Patrick was dead. Patrick hadn’t gotten away. Apparently Henry had come after her and he’d taken out Patrick. She’d known deep down he hadn’t always been a pacifist.
“Leave him be, man.”
“Don’t you want to know?” Caleb asked. “I could call my brother. He’s got serious connections. Henry isn’t some professor. He’s trained. He’s either mafia, or more likely CIA. Henry fucking Flanders is ex-CIA. Come on. Don’t you want to know?”
Gemma forced her eyes open. Henry had helped her, probably risking his relationship with his wife. She seriously doubted if Henry had a violent past that Nell knew about it. And it should stay that way. Bliss was a place for second chances. She should know. “Let him be. Henry has his secrets. Let him keep them.”
Caleb frowned, striding to her, checking all the monitors hooked up to her body. “Gemma, you’re in the hospital.”
Yeah, the stark white all around her and the fact that the temperature was twenty degrees below comfortable told her that. She groaned. “I can’t afford the hospital.”
Caleb smiled, a rarity. “Oh, this particular stay is all paid up, Gemma. Look around.”
Her head throbbed, but she forced herself to sit up. The room was filled with flowers. Lilies and roses and gardenias and pansies and daisies. It was like someone had bought out a florist. “What the hell?”
The door to her hospital room opened and two unfamiliar men entered. One was a tall, muscular man wearing a Western shirt and jeans. Well-worn cowboy boots were on his feet and a Stetson clung to his head. He was probably in his early forties, and most certainly a man in his prime. The other man was a younger version of the first, though he wore slacks and a collared shirt. She would guess they were brothers since they seemed too close in age to be anything else.
“Gemma Wells,” the first man said, a warm smile on his face. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jack Barnes.”
The big cowboy held a hand out and she shook it, trying to figure out why the man was acting like she was a rock star or something.
The younger of the two men took his brother’s place, offering his own hand. “And I’m this one’s brother. Lucas O’Malley. Damn, it’s good to meet you. We heard the news and hopped on a plane as quickly as we could. It helps when you’ve got a billionaire friend who has planes waiting around.”
“I’m confused.” Suddenly there were billionaires? Maybe she wasn’t awake yet.
Nate moved to the side of her bed. “Nell figured it all out. She’s been on the news networks explaining to everyone that Senator Allen Cameron bribed an EPA official and then paid to have you killed.”
“It’s all over the news,” Caleb continued. “Cameron’s had to pull out of the race. There’s going to be an inquest, and everyone is talking about jail time for the senator and several members of his team.”
He sounded like an asshole, but then she was pretty sure asshole was part of the job description for politician.
“Good for Nell. It does not explain why two men I’ve never met before are here in my room, a room I might add that they’re going to be charging me way more than a motel for.” Gemma shook her head. “This is from the networks?”
“No,” the man named Jack Barnes replied. “This is from me and my brother. Don’t worry at all about the hospital bill. I’m going to take care of it.”
Lucas stood beside his brother. “Senator Cameron was our father. Not that he was much of a father. Jack here was born out of wedlock and quickly abandoned. I was not so lucky. The old goat raised me, if the definition of raising a child is sending him to boarding school after boarding school and only paying attention to him when he acts out.”
Jack grimaced. “You’ll have to forgive my brother. He’s still got issues.”
“Many of which are solved by watching the old man get his ass burned.” Lucas’s smile lit up the room. “He was going to run for president and I was worried he was going to win. He’s polling well in the primaries. Or rather he was. He has to drop out now. I’m so happy. I’m actually a little dizzy with it.”
Jack shook his head, though there was great affection for his brother in that expression. “We’re all thrilled someone finally caught dear old dad with his hands in the cookie jar. We’ve always known how corrupt he was and I was not looking forward to four to eight years of having his face on my television during every news broadcast.”
“They’re grateful,” Nate said. “And, Gemma, Barnes paid your hospital bills, all of them. And Jesse’s.”
Jesse was alive? Tears pricked her eyes. “Jesse?”
Caleb gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Apparently getting to view and catalog an internal decapitation helped with his bedside manner. “It looked worse than it was. He was lucky. No serious damage. I’m keeping the both of you here strictly for observation. And because Barnes has a big wallet.”
Jack smiled. “Hospital stays for everyone, and I will tell them to give you double the lime Jell-O.”
He was okay. She took a deep breath, tears threatening to overtake her. Jesse was alive.
Nate pointed to the bed next to hers. “He’s been here the whole time. Your mom and Naomi took him out for some fresh air. He wouldn’t leave until Caleb promised him you would be alive when he came back. He’s a little paranoid.”
The door opened and Jesse’s smiling face came into view. He was in a wheelchair being pushed by her mom.
“You’re awake. Baby, you have no idea how happy I am to see you.” He motioned for her mom to stop and got to his feet.
Her heart soared. He was alive and here. “Should you be walking?”
Caleb gave her a smile. “He’s good. After a week or so he won’t even notice he was injured. He lost some blood and a tiny section of his liver. But don’t worry. That grows back. Seriously, as bullets go, he took a good one. He won’t even have a big scar. I was able to use the robot.”
Jesse shuffled her way, his eyes gleaming. “I wouldn’t miss my wedding day.”
Jack reached a hand out. “I will be sending you and your fiancé a very nice gift. Thank you both for helping bring this to light.”
Jesse shook his hand and then Lucas’s.
“I think the whole country is going to thank you because now we can focus all our attention on that senator from New York.” Jack put a hand on his brother’s shoulder and started for the door.
Lucas nodded. “Hayes. I like him. And hey, he never disinherited me so there’s that.” When he got to the door he turned around. “And Ms. Wells, I would love to talk to you about taking a place in my firm. We’re in Dallas. We’re a boutique firm representing some wealthy clientele. I think you would be an excellent fit and our compensation packages are amazing. Think about it. And again, thank you.”
She watched the door close, turning her attention back to the people who had stayed in the room.
Her mom and Jesse and Naomi surrounded her with love. She accepted it all. But something was missing. She looked up at Jesse. “Is Cade gone?”
He sighed and sat down on the bed beside her. “Baby, he saved you. I’ll tell you the whole story, but as to whether or not he’s staying, I don’t know.”
Her mom smoothed back her hair. “He came in with you. He stayed here all night long, sitting right there and holding your hand.”
Naomi frowned. “But this morning after Caleb assured him you were both okay, he had me take him to that bar. He said he had something to do. I haven’t seen him since.”
Jesse put an arm around her. “It’s going to be okay. If he leaves, that’s on him. We’ll be fine. And someone named Knoxbury from your old firm called. From what we can tell, Patrick was working alone and without their knowledge. Apparently they do want you back. So this Lucas guy offered you a job. Does that mean we’re moving to Dallas?”
She couldn’t even conceive of moving. This was her home. Patrick was wrong. She did belong here. “Nope. I don’t want to move. And I heard a rumor that in a month or so, my health benefits s
hould kick in and I won’t need rich guys to rush in and save me.”
Nate smiled. “Uhm, I wouldn’t say that. Those benefits are not that great. But I’m happy to hear I don’t need another office manager. You don’t have any other crazy stalker person in your past, do you?”
She couldn’t say that with any real promise. “Hopefully not. And I might have to go part time because I’m getting my license to practice in Colorado and then I’m going to challenge the county ordinance.”
“Thereby giving the mayor a heart attack. Nice, Gemma,” Caleb said.
One by one they all left and others took their places. The whole town came out to say hello.
She was surrounded by friends and loved ones. But the one she needed to see didn’t walk through her door.
Late that night, she carefully cuddled against Jesse and slept and dreamed of a world where Cade didn’t leave.
* * * *
Cade stood outside the door and wondered why he was so damn nervous. They were just beyond the door. He’d spent two days getting everything ready, and now the fact that he’d only talked to Gemma on the phone hit him.
He’d known she was okay. He’d even talked to the doc to make sure everything would be fine.
He’d wanted everything to be perfect when he saw Gemma again. But now he wondered if he hadn’t screwed up. What if she didn’t like what he’d done? What if she was pissed that he hadn’t stayed here in the hospital with her?
Just for a second he hesitated, falling back into old habits. But he was done with that. If she was pissed, she could yell at him and he would take it. The one thing he wouldn’t do was let her go.
He pushed through the door, and his heart swelled as he saw Gemma buttoning up Jesse’s shirt. He was grumbling something about being able to do it himself, but Cade noticed he wasn’t trying too hard.
Gemma’s eyes came up. “Cade.”
Jesse turned, too, his eyes infinitely harder than hers. “You came back.”
“I never left,” he admitted.
Jesse stood. “She’s been in the hospital for two days and you’ve only been to see her once.”
Yep. He’d fucked up. And he’d been evasive about why he wasn’t around. He’d wanted to make it a surprise.
“That’s not true.” Gemma turned to him. “He’s come in the middle of the night. My mom told me he came that first night, but left before I woke up, and then I seem to remember having a dream about him last night. It wasn’t a dream was it?”
She’d woken up, groggy and so tired she couldn’t stay awake for long. He’d been sitting there watching her. He’d tucked her back in and cuddled her back to sleep. He was kind of glad she remembered. He’d had to leave early. He’d had to go all the way to Colorado Springs to do what he needed to do.
“Where the hell have you been?” Jesse didn’t seem impressed. He got to his feet with no trouble.
Cade hoped that was the case because he’d already talked to Doc Burke, and Gemma was in the clear for some playtime. Turned out the doctor had kept her in the hospital more for Jesse’s sake than her own.
But Gemma still looked fragile. Maybe he should simply take her home and put her in bed.
“Are you going to answer me?” Jesse asked.
“Stop.” Gemma got between the two of them, but not the way Cade wanted her. “He’s here. Let him be.”
“I don’t know that’s going to work for me.” Jesse’s eyes were lasers threatening to take Cade out. “I wanted a partner, not someone who shows up for sex every now and then.”
He deserved that so he didn’t put a fist through Jesse’s face. “I’ve been in Colorado Springs taking out a couple of loans. And you might have only wanted one partner, but now you have two.”
Jesse’s brows rose in obvious surprise. “What?”
This was the part that hopefully didn’t get him killed. He was making a lot of decisions that he probably shouldn’t be making, but he needed them to know he was in. “We’re buying into Long-Haired Roger’s shop. He’s agreed. It’s going to be Roger and Sons from now on. I know we’re not really his sons, but he says he thinks of us that way and he can’t leave the business to Princess Two. Though he tried. If he outlives that dog, you should know she becomes our legal property, and there’s a whole list of crap that animal needs including something about expressing some sort of sac that sounds god-awful. Let’s keep Roger alive.”
“How did you do that?” Jesse stared at him, his mouth slightly open in shock.
“Well, first off, I sold the Camaro.”
Jesse gasped. “Your dad’s car? But you’ve kept that for years. You spent so much time rebuilding it. Why would you do that?”
“To pay off Gemma’s medical bills before I left town for good,” he explained.
They both started talking at once, Jesse promising a good ass kicking and Gemma trying to give him logic.
“Stop. I’m not leaving. I’m not going anywhere. But once I figured out Gemma’s bills had been paid, I thought I should put the money to better use. So I talked to Roger, and we’ll go full time and he’s going to start taking more jobs, including restoration jobs and custom bikes. We’re buying the new equipment we need. Roger gives us the space to work. And”—he took a deep breath—“I also bought Holly Lang’s old cabin. Doc Burke bought a big place on the mountain as an engagement present and they moved in yesterday. We still owe a lot on it, but it’s ours and it came fully furnished.”
They both stared, and Cade sincerely hoped they weren’t going to walk out on him. He talked as quickly as he could, praying they would listen. “Look, if you don’t like it we can always talk to Doc, and he’ll probably give us the down payment back, but I like the valley and I think it’s a great place. The cabin is small, but when we’re ready, we can add on. We have river access and the views are spectacular, and Gemma’s mom is right down the road and it’s normally fairly safe and it’s not far from work.”
“Shut up.” Gemma stared at him intently.
He closed his mouth, looking at Jesse, whose frown had been replaced with a big smile. But Gemma kept staring at him.
“You really bought us a cabin of our own?” she asked.
“Yeah. I know I should have talked about it, but someone else was interested and I had to move fast and…”
“Shut up.”
He stopped.
Gemma walked up to him, her lips curving in a smile. “Well, then, Cade Sinclair. I suspect you should take us home.”
One more damn confession. This was the worst of all. “I traded the bike for a car. A piece of crap, probably will break down in a heartbeat Jeep.”
She gasped. “You traded your Harley?”
It hadn’t been hard to part with it. “I bought that bike as a symbol. I was going to be free. But I don’t want to be free and you can’t put a baby seat on the back of a bike. And the three of us can’t ride together on a bike, so I traded it in. Got a horrible deal.”
Her smile nearly lit up his world. “Well, you’ll have to let me do the negotiating from now on. Won’t you?”
He would give it all up to her. “Damn straight.”
“Speaking of negotiations, so let me see, you come with a tiny cabin, a half-baked business idea, a shitty Jeep, and a ton of debt,” she pointed out.
Yeah, put that way he didn’t sound like a premier catch. Still. “Marry me.”
She tilted her head up. “You know I never turn down a good deal. Yes.”
He kissed her soundly as Jesse slapped him on the back and joined in.
Chapter Twenty-One
Gemma sighed as Cade carried her over the threshold of their brand-new, slightly ragged and all theirs cabin. This place was hers. A place to build on. A place to raise their family.
“I get to carry her next time,” Jesse groused as he followed behind, but there was a smile on his face that belied his words.
“I’m only carrying her this time because I’m not the one who got shot,” Cade explained.
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Jesse merely shrugged. “Fine, next time you get to be shot.”
God, she hoped there wasn’t a next time. “Stop talking about the very scary past and kiss me.”
Cade set her on her feet, and his lips brushed hers. “Love you, G.”
Just like that her world went dreamy and everything seemed more beautiful than it had been before. “Love you, too.”
Jesse rested his head against hers, his front cradling her back. “I love you so much. We both do.”
He and Cade exchanged a long look. It was a look between partners, one she couldn’t ever hope to fully understand, but she appreciated it. It meant they would love her and take care of her and share the burdens and joys that came with being a family.
She looked around, and Cade had been busy with more than the bank. “You moved everything in here.” Her pictures were already up. She had no doubt all their clothes had been brought in and put away. Instant home from her side, but for Cade it had been hours and hours of work. For her. For them.
“I wanted us to be able to get to the good part right away.” Cade lifted her up again, cradling her in his arms.
“Damn straight, partner. I haven’t been inside her for days. I couldn’t get her to do it in the hospital.” Jesse followed behind as Cade made his way to the bedroom.
Jesse had tried. As soon as he could walk freely, he’d been in her bed, kissing and teasing and nearly tearing his tiny stitches. “You were shot a couple of days ago.”
“In the gut, baby. Not in the cock. The cock is perfectly fine and ready to go.” Jesse had the biggest grin on that handsome face. He hadn’t seen a razor in days, and it looked so hot on him.
“Gemma, are you in charge in the bedroom?” Cade asked, his voice harder than she could remember. His jaw was a gorgeous hard line.
She didn’t want to be in charge in the bedroom. Everywhere else, yeah. She was that kind of girl. But not here. Here she wanted her men to be in control. Both of them. “No, I’m not.”
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