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The kiss wasn’t long, or deep. She broke it, resting her forehead against mine.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “I should have asked first.”
I had to swallow hard a couple of times. “S’all right. I wanted it. I want everything with you, Mia. Just need to sort out my shit first.”
She nodded against me and pulled back, letting Princess squirm free and hop down to the floor. “I know. And... I’ll be waiting, Emiel. But I’m still sorry I did that when the others are gone like this.”
“Zalen’ll get them back somehow,” I said, with maybe a bit more confidence than I actually felt. “And in the meantime, you’ve got an amazing restaurant to run.”
“Yeah,” she said on a sigh. “Guess I’d better grab a shower.” Her teeth worried her lower lip once more. “It’s stupid, but could you... stay with me? I promise not to spring any more surprise kisses on you.”
Now that the adrenaline spike had faded, I wasn’t sure surprise kisses would be such a bad thing—but she was probably right that now wasn’t the time.
“I’m on bodyguard duty,” I told her. “You get in the shower; I’ll grab you some fresh clothes from your room and hand you a towel when you’re done.”
I ignored the squirming in my insides at the idea of being in a steamy bathroom with her while she was naked behind a flimsy shower curtain. After all, it wasn’t abadsquirming, exactly.Maybe this was the kind of thing my therapist had meant when she talked about desensitization. Like, baby steps.
“Thanks,” she breathed.
Zalen was already off checking out whatever lead he’d gotten last night by the time Mia and I left the house. She’d covered up her tear-blotchiness with makeup, painting on a professional face for the world.
I was driving her, because after last night, as far as I was concerned, ‘keeping Mia safe’meant not letting her out of my sight once she stepped out of the house. With Nat gone, she’d be the first one to show up at the restaurant. If it turned out that Nat had been the kidnapping target because he was one of the owners, whoever took him might’ve known Mia would be vulnerable when she showed up to unlock the place.
Soulard was bustling on a Saturday morning, and that was in our favor.
“We’re doing a drive-by first,” I warned her. “And then we’re gonna go in the front door, not the back.”
Her complexion paled, but she nodded in understanding.
There was no one loitering around the front of the building, but there were a couple of vehicles parked along the block that I didn’t like the look of—including a sketchy-as-fuck unmarked white van. When I slow-drove past the mouth of the alley, though, there were two figures standing in the shadows toward the back.
“Fuck,” I said. “Call the police, Mia. Tell ’em there’s two armed men loitering in the same alley where three people disappeared last night. Give ’em hell until they send a squad car here to check.”
Her eyes were very wide as she scrambled for her phone. “You can tell they’re armed?” she asked incredulously.
“Nah,” I replied. “I’m just guessing. It’ll probably shift the cops off their asses, though.”
If these guys had been scoping out the place, they wouldn’t associate my old Bronco with Mia. So, I felt comfortable parking down the block while we waited for the cops to show up. To their credit, they did in about ten minutes, which Mia spent texting all her employees and warning them to use the front door when they came in to work.
When a white Chevy Tahoe with flashing lights and police markings showed up and parked in front of the alley, the van peeled out like someone had lit its tailpipe on fire. I clicked several pictures as it went, hoping to get the license plate number now that my view wasn’t blocked by the car parked behind it.
Moments later, two guys came pelting out of the alley, darting past the squad car. A uniformed cop slid out of the passenger side and legged it in pursuit, then the squad car headed in the same direction with sirens blaring.
“Guess we cleared out the rats,” I said with satisfaction.
“And if they can catch them, maybe the police will get serious about the missing persons case,” Mia added grimly.
“If you want, I’ll monitor your phone while you’re working today, in case the cops call back for more information,” I told her. “And I also want to do a walkthrough of the restaurant, just to make sure no one broke in.”
She shuddered, but firmed her jaw and gave me a resolute nod. “Let’s go, then. My employees will start showing up soon, and like you said, I’ve got a fucking amazing restaurant to run.”