“Gifford,” Fuller clipped, throwing out an arm, “there’s alcohol right in front of your face.”

“That’s not a condition of Walker’s parole,” Gifford returned and Fuller’s eyebrows shot up.

“What?” he bit out.

“Tyrell Walker, even after repeated tests on remand and during his incarceration, never tested positive for drugs or alcohol. He has no history of problems with either or evidence of use of the former. Alcohol is only prohibited for those parolees who have an addiction or past incidents where alcohol was a factor.”

Fuller’s lips twisted, he leaned slightly to Gifford and clipped, “That’s bullshit.”

“It isn’t,” Gifford returned with restrained patience.

“Never heard of a parolee allowed to have alcohol,” Fuller retorted.

“Lucky for you this is not a highly populated county like Denver and lucky for you your patch is even smaller so you don’t have a lot of experience but it isn’t unheard of for a parolee to be allowed alcohol and Tyrell Walker is one of them. He was a model prisoner, he earned benefits due to good behavior, his parole was recommended by the warden, his rehabilitation counselor and the guards and I personally inspected this home for its suitability for his occupation prior to his release. All was in order then, as I told you before your visit to my office this morning, and you have two of your own boys here, as requested, and it’s all in order now. So we’re done and we’re leaving,” Gifford replied.

“Then maybe I will have a look around,” Fuller shot back, Gifford’s back shot straight and the entire room went on hyper-alert.

But it was Tate who spoke and all he said was, “Arnie.”

Fuller’s eyes cut to him and he snapped, “What?”

Tate didn’t reply; he just held Fuller’s eyes. They went into stare down and I again found myself holding my breath.

Then the garage door could be heard cranking up.

My eyes flashed to the microwave clock.

Ty was home.

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or pissed this wasn’t done before he got home.

What I did know was that I didn’t want my husband to be forced to share Arnold Fuller’s air. What I also knew, unfortunately, was that I had no choice in that matter.

And that sucked.

Fuller instantly broke eye contact with Tate and turned to Officer Frank. “Walker’s back, search his car.”

“Arnie –” Frank started.

“What’d I say?” Fuller snapped. “Search his f**kin’ car.” Then he finished, “And his wife’s.”

Frank sighed, looked to me and said quietly, “Sorry, Mrs. Walker, can I have your keys?”

Deke went up in a half-squat on the stool, pulled my keys out of his pocket and threw them across the island. Frank caught them the moment Ty made it to the top of the stairs. His eyes came to me and did a quick but thorough assessment. I tried to smile, his eyes dropped to my mouth, giving nothing away then his body rounded the railing and he took everything in.

Fuller opened his mouth to speak but Keaton immediately moved forward while talking. “Walker, we’re here to do a random inspection of your house and we need the keys to your vehicle so we can inspect it.”

Without hesitation or word, Ty underhand tossed them to him.

“He’s also got an SUV. Search that,” Fuller ordered sharply.

“Jeez, how long’s it gonna take for these guys to go so we can get this party started?” Bubba muttered loudly.

“Careful, Jonas,” Fuller whispered. “You don’t want me lookin’ into the permits for your wife’s bar.”

“Careful, Arnie, Krystal owns that bar with me,” Tate put in angrily.

“Everyone just relax. We’ll look at the cars then go,” Gifford attempted to sooth the escalating tempers.

“Mama,” Ty called and I looked to him. “Come here. Kiss.”

I blinked at what I thought was an absurd request. Then I stared at my husband who seemed totally calm and was exuding complete patience like he was waiting in a not very long line to get popcorn at a movie.

Then he raised his brows, his patience waning but not with the proceedings, with the delay in my welcome home kiss.

So I went to him, put one hand to his chest, one to his flat, tight abs, got up on my tiptoes and offered my husband my mouth. He wrapped his arm around my waist, curled his fingers around my hip and took it.

When he lifted his head, I grinned, dropped back to the soles of my feet, turned slightly to the side and leaned into his long, strong body.

Then I looked at Keaton, “Keys for the Cruiser are downstairs on the hook on the door in the utility room.”

He stared at me half a beat, nodded and moved.

I looked around the people in my kitchen, thrilled but not surprised at this show of support for Ty but wondering if everyone being there meant plans for my kickass celebration dinner were ruined.

I was kind of hoping they were.

But mostly hoping they weren’t.

“These tees are… the… shit!” Bubba shouted suddenly, lifting Ty’s up and holding it out for everyone to see, turning it back to front. Ty saw it and I knew he did because his fingers at my hip dug in. Then Bubba dropped his arms and looked at Krystal, “Babe, we gotta get us some of these.”

Krystal replied instantly, “Long’s mine’s a tank.”

Laurie giggled.

I was wishing I’d put them away because they wouldn’t be cool if everyone had their own, they were only cool because Ty and I did. I was also wishing that I’d had the foresight to buy myself a matching tank which would be awesome.

Since I was nursing my snit that Bubba and Krystal were going to steal my kickass idea, I didn’t feel Ty move.

I only knew he did when I heard in my ear. “Mama, you are a total… fuckin’… goof.”

I instantly lost my snit, melted deeper into my husband, tipped my head back, caught his eyes and grinned. He grinned back. Then he leaned in and kissed my temple.

When he straightened, I relaxed even deeper into him and looked back into the kitchen.

That was when I saw Samuel Sterling’s eyes on us. When his caught mine, his handsome face split in a huge, beaming, white smile.

Samuel Sterling was one, seriously hot black man.

And Ty was not wrong.

He was also a complete romantic.

* * * * *

Ty had just finished, I’d come five minutes ago and I was sitting astride him, his c**k still hard and filling me, his back was to the headboard, my face was in his neck, one of his hands was wrapped around the back of my neck, the other arm wrapped around my waist and his lips were at my ear.