Kyou stabbed a finger at both of them. “First of all, no. You’re supposed to be professionals, fucking act like it. Secondly, you’ve clearly spent far too much time with each other and you’re rubbing off in the wrong ways. I forbid this. I have too many troublemakers as it is. Carter, help me out here.”
With a nod to Kyou, Carter put a restraining hand on Ari’s shoulder. “Let’s save that for Plan B. If you’re hunting Ghostshot all over the city, it means you’re not here to help me with the prep to get into that building, which will delay us even further and give an opening for others to take up the contract. I’d rather not give anyone more of an opening.”
Looking as if he’d bitten into a sour lemon, Ari conceded, “That’s a point. Sorry, Ivan. We’ll have to play next time.”
Ivan flopped back in his chair in a dramatic fashion. “You all suck joy from life.”
Internally, Kyou heaved a sigh of relief. Thank god for Carter. Kyou didn’t know how much he’d needed a Carter before he’d acquired one. “So we’re agreed? We will try to go in tonight?”
The three men all nodded more or less simultaneously. “Agreed.”
Aiden lifted a hand. “Let me be in charge of dinner and Remi. I don’t have to go back in to work until tomorrow morning, so you have me until then.”
“Thanks.” Ari flashed Aiden a smile, then looked at Kyou. “She’ll demand the right to help when she gets in from school.”
“I’ll need her. I’ll have her keeping tabs on the rest of the Genovese family, just in case someone hits upon the bright idea of grabbing a hostage.”
Brannigan physically flinched. “God, you think they will?”
“Bad men are unfortunately predictable,” Ivan told him with an apologetic shrug. “But if we hit fast enough and clear out your enemy, I do not think they will try for it. Hostages don’t normally work out well. For bad guys, at least. It’s a last-ditch thing.”
He was more or less correct. Still, to reassure the worried man at his side, Kyou said the obvious. “I have more alerts on your family than I did yesterday. I’ll know if someone even looks at them cross-eyed.”
Brannigan eyed him sideways. “Is that what you were doing this morning?”
“One of the things, yes. I’ve got the bank transfer poised as well. I’ve also sent out a general alert to all of your security on the faces to watch out for. If an O’Conner comes anywhere near one of your building sites, they’ll know.”
This pleased him. Brannigan leaned in and kissed him softly. “Fortunately for me, you’re both brilliant and efficient.”
Kyou flushed a little. He wasn’t used to physical displays of affection. He really wasn’t used to them in front of an audience. He liked the attention, though.
He stoutly ignored the way everyone watched them with both amusement and indulgent smiles.
Pulling back, Brannigan requested seriously, “Tell me what I can do.”
Carter ticked things off on his fingers. “Pull everyone out of Roxbury today and tomorrow. Send them home. It’ll be something of a flag to the police when they investigate this later, but you can say you got an anonymous tip and chose to err on the side of caution. We don’t want anyone in the line of fire for this. And I trust evil men to only make bad decisions.”
“I put a stop to all construction this week, so no one’s at the work sites. I still have employees and a few managers at my bank in Roxbury. I can pull them in a few hours.”
“Good, do it. Put your family on high alert as well, double security if you can. Just in case. When Remi gets in, sit with her in front of the cameras and help her keep an eye on people. You know the players far better than she does; you’ll be able to spot anything amiss.”
Brannigan inclined his head, accepting this. “Alright.”
“That’s all I can think of now,” Carter admitted, glancing at the others for their input. “It might be we’ll think of something obvious later.”
“We always think of something later,” Ari snorted in wry amusement. “Brannigan, your timer is about to go off.”
“Then let’s eat and get to work.” Brannigan stood, releasing Kyou’s hand and reaching for oven mitts.
The admittedly excellent food was served, and they ate companionably. Kyou fairly itched to get back to his computer and get to work, as he wanted this over with. But he stole a minute after people had cleared the table to catch Brannigan’s hand and pull him back in. He wanted to wipe the frown from that face. “Bran, this isn’t the first time we’ve done this.”
Brannigan regarded him, head canted, mouth quirked up on one side. “You’ve taken out Mob families before?”
“Okay, it’s the first time we’ve dealt directly with a Mob,” Kyou revised. “But tackling a well-defended house crawling with armed men? I’ve lost count how many times we’ve done that. Trust your experts.”
“Ah, caro, I trust you. You wouldn’t believe how much I do, how grateful I am that all of you are so very, very good at this.” Brannigan cradled his face with one warm palm, his green eyes affectionate and gentle. “I’m worried about people getting hurt. I’m mostly regretting the decisions I made that put you all in this crazy predicament to begin with.”
“You’re trying to make the world a better, safer place.” Kyou nuzzled into that hand, breathing in the scent of warm male. “I do wish you’d go about it differently, as you’re giving me ulcers. But I can’t be mad about your intentions.”
“From now on, you and I will sit and plan how to go about things. Okay?”
That sounded perfect. So incredibly perfect. Kyou went a little warm around the edges thinking of that future moment where he could sit with Brannigan and plan for the future, and it would be normal. Why did that mental picture make his heart ache with longing? Voice husky, he whispered, “I’m holding you to that.”
“Caro, I look forward to it.” Brannigan pressed in and kissed him, mouth lingering and tasting his.
Kyou melted under the kiss, tilting his head up to get a more perfect angle. Someone should have warned him that kissing Brannigan could effectively turn his brain off. Two hands went down to his ass and gave a loving squeeze, and whatever remained of Kyou’s brain went offline completely.
Pulling back an inch, Brannigan pleaded, “Don’t respond so sweetly like that; we don’t have time for me to drag you off somewhere and do sexy things to you.”
“Excuse you,” Kyou panted, body tingling from head to toe. “You’re the one who started this.”
“Was I really?” Brannigan didn’t look remotely apologetic. And his hands hadn’t moved.
What was he supposed to do with this man? Seriously. “After this is over, you and me. Bed. Two days at least.”
Brannigan nodded fervently. “Sold. You don’t even need to twist my arm. Let’s take out bad guys and make that happen.”
Normally, Kyou’s motivations for taking out bad guys was either for money or obligation. Sex had to be a new one for the books. But damn, if it wasn’t effective. Kyou pressed in for one more quick, chaste kiss before pulling free. He had to slap himself lightly on the cheek to kick his brain back online. Damn libido was whining at the idea of getting back into that computer chair.