Page 60 of Deadly Forever

“Oh, thank you so much.”

James could feel her tears on his cheek as he tightened his grip on her. “Can I ask you something?”

Mandy snickered. “Are you mimicking me and my endless questions?”

James shook his head. “No. I really want an answer.”

“Okay.”

James pulled his head back and stared at her, his expression unreadable. “You’ve clearly been thinking about this for some time,” he said. “Why are you just bringing it up now? Why didn’t you tell me when you first hatched this plan?”

“Because … .” Mandy broke off, unsure.

“Did you think I would tell you no?”

Mandy held her hands palms-up. “I’m not sure.”

“When do I ever tell you no?”

“When you think I might be putting myself in danger, and this wouldn’t be dangerous all of the time, but there would be an element of danger associated with the program,” Mandy replied. “I really wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to upset you.”

James rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “I guess that’s fair,” he conceded after a beat. “I do tend to shelter you at times.”

“You shelter me all of the time,” Mandy clarified. “I love living under your protection, though.”

James grinned. “Well, I think you have a marvelous plan,” he said. “Peter is coming for dinner. We’ll talk to him when he gets here. I’m sure he’s got some ideas about proper security and how to make this work without drawing attention to the operation.

“I will make an appointment for early next week to look at the warehouse,” he continued. “I want to see it before we make an offer.”

“We?”

“We’re doing it together, baby,” James answered. “We’re doing everything together for the rest of our lives.”

“Oh, I love you so much.” Mandy threw her arms around James’ neck again. “You’re the best husband ever.”

“That’s only because I have the best wife,” James said, smacking a kiss against her cheek. “Now let me get back to work so I can feed you, wife. I want you to have a lot of energy for later tonight.”

“That sounds like the best offer I’ve had all day.”

“HERE’Sthe press release you wanted,” Marge said as she stood in James and Mandy’s living room an hour later, wrinkling her nose as she handed Sophie a sheet of paper. “I still don’t see why you couldn’t get it via email.”

“Because the internal email system is down. It has a weird virus or something. The tech team is working on it,” Sophie replied, fighting the urge to roll her eyes as she took the press release and scanned it. “So he ran, huh? Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“I’m not up on this story,” Marge sniffed, petulant. “No one ever keeps me up to date on the important stuff.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Marge,” Sophie said. “You’re the most important person at the newspaper. You know that.” Sophie was being sarcastic, but it was wasted on Marge.

“I am the first line of defense at the office,” she agreed, glancing through the sliding glass door and frowning when she caught sight of James and Mandy as they cuddled near the grill. “What’s going on here? Is it a wedding party?”

“What?” Sophie shifted her attention over her shoulder and shook her head. “Oh, no. We have barbecues all of the time. James fancies himself the best meat griller in the world. He is pretty good when it comes to grilling steaks, though, so you won’t hear me complaining.”

“And his wife?” Marge’s question was tinged with bitterness.

“And his wife is happy to watch him grill,” Sophie replied, tamping down her annoyance. “Listen, Marge, I know you have a crush on James, but it’s probably time to let it go. He’s married. Heck, he’s happily married. He could be the happiest married man I’ve ever met.”

“I don’t have a crush on him,” Marge argued, making a face. “I don’t know why you think I do.”

“Because I’ve seen you look at him,” Sophie said. “It’s okay. He’s an attractive man. Do you know what makes him even more attractive, though?”