Page 43 of Mitch

“Hey, I’m injured.” He pointed to his lip which was now only showing a small cut.

Her nose wrinkled, eyes smiling. “I guess we should probably put off tonight’s plans then.” Her coy smile flittered over her face, and he loved the natural teasing between them.

He cupped her neck. “Not a fucking chance. Tonight I’m going to taste every delicious inch of this body.” His finger skirted over the side curve of her breast, and she shivered, causing him to smile triumphantly. His lips moved to her ear. “Then I’m going to bury my cock inside you until I find every sweet spot you have and make you breathless as you cry my name.”

Her throat moved as she swallowed, and he released her to stumble back a step.

Bending, he lifted Maggie from her car seat then turned to Autumn. “Ready?” His words had a double meaning, and he knew she knew it.

“So ready.”

Her answered pleased him and he kissed her temple in approval before leading her to the door.

* * *

Mitch had leftAutumn to get ready and taken Maggie to the other side of the house where Mimi, David, and the others would be looking after the kids. They had all fallen completely in love with Autumn, and when she’d started talking gardening, they were goners, just as he was.

Every second he spent with her cemented his growing feelings for the woman who’d blown into his ordered life like a storm and cleared away any doubt about what he wanted in his future, and that was her and Maggie.

He frowned as he saw Jack striding towards him already dressed for the party Zin was throwing for his girlfriend Celeste in black trousers and a black shirt open at the neck, but Jack’s eyes were hard as ice.

“What happened?”

“Just got word Autumn’s previous handler was the one who gave her up.”

“Fuck,” Mitch exclaimed savagely and regretted it as Maggie flinched in his arms. His hand came out to cup her head as he kissed her temple. “Sorry, baby, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He looked back at Jack. “Let me take Maggie into Mimi and then we can talk.”

Jack nodded and walked with him, waiting and chatting with Frank.

Mitch settled Maggie and gave Mimi the instructions she needed even as she smiled at him like he was an idiot. “Milk is in the bag. She’ll have a bottle at ten and then she should sleep through until around four, but we’ll have her by then.”

The older woman who’d beaten Kanan, a fearless ex-MI5 spy, with a welsh cake griddle patted his hand in a gentle way he recognised because his mum was the same. “I know how to suck eggs, dear boy.”

Mitch barked a laugh and kissed her head. “I know Mimi, but Autumn is nervous. She’s never been away from Maggie before and this is a big deal for her.”

Her eyes softened. “I’ll look after her as if she were my own.”

Mitch nodded, knowing she’d do just that.

Out in the hallway, he walked with Jack to the end of the hall to find them some privacy.

“What else?”

Jack looked like he’d chewed a wasp. “We caught Hench going into Autumn’s parent’s house before leaving fifteen minutes later with Autumn’s younger brother. That was two hours ago.”

Mitch felt anger swirl through him; it was a low tactic, and one they should’ve expected.

“Where’s Rion now?” It hadn’t taken a lot of work for Lopez to find her entire family’s details and Rion had slipped further off the straight and narrow since his sister had left.

“He returned home, but Will found this on the dark web just before we left.”

Jack showed Mitch an image of Hench with Autumn’s parents and brother in what he assumed was their living room. That was terrifying enough, but the caption underneath was meant for Mitch.

Stop being a coward and face me, or your girlfriend will lose more than her family.

Mitch looked at Jack, anger and fear burning through him at what this would do to Autumn.

“I’m gonna kill him.”