MIA PUT THE food tubs away in the fridge. The last customer had left Cream of the Crop an hour ago. The wait staff and her aunt, who helped her clean up the restaurant, left ten minutes ago. Her aunt didn’t want to leave her alone, but Mia insisted she go home and stop worrying.
Admittedly, Mia was still skittish after the ordeal with Caden. The five days they spent in Hawaii went a long way to smoothing out her rough edges and brought back some of the calm she felt before she was nearly killed. The other nine days of Caden’s vacation/administrative leave, they spent getting to know each other, doing something together every day. Whether a movie, trying a new restaurant, going for a hike, or even Caden joining her in the restaurant garden to pick vegetables, they found something to do and share. He’d even taken her target shooting a couple of times. He said he needed the practice, but she knew he wanted her to know how to protect herself. And he wanted to find a way to build her confidence again after it had taken a hit and left her with a lingering unease. Especially this past week when Caden went back to work.
She needed to shake it off and start living her life again with nothing more to worry about than what the Special of the Day would be and how long before Caden came home. Because every night, he came home to her. They’d both thrown themselves into their relationship, knowing each day they had together was a gift.
She went to the sink, filled the watering can, and walked through the empty dining room to the bay window that overlooked the sidewalk and street. She watered the potted herbs, including the new thyme plant Caden replaced after she lost hers on their first date.
He’d done so many sweet things, proving to her how committed he was to making their relationship work.
They hadn’t spent a single night apart. No matter how late or early he had to work, he always made it to her house for at least a few hours. But tonight he’d told her he had an op that would keep him out all night. She’d miss him and dreaded going home to her house and sleeping alone. It had been so easy to get used to having him there, to seeing him each day. It surprised her how often she thought about him or how simple things reminded her of him or something they’d done together. He’d become such a huge part of her life in such a short time.
And she loved it. She loved him.
Lost in thought and that revelation, she startled when someone tapped on the glass. She focused on the handsome man in front of her, smiling and waving his hand to get her attention after she zoned out. She laughed and shook her head, surprised and so damn happy to see Caden.
She touched her jeans pocket but didn’t find the key to the front door. She must have left it in the kitchen. She pointed to the back, letting Caden know she’d left the rear door unlocked after she took out the trash.
He headed that way and so did she through the restaurant, but she stopped short and went to the front again, realizing at the last second that she’d actually left the keys dangling in the front-door lock. Something big and dark shot past the window, catching her eye in her peripheral vision. Still uneasy and suspicious, she unhooked the heavy copper pot hanging as a decoration by the front door. She unlocked the door, quietly snuck out, and turned the corner Caden and the dark figure went down moments ago, her heart pounding in her chest.
CADEN SMILED TO himself, thinking about Mia haloed in the soft light standing in the dining room completely lost in thought and so beautiful. He took the small window he had between organizing his team and meeting them for an op outside what should be an abandoned warehouse. The local sheriff had received several calls about suspicious activity and believed local drug dealers had taken over the building. The sheriff asked the DEA to move in and take them down. One more shot at Guzman’s crew.
He’d get there, but first he needed to see Mia. He loved spending time with her each day, and the thought of not even a single glimpse of her today made his chest ache. So he’d come up with a way to show her how much he’d miss her.
Glass crunched under his shoe. He glanced up at the broken light over the back door. He needed to tell Mia about it, so she could get it replaced. If he had time tomorrow, he’d take care of it himself. Her safety remained his number one priority.
He reached for the back door to meet her in the kitchen but stopped when a tingle sent the hairs on the back of his neck up. Something scuffed on the ground behind him. He spun around and threw up his hands when he spotted the gun pointed right in his face. He stared past it and into a pair of dark brown eyes filled with menace.
“Guzman wants Trigger. Tell me his real name and where to find him, and I’ll spare your life.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I’ll tell you what I told Marco before I killed him: I don’t know how to find Trigger. If I did, he’d be behind bars.” Fuck. Now Guzman didn’t believe Beck’s cover. If he got out of this alive, he needed to warn Beck and put even more pressure on Guzman and his crew to get them to back off.
With the door at his back, he shifted his weight and propped one foot in front of it so Mia couldn’t open it. He didn’t want to put her in harm’s way again. Things were going so well. Better than great. He didn’t want this or anything to ruin what turned out to be the best relationship he’d ever had with a woman, one he liked and appreciated more each day.
He didn’t want to go out like this, not when his future seemed so bright with Mia beside him.
“You’re lying. Either you tell me, or I’ll make you.”
Caden wanted to shoot this asshole, but if he went for his gun, the guy would shoot him before he got it out of the holster.
Please, Mia, stay inside.
He went with bluster until the guy made a mistake Caden could capitalize on and take him down. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
He had a split second to duck when he spotted Mia’s bright hair and the reflection off the pan she swung at the back of the guy’s head. It hit with a crack. Lucky for Caden, the guy dropped the gun instead of firing as he fell to the ground. Mia swung a second time, clocking the guy on the side of his head on the way down.
He screamed with the second crack to his head, hit the ground on his hands and knees, and reached out to grab Mia’s leg. Caden kicked the guy in the midsection hard enough to flatten his lungs and send a whoosh of air out his mouth on a pained groan.
With the guy down, Caden snatched up the gun that skittered toward his feet and stuffed it down the back of his pants, then he grabbed the guy’s arm and pulled his hand away from his bashed head and up his back between his shoulder blades.
“Damn, bitch, where the hell did you come from?”
Mia stood five feet away, holding the pot up. “I think you dented my pot, asshole.” She gave him a fierce look. His girl had guts.
Caden cuffed the guy and held him down with a knee in the spine to keep him from going after Mia. He didn’t struggle much.
He laid his face on the ground. “Man, my head hurts. I think I need an ambulance.”
“Yeah, well, first you’re under arrest.”
Mia let out a heavy sigh. “Hey, honey, when you said you had to work late tonight, I didn’t know you were bringing it home.” Mia’s voice trembled and cracked at the end, but she tried valiantly to hold it together.
Caden stared up at her, awed by her strength. “You are something else.”
“Want me to call the cops?”
“Thanks, partner.”
She winked at him. “You said I’d make a kickass DEA agent.”
“If it wouldn’t drive me insane with worry, I’d say, ‘You’re hired.’ ”
She pulled her cell out of her back pocket, because he’d made her promise to keep it on her person at all times and not in her purse.
“Get off me, asshole. You’re hurting my back.”
“It’s a hell of a lot better than you deserve. You came here to kill me, asshole.”
“Hey, I had my orders.”
“Well, we’ll see if Guzman stands behind you when your ass is in jail instead of giving him what he wants.”
The guy shook his head and sighed. “Fuck.”
“Yes, you are seriously fucked.”
Mia finished the call with 911. “They’ll be here in a few minutes. Boy, you tell them an agent’s involved, and they’re all over that.”
Caden laughed. “We protect our own.”
Mia gave him a knowing look, because yet again he’d had to protect Beck’s identity.
“What are you doing here?” She stayed back, though he could see her hand tremble and the nervous way she shifted from foot to foot and watched the opening to the alleyway, making sure no one else tried to sneak up on them.
Caden hauled the guy up and set him down against the restaurant wall. “Stay put.”
With his hands handcuffed behind his back, he hung his hurt head and leaned forward. “I’m dizzy as hell. Bitch concussed me. I’m going to sue you, bitch.”
Caden sneered at the guy. “Really? Concussed.” It never ceased to amaze him what these guys said when faced with jail. “You’re lucky she didn’t bust your nose like she did to your friends.”
The guy went back to mumbling under his breath, punctuating the gibberish with swear words. Caden kept his eye on the guy, waiting on the cops closing in, their sirens growing louder by the second.
“You okay?” he asked Mia, needing her reassurance to ease his racing heart.
She came up behind him, knowing he couldn’t turn to her and keep his suspect subdued, and slipped her arms through his, laid her head on his back, and hugged him close. He put his hand over hers at his belly, wishing the cops would hurry the hell up.
“It’s okay, honey. You did so good. You saved my life.”
“Well, you saved mine last time.”
After facing a guy with a gun who was intent on torturing and killing him for information, he found he could smile. “People are going to wonder if I’m dating you or trying to get you killed.”
“I think after this the DEA and cops are going to go after Guzman hard. The guy just won’t quit.”
That made the guy raise his head and glare. “You killed his cousin, bitch.”
“How many people have you killed with all those drugs you sell?” Mia shot back.
“We’re making money. Supply and demand.”
Caden rolled his eyes. “Don’t.” Mia wouldn’t get anywhere trying to talk reason with this guy. He sold drugs and didn’t think anything about coming here to kill Caden, except that it would put him in Guzman’s good graces.
Thankfully, the cops pulled up, sirens blasting, lights flashing and swirling against the buildings. Caden happily turned over the guy whose life mission was to be a better felon. Caden gave his statement to the officer and waited while Mia gave hers. Once she was finished, he took her hand and pulled her into the restaurant for a quiet moment.
He tugged her into his arms and kissed her, holding her close, then held her away from him and shouted, “Are you crazy?”
Her eyes went wide. “What did I do?”
“You should have called the cops and let me handle that guy.”
“I thought he was going to kill you,” she shouted back at him.
“All the more reason to stay in here and not get in the way.”
“I wasn’t in the way—I saved your ass.”
“What if he’d turned that gun on you?”
“You would have killed him.”
She risked her life to save him, knowing he’d do anything to protect her. He pulled her back into his arms and held her close. “What am I going to do with you?”
“The same thing you’ve been doing the last many weeks.”
“Loving you.” He held his breath, hoping she felt the same way. And said something. She went completely still in his arms.
She slowly pulled away and looked up at him. “Do you mean that?”
“I’ve nearly lost you twice, and both times I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it. I’m standing here with you thinking the same thing. I don’t ever want to live without you. I love you, Mia.”
She launched herself into his chest and kissed him hard. “I love you, too. Don’t ever dare a thug like that to kill you again.”
“I didn’t.”
“Nearly.”
“I needed to stall, so I could take him down when he moved the gun out of my face.”
“Still. No more guns in your face. No more people threatening you. Just, no,” she rambled.
“Are we seriously having our first fight while we tell each other we love the other?” He shook his head, trying to make sense of everything that happened tonight.
“Yes. So? I’m a little amped and scared and so happy.” She hugged him tight.
He held her close and kissed the side of her head and ran his fingers through her long hair. “You’re okay, Mia. I’m okay. I got you, honey.”
“Is this what it’s going to be like all the time?”
“No.” He’d find a way to stop Guzman and end this threat against him, Mia, and Beck.
“I thought you had to work all night.”
“Yeah, well, I had a few minutes and stopped by to give you this.” He pulled the key out of his pocket dangling from a daisy key chain and held it up in front of her. “I always end up at your place. I thought maybe you’d stay at my place tonight and be there when I got home in the morning.”
She smiled up at him. “Really?”
“Yeah. And if you like staying there, maybe you’ll want to stay there all the time.” He held his breath, waiting to see what she said. He hadn’t exactly planned to ask her tonight. He thought to give her the key and she’d start using it and slowly they’d blend their lives even more.
Revved up on adrenaline, but thinking clearly and knowing exactly what he wanted, he asked her because he didn’t want to let her out of his sight ever again, but would settle for her moving into his house and life permanently.
She snatched the key out of his hand. “Get rid of the cops. Let’s go home.”
“Are you sure? What about your house and garden?” He really thought he’d have to talk her into this.
“We’ll work it all out. Right now, I want to get out of here, go to your place, forget the last hour happened, and have you show me again how much you love me.”
“My favorite thing to do.” He kissed her long and deep and took his time because his heart was finally getting the message that they survived again tonight and she said yes to moving in with him. He had his life. Her. And that meant he had everything.