“Where’s the real Kirk Long?” I ask.
“I’m guessing he’s dead and Mick claimed his money, but Blake is working on that angle.”
Dexter joins us and eyes the photos. “I don’t know where Kirk is, but Mick’s in the other room, on the bed. He’s dead to the world tired.”
I eye him and decide any stupid joke told by someone else is just that: stupid. I walk to the single bedroom in the place, and Dexter wasn’t lying. Mick is dead, flat on his back on the bed, and ironically, considering how I killed Max, he has a bullet between his eyes. I walk back into the main cabin. “That’s Mick or Kirk, or whoever the asshole really is.”
Lucifer bags his computer. “I just heard from Blake. The real Kirk is on sabbatical in Europe. He told his staff and family he’d be off-grid for a month two weeks ago.”
“In other words, he’s dead,” I supply.
“Most likely,” Lucifer agrees. “We’ll know more soon. Blake said to tell you to go be with your wife. We’ll clean this up.” He tosses me the keys. “We have a ride coming.”
I don’t argue. I catch the keys and head for the door.
Five minutes later, I’m behind the wheel. Twenty minutes later, I’m at the hotel. I walk into the room and I expect Candace and Adam to be knocked out. The minute I open the door, Candace is in front of me. “What happened?”
“Where’s Adam?”
“Asleep. Rick, what happened?”
“He’s dead. I’ll explain it all later.” I drag her to me and cup her face. “I’m sorry. I can handle a lot of things, but seeing you down with blood all over you, it fucked with me. I was not in a good place.”
“I know and that’s why I calmed down, but don’t go there again.”
“Never, baby. No matter what. You are everything to me. Everything.”
“The answer can’t be that you leave me again.”
“I was never going to leave you. God, woman, I can’t lose you. That’s the bottom line. And I will do a better job of protecting you.”
“You expect too much of yourself. I just need you, but we’re all in or not at all.”
“Baby, I have always been all in with you. You are my best friend. You are my wife. My life. Forever.”
“Don’t forget that,” she whispers.
“I haven’t forgotten anything about you and me since the moment I met you.” I stroke her hair behind her ear. “What do you say, when you and Adam are well enough to leave, we pack up and go to the Hamptons and look for that land to build our forever home?”
“I’d like that, Rick. So much.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Candace
One month later…
I’m at the coffee pot in the kitchen of the gorgeous Hamptons house Rick and I have been staying at the past few weeks while looking for land. Rick thought it would give us a chance to just be us, an extended honeymoon, and it’s turned out to be wonderful.
Rick appears in the doorway in nothing but his beach trunks, all those muscles of his on display, which is just fine by me. I smile a tiny smile at the amended tattoo on his chest that no longer just says “San Antonio.” It now has my name underneath it.
“I’m keeping you even if you kick me to curb,” he’d joked as he’d surprised me with his new ink, but I’d gone all-in as well. A few days later, his tattoo artist had snuck me on his schedule. I’d surprised Rick and gotten my first tattoo ever. A heart with “Savage” in the center on the inside of my wrist. I told him I’d chosen “Savage” rather than “Rick” because every girl wants a Savage in her life, well, at least in some way. He’d just laughed.
“Come, my love,” he purrs, curling his fingers in my direction. “I have a surprise for you.”
I set my coffee cup down and close the space between us, wrapping my arms around him. “Once again. I’m just telling you in advance, I’m not having sex on the porch in the broad daylight.”
“We’ll wait until dusk then,” he teases, kissing me and then turning me toward the front door.
He opens it and urges me outside and the minute I step on the porch, I immediately start laughing. There are now two white wooden rockers to my left. He steps behind me, his hands on my shoulder. “So we can grow old together and sit on our very own porch, once it’s built, in our rockers. Try yours out.”
I claim one of the chairs and his cellphone rings. He snags it from his pocket and glances at the caller ID. “Blake,” he informs me and then answers with, “Two months, Blake. I’m not coming back sooner.” He listens a minute and says, “Alrighty then. I’ve heard it all. I’ll tell her.” He disconnects and sits down. “They found the real Kirk.”
I blink in surprise. “As in alive?”
“Yep. He was at some Buddhist camp, as in a real sabbatical. He had no idea his identity and money had been stolen, but turns out he’s so rich and so well protected that what Mick took was a drop in the bucket. And he feels so bad about the museum deal, that he offered to fund the project.”
“Well, that’s good,” I say. “But I think the past is the past. I’ll leave that project behind. I have a house to think about.”
His lips curve. “Yes, you do.” He starts rocking and does his best old man voice. “You know, honey, my back hurts. I think it would feel better if we were in the bed with no clothes on.”
I laugh. “You’re crazy.”
“I’m serious.” He stands up, picks me up, and carries me in the house, where there is no doubt he will try to get me naked. And I’ll let him.
THE END
Thank you so much for joining me Savage’s finale! I am going to miss this ridiculous, insane, sweet alpha something fierce! Want more Walker Security? Check out Adrian’s Trilogy! It’s complete and available everywhere!
https://www.lisareneejones.com/walker-security-adrians-trilogy.html
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If you loved the other Walker Security men, check out the other series from that world: Tall, Dark, and Deadly (Royce’s, Luke’s, and Blake’s stories) and Walker Security (Kyle’s, Asher’s, and Jacob’s stories)!
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What’s next from me? THE NECKLACE TRILOGY!
In the vein of her Inside Out series, New York Times Bestselling Author Lisa Renee Jones returns with the dark, seductive world of the Necklace Trilogy...
Allison Wright is delivered a package meant for a different Allison—a unique, expensive necklace. Determined to right the confusion, she seeks out the proper recipient, a journey that takes her to the doorstep of Tyler Hawk, a good looking, recluse billionaire who deals with fine collectibles such as the necklace. She also learns that Allison, his employee, quit her job registering and restoring his vast assortment of collectibles. Ironically, Allison is the daughter of a rather famous archeologist who is also employed by a local museum, and her love of such things has her jumping at the opportunity. Soon she is spending her evening and weekends immersed in the job the other Allison left behind.