Page 95 of Covert Temptation

Steele huffed out a laugh, unruffled as always.

“What do you think is going to happen to you? You’re one of us, King. You’re not going anywhere.”

He hesitated. “Did I hear you mention I’d spend more time in the field?”

“As soon as you heal.”

Dante let out a breath. “Thanks.”

“Oh, and Dante?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not just coming back. You’re leading the next operation in Denver’s place.”

Dante blinked.

“But only,” Con added with a grin, “if you don’t go soft on us now that you’ve got something else to fight for.”

Dante chuckled. “Too late. I told you before, I’ve already pulled a Con.”

“Looks like everything worked out pretty damn well then.”

Dante looked at Kennedy through the glass again, his voice quieter. “It does.”

He was the luckiest man in the world.

* * * * *

Three days since she and Dante arrived on the Blackout base. Three days of laughter and peace that Kennedy never would have expected.

With Dante still healing, they had long talks and long naps. They took short strolls around the beautiful garden and ate pizza with too much cheese, and had a SEAL team that, despite their gruffness, rallied around her and Dante like they were the heart of the family.

The best part was feeling safe…and it felt like she’d never be afraid of anything again. Not of being alone, or even of the dark.

There were still shadows to deal with, tucked in the corners of her mind. She was still braced for someone to rip it all away.

She had a man she loved with all her heart and soul, and she had Alyssa, her best friend in the world, back on good terms with her.

After their reunion, Alyssa stayed with Kennedy when she talked to the FBI about her ties to the person who wiped her history from existence. In that moment, they informed her that the person responsible was actually Daniel Sheen.

She thought she’d shatter from the weight of knowing she really had almost gotten Alyssa killed, and placed others in danger. But Alyssa was there to assure her that she wasn’t in trouble, and she’d really been given the clean slate she’d sought from the very beginning.

She stared out the oversized window of Dante’s room, gazing at snow swirling in the air but never finding a place to land.

Dante was downstairs behind the computer, working despite doctor’s orders to take it easy. Kennedy had given up arguing with him. He might not be the grumpy SEAL she first met, but he would always be a stubborn one.

She pressed a hand to the cold glass of the window, her own mind whirling with all the changes that were taking place so fast in her life.

Alyssa’s voice echoed in her head from their talk days before. Just the two of them. No questions. No accusations. No defenses. Just…healing.

“I need to ask,” Kennedy had said quietly, seated beside Alyssa in a private corner of the base like old times in so many parts of the world they’d traveled together. “Did you have anything to do with this job offer?”

Alyssa turned toward her, one eyebrow arched. “What do you think?”

“I think… I don’t know what to think.”

“I didn’tpull strings,” Alyssa said gently. “But I may have reminded them that you have the skills. I saw the whiteboard. That timeline you built? I’d know those hearts anywhere.”

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