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“That sounds like a far cry from the troublemaker you told me you were.”
I laughed softly. “Like I said, the boys set me straight.” I stared at Sam’s delicate hands and stroked my thumb over her fingers. “We saw a lot of shit over there. Saw a lot of action. The stuff we did, the battles we fought… It made me realize that a quiet life isn’t so bad. In fact, I crave it.”
There was a wonderful softness in Sam’s eyes as she listened to me speak. It was like she was hanging off my every word. I felt special beneath her undivided attention.
“Is this why you like the behind-the-scenes stuff?” she asked. “The planning, the organizing…”
I nodded. “I’ve seen enough to last a lifetime, Sam.”
“Have you told the others this?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not? I’m sure they’d understand.”
“When I say I’ve seen enough… Things sometimes got dicey out there, Sam.Reallydicey. They’ve each saved my neck more than once. I can’t just walk away. I feel like…”
“You feel like you owe it to them,” she concluded.
“Exactly.”
Sam shifted in her seat and finally took the first sip of her drink. “What kind of house?” she asked after swallowing.
“Excuse me?”
“Hypothetically, if you could walk away… What kind of house would you want to live in?”
“A big one. Six bedrooms, four full bathrooms, a massive backyard for the kids to play in. The guys can sleep in the garage. We’ll make it nice for them. A man cave, of sorts.”
Sam laughed. “We will?”
“Oh, yeah. Adam will be known as the fun uncle. Liam’s the one who’ll scare away my daughter’s first boyfriends. Kris is the one the kids will go to for sage advice and embarrassing stories about my childhood.”
“How many would you want? Kids, I mean.”
I shrugged. “Two boys, two girls. They’d each get their own rooms. Max, too.”
Sam’s cheeks flushed pink, sucking a breath in. “Really?”
“Was that too forward?”
“No, no. I just…” She smiled wide. “I guess I haven’t thought about it a whole lot.”
“‘It’ being…?”
“What happens to us after we’re done here in Macau,” she mumbled, “When we go home to New York and my contract is complete. What then?”
“I can’t speak for the guys… Or, actually, maybe I can. We’re all very taken with you Sam. I know I’d love to keep seeing you once the job’s done. All of us would. If you’ll have us, of course.”
She smiled, bright and brilliant and blinding. “Yeah, I’ll have you. All of you.”
“You have no idea how much of a dream you are.”
“Do you want to get out of here? We’ve both had a very long day. I think we deserve a nice, hot shower to unwind.”
“Separate showers?” I asked as I paid for our drinks. “Or just the one?”
Sam slipped off her bar stool with a wry grin. She shrugged demurely and turned, walking away at a pace just slow enough so that I could catch up to her in under three strides.
