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I know what he means. Still… “It was pretty fantastic, though.”
“And it’ll be fantastic again.” His head drops to the mattress. “Which will be as soon as I recover. You damn near killed me.”
I’m actually sort of proud. “But what a way to go, right?”
He chuckles before pulling me closer and nuzzling my neck. “You read my mind.”
EPILOGUE
TEAGAN
If you had toldme a year ago that I would be working for the shadow government in a hotel, which was really a black site for operatives, I would’ve laughed so hard I’d pee my pants. Yet here I am, living my best life, helping a team of highly trained former military, CIA, and FBI agents make the world a less scary place. In the beginning, I felt a bit useless, like a fish out of water. But as time has gone by, I’ve become comfortable, and the guys’ team has not only put their trust in me, they actually started relying on me. I mostly come up with ideas. My most successful one was to add a division of high priced escorts to the hotel for the purpose of gathering information. As it turns out, men are likely to have their guard down and blah about some pretty important information when they think they’ll get laid.
“Don’t forget you have a book signing tomorrow,” Mason reminds me. He comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my torso, and buries his face in the crook of my neck.
“Are you coming to be my assistant?” I lean into him as I look out of the window and into the sidewalk where Mr. Walters is taking his dog Toto on his daily morning walk.
I talked Mason into getting a small house right outside the city. During the week, we stay at the hotel, but almost every weekend, we drive out to our house to get away. Of course, the house is equipped with state-of-the-art security. Mason even posts a small SWAT team a few blocks from us, but this is still better than being confined to one city high-rise.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” he mumbles into my hair.
My second book just published, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Seeing Maddie and her adventures come to life just like I imagined them in my head for so many years is a dream come true. Literally.
Even better, people actually like to read my books. Which means I’ve been making a pretty good amount of money. Nothing like the luxury Mason can provide, but it was enough to buy my very own first car. Jase and Mason took turns teaching me how to drive, and I got my driver’s license on my first try even though Jace was sure I would fail based on my driving skills.
“You know my signing is at an elementary school, right?” These are my favorite events. Seeing kids’ faces light up when I tell them about Maddie and her sword fighting club is just the best thing ever.
“Yeah. Are you worried I’m gonna scare the kids?”
“I was more worried the kids were going to scare you.” I realized we never had this conversation before. Man, I really hope he wants to be a father one day.
“I love kids,” he blurts out, and I softly sigh in relief.
“You surprise me every day, Mr. Grumpy Pants.” For a moment, I was seriously worried.
“What about you? Do you like kids?”
“Love them! I wanna have like five or six.” I almost bite my tongue, wondering if I should have said this much.
“Only five or six? You can’t even make up a SEAL team with that.”
I laugh. If I remember right, a SEAL team has fifteen to twenty people. “How about we start with one and go from there?”
“Wait, now we’re going backward. You said five or six.”
Mason's phone buzzes in his pocket, interrupting the moment. He ignores whoever is calling. It’s something we had to work on. His life was his work for so long, I have to remind him daily that his life is his own, and now he shares it with me.
It has been a year since his mom kidnapped me, and we haven’t heard or seen of her since. Mason is convinced that she is going to come back soon, and he stays on high alert because of it. I wish I could promise him that she won’t return.
“Want to get some breakfast at the Pancake Castle?” Mason asks while his phone keeps buzzing in his pocket.
“You can answer it,” I offer. “It must be something important.”
Mason places a kiss on the side of my head before straightening up. I spin around and cuddle up next to him so I can look at his phone too. He unlocks it, and five missed calls from unknown numbers pop up along with one unread text message.
UNKNOWN: YOUR DECISION-MAKER HAS BEEN COMPROMISED.
Mason’s whole body tenses beside me.
“Who is this from? And who is your decision-maker?” I remember him talking about it, but he never told me who it is. I glanced up at Mason’s suddenly pale face, his eyes full of terror and a lingering sadness. “Mason?”
“It’s… Natalie,” he finally answers, his voice flat and void of any emotions. “Natalie is the decision-maker.”
* * *
