Chapter 39
The next ten days were the longest of Hadley’s life.
Ren had been trying to explain his actions every day since he forced her to leave Cole’s side, but she didn’t want to hear it. She told him to fuck off until he could tell her where Cole was and how she could get to him.
She would not allow herself to think, even for a minute, that he was dead. If he was gone, she’d feel it. There’d be an…emptiness that couldn’t be explained any other way. And she wasn’t feeling empty at the moment. Just angry and scared and pissed off.
Her brain had been working nonstop since that night.
Where the hell would the CIA take a wounded man?
Would they even bother patching him up if they suspected him of espionage, or would they just throw him into a cell and let him rot there?
If they did help him, how long would it take for him to recover?
She’d done so much research on sucking chest wounds in the past two weeks that she was practically an expert.
By her estimation, Cole had a penetrating gunshot wound resulting in a collapsed lung that would require a chest tube.
He probably needed a thoracotomy. If that was the case, his recovery would be rough and he’d be at risk for complications—infection, blood clots, persistent air leak—and even re-collapse if he wasn’t careful.
And he was going through all that alone. Fucking alone.
When her phone rang, she fell on it like a hungry lion on a baby gazelle without even bothering to see who was calling. “What?” she snarled in lieu of a proper greeting.
“Nice to speak with you, too,” Tenley intoned dryly.
“I’m not really in the mood for banter. What do you want?”
“Ren is headed your way. He’ll be there in a couple minutes. He has something for you. Don’t send him away again, got it?”
“I have nothing to say to him.”
She knew she was being mulish. It wasn’t Ren’s fault that Cole had been shot. But the memory of him lying on that floor, cold and wounded and alone as she was being hauled away, haunted her. And Ren was the only person she had to take that pain out on.
“You don’t have to talk to him. But trust me, you’ll want what he has for you.”
Her heart rate kicked up. He must have news about Cole! Maybe he even knew where he was.
Hadley grabbed a hair tie and wound her uncombed rat’s nest of hair into a sloppy ponytail, slid her feet into her gardening sandals (they weren’t stylish, but hey, they were by the door and that’s all she really cared about at the moment), grabbed her purse, yanked her door open and stopped short at the sight that greeted her.
Cole stood in her doorway, arms braced on the frame as if he’d been trying to find the strength to lift his finger to the doorbell but hadn’t yet.
Shock and joy warred in her. He had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn’t slept in months. He looked several pounds lighter. Sweat dotted his forehead like making it to her door took all his remaining strength, and he was way paler than usual.
No one had ever looked better to her.
“I knew you were alive,” she whispered.
Ren snorted from where he stood, leaning against her porch post. “Even though his appearance would suggest otherwise.”
Hadley ignored him, still fighting every urge she had to grab Cole and bear hug the crap out of him. It was only her fear of hurting him—and re-collapsing his lung—that made her keep her hands to herself.
She was itching to touch him, though.
“Are you OK?” she asked, her voice wobbly as hell.
“Not really. My lungs are on fire. I feel like I’m going to fucking pass out if I move too fast.” He paused and reached out to brush his knuckle across her cheekbone. “Seeing you makes everything better, though.”
Her eyes filled with tears—the good kind for a change. “Shouldn’t you still be in a hospital?”
“Yes,” Ren said at the same time Cole said, “No.”
Cole paused, took a deep breath, winced, and said, “I left as soon as I could because we need to talk.”
Her heart stuttered. In her experience, nothing good was ever prefaced with those words. “OK. But why don’t you come in and sit down first?”
He glanced behind her at her couch, longingly. But said, “I’d love to, but your furniture is too far away. I need a minute to work up to that.”
“Want me to carry you?” Ren joked.
“Ignore him,” Cole growled. “First of all, I need to apologize. I’m sorry I didn’t fill you in on what Plan B entailed. I didn’t want you to worry.”
Her throat tightened up. “I could’ve handled it.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “It was a mistake not to tell you. I won’t keep anything from you ever again. But I need you to know that as far as the CIA is concerned, both of us are clear.”
After he explained it, she understood why he’d kept Plan B to himself. It was risky, and she wouldn’t have liked it even a little bit.
Plan B assumed from the beginning that everything was going to get bloody.
Before the meeting, he’d had Ren create travel logs and electronic trails that made it look like Cole had been overseas for the past six months.
He’d also planted communications that made it seem that he’d cut his travel short because Franklin had called him, wanting to talk about his immunity deal and the possibility of doing freelance work.
The story from there was that Franklin wanted to recruit him into doing work for Russian intelligence, Cole refused, and Franklin turned on him.
When Ren tipped the CIA off to Franklin’s whereabouts, they showed up, found Cole, and whisked him off to one of their medical facilities, where he’d been for the last 10 days.
During that time, they questioned him (extensively) about his involvement with Franklin and based on his responses (and the evidence Ren had conjured out of thin air), they determined he was innocent and not in violation of the terms of his retirement agreement.
He was free.
“And they know nothing about your involvement. Franklin had already had one of his dirty FBI cronies bury any evidence of your involvement with the Irish,” he added. “So, you’re free and clear of this mess, too.”
That was…a lot to take in. “What about Stella and Eric? And everyone who saw us in that neighborhood who thinks we’re Emma and Clark?”
“Stella and Eric are clear. Since we pointed out Franklin as the sleeper agent, there’s no reason for anyone to go digging in that neighborhood.
And as for Emma and Clark, all anyone there will know is that we abandoned the house.
We can have Stella and Eric make up whatever story they want.
But there’d be no reason for the CIA to show up there. ”
“So…it’s all over?”
He leaned in a little so that she had to crane her neck back to hold eye contact.
“That part of our story is over. But I’m really hoping that’s not the end of us.
Because I meant what I said in that warehouse.
I love you, Hadley Lockhart, and I’m going to do everything I can to convince you to be mine. ”
She choked out a laugh. “Convince me? Hell, man, I was yours since the first time I spied on you through my bird watching binoculars.”
His brow furrowed like he’d been expecting a fight. “Oh…really?”
“Yes, really, you idiot. I love you, too.”
“So, does that mean you do or don’t want the bribe he brought for you?” Ren asked.
“Bribe?” Her gaze shifted between them. “There’s a bribe?”
Cole looked sheepish. “I didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”
That’s when Ren hauled a huge box up to the door and set it at Cole’s side. “Tenley suggested he bring flowers or diamonds or a new car, but he insisted on this,” Ren said. “And now that I’ve done the heavy lifting, I’m out of here.” He gave them a two-fingered salute. “Best of luck.”
He was halfway to his truck when Hadley called after him. He turned, cocking his head to one side.
“I’m sorry I called you an evil, unfeeling cuntmuffin.”
His brow furrowed. “You didn’t call me an evil, unfeeling cuntmuffin.”
“Not to your face.”
He chuckled. “So, we’re good?”
“We’re good.”
Ren gave her wink, then he was gone, leaving her alone with the man she loved and the bribe he brought her. “So…what’s in the box?”
He tipped his chin at the box. “That’s proof that I listen to everything you say, and I’ll always give you whatever you want. It’s also proof that I’m not afraid of commitment.”
Her eyes misted over again. No one had ever said such beautiful things to her. She glanced down at the box.
His eyes sparkled as he smiled at her. “Open it.”
Hadley peeled back the loose box flaps and squealed as a little dog popped up like it had been spring loaded and started aggressively sniffing her hair and licking her chin. “You got me a dog!”
“I got us a dog. His name is Warrant. He made it halfway through training as part of the Beagle Brigade that works with customs and border protection at the airport, but he failed because he was too friendly.”
A trained agent who had trouble following orders. Hmmm. Wonder what made Cole choose this dog? “He’s perfect!” she said, pulling Warrant out of the box to cuddle him against her chest. “I love him.”
“Because I promised not to keep anything from you again, I’ll also admit that I really want to ask you to marry me,” he admitted.
Her breath lodged in her throat.
“But,” he went on, “I realize it’s way too soon for that and I don’t want to scare you off, so I’m fine with taking things slow and—”
“Yes.”
He blinked at her. Then, for a long moment, they just stood there, equally shocked. She couldn’t believe she’d said it, either. But…it felt right. And she didn’t regret a damn second of it.
“You mean…”
She nodded. “Yep. I’ll marry you.”
He sputtered. “I don’t have a ring yet. I didn’t even get down on one knee! Son of a bitch, I’m already screwing this whole thing up.”
She laughed. “I don’t need a ring. I have you, and I have Warrant. That’s all I could ever want. And don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you’d never get back up if you got down on one knee right now.”
“That’s truer than I care to admit,” he said gruffly. “So…we’re getting married?”
“Abso-fuckin’-lutely!”
Unable to keep her distance for a second more, she went up on her toes and kissed the crap out of him, giving it everything she had. When Warrant started squirming between them, she pulled back and rested her forehead against Cole’s.
“So, what do you think?” he eventually asked in a playful tone. “Will our happily ever after story be as good as Stella and Eric’s?”
“No.”
His brow furrowed until she added, “Our happily ever after story is going to kick their happily ever after story’s ass.”
And you know what?
It totally did.