Page 46 of For the Love of Animals

“Wait. Wait! We can’t just leave like this. There’s some sort of investigation. They’ll have questions. Captain Benitez…”

“Is in jail. I swapped evidence of his collusion with drug cartels for your early release plus future discounts on Blackwood’s services. He’s not the only corrupt bastard in GAFE, either. Most of the Sonora team is dirty.”

Oh my… “Sonora? I was supposed to be going there.”

“Fifty bucks says he planned to recruit you. Probably thought you’d be an easy mark.”

“I assure you I wouldn’t have been.”

“Don’t worry; I believe you. Emmy aside, you’re the most difficult woman I’ve ever met.” He kissed my knuckles—another habit of his I was getting used to. “But I still love you.”

Fuck, this man was everything. “I love you too, huevos grandes.”

CHAPTER 19 - CARMEN

“DELAYED DUE TO technical fault,” I read out.

It looked as if we wouldn’t be getting to Virginia quite so soon after all, and I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad about that. On the one hand, I wanted to see the place, but on the other, the thought of meeting a bunch of strangers made me nervous.

“Want a coffee?” Nate asked.

“Please. What have you told your friends about me? About us?”

Nate’s brows pinched together. “Nothing yet. I was too busy trying to get you home.”

“They don’t even know I’m coming?”

“Nope.” He grinned, eyes twinkling. “And Emmy hates surprises. I can’t wait to see the look on her face.”

“This isn’t funny. Nate, you have to tell them.”

“I will. Later.”

“No, now. Or… Or…” I glanced up at the departures board. “Or I’m flying to Australia. I always wanted to see Sydney Opera House and learn to scuba-dive.” Nate closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. Was I getting to him? Good. “You can’t just expect me to fall into line every time you get a stupid idea in your head.”

His eyes popped open. “Fuck it. Let’s both go to Australia.”

“Didn’t you hear a word I just said?”

“I owe you a honeymoon, and I want to see Sydney Opera House too. Come on, it’ll be fun. A hut on the beach, white sand, blue sea, just the two of us. I can teach you to scuba-dive.”

Was it crazy that I was actually considering it? The furthest I’d ever travelled was Guatemala, and that was for work.

“Don’t you have a job to do this week?”

“Hmm. Two seconds.” He pulled out his phone and dialled. “Ray? I need a favour. Put your surfboard down and get your ass to Seattle… No, it’s an easy one, and you owe me. Black’s got the details… Thanks, buddy.” Nate smirked at me. “Not anymore.”

Freaking hell, I’d married Mr. Fix-it.

“Fine. I’ll go as long as you tell your friends about me. It’s not fair to keep them in the dark, especially if I’m supposed to be working at their company.”

This time, I got a sigh. “Okay, we’ll call them. Let’s find somewhere quiet.”

“Somewhere quiet” turned out to be a janitor’s closet. Nate stole a pass to let us in and turned two buckets upside down for us to sit on.

The phone rang once, twice on speaker.

“Black.”

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