Page 60 of Kyle

“Emmy Baby, hate to bring this up, but the team has worked hundreds of trafficking cases. We’ve rescued enough women to know how to handle the girl.”

They had? I glanced at Kyle and he nodded his confirmation. There seemed to be a lot more about him than I thought, that I didn’t know.

“That may be true but she won’t speak to you. And just because you’ve rescued victims doesn’t mean you understand what it means to be a survivor. Anaya and I do. We are proof there’s hope. She needs to see that.” Emerson turned from Thad to face Zane. “I’ll do it.”

I glanced back at Kyle, his face a mask of pissed-off male. I slid my hand over his and laced our fingers together.

“I need to do this, Kyle. But I’m gonna need your help.” I squeezed his hand and some of the hardness subsided. “I admit I’m still scared, but if you stand by me, I can do it.”

His features softened and he reluctantly nodded.

“Thank you.” I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at my lips.

“Well, fuck me running,” Max muttered. “She has dimples. That explains a lot.”

Zane chuckled and looked over at him just in time for a broad, panty-melting smile to grace his face that took him from menacing to hot. Two deep indentations had formed.

“It’s always the dimples, brother,” he stated. “How do you think I hooked my wife?”

“Not with your fun-loving, chipper disposition, that’s for sure,” Lincoln mumbled. “God knows your attitude leaves a lot to be desired.”

I was enjoying the lighthearted turn the conversation had taken, when Jasmin cut in.

“If we’re done, I’m gonna go check on my boys. I left Asher and Robert upstairs with their aunts and we all know how much they love to feed my kids sugar. Before they start tearing apart Z’s office I need to go get them.”

What the what? Jasmin was a mom? I watched as the woman stood. She may’ve been my size but there was an air about her warning you that you didn’t want to be on her bad side.

“Glad you’re home, Anaya,” she said. “And thanks for having my brothers’ six. Can’t ever repay that, but you have our gratitude.”

I didn’t answer her because I was speechless. I settled back into Kyle’s embrace thinking maybe I’d be all right. Maybe I could win these people over. Maybe I should enjoy the time I had with Kyle and not waste a moment of it worrying about the future. I’d deal with the fallout when it happened. But in the meantime, I wasn’t going to keep piling up regrets.

Chapter 18

Emerson took Anaya up to Zane’s office where all the women were congregated. I didn’t think this was a good idea. Emerson and Anaya disagreed with me, and after Anaya gave me reassurance that she was fine, I relented.

I knew she was putting on a brave face. As she’d rightly pointed out, you could fake a lot of things but the eyes always told the truth. And she looked nervous. But she’d insisted she wanted to go meet the women and I’d promised to stop overreacting every time I thought she’d be put in a situation that might make her uncomfortable. I’d wisely kept my mouth shut.

Though, part of why I didn’t want her to go with Emerson was because I didn’t want to be away from her. And not because I didn’t think she’d be safe in the building, because I simply wanted her by my side. I wanted her within touching distance.

“Goddamn, he has it bad,” Brooks muttered.

“Yeah, like you’re one to talk, friend. We hadn’t even walked out of Tatiana’s office and you had that same look,” Thad pointed out.

“Y’all missed it but he had the look the second the woman walked into the Del. She hadn’t even strutted her ass across the reception area and he was gone for her,” Dec helpfully added.

I didn’t correct him, because he was not wrong.

“It’s like déjà vu,” Leo muttered.

“It would be for you.” Colin chuckled. “We didn’t even have Olivia out of the house before you were whispering sweet nothings in her ear.”

“Says the man who thought it’d be smart to claim the president’s daughter.” Jax shook his head. “I thought Zane was gonna have a coronary.”

“Right, because Violet didn’t have your ass in knots when she bold as brass broke into my building and pushed her way into my penthouse,” Zane added.

“Hey.” Jax put his hands up. “At least I fought it. And I can’t help it if my wife is—”

“Don’t go there. That’s my sister,” Declan growled. “I think you all are fucking crazy. Every one of you.”