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He stopped stroking her back.

She looked up at him and gave a small smile. “But I’m very thankful that you did.”

“That’s a good girl. Did it kill you to say you liked having someone to lean on?”

“No, it didn’t kill me, smartass.” She scratched the palm of her hand. “But I will have to invest in cortisone cream since I’m allergic to leaning on anyone.”

“I’ll buy you stock in the company on our first wedding anniversary.”

She went still. “It is hard…asking for help.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Amy, I’m going to tell you something that I don’t know will make this better or worse. I like having you lean on me. My mom is one of the most kick-ass women you will ever want to meet, but I’ve watched her lean on my dad for support all of my life. I’ve liked that dynamic. I’m not saying in any way, shape, or form that I want to marry a weak woman. Because if my mom ever got the feeling that I thought she was weak, she’d kick her Navy SEAL son’s ass from one end of the United States to the other. No, that’s not what I’m saying, not at all. What I am saying, is that I want to know that I have provided a safe space for you. That I am your comfort, your solace, your shoulder, and your champion.”

She burrowed her face closer into his neck and he heard her sniff.

“What, Amy? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I couldn’t ask for anything better. In the whole of my life, I’ve never had that. Somebody who is my protector. I mean, I always knew you were kind of wild, but now I know I have my own personal wild warrior. So no, Honey, what you just said makes me happier than you can possibly know.”

He sifted his fingers through her hair and pulled back her head. Her eyes were glistening and he felt like he was looking into his whole world. He dipped his head and touched his lips to hers and then jerked back when the doorbell rang.

“That’s Charlie, right?” Amy said, her eyes twinkling.

“I’ll just get the food and make him go away,” Ryker said as he picked her up, then gently placed her back onto the sofa.

“You can’t do that, it’s rude.”

“Watch me,” Ryker growled.

He looked through the peephole and saw Charlie and then threw open the door, “Hey, Charlie,” he started. Then he saw Charlie’s wife Marie and their two little kids. He heard Amy giggling behind him.

Foiled again.

“I really appreciate it, Kostya. I’ll be landing in an hour and fifteen.”

“Not a problem. Lark keeps asking me if I’ve heard anything from you about how Amy’s doing, so this way she can talk directly to you. It’s a win/win.”

Ryker buckled into his seat and put his phone on airplane mode and settled in for the short flight home. He was feeling a whole hell of a lot better. Even though Kiki Linden had gotten bail from some methhead, she didn’t look like she was in any shape to come after Amy again. How in the hell she ever managed to pick up the e-scooter to begin with was one of God’s great mysteries.

Ryker just wished to hell that Amy would have listened to him and Lawrence and not attended the bond hearing. Her mother was a raging bitch to Amy as soon as she got bonded out. A cop had to come and threaten to lock her back up, she was so out of line. Ryker could see that Amy was struggling not to cry, and it just killed him. How could someone be so mean to their own daughter?

He tried to shove all of that out of his head by picking up his book again. Normally he could finish a book like this in two or three sittings. Not with Amy around. Now he had many more things a lot more important to pay attention to.

By the time the plane landed, he only had a chapter left. He got up out of his seat, grabbed his overnight bag, and hustled through the terminal remembering to turn his phone to normal mode at the last moment.

He looked down to see where Kostya was going to meet him, and that’s when he saw the thirty texts and ten missed calls. One from Captain Hale. Nothing from Kostya. He bypassed everything and called Gideon.

“What happened?”

“Lark is doing good. Kostya was able to shield her from the blast. He’s in surgery.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? What blast?”

“There was a car bomb. It was connected to Kostya’s key fob. The shrapnel from his bronco pierced his back and punctured his kidney.”

“Captain Hale is trying to call me. Why?”

“The CIA had been monitoring the Kraken since we got back from Turkey. They’d been making noise about targeting us, but nobody thought it was worth sharing with us. Then this happened to Kostya tonight, so the CIA thought the Captain might like the information.”