Claiming Grace (Ace Security Book 1)

by Susan Stoker

  Grace nodded and thanked her, obviously not happy with what the doctor said, and a few tears leaked out of her eyes. Logan had been beside her throughout the entire exam and now tenderly wiped away her tears and held her close to his heart, trying to show her with his actions how much he loved her.

  They left an hour after they’d arrived, both relieved the exam was over. They hadn’t said much while they were at the hospital and kept silent even as they nodded at the doorman and made their way up to Alexis’s apartment. It wasn’t until the door shut behind them, when they were safe inside, that Logan broke the silence.

  “Shower?”

  “God, yes,” Grace breathed.

  “Solo? Or would you mind if I joined you?”

  “You. Please.”

  The shower wasn’t erotic; it was more cathartic. While Logan always appreciated Grace’s body, he only wanted to take care of her now. Show her how much she meant to him. How thankful he was that she was all right. He soaped up her body and made sure to scrub her thoroughly, but carefully. When he was satisfied she was squeaky clean from head to toe, Logan shut off the water and dried her carefully.

  He drew the T-shirt he’d been wearing over Grace’s head, needing to see her in her usual sleeping attire, and smiled as it engulfed her frame. He put his boxers back on and led them to the guest room.

  Even after everything that had happened, maybe because of what had happened, Logan felt closer to Grace than he ever had before. She’d been through hell, but she was all right, and hadn’t shied away from his need to be near her, to touch her, to reassure himself that she truly was okay. She crawled into the bed and waited for him to follow. Logan lay on his back and sighed in contentment as Grace snuggled into his side and threw one arm and a leg over his body, getting as close to him as she could.

  “Are you . . . upset about the pictures?” she asked after a while in a soft voice.

  “Yes, but probably not for the reasons you think.”

  Grace lifted her head and looked at him expectantly.

  “I’m upset because they violated you. Oh, they might not have done anything to you sexually, but they took away your will. They touched you without your knowledge or permission.”

  “Do you think we’ll find anything that will make my parents stop? Make them forget about me and move on with their lives?”

  “Yes.” Logan’s answer was immediate and heartfelt. “Absolutely. My brothers and I have made it our personal mission to take them down. We’re going to make sure they never hurt you again, Grace.”

  She put her head back down on Logan’s shoulder. “I love you. I’ve loved you forever, it seems. Sometimes I’m afraid you’re going to get tired of my parents constantly coming between us and decide it’s just too much work.”

  “Not gonna happen, Grace. I know all about parents who aren’t June and Ward Cleaver.”

  “If it becomes too much-”

  “Never. Grace, we love each other. Period. I love you, not your parents. We’re gonna deal with this and move on with our lives. Got it?”

  Logan could feel her smile against his shoulder. He knew he’d spend the rest of his life making sure she could laugh with him.

  “Got it. Yes, sir. Whatever you say.”

  “That’s better. Now, get some sleep. I have a feeling we’re gonna be very busy for the next couple of days.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Grace. Now sleep.”

  Logan lay awake long after Grace fell into a deep, healing sleep, realizing he’d been extremely lucky. He not only had gotten a second chance with Grace, but today he’d gotten a third one. He vowed then and there that he wouldn’t risk her safety again. He wasn’t going to lose her. No matter what.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The next week was a whirlwind of investigations as Ace Security worked with the Castle Rock police, then the FBI. Every morsel of information Nathan and Blake dug up was one more nail in the Masons’ coffin. Every day, Logan drove down to Castle Rock and worked with his brothers, and surprisingly, Alexis, to dig into the Masons’ hidden life.

  Blake had been reluctant to involve Brad’s sister at first, but she’d proven to be remarkably good at getting people to open up to her. Probably because she looked way younger than she was, and therefore totally nonthreatening. She was also really good at figuring out how to persuade each person to talk. She’d been able to get two of the women who worked in the Mason household to confess that they’d tried to quit years ago, but Margaret had refused to let them go. They knew too much about what happened behind the closed doors of the mansion, so she basically threatened their families to make sure they stayed.

  They also discovered what kind of people Margaret and Walter met with during odd hours. The kind of people who were paid in cash, under the table. Nathan also found current employees at Mason Architectural Firm who told him about questionable business practices the Masons used to win bids on projects and safety steps they’d skipped when they were involved in an actual build.

  They’d also found the third man who’d been in the pictures with Grace and Brad. The tattoos on his body were put into a database of known criminals, and they’d gotten a hit. He was a gang member in Denver, with several prior convictions on his rap sheet. Having no loyalty to either of the Masons, he hadn’t hesitated to tell the cops how he’d been hired, exactly how much he’d been paid to participate in the blackmail scheme, and that neither Bradford nor Grace had been raped while they’d been unconscious.

  The strongest lead, and the one that interested the FBI the most, was from the Masons’ accountant. Nathan had convinced the man that it was only a matter of time before Walter and Margaret turned against him and set him up to take the fall for the company and their illegal activities. The man agreed to talk to the FBI in exchange for immunity.

  Grace was more than happy to stay in Denver when Logan was working, hiding out in Alexis’s apartment. She was in constant contact with him via texts and frequent phone calls, both of them needing the reassurance that the other was all right. Logan had bought her another new cell phone and brought her clothes from his place. Felicity had visited a few times, helping Grace pass the time and making her feel more normal with every visit. Neither Logan nor Grace particularly enjoyed not being at their own place, but at the moment, living at Alexis’s apartment was the safest, and smartest, thing to do.

  The Grants said they would fully cooperate with the investigation and allowed Ace Security to install hidden cameras and recorders at their home and office in case the Masons came to them with the photos. They agreed not to press charges until after the investigation was complete. The noose was quickly closing around Grace’s parents, whether they knew it or not.

  Five days after she’d been kidnapped, Logan was cuddling Grace on Alexis’s huge couch. “How are you holding up?” he asked her gently.

  “I just . . . it’s so hard to believe,” Grace told him honestly. “With everything that has happened, it makes me wonder if I ever really knew them. Do you think they loved me at all? Even a little bit?”

  “I’m not sure they know how to love,” Logan told her gently. “I mean, how anyone can not love their own child is beyond me. And I’ve been there. I know exactly what you’re going through.”

  Grace nodded, understanding. “I think I stayed with them because they gave me small glimpses of the love I wanted so badly.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t realize what you were going through back then,” Logan told her. “I figured because your family had money, a big house, and servants, that you had to have a perfect life.”

  “Money doesn’t equal happiness.”

  “I understand that now,” Logan told her.

  “What if . . .” her voice trailed off.

  “What if, what?” Logan urged her to continue.

  Her voice lowered until he could barely hear her. “What if . . . do you think since I’m their daughter that I could end up being like-”

  “No
. Absolutely not. Grace, you’re one of the most kindhearted people I’ve ever met in my life. You care about stray dogs and cats, and I’ve seen you happily snuggle up to children who you didn’t even know. Margaret and Walter Mason might have created you, but despite all the odds being against you, you’ve become a beautiful, loving, caring, sensitive human being. You’re twenty-eight. I think if you were going to turn out to be a raving lunatic, you would’ve seen some inkling of it by now. Are you afraid that because I’m Rose Anderson’s son that one day I’m going to start beating on you?”

  “No!” Grace told him emphatically, raising up on her elbows to glare down at him for even voicing the thought.

  “Then why do you think you might suddenly turn into your mother?”

  “Oh. I guess you have a point.”

  “Yeah. I do. How about we make a deal?” Logan asked, his eyes tender and soft as he looked down at Grace.

  “What kind of deal?”

  “Let’s put our parents and everything they’ve done to us in the past. What’s done is done, and we can’t change it. Me and you are the future. Together we can put the pain of the past behind us so we can embrace the promise of what tomorrow holds. Yeah?”

  Grace brought a hand up and wrapped it around the back of his neck, stroking him with her fingers. “I’d like that.”

  “Me too. I love you, Grace. We were meant to be with each other. I have no doubt.”

  She looked into his eyes, not shying away from direct eye contact. “Make love to me?”

  “With pleasure.”

  He smoothed his hands up from her hips, taking the T-shirt she was wearing up with him and froze.

  His eyes whipped up to hers, and he said in an awed voice, “When did you get this?”

  “Two days ago when you went down to Castle Rock to help Blake with that escort job, Felicity and I went.”

  Logan leaned forward and ran his nose lightly over the new tattoo on her inner left breast, exactly where he’d told her he’d love to see it someday. “Does it hurt?”

  “It’s a little sore.”

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “Well, it’ll be more beautiful when it heals. I chose pink because, after you suggested it, I couldn’t get the image out of my mind.”

  Logan ran a finger over the small bird in flight now inked on her skin, smiling as goose bumps rose on her torso and her nipples peaked at his touch. “I’m making an appointment for the first day I have off to get my own tattoo. I can’t believe you beat me to it.”

  She smiled down at him in happiness.

  Logan had a sudden thought, and he gave her an evil grin. “Was this the only tattoo you got the other day?”

  Grace didn’t respond, simply returned his smile with a flirty one of her own.

  Logan got off her and leaned backward, taking Grace with him until she straddled his lap on the couch. He took her head in his hands and held her close to him and asked seriously, “You’re okay with this? No weird feelings about what happened or about making love with me?”

  “I’m sure. I feel safe with you, Logan. When we’re together I feel strong, in control. Being with you is like riding on the back of your bike. I’m free. Free to do what feels good, to be myself.”

  He crushed his mouth to hers. They writhed in each other’s arms, desperate for the other. Before she’d been kidnapped, they’d made love almost every day, but since then, he’d been holding off, unsure of how she’d feel about being intimate.

  Grace arched away from him, her head thrown back, and her hands resting on his knees. Logan took his time, sucking and nibbling on each breast, worshipping her new tattoo with his eyes and his fingers. She squirmed in his lap, obviously loving what he was doing to her.

  Grace moaned and moved a hand to the back of his head, pushing him harder into her. “Logan, please. Fuck me.”

  Knowing they’d never make it to the guest room, Logan reached between them and undid his jeans with one hand, not letting go of the nipple he was torturing with his mouth. It took a bit of maneuvering, but finally his cock sprang free from its confines.

  He hooked his index finger in the gusset of Grace’s pink cotton panties, pulling it to the side, exposing her glistening folds and urged her upward.

  “You fuck me, Grace. Go on, take what you want. What we both need.”

  And she did.

  It was as if his words set her free. She reached down and grabbed hold of his dick, wrapping her hand around it and caressing it from root to tip, then back down, smearing his pre-come along his length.

  Then she grabbed the base and held him steady as she notched the purple-mushroomed head to herself and slammed down on him in one quick motion.

  Logan didn’t know where her moan started and his ended. All he knew was the tight, wet feel of her pussy contracting around his hard length felt so good, it was almost painful. He’d been afraid that she wasn’t ready for him, but he shouldn’t have been.

  She was dripping, and as she pulled up then pushed down on him, Logan felt her juices coating his cock and dripping onto his balls. This wasn’t going to be a nice, polite coupling. It was going to be a raunchy, messy fuck. And it was perfect.

  Grace rode him as if her life depended on it. Her hands rested on his shoulders for balance, her head was thrown back and she moved both up and down and forward and backward on his lap, making sure her clit came into maximum contact with his cock on every downstroke.

  He might’ve felt used if it wasn’t for the nonstop praise and love coming from her mouth.

  “Logan. God, you feel so good. I love you so much. I had no idea it could be this good. Fuck, yeah.”

  Logan was breathing as hard as she was but didn’t even notice. His hands were clamped onto her hips, encouraging her to move faster on him. He leaned forward, biting the side of her tit next to the bird tattoo as it bounced up and down along with her movements. It really did look as if the bird was taking flight, just as he’d fantasized.

  Logan finally drew back when he felt Grace’s thighs begin to tremble. He knew her orgasm was close. Logan looked down at where they were connected, and moved his right hand to her clit, pushing her panties to the side and seeing the tattoo on her hip for the first time. These birds were smaller than the one on the side of her breast, but their impact on him was no less potent. There were two tiny birds on her left hip in black ink. Their wings were open as if in flight, and their beaks were open as if they were singing.

  “The one on the right represents you and the one on the left is me,” Grace said breathlessly, seeing where his eyes were. “It looks like they’re singing until you use a black light, then you can see what they’re holding in their mouths. Mine is holding an L and yours is holding a G.”

  “Fuck me,” Logan breathed. “They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful. And mine. Come for me, Smarty,” he encouraged, using his thumb to flick over Grace’s clit.

  Logan kept his thumb on her clit as she screamed out her release, undulating on his lap, her orgasm forcing his own. He held himself still inside her as both their bodies twitched.

  She jerked in his arms once more as his thumb swiped over the sensitive bundle of nerves a last time, then collapsed onto his chest, breathing hard, as if she’d run a five-minute mile. Logan buried his nose in her neck, her hair covering his face, making him feel as though they were the only two people on the planet.

  “I love you, Smarty. Will you marry me?” Logan hadn’t planned the words, but he realized at that moment that he wanted nothing more than for her to become Grace Anderson. Ace would’ve been proud to have Grace as a daughter-in-law, and Logan knew his brothers would embrace having her as a sister.

  Grace rolled her head back and looked up at him with a sated, almost drugged look. She bit her lip as her eyes filled with tears. She took a deep breath and nodded. “There’s nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life with you, Logan.”

  They both smiled and their lips met in a gentle, life-affirming kiss. There
were still a lot of unknowns in their lives, but those could be worked out. The most important thing was that they loved each other.

  Love overcomes evil.

  Every time.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  One morning, weeks after she’d been kidnapped, Logan received a phone call. Grace heard only his side of the conversation, but it sounded like something was finally happening in the case.

  “Hello? Hey, what’s up? Really? This morning? Where? That’s good. I’ll see what she thinks. Appreciate the heads-up. Later.”

  “Who was that?” Grace asked eagerly as soon as he hung up. “Something’s happening?”

  Logan came over and sat on the small couch next to her, putting his hand on the nape of her neck, his thumb caressing her tattoo as he often did. He told her, “The arrest warrants were signed today. The police will be going to pick up your parents for kidnapping, extortion, blackmail, and several other charges stemming from their shoddy business practices.”

  Grace breathed a sigh of relief and clutched his biceps. “So it’s over?”

  “Yeah, Smarty. It’s over.”

  “We can go home?”

  A huge smile broke out on Logan’s face. “We can go home,” he confirmed.

  Grace threw herself into Logan’s arms and hugged him as tightly as she could. “Thank God. I don’t mind staying up here in Denver, but I can’t wait to get back into a real home.”

  “I’m not sure I’d call my condo a ‘real home,’ Smarty.”

  “You know what I mean,” Grace said, pulling back and looking at him.

  “Yeah, but I’ve been thinking about it. You deserve a home that’s better than a cheap condo. What would you say to going house hunting with me?”

  Her eyes sparkled with joy. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Yes! Of course, yes!”

  “Before you get too excited, I need to ask you a question. It’s about today,” Logan told her gently.

  Grace’s enthusiasm ebbed, but she still said lightly, “Shoot.”