Maggie Lee (Book 11): The Hitwoman Hires a Manny (21 page)

“Of course!” I fist-pumped the air.

“Of course?” Angel asked weakly, assuming I was talking about the lizard.

“I’ve gotta go.” I rushed past him.

“No!” He chased after me. Faster than I was, he managed to get ahead of me, and stopped in my path, an immovable obstacle.

“I have to go,” I insisted, looking for a path around him.

“Where?”

“Treasure hunting.”

“I won’t let you,” he warned.

“You can’t stop me,” I countered.

He crossed his arms over his chest making his muscles bulge. “You want to test that theory?”

I gulped and changed tactics. I stuck out my chin and challenged, “You’re going to manhandle me?”

He scowled, insulted by my dig. “You can be
really
annoying.”

I shrugged. “Blame it on my genetics.”

I feinted right, he shadowed my movement.

Putting my hands on my hips, I glowered at him. “C’mon. Enough games. I’ve got to go.”

“Not unless I go too.”

We stood there for a long moment in a standoff, neither of us willing to compromise.

“Time’s wasting,” God reminded me.

Angel rolled his eyes at my squeaking chest.

“Fine,” I declared. “You can come along, but we do things my way.”

“But I drive.” He stuck out his hand so that we could shake on it.

I wasn’t certain it was the best deal I’d ever struck, but I didn’t see that I had a choice.

I slid my hand into his to seal our agreement, but suddenly he gave a hard yank, and his lips were sealed to mine.

He moved so fast, that I wasn’t able to avoid his kiss. I wasn’t able to brace myself for it. I wasn’t even able to hold my breath.

One moment we were committing to the equivalent of a business transaction, and the next we were committing an intimate act.

He trapped my hand against his chest, where I could feel his heart thumping steadily, as his mouth claimed mine. Before I could wrench myself away, his other arm snaked around my waist and lifted me a half inch so that I found myself balancing on my tiptoes.

Unable to get any leverage, I couldn’t get away from him. I was effectively trapped, forced to wait for whatever he chose to do next.

And yet he didn’t do anything. His tongue didn’t explore my mouth. His lips didn’t move from where they’d landed on mine.

I waited expectantly, aware of his strength and his warmth where our bodies met. Crazily I realized that Loretta was wrong, he didn’t smell like vanilla. Nothing about him seemed sweet or bland.

The longer we stood there, the more I
wanted
him to do something. The more I wanted to do something.

Just when I thought I couldn’t take the “
not doing
” a millisecond longer, he dragged his mouth from mine. Skimming his lips along my cheek, he set off a fire that made my whole body burn.

“We’re being watched,” he whispered in my ear as his grip on my waist loosened and he lowered me back to the ground.

The flames of desire were effectively doused. I tried to retrieve my hand, but he held tight to it.

“Let them think we’re having a lover’s quarrel,” he murmured, lifting it to his mouth so that he could press a kiss to it.

“Who’s watching us?”

“The house that’s cattycorner behind you.”

Belgard.

He was watching me.

So much for the protective powers of the fence.

My stomach soured and suddenly my legs barely supported me.

Sensing my reaction, Angel tightened his grip on my wrist and pulled me close again. “You okay?”

I nodded weakly, absorbing some of his strength. “You just startled me.”

Angel stiffened. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I know.” I carefully stepped back away from him. “I’m just on edge. Not your fault.”

He nodded and seemed appeased. “Now tell me where this treasure of yours is.”

I shook my head. “No way. You’ll go without me.”

He sighed. “What do I have to do to convince you I’m on your side?”

“Well, kissing me certainly wasn’t the way to do it.”

“But I didn’t kiss you.”

“You tried.”

A wicked smile flit across his face. “Trust me, that’s not one of those things that are
tried
. It’s either done, or it’s not. You’ll know when I do it.”

My mouth went dry at the implied promise that he
would
do it. I wonder if he could feel my pulse speeding up where he held my wrist.

Then he winked at me. “But first, let’s go find Templeton.”

Chapter Fifteen

Angel spent the entire drive to our destination trying to convince me to call the Griswalds so that they could handle the matter through “official” channels.

I steadfastly refused even though I wasn’t able to give him an answer as to why.

Instead, I gave him turn-by-turn directions and considered how I’d almost died at the place we were going to. It was there I’d discovered “jewel” cases containing computer disks that had led to the imprisonment of some pretty nasty mobsters…though, thankfully, none were connected to Delveccio.

The restaurant, abandoned as far as I knew, would make an ideal location for an illegal card game.

Still, the ribbon swinging from the rearview mirror of the truck taunted me with every bounce or turn we made. Angel had made an almost super-human effort to distance himself from his family and their criminal activities, and here I was dragging him into who knew what.

The guilt ate at me, and I blurted out, “This isn’t the life you want.”

He glanced over at me. “Is it the life
you
want?”

“I’m protecting my family.”

He returned his attention to driving. “I get that. It’s dumb, but I get it.”

“If you’re so opposed to my plan, why did you come along?” I finally asked Angel when he once again mentioned the name Griswald.

“You have a plan?”

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you,” I groused.

“I couldn’t very well let you go off alone.”

“Why not?”

His posture stiffened and I saw his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. “Because beautiful women who go off to save the world alone don’t always make it back in one piece.”

I wondered if he was referring to his friend Nancy, but I decided it would be rude to ask. Instead I told him, “I was taking care of myself for a long time before you came along.”

“But it’ll be easier now with me here.” He relaxed a little. “I can do the heavy lifting.” To emphasize his point, he flexed his right bicep.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

He glanced away from the road for a moment to look at me. “You should laugh more often.”

Unsure of how to respond, I was glad when he returned his attention to the road.

“He’s right,” God decided to opine.

Angel chuckled at the squeaking. “He certainly has a lot to say.”

“He’s right,” God said again.

Angel laughed harder.

“You should call Griswald,” God continued. “Call him.”

“I don’t want to call the authorities,” I explained, “because I’m not convinced Templeton’s a kidnap victim. He may be off indulging in something that’s, let’s say, not quite legal.”

“Oh,” God said simply.

“Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?” Angel asked.

“Because I was trying to keep you out of it, but you insisted on coming along,” I told the human.

His cell phone buzzed.

“Don’t answer it,” I begged.

Glancing at it, he said, “It’s Susan. She’s probably looking for you.”

“She has your phone number?”

“Everyone in your family has my number. I’m the manny. The only person who hasn’t asked for it is you.”

I cringed. I really sucked at this whole parenting thing.

“There,” I said, pointing to the abandoned restaurant.

“Here?” he asked skeptically.

“Drive around back.”

When he did, we found an inordinately high number of luxury vehicles nestled in the rear parking lot that couldn’t be spotted from the road.

“Jackpot,” I crowed.

Angel slid the truck to a stop.

“Wait here,” I said, hopping out.

“You’re not going in there alone.” He reached for his door handle.

“Look at me,” I reasoned. “I don’t look like a threat, but you,” I waved a hand to encompass all of him, “even if you’re not recognized as a Delveccio, you’re intimidating.”

He considered the wisdom of my words for a moment. “I’m really just a giant teddy bear.”

“Then stay here, Teddy,” I ordered. “If I’m not out in ten minutes, you can call Griswald.”

“I’m keeping the engine running.”

I gave him a thumbs-up and headed toward the rear entrance.

“I like that one,” God said as I crossed the parking lot.

“If you squeak while we’re in there, they may assume I’m wearing a wire and shoot my chest,” I warned.

That shut him up.

I knocked on the back door. “Hello?”

A scowling man in an ill-fitting suit opened it. He deadpanned, “We’re closed.”

“I need to talk to Templeton.”

Frowning, he ran his gaze over me. From the way the lines on his forehead deepened, I assumed he didn’t like what he saw.

“Templeton,” I repeated, trying to ignore how badly the jacket he wore disguised the gun he carried.

“Wait here.” He closed the door in my face.

“That went well,” God whispered.

“If you don’t shut up, you’re going to get us both killed.”

Glancing back toward Angel’s truck, I flashed him a thumbs-up, so he’d think I had everything under control.

I stood at the backdoor for what felt like forever, but was really only a few minutes.

I stood at the back door for what felt like forever, but was really only a few minutes.