Force smiled. “Yeah. He was the best before we got blown up the final time. He can still get serious when needed.” He gestured toward Sean’s baseball cap. “You’re off the hook, in general. Going to stop being an ass and take your daughter to a game?”
Sean nodded. “Yeah. She’s coming home for Christmas, and I think she’s bringing this big bruise of an agent over here.”
Raider perked up. “She said that?”
Sean grinned. “I believe she said she’d consider it. Play a little hard to get, man.”
Force snorted.
The elevator dinged, and Raider straightened, looking around. “Everyone who should be here is already here.” He reached for the gun in his waistband. “We need better security.”
“We don’t have any security,” Force retorted.
The dog padded out of the office and sneezed several times, his gaze on the elevator.
It opened to reveal two men.
“Ah, shit,” Force muttered. “What are you two assholes doing here?”
Agents Rutherford and Fields strode inside, all grace and no injuries. Well, Rutherford still had a light bruise across his throat and two black eyes, but they looked like they belonged on him.
Rutherford’s eyes blazed. “Do you have any idea of what a clusterfuck you’ve created? Going live with that reporter?”
“Yes,” Force replied, not moving an inch. The guy probably hurt too much to breathe.
Rutherford shook like a puppy about to spring. “You’ve broken so many protocol rules that I can’t name them all. We’re going to get you shut down if it’s the last thing we do.”
“Meh,” Raider said, not giving a shit right now. “We’re too public, and we just gave the HDD and the FBI one of the biggest busts in recent history. You don’t want to shake us loose, or the public just isn’t going to understand.”
Rutherford’s teeth ground together so hard he had to have a headache. Seriously.
Brigid emerged from her computer room, her hair in wild curls around her shoulders, and her eyes cloudy. She rubbed them. “Why the yelling? It’s early in the morning, and we haven’t slept for days. No yelling.”
God, she was adorable when grumpy. “Come here, sweetheart,” Raider invited. “You can sit with me and face the mean agents.”
Her smile was beyond cute.
Rutherford coughed. “You were undercover. This isn’t real. There’s no waymiss loves a rebelhere would go for you, Tanaka. You moron.”
Brigid paused, turned, and pretty much snapped. “Listen, you slicked-back prep boy, my-dad-is-a-powerful-lawyer, every-rich-kid-in-every-bad-teen-movie jackass, I do love him. And he is a rebel.”
God, she was amazing. Raider kicked back to watch. Wait. Love. She’d said love. His chest heated and warmed his entire body.
She moved to him, plopping herself on his lap. “For goodness’ sake, just look at him. He went undercover, took down a mob family that has been in play for a century, destroyed your plan in one second, and came for me through mobsters and glass and machine guns, without hesitation. He’s a rebel, and he’s exactly everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Sean jerked his head. “And it looks like he got the girl.” The farmer grinned.
“Yeah,” Brigid said softly, turning toward Raider. “He totally got the girl.”
* * *
Brigid slung her arm around Raider’s neck, wanting to punch both agents. Finally. She was no longer terrified of them or what they could do. She had power, too. They were just so clueless. Raider was a hero, and a badass one at that. She glanced behind her; Wolfe and Malcolm had emerged to watch the fireworks.
Wolfe hurried up with a huge latte covered in more sprinkles than she could count. “You were sleeping, or I would’ve brought you this. Sorry about the plain coffee yesterday.” He shuffled his feet, bruises on his face, his head hung.
“Thank you,” she said, grabbing for the treat. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” His smile was oddly sweet. “We’re friends again.” Relief covered his huge face.
