by Nikki Rose
“I’m going to turn on some tunes. Good music always makes the work go faster,” Sarah said energetically and not at all like she was being listened in on by some creep.
“The movers should be here in about half an hour, so we need to get a lot done fast. You girls get to talking and don’t get enough work done, so let’s try to just focus on work for a little while,” Anthony teased in a voice that could almost be mistaken for serious. Under normal circumstances, I would have been offended by his high-handedness, but I knew his reasons.
“Fine… Geez, you are bossy sometimes.” I rolled my eyes at him and turned to start packing up the kitchen.
“I’m just saying… These guys charge by the hour. I don’t want them standing around waiting for you to box up what should have already been packed.”
I acted aggravated at his comment but it was hard not to smile. We continued putting on a little show for whoever might be watching or listening in.
As Anthony had said, half an hour later there was a knock on the door. He stopped taping up a box and answered it.
“Hey, guys. Come on in.” Anthony stepped to the side and two men in movers’ uniforms walked in. They both gave us a nod and started casually walking around the apartment.
“We taking everything?” one of the men said as he walked around the couch.
“Yeah, everything goes,” Anthony answered. “Rach, why don’t you show him the bedroom so he can start getting the boxes from in there?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said nervously.
It was harder to pretend now that I knew these guys were scanning the apartment. I wanted to ask questions but had to bite my tongue until Anthony gave me the all-clear. I led the shorter of the two men to my room while Anthony and Sarah stayed out front. He walked around the bedroom as if he were simply admiring the space.
“This is a nice place. You subleasing or giving it up altogether?”
“Subleasing.”
“Good plan.” He paused suddenly near my bed as he was almost finished in the room. There was a flash in his eye that told me something was up. “My wife would love this.” He ran his hand along the frame of a painting above my bed. “This picture going too?”
“Oh,” I paused and looked at him, unsure of the answer I needed to give. If there was a bug there, he’d need an excuse to look behind it. “It’s going with us. It’s one of my favorites.”
He flashed me a smile and nodded. “I don’t blame you. I’d want to take it with me if I were you. I’m going to go ahead and place it with the boxes so we know what all we have to get. You’re taking the big furniture to storage, right?” He lifted the painting off the wall and continued talking as if he was just a mover doing his job.
“Yeah, the bed and dresser in here will be going to storage. The boxes, art and suitcases will be going with me.”
As he moved the painting, I noticed the same type of little black box behind the frame. I froze and had to fight to remain neutral as he examined it. He carried it over to the boxes in the room and set it down carefully.
“Ma’am, would you mind if I used your restroom really quick?”
“No, not at all. It’s right through there.” I motioned to the bathroom door and he slipped inside.
A few minutes later, he came out and started carrying everything out of the bedroom. Once all the boxes and paintings had been moved into the main room, he motioned to his partner.
“Hey, you mind giving me a hand with the bed? That thing’s a monster.”
They moved to the bedroom and Anthony followed. “Here… Let me help you guys out. I’m not used to standing around feeling useless.”
I wanted to be in that room to know what was going on. I had to come up with some excuse to go in there. Sarah and I grabbed bottles of water and hurried after the guys.
“I thought you guys might be thirsty.”
Sarah followed behind, carrying the last two.
“Thanks.” The taller of the two moving men took a bottle from my hand.
The others followed suit before the shorter man spoke up. “We think we found all the bugs and were able to move them to the living room. This room is clear. There were only the one you girls found in the bathroom and one behind the picture in the bedroom. But we’ve yet to clear the living room. My guess would be at least one or two in the main living area, based on what we’ve already found.”
The taller one spoke up. “We’ve sent the transmission to headquarters and they’re running a trace now. Hopefully, we’ll get a hit, so you can get some answers on who’s been spying—although my guess would be our Colombian friends.”
“You’re probably right, but I want to be sure. Rachel’s been through enough. She doesn’t need anything else going wrong,” Anthony said.
“I just want all this to be over,” I said as I leaned into Anthony and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
I was so tired of things happening—the threatening calls, the break-in, the kidnapping, now this? It was just too much.
I would be so glad to be back at Anthony’s apartment. I felt safe and secure there. “We’ll deactivate the bugs as we move the items. That should help avoid detection,” the shorter man said.
The men went back to work loading their truck. To anyone looking on, they seemed like just average moving men, but we knew better. Those moments when they paused, holding an item, they were scanning for transmissions.
Once the apartment had been cleared out, I took a moment to look through the shell of the home I’d lived in for so long. Even though I had made some good memories there, it hadn’t felt like home for a while. And really, I wasn’t sure if it ever truly had, not the way Anthony’s place felt. Maybe it’s not so much the place a person calls home but the people who share it.
Chapter Two
Rachel
We stepped out of the truck and made our way to one of the high-rise buildings in the downtown district. The glass windows reflected the blue from the sky. I caught myself staring up at it in amazement, as if I had never seen anything like it before.
In truth, I had passed this building almost every day on my way to work. What I hadn’t realized then was that somewhere around the eleventh floor was the agency where Anthony worked.
The front was security for high-paying customers. The truth was that it was a government-run facility that took care of extremely delicate matters. I’d gone through most of the screening already after my run-in with the cartel in Colombia, but there were still things I wasn’t allowed to know.
We checked in at the front desk and were immediately escorted to an office with no windows and several computer screens. There was a light-haired guy with a scrawny build at the desk, facing three monitors. He swiveled around in his chair, adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses and offered us a crooked smile as we entered.
“Welcome to the Batcave.” He opened his arms in a grand gesture.
“Jeffreys,” Anthony greeted. “It’s good to see you again, my friend.”
“Batcave?” I whispered to Anthony and he just gave me a smirk.
“It’s good to see you too,” the man said as they shook hands. “It seems you’ve had a slight infestation of bugs lately.”
Anthony gave a shallow laugh. “Yeah, you could say that. What do you have for us?”
“Always to the point. Never a ‘How are you, Jeffreys?’”
Anthony gave him a look and he quickly turned to pull up his information. After a few minutes of typing away on the keyboard, Jeffreys revealed a map on the far-right screen and said, “The transmission of the devices couldn’t reach more than five hundred feet without losing strength in the signal. That usually means—”
“That means those bastards were only five hundred feet at most from Rachel.” Anthony interrupted.
“So it would seem, except we sent another signal and found the receiver.”
“Which means it wasn’t within the five hundred feet?” I asked curiously.
“Oh, it was,” Jeffreys
corrected.
“You’re speaking in riddles.” Anthony seemed aggravated.
Jeffreys quickly jumped to explain. “The receiver was within the five hundred foot range, but it was hooked up to another transmitter that had a much farther reach.”
“How much farther?” Anthony tensed.
“They could have been anywhere in the city.”
“Damn it!” Anthony shouted.
“One of my guys was able to get some information from the long-distance transmitter. It turns out that it matched another one modified the same way from a case a while back.”
“What case?” Anthony asked.
“A case where Amidio was the prime suspect.”
“Ian’s uncle?” I couldn’t hide the surprise in my voice.
“The very same. He is a very dangerous man. Have you been in contact with him?” Jeffreys asked.
“Before… Before I was kidnapped, we had dinner—Amidio, Ian and me.”
“And that was the last time you spoke with him?” Jeffreys confirmed.
“Yes.”
“Ian…” Anthony growled.
“Most likely,” Jeffreys replied. “The chief wants to talk with you.”
“Sure. Rach, I’ll have one of my guys take you back to our apartment and I’ll come back there after I meet with the director.”
“Uh, he specifically requested both of you,” Jeffreys said.
I looked at Anthony nervously but he just shrugged. “Lead the way.”
We were escorted this time by a large man in a black suit. He took us on a smaller elevator that went to a floor not listed on the main elevator panel. He had to punch a code to get in. Security was tight there, to say the very least.
A couple of offices were along the hall. When we came to the end, we were escorted through a heavy mahogany door. It led to a huge office that resembled a miniature apartment.
There was a living space, a kitchenette and it had a large wooden desk as its focal point. The director greeted us from his seat. The picture windows that acted as a backdrop seemed unusual in the space, considering the secrecy and security of the office. I imagined it must be one of those one-way-mirror-type windows so that we could see out but no one could see in.
Director Graham stood and walked over to a small mini bar at the side of the room. He poured a tumbler half full of amber liquid before he spoke. “Can I get you two anything to drink? It seems like a drinking occasion.”
“No, thank you. We’re fine,” Anthony answered for the both of us.
“Suit yourself. Please have a seat.”
We sank into the large leather chairs opposite him at his desk. He sat and took a moment to sip on his drink before continuing. “We’re putting extra security on your whole family.”
“Do we think the threat is that close?”
“I’m not willing to take any more chances. This cartel has been more trouble than they’re worth.”
“What about the situation down in Columbia? Have things changed? And what about Amidio’s illness?”
“The situation in Colombia is volatile. It’s a war zone. I’ve pulled my men out until things calm down. We’ll let the cartel whittle away at themselves until they’re content, then we’ll strike.”
“We won’t have to go into witness protection or anything, will we?” I said with a worried tone that I couldn’t hide.
“No,” Anthony reassured me “I’ll make sure this is taken care of.” He placed his hand on my knee to comfort me.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” the director added.
They spoke for a little while longer about tactical maneuvers and security details. Most things I didn’t understand, and the few that I did, I wished I hadn’t. I was glad that Anthony was letting me into his world, but in truth, his world scared me.
* * * *
I shared my feelings with Anthony on our drive home. “It doesn’t scare me for me. I’ve been through enough, and of course, I don’t want to go through more. What scares me is that you do this sort of thing every day. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you. You aren’t locked up safe and sound in this big office like your director is. You’re the one out fighting and leading teams into dangerous situations.”
I didn’t want to think about losing Anthony, but being this close to his work—to what he did, to the danger that he experienced daily—terrified me.
We parked at the apartment and went inside. Anthony had asked our fake movers to take care of transporting all my stuff—debugged—to either his apartment or storage. It wasn’t exactly how I’d planned out my settling into Anthony’s place. I’d wanted to move all the stuff then cook a nice meal for us to enjoy together. Instead, we’d spent all our time at Anthony’s headquarters. It wasn’t perfect, but it was now my life.
Anthony unlocked the door and stopped me as I went to walk inside. He smiled and lifted me into his arms to carry me into the apartment.
“Anthony, what are you doing?” I laughed.
“It’s tradition when going into your new home.”
“That’s only for married couples, because it’s unlucky for the bride to trip when stepping into her new home.”
“Well, you may not be a bride, but you are stepping into your new home—and I’m not taking any chances.”
He set me on my feet in the entryway and kissed me softly. I wrapped my arms around his neck to return his kiss. I pressed my body against him, rolling my hips against his pelvis. Then I heard a woman clearing her throat.
I jumped back and spun around to see Sarah, Liz, Tony, Belle and my dad standing in the living room watching us. My cheeks heated and they had to be glowing red with embarrassment.
“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” Anthony asked the question that I was wondering.
“We thought we’d surprise you with a nice meal and a small housewarming,” Sarah explained.
“We were just at my old apartment. How’d you pull this off?” I said to Sarah.
“That’s where they came in.” She motioned toward the others standing nearby.
“I’m so glad you two are together now,” Liz said and hugged me. “It’s been a long time coming,” she added in my ear.
“Liz made an amazing chicken casserole,” my dad added.
“It smells wonderful and I’m starved. Thanks, Mom.” Anthony passed me and hugged Liz before shaking hands with his dad and mine.
“Daddy, Rachel!” Belle called out, after obviously having contained her excitement as long as she could, and ran up to hug us too. “Rachel, I’m so excited you’re going to be living with us. Now we can cook all the time.”
We all laughed and sat down at the table while Anthony helped Liz carry out the food. My dad poured the wine and we all dug into the amazing meal.
“So, Rachel, are you going back to work with Brooke once you get settled in?” Dad asked.
I hadn‘t planned to tell everyone yet, but I figured now was as good a time as any, since my dad had put me on the spot. “No, I told him I wasn’t going to be coming back.”
I could see the surprise spread around the table. I knew that after all the dreams he’d had for my career, my dad was having to bite his tongue. “So, what are you planning to do?” he finally asked, no doubt bracing himself for my response.
“I’m going to study then take my LSATs to go to law school.” I held my breath after saying the words out loud.
“Oh, Rachel, honey, that’s wonderful.” My dad left his seat and rounded the table to hug me.
Anthony reached over and squeezed my hand once my dad had returned to his seat. “I’m really proud of you for deciding to face your fears.”
“After everything I’ve been through, a little test doesn’t seem all that scary.” I smiled and kissed his lips softly.
Anthony rested his forehead on mine and cupped the back of my head with his hand.
* * * *
Dinner wound down and Anthony disappeared into the back to put Belle to bed while I tidi
ed up. It had been a long day. I was exhausted, but it was also our first night officially living together. I was standing at the sink doing dishes when Anthony slipped his hand around my waist and pulled me back against him.
“I love you, Rachel.” His breath tickled my ear.
I closed my eyes and leaned back against him, resting my head against his shoulder. “I love you too.”
“Leave the rest of this for tomorrow.” He pulled me back against his body and I felt his arousal pressing against my backside. “Come to bed with me.”
Anthony led me to the bed and sat on the edge. He guided me to stand between his legs and gazed up at me with something I could only describe as adoration before he moved me onto his lap. Straddling him, I ran my fingers along the nape of his neck. A small tremor ran through his body as my nails grazed down his neck and shoulders.
He glided a soft touch down my jaw then gently pushed my hair back. He cupped the side of my neck and guided my lips to his. My eyes fluttered closed as our lips joined and my body melded to his. I pushed against his hard, muscular chest, reminding me of how strong he was. We danced a sensual tango with our tongues that made my insides ache for him.
Masculinity poured from this man, and yet his every touch was a gentle caress. Anthony worshipped my body. He slid his powerful hands down my back and settled on my ass. He moved me, making me grind against his lap. His pants did little to hide his desire. The hardened shaft pressed against my entrance and my breathing hitched.
I rolled my hips and ground myself against him. God, how I want him. Every inch of my body was aching and begging for my man.
He dug his fingers into my hips and trailed his kisses down to the crook of my neck, where he softly nipped at the tender flesh. I bit my lip to stifle a moan as I dropped my head back.
Each touch became more desperate than the last. I thought I might die if I couldn’t feel him inside me soon. “Anthony…” The small, whimpering plea escaped me.
He looked into my eyes and my smoldering desire was reflected back to me in his gaze. He wanted me—needed me—just as much as I needed him.
In one smooth motion, Anthony stood from the bed with me still clinging to him. He held me firmly as he laid me on my back. He pulled away just enough to lift my shirt over my head. His shirt followed mine and I slipped off my pants while he stripped out of his.