The smell of food woke Angel. She was starving, having only picked at the food Nikoli brought her. She’d been too upset to eat. Now, though, her stomach growled.
“I’d recognize that growl anywhere.” Kade leaned down and kissed her. “Hungry much, little mama?”
She laughed and opened her eyes. “Starved.”
“Good. I picked up your favorite from Joe’s. I still can’t believe Nik convinced him to move his shop here to New York.”
Joe’s was a restaurant Nik fell in love with back in Boston. It was his and Lily’s go-to place when they wanted to have good food and not be bothered. Angel remembered Nik telling her he’d taken Lily on their first date there, not because he thought she’d like it, but because it was the one place he figured none of her friends would be. Much to his disgust, her best friend, Adam, had shown up.
“Well, when you have millions of dollars and offer to invest in the restaurant to get the owner, who is also your good friend, to move, I’m betting it doesn’t take too much persuasion.”
“Kid was a multi-millionaire by the time he was twenty.” Kade shook his head and rolled the little hospital tray over to her bed. He’d set out the classic Reuben sandwich, fries, and a bottle of Coke. Her stomach let it be known quite loudly it needed to be fed.
“He earned it, though.” And he had. Nikoli worked his ass off for every ounce of success he had. Her stomach growled again when the smell of the food hit her nose.
“I forgot how much your stomach talked when you were pregnant.” Kade pulled up a chair and unwrapped his own sandwich.
“Hey!” Angel stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m eating for two. I’m allowed to be starved all the time.”
“You eat as much as you want, baby.”
“So, you’re still going to love me when I look like a whale from all this food you’ve just given me permission to eat as much of as I want?”
“I will always love you, no matter what you look like. You could gain four hundred pounds, and I’d still love you. I might haul your ass to the gym every day, but I’d love you.”
And that was why she loved him. He would love her no matter what. It was the simplest truth there was. He’d proven it time and time again.
“You’re perfect, Angelique Renee Kincaid.” He took her hand, kissing the palm. “Don’t you know that? You are absolutely perfect to me.”
Her heart melted. This man. God, how she loved him.
“You’re going to make me cry.” She blinked back tears.
He smiled, the warmth bleeding out of his expression forcing the tears to erupt. Had to be the hormones.
Angel took the tissue he handed her and blew her nose. She’d been prone to crying at the drop of a hat the last few weeks. Combined with her queasiness, she should have guessed she was pregnant. Her gaze landed on two suitcases standing against the wall across from the bed. “What’s with the suitcases?”
“We’re booked for the ten o’clock flight to Miami in the morning. I packed a few things earlier for both of us. I thought we go straight to JFK from here when they release you.”
“I thought you might try to sneak off without me.” She wiped her eyes with another tissue.
“I thought about it.” He took a swig of the root beer he’d gotten for himself. Nasty stuff. She had no idea how he could stomach it. “But then I knew you’d just lose Watkins and come by yourself.”
“You got that right.” She would have done exactly that, calling Kade a bastard the entire way. It was her favorite curse word to describe him. When he’d first come back into her life, that was what she’d called him. He’d forced her to let him keep her safe under police protection, never bothering to tell her he planned on being that police protection. At least it had forced them to deal with the past and for the truth to come out. It ended up with them back together as it always should have been.
“Why fight the inevitable?” He shrugged and bit into his sandwich. “I thought maybe we could swing by the old house and then the graveyard while we’re there.”
She froze, fry mid-way to her mouth. “Is it safe?”
“No, but I plan on having police protection while we do it.”
Kade watched the hope spring to life in her eyes. He’d called his old boss at the BAU and explained the situation to him. The man had agreed to send two agents to help him and coordinate with Miami PD. Since Mathew had been kidnapped, his boss said it fell under the BAU’s field of expertise. The agents would meet them at the Miami police department tomorrow.
“I really get to visit Peter’s grave?”
“Yes, baby, you really get to visit your brother’s grave.”
“But what about the police here? Won’t they want to question me before we leave town? I did see that poor nurse…” She broke off, wrapping her arms around herself. It pained Kade to see how much she blamed herself over the nurse’s death. It wasn’t her fault, though. The cartel didn’t leave witnesses behind.
“I already called and spoke to the detective. He’ll be here first thing in the morning to take your statement. Watkins kept them from questioning you when they came by earlier.”
“You did a lot while I was asleep. Did you and Conner get your business taken care of?”
Kade nodded. He wasn’t going to tell her about the crack house or going back to collect more weapons than he’d ever seen in his life. And how the fuck Conner came up with that much money blew his mind. No, he wasn’t telling Angel any of that. She’d only get upset, and then she’d blow up on Conner. His brother scared her, but when it came to protecting her family, she was a holy terror herself.
“I got dessert too. Milkshakes from McDonald’s, but I thought it would do.” He pulled the envelope from his jacket pocket. “I have something else for you too.”
He handed her the envelope and watched her forehead crease as she tried to make sense of what she was reading. “It’s the DNA results. He’s ours.”
“I didn’t need this to know he was mine.” Angel folded the paper, put it back into the envelope, and handed it back to Kade. “I knew it the minute I saw him. I should never have doubted myself.”
“A mother knows her child.” Kade smiled softly. “Scoot over.”
“Didn’t they threaten to ban you from my room if they caught you in bed with me again?” Angel laughed when he shrugged. Leave it to her husband to flaunt rules.
“It’s not like I’m going to finger fuck you. You’re recovering from a concussion and shock.”
“Who says I’m too ill to be finger fucked?” The idea excited her, especially with the nurses coming and going so often. She’d always been an exhibitionist. Her past as a stripper attested to that. Kade, though, was as prudish as they came, and she loved him more because of it.
When she scooted over, she moved a little too fast. The walls spun slightly. Not as bad as before, but still enough to make her close her eyes.
“That says you’re too ill to be finger fucked.” Kade slid in beside her, his arm pulling her close. “Tomorrow will be soon enough for fucking.”
“Spoilsport.” She cuddled into him and reached for her sandwich at the same time, feeling more content than she had all day. She was tucked up against her husband, good food, her child safely growing beneath her heart, and with a plan to rescue her other child. She knew it would be difficult, but she could handle difficult.
“I was thinking that as soon as we get Matthew back, we should renew our vows.” Kade filched a fry from her plate. “What better way to solidify our family than to go before God and recommit ourselves and our family?”
That had to be the sweetest thing he’d ever said to her. Kade knew how religious she was. Sure, she never pushed her religion on anyone, and she didn’t really talk about it, but her parents had ingrained a healthy respect for the Church in both her and her brother, Peter.
Kade grew up in the Church, but he didn’t really think about it as much as she did. For him, he knew God existed, but he didn’t go to services, and she suspected he rarely prayed. Not because he wasn’t raised to be devout. He’d just suffered a lot in life that steered him away from prayer and churchgoing. This offer from Kade spoke to his love for her more than his love of the Church.
A tear leaked out, and she brushed it away. Damn hormones.
“Hey, now, sweetheart, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He swiped at another tear that escaped. “I thought this would make you happy.”
“It does.” She hiccupped. “I don’t know why I’m crying. Stupid hormones.”
“I know our first wedding wasn’t what you wanted. It was in front of the justice of the peace with your brother and Jasmine as witnesses.”
“And a white summer dress from Target. Not even close to a wedding dress.” She remembered that day vividly. It had been pouring down rain. At the time, she thought it was a bad omen, and later, after the losing the baby and Peter’s murder, she’d thought she should have listened to her instincts about the rain. Rain, however, was not a bad omen. It was a very good omen, so in retrospect, that good omen had brought her and Kade back together again.
“I think Peter grouched about that dress more than you did.” Kade chuckled, and it vibrated through her. She loved his laugh. It made her want to grin all the time.
“He was pissed about the whole thing. He wanted me to have a church wedding but gave in when you said your family couldn’t come.”
“I did a lot of lying back in those days.” The somber tone that slid over her this time made her tense. He had lied so much back then. She’d never really known him, only the pieces he allowed her to see. “I wanted so much to tell you everything, but my handler wouldn’t let me. I was scared shitless you’d leave me when you found out the truth, so I didn’t push him.”
“I would have left you.” Angel turned so she could look him in the eyes. “I was a stubborn, hotheaded ass who thought I knew everything. I would have left, and Peter still would have died. Stop blaming yourself for everything. We can’t change the past. We can only move forward and try to make the future better than what we left behind us.”
“You are a wise woman, wife.” He swooped down and kissed her. Her toes curled when he deepened the kiss, and she wanted to yank him back the moment he withdrew. “Ah-ah, woman. Do you want me to get kicked out?”
“No.” She settled back against him, aroused and knowing there wasn’t a damn thing Kade could do about it. Bastard.
“Then stop acting like a spoiled brat.” He took the sting out of the words with a kiss to her temple. “Eat, get some sleep, and tomorrow we’ll be on our way to Florida.”
“If it’s a boy, I want to name him Peter.”
Kade was silent for a moment. “I think that’s a great idea, baby. Peter Ronin Kincaid.”
“Your father’s name?” Angel asked, surprised. She was certain he’d want to add in his own name.
“Yes. I’m worried about him. He’s had this ongoing cough for a while. I think Dimitri talked him into going to the doctor, but I’m afraid. I want him to meet his grandson named for him in case he’s sick.”
“Then we’ll name him Ronin Peter. We don’t want the kid picked on and called names. Peter was tormented in school over his name.”
Kade laughed and hugged her. “Thank you, baby.”
“You’re very welcome. Now, let’s eat before my stomach claws its way out to reach the food.”
They settled in for the night, and Angel couldn’t really think of anything but tomorrow and the flight to Miami. She would have her baby back soon.
And if anyone stood between her and her son, God help them.