by Dale Mayer
He slid right to the hilt and slowly moved again, driving them both faster and faster to the peak. When she came apart in his arms for a third time, he finally allowed himself to relax and to let his own release find him.
When he collapsed beside her, his head hitting the pillow, he whispered, “I think you killed me.”
“No,” she said. “I didn’t. But I might by morning.”
Laughing, he opened his arms and held her close. “Bring it on,” he whispered. “Bring it on.”
Epilogue
When Galen Alrick walked into the kitchen of Ice and Levi’s compound, he was feeling pretty decent. As Harrison looked up at him with a grumble on his face, Galen’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, I thought it was a good day,” he said laughingly.
“While you guys solved your problem,” Harrison said, “we got the brakes put on ours.”
“Yeah, you were supposed to give us a hand, weren’t you? Good thing we didn’t need it.” Just enough gentle rivalry existed between the two groups for him to want to rib Harrison a little bit over this one. Galen originally had worked for Bullard for a good seven years, but now he was doing an exchange program here, and he wasn’t exactly sure what his future held. He’d already talked to Bullard about it prior to leaving, wondering if it wasn’t time to move on and to do something else. Bullard had just shrugged, smiled, and told him to come back when he wanted more work, saying he would always be welcome.
But then they’d heard about Johan’s decision to come and work for Ice, and Galen had jumped on board with that, wondering if the change would be enough for him. Now he was here, and that was a darn fast job he had just completed with Johan, not at all what Galen was used to, but it was kind of fun.
“Did Johan come back with you?” Harrison asked.
Galen snorted. “Well, he stayed to help Joy take care of the last things she needed to do.”
“Did she quit?”
“She got a nice little paycheck as thanks,” he said. “Kai went over for a couple extra days to lend a hand, but everything in Joy’s apartment got trashed, so there really wasn’t anything to pack up. But it had to be hauled off, and Joy had some banking and whatnot she wanted to do, plus several meetings with the company.”
“Did she want to leave? At least she had a job there.”
“Exactly. She had a job. It wasn’t a great job or what she wanted to do, but it was something that paid the rent for the time being. That’s part of the reason why we all were there. We had to talk with the apartment manager and the guy she had subleased the apartment from. Not to mention the cops. So they dropped me off yesterday, and they are looking for a place for her now, something within a ten-mile radius of the compound, if possible.”
“You know she could probably move in here in the meantime.”
“I don’t think she’s too comfortable with that, at least not yet,” Galen said. He walked over, poured himself a cup of coffee, and set it down beside Harrison. Then he walked back over to the coffee area. “Living here is also the best part. These are some serious side benefits.” He looked at the pan of fresh warm cinnamon buns, the icing still melted all over the top.
“That’s the second tray already,” Harrison said good-naturedly. “I don’t know how the two of them do it, but they just keep the food coming.”
“And it’s a divine system,” he said. He gently eased a cinnamon bun off the big tray and put it on his plate and came back over. He sat down and said, “Working here isn’t exactly what I thought it would be like. I may need extra workout time to keep all this food in check.”
“That’s because you had a simple job assignment this last time,” Harrison said with a snort. “Some of the jobs are very, very ugly.”
“I do ugly,” Galen said comfortably.
“I’m glad to hear that,” came a sharp voice from the other side of the room. He looked up to see Ice walking toward him with a clipboard.
He grinned. “Do you ever run out of work for us?”
“Not if I can help it,” she said. She sat down somewhat awkwardly, already protecting her unborn babe, while her belly remained unchanged. The fact that she was pregnant in the middle of all this chaos was amazing, and it also showed just how messed up the world was that she was as busy as this while she was pregnant.
“Isn’t it time for you to get an assistant?”
“I have at least two or three of them now,” she complained good-naturedly. “This will ground me for a few months, but it shouldn’t be too bad after that.”
“I’m sure the payoff is worth it,” Galen said.
She beamed at him. “It certainly is in my case,” she said as she tapped her clipboard. “So, you can do ugly, can you?”
“Yes. I can also go and help Harrison on this art job.”
“Nope. We’ve been told to butt out of that one. The insurance company is bringing in somebody, and the cops don’t want everybody crossing lines, so it’s on hold again.”
“The fresher it is—”
She shrugged. “I can’t do anything about it. So, in the meantime, Harrison’ll work on it on his own, just quietly in the background. Meanwhile, Galen, you are heading off to Germany to join Zack.”
Harrison sucked in his breath and glared at Ice.
She just smiled benignly back at him.
“Did you arrange this with Zoe?” Harrison asked. “To keep me in town?”
“Nope,” she said. “But you wanted the art job, so you got the art job.”
“You said it was on hold though,” he protested.
“But you also know it’ll come back on our plate, so there’s no point in you being completely green when that happens. You might as well get up to speed now.”
“It could be a waste of time and money,” he warned.
She smiled. “It could be, but we’ve rarely had any of those, so that’s your job.”
He nodded. “In that case, I’ll get to it. I suspect a lot of it’s cyberstuff anyway.” He poured himself another cup of coffee and disappeared.
Galen looked at her and smiled. “You get jobs of all kinds here, don’t you?”
“I do,” she said.
“And who’s Zack?”
“Somebody we’ve been looking at working with us for a couple years,” she said. “He’s in Germany right now, waiting for you.”
“Then I better get packing,” he said, as he ripped off another piece of the cinnamon bun and sat here quite comfortably, in absolutely no rush.
“You fly out in two and a half hours,” she said, “so you’ll be tight for time anyway.”
He nodded. “I’m already packed, so I will sit here and enjoy this.”
She nodded. “Take one with you, if you want.”
“I might do that,” he said and motioned at her clipboard. “You going to give me any idea what I’m going into?”
She looked up at him, and her eyes started to twinkle.
His stomach fell. “Please don’t let it be some sort of ridiculous waste of time,” he said.
“So, how do you feel about beer?”
He brightened. “I love beer. And isn’t that a huge cliché? Just send me to Germany to look after some beer issues?”
“Well, a lot of free beer goes with the job,” she said, laughing.
“Now that I’m up for,” he said, “but you’re still not talking.”
“One of the biggest breweries is having some issues. I don’t have all the details, but Zack asked for backup. So you’re it.”
“If you say so,” he said. He popped the last piece of the cinnamon bun into his mouth and picked up the cup and threw back the last of his coffee. “Am I driving in and leaving the vehicle at the airport?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Levi’s taking you in. He’s got to pick up a bunch of shit too.”
“Look at you guys,” he said. “The owners of the company, and the big bwana’s at the top of the pile, and you’re both grounded.”
She shrugged. “We are grounded bu
t, this time, by choice.” She patted her tummy.
This concludes Book 21 of Heroes for Hire: Johan’s Joy.
Read about Galen’s Gemma: Heroes for Hire, Book 22
Heroes for Hire: Galen’s Gemma (Book #22)
Galen had plans to kick back and relax, but Levi needs someone to help out Zack, a friend of his. When Levi asks Galen, he’s game. There’s a little too much sugary sweet true love going on at the compound for him and his single state to handle. Then he meets Gemma and her sister, the real reason Zack was looking for help.
Gemma learned a long time ago how to handle her sister and her niece. When the two end up in deep trouble, Gemma drops everything and takes charge. But it’s dangerous, and she needs help. Galen wasn’t what she had in mind, but her heart is open and willing. Her body? Well, it’s
good to go when a meet-and-greet leads to love at first sight.
Only the situation is dangerous, and she has to stay focused—until the truth comes out, and she finds out what’s really at stake.
Find Book 22 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Johan’s Joy: Heroes for Hire, Book 21! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
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Cheers,
Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
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JOHAN’S JOY: HEROES FOR HIRE, BOOK 21
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2020
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773363-51-6
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