by Katie Reus
“I know you came for her, so before I start taking notes I just want to say thank you.” Expression serious, Carlito held out a hand.
Graysen took it and nodded. He’d have searched for anyone on his team, but it was clear Emerson meant something to the detective.
Shifting slightly against the starchy sheets, he tried to get comfortable. “What day is it?”
“Saturday.”
Okay, so he’d only lost a day and change in his memory. He could deal with that. He leaned back as Carlito started in with the questions.
They were expected, if monotonous, but all he wanted to do was see Isa. Hold her, touch her, remind himself she was real and okay. That they were both alive and not stuck in that building. He also had a ton more questions about what had gone down, but knew the detective wouldn’t be answering them. He’d have to get his answers from Harrison and Isa.
Then he wanted to know when they could get the hell out of the hospital and he could finally be alone with her.
* * *
Isa stood next to one of the windows in the small waiting room, resisting the urge to pace. She knew Graysen was just answering questions, but she wanted to be with him. Unfortunately, they were already bending the rules by allowing Carlito to question him instead of the lead detective assigned to the case. Harrison had asked for a favor and received it—no surprise.
Graysen—meaning, Red Stone Security—had stopped terrorists on US soil. Right now, the city was grateful, even as the media was going batshit crazy over what had happened. She didn’t think they’d ever know the real story, the real reason those men had been at Raptor Aeronautical. And she didn’t care.
The only thing that mattered was that Graysen, Emerson, Carlito, and she were okay. She hated that other innocents hadn’t been so lucky.
“You want some tea or coffee?” Mara asked from her seat a few feet away. Wearing dark pants, knee-high boots and a cashmere sweater, she looked incredible as always.
“I’m okay, but thanks.” Now that Graysen was awake she felt as if she could breathe normally again, but her nerves were still in tatters. She was sure he had a ton of questions and she wanted to answer all of them, especially if they were about them. But mainly, she just wanted to see him before he fell asleep again. “How’s Belle?” she asked in an effort to talk about anything else.
Mara gave her a serene smile. “Fine. Just like she was the last time you asked an hour ago.”
“Gah, sorry.” She knew Belle was more than fine. She’d gone into labor Thursday night at a family dinner. Everyone had rushed to the hospital, some forgetting their cell phones and others ignoring calls. There had been complications with the birth and Belle had ended up having an emergency C-section. Which was why they hadn’t been able to get hold of anyone when they needed to during the hostage situation. It had been a perfect storm of insanity. “You can go see her if you want. Don’t feel like you’ve got to stick around here.” She leaned against the window, trying to tamp down her rampant nerves.
“Trust me, I think she’s had enough of family for a while. Last I heard, she and Grant were holed up in her room and not letting anyone else in. I think they needed some alone time with the baby before they leave this evening. My sweet little niece.” Mara’s expression softened so much it was strange to see.
Isa adored Mara, but the former operative wasn’t a mushy or emotional woman. “You getting baby fever?” she asked.
Mara just snorted, shook her head. “Babies are fun to play with, then send home.”
Harrison strode in carrying a tray of cups. “Amen to that. I think my brothers have lost their minds when it comes to their kids… Hey Isa, got you a hot chocolate. You need something warm right now. How’s our man?”
“He’s decent, I think. His color was better and he’s talking to Carlito now.”
Harrison gave a brisk nod. “Good. I want to see him before he falls asleep again.” Guilt flickered in his dark eyes as he focused on her. It disappeared quickly, but she knew it had been there. He seemed to feel responsible for them not being able to get hold of him when they’d needed to. Well, no one could have predicted the shit that went down Thursday night and into Friday morning, so she certainly wasn’t angry at him.
Even though she hadn’t thought she wanted anything to drink, she gratefully took the cup. It warmed her fingers, taking off some of the edge. She wouldn’t feel settled until Graysen was officially discharged from the hospital.
“Where’s Emerson?” she asked after taking that first hot sip.
Harrison tilted his chin toward the direction of the exit. “In the cafeteria, grabbing some food. She said she’d be back soon, that she wanted to see Graysen now that he’s awake.”
Isa nodded, glad Emerson would be coming back. As far as Isa knew, Emerson had gone to the police station to answer questions, then home to change, and then come straight to the hospital. Mara had brought Isa clothes, and she’d showered in an empty room because she hadn’t been about to leave the hospital.
It felt like forever, but was probably only twenty minutes before Carlito returned. The detective immediately went to the side of Emerson, who’d only arrived five minutes before, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It was clear to anyone watching, the man was smitten. And vice versa; Emerson looked at him as if he hung the moon.
He faced the group with a tired half-smile. “He’s still awake, but looking pretty exhausted. Everything he said lines up with your timeline and ours,” he said to Isa before looking at the others. “He wants to see everyone, but especially you, Isa. I’m gonna hang back, give you guys some space.”
“Me too.” Mara nodded. “You three go see him.”
“Thanks.” Isa was beyond ready to get back to Graysen. She’d been here since he’d been brought in, had refused to let the paramedics look at her feet until they’d gotten him into surgery. She had a few cuts and bruises. So freaking what? He’d been shot. If it hadn’t been for the vest, he might have died right in front of her.
Something she didn’t want to think about.
Isa didn’t think Graysen was supposed to have more than one or two visitors at a time, but no one stopped them as the three of them made their way to his room. Maybe Harrison or Carlito had said something to the staff—or maybe Harrison had called in one of his favors. The man seemed to know everyone in the city.
Her heart rate kicked up as she pushed the door to Graysen’s room open. She hated being away from him, even for twenty minutes. His face lit up when he saw her. The sight was a punch of awareness to all of her senses. She wasn’t sure how she’d thought she could have ever lived without this man. Then to almost lose him—it was simply too much.
She headed straight for his bedside. She’d already told the staff that he was her fiancé so she would be allowed access to his room. And Harrison certainly hadn’t corrected the staff.
Graysen took her hand as soon as she reached for him, linking his fingers through hers in a solid grip. Another healthy dose of relief slid through her at his firm hold.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, watching his face for exhaustion. He was the type of man to push himself too hard. Right about now, she wished they were alone so she could tell him how much she loved him, that she wanted to start over with him.
“Tired. But Carlito said you guys would be able to answer all of my questions.”
Isa nodded, pulling up a seat next to his bed as Harrison grabbed one for Emerson. As she expected, Harrison stood, ever the intimidating warrior.
Arms crossed over his chest, he gave Graysen’s lower calf a surprisingly gentle squeeze. “I’m glad to see you looking so good. And I’m sorry about—”
Graysen gave a sharp shake of his head. “No apologies. Carlito already told me what happened. I’m glad Grant and Belle’s baby is healthy.”
Harrison nodded, but that guilt still flickered across his expression. Not exactly surprising, since Isa knew he considered the people who worked under him more like
his family. He took his job and his responsibility to his employees very seriously—as he should. It was why people rarely left Red Stone Security. Once you got a job with them, you didn’t want to leave.
“What do you know so far?” Harrison asked.
Graysen lifted his good shoulder. “Carlito mainly asked questions about how everything went down. Wanted to get a timeline of when I took out each threat and on what floor. Sounds like it’s a bit of a clusterfuck at Raptor.”
Harrison snorted. “They’re having a hell of a time with the crime scene.”
“I bet. Listen, just tell me everything. Like how the hell Yuri Mikhailov was in the country, much less the building.”
Isa hadn’t known who he was, but now she knew that Yuri was a hacker/terrorist who was wanted by Interpol and a whole mess of agencies.
“The Feds are going crazy over the fact that he was in the country.” Her boss shook his head, his expression grim. “He approached Persky with a deal—to input code into the computer programming for multiple drones under contract by the US government. The drones would operate like normal until they crossed into specific territories. Yuri, or someone working with him, had them configured it so that once they crossed certain physical coordinates, he would be able to commandeer the drones into his command. He could have started a war—or multiple wars—with them. And it would appear that they were under US control.”
Graysen frowned. “How did Persky get involved with them though? He wasn’t even on our radar. Or the government’s radar. Was he?”
Harrison shook his head. “He wasn’t on anyone’s radar. The Russians approached him and offered him a lot of money. He has—had—an ex-wife, alimony, and debt. It appears as if he wanted to leave his life behind, and start over somewhere new. Not only that…he had a new girlfriend. A young one, who was pushing him to give her the kind of lifestyle she was accustomed to and to run away with him.”
Graysen’s frown deepened. “She with the Russians?”
Isa nodded. “Yes. And he was an idiot for thinking a woman like her would ever fall for him.” Isa had seen the pictures from the file the police had, and the woman who’d targeted Persky had been beyond stunning. As in ‘Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox combined’ level of hotness. Whereas Persky was not unattractive, but he was middle-aged and out of shape.
Harrison grunted in agreement.
“Why’d they lock down the building like that?” Graysen asked.
“He overheard my conversation with Emerson. Had the line tapped.” Isa gritted her teeth at her own stupidity. She’d been vague in what she’d told Emerson, but clearly not enough so.
“He jumped the gun and called Yuri, from the looks of it,” Harrison continued. “Yuri already had men in place on site while they wrapped up their operation. They only had one more bit of code to input and it had to be on site, since the programs weren’t linked to any outside sources. Yuri simply shut down the building, blocked the exits and killed anyone who got in their way. The place was supposed to be empty that late, but there were a few stragglers. Not to mention Hamilton’s actual security team.”
Guilt bubbled up inside Isa at the mention of the innocent people who’d been killed. If she’d never called Emerson, maybe they’d all still be alive. Their families wouldn’t be mourning right now.
Harrison’s mouth curved up into a hard smile. “What they didn’t count on was a highly trained former CIA operative taking them out one by one.”
“Hell,” Graysen murmured, shaking his head.
“From what the couple remaining men who lived through everything had to tell the police, they planned to kill Persky anyway. He obviously didn’t know that.”
“What was their original plan, before things went sideways?”
“Persky planned to continue working for Raptor for a few weeks before putting in his notice of retirement. After searching his place, the cops found multiple fake identities. Looks as if he planned to leave the country, start over as someone else. No one would have ever known about the embedded code. Later they might have figured it out, but it would have been too late to do anything about it. If not for you guys,” Harrison said, looking between the three of them, “they’d have gotten away with it.”
Isa was still trying to wrap her mind around everything. After the way her father had betrayed their country, betrayed her, she knew what people were capable of. But it was still hard to swallow what Persky had planned to do. “Oh, and Shawn Grady was working on Persky’s authority to add that tracking software to my computer.”
The police and Feds were still trying to figure out if Grady was complicit in Persky’s whole scheme or just following orders of his VP. So far he was just in custody but hadn’t been charged with anything yet.
When she noticed how pale Graysen was, she squeezed his hand once, then stood. “All right guys, it’s time for Graysen to get some rest.” He didn’t protest so she knew she was right.
After the others were gone, she resumed her place next to his bed, still holding his hand.
“What do you need? Are you hungry? I can probably sneak in some food so you don’t have to eat what comes out of the hospital kitchen.”
He shifted slightly, tried to hide a wince.
“Graysen, don’t move. I’ll get whatever—”
“I want an answer to my question.”
She raised her eyebrows. “What question?”
“Did you mean it when you said you loved me?” The desperation in his gaze took her off guard.
Her heart turned over. “Yes. I truly get why you did what you did. Before everything went crazy on Thursday, Mara gave me a file on my father. One you’ve apparently been sitting on for a very long time. Why didn’t you tell me he got Colby killed?” Tears burned her eyes at the reminder that her father had been behind the execution of one of Graysen’s best friends. Graysen had never told her, not even when he’d been trying to get her to forgive him.
He cupped her cheek with his good hand, his grip gentle as he stroked his thumb over her cheek. “I didn’t want you to know that. He’d already hurt you so much, but he was still your father. I didn’t want to destroy whatever love you still had for him.”
She swallowed hard, not bothering to blink back the tears now. “I wasn’t ready to listen to you a year ago, wasn’t ready to face the truth that my father was a monster. But I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you, even if I wanted to deny it. And I’ve missed you so damn much.” Her voice cracked on the last word. She could have easily lost him.
His grip tightened slightly and she leaned down, erasing the distance between them. The instant her lips brushed against his, the spark of awareness flared out to all her nerve endings. A simple kiss shouldn’t have this much effect on her, but Graysen West was alive and relatively well.
She couldn’t let Graysen go. Simply couldn’t do it. He’d risked his life to save hers and he was one of the best men she’d ever known. She was going to hold on to him tight and never let go.
Chapter 20
Saturday night
“I feel almost guilty having a good time while Graysen is in the hospital.” Emerson tightened her fingers around Carlito’s.
He hadn’t been sure if she’d want to even come out tonight but was glad she had. They’d been in and out of the hospital all day Friday and most of today just waiting for Graysen to be able to take visitors. “Visiting hours were over and Isa was staying with him. There’s nothing we could have done but sit in the waiting room overnight.” And that wasn’t his idea of a good time with Emerson. Not when he was dying to get her back to his place, strip her naked and get inside her. He’d been thinking of doing that since they’d been freed Thursday—okay, for the past six months.
“I know. Still…” She trailed off, smiled as he opened the door to his truck for her.
He planned to put an even bigger smile on her face tonight. As he strapped her in, he brushed his lips over hers, deepened the kiss for just a second before pulling back. Her
lips were glossy as she looked up at him. Growling, he shut the door and rounded to the driver’s side. They’d be home soon.
“So what did you think of the parade?” The annual Christmas boat parade was something he’d only gone to a couple times and that had been years ago, and never with a date. He hadn’t even wanted to go tonight, but after what Emerson had been through, he’d wanted to give her a sense of normalcy in her life again.
“I loved it.” She reached over, linked her fingers with his as he steered his way through the packed parking lot.
He loved that she didn’t hold back with her affection. Now that they were officially together, she made it clear to everyone that she was his and vice versa. It eased an ache inside him he hadn’t realized had been so deep. Still, he was counting down until he had a ring on her finger. Then the whole damn world would know she was his.
“You know, I have a friend who got, uh, intimate with her now-husband at that parade.”
He glanced over to see her cheeks flushing that sexy shade of pink he adored. “At the parade?”
“Oh yeah. She’s actually married to one of the guys at Red Stone. I couldn’t believe it when she told me.”
“Hmm.”
“What?”
“Just thinking about the logistics of that—and wondering if you’d be quiet enough for me to stroke you to climax.”
Just as he’d hoped, her cheeks flushed even darker. She cleared her throat. “Hopefully you’ll find out if I’m quiet or loud soon enough.”
He just grinned as he pulled out onto the main street, leaving the crowded parking lot of the park behind. Green and red lights were strung up around trees and light poles all along this strip. “I plan to tonight.”
Her breathing increased ever so slightly and just like that, his cock turned rock hard. Tonight was the first night of many with Emerson. The anticipation of stretching her out naked on his bed, of finally claiming her, of seeing every inch of her curves… He shifted uncomfortably.