Page 131 of Cross & Crown

It took a few moments for Julian to get his temper and

nerves under control; Kelly could actually see the emotions

playing across his face. “I suppose that makes sense. They

knew Boston was going to be in play in the end.” He stood

there a moment, and Nick and Kelly were both silent, letting

him work through it. “Excuse me,” he finally whispered, and

he stepped past them into the salon.

“He’s handling that well,” Kelly said. “If they had you tied

up somewhere and I found out you were in the same city, I’d

be ripping things apart.”

Nick hummed and nodded as he watched Julian disappear

down the steps.

Kelly studied his profile a moment before jabbing him

with an elbow. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“Something . . .” Nick shook his head and met Kelly’s

eyes again with a weak smile. He slid his phone into his back

pocket, then pulled Kelly closer to kiss him. “Stick with Cross, will you? See if you two can make some headway with this

treasure shit.”

“You’re the history buff, babe, I’m not sure I’d know

where to start.”

Nick nodded as if he understood that he was basically

asking Kelly to sit on his hands all day. He looked annoyed

with himself. “See what you can come up with anyway. Please?

Don’t let Cross out of your sight.”

“You don’t trust him?”

“Nope.”

“You got it.”

Nick gave him another kiss, lingering over this one, then

headed off for the dock and the parking lot beyond. Julian

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