Reckless (Benson Security 1)

Sleep began to steal her senses. Safe. She was safe.

“Buffy was a superhero,” she mumbled.

“So are you, baby, so are you.”

With a contented smile on her face, Megan slipped into a healing sleep, safe in the arms of the man she loved.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It was a week after the showdown at the abandoned school—something Dimitri knew would take years for him to get over. The team were gathered around the conference room table, pastries and coffee in abundance. Dimitri sat back in his chair, his legs stretched out in front of him and a smile on his face. Callum and Rachel were arguing at the head of the table, like a pair of dysfunctional parents. Julia was hiding behind the plant that shouldn’t even be in the building. Joe stared at the plant with a curious look on his face, as though he was trying to figure something out. Elle’s hair colour had changed to bubble gum pink. Dimitri missed the blue. She currently had her head together with Megan, plotting. In the past week, the two of them had done a lot of plotting. Megan thought the team would be more successful if they were equipped with spy gear from the sixties and their computer tech agreed. Thankfully, so far Callum had managed to keep their crazy ideas to a minimum.

Ryan was over at the buffet table, as usual. He piled a plate high with pastries, then made up a second one with a single chocolate croissant on it. As he passed Katrina, he placed the plate in front of her without saying a word. Katrina recoiled from him, but once he was far enough away from her, she pulled the plate towards her and nibbled on the pastry. Her eyes firmly avoided Ryan, and every other man at the table. Except for her brother. When she looked at Dimitri, he gave her a reassuring smile.

Sharing the flat upstairs with Julia seemed to be helping his sister to cope. The security of the building helped and the partners had promised him his sister could stay there as long as she needed. Another reason he was a Benson Security guy for life. Katrina showed no signs of wanting to leave the office, but it was early days yet. She was putting on weight, her skin wasn’t so pale and the only scars remaining were the ones on the inside. Rachel, for reasons known only to herself, was paying for a counsellor for Katrina. With the support of the team, and time, his sister would make it. He just knew she would.

“Okay.” Callum stood and folded his arms over his grey Henley. “Rachel has an announcement before we begin the debrief on the Abramovich case.”

Katrina stiffened, but Megan leaned into her and whispered something that made his sister smile. He caught Megan’s eye and used telepathy to tell her she had a reward in her very near future. She must have got the message because her cheeks flushed.

Rachel stood, flipped her long brown hair behind her shoulder and scanned

the group. She still looked dismayed to find them all there.

“As you know, after the Abramovich incident, where Megan went off the reservation, I decided I didn’t want to work for Benson Security any longer.”

Ryan held up a hand to stop her. “You mean, when you were fired because you followed Megan off the reservation?”

Rachel carried on talking as though he was invisible. “I’ve since had a change of heart and approached the partners about an idea I have. After some negotiation, they agreed to my proposal.” Her smile was pure evil delight that had everyone in the room worried. “I wanted to start a business that specialises in putting together holistic security packages for discerning women, so I bought into the Benson Security partnership.”

There was silence. Which Megan broke. “Does this mean you’re starting a women-only part of the operation? Like Charlie’s Angels? Will you be Bosley?”

There was laughter. Rachel narrowed her eyes at Megan. “You’ve been assigned to my team.”

That took the smile off Megan’s face. She blustered, at a loss for words for the first time since Dimitri met her in Scotland. That’s when it hit him. When he knew what he wanted. The idea appeared in his mind fully formed and he knew absolutely that it was the right thing to do. Suddenly, his future was crystal clear before him. And Megan was at the heart of it. He already knew he loved her. Now he knew he wanted it to last forever.

“I have an announcement too,” Dimitri said, making Megan’s eyes shoot to his. He smiled at her which made her look worried. “Megan and I are getting married.”

There were whoops of delight, followed by a shout of “What the heck?” from Megan.

She shuffled forward in her chair and slapped her hands on the table between them. “You can’t announce that. You haven’t even asked me. Shouldn’t I have a choice in the matter? And, seriously, Dim Boy, I’ve known you less than two months.”

Dimitri grinned at the nickname. It was a new one she was trying out in her never-ending attempt to drive him insane. But he was strong enough to handle her. Standing, he strode round the table, put his hand on the nape of her neck and kissed her hard. Which merited a cheer. He sat back down feeling pretty damn smug at the rosy cheeks and swollen lips he’d left behind. He also felt pretty smug about the fact she was currently using a cane to get around, which would make running away from him a whole lot harder for her. Talk about perfect timing.

“We’re going to talk about this later.” She pointed at him. “At home. In private.” She sat back with an air of dignity. “While you wait for that chat, you can think about the fact that if you marry me, you get Grunt for a brother-in-law.”

That wiped the smile off Dimitri’s face. It was Megan’s turn to look smug.

“We done?” Callum said. “You think we could stop kissing during team meetings or at any other point during work hours? Bloody hell, how about you pretend to make an effort to behave professionally? You would never have gotten away with this soppy crap in the armed forces.”

“Good job we’re not in the armed forces then,” Megan said.

“As I was saying.” Callum glared at Megan, who grinned. “Rachel is now one of four partners. We’ll be discussing the new side of the business at future meetings.”

“What about other vacancies?” Ryan asked, once it had quietened down. “We need more men.”

“Team members,” Julia gently corrected from behind her plant.

Ryan grinned at the foliage. “I don’t care what gender they are as long as they know how to work as a team and they can handle their Chinese food.”