Take care of yourself. Be happy.
With all that I am,
Britt
“With the help of those who love you,” she whispered to herself, “and that’s everyone who’s ever met you…”
Thatwas the line. The one she kept coming back to. The one she thought about when she put her head on her pillow at night and the one that came to her the moment she woke up every morning.
Did he include himself in that statement? And if he did, then what did that mean for?—
“You’re free to go inside.”
The words drew her from her ruminations. She glanced at the redheaded Goliath in the guardhouse and nodded her appreciation.
“Miss Greenlee says she’ll meet you at the front door,” he continued, hitching his chin back over his shoulder toward the snowy expanse between the front gate and the factory building.
“Thanks!” She waved a gloved hand and tightened her stocking cap around her ears.
Her progress was slow and tiresome. The snow tugged at her boots and shorted her steps as she made her way across the grounds between the front gate and the motorcycle shop. Bitter wind tried to tunnel beneath her coat. She flipped up the collar and adjusted her scarf to cover her chin.
The night before had seen the city assaulted by an early-season blizzard. The storm had swung down from Canada to deposit eighteen inches of the white stuff. And even now, lazy flakes drifted from the hulking sky to stick in her eyelashes and melt on her cheeks.
The smell of snow in the city always carried a crisp, metallic sharpness. Clean but tinged with the faintest blend of steel, like the bridges that spanned the river and the trusses that held up the skyscrapers.
Of course, when the front door swung open, hitting her with a blast of warmth, all she smelled was strong coffee, engine grease, and automotive paint.
Ah, Black Knights Inc., she thought fondly.Some things never change.
“What in the world brings you out in this weather?” Sabrina Greenlee waved Julia inside. The woman looked about a billion times better than she had the last time Julia had seen her.
While Julia had been in the hospital recovering, her colleagues at the Federal Bureau of Investigations had determined Sabrina didn’t know enough about the cartel to warrant the expense of putting her into witness protection. Dillan said he’d fought for Sabrina and had made the case that the poor woman couldn’t go back to Charleston because she knew the identities of three of the cartel’s hitmen. But the higher-ups in the chain of command had determined that wasn’t their problem.
Julia hadn’t been apprised of the situation untilafterthe fact. Which was a good thing because she’d have raised enough hell to get fired.
One of the only things she didn’t like about her job was that it could be soulless. As a government entity, the FBI was subject to the almighty whims of the federal budget. Andthatsometimes meant they made choices based on a buck and not the best interests of those they’d sworn to serve and protect.
Thankfully, the Black Knights had come to the rescue. They’d agreed to house and hire Sabrina as their shiny new marketing, advertising, and social media guru. And Julia figured that was probably better than WITSEC.
Heaven knew the Black Knights had the setup to keep Sabrina safe. Their security was enough to make a warden at a supermax envious.
After stomping the snow from her booted feet, Julia whipped off her hat and gloves and breathed a sigh of relief when the large metal door clanged shut behind her. Even though she tried to stop herself, her eyes darted around the place, searching for Britt’s familiar form. For those icy-blue eyes and that adorably sexy cowlick.
Hew and Graham worked on a bike at the back of the shop—both men hunched over a particularly sparkly section of chrome. Julia couldn’t hear what they were saying but could tell they were engaged in a friendly argument. And, if they were anything like her brothers—which she’d learned they were—no doubt they were disparaging the size of each other’s manly bits.
Becky looked over a drawing spread atop one of the bike lifts, a pencil in her hand and a lollipop stick protruding from her mouth. She made a note on the drawing, slipped the pencil behind her ear, and then yelled for Hew and Graham to “Cut it out, you big buffoons! Or go get the ruler and end this argument once and for all.”
Julia hid a smile that she’d been right on the money regarding the men’s conversation.
“Men.” Sabrina rolled her eyes.
“Having three brothers allows me to say this with my whole chest,” Julia whispered from the side of her mouth. “They are forever stunted at the emotional age of fourteen and?—”
Graham’s response to Becky interrupted her. “Ruler? More like a yardstick!”
Becky guffawed. Whatever her comeback was, Julia missed it because she was back to scanning the room.
She could see the back of Ozzie’s head. He was at his usual spot in front of the bank of computers on the second floor. Skid Row hummed from the speakers, singing “I Remember You” at a decibel level that, surprisingly, didn’t endanger anyone’s ability to hear.
