She turned her head, and I saw a look I wasn’t quite happy with on her face. “Gannon, I have to go back to my bedroom to sleep. Braiden’s monitor is in there and … well ... I don’t want anyone to catch us like this.”
“But …”
She kissed me softly then pulled away, climbing out of my bed and grabbing her clothes, pulling them on as I laid there and watched her in utter confusion.
“But nothing, babe. I can’t stay in your room with you. I don’t want the staff to figure out what we’re doing. You do remember what we talked about earlier, right? Keeping this a secret?” She picked up her bra and hid it underneath her shirt. “I had a great time. And I’m really glad we did this. There’s no one else who could’ve ever been better. Night, babe.”
“Brooke, I want you to stay. I don’t want to hide this from anyone.” I found my voice sounding too pleading. So I cleared my throat. “Brooke, baby, I love you. I want you with me. Here in my bed. A bed I hope you’ll call our bed.”
With a light giggle, she shook her head, making the golden waves bounce around her. “No, silly. Night. I’ll see you at the breakfast table in the morning.” She blew me a kiss and then she was gone.
My door closed and there I was alone and wondering when in the hell I had lost the upper hand.
Chapter 20
Gannon
The next morning, my heart had never felt so light and full at the same time. I had had no idea love felt this way. My initial instinct was to head straight into Brooke’s room and wake her with a long, sweet kiss, but I knew she had to be exhausted and so I managed to somehow resist.
As I straightened my tie, I noticed my cell lying on the nightstand. There was a message that I’d somehow missed.
It was from a number I didn’t have in my contacts.
My eyes scanned it, and I froze suddenly.
-Drop the nightclub, or we’ll kill your son. This is not a threat; this is a promise.-
Dropping, the phone, I ran to check on Braiden. Throwing the door open on the still dark room as the sun had yet to come up, I found him safe and still sleeping. Almost shaking with relief, I tucked one of his legs back underneath the blanket and kissed the top of his head before I left him again. As I strode down the hall, I called my bodyguard and told him I wanted him inside.
Samson had been with me since I was a teenager. He was in his early twenties and had been less than ten years older than me when my father hired him to be my bodyguard. He was adept at staying out of sight most of the time. He lived in a small house on the side of mine. To most, it looked like a toolshed. He liked it that way. Said he had the perfect perspective of both the front and the back entrances from where it was placed. Plus, no one would ever suspect he was right there, close enough to get to anyone who tried to get to me.
My mother referred to him as my guardian angel. Seldom seen, but always there.
He and I passed in the foyer as he came inside. “Stay with them today, Samson.” I showed him the text.
“Got it, boss.” He looked at me with those dark eyes that I knew had seen many horrors. An ex-Marine, I knew he had some stories that could curl my hair. But he never told me any. He and I weren’t friends. He was my protector, and he took that job seriously. “And how about you?”
“They’re more important right now.” I shoved my hand through my hair. It was a nervous tic that I’d never learned to conquer. “See if you can find someone for me when you get time. I want you watching over them both. I know the threat is with my son, but his babysitter would definitely jump in front of a bullet for him. You’ll have to keep her safe too. But don’t let them know you’re doing it just yet. Watch over them, but keep it covert. I’ll talk to Brooke about it when I get back home.”
“Yes, sir. I’m on it. They’ll never know I’m watching them.” He headed out of the room and stopped to look back at me. “You be careful, Gannon. I don’t like leaving you unprotected. Maybe it would be better if you called the police and had them come out here.”
“I don’t want to upset Brooke with this. It might be someone the cops can easily find, since I have a phone number.” I turned to leave. “I’ll be fine. And I’ll be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary.”
I could tell Samson wasn’t taking this well, but he walked away to go watch over the people I loved the most in the entire world.
***
On the way to the police station, I made the calls to the other men involved in the nightclub. Neither had been contacted, it was just me, but they met me at the police station anyway.
With the vandalism, and now a threat like this one, it was more than obvious that someone wanted to end our nightclub. But for what reason, none of us had even the slightest clue.
We met in front of the police station just as the sun broke the horizon. The place wasn’t bustling yet as we went inside. August looked tired, and I knew it was a bit early for him to be up.
“You know, I can probably handle this on my own, guys.”
Both shook their heads as Nixon said, “No. We’re all in this together. A threat on your kid isn’t a thing we can sit back and allow you to deal with all alone. The only reason we weren’t threatened is because neither of us has anyone in our lives who they could use to get to us.”
August nodded in agreement. “That’s right, Gannon. We’re all in this together.”
After waiting what all three of us deemed too damn long, we were finally able to talk to a detective. We had no idea he’d been assigned to the investigation of the incident that happened at the club. Detective Peterson had been on that case, and nothing had been found out. So none of us were happy with his work or the fact that they were sticking him on this thing too. The one thing he did manage to find out for us was that the number the text had come from was a dummy number, not real.
Leaving the police station, we all decided it was time to hire our own guys to get to the bottom of this.
August muttered, “Can you believe that guy?”
Nixon shook his head. “He’s a joke.”
We walked back to our cars that were parked in the parking lot, which had now become quite full as three hours had gone by and the day had officially started.
Pressing the key fob to unlock my car, I growled, “Who the hell in Vegas would care enough about what we’re building here to go this far?”
The detective had had one idea in his ancient bald head. He had told us he was looking into the other owners of the upscale nightclubs in Las Vegas. He thought it had to be one or more of them who didn’t want the competition our club would bring.
The old guy’s exact words had been, ‘There just aren’t that many super-rich people on the entire planet who can afford to go to expensive clubs like that.’
If that’s the way the detective that had been assigned our case thought, then we’d end up with nothing if we relied on only him to figure this shit out before something else terrible happened. Something worse, potentially.
“You head home, Gannon.” Nixon jerked his head toward the car his bodyguard was in. “My guy will follow you to make sure you get there okay. We’re going to have to make some changes here. Let our drivers take us where we need to go. Keep our bodyguards closer than we normally do. We can’t underestimate who’s doing this.”
With a nod, I had to agree, “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, we had the entire crew take lie detector tests, and none of them had anything to do with the explosive device that was set at the club. There’s someone with some serious connections who has to be doing this.”
“Either that,” August added, “Or some completely inept person who has no idea what they’re getting themselves into.”
I had no idea which one it was, but I knew I’d find the motherfucker and make him pay for threatening my son.
Chapter 21
Brooke
Waking up the next morning with a dreamy smile on my face, I half wondered if I’d imagined everything. Then I tried sitting up on the side of t
he bed and groaned “Ow …”
It definitely was not a dream. Everything hurt. Literally every part of my body, inside and out hurt. I had had no idea that sex used that many muscles in the human body. After last night, I must’ve burned every calorie I had in my body because I was also starving to death.
Slowly, I got up and hobbled to the bathroom that was attached to my bedroom. A hot shower limbered me up quickly.
After getting Braiden up and getting him cleaned up and dressed, he and I headed down to breakfast. I was feeling a little shy about seeing Gannon at the table that morning and pretending in front of the staff that he hadn’t completely rocked my world the night before.
When I rounded the corner to the breakfast nook, I found myself smiling away, not able to help it as I thought about seeing Gannon for the first time after our first time.
But I didn’t see him at the table. I looked toward the kitchen, finding Consuela and the rest of her staff cooking away. “Has Gannon come down yet?”
All I got were a lot of shaking heads before Consuela asked, “What will you and Braiden be having this morning, ma’am?”
Looks like a steaming bowl of disappointment.
The hunger I had had vanished in an instant. “Um, scrambled eggs for us both. And don’t forget his fresh fruit.” I put Braiden into his high chair and tried not to show how sad I was that Gannon wasn’t there.
Had he still been in his bedroom?
I should’ve knocked on his door and checked. But he always beat us getting up. But maybe last night’s activities had him sleeping in. Maybe he was just worn out.
Whatever his reasons were for not being at the table that morning, I was sure he hadn’t intentionally meant to hurt me.
Or had he?
Was this his way of telling me that he regretted what we had done? Or worse. Was this what all the other girls who’d ever fallen for his charms had experienced?
Now that he had had me, could it be that he didn’t want me anymore?
God!
I sat down and tried not to look as if I was about to burst into tears, which I was on the cusp of. But I swallowed hard and thought about the fact that I didn’t want anyone to see me breaking down for what they would see as no good reason at all.
But the man I loved, the man I’d given myself to, wasn’t at the damn breakfast table the one morning when I was positive he would be sitting there, waiting for me.
God, I was so stupid.
Brad had warned me. He’d tried to keep me from doing anything stupid with Gannon. But I’d fallen for the man’s deceitful charms anyway.
What a fool!
Sarah came with a carafe of fresh coffee and one cup. One stupid cup!
I was about to tell her I didn’t want any damn coffee. I only drank it because it made me feel like Gannon and I had a little connection. A thing I only did with him: drink coffee.
He wasn’t there, and so I didn’t want any. But I kept my mouth shut and even went so far as to add sugar and cream to the cup of steaming hot coffee like I always did.
I had to keep up the act of everything being perfectly fine. No one could ever know what had transpired between us. And if I acted the least bit off, I knew the people who watched us every morning would know something was going on between our employer and his babysitter.
Moments later, Sarah brought the food for Braiden and me. “Here you are, ma’am.”
None of the staff referred to me as anything else other than ma’am. Ashe was the only one who called me Brooke. Everyone else regarded me differently.
Was that because they saw through me?
Was that because they secretly thought that Gannon and I were messing around and always had been?
Was I being foolish to think the people who were around us the most couldn’t see how we looked at one another?
Perhaps the staff was aware of how we’d fallen in love with each other. Perhaps they wouldn’t tell a soul. Perhaps we could be open with our relationship within these walls.
If we still had one.
Why isn’t he here?
Spooning Braiden’s scrambled eggs into his bird-like waiting mouth, I tried not to think all the bad thoughts I was thinking. Gannon had to have his reasons why he had stood me up at breakfast.
He had to.
The familiar clicking of his shoes on the tile floor had me springing to my feet in relief, turning to see him with my arms almost flying open to embrace him, even though I’d ask to keep things a secret. Then when I saw him, I found him flanked by two massive men and took an uncertain step back. I hadn’t heard their shoes clicking, only Gannon’s.
When I saw his handsome face screwed into a terrible expression, I had no idea what to think. Was he bringing in his goons to have me removed from the premises? That was impossible. He might be a womanizer, but he surely couldn’t be so cruel. Could he?
“Brooke, come with me,” Gannon barked. “Consuela, see to Braiden. Don’t let him out of your sight.”
She hauled ass to the table while I stood frozen in place. Gannon’s hand caught my upper arm, and I stumbled along with him. One goon stayed with Braiden, who was looking at all the new faces in confusion, close to crying, and one followed us.
My heart was pounding, and my mind had drifted into a hazed panic. What the hell is happening?
Gannon opened a door I’d never opened before, and we were inside an office. He closed the door, leaving the giant man on the other side of it. Only then did he take me into his arms. Arms I found were shaking, as was his entire body. But at least he was holding me. He wasn’t pushing me away emotionally or physically.
Thank God.
“Gannon, what’s wrong?”
“Brooke …” His breathing had gone ragged as his arms tightened around me. “I … I’m sorry.”
I had no idea what he was sorry about, but I was feeling much better now that we were in each other’s arms again. “Gannon, talk to me.”
He eased his tight grip on me, running his hands down my arms and taking my hands. A sofa ran along the far wall, and he took me to it, sitting me down on his lap.
Brushing my hair back, he leaned in and kissed my collarbone. “Brooke, someone has threatened Braiden’s life.”
The gasp that came out of me was completely unexpected, and the way my heart stopped was actually frightening. “Who?”
He shook his head. “We don’t know.”
I felt like I might faint. “How?”
He pulled out his cell to show me something. He’d received a text. Someone had sent him a message. Someone wanted him to end things with the club, so much so that they’d threatened his only child’s life to make sure that happened.
“Believe me, if I thought shutting the club down would actually stop this then I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I don’t think that will end anything.” He put the cell back into his breast pocket and pulled me in for a hug. “We have to find this person and put a stop to things.”
“How?” I realized I could only come up with one word at a time. My thoughts were all over the place, making it hard to think hard enough to say a whole sentence.
“My partners and I have hired an investigative team to find whoever is doing this. We’re sure it’s the same person or people who were behind the explosive device at the club.” His lips grazed my neck. “The bodyguards will have to be with us at all times until we find who’s behind this. That’ll mean no more sleeping together, no more making love if you won’t let us go public with our relationship.”
Chapter 22
Gannon
“No,” came her one-word reply.
“Brooke, you can’t be serious. Baby, I need you more than ever now. You have no idea.” Cupping the back of her neck, I pulled her close and kissed her sweet lips. Lips I found were quivering. She kissed me back, and I felt something wet move over my cheek.
She was crying.
Pulling back, I found her with tears rolling down her pink cheeks. “Gannon, we can’t le
t my family know about us. We can’t. It’s for your own good.”
“I’m not some kid, Brooke. I can handle your brother.” I rested my forehead against hers. “Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw that fucking text this morning?” She shook her head and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “All I could think about was the fact that I had finally found love. Love for a son and love for a woman. I had a family. I’ve been alone for too long, with Mom and Dad gone. And I’m not alone anymore. Don’t make me wait any longer, Brooke. Please.”
I was pouring my heart out to someone for the first time in my life.
“You don’t understand, Gannon.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. So I pulled her to me and kissed her again. I wanted her to feel what we had. It was new, but it was strong. And it was real. Why couldn’t she put her worries behind her and just let me take the brunt of her brother? I could handle him. I knew I could.
The kiss had her melting into me, stroking my hair with one hand and running her other hand along my shoulder.
Letting the kiss end, I rested my forehead against hers. “I have a meeting with Brad later today. Let me test the waters with him, Brooke. You’ll see, I can show him that you’ve changed me. I’m not the man I was before you came to live with us here. And I’m completely and hopelessly devoted to you, just the same way I’m devoted to Braiden.” Our lips met once more then I heard her sigh.
“Promise me you won’t blurt anything out.” She pulled back to look at me, taking my face between her palms. “You’ll have to go in easy to make sure he’s taking things well. If not, he’ll beat the living hell out of you and come get me. I know my brother. He’s irrationally protective when it comes to me. My whole family is, Gannon.”
She proceeded to tell me some of the over-the top-things each and every member of her family had done for her and I had to admit there were some crazy things. But I was certain they’d all see the love I genuinely had for their little precious baby girl. She was that to me too, in a way.
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