Page 3 of Forbidden Want

“This weekend, it’s time to do this,” he said. “Tomorrow night, Platinum Suite.”

“What?”

He stood and bent over to kiss her hair. “Midnight.”

Fading toward the back of the deli, he disappeared through an employee door.

Midnight. Friday. He wasn’t suggesting… Except there, on the table by her coffee, was a key card bearing the Grand Hotel’s logo.

Shit.

TWO

BACK IN THE archives that afternoon, putting together the McDade family tree complicated her attempts to rid Ire from her mind. Tough not to think about the guy when reading his name every twenty seconds.

Should she tell him about her conversation with Evander in the deli? Should she not? Ire assumed she’d chosen Stag for protection. Yes, fine, true. That didn’t mean she’d ever intended for their paths to cross. Yet, somehow, not only had she got the McDades involved in her mess, but she’d ended up holding the detonator between the two factions.

Okay, so the families wouldn’t be breaking bread anytime soon; that wasn’t on her. But there was a tentative peace between the McDades and the Manzanis. Each had their own territories, their own strengths. They stayed away from each other’s business as much as possible. By all outward appearances anyway.

How many news reports had she read that day? Hundreds? Thousands? However many it was, by the time she left The Chronicler building, it was dark out, and she didn’t feel any wiser.

“Thought you’d ditched us again,” Daly said, opening her car door. “Stag?”

“Home.”

Before she could get in, he pushed the door to block her way. “Boss is expecting you.”

And that was part of the deal.

“I’m hungry,” she said. “And I’d bet he doesn’t want me showing up without taking a shower and changing my clothes.”

“An hour, max.,” he said, determined, widening the ingress again.

“Did he say something?” she asked. “If he’s giving you shit, just tell him the truth. I’m working. I have to do my job.”

“This started as watching Manzani’s mark.”

One related to the other, how? “I don’t—”

“Watching the boss’s woman is a different gig. A whole different ballgame.”

She smiled, ready to dismiss his concern. “Yeah, but it’s not—”

Wait. Did Daly know about the deal? He had to know the relationship wasn’t real. Didn’t he? Hmm, best ask Connel and get some clarity on who knew what.

Daly stayed serious. “I have a job to do too.”

Even if Daly was aware the relationship was a sham, others weren’t. Did being Ire McDade’s woman put her in a different kind of jeopardy? Avoiding Evander was one thing. Being queen in the hornet’s nest was a new angle that could lead to worse trouble.

No one else should take heat for her choices. “I’ll talk to him.”

“You don’t want to do that,” he said.

“I don’t?”

He shook his head and gestured inside. “Fifty-nine minutes.”

Okay, right, he wanted to get moving. Now she did too. She and Ire needed to have a conversation.

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