Page 129 of No More Spies

Her mom and Kenzie. They rushed in, cups of coffee in hand.

Cooper stirred, and then his eyes went wide as he satstraight up. “Kala.”

Her guy looked so relieved. He scrambled up, reaching forher hand. Her dad stepped back, an oddly wistful look on his face.

Then Cooper had all of her attention. He stared down at herlike she was some sort of miracle.

“I’m okay.” She needed to calm him down. She could onlyimagine how she would feel if he was the one lying in this bed. Hell, she mightbe overly dramatic and cause a massive scene. He was worth it. “I’m not goinginto the field again anytime soon, but I’m okay.”

She heard a gasp, knew what she’d said was going to be ashock to her twin, but it was the right thing to do. For her future. ForCooper.

Cooper leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I can’t tellyou how happy that makes me.”

Lou had rolled out of bed and joined Cooper. “You scaredus.”

It was no surprise to her that TJ was still sleeping.“Sorry. Also, you should know that I intend to listen to every lecture you givefrom now until the end of time.”

Lou’s grin kicked up. “Glad to know because I have somethoughts on our comms unit.”

“We’re going to let you get some sleep,” her mother said.“We’ll be back in a couple of hours. I think they’ll release you and let you gohome because we have Aidan with us. He’s been a godsend dealing with thedoctors here.”

She was ready to be home. “Good because we have a wedding toplan.”

Cooper settled in beside her. “We do, though I’m willing togive my mom an extra week. She got shot, after all.”

Her mom frowned. “We need six months.”

Cooper yawned and gently wrapped an arm around her. “Nope.We’re getting married in a couple of weeks. If you and Mom want to plan a bigold reception in six months we can talk, but I’m locking her down. I’ve waitedway too long and seen her almost die too many times. We’re getting married atthe courthouse.”

“We’ll see about that,” her mother vowed, a steely look inher eyes.

“Good luck,” her dad said and frowned Cooper’s way. “But noone is calling me Grumpa.”

Kenzie reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’ll call Travis,and we’ll start teaching Colton immediately. It fits. And we’ll talk later.”

Her twin was going to be a problem, but she knew what shehad to do. Take care of herself because Cooper deserved a partner who did.

Because she deserved to be loved. Even by herself.

Cooper laid his head on her shoulder. “Can I get youanything?”

She shook her head. She had everything she could possiblyneed. They all settled down for a couple more hours of sleep before taking thejourney home.

There would be more missions, more danger to come. Probablya shit ton more drama.

And she was ready for it all.

“I need ketchup,” TJ mumbled as Lou snuggled close.

Kala yawned and fell asleep to the steady sound of hercousin snoring.

All was right with her world.

* * * *

Three Weeks Later

“I can’t believe they did it,” Charlotte said, looking overat the dinner reception playing out at Top. The whole restaurant was decoratedfor a party and filled with family. “I thought I would be able to talk Cooperout of the whole three-week wedding thing. I knew I wouldn’t be able toconvince Kala, but I thought I could guilt Coop into it.”