by Jen Talty
Poor Michelle. She didn’t deserve the cards she’d been dealt. Nor did her unborn child.
“The second signature page of this document is also an NDA, stating you can’t acknowledge they paid you a penny.”
Brooke gladly sighed.
“The only contingency on this one is they get back anything you have in your possession that your grandmother indicated was given to her by Wendell Knoll Ramsworth the 1st.”
“Tristan has everything ready to be returned.”
Jillian took the stack of papers, setting them aside and pulled out one last set. “This is the offer we discussed from my husband and Doug. You can have an outside attorney look at, which I recommend.”
Brooke flipped through the pages. The offer for the property was more than fair. Part of her wished she had a bigger attachment to the piece of land and the house, but even if she did, it was ruined by the fact the Ramsworth’s were right down the street. “I’m good with this.”
“I highly recommend you having an outside person check over the numbers.”
Brooke shook her head. “I need to put an end to this part of my life, and start fresh.” She signed the last set of papers.
Jillian nodded. “It’s a cash deal, so you’ll be able to close in thirty days or less.”
“Thanks for taking care of all this for me.”
“You might want to rescind that when you get my bill.”
Brooke laughed.
“What are you going to do now?” Jillian asked.
“My community service and anger management classes are up here, so until those are done, Tristan said I could stay with him. After that, I need to find a job and move on.”
Jillian smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed. “Things going well with Tristan I take it?”
“Honestly, right now they are a little awkward.”
“Why?” Jillian had a motherly personality, but one without judgement.
“He seemed taken aback that I didn’t want him staying here all day every day here with me and pushed him into finishing his recertification for SCUBA.” Brooke ran her good hand across the yoga pants Tristan had dropped off last night for her to wear home today. “He’s been so tired when he comes to visit, I feel bad, knowing he needs his sleep, so I sent him home.”
“Tristan is a tough read sometimes.” Jillian smiled sweetly. “I don’t know Stacey’s co-workers like Doug or Jim do, but I know enough about Tristan to know that almost losing you tore open some old wounds that will probably never heal completely.”
Brooke nodded. Tamara’s death would always be a part of who Tristan was as a man as much as the loss of her parents and grandparents would forever be a part of her physiological make-up “He’s picking me up shortly. Technically, I was released hours ago, but he was adamant I not find another ride back to his place and I can give him that.”
“You’re very much in love with him,” Jillian said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. “It’s quite obvious he loves you back.”
The corners of Brooke’s mouth tugged upward into a smile. Tears welled in her eyes. “That’s what makes this awkwardness so difficult and the fact we’ve never really said it out loud to each other.”
“Jim was so afraid of those three little words.” Jillian fiddled with her wedding ring. “He’d dedicated his entire life to Stacey and Doug that letting a woman in felt selfish to him. I related to that because of my own situation with my kid. We avoided saying our feelings out loud for months until one morning, we were all sitting around the breakfast table.”
“All?” Brooke asked, finding herself enjoying this tale of happily-ever-after.
“I’d spent the night at Jim’s place and Doug and Stacey were still living there. They’d just gotten engaged.” Jillian laughed quietly. “Jim looked at me and said, ‘I know you love me, and I love you too, so move in with us.’ Stacey spit out her coffee and Doug choked on a piece of bacon. I just smiled, and said it’s about time.”
“That’s so sweet.” Brooke remembered the first time Tristan had used the word love, but qualified it with ‘I think’. Right after, all hell broke loose and it had been an emotional upheaval until now.
She had yet to say the words, and perhaps that was the problem.
“Take the time and stay with him while you finish out the necessary evils to get back on your feet. Enjoy each other and really get to know one another. The words will come when you’re both ready.”
“Thank you,” Brooke said taking the older woman’s hands in hers. “You’ve been such a good friend.”
“I hope we can remain friends. I’m always here.”
A tap at the door startled both women.
“Hi ladies,” Tristan said as he waltzed in.
“I was just on my way out.” Jillian leaned in, giving Brooke a warm embrace. “He’s changed for the better because of you,” she whispered.
Brooke watched Tristan hug Jillian before she glided out the door.
“Did you sign all the papers?” He sat down on the edge of the bed, gliding his hand up and down her thigh.
“I’m officially a rich bitch.”
He laughed. “You can do anything you want, including starting your own business if you wanted.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think that is what I want, but I’m going to take the six weeks of community service and workshops to make sure I’m the person I want to be and then find the right job. There are a few at Highland that are promising.”
“I hope the jobs are at least somewhat close to me, though I’m not opposed to relocating anywhere in New York.”
She smiled. “Are you saying you’d move for me?”
He nodded, tugging at her arm. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve got something to show you.”
***
Tristan helped Brooke step from the dock onto his fishing boat. It was hard to believe he’d only known her less than a month. Every morning he woke up thinking about her and every night he went to bed wanting to hold her.
The last five days had been torture. Not only because he couldn’t hold her in his arms all night, but he hadn’t spent all his waking hours with her because of his recertification for SCUBA. She’d been right when she told him to finish his training, which was the only reason he’d done it. He sensed her need for him to finish those things he was passionate about. He would have done the same thing had he’d been the one laying in the hospital bed.
“Where should I sit?” she asked.
“On the bench behind the steering wheel.” He untied the boat, before jumping in and starting the engines, sitting down next the only woman in the world who understood him.
“Where are we going?”
“Nowhere in particular.” A true statement. All he needed was for the sun to set, which should happen in the next ten minutes or so. “I thought a night in the fresh air would do you some good.”
She snuggled up against him, resting her good hand on his thigh.
He navigated the boat up the shoreline, keeping the throttle just in gear. No need for speed. Just a leisurely ride toward the wide-open space just south of Dome Island. Lucky for him, there was no breeze and the only waves he had to deal with were those made by other boats.
She shivered, wrapping her sweater tighter around her body.
“Cold?” he asked, hugging her closer.
“I can’t believe how much the temperature has dropped in the last week.”
He kissed her temple, careful not to rub against her cheek. Her scream the night Rayburn intended to kill her still haunted his dreams. “I’m sorry that I didn’t get to you sooner,” he whispered in her ear.
“You need to stop apologizing for that. None of it was your fault, and you did find me before he could inflict real damage.”
Tristan growled right before he gently kissed her neck, making sure he didn’t touch where she’d been burned or cut. “He hurt you. That right there is too much damage.”
She shifted, facing him. Her eyes a mix
of red and orange, only the red lacked any anger at all. “That night.” She palmed her neck. “You held me and told me it was over and it is. The beast is dead. Wendell is in jail and hopefully going to prison for a very long time.” She kissed his cheek. “I’m alive, and thanks to you and your friends, I have the chance to reboot my life.”
“Hopefully that reboot includes me.” He kissed her lips before she had a chance to say anything.
The light from the sun disappeared as the night sky took over. Tristan put the boat in neutral and shut off the engine, letting the watercraft float in the calm water. He stood up, making his way to the bow of the boat and arranged the cushions before spreading out a blanket. He could feel her calmness, but that didn’t help his nerves. He wanted to spend the rest of his life loving her like there was no such thing as a broken heart. “Come here.” He held out his hand, thankful it didn’t tremble like the rest of his body.
She smiled sweetly, which warmed his heart, but the cuts and bruises affected him to the core. At times, he felt like he had failed her somehow, as if he’d been the one that had caused her cuts and bruises. He’d felt the same way the day Tamara died. Intellectually, he understood it wasn’t his fault, but emotionally, it was impossible to shed the guilt completely.
“Lay down with me.” He helped her to the floor of the boat, pulling her head to his chest. “The first night we met.”
“Must you remind me? I was so toasted it’s embarrassing.”
“You never have to be embarrassed with me. Remember, I’m the guy who made the comment about your breasts not being too far apart.”
“But they are.” She laughed.
“Far apart? Yes. But that’s the way I like them.”
She looped her arm around his middle. “What are we doing out here?”
He held her hand, using her pointer finger and touched different stars in the sky. “That night, when I was trying to tell you that you’d had too much to drink, you managed to fall into my lap.”
“Orion’s belt,” she whispered. “I see it now.”
“You remember.” He turned his head, catching his gaze.
“There are parts of that night I’m glad I have little recognition of, but I’m glad you picked up the phone when a stranger called.”
He cupped her chin, pressing his lips gently against hers. “Do you remember sitting in the front lawn of your grandfather’s place, discussing my inability to talk to women?”
She laughed. “You do realize that was never really a problem, right?”
“It was, but never with you.” He dropped his forehead to hers, locking gazes. “I had a weird thought about wanting to take you out on the boat, lay under the stars, and just hold you. No woman has ever made me think to do something like this. And honestly, it’s not about being romantic, because we both know that’s not my strong suit.”
“I don’t know, you’re doing an awfully good job right now.”
“Wait ten minutes, I’ll blow it.”
She rubbed her nose against his. “But I adore your idiosyncrasies.”
He groaned. “Are you going to let me get through this?”
She nodded.
“The night we had dinner with my parents I said something to you that has been hanging between us ever since.” He traced a path from her earlobe down to her cleavage. The necklace she’d been wearing when he’d met her gone, and the space felt bare. He dug deep in his pocket, pulling out a small velvet bag.
He sat up, and pulling her with him. He tugged at the strings on the pouch. “My family has no heirlooms or anything we passed down from generation to generation. But when Tamara died, my mother took all the pieces of jewelry my sister owned and made one necklace, a matching bracelet, and earrings out of it. I had no idea she’d done that until I called to tell her what happened to you.” He paused to wipe his eyes. “You’d been in and out of consciousness the entire ride to the hospital. It had been hard enough to see that animal hurt you, but sitting in that waiting room, waiting to find out if you were okay, was one of the worst days of my life.”
His hands trembled as he dumped the contents of the bag into his hands.
“Tristan.” She cupped his face.
“Please let me finish.” It would be so easy to let her do or say whatever, versus him spilling is guts.
She needed to deal with her anger and move forward.
He needed to break down a few more walls.
“My mother handed me these.” Carefully, he wrapped the necklace around her neck, fumbling at the clasp for what seemed like an eternity. Next, he wrapped the bracelet around her wrist, but couldn’t fasten it. “Will you please help me?”
She laughed as she easily secured the silver chain around her sexy wrist.
“And these?” He held up the earrings.
She smiled, taking them in her good hand, admiring them for a moment before sliding them into the holes in her ears.
He shook out his hands before resting them on her slender hips. “My mother told me she had no idea why she had these made until the night she met you, which was the same night I told you I was falling in love with you.”
She cupped his face. “Are you still falling?”
“No,” he said. “I’m totally, madly, head over heels in love with you.”
“Good.” She pressed her lips against his. “I’m madly in love with you too.”
He smiled, fingering the new locket that dangled between her breasts. Right now, it was empty and he looked forward to seeing what she put in it.
“So, are we going to get naked out here under the stars, or do I have to wait until we get home?” she asked.
“How about here, and then again at home?”
“You don’t have to offer that twice.”
Tristan tapped his chest with her forefinger. “You might have been a stranger when you called, but I was in love with you long before that.”
THE END
THE OMEGA TEAM: the SARICH BROTHERS series
THE LIGHTHOUSE AVAILABLE NOW!
READ AN EXCERPT!
LOGAN SARICH DUMPED his rucksack next to his boss’s door, well aware he hadn’t showered in forty-eight hours and the Tampa summer humidity clung to his pores like flies on shit. “Hey boss.” He pushed open the door. Normally, he’d go clean up after an op, but the boss lady said it was urgent. “Where’s Grey?”
“Talking with a client,” Athena Madero said, plugging her nose. She and Grey Holden had originally worked together in a covert investigation, which resulted in them joining forces to create THE OMEGA TEAM. “What’s that smell?”
“A combination of two days of surveillance, stale coffee, fish tacos, a hot dog, and something I can’t pronounce,” Logan said, smiling. “You told me it was urgent.”
She shook her head. “No, I said to get your ass in here as soon as you can. Next time wash that ripe smell off before you enter my space.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Logan had only been working for The Omega Team for six months, after spending six years in the Special Forces, and before that, six years in the infantry. “I can leave and come back, if you’d prefer.”
“I’ve smelled worse.” She pushed a file toward the end of the table. “I’ve got a job for you.”
He’d been hoping for a couple of days off, but he’d taken this job under the premise that all he wanted to do was work.
Be careful what you ask for.
He picked up the file.
“In Jupiter, Florida,” she said.
He didn’t open the file, just peered over the top. “You want me to go to my hometown for a job?”
“Open it.” Athena sat back down, crossing her legs, swiveling the chair.
Logan did as asked, but frowned the moment he saw a picture of Mia Vanderin and her twin brother Markus. “My mother works for the Vanderlin’s. I can’t take this job.”
“You can.” Athena arched a brow. “And you will.”
Logan had learned his first week on the job not to argue w
ith the boss lady. “What’s the assignment?”
“Bodyguard.”
“Of the twins?” He flipped through the pages, ignoring the childhood memories of skinny dipping with the smartest and sexiest girl in school. “Why?”
“Mia and Markus are ethical hackers. Mia was hired to do a security check for DANA Corp.”
“The defense contractor?”
Athena nodded. “While doing the check, Mia found some sort of virus that swapped out good specs with bad ones.”
“So, stealing information from DANA Corp?”
“We believe an organization known as STEALTH was behind the attack, but it hasn’t been confirmed.”
“I take it she blew the whistle?”
“Not at first.”
“Please don’t tell me she messed with the A-Hole’s in STEALTH.” But Logan knew the answer. When messed with, Mia tended to fight back.
“She created a program that would spit out false information to STEALTH regarding various defense contracts and designs on some top-secret material. She also managed to send a message to the CIA, who were able to trace the origin of the original hack back to an abandoned warehouse. The CIA have people in custody. None of them are talking.”
“Where?”
“Like the CIA is going to tell us that.” She held her hand up. “And they aren’t talking to us either, so let’s focus on the assignment.”
Logan still knew a few people at the Agency, and he suspected his boss knew that he’d use his contacts. “If she’s the one who ratted out STEALTH, why does Markus need protection?”
“STEALTH threatened Mia directly, but since they are business partners, she thinks he could be a target as well.”
Logan should dump the file back on Athena’s desk. While it would be good to see Mia and her brother again, no way would he be setting foot on that property. “Why isn’t the CIA protecting them?”
“They have bigger issues to deal with, like a breach in security, so when Mia was threatened, her family called us.”
“We are the best.” Logan tried not to wince at the memory of the last time he’d been at Mia’s house. “I’m grateful for the work, but seriously, someone else has to take this one. I know for a fact that Mr. and Mrs. Vanderlin will take one look at me and slam the door in my face.”