Page 66 of Flynn

“I was scared,” she admitted.

“I know.” His arm was draped around her back loosely. Shifting it slightly, he started to make circular motions that were strangely erotic as well as soothing.

“I went into this as an arrangement, something to take my mind off what had happened to me, and before I knew it, this baby had become ours. I wanted him or her more than anything else.”

“I know,” he repeated gently. “When I woke up to see you sitting there, I felt faint. I thought we had already lost it. And I felt guilty.”

She lifted her head to look at him. “Why?”

Tipping his head down, he gave her a knowing look. “I cannot keep my hands off you, in case you have not noticed.”

“That has never been a factor.”

He nodded. “It took some convincing and reading of my own to accept that conclusion.”

“We are going to be okay.”

“Of course. I did promise you, didn’t I?”

“And I believe you.”

He stroked her cheek. “Go to sleep, baby,” he whispered. “I cannot fall asleep until you do.”

*****

“I presume there is a reason why you wanted us to meet away from the house?”

Flynn nodded to the waiter who brought over the ordered aperitif. He hated leaving Ryleigh, especially since his mother was not there. He knew the servants would keep an eye on her, but his woman was headstrong and stubborn.

He had made her promise to ring downstairs for anything she needed, and she had told him to go away and stop worrying about her as if that would ever happen.

“I know the missus has been through a rocky time, and I did not want her to hear what I have to tell you.” Bert fiddled with his glass for a minute. The restaurant was not very crowded; the after-work diners had already come and gone.

A few men in business suits were lingering at the bar, chatting about the stock market and idly staring at the large screen television in the corner of the room where the Raiders were getting their asses handed to them by an opposing team. None of that interested the two men seated in a private corner of the room.

“What is it, Bert?”

“Two goons have been seen asking questions around the DA’s office.”

Flynn looked at him sharply. “What kind of questions?”

“Like where Ryleigh Bogle has disappeared and when she is expected back. They have also been at her house.”

Flynn’s fingers tightened on the squat glass, his expression turning ominous.

“The same two men?”

Bert nodded. My guys tailed them back to the penthouse where that low life lives.”

Flynn ruminates for a few minutes while taking a sip of his drink. He had not expected

Maurice just simply to fade into the background, but after the threats he had made, he would have thought the man would have more sense than to piss him off even more.

“Anything else?”

“No. That fool is courting a death wish.”

“He is,” Flynn murmured. “I have been busy over the past days and could not confront him. I think a visit to him is in order.”