Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
“Don’t,” Josh said quietly. “I realized I would go through it all again if it brought me here to you. All of it, Kay. I’ve been half a man, walking around like a ghost, but you are worth the pain. I love you and I’m going to get you out of this. I owe you everything.”
Hector chuckled. “I might enjoy seeing how you handle one of my brothels. Tell me, Josh, do you miss the drugs? Do you miss the…”
Hector’s head kind of exploded. Josh covered her again, shoving her down and tensing over her. He was ready to do it. He was ready to take a bullet for her. Probably many.
“I owe Kay, too,” a familiar voice said. “Come on. Let’s get you two up. Joshua, we’re going to have to patch up your arm. Sorry, I got hit and fell back on the balcony. Luckily my vest held up better than Fain’s. I have to thank Stef for that. I borrowed it from the Bliss County Sheriff, but Stef paid for it. Nothing but the best.”
Bishop. She had no idea who he was talking about, but he was here and she was alive and Josh was alive. Josh got to his knees, helping her up. There was blood on his left arm and he winced when he moved it.
“He saved you from your sister,” Bishop said quietly. “I saw it happen. It was incredible. You moved like mirror images. Those shots would have been perfect.”
But she’d had a man who loved her enough to risk himself for her. Her sister’s hate had been nothing compared to Joshua Hunt’s love.
She cupped his precious face. That face had graced a thousand movie screens, but no one on the earth got to see him as open and vulnerable as he was now. No one but her. “I love you, Josh.”
“Good, because I’m never letting you go,” he said. “You get into trouble, pet. I think you need to stay with me.”
She hugged him. Staying with him was right where she wanted to be.
Epilogue
Mexico City
Eighteen hours later
“What do you mean he got away?” Kayla stared at Big Tag. Even in the confines of Josh’s massive, super-pimped-out million-plus trailer, Big Tag made everything look small. “How the hell did Levi Green manage to get out? We called the authorities. We called the Agency.”
Big Tag had hustled down to Mexico. Even as he’d been shooting his way out of the compound, Shane had called and updated Ian. Ian had gotten on a plane as quickly as he could, showing up this morning with Tennessee Smith at his side.
They were all sitting in Josh’s trailer. The shoot was going on outside, but Josh was taking the day off due to having a bullet cut out of his left bicep. He looked over at the former CIA agents. “How could the Agency let a rogue operative slip away like that? Are they looking for him?”
“They don’t have to,” Ten said, his mouth a tight frown. “They can walk into his office at Langley if they want to know where he is.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Declan asked, a cup of coffee in his hand. “He just walked back into the office after shooting Fain? They don’t give a crap about him attempting to murder another agent?”
Declan and Riley had turned around and gotten back in time to get her and Josh out of Morales’s compound before the police showed up.
But not John Bishop. He’d faded into the shadows and disappeared again before she’d even had a chance to tell him off the way she’d wanted to. Or given him a hug and a thank you for saving them all.
She moved closer to Josh, his arm immediately coming out and wrapping around her. He didn’t hide his affection at all now. Something deep had broken inside Josh the night before, some seal that had kept much of his emotion buried. After they’d had his arm looked at, he’d wrapped himself around her and held her for the longest time, telling her all the things being in a room with Hector Morales brought back, all the horrors. Somehow in telling them, in letting it all loose, in holding her while she cried for the child he’d been, a new Josh had been born. A warm and loving man. A man who knew he was worthy of being loved, too.
But this afternoon he was going to get a lesson in how shitty life in the intelligence community could be sometimes. She cuddled close to him but looked up at Big Tag and Ten. “They’re taking Levi’s side, aren’t they?”
She hated to think about what that meant for them all.
Big Tag nodded. “I don’t have the whole story, but I’ve already got Case and Theo picking up Ezra from the hospital. I know he shouldn’t be moved yet, but I can’t risk leaving him in a hospital bed when they could come and arrest him at any moment. Luckily Faith was in town with Ten. She’s going to oversee him all the way home and then we’ll let him recover at a safe house.”