Page 46 of Elite Metal: Warriors

“It’s dangerous,” he growled.

“Dangerous is exciting. In fact, I can’t wait to go on another mission.”

His growl became ever so much more feral. “No. No more missions for you.”

“I enjoyed it very much.”

“I couldn’t bear it if…” The way he trailed off made her heart hurt. Made her wish she’d never started teasing him.

She cupped his cheek. “If what?”

He turned his head and kissed her palm. “If I lost you.”

She stared into his eyes. “You’re not going to lose me. I’m in this for the long haul.”

His gaze firmed, hardened, burned. “Me too, baby. As long as you want me. I’m yours.”

She kissed the tip of his nose. “Ditto.”

And then she hunkered back down and curled up against him and held on as hard as she could.

And he did the same.

Epilogue

Roni sat at the table in the command center, in the bowels of the Elite Metal super-secret underground base, trolling through Marcus’ emails as she listened in on his phone calls. Excitement whipped through her. She couldn’t wait to share what she’d discovered with Steele.

He, Sterling and Ant had left a few days ago on a mission and while no one had been able to give her any details, she understood. So many of the Elite Metal ops were hush-hush. And for good reason. It was enough to know that through her work, and the doctored stories she fed Marcus, she could help keep Sterling and his friends safe.

A door slammed behind her and she turned around, and then squealed. She wasn’t much of a squealer, but she was so relieved to see Sterling, looking so tall and yummy and, damn it, safe, she couldn’t hold it back. She threw herself into his arms and he held her. It was wonderful.

When he pulled back, he kissed her on the forehead. “Sit down, baby,” he murmured. “We have something to show you.”

Roni glanced at Steele and Ant—both of whom were sporting smug grins—and Chrome who, as always, was looking somber. “Oookay.” She took her seat and Sterling sat beside her, dropping his arm around her shoulders as though he couldn’t bear to be near her without a touch of some kind. She understood. She felt the same.

“Here you go, darlin’. Signed custody papers.” Ant tossed them on the table.

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God.” She grabbed the papers and riffled through them. She gazed at Marcus’ signature as though it were the Holy Grail. But then, it was. “How on earth did you get this?”

Ant leaned back in his chair and grinned. It was a shit-eating grin.

“Seriously. How did you get him to sign?” She glanced at Sterling. “Was this your mission?”

His smile warmed her to the cockles of her heart…and elsewhere.

“We went back to LA,” Steele said.

“With HQ’s piranha lawyer,” Sterling added.

Ant nodded. “Before we met with Morrow, I looked into his finances, as you suggested. There was enough there to, shall we say, encourage him to cooperate.”

“You looked into his finances? He has them on a secure server. At a separate location.”

Another shit-eating grin.

Clearly she had a lot to learn about the Elite Metal prowess.

“Not to say he was completely cooperative. He wasn’t. At least, not at first. But the big boss’s lawyer was pretty…intense. When he laid out what we knew, Morrow crumpled pretty quickly.”