Page 112 of Last Mile

Tears stung my eyes at his words. “Oh, Bishop. I love you, you know.”

He smiled. “Even after the way I’ve treated you?”

Regardless of what had gone down between us, I did love him, and I had for some time. But he did ask a valid question. One he probably needed assurance from more than I did. I had already made the sacrifices necessary to prove to myself I loved him. It had been a tough road, considering that through association with him, I’d lost my very best friend. I missed Gavin so much, and some days

it was hard to get out of bed. But in his gentle yet strong way, Bishop had been such a comfort to me. He had given my life purpose . . . and it was a life I wanted him to be a part of.

I want the old Samantha— the woman who made me fall in love for the first time. I could see that in his eyes now. Vulnerability. “Yes, yes, I love you.” No matter what.

Bishop took my hand in his. “I promise I’ll make it up to you all the times I was such an asshole.”

I laughed. “Okay. I’ll let you.”

He rose out of his chair to lean over and kiss me. “I love you, too,” he murmured against my lips.

Once again, I fought the tears as I felt as if my heart would explode from happiness. Surprisingly, it didn’t set off any alarms.

As Bishop sat back down, he frowned slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just thinking that I love you so much that I wished we could start over. Like we could forget the past of you being an agent and all that bullshit.”

“All we can do is try.” When I pulled my hand from his, he stared at me in surprise. I then held it out for him to shake. “I’m Samantha Vargas. I’m an agent with the ATF.”

“Bishop Malloy— sergeant at arms of the Hells Raiders.”

As we shook, I smiled. “That’s a start.”

EPILOGUE: SAMANTHA

My fingers flew furiously over the keys as I typed up my latest debriefing. As I relived the takedown, I couldn’t help smiling. After all, it wasn’t every day that you apprehended a gun trafficker who carried his shipment in a clown- decorated ice cream truck.

It also made me think of Gavin and how he would have hated the case. The one thing he was afraid of was clowns. A year might’ve passed since his murder, but I still thought of him and missed him every day.

A knock came at my door, but I didn’t look up. “Yeah?”

“Are you still here?” Peterson asked.

“Just finishing up.”

“You should have left an hour ago.”

I glanced up at him. “Since when do bosses encourage their employees to be slackers?”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he countered, “When that employee has a wedding rehearsal in less than two hours.”

After hitting save on the file, I held my hands up in defeat.

“Fine, fine. I’m leaving now.”

“Good. If I had to see one more text from your future sister-in-law about where you were, I was going to scream.” At my laugh, he narrowed his eyes. “Just exactly how did she get my number?”

“You’re in the wedding party, and as the wedding planner, Alexandra needed your contact number.”

“I see.” He motioned me with his hand. “Come on. I’ll walk you out.”

I had to smile at his overprotectiveness. Even though it had been over a year since Eddy attacked me, Peterson still insisted on walking me out if he was in the building when I left at night. He would also be walking me down the aisle tomorrow at Bishop’s and my wedding.