Defending Harlow (Mountain Mercenaries #4)(95)

He wasn’t ready yet, and she knew it was eating at him, but he’d been working with Meat behind the scenes, learning some of the tricks the other man used to find information online.

“Here, you guys,” Harlow heard from in front of them. She picked up her head to see Ball standing there with two plates in his hands. “Can’t let good cake go to waste.”

She smiled and took them from him. “Thank you.” Looking at Lowell, she smiled wider. “Cake?”

“I’d rather eat something else,” he said, once Ball had turned his back to get more cake for himself.

“Lowell!” Harlow protested.

He chuckled and tightened his hold around her waist. “I can’t help it that you’re way too fucking sexy, and I can’t keep my hands—or mouth—off you.”

“Well, you can certainly help talking about it when we’re hanging out with our friends,” she told him haughtily.

He laughed again. “Look at them, baby. What do you think Gray, Ro, and Arrow will be doing the second they get home tonight?”

She refused to blush. “It’s not polite to talk about.”

Lowell shook his head. “Fine. Sorry. But you should know, as much as I love having you on top, the second I get the all clear from the doc, you’re going to be flat on your back for hours.”

“Jeez, Lowell,” Harlow said, knowing she was probably beet red.

“I love you,” he said solemnly. “Dave was right. Life is too short to have regrets. I was so fucking scared that day. I was afraid I was going to have to stand there and watch you die or jump out that window.”

“I’m fine,” Harlow told him.

“I know you are. And I plan on keeping you that way.”

Loving how sweet he was being, but needing him to get back to the Lowell she was used to, she asked, “Any news on Nolan Woolf?”

It took him a second to process the change of subject, but finally he smiled. “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you. The Denver cops found him.”

“They did? Where? What happened?”

“He was hiding out in one of his apartment complexes up in the city. Unfortunately for him, though, some of his tenants figured out who he was. They weren’t happy he’d been ignoring their maintenance requests. Apparently there’s mold in the building, the elevators don’t work, the stairways are crumbling, and there’s only intermittent hot water. They beat the shit out of him. Then they called the cops and let them know where they could find him. The fact that his face was all over the news, along with what he did, made it all the easier for the tenants to turn him in.”

“I honestly don’t think he meant for us to be trapped,” Harlow said quietly.

“You think I care? The asshole threw two Molotov cocktails into an occupied building. I don’t know what he thought would happen, but that’s attempted murder in my eyes. And the DA agrees.”

“So it’s over?” she asked.

“It’s over, baby,” Lowell told her. “We’ve got him on video throwing the bombs into the building. He kept his head down, but that mole on the side of his neck is a dead giveaway. Not to mention the rock-bottom offer Loretta received from him the next day. He hasn’t confessed yet, but I have no doubt he will.”

Harlow gave him the side eye. “Why?”

Lowell smirked. “Because I’ve been invited to sit in on the interrogation.”

“And you always get your confession, don’t you?”

“Yup. Especially when it concerns the woman I love.”

Harlow felt goose bumps break out on her arms when he brought his hand up and palmed the side of her neck. “Just don’t do something crazy. I can’t stand the thought of you getting in trouble and having to go to jail.”

“I’m not going to go to jail, baby,” he reassured her.

“Because how am I going to get more awesome dates if you’re behind bars?” she asked, ignoring him. “I mean, if I have to visit my baby-daddy behind bars and hope for conjugal visits, that’s entering bad-date territory again.”

“You want my baby, Harl?” he asked, leaning in until it felt like it was just the two of them.

Swallowing hard, she forced herself to look into his eyes. “Not right this second. But if you continue to not be a douche, I’m thinking . . . yes.”

A laugh burst out of him. “I’ll see what I can do about continuing to not be a douche.”

“You do that,” she said.

Resting his forehead on hers, he asked, “You gonna officially move into my apartment?”

“I’ll think about it,” she teased.

“I like having you there,” he told her seriously. “I like waking up with you. I like showering with you, although I’ll like it more when I can stand up properly. I like cooking for you, and watching you putter around my kitchen while you make me something to eat. I like helping you figure out what you want to do next, and I like knowing at the end of the day, I don’t have to watch you walk out the door to go to your own place. I pretty much like everything about you.”

“Funny. I feel the same about you,” Harlow told him. She felt as if she were glowing. She still hadn’t figured out where she was going to work, but being with Lowell, helping him out while he was recovering, was the happiest she’d been in a long time.