Chapter Twenty-Seven
The sound of the shower brought a smile to Keelee’s lips seconds before her stomach lurched. Again. How long would it take to lose the effects of being seasick? Thank God they were off that damn boat. She’d been sick off and on for the entire cruise. At first it was just an occasional bout. By the time they’d docked in Miami on the last day of the cruise Keelee swore she’d never set foot on a boat again. She’d never felt so nauseated in her entire life. Bless his heart, Adam had been so attentive and loving. From helping her through the airsickness the morning they left the ranch to the days where she didn’t think she was going to live on the high seas. For the most part, when the seas were calm, she was able to enjoy the days in the sun, and she loved the excursions that allowed them to disembark.
Adam had been to most of the ports of call in the countries they’d visited. He took her to wonderful restaurants, they toured estates, traversed national landmarks and walked in the footsteps of history. The time they had together she’d cherish forever. Just when she thought she couldn’t love the man more he did something ridiculously romantic and just like that she’d find a new level of adoration.
A delighted squeal brought her attention to her houseguest status. Tori and Jacob had a huge Georgetown mansion. Talon’s laughter carried into their room. Keelee heard Jacob’s deep laugh and pretend growl just outside their door.
“No way, little man. You have to wait to see Aunt Keelee.” A loud knock on the bedroom door had her scurrying under the sheets.
“Get up, you two! Adam and I need to be at the office in an hour.”
“He’s in the shower. Go away!” Keelee’s shout came from under the luxurious sheet currently held up to her nose.
The little boy’s giggles and shrieks of delight and Jacob’s pretend growl as they ran down the hall made her laugh.
Adam exited the bathroom in a cloud of steam and nothing else. Damn, her husband was fine.
“Was that Jacob?” He flapped a towel over his blond hair.
“Yeah, said you had to be into the office in an hour. How long does it take to drive there?” Keelee sat up, and with a roll of nausea decided against any more movement. Hopefully Adam hadn’t seen the green tinge around her gills. One more plane ride and her feet would be firmly planted on South Dakota soil. She didn’t want Adam to worry or hover. He needed to go with Jacob and she needed to throw up—without a witness.
“You still feeling seasick?” Adam sat by her and pushed her hair away from her face. She’d had it cut and styled during a day-long spa treatment on the boat. Almost a foot of length gone and it still rested below her shoulder blades.
“No, just a little queasy. Getting my land legs back, I’m sure. You didn’t answer. How long does it take you to drive to wherever it is you need to go?”
“About forty-five minutes if traffic isn’t insane, but in D.C. traffic is always insane.” He leaned down and kissed her softly. Her hand snaked up and pulled him down to her. The heat of his freshly showered body made her want to curl into him and take the kiss to another level.
“That gives you fifteen minutes, right?” Keelee licked into his mouth. He laughed into their kiss.
“You, my dear, are insatiable.” Adam straddled her just as a thundering knock on the door sounded.
“Damn it, Doc! I’m not getting fired because you made me late!” Jacob’s voice, or the pounding he’d just given it, rattled the heavy wooden door.
“It wouldn’t be the first time! Just hold onto your briefcase, Skipper. I’m almost ready.” Adam waggled his eyebrows at Keelee and she giggled.
“For work, Doc. Work. You do remember that, right? It’s the thing I pay you to do?” Jacob’s reprimand thundered through the oak barrier.
“Right. Work. Got it, Skipper. Be right there.” Adam lifted off the bed after planting a ground-shaking kiss on Keelee. The dark tan he’d gained on their vacation colored a visual feast of Adonis proportions. Keelee watched his muscles flex and shift as he dressed. The man was sex.
“Enjoying the show, Mrs. Cassidy?” He gave her a sexy-as-sin smirk as he buttoned his shirt.
“Immensely, Dr. Cassidy. And if I’m truthful, I’m thinking about taking off the clothes you just put on.”
Keelee heard his low rumble. “Tonight, beautiful. I’ll let you take them off tonight. Then I’ll ravage your body and make you scream my name. Maybe we won’t have a cabin steward knocking this time.”
Keelee felt the heat flood to her cheeks. God, that was so embarrassing. “He was just making sure you weren’t abusing me.”
“No more than you wanted.” Adam’s voice lowered an octave as he slid on his shoes and suit jacket. He looked amazing. Professional and so damn sexy.
Keelee shivered at her thoughts. “I can’t wait to be in our own home.”
“Three days, my love. Three days and we start the normalcy of our wedded bliss.”
Keelee sat up and held her breath, willing the wave of nausea that washed over her to abate. “Will it be enough for you?”
Adam dropped to his knee in front of her. He pushed her hair back and cupped her cheek and neck with his huge hand. “Kee, you are enough for me. Wherever we are, whatever we do, as long as we are together, I’m a very happy man.” His kiss held the promise his words spoke.
“I love you.” She pushed his blond bangs from his forehead and leaned in to kiss him again.
“Damn it, Doc!” A thunderous roar came down the hallway.
“Jacob! Language!” Tori’s voice rang out right behind Jacob’s.
“Doc! I’m leaving in two minutes!”
“Got to go, baby.” Adam kissed her nose and smiled as he opened the bedroom door. “Skipper, you never used to be this antsy. Has corporate America made you nervous?”
Keelee didn’t hear Jacob’s response because a wave of nausea sent her flying for the bathroom.
*
Keelee finally made it to the kitchen about an hour later. The tantalizing aroma of coffee sent her straight to the most complicated piece of machinery she’d ever seen—and she’d driven a combine on her neighbor’s corn fields on more than one occasion.
She stood with her hands on her hips trying to make heads or tails of the myriad of dials, knobs and little pipes.
“Hey, Kee. Want some coffee?” Tori asked as she strode into the kitchen. Her hair was done, make-up on and her designer clothes looked fabulous on her.
“How in the hell do you do it?” Keelee was amazed at her sister. Three babies and she still looked like she’d stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine.
“Easy, you flip this switch here, select the size you want…”
“No, not the coffee. How do you look amazing this early in the morning with three babies and a husband to wrangle?”
Tori laughed and pulled a coffee mug down from the cupboard. “Well, there is a secret. Jacob gets up at five and fixes bottles. We both feed the horde and then he takes his shower while I diaper, clean up and fix him breakfast. He eats and then watches the babies while I get ready for the day. We think of it as a choreographed dance. As they grow, we’ll adapt. I have help with the house three days a week and I have Christian, who is amazing with the babies. He’ll watch the kids if he’s not in class at Georgetown, and he even skips a class now and then when I need to run errands, but don’t tell Jason, he’d have a cow. Believe me, when they say it takes a village, they aren’t kidding. Want some eggs?”
Keelee blanched. The thought of the smell of food did that to her lately. “Ah… no. Thanks, I’ll just have some coffee.”
Tori gave her ‘the’ look.
“What?”
“Are you sick?”
“Just getting my land legs back. I was seasick most of the trip.”
“You were queasy at the wedding.”
“Well yeah, I was nervous.”
“Where you seasick the entire cruise?”
“Yeah, mostly in the morning… or at meal times… Everyone rav
ed about the food, but let me tell you, it rarely smelled good.”
“Have you been feeling any better since you docked and got onto dry land? Or when you were on excursions?”
“Well… no.”
“Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“We aren’t going anywhere, you’re going to the drug store. It’s a couple miles. Give me your phone and I’ll drop a pin into your maps app. That will get you there and back.”
“Why am I going? For what?”
“For a pregnancy test.”
“Excuse me?”
“Are you on birth control?”
“No.”
“Is he?”
“Well of course he wears… you know.”
“Condoms, Kee. The word you are looking for is condoms. Did you know they can slip or break?”
“There’s no way I’m pregnant.”
“Been there, done that. Got the maternity T-shirt. Three times. Although once was a double play. I’d bet anything you’re knocked up.”
“Do you think?”
“I know. Here’s my keys. Go.”
*
Keelee spent the next hour in a haze. The trip to the drug store and the return trip were a blur. The time she had to wait for lines to appear on the stick she peed on seemed to drag. She forced herself to stay out of the bathroom and went in search of Tori, where she was promptly given a twin, either Tanner or Trace, she couldn’t tell the little guys apart yet, although Tori and Jacob had no problems knowing.
“How long?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Do you want it to be yes?”
Keelee relaxed into the rocking chair and looked down at the bundle she held. Tears filled her eyes and she nodded. She dare not speak, because she’d cry. The horrible things that had happened in Adam’s past couldn’t be fixed, but maybe they could make good memories that would allow his pain to ebb. The pain of his ex-wife’s betrayal had permanently scarred the man she loved.
“Do you want me to look?”
Keelee drew herself from her own thoughts and glanced at the clock. She stood and placed the sleeping baby into his crib, shaking her head. “No, I’ll look.”
Tori put down the other baby and lifted Talon, to his delight. “Can we go with?”
“Sure.” Keelee couldn’t breathe.
“We probably need to walk. In that direction.”
“What? Oh, yeah, right.”
Keelee entered the guest bedroom and stopped at the bathroom door. She turned to look at her sister. “Do you think I’d be a good mom?”
Tori teared up and that brought tears to Keelee’s eyes. “Honey, you were my mother figure after mom died. I’m who I am because of you. You’ll be a fantastic mom and Adam will be the best dad ever. Well, after Jacob, that is.” Keelee hugged her sister, which Talon didn’t enjoy. He fussed rather loudly in protest.
“Go. Look.”
Keelee drew a deep breath, walked in and picked up the plastic stick.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Rush hour traffic made the drive from the Guardian headquarters building to Jacob’s house a lesson in self-control. Adam had forgotten how much he detested city traffic. Especially D.C. when Congress was in special session. God, give him the rutted, gravel roads of rural South Dakota any day. Even during a blizzard. He couldn’t exactly put his finger on when he’d become a rancher slash cowboy slash doctor, but he had and he was surprisingly okay with that fact.
“I’m glad the plans for the clinic expansion were approved. The move of the core of the organization from the east coast to the ranch keeps our best people and operations from prying eyes. Chief is going to have his hands full expanding the complex. The majority of the new build will be on the property to the east of the clinic. Frank sold Guardian that parcel last year.” Jacob’s comment brought Adam out of his homesick musings.
“Frank’s approved the expansion?” Adam knew Frank welcomed Guardian, but the buildup nearly quadrupled the original concept that Jacob had pitched to him.
“Talked to him myself. He was the one who suggested bringing more of the organization out west. In reality the idea streamlines our training and operations.”
“I get that. Off the grid makes us autonomous and out of the public’s view, even though those fuckers up on the Hill have officially recognized us.” Adam hated politicians.
Jacob slowed his custom Hummer to a stop. Gridlock. A wonderful thing.
“I didn’t want to mention it during the briefing we attended, but dare I ask how Joseph…”
“It’s complicated. Frank’s ranch manager, John Smith, isn’t a rancher. Well, he was. He grew up on a ranch. But he has another function within Guardian. One he is willing to train Joseph to do. That brings Joseph and Ember back under Guardian’s protection where we can be an additional layer of protection for him and Ember. As a plus, Ember will be working with you again.”
“She’s an amazing doctor and welcome.”
Adam watched a messenger on a bicycle zip past the stationary vehicles. Brake lights up ahead went out, meaning people were moving… somewhere. Adam turned his gaze to Jacob. “What talent does Mr. Smith have that Joseph, with his specialized past, can learn?”
“He’s an architect.” Jacob’s words dropped like a nuclear bomb. An architect? At the ranch? That brought the need for layered security to a new level.
“Fuck me. Does Frank know?”
“Rather not. No offense. Happy with Tori. And yeah. He’s aware.”
“None taken, and holy shit. Who else knows?”
Traffic started moving, allowing them to get to the exit into Georgetown.
“Gabriel, Frank, Joseph, Chief, me and you.”
“Is it smart? Shouldn’t Smith be in a lead lined room under armed guard?”
“He’s on our side, Doc.”
“The guards would be for his protection. If someone found him. Fuck, Skipper, the damage could be…”
“Nobody will find him. He’s had surgery. Our facial recognition programs didn’t hit on him. He has no fingerprints, they’ve been chemically removed. He’s not on the radar and if anyone suspected him… well, he knows the score.”
“Seriously? He’d kill himself?”
Jacob shrugged as he hit the blinker and turned. “The longer he is at the ranch the better for everyone. Topic’s closed, Doc. Besides, we are picking up the ladies for dinner. Steak at O’Malley’s.” Jacob’s phone vibrated on the center counsel. He glanced at the text message.
Adam couldn’t suppress the laugh that pushed forward.
“What’s so funny?”
“You and your steak, potatoes and damned red wine.” His best friend was a meat and potato fiend.
“Hey, I like what I like.”
Jacob pulled up to the front of the house. Adam gave him a confused look. Jacob lifted his cell phone. “Tori wants me to go get diapers. I’ll be right back.”
Adam chuckled and stepped out of the Hummer. The vehicle drove around the horseshoe drive and turned right. Damn, for a massive mercenary, his boss was whipped. With a capital W. Adam laughed again and sprinted up the stairs into the house.
Doc didn’t see Tori, the kids or Keelee as he entered the house. After a quick glance at his watch he made straight for the guest bedroom. His cock had been pissed at him all day. He’d gotten used to having his woman whenever he wanted her and his body didn’t like being away from her for a full day. God, he hated having to leave her to deal with the political bullshit his job sometimes entailed. He’d never been enamored of D.C., but the Black Hills of South Dakota, well, that was a different story. Hell, that land… those people? The ranch was his home now and the peace of knowing that settled deep in his soul.
Adam was out of his jacket and working the knot of his tie as he entered the guest bedroom. Keelee’s soft humming in the bathroom pulled him toward her. His shoes, the tie and his eye patch ended up trailing him in a mess on the plush carpeting. He pushed open
the door and stopped dead in his tracks.
Who the hell was this woman and where did his cowgirl go? Adam closed his mouth and blinked. And blinked. And then cleared his throat. She turned toward him and smiled. Oh… fuck. The pink lace demi-bra and thong coupled with the garter belt and silk stockings… holy shit… hair up in a fancy up-do thingy and make-up that made her look sexy, smoky and sultry.
Adam palmed his cock and groaned. “God, baby. If you think I’m going to let you go to the restaurant without burying myself deep inside of you first, you are mistaken.”
Keelee’s smile illuminated the room. She sauntered over to him and looked up through her very thick, mascara-enhanced black eyelashes. “So you like?”
Adam nodded. “I always like, baby, but this is a fucking wonderful treat.” He had to touch her. He pulled her close and buried his face in her neck. No perfume, just clean, beautiful, sexy Keelee.
Her body shivered under his touch. Her responsiveness, the way she gave herself so completely to him, made him want to scale the Empire State Building and roar at the top of his lungs. His wife brought out the beast in him and fuck him if he didn’t revel in every damn second of his animalistic urges.
“Going to smudge that make-up and mess up your pretty hair now, baby.” Adam pulled that hot, tight body next to his and groaned at the pressure of her against his cock. The need to be in her battled with his need to take care of his precious woman.
“The make-up can be fixed and I thought you liked my hair down better anyway.” Her husky whisper as he eased her thong down the tight muscle of her ass was all the permission he needed. With a quick twist he had her facing the vanity. Adam glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes hooded and heavy, her lips parted as shallow pants of air pushed from her lungs in time with his cock’s thrusts against her.
Adam held her to him, cupping her breast in his hand and lightly pinching her nipple as he got rid of his slacks. The scintillating heat of the back of her sexy legs exploding against his naked thighs drew his attention back to the vision in front of him. Her taste was unlike anything he’d ever known. Fresh, clean, addictive. Her head dropped forward, giving him access from the peaks of her shoulders to the valley of her spine. He explored every centimeter of clear, smooth skin with his lips and tongue while his hands fondled, caressed and explored her breasts, stomach and finally her core.
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