them head-on.
In saying that, my mom also fucked me up so bad I thought I was incapable and undeserving of love and affection. So maybe Danny’s childhood under the whip of the Guild would have been preferable.
My response was to brush my lips over hers, taking one soft, sweet kiss while the meathead snored softly behind her. Ugh, I hated snorers. Maybe I could suffocate him with a pillow if we ended up in this situation again. That could be an accident, right?
“Make me coffee?” Danny asked sweetly, her whispering breath warming my lips.
I kissed her again, not really giving a fuck if we woke up dickhead. “For you, mon cœur, I’d do anything.” And I fucking meant it, even if it killed me to do so. Shooting another death glare at the piece of shit holding her waist, I slipped out of the bed and left the room.
My woman wanted coffee, then I’d make her the most delicious coffee she’d ever put in her mouth. Then I’d put something else in her mouth.
With a renewed sense of excitement for the coming day—or what was left of it—I headed back to “my” room to get dressed. I paused when I passed the room I’d locked Kai into this morning. The doorframe was splintered and broken, like an enraged bull had kicked it down.
Chuckling to myself, I almost wished I’d seen it. I bet he was pissed.
39
The door clicked softly closed after Leon, and Kai’s grip on my waist tightened instantly. I wondered how long he’d been awake, listening in on my whispered conversation with Leon.
“Is he gone?” the big guy at my back rumbled, pulling me closer into his body.
I bit back a dizzy grin. “Yeah, he’s making me coffee. You have a bit of a death wish, huh, Big Man?”
He kissed my shoulder, then rolled me over to face him. “Apparently. Was he thinking about killing me in my sleep?”
I nodded, lifting the corner of my pillow to show him the knife under there. “You gotta be more careful unless you want to wake up with a Colombian necktie.”
Kai’s eyes widened slightly, and he swallowed visibly. “Should I be worried, Siren?”
I laughed at that, unable to help myself. “Oh, Kai… baby… you should be terrified. But that’s not going to chase you away anytime soon, is it?”
“Hell no,” he growled, then pinned me down to kiss me until I was breathless and turned on as all fuck. Dammit. That totally contradicted my decision to quit fucking around until we could iron out some peace between the three of us.
With sizable willpower, I pushed him away to catch my breath. “Kai… we should talk.”
He grimaced. “Do we have to? I’d much rather…” His lips found mine again, his hand stroking across my bare skin beneath my T-shirt. Crap.
“Yes,” I gritted out, my palms flat on his chest to push him back. “We have to. Last night got intense, super intense. And unless you want me to stab you for being infuriating, I suggest we clear the air.”
He pouted but nodded and shifted back onto his side, giving me space.