“Do you want it or not?”

“Don’t get tense. I was simply making an observation.”

“Can your people start tonight?”

“Yeah.” The company had a plan in place for last-minute protection teams. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay.”

“Is it just you?”

“No. The Jean-Louis Parker family.”

Reece sat up. “Toni’s kin?”

“They’re all okay and Toni’s still in Russia.”

“Yeah. I got a text from Ricky. They’re so far ahead, he’s afraid of calling when I might be sleeping.”

“We need to keep the family safe,” she said after a time. “I can’t have Toni coming home and—”

“Don’t you worry about it. If you think Toni will have your ass if something happens while she’s away, it’ll be ten times worse where my brother’s concerned.” He grinned. “He’s got a little thing for your friend.”

“I don’t think it’s little, but you’re male—I wouldn’t expect you to understand that.”

Reece’s grin widened. “Want me to toss this sheet aside and show you how male I am?”

And with no expression at all, Livy replied, “Do you want me to cut your dick off?”

Reece swallowed. “Not really.”

“Then I’d suggest keeping that sheet on until I’m in the next room. Okay?”

“Yes’m.”

“Good.” She walked out and Reece let out a relieved breath.

“Either that girl is gonna end up killing me,” he muttered,

“or end up one of my best friends.”

“More like I’ll end up killing you,” she called out from the living room.

Reece shrank down into the bed, pulling the sheet up to his chin. “Honey badgers are just mean,” he whispered, praying she didn’t hear him. “Mean.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Vic stopped the Range Rover and turned off the engine. “Everyone ready?” he asked.

“Yes,” Toni said from the back. Ricky would say she looked “brave,” but she didn’t. She looked determined. He found that much scarier than brave because when the woman made up her mind . . .

“And remember the rules.” Vic looked directly at Ricky. “Keep your feet off the table.”

“Why do y’all keep telling me that?” he demanded.

“Because you’ll put your feet on the table,” Vic and Toni said together.

“Fine, but I don’t see what the big problem is. Bears and all their dang rules.”

They opened the doors and stepped out.

Toni cracked her neck and moved her shoulders. She looked like she was about to step into a boxingring.

“Ready?” Ricky asked her.

She nodded. “Let’s go bag some bears.”

They headed down the hallway to that room where the bears had continued to stick Toni every time she’d come for a meeting. She let one of them lead her toward that room, Ricky and Vic right behind her, but she cast for a scent and when she locked on it, she immediately made a left and headed down another hallway.

“You! Dog! Where you go?” demanded the bear behind her.

Toni ignored him and kept moving until she reached a room where she heard male laughter and scented bear. Lots of bear.

Taking a breath, she pushed open the door and walked in. “Morning, gentlemen!” she said, smiling. “How is everyone doing today?”

The laughter and words died, but Toni ignored all that and moved toward the long table. She spotted an open seat and walked over to it like she knew it was just for her. She didn’t ask permission, she didn’t stop to look around. Instead she remembered what Ricky had said about always looking like you know where you’re going, even when you don’t. She sat down, placing her messenger bag on the floor beside the chair.

“Okay,” she said, making sure her grin was large and confident. “Let’s get started.”

The bears looked at each other and then one with horrible facial lacerations—she assumed he was Yuri Asanov since he was the only one in a wheelchair—nodded his head.

“Good,” Toni said, reaching into her messenger bag and beginning to dig out papers.

While she pulled folders out, she saw from the corner of her eye one of the bears pushing away from the table and standing.

Toni looked up and said, “Where are you going, Ivan Zubachev?”

Walking toward the door, Zubachev didn’t bother to look at her when he replied, “I have business that cannot wait.”

“Then we’ll just sit here and wait until you get back.”

The grizzly stopped. “What?”

“No deal gets made in this town without you, Ivan Zubachev. I’ll be wasting my time talking to all these handsome but relatively useless bears if you’re not here. So we’ll wait for you. All day if necessary. All century.”

He slowly faced her, but said nothing.

“Let’s be honest here, Ivan. This isn’t about what Bo did to your boy.” Toni looked over at the team’s coach and said, “By the way, the wheelchair’s a bit much.” And when Yuri Asanov’s cheeks grew slightly red, she knew she’d been right. “But I do apologize, Yuri Asanov, for what he did to your face.” Because that was bad.

She looked back at Zubachev. “This is about what Novikov did to you. And what he did to you, Ivan Zubachev, is turn down your job offer.”