Fatal Accusation Bonus Epilogue and Q&A
Fatal Accusation Bonus Epilogue
By: Marie Force
Continue reading below the short story for a Q&A with Marie.
As the Secret Service motorcade conveyed them home from the courthouse, Sam marveled at how the midday traffic got the hell out of the way for the Secret Service. “It’s not fair.”
“What isn’t?” Nick had his arm around her, keeping her close to him for the short ride.
“That people get the fuck out of the way when it’s the Secret Service, but they refuse to move for us run-of-the-mill cops.”
“First of all, there’s nothing run-of-the-mill about you, my love, and second of all, it’s the Secret Service. They’re the bomb.”
“You can’t say ‘Secret Service’ and ‘bomb’ in the same sentence. You’ll spark an international incident.”
The low rumble of his laughter made her smile. Everything about him made her smile, especially what he’d done for her that morning. “I’ll never have the words to properly thank you for today.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“Yes, I really do. The thought of having to see his face…”
“You’ll never have to see him again. He’s going away forever.”
“Thank God for that.” Sam shivered at the thought of the rat bastard who’d tried to kill her—twice.
Nick tightened his hold on her. “Easy, baby. It’s all over.”
“Keep telling me that?”
“Any time you need to hear it.”
“I might need to hear it a lot for a while.”
“Lucky for you, I’m here every day to give you whatever you need.”
Sam relaxed into his embrace, closing her eyes and breathing in the sexy scent of home—cologne, soap, starch, him. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.”
“I love you more than that.”
She scoffed. “No way. Not possible.”
“Totally possible.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Yes, it is.” He silenced her with a kiss that had her clinging to him, straining to get closer, always wanting more.
And when he pulled back, she uttered a protest.
“We’re almost home, babe, and you’ve got me all worked up. Thank goodness for the overcoat. We’ve given the Secret Service enough to talk about as it is.”
Sam snorted with laughter, feeling lighter and freer than she had since she lost her dad. Knowing that Stahl had been disposed of permanently took a huge weight off her shoulders, and having hours to spend alone with Nick on a weekday only added to the joyful feeling bubbling up inside her.
She could only hope that Dispatch wouldn’t call with a new case. That and calls from the kids’ schools were the ones she never ignored, no matter how much fun she might be having with her sexy husband.
The SUV came to a stop outside their home on Ninth Street. Brant, Nick’s lead agent, opened the door and held out a hand to Sam.
“Thank you, Brant.”
“No problem, ma’am.”
Sam knew it was pointless to ask the well-mannered agent not to call her ma’am. She vastly preferred ma’am to her Secret Service code name of Fuzz, the stupidest code name ever. She went up the ramp to her front door, stopping halfway up.
Nick came up behind her. “You okay?”
“I was thinking about the ramp.” She turned to look at him. “We should have it removed.”
“When you’re ready. There’s no rush.”
“I still can’t believe he’s never again going to come rolling up the ramp to visit.”
“I know.”
“He loved that he could do that. I’ll never, ever, for the rest of my life, forget that you made that possible for him—and for me.”
“I loved him.”
“I won’t forget that, either.” Mindless of the agents who watched his every move and thus hers when she was with him, Sam went up on tiptoes to kiss him.
“Let’s take this party inside where we can find some privacy.”
“Yes, please.” As they cleared the front door, nodding at Leo, the agent on duty, Sam realized they had another obstacle standing in the way of their plans for the day—their faithful assistant, Shelby Faircloth, who was coming down the stairs with her son, Noah, in her arms.
“What’re Mom and Dad doing home?” Dressed from head to toe in pink, Shelby spoke to Brant as if Sam and Nick weren’t standing right there, removing their coats.
When Sam would’ve tossed hers on the sofa, Nick grabbed it and headed for the closet.
“I believe they have an unexpected weekday off due to the hearing,” Brant replied.
“Is that right?” Shelby eyed them shrewdly. She’d worked for them long enough to get the gist of what they had planned.
“Which means you have an unexpected day off too,” Sam said.
Shelby glanced at Brant. “Is that code for get the hell out of our house?”
“I believe it might be.”
Sam rolled her eyes at Nick, whose lips quirked with amusement.
“Will you remember to greet your children after school?” Shelby asked.
“We’ll set an alarm,” Nick said.
“They’re not even coy about it,” Shelby said to Brant, whose face flushed with embarrassment.
The poor guy put up with a lot working with them.
“Noah and I know when we’re not wanted or needed, so we’ll get out of the love shack before he sees something he can’t ever forget.”
“Like he doesn’t see plenty in the love shack where he lives,” Sam said.
“Agent Hill and I are far more circumspect than you two will ever be.”
“Get out of here before I fire you,” Sam said.
“Whatever. You’d be lost without me, and you know it.”
Since that was one hundred percent true, Sam let Shelby have the last word.
“Enjoy the rest of your day,” Shelby shot over her shoulder as she headed for the kitchen. “There’s lasagna in the fridge for dinner.”
“Yum,” Sam said as she went upstairs ahead of Nick. “Is it dinnertime yet?”
“Nope. It’s nooner time.”
Sam giggled and ran up the stairs, pulling the sweater over her head and nearly falling when it got stuck over her face.
Nick hooked an arm around Sam’s waist, lifted her right off her feet and hustled into their bedroom, closing the door behind him before he put her down and helped her get the sweater off.
“My hero,” she said when she could see him again.
“You’re a danger to yourself and others.”
“But you love me anyway.”
“Madly.” He kissed her with wild desire, made more so, Sam was certain, by the fact that they’d disposed of Stahl once and for all. Nick had suffered almost as much as she had from the crimes her disgraced former lieutenant had perpetrated upon her. Nick’s relief was every bit as great as hers, if not more so.
They pulled at clothes like a couple of horny teenagers who had the house to themselves for the first time ever, and as they came together on the bed in a tangle of arms and legs, their foreheads connected with a hard crack.
“Aw, fuck,” he muttered as he moaned.
Sam laughed and rubbed the sore spot on her head. “I think I saw stars for a second there.”
“That is not how I wanted to make you see stars.”
Sam couldn’t stop laughing, especially when she saw the bright red egg forming on his forehead. “That’s going to need some ice,” she said between gasping fits of laughter.
He pointed to the spot on her head. “So is that.”
“Everyone will see and know we smacked heads.” She laughed until she couldn’t breathe, and when she opened her eyes, she found him looking at her in a way that stole her breath for a whole other reason.
He crooked his finger at her.
She turned on her side to face him, putting her arm around him and sliding her leg between his. “Can I please get a do-over, Mr. Vice President?”
“Since you asked so nicely, we’ll see what we can do.”
***
Hope you enjoyed spending a little more time with Sam and Nick! Watch for the next book in the Fatal series later in 2020.
Fatal Series Questions and Answers
Q: Will there be more books in the series?
A: Absolutely! No end in sight for Sam and Nick.
Q: Is Nick going to become president?
A: I haven’t gotten that far. I work one book at a time without looking too far into the future. If I had to guess right now, I would say that he doesn’t seem to WANT to be president, which is probably a critical element in the process. I don’t necessarily want to write him campaigning for a year, so there is that… We shall see!
Q: Will Sam have a baby?
A: This is the most frequently asked question for this series, and the answer is that I have no plans for that any time soon. I know everyone thinks it would be so awesome, and I think it would be, too, but as I’ve said before, I do believe it would change the entire groove of the series—and not for the better. Babies are actually kind of boring—they eat, sleep, poop, etc. That doesn’t make for scintillating fiction, and you know Sam would want to be very hands on with her baby. I also think that some of the YEARNING for a baby has gone out of her since Scotty and the twins have come into her life. She’s a mother. She is fulfilled by the family she has. Her thinking on this topic has evolved as the series had unfolded, and I think she’s in a very good place on this topic now.
Q: Will Gonzo recover from his addiction?
A: I really hope so, but I do expect there to be more bumps in the road for him as his story unfolds.
Do you have other questions? Feel free to email me at marie@marieforce.com.