Oak, Sophie - Found in Bliss [Nights in Bliss, Colorado 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Sophie Oak Page B

health issue,” Michael replied, his dark head shaking. “But we always knew it was about a girl. We had your file, man. Holly Lang is a local waitress. You saved her life.”
    “She is very nice lady.” He downplayed it. Let them believe he would have done the same for anyone.
    “And you’re in love with her.” Jessie wasn’t going to let up. Alexei had often compared the slender brunette to a badger. She could be very mean and very stubborn when she got an idea in her head. “You’re here for her. And don’t think I didn’t know about the cell phone. I’m just a great believer in forbidden love.”
    Michael sent a little leer her way. “She is. Now marriage is another story. She doesn’t believe in that at all.”
    Dark eyes rolled. “Dude, seriously? You bring that up now? We would both be fired.”
    “Or one of us could move to a different department, maybe something less life threatening.”
    Jessie’s lips pursed. Alexei got the feeling this was a well-worn argument. “Sure you can. Enjoy the paperwork, buddy, because I’m not moving.”
    Alexei reholstered his gun. He wouldn’t be using it this evening. “Please to be having relationship discussion later. Tell me if you’re taking me back into custody.”
    He would have to find a way to talk to Holly. He couldn’t just disappear again. He couldn’t walk into her life, kiss her for all he was worth, and then step back out. It would crush her, and he couldn’t trust Caleb to pick up the pieces. Not yet. Caleb was like the nursery rhyme Humpty-Dumpty. He required piecing back together after a long fall. But Alexei couldn’t put him back together again if he was holed up in a motel in some nondescript city in Middle America.
    “Technically, if you don’t want witness protection, we can’t force you into it. You’ve proven very valuable to the government, but not in an eyewitness fashion. If you choose to leave the program, we can’t stop you,” Michael explained.
    “I choose to leave.” He breathed a deep sigh of relief. He’d done his duty by putting the criminals away. He’d saved lives by cutting their careers short. Now it was time to do his duty to Caleb and Holly.
    “I told you we shouldn’t have called him Howard.” Jessie smiled at him. “We knew that would be your answer, but we’re here anyway. Look, we’ve grown to really give a shit about you. I think the judge is going to throw these suck-ass claims out, but if I’m wrong, we should know in a week or so. The brass doesn’t have to know you’re opting out. We’ll just say we’ve moved you to another location, and if these dirtbags get another trial, we go deep and take this Holly person along for the ride.”
    “No. I do not wish this for Holly.” Holly would wither being forced to change her name and stay in cheap motel rooms, always hiding. And she wouldn’t go. She couldn’t live with never seeing her son again. “If I must go, I will go alone.”
    “I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Michael said seriously. “We should know soon. In the meantime, neither one of us has mentioned your new home to anyone. Not even our director. You should be safe here. I take it you traveled under an assumed name?”
    “Of course. I take bus. Not much securities on bus.” Just very smelly people. But when a person wanted to be anonymous, there was no better transportation than a bus.
    “He’ll be fine, babe,” Jessie assured him. “And we’ll have a little mountain vacay. We’re in the room next to you. We can be here in two seconds flat. Well, unless Mr. Horny here has his way, and then it’s more like fifteen, twenty seconds.”
    “Bitch.” But Michael said it with deep affection.
    It hadn’t taken Alexei long to discover that the partners were more than mere friends. He’d spoken with Michael about it. They had only been lovers for a few months, but Michael loved her deeply, and Jessie seemed to feel the same way. They had acted very professionally while