She looked down and then right into his eyes. “I’m crazy about you, Zane, but after this, there’s no way I’d push myself on you. I need your friendship.”

“I want your friendship, too, but now you’ll be working at a completely separate agency.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s give this thing a go, Cass.”

Her dark eyes grew large. “You can’t be serious. Not after all I’ve done.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m totally serious.”

She threw her arms around his neck.

“And I’m going to help you with your brother to make sure he gets the counseling and support he needs.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“No more secrets. Is that a deal?”

“No secrets.” She lifted her chin and pressed her lips to his.

They weren’t perfect, but they were meant to be.

“Home sweet home.” The past week had flown by, but now Layla was finally returning to her neglected condo with Hunter close by her side.

She was still grieving Scarlett’s death and betrayal, but the men they had apprehended had led the DEA to Diego’s location. The DEA had wanted to capture Diego, but he was killed in a fierce firefight. The cartel was in complete disarray with its leader dead and no heir apparent, which meant the entire team was now safe from any threats of retaliation.

Bryce had negotiated a deal, but one that included a lengthy prison sentence. It gave her no joy to know he was locked up, but given how serious his offenses were, she knew the punishment fit the crime. Bryce had also given up his CIA source who had provided the safe house intel, and he was being punished as well.

Hunter looked at her. “Everything has been scrubbed to make sure there is nothing in here. No surveillance, no devices, nothing. And the CIA even threw in a top-to-bottom cleaning service, thanks to Nick.”

She smiled. “So now you and Nick are friends, huh?” She was glad they’d been able to work together and put that past chapter behind them.

Hunter nodded. “Yeah, reluctantly, but he has really done right by you. And once I was convinced he wasn’t trying to win you back, he and I got along a lot better.”

“Being back home feels so strange.” She looked around her condo.

“Well, get used to it, because things are going to go back to normal.”

And that was part of the problem. “Yeah, about that.”

“What’s wrong?”

Her world was far from right. She was struggling with what path she wanted to take with her career. “I’m still having a lot of conflicting feelings about going back to work.”