But they had gotten him thinking. They were stinky but awfully sweet. After he’d calmed down and accepted that he had to take care of two little girls and a dog who looked like he could kill but peed whenever new people showed up, he’d settled in. He’d found some cartoons and the girls had finally climbed up onto his lap and watched. After a while they’d fallen asleep and he’d studied them. They were cute and sweet and cuddled up like kittens looking for warmth. They were trusting in a way no adult could be. He kind of wondered what it would be like to have one of his own.

Big Tag had a future right there in those tiny things.

“Welcome to the civilized world,” Taggart said, taking his place at the head of the table. “Riley, Dec, and Shane, welcome back from La-La Land. Nice job. The client didn’t die and you managed to blow up a whole Mexican drug cartel and out a dirty CIA agent in the process.”

“Not that it made him lose his job,” Dec pointed out.

“But we know he’s bad,” Tag replied.

A whole lot had gone down in LA and it had a major effect on the London office, which suddenly found itself down a bunch of memory-blank soldiers it had been hiding and one operative who was now marrying a Hollywood star.

Charlotte sat down across from her husband, her strawberry blonde hair upswept in a professional bun. It made him wonder briefly how she’d worn her hair when she’d been a Russian mob assassin. She seemed to relish taking care of the day-to-day business of running McKay-Taggart. She pushed three envelopes out to each of the men who’d worked the LA job. “I think you’ll find that Josh and Kayla were happy with your services and with helping train a new set of bodyguards for when they travel. They wanted to give you all something to show their appreciation.”

From the way Shane’s eyes widened, that must be a mighty big check. Sometimes the bonuses on certain jobs could be outstanding.

Damn, but he needed one of those jobs. He’d sent the others on the LA job because he’d wanted to stay close to home. Now he might be losing home altogether. But he wasn’t about to show that fear here in the office. They had plenty of other things to worry about. “Do we have an update on the situation with Sadie?”

Sadie Jennings was Grace Taggart’s niece, and for the last couple of years she’d taken her aunt’s place as the office receptionist. She was a ball of sunshine in everyone’s day, always willing to help out even in the dangerous stuff.