“Will they be up there for a while?”
“Celia said she took more than a thousand photos.”
Nick grasped her hand and walked them swiftly into their room, kicking the door closed behind him. “Text her to tell her you’re taking a little nap and ask if she can keep them up there until dinnertime.”
“She might be tired after traveling.”
“Ask her anyway.”
Sam rolled her eyes at his shamelessness and sent the text.
Celia replied right away that there was nothing she’d rather do than hang out with the twins after missing them so much.
Sam read the response to Nick.
“Yes. Thank goodness for grandmothers.”
“Wait! Before you go feral on me, I have to watch Neveah give a statement to the press about the resolution of the Carver case.”
Nick moaned. Loudly.
“Put it on ice for a minute, Mr. President.”
“There’ll be no putting anything on ice,” he said with a pout as he sat next to her to watch the press briefing.
“I’m so proud of her!” Sam said as Neveah walked through the main doors at headquarters with Captain Malone accompanying her. “She’s got to be freaking out on the inside.”
“I’m Detective Neveah Charles with the Homicide division, and I’m here to brief you on the arrests of four people in connection to the murder of Dale Carver of Spokane, Washington, at the Vacation Inn and Suites on 10th Street Northwest.” She detailed the facts of the case and the investigation that’d led to the arrest of Dale’s wife and sister-in-law in Spokane, as well as the two men they’d hired to commit the crime, who were apprehended by the U.S. Marshals in Baltimore.
“How does a wife and mother arrange for murder on the other side of the country?” a reporter asked.
“They did their research and used an encrypted app to reach out to the men they hired. We’re in debt to the fine work of the Spokane Police Department as well as the U.S. Marshals, both of which were instrumental in closing this case.”
She answered several other routine questions before concluding the gaggle.
Nick had Sam naked and spread out under him in a matter of seconds after Neveah left the podium, or that’s how it seemed to Sam.
She looped her arms around his neck. “I have more good news for you, in addition to my protégé bringing home the prisoners from Spokane.”
“Better than having you naked in bed when it’s still daylight on a weekday?”
“Even better than that. Asher and Brecken Mayfield have been charged with enough felonies to keep them locked up forever. Thirty-two little girls have been reunited with their grateful parents, and Captain Malone is in line for a commendation for thinking to ask if the Mayfields had other storage units. He’s getting the rightful credit for finding those girls.”
“That’s all very good news indeed.”
“But I saved the best for last. I’m taking a week off to be a mom and first lady.”
“And a wife?”
“That, too.”
He kissed her. “I love Vacation Sam. She’s all… uninhibited.”
“We’ve still got two kids in the house, so don’t get too crazy, Mr. President.”
“I’ll try not to but just remember what you started earlier with those texts.”
“Who, me?”
