Chapter Eighteen
Nico’s mind was not on the statement he was writing for Lexa. Yes, this was a necessary step in the investigation of Dante’s and Quinn’s deaths, but he wanted to just finish and see Callie.
To make sure she was all right. To hold her. And to try to shove aside the godawful memories of when Quinn had taken her. Those memories wouldn’t be going away any time soon, but he thought Callie and he would both cope better with them if they could just be together.
He understood the need to take accurate accounts of what’d happened. With two fatalities, there had to be a clean record of events so that no one could say that Owen, Callie, and he hadn’t reacted with excessive force.
Of course, Nico couldn’t give a full, clean account. He couldn’t mention the part about him being FBI, but that might change since Seth’s hacking would have to be entered into evidence. That would reveal Nico’s undercover persona accepting a deal to find Seth. Either Owen was going to have to find a way to suppress that, or Nico’s cover would be blown for good.
He ran that through his head, and he decided that wouldn’t be a bad thing. His criminal, bad-boy image played well undercover, but it might not mesh so well with Callie’s career.
Or with Callie herself.
As he thought of her, again, he shoved everything aside but the report, typing it as fast as he could. And finally finishing the blasted thing. He hit saved, turned the laptop so that Lexa could read it, and he got to his feet.
“Callie’s in Owen’s office,” Lexa said, smiling a little.
He didn’t care that he’d made himself obvious in that department, that he hadn’t hidden his feelings about needing to see Callie. Nico went out of the interview room, threading his way through the cops and responders who were in the building. He made a beeline for Owen’s office, and since the door was open, he immediately saw Callie.
Alone and pacing.
Relief washed over her when she spotted him, and she hurried to him as fast as he hurried to her after he shut the door. He got to her, pulling her into his arms.
Nico needed this. He needed her, and for some long moments, he just held on, letting her soothe him as only Callie could do. Yeah, he was toast when it came to her. The whole heart on his sleeve deal.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. “What did the EMTs say about the drug in that tranquilizer dart?”
She eased back to meet his gaze, and didn’t seem dazed or injured. Well, except for that puncture mark on her neck. “I’m fine, and there shouldn’t be any lasting effects from the drug. It was just a sedative.”
There was no just in this. The asshole Quinn could have killed her if the dart had ripped through her carotid artery at the wrong angle, and she could have bled out. Added to that, at any point she could have been shot and killed.
“Quinn’s dead,” she reminded him as if she’d sensed the rage he felt for the SOB. “And so is Dante. How are you feeling about that?”
“Better than I would have had he lived and carried out his sick plan,” Nico replied.
But there was anger at his cousin. So much of it. Because Dante hadn’t cared about the loss of life. Hadn’t cared about anything other than getting back at Abilene and unleashing a hired killer to cover that up.
That had come out when Owen’s man, Reed, had gotten his hands on Quinn’s computer. Seth had been right about Quinn not being very careful. It was all there, emails between Dante and him. The murder for hire. The attempts to get rid of the witnesses and anyone who’d gotten in the way of that happening.
The other thing that had come out on Quinn’s computer is that he had indeed stolen Tucker’s truck to try to set him up for the attack on Callie and him at the family estate.
“There was nothing on Quinn’s computer about him roofieing Estie and Yancy and photographing them naked,” Nico said.
She nodded. “The lawyer, Spenser, probably did that.”
That was his guess, too. Spenser had likely planned to blackmail Yancy to force him to help free his murdering asshole client. That wasn’t going to happen now, especially with the proof that Dante had indeed hired him to kill Abilene.
“Seth confessed to killing Spenser,” Callie murmured a heartbeat later.
Hell. Nico had been afraid of that. And that meant the witness was now the prisoner. As far as Nico was concerned, Seth was just another casualty of this shitstorm Dante had set into motion.
“Dante’s dead,” Callie reminded him once again. She touched her fingers to the tight muscles in his jaw and rubbed gently. “And Seth made his choices. I think he’s actually okay with what he did to avenge his friend’s murder.”
Nico hoped Seth was, especially since he’d likely end up spending the rest of his life behind bars. Then again, he might get a good lawyer who could plead a case for diminished capacity.
“What about you?” she asked, still giving him that massage. “Did you speak with Yancy?”
He nodded. “A brief phone call. He told his boss about the photo with Estie, and he’s on a leave of absence while that’s investigated.” Nico paused. “Other than the incidence with Estie, it doesn’t appear that Yancy has done anything questionable.”
She studied his eyes, no doubt checking for how he felt about that. “I’m okay. Okay with Estie, too, not facing any criminal charges. She’ll eventually screw up and get caught.”
“Maybe you’ll be the one to catch her,” Callie suggested.
Nico shrugged. “Not undercover.” After he gathered his breath, he spelled out what he had decided. “I’m not leaving the FBI, but I’m ditching the undercover work. I’ll be assigned to the San Antonio office as a regular agent.”
He didn’t get a chance to ask her how Callie felt about that because she smiled. “Special Agent Nico Salvetti.”
“That’s me.” He smiled, too, glad that she was okay with that.
Maybe she would be all right with the rest as well.
“I could commute to work,” he went on, “which would mean I could live here in Outlaw Ridge.”
Her smile widened, and she kissed him. Just a quick one though. “I could get used to that.”
The relief came. So did the heat when she touched her mouth to his again. Nico liked the little playful kisses, but he wanted something deeper. Something that amped up the fire even more.
But first, he had some other things to say.
Apparently though so did Callie because she spoke first. “So, you’ve been in love with me since you were fifteen?”
All in all, that was a great question, and it went along with what he had wanted to tell her. “Tenth grade. You’d come over to my family’s estate to study. Which, of course, was code for us finding a private place to make out. I was coming down the stairs and heard you talking to my sister, Jemma, who was pissed off at me about something. Jemma snarkily asked What the heck do you see in my brother anyway? He’s a toad creep .”
Callie winced a little, probably not at the insult, but maybe because she knew what was coming next.
“You said,” Nico went on, “and I quote, I see a lot in your brother. He’s the one I’ll marry someday .”
She winced again. “Yes, I did say that.”
He heard the embarrassment and perhaps some of the feelings from the heart crushing she’d gotten when she thought he was a criminal. It was possible that by then, she no longer saw a lot in him , but she must have cared for him to have still been with him up to that point.
“I can’t believe you didn’t run for the hills when you heard your fifteen-year-old girlfriend talk about marriage,” Callie murmured.
“Actually, it was my first instinct,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But then, I thought, wow, she really loves me. She’s willing to overlook my family’s reputation and love me. I figured one day you’d actually say it to me.”
She sighed. “I said it dozens of times.”
Nico was sure he looked confused. “When?” Because he’d never heard those words from her.
“When you were asleep, after we’d made love, I whispered it to you. I didn’t want to say it too loud because again, I didn’t want you running for the hills.”
Nico smiled. “I wouldn’t have run,” he assured her. “And I’m certainly not running now.”
He pulled Callie to him and gave her that kiss he’d been wanting. Long, slow, and deep. One that went on for several moments and generated enough heat to make the temperature in the room soar.
When that heat threatened to make him lose his head, he eased back and met her eye to eye. He wanted to see her face when he said this. And he didn’t intend to whisper it.
“I’ve been in love with you since I was fifteen,” he said, “and I’m still in love with you.”
She smiled. “I’ve got you beat,” Callie said, surprising him again. “I wouldn’t have said that to your sister unless I’d already been in love with you. Just know that one day I still fully expect you to be my husband.”
Nico had never loved her more than in this moment, and that was saying something since he’d never felt this much, this deep, this long for anyone else.
“Let’s find a place to…study,” he said, nipping her bottom lip with his teeth. “And after we’ve made love a couple of times, then you can propose to me. Or vice versa.”
Nico kissed her and made it count. He wanted her to remember this kiss for a lifetime.
“If you don’t mind though,” he added, “I’d like to go ahead and hear your answer now when I do ask you to marry me.”
Callie caught onto a handful of his shirt and pulled him back to her. “Yes, yes, yes.”
And she sealed that with another kiss. One that Nico was absolutely certain he would never forget.