One

Marcel

Saturday, 23 January, 7:30 p.m.

––––––––

Not the most questionable thing I've ever done, but there I stood outside Aidan's office. I listened, waiting for the perfect moment to march in and state my case, to stake my claim as a member of the organisation. I had been on the sidelines for far too long, and I wanted this investigation. No, I needed this for me, but most of all for the victims.

"No," Aidan said.

Rowan exhaled hard. "Mom needs a break, and this is what Finley does best. You can't deny the victims justice because you don't want to risk putting your wife in danger."

"You will not discuss these murders with Finley. That's a direct order."

"Too late, it came up when I showed her my new tattoo."

I didn't need to see Rowan's face to know he smiled. He loved taunting Aidan by flirting with me. Harmless play between a brother and sister-in-law who share a deep, indescribable bond. He's a younger brother in my eyes. Rowan and I had grown close since I learned the truth about the man who carried me out of the bunker where I had been held as a prisoner of war. Or so I thought at the time. The only thing we can't agree on is flying. Rowan loves it. I never will.

To help Rowan out, or to eavesdrop longer? I waited. He's a big boy and has always stood up to Aidan.

"I showed my sister my new tattoo, so what? And during the ensuing conversation, I mentioned the murders to her. We need her help on this one, Aidan. I get why you're reluctant, but you need to make peace with what's inevitable."

"How much longer are you going to eavesdrop, Mrs Walker?" my husband asked.

Busted. I sashayed into the office, as if I've never put a foot wrong in my entire life, until I saw the emotions duelling in Aidan's eyes – anger and fear. "You knew this day would come, my love. It's here, and I won't back down from this fight. Not with you, or with the person responsible for the murders of at least four people." Placing my hands on my sides, I stood my ground.

Aidan held my stare. "Rowan, please leave us. Close the doors on your way out."

Rowan did as his brother, his superior in the organisation, commanded. When he reached me, he pressed his lips to my cheek and said, "I'm not going to apologise, we need you. He knows it."

I nodded and as soon as Rowan closed the doors, I pressed the automatic lock. Not even a bomb could open the doors. On this side, an explosion was about to erupt.

Aidan placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward, bowing his head. "Where's Ainsley?"

"She fell asleep even before I put her down. Your mother suggested she sleep in their room tonight. I think being around Ainsley is helping her decompress. And she wants us to have some alone time, seeing as this is your day too."

My husband walked around the desk and pulled me against him. Aidan pressed his lips to my forehead. "You did an amazing job with her party. You must be tired, Fin. Let's go shower, sleep, and continue this discussion tomorrow."

I pulled back, staring up at him. "No." Resting my head against his chest, I drew a deep breath, filling my soul with his scent. I know Aidan Walker well enough to know if we didn't continue this discussion now, there was no chance of getting my way come daylight. "Aidan, you need to get over what happened and accept that I'm returning to work. I want this investigation."

He released his hold and walked to the window. Bullet-resistant glass blocked out the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. "You promised to give me a year."

"It has been a year." I tried.

"No, it hasn't. On the twenty-third of April last year, when Ainsley turned three months old, you made a promise. Therefore, it has only been nine months. You owe me another three."

"Semantics." Again, I tried.

Aidan laughed, the sound making me smile at his reflection in the window. "Three entire months aren't semantics, Wife. A promise is a promise."

"Your mother's exhausted. She can't continue working the way she has this past year. It's time I take over as head of profiling and interrogation. The position they offered me when I signed on."

"You could die, Finley." Aidan turned to me, his eyes filled with nothing but fear.

"So could you." I closed the distance between us and lifted my hands to his face. The familiar tickle of his stubble against my palms. The same storm raging in his eyes whenever the day of Ainsley's birth came up. "Aidan, I could die of a heart attack any minute. Cancer might be spreading through my body. I can slip and fall down the stairs. You knew who I am when we got married. You and I both promised Ainsley, even before she was born, to make this world the safest place for her and as many children as we can. I will not go back on our promise to her."

I stepped away from him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Three people have been brutally murdered, another's death remains undetermined. They were daughters and a son. Their parents deserve to know what happened and why, but more than anything who took their children from them. I, we, can bring them closure, and the killer to justice."

"Nothing the police can't handle. We can hand over what Rowan uncovered." Aidan turned his back to me.

No matter how much I ached to touch him, to hold him, even beg him to let me run this investigation, I didn't. His reason for acting like this, I understood. Almost losing Ainsley and me, on this very day a year before, had turned Aidan into an overprotective Papa-bear. Not the cuddly, honey loving kind. The kind who will fight until his last breath to keep us safe, even if that meant keeping me locked in our home. We weren't fighting each other. We fought for us, for our daughter, and for our life. Protective Aidan is sexy.

There was only one way for me to get both of the things I wanted more than anything in that moment. With his back still turned to me, I began my last attempt to win this battle. I removed the Glock 43 Gen 4 holstered at my right ankle and placed it on the coffee table, careful not to make a sound as I did so. Inside the fortress we called home, I didn't need to carry more than one gun. Of course, multiple weapons were hidden throughout the house, out of Ainsley's reach. It would stay that way until she's old enough to carry, or at least handle her own.

"Aidan, don't force me to go over your head. Your father is still head of the organisation, and he'll side with me. Your mother needs to decompress after what happened in Columbia."

Aidan spun around, the heat of the fire in his eyes changing the instant our stares locked. "What are you doing?" The corners of his mouth lifted, his left eyebrow raised.

I grinned; victory was so close I tasted it. "I'm going to lay it all out on the table for you, and you'll agree that it's time I start working again. Then we'll bury the hatchet. Deep."

Aidan shut his eyes, drawing his bottom lip between his teeth. "It's my birthday too. Can we please continue fighting tomorrow?"

I lifted myself onto the mahogany desk and tilted my head to the right. "Did I not wake up the birthday boy by blowing his candle?"

The sound of Aidan's laughter filled the room. "Really, Fin?"

"My bad. It just popped into my head. Now get over here so we can make up." Without taking my eyes off his, I leaned back and arched my body as I stretched my arms out above my head.

"The desk is too hard for what I'm about to do to you."

"Not as hard as you appear to be, Mr Walker." My eyes followed Aidan's every move as he changed into his birthday suit.

"This discussion isn't over." Aidan lifted me up and carried me to the couch.

Brushing my lips against his, I ran my fingers through his hair. Not a grey hair in sight, despite being married to me. "It is. I'm starting work tomorrow. Your mother will take care of Ainsley until we can find a suitable nanny. I'll ask Eli to run background checks on the nanny, and her entire family and friends."

"Let me guess, Mom has already agreed to this?" Aidan lowered me onto the couch and followed me down.

"No, but she will. She needs time with her granddaughter, it will do her good, and I trust no one more to take care of our baby." The perfect lines of his triceps and shoulder muscles played under my fingertips. I focused on his mouth, waiting for the explosion.

Aidan pressed his lips to the spot below my left ear. "You promised me three more months, Mrs Walker."

"It's not my fault four people were murdered, and I'm forced to go back on my promise." I lifted my hips and pressed against him. "How can I ever make it up to you, Commander Walker?"

With his body, Aidan pressed my hips down and settled himself between my thighs. "By promising you won't put yourself in danger, if I allow you to investigate these murders."

"I can't promise you that. I am who I am. However, you have my word that no matter what happens between now and when I gift this killer with a hollow-point bullet between his eyes, I'll be careful. No charging in anywhere guns-a-blazing without your direct order to do so. And wearing Kevlar."

"Not good enough." Aidan brushed his lips against mine.

My back arched on its own. "What will it take, Captain Walker?"

He laughed against my mouth. "How did I go from Commander to Captain in mere seconds?"

I pressed my head back into the couch and stared up at him. "Why are we still talking?"

The conversation seized. The discussion over. For now.