FRIDAY. DAYUS PHARMACY, Atlanta, Georgia.

Léo followed John into the bedroom, shadowing his every move.

“We need to talk,” he said.

“Not now,” John mumbled.

“Yes. Now.” Léo hated being terse. He just wanted what was best for John. Didn’t he know that? “We need to talk about your East Coast job. We’re almost down to the wire and—”

“There is no job.” John sat on the bed and toed his shoes off.

“Wait. What?” Léo gaped at the man. “There is no job?”

“Never was.”

“Then—”

“Léo, I love you, but you need to stop hovering. This? It’s something I need to do. No clients, no targets, no planning. I need to make a difference for nothing other than it makes me happy.” John waved him away. “I’ll explain later.”

Léo was too shocked to demand more answers.

What the hell had gotten into John?

What they did always had a purpose. First, to do the work John needed to do. To help those who no one else would get help. People like Léo and the others. Second, for the money. Taking care of John’s needs wasn’t cheap. They’d built a nice little enterprise, and they had enough tucked away to finally consider some freedoms, but the business would dry up once the heat was on. Their biggest market appeal was the fact that no one suspected a thing. If they did a pleasure project like this, on the scale of what John had hinted at, they’d be on the radar of every country. They would never be safe. Léo wouldn’t be able to protect John.

Léo shut the bedroom door and paced into the living area of the basement safe house.

This was bad. Really bad.

John would no doubt be passed out. It was to be expected. He likely hadn’t slept in a few days. His blood sugar was all out of whack, and that didn’t even get them to the point of considering what to do with the other woman.

Léo felt eyes on him.

Crane hadn’t spoken more than a few words since they’d arrived. The guy had to see what they were dealing with that the boss wasn’t well. If Léo was going to convince anyone they needed to gently transition leadership, it was now. He was doing this for John, to save him from himself.

“Can we talk? Serious talk.” Léo pulled out a chair and sat across from Crane.

“What’s on your mind?” Crane pushed a tumbler of amber liquid toward him.

Léo shook his head. A drink wasn’t what he needed right now.

“We need to talk about the boss.” Léo stared at the other man. He’d like to call Crane a friend, but in this line of work the only person they were all truly loyal to was John.

“What about him?”

“He’s not well.”

“He’s been under a lot of stress. We all have.”

Léo sucked in a breath and straightened his spine. He’d lived every moment of his life for John since the day that man had rescued him. Léo had cleaned up the messes, made problems go away, he’d cooked and cleaned, he’d done anything John needed because he loved that man more than his own family. But there were limits. Léo had so much blood on his hands they’d never be clean, but what John was talking about went too far.

“I don’t think he’s fit to be in charge anymore.” Léo hadn’t spoken the sentence out loud. His stomach clenched at the sound of them, even worse because it felt like the right thing to say.

“Have you told anyone else about this?” Crane asked.

“No.” Léo glanced over his shoulder at the door. “But, you see him. You’ve seen how things have gone. The last year, we’ve had one near disaster after another. If we’re going to succeed, we need someone with a level head running things.”

“And you think that’s you?”

Léo flinched and stared at the stairs.

The short, shapely figure was swathed in shadows.

She took a step down, and then another.

“What are you doing here, Julie?” Léo asked.

“Answer my question first,” she said.

Léo fought the urge to stand. These weren’t the kind of people he could negotiate with. Either they were loyal to the death or realistic.

“If the company wants me to retain my role in operations, I’m more than happy to serve,” Léo said.

“More than happy to serve?” Julie came to a stop next to crane and gripped the back of the man’s chair. “If you’re so happy to serve, why do you want the old man out of the picture?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Léo held up his hands. “John—the boss—he’s sick. And when he’s sick, he doesn’t always make the most reasonable decisions. I mean, look at this last week? How does any of this make sense?”

“I believe in the boss,” Julie said.

Léo blinked at the woman. Since when had Julie believed in anything but money?

“You’re right,” Crane said.

“Oh, thank God.” Léo blew out a breath.

“I’ve had a lot of time to watch you, get closer with the boss, and what I see is that you constantly try to snuff out the boss’ great ideas. You drag him down. The problem, is you, Léo.”

He stared into Crane’s eyes and felt the noose closing around his neck.

Léo had made a mistake. A miscalculation.

“If the boss didn’t love you so much I’d kill you now,” Julie said.

“I’m not convinced we shouldn’t.” Crane glanced at the woman.

Léo pushed to his feet and took a step back.

“I’ll give you a head start.” Crane lifted his glass and saluted Léo. “Go. Before the boss wakes up and tells us to kill you.”

Léo’s instincts said to run, flee, get out of here. But then he’d be leaving dad—the boss—with these people. They didn’t understand him like Léo did. They hadn’t been there for the ten years before, learning how to deal with John’s need to rescue people, the bodies showing up at the worst possible moments.

All Léo wanted was to protect John, but maybe it was time Léo worried about himself. This was the path that John had picked and no amount of steering him had worked. If Léo didn’t jump ship now, he might go down with the whole boat.

Right now, it was every man for himself.

“Alright. Have it your way.”

Léo held up his hands and walked slowly toward the stairs. He held his breath all the way to the top of the stairs. Everything in him wanted to run back into the basement and wake dad up, but John had changed. Maybe Léo couldn’t save him anymore.

FRIDAY. FBI SAFE HOUSE, Atlanta, Georgia.

Adam walked into the living room and stopped.

Heidi was up out of the wheel chair and standing with Riley’s arms wrapped around her. The room hazed red. A tremor of ugly, suffocating jealousy rose up to suffocate him. He closed his eyes and breathed in a deep breath.

It’d been a decade since he had to face his jealousy. Heidi wasn’t the only one with issues. He had his fair share.

“And that is how you two-step.” Riley twirled Heidi in place then bowed.

Heidi tossed her head back, her freshly washed hair bouncing. Riley’s gaze snagged with Adam’s and the younger man ducked behind Heidi, crouching as though he could use her as a shield.

“Oh no, I think I’m in trouble.” Riley laughed.

Heidi planted her hands on her hips and leveled a glare at Adam. It was the little arched brow that did it, untwisted his insides so he could breathe. His jealousy had created quite the issue when they were in high school. She’d gotten blamed for his behavior by others claiming she was a bad influence when in reality she was the one who made him better. He didn’t want to be her dad just as much as she didn’t want to grow up like him either.

“Adam hates dancing,” she said.

“I do not.” He crossed the living room and sat on the sofa, pointedly not looking at Riley. Heidi was Adam’s. The ring she kept at home said as much. Her claim that she, too, had been faithful all these years soothed him. Riley wasn’t going to threaten that, not with a little shuffling around the room.

“You do, too.” Heidi stepped around the coffee table and sat next to him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“You aren’t supposed to be on your feet,” he said softly and handed her the soda—without ice.

“As much fun as it is for you to carry me everywhere, that’s getting old real fast.” She took a sip and set the cup on the coffee table.

Grant walked into the room, phone in hand.

“What?” Riley asked.

Adam tightened his grip on Heidi.

“That was Abigail. She said we’re free to go home first thing in the morning. The feds don’t need us, and so long as we keep them in the loop about where Heidi is, we’re good to go,” Grant said.

Then why did Grant appear less than pleased about that news?

“Any word from Kyle? About his dad?” Heidi asked.

“No,” Grant replied.

Heidi stared at the carpet, her mind elsewhere.

“Come home with me,” Adam whispered while Grant and Riley launched into a conversation about flights.

“Maybe I’m not that kind of girl anymore. Ever thought about that?” Heidi tilted her head and glared up at him, but there was no heat behind her eyes.

He threaded his fingers through hers and considered his next words. She was open to the idea. They weren’t done, but they didn’t know where they could go from here. He loved her. He wanted to be with her, which meant he had to do this right. Had to let her know.

“I have a spare bedroom. I’d like to spend some time together.” She kept staring, so he added the rest of the truth. “I want you away from all this. Until they catch John and Léo, I want you somewhere safe.”

“And I’m safe with you?”

“You’ve been safe so far.”

“Hey, love birds. Knock it off.” Riley launched a balled up napkin at them. It fell several feet short of its target. “We’re trying to have a conversation here.”

“Sorry, what earth shattering topic were we discussing?” Heidi asked.

“The most important topic of all. Dessert.” Riley grinned.

“You’re still hungry?”

“I have gone a whole week without a real dessert.”

“Ignore him. He’s got a sweet tooth problem.” Grant shook his head. He hid a yawn behind his hand.

“Don’t start that now.” Riley groaned.

“How do you two put up with each other?” Heidi leaned her head against Adam’s shoulder again.

“Very carefully.” Grant aimed a glare at Riley that the other man simply shrugged off. They really did look like they could be brothers from the facial features to the dark hair and eyes. No one would ever mistake Riley for Grant once they’d spent time around either. Their dispositions were night and day.

“You know what I haven’t heard this whole time?” Riley glanced at Grant then at Heidi. “Some good dirt on Adam. You’re holding out on us.”

“Christ,” Adam muttered, leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“Oh, I’ve got some stories. Which ones do you not want me to tell?” Heidi patted his knee. He could feel her gaze on him and knew that whatever she was thinking about would haunt him for months.

“Something really good and embarrassing.” Riley was far too eager for this.

“Remember your senior party?” Heidi asked, her tone oh, so sweet.

“Fuck.” Adam winced. There were some nights he tried to forget. The senior party was one of them.

“Adam’s football friends threw a party the last week of school. We’d agreed that he’d drink and I’d drive. Well, someone started loading him up on vodka shots. I go to the bathroom, come out and I can’t find him. Turns out he was much drunker than any of us realized, and while I was gone someone made him think I was standing on the patio—doing what?”

“Blowing kisses,” Adam muttered.

“Right! So he thinks I’m standing out there blowing kisses. I come out and he’s wrapped around the patio support post making out with it while everyone’s totally lost it laughing.”

“And what did you do?” Adam cracked an eye open and glared down at Heidi.

“I took a picture.” She grinned right back at him, not the least bit apologetic.

The picture was pretty damn funny, but he’d never tell her that.

“Do you still have that?” Riley asked.

“Probably.” Heidi shrugged.

“Oh—what about that one time you were wrestling?” Heidi prodded his ribs.

“Come on.” Adam groaned.

“I need to hear this,” Riley said.

“Adam and his best friend were at wrestling practice and he did this thing—”

“I shot my hand between his legs to get a better hold and leverage my weight. I got my hand up his shorts and grabbed him by the balls. Next thing I know he’s screaming and I can’t figure out what I’ve got a grip on.”

Heidi snickered and giggled while Riley howled. Grant was a bit more reserved with his head shake and chuckle.

“It was the best because until they graduated people always tried to make them out to be a couple.” Heidi wiped away a tear.

Adam couldn’t deny that he’d done his fair share of stupid stuff. There wasn’t much he regretted, mostly because Heidi had been part of a good deal of those memories.

“What about you, huh?” Adam jostled Heidi a bit.

“Oh, man. He’s got so much leverage on me it’s not even funny. Where to start?” Heidi tapped her chin. “I should warn you, most of the funny shit on me is kind of gross.”

“I’m so here for this.” Riley leaned forward.

“I’m talking women gross.”

“Hit me with it.”

“When I started college, I was going to the community college a few blocks away. I couldn’t afford a car, and until Adam deployed he needed his truck. So we went to this bike shop to get me something decent.”

“Oh, no.” Adam just closed his eyes. Dating Heidi meant being her emergency shopper on many occasions. Some were more memorable than other.

“Oh, yeah.” Heidi patted his knee. “This one picks out a bike that’s two grand and wants me to give it a whirl in the parking lot. I think it’s ridiculous, but whatever, right?  I take it around the parking lot and on my second circuit I get this...feeling. I’ve just started my period and this expensive bike has a white, leather seat.”

“Fuck...” Riley said.

“Yeah. So I wave this one over to me. I’m standing in the middle of this lot freaking out and tell him. Check the seat, and yeah, it’s not good. So he tells me to keep riding the bike around while he runs to the store. I keep doing laps, freezing my ass off, until he gets back with some sort of leather soap, white out and rags. We managed to get the seat pretty clean before the sales guy walked over. Then Adam makes a big production about how I shouldn’t have gotten on it in the first place and we really had to leave when I never wanted that bike to begin with.”

“Christ, Novak.” Grant shook his head.

“Did you use whiteout on the seat?” Riley gaped at them.

“Yeah, I don’t recommend it.” Adam could still remember cursing a blue streak while white liquid dropped down his hands.

“I have a lot of gross, funny period stories you probably don’t want to hear.” Heidi hid a yawn behind her hand. “Excuse me. I’m fading.”

“But we haven’t had dessert yet,” Riley said.

“Some other time?”

“Zain seems to think we can get out in the morning, so turning in now wouldn’t be that bad of an idea.” Grant pushed to his feet.

“Fine. The sooner I get home the sooner I can get a proper dessert.” Riley sighed and stood, grabbing the napkin he’d thrown earlier.

“What about you?” Heidi tipped her chin up and looked at him.

“Where you go, I go. Come on.” Adam stood and offered a hand to Heidi. He liked the chance to coddle her and take care of her, but that would never last.

“I’m going to go tell our baby-sitters we’re tucking in for the night. See you all in the morning.” Riley ambled toward the front of the house.

“He’s going to flirt with that female agent and get his ass kicked, what do you want to bet?” Grant strode toward the stairs.

“That’s a bet I’m not taking. Night.”

Adam and Heidi took a slower pace. Her feet were still tender, but she wasn’t limping. At least not yet.

“I can hear you thinking at me up there.” Heidi glanced up and narrowed her gaze.

“You already know what I’m going to say.”

“I just—I want to get back to normal.” She stopped at the foot of the stairs. “Fine. Carry me?”

Adam bent and picked her up, cradling her close to his chest.

“You get a kick out of this, don’t you?” She laid her head on his shoulder.

“It’s nice to be needed.”

“I’ve always needed you. I just have a shitty way of showing you that.” The way she looked at him, all that feeling behind her eyes, it was everything he’d wanted to see. “Are you serious about me coming to Seattle?”

“Dead serious.” And more than a little hopeful.

Adam carried her into the room he’d staked out for them. A few days ago he’d have been uncertain about them sharing the same house, much less the same room. Now it was a foregone conclusion.

He set her down next to the bed, but Heidi kept her arms around his shoulders, forcing him to hunch to her level.

“I have been—”

“We’re good.” He managed to speak around the lump in his throat.

“Right now, yeah, but later? We need to sort this out before we start repeating our mistakes again.” She cupped his face.

“I’m talking.”

“I’ve noticed.” She chuckled.

“You’re still here.”

“I am.” She swallowed and stared at the ground.

“I think that covers the important parts, don’t you?”

“I guess,” she mumbled.

He cupped her chin and lifted her face. Something was still bothering her, and she wasn’t sharing. Least not yet.

Adam sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her to stand between his legs. She slid her arms around his shoulders and leaned into him. He kissed her cheek and wished he knew what to say or do to comfort her, make her smile.

“What’s wrong, Hi?” He pushed her hair behind her ear, the better to see her face in the dim light.

“Do you think we really have a chance?” she asked.

“You mean us?”

“Yeah. Me and you, us.”

Adam swallowed. Talking wasn’t what he did well, but for her he’d make the effort. She needed words, the reassurance that he was in this with her.

“I hope so.” He swiped his thumb over her lips. “I love you, Hi. That’s never changed.”

HEIDI STARED AT ADAM, rolling those words over in her head. She hadn’t thought she’d hear those again. Not since her phone took a swim, and she lost the voice message she’d recorded from her previous phone. She her lungs burned and her head buzzed. She sucked down a deep breath and blinked back tears.

Why did it seem like all she did was cry?

“Hey, hey—it’s okay,” Adam muttered.

Heidi threw herself at him. They went tumbling backward onto the bed. She wrapped herself around him. She kissed his lips, his face. Adam chuckled and stroked her back.

“I love you, too,” she finally got out.

Adam rolled until she was under him. His face crinkled from his smile.

“I know,” he whispered.

She pulled him down and kissed his smile, the corners of his mouth. He curled his fingers into her hair, tugging just enough that her whole body relaxed and she went warm all over.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like I want you to love me.” She wrapped her hand around his wrist and slid his palm under her shirt.

He chuckled and pushed up, sitting back on his heels. He tossed his shirt off and she lay there watching, eating up the sight of him. The marks on his skin measured the years they’d been apart, the things she’d missed, the time they had to make up for. She wasn’t going to run away from him ever again. They’d made vows, promises, and from now on she would do her best for him. Because this was the man she loved. He was the one who’d picked a little girl up out of the mud and cared for her when her family didn’t. They’d been knit together since they were little, and that love had only grown and matured over time.

Adam stood, his hands pulling at his belt, the tab on his jeans. He wasn’t ripping clothes off and flinging garments everywhere, which somehow made this worse. She was trapped by the way he stared at her, fascinated by his hands and every inch of newly exposed skin, as though she hadn’t seen him in different decades of development.

He finally kicked off his pants, standing at the side of the bed completely naked.

She’d never seen a more beautifully built man in all her life—and he was hers.

Adam bent over the bed and pushed her shirt up, just enough to expose some skin. He kissed her hip, then her stomach. His fingers hooked in the waistband of her pants. In the very near future she was going to treat him to something besides utilitarian knit fabrics. Something sexy. But for now, she’d take him as they were.

He pulled her pants and underwear down her legs, dropping kisses on her thighs, knees, calves.

They were going to make it through this period and carve out a future together. She couldn’t wait for that, to wake up with him, share her day, what made her happy—and to hear him talk to her.

Adam crawled up her body, his warmth seeping into her skin. He pushed her shirt up, kissing his way along her sternum. His beard scratched her skin, and she curled her toes into the sheets. He gently slid her bra up over her breasts. She grabbed both garments and pulled them off while his lips teased her breasts, causing the coil of arousal in her abdomen to tighten with need.

“Say it again?” she whispered.

“I love you?”

“Yeah.” She sighed and folded her arms over his shoulders.

“I love your breasts.”

She sputtered a laugh.

“I love that, too,” he said.

Heidi smiled, her body warmed by more than tactile contact.

“I love your pussy.” He cupped her mound, his fingers sliding between her folds to tease her opening.

She gasped and shifted her hips while he rubbed against her.

“I love you, Heidi.”

She curled her hand in his hair and pulled. He hissed and crawled up her body until she could reach his mouth. His touch was gentle, but his kiss full of need. She could feel his cock nudging her, sliding between her folds. She canted her hips until she felt the head of him.

Adam planted his hands on the bed, pressing his pelvis to hers. He surged into her so hard her vision blurred. She gasped for breath, her head buzzing. She fisted the sheets with one hand and dug her nails into his lower back.

Instead of moving, driving into the need, Adam settled into the cradle of her hips and eased down, kissing her face and lips. It was completely unlike him. They were both guilty of being greedy lovers.

“Adam.” Heidi groaned his name and wrapped her legs around his thighs, the better to gain leverage.

He nipped her lower lip and grasped her hand wrapped in the sheets. He threaded their fingers together and pressed the back of her hand against the bed.

“I love you, Hi,” he whispered.

A tear squeezed out of her eye, unbidden and sweet.

“Don’t take this the wrong way? Just—fuck already.” She groaned, straining at the way he held her immobile and his prisoner.

Adam chuckled, the sound just as strained as she felt.

He slid out of her and she could breathe, at last. But it only lasted for a moment. He pumped into her, not the fast, pistoning that broke beds, but slower to the point that she mumbled incoherent words, promising him whatever he may want, whenever.

Her orgasm was a slow building tidal wave she felt coming for what seemed like minutes. When it finally hit, it went on and on, pleasure robbing her of her senses, the ability to think or breathe. And Adam was there for every stroke, holding her, muttering words she’d never thought she’d hear again.

She wanted a future with this man, and nothing was going to keep her from that.

FRIDAY. DAYUS PHARMACY, Atlanta, Georgia.

John dragged himself out of bed and limped across to the dresser where his kit was open and waiting for him. That was Léo’s doing. The boy was always mindful, thinking ahead of whatever John would need.

The bed on the other side of the room groaned and squeaked.

“You should still be sleeping.” He pricked his finger and deposited a drop of blood on the test strip.

Despite everything he’d created and all that he’d done, curing himself was the one thing he hadn’t been able to do. Yet.

“W-what the hell have you done?” Cindy demanded. Even handcuffed and kidnapped she was kind of a bitch to deal with.

“Same thing we do every week.” John glanced over his shoulder and chuckled. “Try and take over the world.”

Cindy sat on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest, mouth open, eyes wide.

“You think this is a joke?” The lines on her brow grew more prominent.

“No. This isn’t funny. If things had gone as planned, Heidi would be there. Not you. You were...a consolation prize.” John glanced at the numbers on his monitor. Good enough for now.

“What does Heidi have to do with any of this? Why play along all this time?”

“I didn’t think you’d get this close. I mean, Heidi would if she had the tools, but she needed you. And I didn’t think you’d play ball. You surprised me. I don’t like surprises.” John bent and grabbed a bottle of juice from the mini fridge to keep next to his bed. “Heidi, well, she was the point of all this.”

“Why?”

John stopped and stared into Cindy’s gaze.

She wasn’t a bad woman, merely difficult to get along with. Prickly. Intelligent. She was from an upper, middle class family who’d never known much hardship. Cindy would never understand the kind of life that Heidi and John had known. People like Cindy didn’t appreciate things. They took it for granted. Which was the real shame here.

He walked back to the other side of the room and lay down. All this traveling had him hurting in places he wasn’t used to. A little more rest, and he’d be ready for the next few days.