Chapter Twelve #4
firearm. “It’s far easier to do this job in the States. Everyone has a gun.”
“You studied the floor plan?” Her mom sounded surprised.
“You were Oliver’s cover. You didn’t need to do that.”
“I wasn’t cover. That was part of it, but I had a job. Like
I said, I was there to meet the couple and give my impressions, but Mal
wouldn’t let me go in without testing me on the points of ingress and egress.
He also made me memorize where the cameras were. I could have taken the shorter
route to the bathroom, but it’s a decent jump from that window and I wasn’t
sure the men would fit through, so I made the decision to use the kitchen
exit.” She realized she hadn’t explained everything to them. “But only after I
made sure Oliver was okay.”
“Mal made you?” Charlotte’s lips curved up. “Is this the new
team member? The one who irritated my husband?”
“The one who claims he has a contract with you,” her mom
said flatly. “You should know your father is worried about this relationship.
Mr. Mays is significantly older than you.”
“Yes, I think your age gap is the same as me and Ian,” her
aunt offered helpfully before turning to her mom. “I’ll be sure to tell him you
don’t approve.”
Her mom sighed. “Tell me you wouldn’t be worried if it was
your daughter.”
“It’s mere happenstance that my girls all picked someone
roughly their age,” Charlotte replied. “Oh, and I’ll be sure to tell Sean an
older woman took advantage of him.”
Her mom held up her hands as though conceding the argument.
“I get your point. I’ve been listening to Alex lose his mind over this for
days, and honestly, finding out Vivian came that close to getting shot has had
an effect on me. You should have run. Wasn’t that protocol?”
Oh, she would be getting a massive lecture on protocol later
today, she suspected. “It is if necessary. I didn’t deem it necessary, and I
was right since if I hadn’t gone back, Mal would be dead. I had a much better
line of sight than he did. I pushed him out of the way and then picked up his
gun and took out the shooter.”
“Well, you could have left him alive, and then we could have
asked some questions,” a deep voice said. Her Uncle Ian stood in the doorway
and yawned. “But otherwise, you did an excellent job, Vivi. Your cousins are
going to be very proud of you. All that time at the gun range saved you today.
That was a solid kill.”
“And have you thought about what that will do to her on a
psychological level?” her mom asked with a frown.
Her uncle looked her way. “I think she was happy she saved
the dude she’s doing.”
“Ian.” Her aunt could make that one word a threat and an
admonition.
Uncle Ian sighed. “Sorry. I think she was happy to save the
man she is making beautiful love to on a regular basis and in apparently many
places.”
“I mean either works,” Vivian said without an ounce of
shame. If her parents wanted her to be ashamed of being a sexual creature, they
should have raised her differently. Maybe they shouldn’t have spent a lot of
her life in a sex club. “They are both true. Sometimes it’s very base and
visceral, and sometimes it’s a beautiful expression of connection between two
consenting humans. And Uncle Ian’s right. I don’t feel any guilt. I’m happy I
got to save my Dom.”
“I’m going to be sick.” Yeah. Her dad was here, too.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m twenty-six, Dad. Did you think I
would stay a virgin until marriage?”
“I thought I wouldn’t have to know so much about your sex
life,” he admitted.
“Well, you wouldn’t if you were still in Dallas,” she
pointed out.
And then Mal walked through, and he wasn’t wearing handcuffs
anymore. She actually felt her damn heart skip a beat. She rushed to him
because the last time she’d seen him he’d been on the floor. She was holding
out her arms to him when she realized everyone was watching and he might not
want the attention. He was reluctant to talk about her parents.
She stopped short and tried to make her voice casual. “Are
you okay?”
He frowned. “No. I went through a lot, and now my sub isn’t
hugging me.”
She sighed and walked into his arms. The minute they closed
around her she could breathe again. Warmth flooded her system, and she realized
how much she’d been keeping in. She clutched him and didn’t care that they were
in the middle of a London police station and her family was all around her. “I
was scared.”
His hand moved over her hair gently. “You didn’t act
scared.”
She hugged him tight. “I know you’re angry that I came back,
but I couldn’t leave you or Oliver.”
He sighed and relaxed. “I know. You did good out there,
love.”
He forgot all the time now, and she never corrected him. She
loved how he said the word, how she felt it on her skin.
“I thought you were going to talk to her,” her father said,
and though she couldn’t see him, she heard the frown he likely had on his face.
“This is the man?” her mom asked.
“I think it is.” Aunt Charlotte sounded like this was the
best drama ever. “Vivi, baby girl, nice. He is hot.”
Her uncle growled. Actually growled.
“Hey,” her aunt said softly. “I’m only complimenting
Vivian’s taste. Like you did with Seth’s last girlfriend. Do you remember what
you said when Seth asked what you thought of her?”
“I said she looked like a human girl,” her uncle returned.
“See, same,” her aunt finished with a nod and a serene
smile.
Her father ignored everyone around them. “Mal, we talked
about this.”
Mal gently moved her so she was at his side. “Alex, I think
we’ll have that conversation privately, but you should know how proud I am of
how she handled herself today. She was calm and cool under pressure. She was
thoughtful and brave when everyone around her panicked and tried to save
themselves. I’m happy having her as my partner.”
“I thought you were putting down rules,” her father said.
“When did you talk about rules?” She was a bit shocked that
her father wasn’t trying to haul her out of Mal’s arms. More shocked that he
was talking to the man like an equal. Her dad had always been overly
protective.
“We had a nice talk while we were waiting,” her father
admitted.
“He’s already got rules, Dad,” Vivian said, loving how Mal’s
arm was still around her waist. He wasn’t trying to hide their relationship,
and she knew how he’d worried about her parents. “And you have no idea how much
he tested me before letting me even walk into that restaurant.”
“Yes, he tested her in many ways.” Oliver stepped into the
room, a small bandage on his forehead. “She can take a spanking, and we all
know it now.”
Uncle Ian chuckled. “He’s growing on me.”
“Charlotte,” Oliver began, “you look incredible. I swear you
are actually aging backward, and I’m ready for your horny twenties.”
Uncle Ian gagged and kissed his wife. “He couldn’t handle
your horny twenties. I’m going to go help Damon sort this out before I start
hating Oliver again. I finally got the go ahead from Drake. Alex, don’t have a
heart attack. This is what it means to have a daughter. Malcolm, it’s good to
meet you. You seem like a right bastard. I look forward to working with you.”
He walked off.
“That’s actually the nicest thing I’ve ever heard my uncle
say to someone he’s just met.” It got her a little teary.
“What’s the worst?” Mal asked.
Her father sighed. “You don’t want to know.”
“Working together?” Oliver asked. “What is that supposed to
mean?”
“It means that the Agency has a vested interest in Sosa,”
Charlotte explained. “We were the ones coming here. Alex and Eve tagged along
so they could save their delicate flower of a daughter. You know you’re getting
as bad as Li.”
Her father shuddered. “I am not. I’ve had my ass officially
kicked, and I’m on board with team let Vivi shoot people. It’s what
she does now, and I’m going to treat it with the same enthusiasm I did that
year she decided she was going to go on a cooking show and made us all eat her
creations.”
It hadn’t been her most productive era. She wasn’t a great
cook. She could bake, but her pistachio cod had somehow managed to be both
burned and raw. “Sorry.”
“Alex, I’m worried,” her mom said.
“I am, too, but it was pointed out to me that if we hold on
too tight, we could lose her,” her father said quietly. “And Ian isn’t wrong
about the differences in how we treat Vivi versus our sons.”
She looked up at Mal. “Did you get to hear this?”
“Your uncle is rough,” he replied. “And he’s also right,
but, love, you have to know that we’re going to have a talk. I understand why
you did what you did. You came back to save me and I appreciate it, but there
is a cost.”
Her ass. Likely on fire, followed by some gloriously filthy
sex. She could handle that. It was odd that she trusted this man so easily
after everything they’d been through. But he was different now. Not at his
core. He’d always been a good man, but betrayal had cut deep for a while. “I
thought you would turtle on me.”
He frowned. “Turtle?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Like a little turtle sensing danger. You
poked your head out and things seemed good, but then they went bad and I
thought you would pull it right back in.”
“Couldn’t I at least be a large and dangerous turtle?
Perhaps the snapping kind?”
She laid her head against his chest. “You obviously are.”
“Maybe we could have dinner this evening,” her mother
offered. “Our treat. I believe your brother is on his way, along with some of
the Dallas team members.”
Oliver groaned. “My father is going to lose his mind. First
Ian dumps the girl on us, and then just as we figure out some of her story, he
swoops in and takes over.”
Her aunt put a hand on Oliver’s arm. “We’re not taking over.
We’re only going to offer help. If Sosa can identify some members of The
Chateau, we’ll have more to go on. Since Huisman died, the group seems to have
broken up, but we have intel that they’re simply regrouping. Sosa didn’t know
of any other sites but believes there were some.” Her aunt looked Vivian’s way.
“How is she doing? Is she still putting on the tough act?”
“It’s not an act. It’s who she’s had to be for the majority