He nodded. “Yeah. Okay. I am.”
Ellie gave him a smile that was full of love and pride. She crossed to him and put her hand on his cheek. “Now go get your girl.”
“Okay.”
“And don’t you forget where you got that warrior’s heart from, Zander Landry.”
He pressed his cheek into her palm. “Yes, ma’am.”
She dropped her hand and started to turn away, but he asked, “You know about the guys camping out down on the bayou, don’t you?”
She looked back. Then nodded. “I do.”
He shouldn’t have been surprised. “Any advice?”
She simply smiled. “I love you. I believe in you. You can do it.”
Then she picked up the basket of cornbread and left the kitchen.
He took a big, deep breath. She hadn’t given him advice. But she’d reminded him that he also had a safe place. Right here. With the people he was protecting.
Well, except for one.
He pulled out his phone and texted Caroline.
You should be the one involved with this op. You need to be in that party with Brantley. Don’t let Max do it instead. You’ll be amazing.
He waited a few seconds, but got no response.
So he texted Spencer. Put Caroline in that party with Brantley. I mean it. I’m on my way.
Spencer: Fucking calm down. I did. It was all perfect.
Zander stared at his phone. He re-read the message three times. Then checked the time. Spencer had put Caroline into the party? It had been perfect? That all read as if it had already happened.
Zander: What are you talking about?
Spencer: Party was last night. I was messing with you. Testing you. Thought you wanted Caroline sitting it out.
Zander: Changed my mind. Why last night?
What the hell was going on?
Spencer: Something with the caterer. Her mom changed it. No big deal. We got what we needed.
Zander: You didn’t tell me.
Spencer: Not your op.
Zander: You’re an asshole sometimes.
Spencer: Ditto. She’s going to keep doing this, you know.
Zander: Good. She better. Where is she now? I’m coming up.
Spencer: Don’t. We’re heading out to celebrate.
Zander again had to read the message three times. What the fuck? They were heading out to celebrate? Spencer and Caroline were going out? What did that mean? And he wasn’t welcome?
What. The. Hell.
“Zander!” Zeke called. “Get out here!”
He really didn’t need anymore…anything…going on. He was going to New Orleans. Everyone here was just going to have to deal without him for the rest of today. And tonight. If Caroline would let him stay, that was. He had some good old fashioned, romance-novel-level groveling to do first.
His hand hit the swinging door and he stepped into the front of Ellie’s. “Look, I have to—” He pulled up short and the door, literally, hit him in the ass on his way out.
But he barely felt it.
The woman who had just walked into the bar was I’ll-fight-dragons-for-her gorgeous. And she was carrying not one, but two pet carriers this time.
She was not, however, wearing a wedding dress.
But in that moment, he vowed to get her into one as soon as he possibly could.
Caroline had no idea how to describe the look on Zander’s face when he saw her.
It was…shock and relief and holy shit along with a big dash of I want you.
And she wasn’t sure he even noticed the people with her.
God, he looked good. Her chest ached with how much she’d missed him. She wasn’t here to see him. Exactly. She’d hoped she’d see him. She’d hoped that they would be able to be friendly. She’d hoped he’d be happy to see her and glad to know the party had gone well and they’d rescued the animals.
But that was why she was here. They were bringing the animals they’d rescued to the animal park and sanctuary. The party had been a huge success. Not only had she and Brantley convinced everyone their engagement was back on and they were in the market for lion cubs, but they’d had five sellers contact them, three in person that very night, and they’d been able to use the information to track down where they were holding the animals and, with Fiona’s help, take them all into custody.
She knew there were more. She knew she and Brantley wouldn’t be able to pull this same setup off again. She knew there would never be a time when she felt like she had done everything she could. And she was okay with that. She’d felt good about what they’d done and she wanted to be a part of more. She was turning in her application to the bureau on Monday.
“So Caroline was just telling us that they shut down the entire operation where they were holding a bunch of illegally obtained animals that were being bought and sold—”
“Zeke?” Zander asked, cutting his brother off.
“Yeah?”
“Can you just shut up for a second?”
“But we’ve got two more lions, a leopard, three fennec foxes, another tiger—”
“Zeke?”
“Um…yeah?” Zeke was grinning widely.
“Just for a second.”
Zander didn’t even look in his direction. He was staring directly at Caroline.
“Yeah, okay.” Zeke gave Caroline a wink.
Wow, Zander didn’t even care that she, Spencer, Max, and Fiona were all standing in Ellie’s holding five more pet carriers?
“Wait, how many?” Knox asked. “They’re all coming here?” He looked at Fiona. And sighed. “How did you get involved?” Then he held up a hand. “Never mind.”
“Knox?” Zander asked.
“What?”
“Need you to shut up too.”
Knox lifted a brow. But he didn’t say anything else.
“Caroline,” Zander started. “I have something I need to say to you.”
“Okay.”
“Outside.”
Oh. Was that good? Or bad?
“Hey, anything you have to say to her, you can say in front of all of us,” Zeke said. His tone was still light, but he wasn’t smiling now.
“This is between me and Caroline,” Zander told his twin. He finally pulled his gaze from Caroline’s to frown at Zeke.
“I don’t think so. You’ve been an absolute ass for this whole past week. I’m not letting you at Caroline,” Zeke said.
Caroline looked at Zander. He’d been an absolute ass this whole past week?
He sighed.
Huh. Evidently that was true.
“Fine,” he gave in.
“No, it’s okay,” she said quickly. She trusted him completely. “Zeke, it’s fine.”
“No, this is…” Zander shook his head. “Caroline, I was wrong.”
There were gasps from around the room. Caroline looked at them all. Wow, was that really that much of a shock? She met his gaze. He rolled his eyes, but also gave her a little yeah-it’s-that-much-of-a-shock head tilt.
She pressed her lips together.
“I was wrong to think that I could let you go. That I couldn’t keep you safe. I might not always be able to keep you from getting hurt or sick or keep you totally out of danger.” He glanced at his grandmother. Ellie gave him a sweet smile. Then he locked his gaze on Caroline’s again. “But you will never be safer than you are with me. With me you are fully free to be whoever, and whatever, you want and need to be. I love you. I believe in you. You can do whatever you want to do. And I want you.”