Page 133 of Fire for Effect

“What is it that you want to be doing?” he asked, his brows knitting together. “Obviously not bounty hunting. Though you seem to enjoy the hell out of that job. What is it that you want to do?”

Veder looked at me, the corner of his lip still tilted up as if he was asking a question that he already had an answer to.

“You know Mellie went to Yale Law School?” Veder tucked his hair behind his ear, smirking at me. “She’s on sabbatical right now. But I hear that Yale has a good engineering program.”

He pushed off the vanity and headed for the door.

“Think about it,” he said, turning to me before he walked out. “If not Yale, I’m pretty sure you could get in elsewhere. “George Washington University in DC has a pretty good program too.”

“What are you? A college recruiter?”

He didn’t answer as he turned around, walking out of his apartment that I borrowed as my bridal suite.

Our wedding was being held in his barn, on Top and Charlotte’s property. The place of so many interesting memories.

“Wait!” I called out. “Are you and Mellie dating?”

The little farm girl down the road? My former landlord?

Veder stiffened, and barely turned around.

“Nah, just friends.”

Just friends.

Griff and I were just friends… once.

To get the FREE extended, and oh-so-spicy Prologue, with all details of Taz and Griff's first night together, sign up for the newsletter.

You'll also get access to all the great bonus scenes for the other books!

Epilogue

Cobra

My daughter looked beautiful. She stood in front of her friends, her riding boots on her feet, in an elegant, demure, lace gown with a crown of flowers on her head.

I had hung up my cover for good and was so grateful that I got to see this.

I had already missed her first steps, first words, first crush… I missed her first day at school, her last day at school, her graduation and her swearing in ceremony at MEPs when she joined the Army. I hadn’t seen her graduate from Ranger School, or the Q-course when she’d followed my footsteps.

Hell, I hadn’t taught her to ride.

But at least I got to see her wedding, even if I didn’t walk her down the aisle.

Her husband, Kai, had come to me in earnest, asking me for permission to marry her, even though it was already a done deal. It was an olive branch, and I realize that my son-in-law and I could be allies, instead of enemies.

When they were declared man and wife, and the two of them kissed, they rushed down the little aisle, hand in hand, not straying far into the benches laid out for their reception.

I caught my daughter’s gaze, as she walked by, and she beamed at me, full of total joy.

Then her eyes landed on the woman beside me. My plus one.

She frowned.

My heart ached, and I wondered if I had made a mistake.

“I should go,” Teresa said, as she gathered her purse, and looked away.

---