Chapter 17
Devon opened her eyes and tried to focus. Her head ached and her eyes burned, nausea bubbled up in her stomach, and for some reason she couldn’t move. The last thing she remembered was some woman talking to Logan at the gas pump and a strange man jumping into the truck. He sped out of the gas station, with her screaming and trying to jump out of the vehicle.
“Shut the fuck up,” he’d yelled, and pulled something out of his jacket. She felt a tiny prick in her neck and then she lost consciousness.
Now she blinked and forced herself to take a look at where she was...and looked right into the face of Cash Breeland.
Oh, God!
“It was you! You’re the one who got my father into this hell. I should have known it.”
“So you’re awake.” His heavy drawl couldn’t disguise the venom in his voice.
“This your idea of keeping me safe?” she spat at him.
“Too bad you didn’t buy my solicitous act.” His laugh was anything but humorous. “We wouldn’t have had to use a stun gun on your lover and leave him on the concrete.”
Logan!
“Is—Is he alive?”
Cash shrugged. “Maybe yes, maybe no. People react differently to the Taser.”
Logan! Please be okay. Please, please, please.
“You just couldn’t leave things alone, could you?” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Just like that fucking father of yours. He could have been richer than he ever dreamed if he’d just kept his mouth shut.”
“You used him.” She looked directly into his eyes, appalled at the rage and cruelty she saw there. “You put him in a bad situation and trapped him into making money for the cartel.”
“Money is money. He’d have been set for five lifetimes. Too bad he had a conscience.”
“I’ll bet he was pissed off when he found out what his good friend had gotten him into.”
“Ungrateful is what I called it. I helped him out of a bad financial situation. Too bad he didn’t appreciate it.”
“That he was in bed with a drug lord?”
“Money is money. It all looks the same to me.”
“And your bank was the perfect conduit to move the money from SMX to Cole International.”
Breeland’s face hardened. “So you know about that.”
“I know everything,” she told him. “My father thought you were his friend.”
“And I was,” he said. “I got him the money he needed, didn’t I? And a lot more. Goddamn Vince was supposed to handle the whole thing, but he fucked up royally.”
Devon tried to figure out what time it was. “How long have I been here?”
“A while. Why? You aren’t going anywhere until I say so.”
Devon tried to move her arms and legs and discovered she was in a chair, her hands bound behind her and her legs tied to the chair. She did her best to push down the thread of fear wriggling through her. Whatever Cash had in mind, it wasn’t killing her, at least for the moment. She dug deep for the courage she knew she needed.
Devon blinked again to clear her eyes and looked around. They were in some kind of cavernous warehouse, with a concrete floor and bare walls, and smelling of motor oil. Three chairs, one of which she was tied to. The only light was a bare bulb hanging from a cord. The air was musty and dank, as if the place hadn’t been used for a while. She had no idea where it was or how anyone would find her here.
Logan will find me. I can hold on.
There were two men with Cash, the one who’d kidnapped her from the gas station and another who could have been his brother. They looked a lot like the thugs who’d forced her off the highway and she wondered in a hysterical moment if Cash hired only men who looked like this. They didn’t seem to be doing much except hanging back, although one cradled a rifle and the other had a handgun riding on his hip.
“You going to shoot me, Cash?” She tilted her head up, chin out defiantly. “Or are you planning to keep me here indefinitely?”
The look on his face was so evil it chilled her blood. Was this the real person beneath the friendly southern “gentleman”?
“I would,” he told her. “The men might enjoy a new plaything.”
Oh, God.
But then he laughed, and there was nothing jovial about it.
“Where am I?”
“Tampa. A friend of mine owns this property. Has a house and a hangar where he used to keep his plane. And tarmac for a landing strip.”
Tampa?
“Why did you bring me here?”
Cash laughed again, a really unpleasant sound.
“You father must love you a lot, chickadee. He didn’t like us messing with you and he’s offered to exchange himself for you.”
No! She wanted to scream the word. They’d kill him.
“That doesn’t explain why I’m here.”
“Señor Moreno is flying up here to meet with your father, and requires your company on the plane.”
Damn. Moreno himself was heading this? Why? Didn’t he trust Cash and the others to do this?
She wet her lips. “My father is coming here?”
“No.” Cash shook his head. “Just outside Arrowhead Bay at the little private airport. But this was the closest I could get you for him to pick you up.”
They’ll kill him, she thought. And then they’ll kill me. They’ll never let me go. There has to be a way out of this.
“Forget whatever you’re thinking.” He snapped his fingers in front of her. “We control the situation. El Jefe himself will take care of this.”
Devon hoped Logan had a few ideas of his own. And that the Taser hadn’t done any permanent damage.
I trust you, Logan. I’m here. Come and get me.
She had no idea how long they were there after that. They gave her water twice, and allowed her to use the restroom in the corner of the hangar. A couple of times, despite her efforts to keep them open, her eyes closed, but then she shook herself awake. Cash Breeland had walked out, leaving one man to guard her, and it seemed like hours before he returned.
“Well.” He rubbed his hands. “It seems we’re all set. Our ride will be here shortly.”
Another few minutes passed and then she heard the sound of a plane drawing nearer. Cash walked to the door that led outside, and the noise grew louder before shutting down altogether.
“Time to get going.”
He walked over to her and waited while one of the other men released her from the chair. Cash gripped her upper arm in a pinching grasp and practically dragged her to the door. When he pulled her outside, sure enough, a small plane sat on the tarmac outside the warehouse.
“Your coach awaits.” He laughed, a sound with no humor in it. “Come on. Don’t make trouble or I’ll have to kill you here and that would spoil the party.”
Someone opened the cabin door and pushed out the stairs. Cash urged her upward from behind and the strange man dragged her in. Then Cash climbed in behind her. In the next minute, she was strapped in to one of the seats in the luxurious cabin. Cash and the other man settled in their own seats. The man in the seat across from her gave her a smile as humorless as Cash’s had been. He held an unlit cigar in his fingers.
“Well, well. Señorita Cole. Welcome to the party.”
The rotors whined as their speed increased and in seconds they lifted off and banked into the night sky.
Oh, Logan. I hope you’re prepared for this. I have every bit of faith in you.
“This is a nice ride, no?” Moreno looked at her. “We will be at the main party shortly.”
“I don’t expect to be having much fun.” She lifted her chin in a defiant gesture. “Señor Moreno, I assume? I’m shocked you left the security of your estate to come on this ride.”
“Your father is a very important man, especially to me. I want to welcome him myself.”
And kill him.
“And what will you do after that?”
He shrugged. “He loves you very much. He has agreed to exchange himself for you. A fair trade, no?”
She studied him for a long time, fear and rage boiling in her stomach.
“You aren’t going to let either of us go, are you?”
He reached out and grabbed her chin with his fingers, gripping it tightly. It took every bit of willpower not to flinch and try to pull away from him. Instead she stared him right in the eye.
“Well, well. A fighter.” Another of those cold smiles. “I might enjoy this after all.”
“What do you want?” Although she knew exactly what he wanted.
“What is rightfully mine as well as my pound of flesh for the trouble I’ve been caused. I think that’s fair, don’t you?”
“You tricked him. You and that asshole Cash Breeland.”
“A little business maneuvering is what I call it,” he told her. He glanced sideways out the windshield. “Well, well. It seems we are there already. Just do as you’re told and everything will be fine.”
For you.
They were barely up in the air before they were setting down at a small airfield, one she’d seen a couple of times outside Arrowhead Bay. Some residents used it for private planes or helos. Surely they wouldn’t be landing with people around, would they?
Then they were on the ground and she was pulled roughly from her seat. Someone pushed the cabin door open and one of the men lowered the stairs again. He yanked her from the seat and stood her in the doorway. She could make out a small building that looked like it might be an office and off to the left planes were in their tie-down slots. An SUV and a van were parked by a chain-link fence, with two other vehicles close to the building.
What was waiting for her out there? Had her father really shown up? Was Logan out there, hiding? Did he know what was happening?
The man behind her dug his fingers into her arm in a punishing grip, a rifle pointed over her shoulder. Devon swallowed and straightened her back.
Showtime.
* * * *
The night was still, without a breath of air moving. Nothing stirred on the little side road leading in to the tiny airport from the two-lane highway. The only sound was that of the occasional night bird. Logan was about to check the time on his watch when he heard the faint drone of an incoming plane. He looked up in the sky and saw the plane’s winking lights.
“I’m hitting the lights,” came Avery’s whispered voice in his earpiece.
He clicked his throat mic twice to acknowledge. In an instant she flipped the switch inside that lit up the small runway. The plane swooped down, landed, and coasted to a stop near the building. After what seemed an interminable length of time, the door slid open.
Then there she was in the doorway. Standing behind her was a tall, muscular man holding an assault rifle and scanning the area. Logan’s heart rate tripled and he had to force deep breaths to slow it down.
Please don’t let this get fucked up.
“Cole,” the man shouted. “El Jefe wants to be sure you are here.”
“I am,” Cole shouted from the shadows of the overhang. “But I’m not moving until my daughter is off that plane and out of range. He knows the deal. When she’s safely in the SUV, I’ll come forward. Shoot me, and everything I have on the cartel goes public.”
“How do we know you haven’t already given it up?” the man yelled.
“Because it’s my only trump card, you idiot. Now let my daughter off the plane.”
The man started to lift his rifle, then apparently thought better of it and stepped back into the cabin. Logan ground his teeth in impatience. He held his breath as the man nudged Avery forward, causing her to stumble a little as she descended the stairway.
I’ll kill every one of those fuckers if they harmed her in any way.
“Go on,” the man called to her. “We need to get your father and be out of here.”
He saw her look around the airfield, then spot the SUV and the van and head straight toward them. Her walk was a little unsteady but as she got closer she picked up a little speed. The van blocked the view of the SUV so when she got close enough, Logan reached a hand out and jerked her toward him, clapping his hand over her mouth.
“It’s me. Don’t scream, okay?”
She nodded. “Logan?” she whispered.
“Get in. Quick.” He had the door open and shoved her into the front, over to the passenger side. “Get down and stay down.” He looked at the agent sitting in the driver’s seat. “Get her the hell away from here. Now.”
The SUV was moving almost before he finished speaking.
Logan jumped into the van where another agent waited, the man gunned the motor, and they raced toward the small plane. The moment they began to move, two agents raced from the building, grabbed Cole, and yanked him back into the building. Logan lowered his window, stuck out the rifle that had been waiting for him, and shot out the tires on the plane. At once the plane’s nose dipped toward the ground.
Agents dressed in full riot gear dashed toward the plane. The man who had first appeared in the doorway lifted his assault rifle and began firing but in seconds he was down, shot by one of the agents.
Another man moved into the doorway, spraying the area with his rifle. Bullets zinged everywhere. But then DEA Special Agent Chuck LaValle and his men were up the stairway and boarding the plane. Logan leaped from the van and ran over to the plane, right behind them. He wanted to see for himself the bastard who’d started this whole thing and make sure he was secured. Agents from Vigilance stood at the foot of the stairway, guns at the ready if needed.
He’d always wondered what evil personified looked like, and now he saw it in the face of Cruz Moreno. As the DEA agents cuffed him and his friends, Logan glanced at Cash Breeland, also cuffed, his face ashen, his shoulders drooping. Logan hoped all of them would suffer a special kind of hell for what they’d done. He had to restrain himself from taking a punch at Cash as the agents moved him out of the plane, along with Moreno and the others.
Everyone was herded toward the vehicles except for one man who took a moment to slap a sticker on the nose of the plane: Property of the Drug Enforcement Agency. Then he hurried to catch up to the others. LaValle escorted Graham Cole to the vehicle with Sheri and Avery in the back seat. In seconds they were headed toward Arrowhead Bay and Vigilance.
The only one left was him. The SUV Devon had ridden away in pulled back in through the open gate and right up to the building. When the passenger door flew open and she jumped out, Logan ran to her and gathered her in his arms, holding her close to his chest. For a long moment all he could do was stand and hold her.
He looked at the driver. “You were supposed to take her to the office.”
“I checked with Avery to get an all clear. If I hadn’t brought her back, she threatened to jump out of a moving vehicle and walk back here. Sorry.”
Okay. He’d allow himself the pleasure of holding her for one last time and making sure she was okay.
“Did they…hurt you in any way?” He was afraid to ask the question. Afraid of what he might hear.
“Not really. They tied me up and left me alone for the most part. Brought me water, I guess so I wouldn’t die of dehydration, but that was all.”
In his mind he’d imagined the most terrible things happening to her. It was a small measure of relief that they hadn’t. He wanted to kiss her, but then he remembered if not for him she wouldn’t have been in that situation.
“Okay.” He took a step back. “I’m taking you back to Vigilance. Your father will be there, and he wants a few minutes with you. Are you up for it?”
“I hope so. I’m not sure I know what to say to him.” She touched Logan’s arm. “Thank you for saving me.”
Her soft words were like a knife to his heart.
“Saving you? It’s my damn fault you got taken to begin with.”
“How can you say that? You did everything right. You locked the doors to the truck when you got out. You pulled up close to the pump and wedged yourself between them. You kept looking in all directions.”
“I remember.” He ground out the words. “I should have taken you to Vigilance first and then gassed up the truck. It was a rookie mistake. I didn’t—” He swallowed, hard, unable to get the rest of the words out.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she insisted. “Any more than what happened to Amanda was your fault. Will you please get that through your head?” She reached up and cupped his face with her hands. “What about all the things you said? Things we said to each other? I can’t believe you didn’t mean them.”
“You’re better off if you do.”
He had to get her back to Vigilance before he gave in to the emotion swamping him and told her what he really felt. She deserved better than him. Period.
He was through talking. He just didn’t have anything else to say to her, weighted down as he was by guilt. He wanted to hand her over to Avery and get the hell out of Dodge. Find a place where he could hide away from everything. Go someplace where he’d never see Devon again and be reminded of the fact she almost lost her life because of him.
They climbed into the SUV, the agent who’d been driving now sitting in the back. Devon finally gave up trying to get him to talk and they rode the rest of the way in uncomfortable silence.
* * * *
Devon was beyond frustrated. The moment they arrived at Vigilance and he took her inside, Logan had done a disappearing act. She tried to ask Avery about it but everyone else was there—the DEA agents, her father, and the Vigilance agents.
Her father stood in Avery’s office, a tentative look on his face. She just threw herself into his arms and hugged him as if she never wanted to let him go.
“I’m so sorry,” he said over and over. “I would have killed myself if anything had happened to you.”
“But you didn’t know what kind of a deal you were getting into,” she reminded him.
“I should have. No one gives out that kind of money at a favorable interest rate unless there’s something underhanded about it.” He cupped her chin. “I love you, Devon. You’re my little girl and always will be. It’s my job as a father to take care of you, and I almost got you killed.”
She wanted to stamp her foot, tired of the men in her life telling her that. Logan was busy wearing his hair shirt and her father was wallowing in guilt and stupidity.
“But you contacted Vigilance,” she reminded him. “That was the smartest thing you could have done.”
Then she hugged him, not sure how long they’d have together or when she’d see him again. Avery had told her about the deal with the DEA. Just because Moreno and his top henchmen were either dead or in custody didn’t mean someone else wasn’t running the cartel. Her father would have a target on his back for a long time.
“I wish you could meet Leslie,” he told her after he explained his situation. “You would love her.”
“If she’s good to you and makes you happy, and you’re safe, that’s all I care about.”
“Maybe some day…” He shrugged. “Who knows, right?”
“Right.”
It seemed they had barely spent a minute together before Avery was there along with DEA Special Agent Chuck LaValle.
“We owe you thanks for the information,” LaValle told Graham, “no matter how we came to it. And thank you for putting yourself at risk for us.”
“I did it for my daughter,” Graham said, “but hell, it was also the least I could do after realizing I was in bed with the devil.”
“You know this isn’t the end of it for them,” he said. “We got the head honcho but he’s got lieutenants who will take over and they won’t stop looking for you.”
“Is there any way to get their hooks out of Cole International?”
“I think with Moreno out of the picture, and SMX Group closed up, the corporation could phase out the operations they were involved in and move those people into other divisions.”
“I’ll give you the information on my new attorney.” Graham pulled out his cell phone. “He’s an old friend and I trust him completely. He has power of attorney to make things happen. He can also facilitate the appointment of a new CEO.”
“Good.” LaValle nodded his head. “Very good.”
“What about Alford and Bodine?” Bitterness edged Graham’s tone when he mentioned their names.
“We picked them up earlier today. And of course Cash Breeland was taken off the plane with Moreno.”
Graham scrubbed his face with his hands. “I feel like the stupidest person in the world to be taken in by them. Hell, I didn’t even suspect a thing when Alford and Bodine and Vince Pellegrino were slipped into Cole International.”
“They’re very good at what they do,” Avery reminded them.
“Do you have any idea why Vince was killed? He was one of their people.”
“As we dig through everything I’m sure we’ll find the answer,” LaValle assured him. “My guess is he asked for a bigger cut of the pie. They also had a sense you were getting ready to disappear and held him responsible for not keeping a tighter hold on you.”
“It’ll be a long time getting over that,” he said. He lifted the satchel he’d brought with him and handed it to LaValle. “The external hard drive. I threw the other one overboard along with the laptop. Everything you want to know about the Moreno cartel is on it.”
“For that alone we’ll figure out how to extricate Cole International,” Avery told him. “Right, Chuck?”
The agent nodded.
“I also have the information he sent us,” Avery told the agent. “We created reports and spreadsheets. I’ll forward them to your e-mail.”
“Much appreciated.” He turned to Graham. “We’ll be taking you someplace secluded tonight. Then tomorrow and maybe the day after we’ll be asking you a lot of questions. Everything you can tell us will be another nail in Moreno’s coffin.”
“After that I go back to…where I was, under my new name, so they can’t find me, right?”
LaValle nodded. “I’m sorry it has to be that way, but we don’t want to take chances with your life.”
“What—what about Cash Breeland? He’s the one who got us into it. Will he get hit as hard?”
“No question about it. As we speak federal agents have taken possession of his bank and brought in a team of accountants. The bank is closed.” He shook his head. “Everyone whose accounts are on the up-and-up will get their money, but we have to sort it all out first.”
“They were great buddies,” Graham told him. “Moreno used to call him Vato.”
LaValle snorted. “It means ‘dude’ in Spanish. I think Moreno didn’t respect him as much as you think.”
Devon frowned. “Why not? Cash is the one who set up all his money laundering systems.”
“That doesn’t mean there was respect there,” La Valle said. “We’ll go over all the records, but I believe they’ve been doing this together for a long time. I think it probably started when Moreno opened an account in Breeland’s bank and deposited a large sum of money.”
“I need to make a call.” Her father looked at Avery. “Someone’s waiting by the phone, I’m sure.”
“We can take care of that.” She looked at Chuck. “And tomorrow let’s let him have some time with Devon, too.”
The agent nodded.
And suddenly, with a flurry, they were gone.
Devon looked at Avery. “I should feel a lot better about this, but I just feel…empty. I’m happy I’ll get to spend some time with my dad tomorrow but then he’s gone again.” She looked around. “And where did Logan disappear to?”
“He has some issues to work through.” Avery smiled although it was obvious she was concerned. “Give him a little space and it will all work out.”
“I don’t know.” Devon bit her lip. “He feels so guilty. Did you know he had another incident in his past?”
Avery nodded. “I have to know everything about my agents when I hire them. But he never wanted to talk about it and I didn’t want to pry.”
She swallowed back tears. “I care about him.”
“I’d say it’s a little more than that. You’re in love with him. It may have been fast but I’ve always believed when the right person comes along you don’t need months to realize it.”
“So what do I do?”
“Like I said, give him some space. If he stays away too long, I promise I’ll step in. Okay?”
“I guess it will have to be.” Devon rubbed her forehead. “Right now I’m unbelievably tired. I need to shower and change my clothes. And sleep, if I can. I’d like to go back to the house, just in case…in case Logan decides to show up. But I don’t think I’m up to staying there by myself.”
“No worries.” Sheri had entered the room without her even noticing. “We discussed it. Avery and I are both going to stay with you. I’ll take you home and Avery will be along shortly. Will that work for you?”
Devon nearly lost it then, at the kindness of these people.
“I don’t know how to thank you.” She swallowed. “Maybe you’d better get me out of here before I lose it altogether and start bawling like a baby.”
But as exhausted as she was, it took her a long time to fall asleep without Logan’s arms around her and his hard, muscular body curled around hers. She cried silently, not wanting to disturb the March sisters. Finally, just before dawn, she fell into an exhausted sleep.
* * * *
Devon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. For a moment she was tempted to forget this, turn around, and drive back to Arrowhead Bay.
No. This is too important. If I leave now, I’ll always regret not taking this chance.
Avery had given her the directions to the little cottage at Ft. Myers Beach.
“I bought it a few years ago to stash a client and decided to keep it. It’s proven to be a good place to decompress without having to hide up in the hills.”
She’d hugged Avery. Hard. Then left before she lost her nerve.
She knocked on the door and when there was no answer, she knocked again. Still no answer. She peeked through the windows and didn’t see anyone and when she checked no one was on the back porch. Sighing, she hoofed it down to the end of the little street where a small park bordered the beach and Estero Bay.
Once she got into the park, Logan wasn’t hard to spot. He was standing in the water, the waves lapping his ankles, hands shoved in the pockets of his shorts. He was staring at the water so she didn’t think he was aware of her walking toward him in the sand.
“Your perfume gives you away all the time.” His voice was ragged, as if he’d been shouting for a long time. “I’ll never be able to smell vanilla and jasmine without thinking of you. If you really want to sneak up on somebody, you should change it.”
“Maybe I wanted you to know I was here.” She slipped off her sandals and walked forward to where he was.
“What do you want, Devon? You should stay as far away from me as you can. Haven’t you figured that out yet? I’m poison to the women I love. It seems I can protect everyone but them.”
“See. Now that’s where you’re wrong.” She walked up to stand beside him. “You protected me just fine.”
“Coulda woulda shoulda.”
She flipped a hand at him. “I knew you’d save me, Logan. I had every bit of faith in you.”
“I don’t know how you could.” He stared out at the horizon. “I let the first woman I loved die and almost did the same to the second one. I’m useless, Devon. You’re better off without me.”
Devon stared at him, the anger building inside her. On impulse she hit him on the side of the head with her sandals.
“Enough with the pity party.” She hit him again.
“Hey!” He held up his hand. “That hurts!”
“Good. Maybe it will knock some sense into you.” She got ready to do it a third time when his hand snaked out and he grabbed her by the wrist.
“You trying to knock my brains out?”
“I would if you had any.” She sighed. “Logan, in life shit happens. Did I think my father would get himself involved with drug dealers? Did he? Did I ever imagine any of this would happen?” She shook her head. “Not in my wildest nightmares. My father is beating himself up even worse than you, saying it’s really his fault I was kidnapped. It took me a long time the other day to convince him shit happens.”
“How could you ever trust me to take care of you again?” He held his hands out. “How could anyone?”
“Well, I’d say Vigilance would. Avery’s got an assignment waiting for you, but I told her it had to wait because you and I had some unfinished business.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You said you loved me. Were you lying?”
“No, but—”
She held up her hand. “You said we’d see what we had together when this was over. Was that a lie?”
He shook his head. “That’s not the point.”
“Now that’s where you’re wrong. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the whole point. If you can look me in the eye and tell me, truthfully, that you don’t love me and what we have isn’t the beginning of something strong and lasting, I’ll get back in my car, drive back to Arrowhead Bay, and you’ll never hear from me again. So look at me, Logan. Can you do that?”
He looked at her, his eyes full of anguish, but something else lurked in there. The feelings she’d seen from the first time they made love. They were there, and the fist clenching around her heart loosened.
“Well?” she prompted.
Without any warning he stepped close to her, grabbed her, pulled her against him, and kissed her so hard she had a hard time breathing. But she didn’t care. All she cared about was his warm lips on hers, his tongue dancing with hers, his strong fingers cupping her cheeks as he held her head in place for his plundering. At last he lifted his mouth from hers, but he still cradled her face in his palms.
“I tried to get you out of my mind,” he said in a gravelly voice, “but I couldn’t. You were in my dreams every night and in my head every day. I don’t think I even felt this much for Amanda. But Devon—”
She touched his lips with a forefinger. “No buts. We both have issues to deal with, but we’ll do a lot better if we deal with them together.”
He studied her face for a long time. “I don’t know why or how I got so lucky but if this is what you want, you’re stuck with me. Period.”
“It’s what I want,” she whispered. “It’s all I want.”
They walked back to the cottage holding hands. She told him about her father’s new life that the DEA was going to get him back to and about his new love.
“The DEA set up a Skype call for the three of us. She’s lovely, Logan. And it’s obvious she cares a great deal for him.”
“I’m glad for him,” Logan told her. “Even if I want to kick his balls in for getting involved in the mess he did.”
She flapped a hand at him. “He had a problem and didn’t look too closely at the solution. It’s done now. Over with. They’re getting married in a couple of months and Chuck LaValle said he could get me up to Maine for the wedding without leaving tracks.” She stopped at the cottage and looked up at him. “I would be more than happy if you’d come with me.”
He hesitated for a moment, and she wondered if he was rethinking everything he’d said. Then she saw his body relax.
“I’d be honored to. Maybe by then we could have had our own wedding.”
Her heart nearly stopped beating. Then she grinned so broadly she thought her cheeks would crack, and threw her arms around him. “If that’s a proposal, I say yes. Yes, yes, yes!” She hugged him, hard. “No taking it back now.”
He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I love you, Devon. Maybe I don’t have the right—”
She clapped her hand over his mouth. “We’re done with that, at least for today. I know you’ll be dealing with it for a while, because that’s the kind of person you are. But we’ll deal together. Okay?”
His laugh had a rusty sound to it, as if he hadn’t used it much lately. “Okay. I guess I find it hard to say no to you.”
“Good. Because from now on there’s going to be a lot of yes in our lives.”
They held hands at they climbed the stairs to the door of the stilted cottage. Logan punched the code into the lock and opened the door for her. They were barely inside before he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
“I have to have you right now,” he rasped. “Right. This. Minute.”
They were frantic tearing their clothes off. Logan yanked back the covers on the bed and lowered her to the cool sheets. They were both so aroused, so turned on after being apart, that foreplay almost wasn’t necessary.
He locked his gaze with hers as he slid into her, holding still as her muscles clenched around him.
“This is forever, Logan. No changing your mind now.”
“Forever,” he agreed, and took them both over the edge in a whirlwind release.
When they could catch their breath again he brushed his mouth over hers. “Forever,” he repeated.
She nodded. “Forever.”
In case you missed it, please enjoy an excerpt from Desiree Holt’s