The only fly in that particular ointment came a couple of days ago when Angie waved at the old lady across the street as she was retrieving her paper. The woman had been wearing a fluffy purple robe and her hair was in curlers. When Angie waved, the woman flipped her off. Angie went back inside, a little stunned, and told Colt. He’d started laughing.
“Welcome to the neighborhood,” he’d said. Then he told her everything. When he was done, Angie threw her arms around him and kissed him.
“You’re the sweetest man in the world. Okay, now I have to do something nice for her. But anonymously, of course.”
Colt laughed. “We’ll kill her with kindness. She won’t know what hit her.”
After a nice lunch with Liam, Angie planned to swing by the grocery store and pick up some things for dinner—for Colt to fix, of course. It was nice being able to drive herself places again without fear of being attacked by shadowy people. That threat was completely over. Steve Gorky had fled the country to escape charges, but it hadn’t done him any good. He’d been found shot to death in his car in front of a Moscow hotel. Paul Sobol had died in custody under mysterious circumstances. Christopher Shaw had disappeared entirely. Tommy and Marco were still incarcerated, but she wondered if their days were numbered too.
Her phone rang as she started the car. It was Colt. He’d told everyone his real name at work—Ian already knew, of course—and they’d all pretty much shrugged and said that’s cool and whatever, bro and one memorable dude! from Dax Freed.
Angie knew it’d been a source of worry for Colt, but basically nobody seemed to care. It didn’t change how they felt about him.
“Hey, handsome,” she answered as her heart beat a little harder and excitement began to blossom in her veins.
“Hi, baby. How was lunch with Liam?”
“Great. Triple B is getting back up to speed, and they have plans to build a new, bigger office in Annapolis. Liam and the others were afraid they’d be shuffled to the Virginia location, but the old boys are all about tradition, and Annapolis is where it began.”
“That’s great. How do you feel about leaving?”
She smiled. She loved that he was concerned. “Still happy about it. I’ll miss some of my coworkers, but not the job. I’m excited to start at BDI.”
“Speaking of that… think you could swing by here? We’re kicking back with some beers in the basement—”
“The basement? What?”
He laughed. “Yeah, Ian decided we needed to build a rec room and bar down here. So we did. We’ve got pool tables, game consoles, a full bar, a kitchen. It’s pretty sweet.”
“Wait, is this new? I don’t remember any mention of this before.”
“Brand new. We’re inaugurating it today. Which is why you need to get over here. Maddy and Tallie are coming too.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Good. Hurry, baby. But be safe.”
She laughed. “I will.”
It took about fifteen minutes to get to BDI, get parked, and head for the building. Colt was waiting near the stairwell door rather than the elevator. He tugged her inside and kissed her.
“Get a room,” someone said over the speaker in the hall, and they both laughed.
“You’re going to love this,” he told her before pushing open the door to the new lounge.
“Surprise!” the guys yelled.
Angie blinked. She looked at Colt, who was grinning. Maddy and Tallie were there too, grinning like crazy.
“Surprise for what?” Angie asked. “It’s not my birthday.”
Colt kissed her. “Welcome to the BDI family. Officially.”
She flushed with pleasure as the guys all came over and shook her hand. “Welcome to the family, Slugger,” Jace said with a wink.
“Slugger?” Angie looked up at Colt. He just shrugged.
Ian Black was there too, holding a long wooden box. He turned it around and held it up. “For you, Slugger.”
It was the lead pipe, polished up and no longer rusty, mounted in a shadow box. There was a plaque. Angie read it and burst out laughing.
“Angie with a lead pipe in the warehouse. Oh my god, you guys are too much.”
Colt took it for her and sat it on a table. Somebody handed her a beer. The rest of the afternoon passed in a happy blur of laughter and friendship and excitement for her new job. When Colt finally gave her a look—that look—she knew it was time to go and share the rest of the evening together, just the two of them.
“Are you happy?” Colt asked her much later when they lay tangled together beneath the covers, naked and spent.
She lifted her face to his. “Yes. Are you?”
“More than you can ever know. I’ve loved you for a long time, minette, even when I didn’t realize it. I didn’t think you could ever love me.”
“All that running I did. I’m not running now, Colt. I’m never running from you again. I’ll stand and fight. Always.”
He grinned at her. “That’s my slugger.”
She pushed him onto his back, straddling him. Soon, she was riding him, giving them both all the pleasure—all the love—they could handle.
She’d found her purpose. Her man. The life she wanted to live.
Always.
London, England
Ian strode along the rain-washed Victoria Embankment near the Palace of Westminster. He’d had a meeting earlier and now he was heading back to the hotel, but he’d wanted to walk along the river because it was pretty and it reminded him of early in his career when he’d been posted to London and everything was still so new to him.
It wasn’t new anymore, and he wasn’t as innocent as he’d been then. As if he’d ever been innocent.
“Flowers for your lady, guv?” A woman stood nearby with a bucket of flowers at her feet. They weren’t especially great flowers, and she looked like she’d seen better days. Her clothes were tattered, her face grimy. Her hair was gray, but she had
