Romancing the Alpha: An Action-Adventure Romance Boxed Set
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“Yeah, she’s outside—”
Mer didn’t even wait for me to finish. She ran out of the building and smacked right into Liberty, pulling her into her arms and rocking her back and forth.
“I’m sorry I said mean things to you,” she said, sobbing. “You were so brave. Thank you for saving me.”
I saw Liberty’s face break into a surprised smile. “No problem,” Liberty said. Her voice sounded super-casual, but I could see the real happiness on her face.
Meredith pulled back. “Now let’s get the hell out of here. Is everyone armed?”
“Yeah, babe. You can give me your gun back.” I went to reach for it.
Meredith took a step back. “Oh, hell no,” she said and tucked the machine gun in at her side. “I may need this.”
“For what?” I asked her. “We’re all armed.”
“I’m keeping it,” she said, patting it.
I winced—I didn’t like her having that thing so close to her. “Why?” I asked.
“Because big guns help.” She beamed at Liberty. “A very wise friend taught me that.”
I frowned at Mer, just a little, and then decided that I didn’t care if she wanted to keep her gun for now. I was just so glad she was safe.
“How’re we going to get out of here?” Liberty asked, looking at John. He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her close as we walked through the parking lot, towards the road.
“I have no idea,” he admitted.
“We have these,” Mer said, holding up her gun. I winced again, wanting to grab it from her—I didn’t want her to hurt herself—but I stopped. She knew how to fire a gun, and she’d gotten free from a very large number of heavily armed soldiers, without any help from me.
“So?” I asked, watching her face.
“So,” she said, wielding her gun, “I think we’ll manage to find a ride.”
***
Even though it was far from the smartest move, Liberty insisted that we go back to the resort. After we “hitched” a ride from a local in a truck—and when I say hitched, I mean we waved him over with our machine guns and he very agreeably drove us back to the resort—we stood on the sidewalk outside of the Estrella Maya.
“It’s so gorgeous,” Mer said, looking up at the soaring hotel. The stars were out now, twinkling above the building. “And we didn’t even have a chance to enjoy it.”
“We still owe you a vacation. Obviously,” John said, grinning at me.
“No thanks,” I said quickly.
“We’re good,” Mer said at the same time.
“We have to go see if Leo’s still in that closet,” Liberty said to John. “And get all of our stuff.”
John took out his phone and started texting. “I’ll get us on a flight as soon as I can.” He turned back to us. “I”m sure you want to get home as soon as possible.”
“I definitely need a vacation from my vacation,” I admitted.
***
Liberty made sure that Leo was brought to a hospital. We got into and out of the resort in record time—thanks in large part to the fact that we were clearly armed and dangerous.
“You never saw us,” I said to a group of workers who watched us warily.
One of the men raised his hands in surrender. “I never wanted to see you, anyway,” he said.
“Fair enough,” I said. The few resort guests that saw us, with our luggage and our machine guns, quickly grabbed their cocktails and fled for their rooms.
Once we were safely on the plane, I threw my arm around my wife’s shoulder. We were both sweaty and disheveled. Mer’s mascara had spread to various parts of her face, and I had dirt all over my shorts. Neither one of us did a thing about it, except order Bloody Marys.
“Longest. Day. Ever,” Meredith said and had a very large sip of her drink.
“Where…do you want to go on our next vacation?” I asked, grinning at her.
“A Ramada. In Miami,” she said, grinning back. “Or maybe a staycation would be good.”
“Yeah,” I said, leaning back. “A staycation might be just the thing. As long as I’m with you, I’m happy.”
“Me too, babe,” Meredith said and put her hand on my leg. “Me too.”
— EPILOGUE —
In the end, we hadn’t sent them on another vacation.
We built them a house instead.
“You can’t do this,” Mer said, walking around the immaculate cape-style home, her fingers brushing the fabric of the chairs and the couch.
“It’s done. And it’s not a big deal,” I said and shrugged. “Do you…like it?” I’d been so excited to show her the house, I’d been on pins and needles.
“Liberty, are you crazy?” she asked. She rushed over to me and threw her arms around my neck. “It’s gorgeous. It’s the nicest house I’ve ever been in. Except for yours, and yours isn’t even a house. It’s a mansion.”
“I didn’t think you’d want something that big,” I said, biting my lip with worry.
“Oh God! Of course I wouldn’t!” Mer said, looking incredulous. “This is perfect. This is everything I’ve ever dreamed about. The kids are going to be so excited when they see their rooms and that play set out back. I can’t even wait to show them.” Meredith’s eyes were shining with elation. There was also an in-law apartment for Meredith’s parents. From what I’d heard, they were planning on staying most of the summer.
Everything was finally working out. When we’d been up in El Castillo, I’d sworn to myself that if we’d made it out safe, I would give Matthew my blessing about his decision to leave the company.
But Meredith had other ideas.
“I’m so happy that you decided to stay. And that Matthew’s staying with the company,” I said. “And that we’re going to be neighbors!”
We’d built the house on a lot adjacent to our estate in Rhode Island; they were far enough away from us to pretend we didn’t exist, but close enough that their home would be protected by Quinn and Son’s security detail.
That was important to Matthew. He’d promised Mer that he’d never put her or the children in harm’s way.
“This is exactly what I wanted,” Mer said. The joy in her smile was infectious.
After my joy—and my relief—calmed down, I grabbed a barstool and motioned for Mer to join me.
“Are you still sure this is what you want?” I asked.
She nodded. And grinned at me. “Absofreakinglutely.”
After we’d gotten back from Mexico, Matthew and Meredith had returned to their home in Florida, where they had collected and kissed their children, and settled in for what Mer described as a lovely staycation. She told me that at the end of the week, when we would’ve been returning from Chichen Itza, she’d turned to her husband.
“I want you to go back to work for John,” she’d told him, matter-of-factly.
“Huh?” Matthew asked, confused.
She got up and made him some nachos and brought him a beer. “Eat,” she said. He ate the nachos. “Drink your beer,” she said. He drank his beer.
“I want you to go back to work for John,” she said again, her voice insistent.
“I thought you wanted me to quit,” he said, stuffing another nacho into his mouth. “That was your whole deal, remember? So I promised you I would. And then I told John I was leaving the company. And then you got kidnapped and almost got killed, and I began to see the wisdom in what you were saying.”
Meredith grabbed the nacho out of his hand and ate it. Matthew continued to look confused.
“I was wrong,” she said finally. “It took being kidnapped and almost killed to show me how wrong I was.”
“Huh?” Matthew asked again.
“Now I understand what you do,” Meredith said. “I understand why you feel you need to do it. Regular law enforcement can’t touch a man like Ramirez. And what he does is wrong.”
“Other people can take care of guys like that,” Matthew said. “I’m sure John has already hired s
omeone to replace me.”
“First of all—you can’t be replaced. You are the original badass.”
Matthew smiled at that.
“Second of all—he knows you’re coming back. I called him this morning. So don’t worry. You still have your job.” Now she smiled back at him.
“Really?” Matthew asked.
“You have to save the world,” Mer said. “One bad guy at a time.”
“That’s how you do it,” Matthew agreed excitedly. But then he frowned. “I don’t want to be away from you and the kids anymore.”
Meredith grabbed his hands. “You don’t have to be. We’re coming with you.”
“Huh?”
Meredith smiled at me now, and looked around her new kitchen with wonder. “So here we are. Thanks to your loyalty and generosity, and my finally coming around.”
She paused for a beat. “Are you going on the next assignment?”
I shrugged. “I want to. I have to beg every time, though.”
“Do you think they’d let me come?” Meredith asked, looking nervous.
“No. Matthew would never,” I said. Mer looked crushed.
Then I had an idea. “Of course, you could always just show up for training tomorrow morning…”
Meredith grinned at me. “I’ll ask my parents to watch the kids!”
“You can run, and lift weights, and do shooting practice,” I said, and a mischievous grin settled on my face. “And then we can beg. Together. And threaten.”
“And plead,” Mer said. She held her hand out for a high five.
“Mer, I like you a lot more than I thought I did,” I said.
“Me too, Lib,” she said, grinning back. “Me too.”
—THE END—
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OTHER BOOKS BY LEIGH JAMES
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The Bad Judgment Series
The Escort Collection
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COPYRIGHT
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Copyright © 2015 Lydia Rowan
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Leigh James
Copyright © 2015 Leigh James
This anthology is published 2015 by Beaverstone Press LLC with the permission of the authors.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This volume is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authors' imaginations or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.