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“Neurologically speaking⁠—”

“Mason.”

I continue, “The hormonal response to a threat creates a physiological state that is chemically very similar to⁠—”

“Mason.”

“What.”

She lifts her head. Her hair is down. Her eyes are entirely certain as they hold mine.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. The adrenaline was incidental.”

I frown. “Incidental?”

She shrugs. “Decorative. It was going to happen when I was ready. I was ready.”

“Okay.”

She lifts her head to look at me. “That’s all you’ve got?”

“I’m trying to be articulate about being grateful, but I’m having some difficulty.”

She puts her head back down. “You’re welcome.”

The cottage becomes quiet.

I run my hand along her spine.

She makes a small sound and doesn’t move.

This is the thing I couldn’t have named when I arrived here with a hundred-page file and a clear set of instructions. I couldn’t have comprehended this feeling of being somewhere entirely and completely.

“So, Kaz is done in another two weeks at the FBI.”

“Hmm.”

“He wants to start a security company.”

That makes her perk up. She sits up and straddles me. I shift to lean against the headboard. It’s nice to hold her like this because I can see her beautiful face.

“Tell me more.”

“It would be a security consulting outfit,” I explain. “Mav’s building, the one you borrowed for a while.” I kiss her nose because it’s there, and I have the right to do it. “We work with ranching operations and agricultural communities that face corporate acquisition pressure. The pattern Jessup ran in this valley runs in six other states. There are communities that don’t have a Kaz with fourteen months of federal intelligence or a water rights attorney who can outlitigate a Texas firm. They need someone who knows how the other side operates.”

“Because you’ve been on the other side,” she remarks.

“Yes.”

“Like me.”

I nod.

She thinks about it and tilts her head. “What’s the actual work? Day to day.”

“Investigation. Intelligence gathering. Identifying the playbook before it’s deployed—the shell companies, the political connections, the parallel pressure operations. Building documentation that communities can take to law enforcement or into court before the damage is done rather than after.” I run my hands down her arms to her waist and then go up to cup her breasts. “Physical security assessment. Protection work. Intelligence.”

“Mostly what you’ve been doing for eleven years,” she remarks. “But for the right people.”