by T. K. Leigh
“Shall we?” Tyler said, breaking through my thoughts. I nodded, still distant as I tried to put on a smile and pretend everything was okay. I held my hand to him and he pulled me into his body, both of us pausing for a beat before moving to the rhythm of the music that had filled my soul for years.
My life had always been a strange series of tragic events, the memories of the happier times I spent with my family always painful. But as I stared into Tyler’s brilliant green eyes – those green eyes that wouldn’t leave my dreams from the first time I saw them – I no longer felt that pain. I finally had everything of which I had ever dreamed. I was living proof that fairytales did come true.
But even in a fairytale, there was always a struggle to overcome, and I knew mine could potentially destroy everything I held dear.
Mackenzie
I TOSSED AND TURNED, sleep evading me as the sky began to turn from black to a deep blue. Giving up on getting any rest, I extracted myself from Tyler’s warm arms and pulled a silk robe around my naked body, sliding open the glass door and emerging onto the balcony overlooking the ocean below. Our time here on the beach was coming to an end, and I was both excited and apprehensive about returning to South Padre to get ready for the next stage of my life…moving to Boston.
As I sat contemplating whether I made the right decision in agreeing to give up my life in South Padre in favor of Tyler’s family in Boston, my cell phone vibrated in my robe, startling me. I looked at the caller ID to see the call was coming from a Texas number. My curiosity getting the better of me, I answered.
“Hello?”
“Kenzie…,” a familiar voice said.
“Charlie,” I whispered softly. “Why did you call me on this phone? And from an unblocked number? Someone could be tracing this call and can find you! Is everything okay?”
“Do you want the truth or just an empty reassurance?”
“The truth scares me,” I admitted.
“Me, too,” he said, his voice muted.
Silence fell between us as I listened to the combination of his gentle breathing and the ocean waves. “Why are you calling, Charlie?”
“To say congratulations. You looked beautiful last night.”
I bolted off the lounge chair, my eyes scanning the barely illuminated beach. “You’re here?”
“Yes. Well, I was.”
“Why?” I asked, frantic, pacing the balcony. “What if someone saw you?”
“Still worried about me even after everything?”
“Of course, I am,” I answered quickly. “I’ll always care about you, Charlie. No matter what.”
He took a deep breath. “I wish you wouldn’t. I don’t want to cause you any pain.”
“What do you mean by that?” I pulled my robe closer, a sudden chill washing over me.
“Like you told me once, my luck’s eventually going to run out. I can’t keep running forever. And the longer I run, the more people will get hurt. Maybe it’s time I stopped…”
“You’re giving up?” My voice was trembling. This didn’t sound like the Charlie I knew. He sounded defeated, as if he knew it was useless to continue on the path he had been on. It made me lose hope that we would ever get to the bottom of what happened all those years ago…and what was still happening now.
“You know me better than that, Kenzie. You know I’ll never go down without a fight, no matter what. I just have a bad feeling that if I don’t do something to put an end to all of it, it never will end. If it takes me throwing in the towel to finally open people’s eyes to what’s really going on, that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. I made an oath years ago, the same oath I still repeat each and every morning… ‘I, Charles Patrick Montgomery, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me. So help me God.’ I know it may not look as though I’ve followed that oath every day, but I have. And I’ve come to the point where I need to stop running in order to continue fulfilling that oath.”
I tried to fight back the tears. Not only was my father willing to give up his fight, but now Charlie was, too? “What do you know?”
“More than I probably should. That’s what has gotten me into this mess. I just want you to know that if anything happens to me, no matter what anyone tries to make you believe, I am a good person. I’ve always done what I thought was right, and I’ve done everything to defend our country against any threat. So has your father.”
“My father?” I asked in surprise.
“I’m glad he was able to see you get married. It’s good you now have the memory of this day. Never take advantage of the importance of family. They can be taken from you too soon.”
“But he will be taken from me. He’s sick with the amount of blood on his hands from the years of hiding. He’s ready to use himself as bait to put an end to all this.”
“I figured as much,” Charlie said.
“You did? How?”
He chuckled slightly. “You forget that I can see things most people can’t. Your father wouldn’t come out of hiding if he didn’t have an end game in the works. But I promise you, Kenzie. I will do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t come to that, that you will always have a family. Okay?”
“What do you mean by that, Charlie?”
“Sometimes we have to change our course to keep those we love happy.”
“Charlie,” I urged, panic in my voice. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“I’ve made that promise to you in the past, but I’m not going to do it this time.” His voice was solemn and I couldn’t help but let out a low sob at the idea of something happening to him. Last year at this time, I never anticipated seeing him again but, over the months, something changed in our relationship. I knew he was the caring, compassionate, loving man I was convinced he was when we dated all those years ago.
“Nothing’s going to happen to you, Charlie,” I said through my tears, unable to shake the feeling that this was his way of saying goodbye. I didn’t know how many more goodbyes I could go through.
“I know I’ve never done anything to win back your trust, but I’m glad you saw it in your heart to forgive me. Goodbye, Kenzie…”
“Charlie, wait!” I shouted, hoping he hadn’t hung up just yet.
“Yes?”
“That friend of a friend,” I began. “The one who asked you to look for me… Was it Damian?”
I heard a loud exhale. “Yes. It had been years since you disappeared, but he never gave up hope he’d find you. Even got himself arrested doing so.”
“They have him, don’t they?” I asked hesitantly, remembering everything my father had told Tyler and me at the hospital all those weeks ago.
“It appears so, but I don’t want you to worry, Kenzie. I’ve been doing everything I can to locate him. I’m doing this all for you. Please remember that.”
“You don’t have to…,” I wept.
“Yes, I do. You have a chance to have the life I never could. Don’t waste it. Promise me you won’t.”
I shook my head, refusing to say the words.
“Kenzie, please…”
“I promise,” I squeaked out, wiping at my cheeks.
“Enjoy the sunrise. It’s sure to be a beautiful one. Goodbye, Serafina.”
“Goodbye, Charlie,” I murmured, remaining on the line until I no longer heard any background noise and I knew he had hung up.
“What did Charlie have to say?” Tyler asked, startling me. I spun around to see him standing in the doorway, his arms crossed in front of his chest, his stature slightly intimidating.
“Nothing.” I shrugged him off. “Just wanted to offer his congratulations and…”
“And…?” Tyler pushed, stalking toward me as I leaned against the railing of the balcony.
&nbs
p; “And I think he’s going to do something stupid. Something that may cost him his life.”
He saw the tears reforming behind my eyes once more and pulled my body into his, trying to calm me. “Don’t worry. Remember what you’ve always said… Charlie’s a brilliant man. If he’s gone this long without anything happening to him, who’s to say anything will happen now?”
“Because he’s Charlie and is too noble for his own good. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t help but shake the feeling that something horrible is about to happen to him, and he knows it.”
“Mackenzie, look at me,” Tyler said and I pulled my head out of his chest to see a look of concern on his face. “I may not have always been the biggest Charlie supporter…even now, I’m still not certain of his motives…but I promise to do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to him. I’ll have my guys work harder at finding him and try to figure out what he knows. We’ll do everything we can to uncover the truth here. That way, no one else gets hurt. Okay?”
“Okay,” I whispered, the intensity in his gaze burning into me as the sound of early morning on the shore echoed around us. The wind was calm, the waves light, and we welcomed our first day as a married couple.
Safe and secure in Tyler’s arms, despite the unease I couldn’t shake from my phone call with Charlie, I turned around to watch the sun peek over the horizon. Wasn’t that what love was supposed to do? Help you forget your problems? Make you feel that everything would work out? Shelter you from the heartache? Uplift you when you were at your lowest?
Splaying his hands across my stomach, he inhaled deeply. “Mmmm…,” he groaned, the huskiness in his voice making me want to melt into him, our two bodies to become one and never separate again. “Cinnamon.” He gently pushed against me and I could feel how aroused he was.
“You’re a fiend, Mr. Burnham.”
“Only for you, Mrs. Burnham.”
My heart warmed at the sound of that rolling off his tongue and I spun around, wrapping my arms around him as he pinned me to the railing of the balcony, his devilish eyes causing a burning excitement to stir in my stomach. “I like the sound of that,” I whispered, tilting my head toward his, desperate to feel his lips on mine. But every time I drew closer to his mouth, he pulled back, keeping me on edge.
“As do I. Want to know why?”
Biting my lower lip, I nodded, keeping my eyes on his, the green vibrant on that chilly November morning.
“Because it means I belong to you, and you to me.”
Running my fingers through his hair, trying with everything in me to pull his lips against mine, I said, “How very Neanderthal of you.”
“I’ve never heard you complain about my caveman tactics before. In fact, if I remember correctly, you get turned on when I go all, and I quote, ‘protective ape man’ on you.”
“That was months ago.” I smirked. “I may have changed my mind since then.”
“Oh, really?” He raised his eyebrows in a flirtatious manner.
“Yes, really.”
“We’ll see about that,” he growled, grabbing my hips and hoisting me onto the balcony railing. Looking over my shoulder, I was thankful the railing was quite wide, at least several feet, making it nearly impossible for anyone to lose their balance.
I yanked at his boxer briefs, pulling him toward me. Wrapping my legs around him, I locked him in place. His eyes grew even more hooded, his chest heaving, his stare carnal and full of lust.
“Kiss me.” I closed my eyes, desperate to feel his lips on mine. Since that first kiss all those months ago, I had grown addicted to them, each kiss different and unexpected.
“Not yet.”
“Why?” I whined playfully, loosening the grip my legs had around him. This was all part of his game and I loved every exhilarating moment. The anticipation was almost as fulfilling as the catch. The longer we waited, the more I burned for him, and he knew it. My body gave me away by the way it reacted to his nearness, my nipples alert, my skin flush, my breathing uneven.
“Because I want my lips on other parts of your body first,” he explained, yanking at the tie around my robe, allowing it to fall open.
I shrugged the robe off my shoulders, leaving me totally exposed. Tyler’s eyes remained fixed and calm as he surveyed my body. He took his time, raking over me as if trying to memorize every dimple and curve. Without warning, he grabbed my hair, forcing my head back as he ran his tongue down my neck. My skin flamed, despite the chilly temperature.
“Do you like that we’re outside where anyone could walk by and see us?”
“Yes,” I said quickly, feeling as if I was about to fall over the metaphorical edge the second he touched me. It didn’t matter that he had given me too many orgasms to count throughout the night as we made love over and over again. This was different. Another unexpected side of Tyler.
“Do you remember the night we met?” he whispered, his tongue traveling down my body.
I nodded, not uttering a sound.
“Do you remember what you told me? How you tried to convince me that your body was flushed because you had been drinking?”
A finger trailed over my protruding stomach, finding its way to the spot I needed him to touch.
“I was able to read your body that night, Mackenzie. You wanted me. God, you wanted me so fucking bad, but you refused to admit it.”
Kneeling in front of me, his hands clutched onto my thighs, spreading them, and the warmth of his breath between my legs made my chest rise and fall. The promise of what was about to happen would be my undoing.
“Do you want to know what I thought about all night long?”
“Yes,” I responded, although I knew it was a rhetorical question.
“Your pink lips and how they would taste.”
I moaned as his breath grew closer to my center.
“And I thought about doing this to you all night long, how much I wanted to hear you scream my name.”
Finally, his mouth was on me, his tongue circling me, exploring as if it were the first time.
“But you played hard to get,” he said, pulling away. I cried in frustration and opened my eyes to see a frisky smirk on Tyler’s face. “There was a moment when I considered throwing in the towel, thinking no woman was worth this amount of effort, mission be damned.”
Grabbing onto the balcony railing, he slithered up my body, his tongue roaming over every dip and crevice as he stepped out of his boxer briefs.
“I tried to stay away,” he admitted, his lips hovering over mine. His eyes burned into me, his formerly lascivious gaze replaced by one of yearning and idolization. “I didn’t want to do anything to hurt you and I knew being with me would destroy you. But I couldn’t stop thinking about you. We had barely spoken ten words to each other, Serafina, but the thought of letting you walk away crushed me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t exist. So I let down my walls. I let you see the real Tyler. I wanted you to fall in love with the real me, not the person I was supposed to be for my job, not the person I had been for years. You brought the real Tyler back. You breathed life into this dead heart with your kiss…”
Pressing his lips to mine, he caressed my tongue with his. I wrapped my legs around his waist, the space between us too much. He was a part of me and I never wanted to be separated from him again.
“With your touch…” He traced the outline of my neck, his tongue following, lighting me on fire.
“With your love…” His voice was serene as he pushed into me, filling me and withdrawing in quick forceful movements. His motions were at odds with his calm voice and gentle eyes. I tried to hold back my screams, but was unable, both of our voices rebounding in the air on that perfect November morning.
I grasped his hips as they continued their relentless motion, my fingernails digging into his skin. His rhythm grew more frenzied and punishing, a guttural moan escaping his lips as sweat dotted his forehead.
“Harder,” I murmured, a surge of electricity runnin
g from my toes and everywhere in between. My mind was blank, all my decisions motivated by that unmistakable sensation of euphoria and bliss only Tyler Burnham could give me.
He grabbed my hair, forcing my head back once more and clamped onto my neck, causing me to yelp and moan, the pain only heightening the pleasure coursing through me. I had never felt as alive as I did at that moment, Tyler’s teeth digging into my skin, forcing an orgasm to ravage through my body. He picked up his pace even more, finally letting out a low grunt, signaling his own release.
Cupping my face with his strong hands, he pressed his lips to mine, his kiss tender as we attempted to control our breathing. Our gaze held and we shared our love through our eyes, our flesh, our bodies. It was fitting. Our first declaration of love wasn’t said with words. One look was all it took. With one look at the bar the night we met, I knew I had met my match. With one look on the dance floor during opening night of the restaurant, I knew I never wanted to be apart from this man. With one look when I found out the truth, I knew his love was true, despite being surrounded in a myriad of lies. And not a day had passed when I didn’t feel his love for me.
Tyler
“FEELS GOOD TO BE home, doesn’t it?” I asked Mackenzie as we walked down the hallway toward her condo. After spending a final few days in Palm Beach, we arrived back on South Padre the day before Thanksgiving. I was anxious to get back into the swing of things, but knew a lot of that would have to be put on the back burner to what was now becoming the more important issue… The arrival of our baby in just a few weeks. I still couldn’t believe I would become a father in less than a month.
“It sure does. At least we won’t have to live out of a suitcase anymore. And I’m sure Meatball missed me.”
“Did Jenna look after him?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Between her, Richard, Brayden, and one of the girls at the restaurant, he’s been well taken care of.”
“You could have just had Martin arrange for one of my team members to make sure he had food and clean litter, ya know?” I said, trying to hide my unease about anyone I hadn’t done a thorough check on being in her condo unsupervised.