“Seriously?”
Dutch rolled his eyes. “Seriously, bro.”
“When are we being briefed?”
“I don’t know.”
Onyx took out his phone, probably to text Doc. He didn’t bother putting it back in his pocket while he waited for a response.
“Eleven hundred,” he said after his phone vibrated and he read what was on the screen.
“Roger that.”
“I’ll catch you later, bro,” he said, getting back on the horse.
Dutch waved as his friend rode away, thankful Onyx had made the offer. He had a hell of a lot of thinking to do.
—:—
It would be interesting to see whether Ghafor was his usual cocky self this afternoon or if the fact that he’d been taken down a few notches would bring his ego into check. Doubtful, especially with her, which was probably why he’d demanded that he only talk to Malin, and that it had to be alone. He believed he could intimidate her.
He couldn’t be more wrong. Something had changed inside of her the day that Orlov held a gun to her head and Dutch had shot him.
The first thing she’d wanted to do was kill Dutch for taking out one of the two people she’d come to desperately need. The second thing she’d felt was relief. In that moment, she’d known she was no longer alone.
She’d fought it so hard, but the truth was, knowing Dutch was with her gave her the courage she needed to see this through. It wouldn’t matter what Ghafor told her—even if it wasn’t anything she could use to bring down Montgomery.
She heard the door to the cottage open, and she stood.
“Hey,” Dutch said, coming around the corner. “If you need me to go back out, I can.”
Malin walked over and put her arms around his neck. “That’s the last thing I want.”
Dutch put his hands on her hips and brought her body closer to his. “You sure about that?”
Malin reached up and brought her lips to his. “More than I’ve been sure of anything in a long time.”
Dutch took her hands from around his neck. “Believe me, there is nothing I’d like more than to sweep you off your feet, carry you upstairs, and find out exactly how sure you are, but, baby, I gotta ask where this is coming from. Not less than an hour ago, you needed to be alone. Now—”
She rested two fingers on his lips and then put her arms back around his neck. “That’s just it. I’m not alone. For the first time in over a year, I’m not, and I have you to thank for that.”
“What’s changed, Malin?” he moved her arms again and walked far enough away that she couldn’t touch him.
“I was thinking about meeting with Ghafor, and it dawned on me that I wasn’t afraid. Whatever happens, I know I’m not alone. I know that even if I don’t get what we need to bring Montgomery down, that won’t be the end. You’ll help me figure out what I need to do next.”
“I thought that was exactly what you didn’t want.”
“It wasn’t, or that’s what I told myself. Until I realized what was behind my bravado, and that’s you.”
“You could handle this all on your own, baby. In fact, you did.”
“And the whole time I second-guessed myself. I let Ghafor push me around. I let him demand I hand you over to Safi. I let him force me to kidnap Alegria. I let him. I didn’t stand up to him, because I was afraid.”
Dutch shook his head. “No. You did what you knew you needed to do.”
“I don’t want to argue with you. What I want you to know is that I’m done pushing you out of my way when I know damn well that you’re the reason I’m here to begin with.”
—:—