by Anna Blakely
“Hurry! M-my toes caught the edge of a r-rock, but its slick and I keep s-slipping.”
Jesus. Even from here, he could tell she was on the verge of becoming hypothermic. How she’d managed to grab the branch when she fell, let alone keep herself from tumbling to her death, was beyond him.
She could still fall.
Springing into action, Mike laid flat onto his belly. Ignoring the breathtaking cold, he scooted to the edge as far as he could without losing too much of the supportive ground below him.
Dangling his right arm over the edge, he dug the fingers of his other hand as deep into the frozen ground as he could.
“Here!” He reached for her. “Grab my wrist and hold on tight.”
“Won’t I p-pull you over?”
“No, baby. I’ve got this.”
She hesitated. “I’m scared. What if I c-can’t hold on to y-you?”
“It’s okay.” He looked into her terrified eyes and vowed, “I’ll hold on to you.”
Nodding, she’d just started to let go when one of her toes slipped from the jutting rock she’d been balanced on.
She screamed and Mike shouted her name, nearly going over the edge himself in an effort to save her. Miraculously, Juliet kept her grip on the branch and was able to regain what little footing she’d had before.
Mike closed his eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks before opening them back up and trying again.
“Come on, Jules. You can do this.”
“I’m g-going to f-fall.”
“No, you’re not. Now, grab hold of my wrist and let me pull you up.”
She lifted one hand off the branch, keeping herself in position with the other. With slow, careful movements, she wrapped her ice-cold fingers around his thick wrist and held on as tightly as she was able.
“Good girl.” He blew out a breath. “Now the other one.”
He could tell she was trying to talk herself into it, which was great except the colder she got, the worse her grip was going to become.
You need to get her ass up here. Fucking now!
In all the time they’d spent together, Mike had never said a cross word to her before. But desperate times called for doing whatever the fuck needed to be done. So...
“Goddamn it, Juliet,” he yelled. “Let go of the fucking branch and grab my fucking arm!”
She let go of the branch. She grabbed his arm. Mike started to pull her up.
“Don’t...let...go,” he shouted through clenched teeth.
The muscles in his right arm burned from the strain. Tendons stretched to their maximum potential, and his shoulder felt as if it were precariously close to popping out of place.
He didn’t even consider stopping.
Almost there. Just a little more...
Mike let out a loud roar, the animalistic sound filling the air around him as he ignored the pain and gave one final pull. It wasn’t until Juliet was over the edge and in his arms that he realized it had come from him.
“Oh, thank God.” He held on tightly. “I thought I lost you.”
“Th-thought you had...t-too.”
She trembled and shook so violently against his body, he felt it deep inside his ribs. As much as he hated letting her go, they needed to get off the ground and somewhere warm as soon as possible.
He stood and helped her do the same. “Come on. Let’s get you to a hospital.”
“D-don’t need a h-hospital.” She pulled him to a stop and looked up at him. “Only n-need...y-you.”
Does she mean that, or is it the cold talking?
A shiver raced down his spine, making him think it was probably the latter.
Mike squeezed her hand and started to walk. “You’re freezing. We need to—”
She pulled on his hand again. This time, the crazy woman grabbed his face, rose to her tiptoes, and pressed her ice-cold lips to his. “L-love you, M-Mike.”
She called me Mike.
His heart swelled to the point he thought it would burst from his chest. The woman had fallen off a cliff, and damn near died and she was frozen from head to toe, yet she’d stopped to tell him she loved him, and she’d called him Mike.
Ignoring how cold his ass was or how weak his right arm felt after the workout he’d put it through, Mike bent down and scooped her into his arms.
“I love you, too, baby.” He kissed her again. “God, I love you so much.”
Juliet opened her mouth to say something else when they heard multiple male voices in the distance. They turned and saw three bulky men walking down the trail toward them. All three were carrying guns.
Mike started to reach for his when one of them held up a hand. “You Bradshaw?”
“Who’s asking?”
“I’m Reid. This is Beckett and that’s Stone.” The men continued advancing. “We do some work for Jason Ryker. He said you could use some backup?”
Relief flooded him because, fuck. He was cold as shit and did not feel like shooting their asses, too.
With Juliet held snuggly in his arms, Mike made his way to the newcomers. “Thanks, but...you’re a little late.”
“Sorry, man,” Reid apologized. “Fucking snow slowed us down.”
“She hurt?” The one named Stone asked. He removed his heavy coat and laid it over Juliet as best he could.
“There a hospital nearby?”
“T-told y-you—”
“You’re getting checked out.” Mike gave her a no-nonsense look.
Rather than argue further, she smiled and laid her head against his chest. Even though her voice was small and muffled, he still heard her soft, “Okay.”
Epilogue
“I still can’t believe she gave your ass a second chance.”
With a smile, Mike selected a few poker chips from the stack in front of him and tossed them in the center of the table. He looked over at Grant. The former SEAL and Alpha Team’s demolitions expert seemed even grumpier than usual.
“Truth?” Mike picked up the card Trevor had dealt him. “I can’t either.”
The men who were still in took a second to look at their cards. A minute later, Mike was pulling the pile of chips in his direction.
“Don’t pay any attention to Hill.” Derek grinned. “He’s just pissed because he hasn’t won a hand all night.”
Grant scowled at the other man. “I’m pissed because you fuckers keep cheating.”
The men around the table all began laughing and talking at once. Glancing at the group of women sitting across the room, Mike grabbed his bottle of beer and stood.
“Deal me out this next round. I need a refill.”
“A refill.” Jake looked down at the half-full bottle in Mike’s hand and gave him a knowing grin. “I know what that’s code for.”
Mike smacked him on the shoulder as he walked past. “Like you’re any better?”
“How do you think I know the code?”
Cringing, Mike turned and hollered at the man from over his shoulder. “That’s my sister you’re talking about, dickhead.”
“What’s your sister?”
Stopping in his tracks, Mike spun his head around and found Olivia standing directly in front of him. “Your husband still hasn’t learned to not talk about your sex life in front of me.”
His sister grinned. “Well, I am an adult, and as you pointed out, he is my husband. So, yeah...we do have sex.”
“Lots of it!” Jake yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.
Groaning, Mike flipped his friend the bird. “Doesn’t mean I want to hear about it.”
“Speaking of hearing about things...” His sister grabbed his arm, bringing his attention back to her. “Has Jules seen it, yet?”
“Seen what?” Juliet stepped up beside Olivia.
“It was supposed to be a surprise.” With a playful glare thrown in his sister’s direction, Mike slid his focus to the woman of his dreams. “I’ll show you later.”
“Oh, come on. Show her now.” Olivia pretended to pout. �
�Please?”
Juliet mimicked her new friend’s expression. “Yeah, please?”
He fought against the smile threatening to break loose. “I think I liked it better when she didn’t know you were my sister.”
“Which is the perfect segway into the surprise!” Olivia’s face lit up.
Losing the fight, Mike’s mouth curved into the same, goofy smile he’d been walking around with for the last few weeks.
“Okay, fine.”
He went over to the kitchen bar and set his bottle down. Juliet looked up at him, her gorgeous face filled with curiosity. Standing behind her, Olivia looked like a kid at Christmas while she waited for his big reveal.
“It’s really not that big of a deal. Just something I got today that I thought you might like.”
“He got it while you and Mac and I were shopping earlier,” Olivia piped in.
Mike shot the meddling woman a look. “Do you want me to show it to her or not.”
Acting like the little sister he knew and loved, Olivia stuck her tongue out at him and then winked at Juliet.
With a shake of his head, Mike chuckled as he reached down and grabbed the hem of his shirt. Lifting the left side, he showed her the addition to his tattoo collection.
He wanted it to be as close to his heart as he could get it, but he also wanted it to stand out. To stand alone. Since he already had ink that covered the top portion of his chest, he decided to put this one near his side, just below his left peck.
Juliet’s sharp intake of air was audible when she saw the word ‘Trust’ permanently embedded into his skin. She didn’t say a single word. Juliet just stood there, staring.
He had no idea whether or not that meant she loved it...or hated it.
“I got it for you,” he blurted like a nervous schoolboy. “Well...for us.”
She continued staring but still said nothing.
Shit. Fuck. Shit.
Mike’s heart kicked his ribs as he tried to make her understand. “I wanted you to know that, from this point on, you can trust me. Really trust me.”
Juliet stepped toward him slowly, her eyes never leaving the new ink. She lifted her hand and began tracing the scrolling letters with the tip of her index finger.
His muscles contracted, the skin there was still a little tender. But he’d be damned if he ever told this woman to stop touching him.
“It’s okay if you don’t like it. I can always—”
She cut him off with an unexpected kiss. “I love it,” she whispered against his lips.
“Yeah?”
Juliet nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good.” Dropping his shirt, Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body flush with his. “Because you can trust me, baby. Always.”
He was rewarded with another quick kiss. “I know I can.”
“I love you, Jules.”
“I love you, too, Michael J. Bradshaw.”
With a huge grin, Olivia stepped up beside them. “See? I told you she’d love it.”
Juliet smiled back at his sister. “I can’t believe you didn’t slip and say something about it when we were out shopping.”
“Um...excuse me, but my brother isn’t the only one in the family who can keep a secret.”
“Yeah, well.” Mike pulled Juliet to his side. “From now on, the only secrets I’m keeping will pertain to Christmas and birthdays.”
“Ahem.” Jake joined them. “And anything R.I.S.C. related that I deem classified or confidential.”
The four laughed, but then Olivia and Jake shared a strange look before she said, “Do you have it with you?”
“You want to give it to them now?”
His sister nodded. “Why not?”
“Guess there’s no time like the present.” Jake nudged his wife and smirked. “See what I did, there? No time like the present...because this is a present, and—”
“Yeah, Jake.” An unimpressed Olivia patted her husband’s shoulder. “We get it.”
Make the guy a dad, and he becomes king of the dad jokes.
With a roll of his eyes, Mike looked at the couple and said, “Will one of you please tell me what the hell you’re talking about?”
“This.” Jake pulled an envelope from his back pocket and handed it to Mike.
Confused, Mike used his free hand to grab it while asking, “What’s this?”
“Just open it.”
Releasing Jules, he ripped open the envelope and pulled out the folded papers. He skimmed the documents, and it took him a minute to realize what he was even looking at. When he did, his jaw dropped open.
“You’re giving us part of your land?”
“Not just any land.” Olivia smiled. “The forty acres on the back half. Where the river cuts through it.”
Mike knew exactly which piece of land she was referring to. Minus the mountains, it had a view that was pretty damn close to the spot on Lopez’s land that Juliet had loved so much.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Nothing to say, brother.” Jake squeezed one of Mike’s shoulders. “You seemed ready to finally put down some roots.” In a not-so-subtle move, his gaze slid from Mike’s, to Juliet’s, and back to Mike’s. “We figured what better place for you to do it than close to family?”
“There’s plenty of space for a house and whatever else you to might need. Plus, you’ll be able to see your adorable baby niece anytime you want,” Olivia added as a bonus.
Mike thought of the little girl currently sleeping in the bedroom down the hall. Then he thought of another little girl. The one he’d imagined the last time he was here.
The little girl with the black hair and striking blue eyes...just like Juliet’s.
Though it wasn’t that long ago, it seemed like a lifetime had passed since then. It was amazing how much could change in just a few weeks’ time.
He’d reconnected with Juliet, and then he damn near lost her. Fuller was dead and Lopez had been arrested and had plead guilty to being an accessory in Schreiber’s death and conspiracy to commit murder.
The Federal prosecutor was able to keep Mikhail’s original testimony as admissible, and Juliet’s dad went back to prison where he belonged...without her having to testify against him. Three days after Alexandar Volkov returned to prison, Ivan Volkov was found dead in the shower by one of the prison guards.
As so often occurred with such things, no one heard anything, and no was saw anything. As far as Mike and Juliet were concerned, justice had been served.
The best part of the whole damn mess was that, in the end, Juliet still loved him The real him. They’d been living together in a rented apartment in the city ever since, and with the help of the other R.I.S.C. women, she was already making contacts to start up her own interior design business.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Mike could honestly say that life was good.
He thought the woman by his side and the deed in his hand, and a sudden burning sensation spread over his eyes. Mike blinked his unshed tears away, knowing if he started crying in front of the guys, he’d probably never live it down.
“Wow.” Juliet sounded amazed. “What an incredible gesture.”
“I missed out on a lot of time with my brother,” Olivia told her. “I’d love to have him close by. We want you both to be close by.”
Their time together—both before everything happened with Fuller and after—had been such a whirlwind, they hadn’t really talked about the future all that much. They’d just relished in the fact that they were together. But now that Jake and Liv had brought it up...
“What do ya say?” Mike turned to Juliet. “Wanna build a house together and live out here in the wide, open spaces?”
“Come on, Jules,” Olivia pleaded with her. “You and I could have girls’ nights whenever we wanted. Oh! You could even bring Lydia over so Lillian could play with her.”
“Lydia did seem to love it here.” Juliet smiled.
“But?” Mike h
eld his breath and waited.
“Not really a but, per se. More like a condition.”
“Name it, it’s yours.”
Juliet raised a brow. “Will this house in the country come with a nursery?”
Mike’s heart stopped beating. “You’re pregnant?”
“No.” She chuckled. “I was just thinking...you know...someday.”
Pulling her to him once more, Mike leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. With his eyes staring down into the future he’d thought was an impossible dream, he said, “I think someday is a damn good place to start.”
****
“A guilty verdict has been handed down today in the Federal case against former CIA agent, Benjamin Lopez, and several other arrests have been made in connection with the crimes for which Mr. Lopez has been convicted. We’ll have more on this story as it unfolds.”
“Hey, Riley! You’re up.”
Riley York’s long, dark ponytail flung over her shoulder as she turned away from the T.V. above the bar and walked over to where her partner was standing.
Her heart stuttered inside her chest every time she looked at him, which was dangerous given their department’s policy regarding romantic relationships between partners. But with his light brown hair and blue eyes, the man was walking, talking sin in a suit.
Taking the wooden pool cue from Eric’s hand, she studied the ever-changing table in front of her before deciding which move she should make next.
“I see Lopez is going away.” He nodded toward the T.V. she’d just been watching.
“Yep. Bastard got what he deserved. So did Thomas Fuller.” She spotted her next target. “Five ball, side pocket.”
Moving like a pro, Riley bent over the table’s edge and lined the cue up. Positioning it between the fingers on her left hand, she bit her bottom lip, took aim, and made the shot. The five-ball rolled across the green felt, falling into the side pocket with ease.
“Nice shot.”
She shot him a grin. “Thanks. That’s another drink you owe me.”
“What does that make, now. Five?”
“Six.” She sauntered up to him and raised a brow. “You’re losing on purpose.”
One corner of Eric’s delicious mouth rose into a guilty grin. “Now, why would I go and do something like that?”