by Kat Mizera
Mark grimaced. “She kinda scares me when she’s like this.”
“Me too!” Erin chuckled.
“Tell her to get in here, will you?” Lana laughed.
Fifteen minutes later they all had coffee and Lana was sitting up in bed.
“So what happened to Joyce?” Lana asked.
Aaron had joined them and was leaning against the wall. “The teenagers she hired to distract Swede gave her up and when the cops got to the side of the highway where we found you, she was arrested. Bail is a hundred grand and I refused to post it, so she’ll be in jail until either her trial or her mom coughs it up. It sure as hell isn’t coming from me unless a judge orders me to take it out of her half of the house.”
“Crazy bitch,” Kate muttered.
“I’m really sorry,” Aaron sighed, running a tired hand down his face. “I had no idea she was this crazy. Our relationship went from okay to not bad to shitty over the course of five years and then made a leap to batshit crazy in the last month. I was never truly in love with her but we had good times. I never saw this side of her.”
“It’s not your fault,” Lana said gently. “If it hadn’t been me, it would’ve been some other woman you were friends with.”
“Yeah, but this was your job and I almost got you killed.”
“But Mark and the Brotherhood Protectors saved me, so all’s well that ends well.”
Kate made a noise that sounded like “bullshit,” but she covered it with a cough.
“I’ll take over the rest of this assignment,” Kate said after a moment. “My mother-in-law is in Vegas and can take care of the kids. Erin will help too, so I can stay until—”
“That’s ridiculous,” Lana interrupted. “I’m fine and this is my job, my client. I need a day or two to get my strength back and then I’ll be ready to handle the children’s hospital and the interview for Sports Press.” She’d secured that interview just yesterday, before everything got out of control.
“Lana, I don’t think—” Kate began.
“You are not the boss of me.” Lana fixed her with a glare.
“Well…” Kate wrinkled her nose. “I kinda am.”
“Not when I’m in the hospital. Hospitals override work hierarchy.”
Kate cocked her head. “Since when?”
“Now?” They both snickered.
“Well, you’re off today,” Kate waved a hand. “I’ll make sure boy wonder here doesn’t get into any mischief and you and Mark can lie around playing kissy-face all day.”
“I should be released in the next couple of hours,” Lana protested. “I can get some work done.”
“Not.” Kate stuck her tongue out at her. “Do not make me dock your pay.”
Lana scowled. “As if.”
“There’s an extra bedroom at the cabin,” Aaron interjected. “You ladies are welcome to take it—it’s got a king-size bed.”
“We haven’t shared a bed in ages!” Erin giggled.
“Sleepover!” Kate held up her hand and Erin high-fived her.
“You two make me dizzy,” Lana moaned, lying back against the pillows, though her eyes were twinkling.
“That’s why you love me,” Kate winked.
It was much later before Lana was released and they got home to the cabin. Mark helped her shower before they crawled into bed. She curled against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat and soaking up the warmth of his skin. Though she wasn’t cold anymore, she’d never appreciated a man’s body heat the way she did right now. Or maybe it was just the man, but either way, she couldn’t get enough of him.
“You doin’ okay, baby?” He was gently stroking her hair, careful to avoid the stitches in the back of her head.
“I’m fine. Thanks to you.”
“Listen, this whole thing has made me think…”
“Me too.” She lifted her head. “I could stay in New York until you decide if you want to stay in the military. Then we could—”
“No, wait.” He took a breath. “I’m done. I love the Marines but it’s time for me to move on. I’ve been restless for a while, but now that I have you, well, I don’t want that kind of danger anymore. I’ve lost friends, watched Erin almost die… I did my time. I’m ready for something else. And I want it with you. Wherever you need to go, I’ll follow.”
“No, that’s not fair.” She was shaking her head. “There’s another opportunity for me, in Las Vegas.”
“What?” He was confused.
“Kate and I talked about it yesterday morning, before the event at the rink. The team out there is looking for a new head of Media Relations. The woman doing it now is leaving at the end of this season and Kate says she can get me an interview.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Just like it’s time for you to leave the military, it’s time for me to leave New York. I love it, but it’s not where I want to raise a family and I’m ready for something different.”
“I can find a job in Vegas.”
“You want to be here, Mark. I don’t want to argue, and I do love you, but that’s just it—I love you enough to need you to be happy too. I think this is what you want.”
He hesitated. He did like it here. He’d really enjoyed working with Montana and the others. Being a bodyguard was more stressful than he’d imagined, but he enjoyed it and wanted to be part of it. That would never work for Lana, though. She hadn’t liked Montana before, and after her ordeal in the mountains, chances were she never wanted to set foot in this state again.
“It’s okay,” she whispered against his ear. “I understand.”
“We need to talk about compromise,” he said slowly, his fingers intertwined with hers.
“O-kay…” She drew out the word, unsure how they could find middle ground in this, but willing to listen.
“I have to talk to Montana... There’s a lot to consider, but what if I took jobs in other places? I’d keep it on the West Coast, so we’d never be too far apart, but maybe there’s a way to have it all. We could be based in Las Vegas, but I’d travel some for different protection assignments, and if you get the job with the team, you’d probably travel some too. In the off-season, maybe you could arrange to work remotely from…here. It would be summer only,” he said quickly.
She laughed softly. “Honey, I don’t foresee being kidnapped and pushed over the side of a mountain again, in any season! If we were here for a month or two at a time, I’d be okay with it.”
“You would?” He looked surprised.
“I’m not a complete wuss, you know!” She lightly smacked his arm. “One bad experience isn’t going to sour me from skiing the bunny slope.”
He snorted. “You’re up for skiing again?”
“The bunny slope,” she reaffirmed.
He chuckled. “Okay, I’m good with that.” He kissed her, his lips traveling down her neck and pressing against the soft spot in the middle where her collar bones met.
A soft sigh escaped her. “It’s been too long,” she murmured. “I need you.”
“You have me,” he whispered. “All of me.”
Epilogue
Five months later
Sitting outside Hank and Sadie’s house, Lana sipped lemonade and watched as Montana, Swede and Allie tried to teach Mark how to canter on one of their horses. Beside her, Sadie was smiling and shaking her head when Mark nearly tumbled off.
“He’s like a little kid with this stuff,” Lana chuckled.
“It’s awesome,” Sadie replied. “He’s having so much fun.”
“Mark is always a lot of fun,” Lana said shyly, dipping her head a little.
“You gonna give us details?” Mia demanded, her eyes widening with mischief.
“No!” Lana let out a little burst of laughter. “Well, maybe if you ask real nice…”
They giggled together like old friends and a feeling of peacefulness washed over Lana. She hadn’t been this relaxed or happy in a long time. She and Mark had bought a small house here in
Eagle Rock, closer to town than Sadie or the others lived, but another compromise that made them feel better. When she was here, she wouldn’t feel so isolated, but it gave Mark a place of his own whenever he had to be here for business.
Montana had offered him the perfect opportunity to work with the Brotherhood Protectors as a type of consultant. He would be available for clients who lived or were going out of state for limited amounts of time, but would also come to Eagle Rock to keep up with the business, train with the other guys and stay on top of things. The rest of the time, he and Lana would be in Las Vegas. She’d been hired as the new Head of Media Relations for the same hockey team Erin’s husband played for, and she officially started next month. The woman who currently held the position, Becca, was a friend of Erin and Kate’s—and also married to Dante Lamonte, the man Mark had thought was better-suited to Lana—and was starting to transition things over to Lana remotely until they arrived next month.
They planned to rent a small apartment until they found a house, and instead of trying to move two households across the country, they’d both sold most of their belongings. Mark’s townhouse had sold and they were heading to Virginia to do the closing in a few weeks. From there they would drive his truck cross-country to Las Vegas and use the travel time as a little vacation. He’d officially left the Marines just a few weeks ago so they’d been living apart the last few months, though she’d visited him regularly.
“You’re going to come visit us, right?” Mia asked, meeting Lana’s gaze questioningly.
“Of course.” Lana nodded emphatically. “I love you guys and, like I keep telling Mark, I have no intention of ever being pushed off a mountain again.”
Sadie shuddered. “That was horrible.”
“It’s fine,” Lana said softly. “If that hadn’t happened, who knows if Mark and I would be together now. We were both stubborn and what happened was the catalyst that made us realize it.”
“Way to find the silver lining,” Mia whispered.
“I’ve never been happier, so yeah, it’s a big silver lining.”
“Have you heard from Aaron?” Sadie asked.
Lana nodded. “We talk every few days. He’s still my client until I officially start the new job and he’s not happy he has to find someone else.”
“He doesn’t like Kate?” Sadie asked in surprise.
“No, he does, but she’s booked—she can’t take on anyone else and he doesn’t trust Leslie yet. We’ve been training her but she’s still young, just 24, and easily intimidated by him, which makes him uneasy.”
“I understand that. I wouldn’t like it if my publicist was unsure of herself.”
“We’re working on it.”
“Hey.” Mark dropped into the seat next to Lana and pressed a light kiss on her bare shoulder.
“Have fun?” She grinned at him.
“It was awesome.”
“Let’s eat!” Montana called out, heading towards the back door.
“You two sit here,” Sadie said. “We’re gonna bring the food out. It’s too nice to eat inside.”
“I won’t argue,” Lana said, leaning against Mark. “I’m too relaxed.”
“I like seeing you relaxed,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck.
“Enjoy it now,” she laughed. “I’m sure I’ll be a nervous wreck when I start the new job.”
“Nah. Every time you get worked up, I’ll just throw you in bed.”
She arched a brow. “What if I don’t want to?”
He cocked his head. “Is that even possible?”
She snickered. “Probably not.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
“Are you as happy as I am?” she blurted out, and then flushed when she realized what she’d done. She’d been more cognizant of doing that now that they were a couple, but sometimes it still happened.
“You have to ask?” Mark didn’t appear even remotely fazed.
“No… I just wanted to be sure because I’m so freakin’ happy.”
He bent his head and captured her lips in the kind of kiss that always made her tingle with excitement.
“Not at the dinner table,” Sadie chortled, coming out with a huge platter of food.
“Sorry,” Lana grinned, meeting her eyes.
Sadie winked and disappeared back into the house.
“We should make babies,” Mark said, trailing his fingers along her arm.
“What?” Lana let out a little yelp of surprise, her eyes growing big and round.
He burst out laughing. “Just a little taste of your own medicine,” he said, kissing the side of her face. “That’s how it feels when you say random things, even though they’re usually legit.”
She swallowed. “You really want to make babies?”
“Maybe not right this minute, but yeah I want to make babies… Don’t you?”
“Yes, but…” She frowned and then held up her upturned palms. “I don’t actually have any arguments, except that we’re not married and that’s important to me.”
“We can get married whenever you want.”
“You have to propose, buddy.”
“You want the real deal, huh?”
“Yup.”
“Okay.” He smiled and stared off at the view of the mountains.
“Okay?” She was a little confused by his short answer.
“Yup.”
“Mark…?”
He squeezed her hand. “I’m going to enjoy giving you a taste of your own medicine. Over and over and over.”
Her lips twitched. “And I’m going to enjoy tripping into your arms as often as possible.”
“Baby, I’ve waited a long time to catch you—I plan to keep doing it for as long as you’ll let me.”
“Eternity?”
“Not long enough.”
She sighed dreamily as she leaned over to kiss him.
“My sweet, beautiful Lana…you can fall into me any time—I’ll always be there to catch you.”
“You make being clumsy sound wonderful.”
“Because it is when it’s you.”
So many emotions surged through her, she was momentarily speechless. He was beyond incredible, beyond sexy, beyond her wildest dreams. She didn’t want to think about how close she’d come to letting him go. “Thank goodness for Montana snowstorms,” she finally murmured.
“You can say that again.”
“I love you.”
“Even better.”
More Books by Kat Mizera
Sports Romance: I have eight full-length and one holiday novella in the Las Vegas Sidewinders hockey series. I’d love for you to give them a try, so the series starter is free.
Dark, Erotic Romance: Inferno is a spinoff focusing on the less traditional characters in my Sidewinders world, with darker subject matter and more erotic sexual situations… these aren’t your typical romances, though they all have HEA’s!
Romancing Europe: In the mood for something a little sexy but a lot sweet? Jaunt off to Europe with light-hearted romances set in different European cities! Adonis In Athens is available now.
Ready to one-click some new books?
www.KatMizera.com/books
