by Skye Jordan
The sound of tires on snow raked down her spine like a claw. She sat up and reached for the gun Ian had just taken. “Someone’s coming.”
Ian held tight to the weapon and covered her hand with his. “Savannah, look at me.”
She had to fight to get her gaze to cooperate.
When she focused on his eyes, he said, “It’s my team, not cops. It’s Everly and Roman and Liam.”
She couldn’t seem to catch her breath. Her heart galloped in her chest. Savanna focused on the woman who entered the cabin. Everly. It was Everly. His team was here. Lyle and Hank were dead.
Everly glanced down at Hank and Corwin, then turned a frown on Ian. “You left a mess. As usual.”
She stepped over the bodies and pushed him away from Savannah, replacing his arm with hers, easing her to her feet. “Let’s get you warm. The car is toasty.”
Everly put a hand against Savannah’s cheek and turned her head into her shoulder. “Eyes closed,” Everly said, her voice soothing and comforting. “Keep breathing.”
She guided Savannah to the passenger’s seat of the Jeep, then took the driver’s spot and redirected all the vents toward Savannah. “How’s that?”
Her question barely registered. Her fragmented mind darted in every direction. “Jamison? Where’s Jamison?”
“At a hotel with Sam. He’s perfectly fine. He’ll probably be cranky tomorrow because Sam is more of a playmate than a parent, but he’s had a great night.”
Savannah exhaled heavily. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
She looked at Everly. “I shot Lyle,” she told her in a hushed voice. The realization shook her. “I shot him. Oh my God. He was going to shoot us, so I shot him. I can’t go to prison. Jamison—”
Everly’s hand closed over hers again. “You’re not going to prison. It was self-defense. I promise, everything’s going to work out fine. And remember—”
“You keep your promises.”
Everly smiled.
A rush of emotion overwhelmed Savannah. She leaned across the console and hugged Everly hard. “Thank you.”
“You’re okay,” she said, hugging Savannah back. “Everything’s okay now.” She pulled away and smiled. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.”
That was too much to think about now, so Savannah focused on her breathing.
Everly stayed with her as more cops arrived. As Rosen explained the situation to others in the department, the mayor, the state police. Finally, Everly was called away, and Savannah was left with her own thoughts.
An hour passed before Ian broke away from everyone to come to the car. Savannah got out before he reached her, then jumped into his arms. He hugged her tight. “How are you doing?”
“Better now.” She pulled back. “When can we leave?”
“Soon.” He ran his gloved hand over her hair and searched her expression. “I am so damn impressed at the way you’ve handled all this.”
She didn’t respond. It would take a long time to get her mind around what had happened here tonight. “What happens now?”
“The State Police will take over the department until the county can staff it up with good cops. Rosen is going to be the lead deputy until everything is settled. He’ll testify against the dirty cops and be resettled in the state of his choice with his family and a new job.”
That shocked Savannah. “Really?”
He nodded. “And if you’re also willing to testify, you’ll get the same. The government will pay for your relocation, first three months of rent, and give you employment training in a new vocation. I believe that would extend to going back to school if that’s what you wanted to do.”
She was speechless, trying to take it all in. “I…I can’t testify against Misty. I love her. She’s my family. Besides, I don’t know anything about what she was doing.”
He shook his head. “You won’t have to. That’s going to be a whole different issue, handled by the FBI and the State Department. You’d be testifying about local deputies.”
“What’s going to happen with Misty? Can I talk to her before you arrest her? To, I don’t know, explain things or something? She’s always been there for me.”
“You can’t be there for the arrest, but you can see her after she’s been interviewed.”
“Can you or Everly be there for the arrest? I don’t want her to think she’s all alone.”
Someone called his name, and Ian acknowledged them with a raised hand.
“One of us will be there.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You should get back in the car, keep warm. I’ll be done here in another fifteen minutes.” He lowered cold lips to hers for a gentle kiss. “When I’m done, let’s get a hotel room where Sam and Jamison are staying. We can bring Jamison to our room. He can sleep with us.”
She sobbed a laugh and nodded. “But only after you’ve been to the ER for your knee.”
He smiled. “Deal.”
Gratitude and love and relief pushed tears to her eyes. She stretched up and kissed him again. “I love you so much.”
He returned the kiss. “I love you too, baby.”
19
Six months later.
Ian pulled up to the curb at Ocean Beach in San Diego, where he knew he’d find Savannah and Jamison. It was Friday. After Savannah finished her Friday classes at University of California at San Diego, she always picked up Jamison from school and took him to the beach.
Ian climbed from the car, slipped on his sunglasses, and took a deep breath of the sea air. Every time he returned from a mission, he silently thanked Savannah for choosing such a gorgeous place to relocate. And he added a thank-you to his buddy, Hawk, a Navy SEAL, for letting them live in his town house while he was overseas. It was the only way Savannah could afford to live six blocks from one of the most beautiful beaches in California.
Ian pushed out of his shoes and pulled off his socks, then started down the beach. The sun was warm, the breeze gentle. He’d never lived in California, and he hated the taxes, but after a month here, he decided you got what you paid for. In this case, he saw the extra taxes as payment for blessed weather every damned day.
The beach was crowded today, and Ian wove among the sunbathers as he searched for the telltale polka-dot umbrella Savannah had picked up the very day they’d arrived in town.
When he found it, his heart kicked. He’d only been gone seven days on a security job for a diplomat in Haiti, but whenever he was away from her and Jamison, every day felt a week long.
Savannah and Jamison weren’t under the umbrella. He tossed his shoes on the sand beside their towels. One scan of the beach, and he spotted them at the water’s edge, where Jamison slid into the surf on the skin board Ian had bought him a couple of months ago for his birthday. Savannah stood by, watching him run, jump, slide, and swim. And she was wearing his favorite bikini.
He pulled off his shirt, cleared the pockets of his cargo shorts, and jogged to the water line. Coming up behind Savannah, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her off her feet.
She squealed. “Ian, what are you doing home?”
When he set her down, she turned in his arms, locked her arms around his neck, and pressed her body to his. He kissed her, then looked over her shoulder and spotted Jamison.
“You weren’t supposed to be back for three more days. Everything okay on the job?”
“Fine,” he told her. “The ambassador got called back to the States because of something happening in DC. When I hear I’m getting back to you sooner than I thought, my only answer is always ‘yes, sir.’”
“Welcome home.” She kissed him again, a lingering kiss that made him think of rolling her around the sheets.
“Ian! Watch me.”
He smiled past her shoulder. “Hey, buddy. Lookin’ good out there.”
As soon as Jamison headed toward the surf, Ian kissed his mother again. He slid his hands down her back over the curve of her waist and squeezed her with a growl. “If I wear him out, you think he�
��ll take a nap when we get home? I’m dying to get you alone.”
“He hasn’t taken a nap in years, but go ahead and give it your best shot.”
He kissed her one more time, then jogged into the surf and scooped Jamison up for a hug. “I missed you, kid. How’s school?”
“Good.”
“Can I give the skin board a try?”
He laughed. “Yeah.”
Ian played in the surf with Jamison another half hour before dragging him up the beach to their towels. Savannah was already under the umbrella, pulling food from a picnic basket.
“Bet my boys are hungry.” She put plastic plates in front of them, then stacked them with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and potato chips. “I was going to call you tonight,” she told Ian. “I talked to Misty today.”
“Yeah? How’s she doing?”
“Great, considering. She complains about the heat and humidity of DC, but she’s really enjoying the work. I think she secretly loves knowing more about counterfeiting than even the best guys in the Bureau.”
“It’s a wild way to start a new life, that’s for sure.”
“Aunt Misty’s going to move here to be with us,” Jamison told him, his eyes bright with excitement.
Ian lifted his brows at Savannah. “Is that right?”
“She says they’re going to let her transfer after another six months,” Savannah said. “She thinks she might be able to get in at the San Diego offices. Wouldn’t that be amazing?”
Right now, everything seemed amazing—this amazing woman’s love, this perfect family, enjoying a job he’d started out hating. But, yes, the offer of redemption Misty had received from the FBI was truly remarkable.
Gianna had played a pivotal role in that plan, but Ian also knew it was the best alternative, because once they’d processed all the evidence, it turned out that Misty had done an excellent job of erasing all direct connections between herself and the passports. And while everyone knew Misty was the counterfeiter, none of her prints were found on the equipment. Authorities hadn’t been able to link the bank account where Lyle had sent payments to Misty either. And the other circumstantial evidence wouldn’t have put her behind bars.
Now, Misty worked at the Pentagon, tracing and uncovering counterfeiters by dissecting their fake documents, then training federal agents how to do the same. She was out of debt, out of Hazard, and making a real difference. She often said the only thing that would make her life better was living close to Savannah and Jamison.
“Turns out her father left her with something more valuable than anyone would have guessed—a skill only a handful of people around the world possess,” he told Savannah. “And having her in San Diego sounds downright perfect.”
“Sure does,” Savannah said, smiling at him. “All the people I love in one place. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
“Well, I hope all your wishes haven’t come true, quite yet, because I have a surprise for you.” He looked at Jamison. “Want to help me out here?”
He turned those big blue eyes on Ian with a grin that melted his heart, the same way his mother’s did. “Yeah.”
Ian pulled his wallet from his shoe, then the black box, hiding it in his palm. He planted one knee in the sand and pulled Jamison to his side.
“What are you two up to?” she asked with a suspicious tone.
Jamison rested against Ian’s side as he offered the box.
Savannah’s smile evaporated. Her gaze darted from the box to Ian to the box again. “What…”
He blew out a hard breath. “Okay, here goes.”
Jamison grinned at him. “You got this.”
It was something he told Jamison every time he was afraid to do something, and now it made both Savannah and Ian laugh so hard, they had to take a second to catch their breath.
“Let’s try this again.” Ian cleared his throat and lifted the lid on the box. The solitaire sparkled in the sunlight.
Savannah gasped and tented her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide.
“I love you and Jamison more than anything in the world,” he told her. “I want us to be a family. A real family.” He took another quick breath and pushed out the words that both terrified and thrilled him. “Savannah, will you marry me?”
She pulled her hands away from her mouth at the same time that she took a sharp breath. She tried to speak, but the words didn’t come out. Tears spilled over her lashes, and she fanned her face with her hands.
“Are you okay, Mom?” Jamison’s concerned frown turned on Ian. In a secretive tone, he said, “Uh-oh. You made her cry.”
Savannah laughed, squeezed Jamison’s hand, and choked out, “Happy tears, baby.” Then she looked at Ian, and his heart grew wings. “Yes. Yes.”
Ian exhaled, and relief gave way to joy. So much joy, he felt like he’d implode. Savannah rolled to her knees and threw her arms around him.
“Family sandwich!” Jamison yelled, jumping in.
Applause broke out around them. Only when they pulled out of the hug did Ian realize they’d drawn quite a crowd. He slid the ring onto her finger to more applause.
While Jamison dug into his peanut butter and jelly, Ian pulled Savannah close and wiped at her tears. “When you’re ready,” he murmured, the words for her ears only, “I’d like to talk about adopting Jamison.”
She laughed and nodded. “How’s tomorrow?”
“Perfect.” He pulled her close again, holding her tight. “You two mean everything to me.”
She choked out “Same, baby. Same.”
When he pulled away, Ian dragged his phone from his shoe.
“What are you doing?” Savannah asked.
“Texting Everly. She made me promise I’d let her know when it was official.”
“You told Everly already?”
He grinned at her. “Who do you think helped me pick out the ring?”
Savannah kissed him. “Tell her it’s perfect.”
About the Author
Skye’s New York Times bestselling novels are all about enjoying that little wild streak we all have, but probably don’t let out often enough. About those fantasies we usually don’t get the opportunity to indulge. About stretching limits, checking out the dark side, playing naughty and maybe even acting a little wicked. They’re about escape and fun and pleasure and romance. And, yes, even love, because Skye is ultimately a happily ever after kinda gal.
Skye is a California native recently transplanted to the East Coast and living in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington DC with her husband and rescue pup. She has two grown daughters in California and Oregon.
When Skye’s not writing or plotting (to take over the world), she travels to teach ultrasound to doctors in third wold countries or taking courses in her favorite hobbies and rowing on the Potomac.
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Also by Skye Jordan
MANHUNTERS SERIES:
GRAVE SECRETS
NO REMORSE
DEADLY TRUTHS
RENEGADES SERIES:
RECKLESS
REBEL
RICOCHET
RUMOR
RELENTLESS
RENDEZVOUS
RIPTIDE
QUICK & DIRTY COLLECTION:
DIRTIEST LITTLE SECRET
WILDWOOD SERIES:
FORBIDDEN FLING
WILD KISSES
ROUGH RIDERS HOCKEY SERIES:
QUICK TRICK
HOT PUCK
DIRTY SCORE
WILD ZONE
COVERT AFFAIRS SERIES:
I
NTIMATE ENEMIES
FIRST TEMPTATION
SINFUL DECEPTION
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