Page 119 of Ruthless Enforcer

“I heard my name.” Luke stomps snow off his boots and walks in carrying a case of beer under one arm and a grocery bag under the other.

“You usually do,” I tell him. “And it’s usually followed by profanity.”

He grins. “That’s how I know people care.”

Harper comes in behind him, closes the door, and looks at the puddle he’s already created. “Boots.”

Luke looks down, then at her, and then at me. “Marriage has changed her.”

Harper points. “Boots.”

Sighing, he takes them off. Marriage hasn’t changed him enough to make him stupid.

Lily and Mandy are in the family room, their laughter giving away their location. The sisters have been finding their way back to each other. Slowly, according to Lily. Carefully, according to Mandy. From where I’m standing, it mostly involves sitting on the same couch and pretending they don’t rearrange their entire schedules to spend time together. Mason and Hendricks seem smart enough not to comment on it.

The house is full. Loud. Warm.

Exactly the way Emma likes it.

Exactly the way I never knew I did.

Mason and Hendricks come in from the yard, brushing snow from their shoulders. “She’s up,” Mason says with a proud smile.

Emma turns from the window. “The filly?”

“We can’t keep calling it ‘the filly,’” Luke says, handing Hendricks and Mason beers.

Mason points the bottle at him. “You’re not naming her.”

“I wasn’t going to.” Luke blinks innocently.

Everyone in the room looks at him.

Luke sighs. “Fine. I had some ideas.”

Tires crunch over packed snow outside, and a minute later a familiar matte-black SUV comes around the bend. Of course Gabriel Reyes drives through a Montana snowstorm in a vehicle that looks capable of invading a small country.

Emma glances out the window. “They made it.”

“Barely,” I say, watching the SUV muscle its way up the drive.

Gabriel parks near the house, gets out, and immediately circles around to Clara’s side. I watch Gabriel reach for Clara the second she’s within range, like touching his wife has become as automatic as breathing. She rolls her eyes at something he says but leans into him anyway, and I figure Reyes finally found the one thing in this world he’d rather hold than control.

I go to the front door to let them in.

Gabriel flashes his easy smile as they approach. “You miss me, Chief?”

Snorting, I hold out my fist. “Every day you’re somewhere else is a gift.”

“Good to see you too.” He bumps mine. “So what’s for dinner, or do I need to ask Bennett?”

Shaking my head, I close the door. The bastard has been showing up at Blackthorn often enough lately that nobody bothers asking how long he’s staying.

I’m not sure when Reyes went from dangerous complication to family. Probably somewhere around the time we stopped keeping count of the bodies we’d helped each other bury.

Reyes turns to help Clara out of her coat.

And that’s when I see it—a small, unmistakable curve beneath her sweater.