Page 438 of Lodestar

I flashed a grin at her. “For future reference, there’s no wait time on another round.But,I have a gift for you.”

“Another one? Better than this?”

I hummed. “Want to come to a Summit?” When her eyes widened, I knew I was in for a blow job later. “Yeah, I’m not teasing.”

“A Summit? Why would they let me come? Brennan barely lets me into Finn’s man cave without giving me sass.” When I chuckled at the idea of my bruiser of a brother ‘sassing’ my woman, she winked at me. “You can tell him I said that too.”

“Oh, I will. Don’t worry. And yeah,theSummit. Mostly because we need to share that Dragon Head Zhao, Custanzu Valentini, and Maxim Lyanov are persons of interest to the NSA.”

“Didn’t they know that already?”

“Yeah, I mean, theyarewho they are,” I drawled. “It’s not like it comes without a warning from the Justice Department. But there’s a difference between being a regular person of interest and then being targeted by my ‘radical’ bugs.”

“Who called them radical?”

“Me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not the only one with a big ego.”

“Big everything according to you,darling.”

“See? Even your dick’s awkward. Couldn’t be a little smaller so it’d fit easier.”

“Is that a complaint?”

“Just confirmation that you’re difficult. That’s why I like you. The best things in life are always difficult. Look at Kat. It’s why she’s the perfect child.”

“You didn’t say that last week when she broke your computer.”

“That computer was kidproof until she dropped a bottle of cream soda on it.” At my snort, she grumbled, “You sure they’ll let me come?”

“Told them I needed you there.”

“Why? Not like you need backup.”

I shrugged. “If they think I want you to hold my hand, they can. Mostly, I just knew you’d think it was cool.”

She bit her lip before she burst out of her seat, startling Ren into a surprisedmeow, raced across the office, then hurled herself at me with enough force to shove my chair back a few feet.

As she choked me in a hug that I wasn’t entirely sure wasloving, she squealed as loud as Kat which keyed me into the fact that she was happy.

She only confirmed it with: “You’re the best boyfriend ever.”

“Boyfriend? Hey, what’s with the demotion?” I teased, even though I loved her excitement.

“Fiancé! Mine! You get to choose whichever you want.”

I tutted. “Then you know what I’ll go with.”

“You’re not going to kill my buzz, Conor O’Donnelly!” she crowed. “You. Are. Officially. My. Penguin.”

Beaming at her, I smacked a kiss on her cheek. “If that’s the only thing I had to do to get you to admit to that then hell, I’m a moron for not thinking of this sooner!”

She dismissed that to demand, “When is it?”

I checked the clock on my monitor. “Couple hours.”

Her eyes flared. “A couple hours?! I have to get ready.”

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