what I’m getting into, but I’m not an idiot. I’m not a child. You aren’t holding a gun to my head. I have money of my own and plenty of places to go should I change my mind.”
“What I was trying to say before you interrupted, as you are an adult in full possession of your faculties, and, as you said, not an idiot, I trust you to make decisions for yourself. I only wanted you to have a full grasp of the consequences before you did.”
“Thank you for that,” he said. “I chose to be with you. And as Danny here seems to have married into this family, he and I can have a long talk, alone, as soon as we can, about what I can expect. How’s that?”
Danny was beaming. “I’d love that! They’re really great guys, Eric. You’ll love them.”
I didn’t know about that, but it was gratifying to see the way everyone, even our prickly thief, beamed at the compliment. My mind was a little stuck on the words ‘marry’ and ‘family.’ Is that how Eric saw us? I was barely getting used to the idea of these men as my trusted colleagues, possibly friends. Family was pushing it.
“Fine,” I said.
“So does that mean the operation was a success?” Breck asked, jumping up.
“What job?” Eric asked.
“Operation Get Carson Laid. AKA win you back. AKA the entire reason we’re in—where are we again?” he asked Steele.
“Wisconsin,” Steele supplied.
“Wisconsin in the first place.”
Eric looked at me, stunned. “You bought your entire crew here to help win me back?”
My lips tightened and I turned away. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds ridiculous.”
“Romantic,” he said at the same time.
“Right?” Ridge said, practically bouncing on his toes. “That’s what I told him. It’s super romantic.”
“I thought maybe you were here about Ryan and Symanski. But…” He smiled when he realized I couldn’t have been. “But you didn’t know anything about that. You just found out last night.” He was smiling now.
I should have been scowling, but instead, I found myself smiling back at him. It was probably some kind of sex endorphin hangover. “Fine. You caught me.”
“So, now Miranda’s going to destroy the blackmail material?” Steele asked.
“There never was any,” I reminded him. “I didn’t need to be blackmailed into doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
Danny looked like he was going to cry.
“Aww,” Beck said. “Kiss! Kiss!” he pounded the arm of the loveseat for emphasis.
“Alright,” I said. Then Eric walked over and grabbed me, pulling me in for a long, deep kiss that had me wanting this meeting wrapped up in the next ten seconds.
The guys were hooting, clapping, and cheering, and when we broke, I could see that even Leo was smiling. Fine. Maybe they were my friends. Going through life with only the bonds of mutually assured destruction in place of actual trust was no way to live. But I wasn’t alone anymore. For now, I had this group of men around me who had my back, and I had something to look forward to. Damn it felt good. I couldn’t wait to figure out how to make it work.
I cleared my throat of the pesky emotions, but kept an arm around Eric.
“Besides, you couldn’t quit,” Eric said, returning to the start of this conversation. “What would you do for money?”
“I have plenty of money,” I assured him. “And I’m sure, should I need more, I could transfer my skills to the legal side of things somehow. But I can’t imagine I will.”
“Why not?” Wesley asked. “You have a secret stash I don’t about?”
“Wesley!” Danny said, aghast. “Did you…have you been checking out our friends?”
“I did it the first night we found about the will. Why wouldn’t I?” he asked.
I shrugged. I’d done my own research on my new, unwilling teammates.
“Actually, I do.” I said with a grin. Here was something I bet none of them knew. I didn’t think even Charlie or Miranda had known. “Because I'm heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, don’t you know?”
“But that’s not real,” Leo pointed out slowly. “It’s just a cover. One I can tell you the FBI does not know about it. Or at least, they didn’t before I was suspended.”
“Suspended from what?” Eric asked. I hadn’t said who or what Leo was when I’d made the introduction. I figured that was for Leo to tell or not.
Leo made a face when he realized he’d outted himself.