“Wow,” Viking said.
“That’s some shit,” Dirty added. “Why’d he kill himself?”
“Insurance money. His policy pays out for suicide, and his daughter is the beneficiary.”
“That’s fucked up,” Cage said. “She’d probably rather have her father than money.”
Ian shrugged. “Sometimes people make a decision in the heat of the moment that they wouldn’t otherwise make. He’d been planning to make Halliday pay for what he’d done, and he knew he couldn’t get away.”
Blade asked, “How is it your people didn’t figure it out right away? Jenkins wasn’t a professional, and they were following Halliday—who went to his office, right? Your people should have been able to make the guy.”
“They followed Halliday from the party. He went to meet with a rival triad enforcer, for God only knows what, but probably something to counteract Shan’s demands. When he returned to the office, they peeled off. We had spies in his workforce, and access to the camera system. There was no reason to sit outside and wait. So Jenkins shot him in the garage, loaded him in the car, and dumped him near the docks. We were working on ballistics when we got the information that Jenkins had confessed. We’d have found him, but it was going to take some time to trace that weapon through the maze.”
“The official story is he died of a heart attack. So what now?”
“There will be a correction,” Ian said. “It won’t reference the girl or her mother. But too many people have had access to the letter Jenkins sent for it to stay secret now, though it’s possible it will all come out at some point.”
Blade ground his teeth together. “So I’ll have to prepare Quinn.”
“Not a bad idea, buddy.” Ian let his gaze wander over them all. “I’m releasing you back to HOT, effective tomorrow. Except you, Blade. You’ll stay on as Quinn Halliday’s protective detail until Shan is back in China and I get confirmation from my contact that he’s gonna mind his own business.”
“So she could still be in danger. Great.”
“I don’t think so, but I intend to make sure. I’ll shoot the fucker myself if he makes one more threat, believe me.” Ian turned toward the door. “You’re dismissed for now, friends. Give the colonel a big wet kiss for me.”
Ian walked out and Money started to laugh.
“What’s so damned amusing?” Dirty asked him.
“I like that guy,” he said. “I can’t help it, but I do. Fucker’s funny.”
“Good thing,” Blade replied. “I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the months to come.”
Quinn tried to wait up for Blade, but her eyes just wouldn’t stay open. She’d showered and put on a T-shirt she found in the dresser, then sat in bed with the television going. The hotel she’d been taken to was nice, not too far from the building where Blade had gone to meet with his teammates and Ian Black. She hadn’t wanted to be separated from him, but Ian had told her it wouldn’t be for long.
One of his people had brought her here, made sure she was settled in the spacious suite, and said he’d be outside until Blade arrived. She’d peeked out the peephole from time to time, and the guy was still there. Leaning against the wall, scrolling through his phone.
She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she woke up with a jolt, her ears straining to hear any noise. The television was still going. She started to mute it but didn’t. Instead, she climbed from the bed, quickly unplugged the lamp, and picked it up before tiptoeing over to the door leading to the living area of the suite. She’d left the door open partway and she stood behind it, heart pounding, ready to smash someone in the face if they tried to attack her. No way was she getting caught again.
The door started to swing open and she lifted the lamp, gathering her will to act. She wasn’t weak. She would never be weak again.
“Quinn?”
She cried out, her heart pounding as she jumped out of the way of the door. Blade swung it open and stopped in his tracks, staring at her.
“Redecorating?” he asked, nodding at the lamp in her hands.
She dropped the lamp and launched herself at him. He caught her against him, squeezing her tight, dropping his face to her neck and breathing her in.
“Blade! I heard something and I didn’t realize it was you. After everything that happened—” She couldn’t continue.
His hands roamed her back, squeezed her ass, pulled her against the erection straining in his pants. “I understand, baby. Thanks for not attacking, by the way. That would have been a pretty good headache.”
She laughed softly. “Right. You’d have seen it coming and countered before I knew what happened. I’ve watched you in action, don’t forget.”
And he was magnificent, whether he was kicking high school asses or fighting for far darker reasons. She didn’t like it when he was fighting at all. But after? Oh God, after… It made her hot to remember how lethally precise he was with his strikes. Like a blade.
“Mmm, want to watch me in action now? Because I’m thinking I need to be inside you, making you come.”
“Oh yes, please. Please.”
They didn’t make it to the bed. He ripped her T-shirt off and she shoved her panties down, then went for the belt on his pants while he dragged his own shirt up and off. His pants fell down his thighs, but before she could push them off he was lifting her, turning her, pushing her against the wall. Quinn wrapped her legs around his waist—and then she felt him at her entrance. Hard, insistent, hot.
He pushed inside her until they both groaned with the rightness of it.
“I love you,” he said, his breath hot against her neck as he pressed his forehead to the wall behind her. Big hands held her steady.
“I love you. I always have.”
“I’ve always loved you too, baby. But not like this. I wish I’d known. I wish I hadn’t been so blind.”
She gripped his face in both hands and dragged his head up until he was looking at her, his gaze spearing deep into hers.
“Listen to me, Adam Garrison. There’s not a moment of my life I regret with you. Not a single one. You taught me to be strong when I was scared of my own shadow. I wasn’t ready for you to love me like this back then. I wouldn’t have known what to do with it.”
“You give me too much credit, Quinn. You were always strong. You were crying when those bullies made fun of you, but you didn’t run and you didn’t beg. You took it. Those were mad tears, not pitiful ones. I may have showed you that, but I didn’t create it.”
She couldn’t love this man more if she tried. It just wasn’t possible. He was everything to her. Tears knotted in her throat.
“Listen to me,” he said seriously. “I’m going to do everything in my power to give you the happiest life you can have. You’re my girl, Quinn. You’ll always be my girl. I’m going to love you with everything I have until the day I take my last breath. You’re the sweetest, kindest person I know, and nobody deserves to be cherished more than you do. You feel me?”
“I feel you,” she choked out as the first tear spilled. Because she couldn’t help it. Because no one had ever put her happiness as their top priority. It was overwhelming.
“Don’t cry, baby,” he said. “It only gets better from here.”
He kissed her then, their mouths fusing as their bodies started to move—taking pleasure, giving pleasure, driving them to the brink of madness before they crashed together in a shower of sparks.
Quinn would have thought his legs were spent, but Blade carried her to the bed and laid her down on it. Then he joined her, spooning her from behind, wrapping her in his embrace, his lips feathering along her shoulder.
“I didn’t know I needed you until I saw you again,” he said, his words vibrating against her skin. “I’ve spent so much of my life doing my own thing that I didn’t think anything was missing. I was wrong.”
“I’ve always known something was missing. I didn’t know it was you until you came back into my life.”
He squeezed her. “We’re going to get through this together. You have to do what you have to do to settle Hunter’s estate and protect your reputation, but when it’s all over, we’re going to live together. We’re getting a kitten too. As many kittens as you want. And Buddy, because he’s alive and well.”
Oh, thank heaven for that. She sniffled. “Do you even like kittens?”
“How could anybody not like kittens? They’re adorable.”
She snickered. “Careful who you let hear you say that. Big, strong, tough Navy SEAL like you calling kittens adorable? Might be bad for your image.”
“Don’t care.”
She turned in his embrace, sudden worry underpinning her happiness. “Do you know who killed Hunter yet? Are we really safe?”
He kissed her nose. “We’re safe. And yes, I know who killed him.”
He didn’t say anything else, and she searched his gaze in the dim light of the television. “Well?”
“It’s not pretty, Quinn. But I’ll tell you what I know.”
When he finished, Quinn’s mouth hung open. She snapped it closed as fury washed over her. “That poor girl. What a monstrous thing to do to her. And now she’s lost her father as well.”
“But you aren’t surprised at what Hunter did.”
“No, I’m really not. He was a horrible human being.”
“Yeah, he was.” He dragged in a breath. “I know I said we were going to live together, but I probably should have asked you. Do you want that?”
“Of course I want it! Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know, but it occurred to me that maybe I was being a bit hypocritical considering how Hunter treated you.”
“There’s a difference, Blade. You might tell me we’re doing something, but if I said no, you’d respect it. You wouldn’t try to control me.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“We’re moving in together and getting a kitten and keeping Buddy in the style to which he’s become accustomed,” she said.
“And when you’re ready, we’re getting married.”
She blinked. And then she smiled. “Yes, we definitely are. What about kids?”
“If you want them. But I think we’ve got a lot of practicing to do first.”
“Practicing?”
He rolled them over and wedged her thighs open. His hard cock pressed inside her slick heat. “Yeah. I’m not sure I’ve got the right rhythm yet. I need to practice. You mind?”
She wrapped her legs around him with a little moan. “Practice makes perfect. I think you’d better try very, very hard to find the right rhythm.”
“Oh, I’m gonna try hard all right. So. Very. Hard.”
Quinn loved how hard he tried. She loved it so much that she woke him up a few hours later to try again.
Chapter Twenty-Six
45 days later…
* * *
“Man, it’s nice to finally have you back with us, even if it’s only for a party,” Dirty said, clapping Blade on the shoulder and squeezing. “Sucks without you. Hope you come back to HOT soon.”
Blade snorted. Dirty was about three whiskeys in and feeling no pain. The gang was at Money and Ella’s new place, hanging out on the expansive back porch and patio with its views of the Chesapeake Bay, eating crabs and shrimp and drinking beer.
“I appreciate that,” Blade said, squeezing Dirty’s hand where it rested on his shoulder. “I miss y’all too.”
And he did, though being tasked to guard Quinn for the past month and a half hadn’t been a hardship at all. He’d traveled with her as she worked to clear up the messes in Halliday’s business. His personal fortune, what he had left, had been held in trust so the business issues hadn’t affected it. That was also why the money hadn’t been liquid when Halliday needed it. He couldn’t raid the trust.
Darrin Halliday inherited the bulk of the estate in the end, but Quinn had gotten a surprising amount of money from her late husband. She’d sat in the attorney’s office with Darrin and listened as the terms of the will were read. Blade had been there, standing just inside the door as directed. When the attorney named the sum Quinn inherited, she’d actually gasped.
Fifteen million dollars might not be much for the wife of a billionaire, but Blade knew it was more than Quinn had ever expected to get. She didn’t get the houses or cars, though she got her jewelry and a controlling share of Halliday Tech—which hadn’t been worth much of anything until Darrin Halliday went to work.
The kid was a genius, and he’d slowly started to shed liabilities and restructure the company. He didn’t resent Quinn, and she trusted him. It was a good relationship. The military contract had been canceled, and that hadn’t been a good thing for the company, but Darrin had managed to find the silver lining in that as well. If he met his goals, Quinn could very well be an extremely wealthy woman in a couple of years.
Blade sought her out in the crowd, spotted her with Ella and Bailey. They were standing near the pool, drinks in hand, chatting like they were old friends. He loved that for her. Quinn had always been a loner, and being married to Halliday had isolated her from people even more. He knew it was hard for her to reach out as herself, but he thought she was doing it. Sure, she’d relied on her hostess persona at first, but she was really starting to bond with his teammates’ wives and girlfriends.
“How’s the house coming along?” Dirty asked, drawing his attention. Dirty sank onto a chair and waited, bloodshot eyes firmly fixed on Blade’s face. He’d never really seen Dirty get drunk, so he wondered what might be causing his friend to be so free with the whiskey today.
“The workers just finished the framing. Roof is next.” He took a swig of his beer. “It’ll be a few months yet, but Quinn and I are enjoying the RV.”
They’d bought a big forty-footer and put it on the property so they could still live there while waiting for the house to go up. After talking about it, he and Quinn had decided to build a house similar to what had been there before. Nothing too huge, nothing too expensive. The property was nice, but it wasn’t where they thought they’d want their forever home. So they’d rebuild something appropriate to the area, live in it until they decided to move, and then sell.
Kittens were on hold for the moment, but Buddy had claimed a spot in the RV whenever he wanted it. For some reason, that cat loved Quinn. He let her hold him and everything. Gave Blade superior looks too as Quinn scratched his chin and cooed to him. Like Look at me, man. I’m the shit.
Yeah, the cat was the shit where Quinn was concerned. And he was officially Buddy now. No more Dude. Quinn had said it was confusing and they had to decide. So Blade let her do it. Buddy it was.
The other guys drifted over with drinks in hand and took up seats around Blade and Dirty.
“We’re glad you’re here today. Look forward to you rejoining us someday soon,” Viking said, raising his beer. The other guys did the same.
They all drank and then Blade cleared his throat. “I can’t wait to get back to HOT. Though working for Ian Black is kinda cushy, you know? I could get used to it.”
Cage snorted. “No you couldn’t.”
“Nah, probably not,” Blade admitted. “Though he seems to do some pretty dirty missions out there in the world.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” It was Viking who said it though the question was mostly rhetorical so nobody answered. “And speak of the fucking devil.”
They all turned to follow Viking’s gaze. The man himself strode across the grass from the front of the house. He was wearing faded jeans and a white button-down shirt. He carried a bouquet of white roses.
Nobody said anything. They simply waited for him to arrive. There was no sense in wondering how he knew they were all there today, or whether he’d been invited, or even if he wanted a drink. He’d tell them soon enough.
“All my favorite marine animals in one location,” he said, spreading his arms as he came up to them. “What are the chances?”
“Black,” Money said, standing
up to greet him like a good host. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Beer would be nice,” Ian said. “I’ll be right back.”
He strolled over to where Ella still talked to Quinn and Bailey and handed her the flowers. She smiled and hugged him. Quinn hugged him too. What the hell? And then Bailey hugged him. Well, holy shit, the man was smooth. The other women drifted over and they all smiled and laughed and looked happy while he talked to them.
Dude was smoooooth.
He eventually turned and came back over to the guys. Money handed him the beer and he took a drink.
“I’m assuming you’re here for a reason,” Viking said.
“It’s a party, isn’t it?” He set the beer down and let his gaze wander over them. “I thought you might like to hear this one personally… Shan is dead. The Dragon Master ran afoul of Beijing, it seems. He’s definitely not a threat to anyone here.”
“What happened?” Blade asked.
“Not really sure, other than I had a call from a contact. But pieces of Shan have been identified, so it’s real. He’s gone.”
Blade wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Oh, he didn’t mind that the asshole was gone. He just kinda minded he hadn’t actually been the one to do it.
“How does this affect Quinn?” he asked, because what if the next master decided to collect outstanding debts?
“I’ve probed deep into the darkness over there—the mafia, the MSS—and I can tell you she’s clear. Shan was obsessive, but his successor saw what happens when you cross Beijing. Nobody is holding her responsible for Halliday.”
HOT SEAL Target Page 22