Long Way Home

by HelenKay Dimon

  There was no question in Callen’s mind that Marc’s desperation would end in something bad. The Hanovers uncovered his secret, and he couldn’t let his role in the long-ago scam against the town get out after he’d invested so much time in playing the victim. No amount of reassuring him through third parties—in this case, his lawyer friend, who was there when the lies unraveled—convinced Marc to back off and quiet down.

  “Fuck me,” Declan mumbled as he dropped into the seat at the head of the table.

  Now that he’d pushed the lunch subject, Callen asked the only question that mattered to him. “Are you okay?”

  Grace eyes narrowed. “What?”

  “It was a pretty simple question.”

  “I thought you were accusing me of conspiring with your enemies.”

  He hated her being in the firing line because of him. Those were the words he couldn’t say. “Enemies is a strong word but I guess it fits.”

  “Callen.” She heaped a lot of warning into saying his name but issued one anyway. “Get to the point.”

  “I asked about lunch.” Callen turned to Declan. “You heard me.”

  “Jesus, don’t bring me into this.”

  She shoved the catalog to the side, nearly knocking it off the table. It would have taken flight if Declan hadn’t caught it. “If you’re saying you think I did something wrong today, just say it.”

  Talk about missing the point. He didn’t doubt she sat in that diner trying to talk to Walker. Callen knew she would keep trying to talk sense into Walker unless and until he left town. The guy could give lessons in being stubborn.

  The bigger issue was her history of omissions. “I know Marc came after you today, which pisses me off. I guess I’m trying to figure out why you didn’t tell me. Why I had to hear it from other people.”

  “You don’t exactly handle news about Walker well.” She’d used that excuse before, and dragged it out again here.

  “She has you there,” Declan said.

  Her jaw unclenched and her tight fists gave way to placing her palms against the table. Maybe Declan’s support did it, but something had the anger visibly seeping out of her. “You’re the one who’s all about privacy, Callen. Then there’s the part where it just happened a few hours ago. Because I stopped off to see Mallory, I’ve only been home for an hour and we spent most of that time eating.”

  All good points. No dodging there. And Callen had to admit he liked seeing Declan and Grace team up. It meant something that Declan liked her, and vice versa. After so many years alone, Callen needed the people he cared about to care about each other as well.

  Still, she wasn’t being totally truthful. “You texted me about shoes yesterday.”

  “Your point?” she asked, but the sudden wariness those intelligent eyes gave her away.

  He waited for her to fidget but she stayed still. “You seem to be able to get in touch with me when you know I won’t get angry about the topic.”

  “Did you know what she was talking about?” Declan asked.

  “With the shoes? No clue.”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Callen waited. Even Declan seemed to be holding his breath, waiting to hear what she’d say.

  She treated them to a sigh. “Okay, that’s fair. I should have told you before telling Mallory.”

  That seemed pretty damn obvious. Callen wasn’t sure why it took her all day to figure it out.

  “It’s scary when they agree. The women, I mean,” Declan said. “Makes me think trouble is brewing.”

  Callen couldn’t agree more. “Damn right.”

  The tension fizzled and the energy radiating off her eased back to a normal level. The building anxiety in his chest died down. They’d crossed some bridge, but he still wasn’t sure how.

  “So, who exactly are you angry with?” she asked.

  He knew from the question she’d lowered her defenses enough to have a conversation. “Marc Baron for being a dick and Walker for not protecting you sooner.”

  She waved her hand. “I’m fine.”

  “Are you?” Declan asked.

  “Yes.”

  On top of everything else he’d told her and all the information he’d spilled, Callen needed to issue this one last warning. She thought she wanted to be with him, and he still didn’t get that, but hanging out with the Hanovers meant dealing with backlash. “Look, we’ve had a lot of experience with this.”

  Declan shoved his chair back and got up, dragging it with a screech across the floor. “Understatement.”

  “The police, Walker, Charlie’s victims. It can be a lot to take in.” More than once Callen had buckled under the weight. His go-to response had always been to run. He no longer had that option.

  “At least that woman is gone.” Declan rested his hands on the back of the chair he had just left. “What was her name, Kristin something?”

  “Accord.” The name and the woman were imprinted on Callen’s brain. She chased him from state to state, insisting they needed to talk. At first he thought she was a Charlie victim. Then he worried she was some kind of freaky groupie, because he’d run into a few of them.

  Turned out she knew his birth mother and was desperate for him to know the truth. That made her the messenger of bad news in Callen’s book. The way she’d gone about getting his attention didn’t help. Her interference and persistence cost him more than one job, so he wasn’t a fan.

  Grace sat up straighter, as if she just clued back in to the conversation. “Wait, what?”

  “This woman. She knew my birth mother. Kristin came wanting to tell me, but Mom—Kim—and Leah beat her to it.” Leah had found the evidence and gave him the option of knowing or waiting. He’d chosen waiting, and for some reason his mom hadn’t stepped in to lessen the blow until it was almost too late.

  “Kristin Accord.” Grace repeated the name, then said it again.

  That didn’t sound like a question to Callen. “Did she bother you?”

  “Blonde and tall. In her late forties.” Grace acted out the description with her hands as she talked. “Wears long skirts, not that flattering, with a bit of a flower-child-mixed-with-soccer-mom vibe.”

  “I don’t know about the last part, but yeah.”

  “How do you know her?” Declan asked.

  Grace looked from him to Declan and back again. “From Walker.”

  “Yeah, we’re sure he interviewed her.” It made sense to Callen that her name would come up in a file . . . but Grace kept shaking her head. “What?”

  “I think he grew up with her.” Grace looked like she was thinking it all through as she talked.

  Declan slumped back in the chair. “What?”

  “They’re friends. Well, not really. I only saw them together a few times, but it was weird.”

  That word seemed to fit with everything about this family and with most things having to do with Walker. Callen tried to imagine Kristin and Walker as anything more than agent and interviewee and couldn’t come up with a logical explanation.

  “You’re saying Walker knows a woman who knew my mother.” Repeating the facts out loud didn’t help either.

  “Maybe that’s why he’s so invested in you, in your family,” Grace suggested.

  Maybe . . . but it didn’t feel quite right. “I think we need to find out.”

  Grace managed to roll her eyes, sigh and blow out a breath, all at the same time. Never a good sign. “That should be fun.”

  Declan’s frown deepened. “Why?”

  “Let’s just say you should expect yelling.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Grace loved this position, naked and straddling Callen’s thighs. From here, on his lap, she could see his face. Watch the heat move into his eyes and his head fall back as she rode him.

  That was about to happen.

 
Wet and ready, she lowered her body to his. Inch by inch, she took him in, grabbing his shoulders for balance as she planted a mind-numbing kiss on him. The press of his hands against her hips barely registered. The tightness inside her increased as she lifted up and pushed back down again. But her mouth never left his.

  Knowing he loved it, she let her hair fall over her shoulder and across his cheek. When he took fists full in his hands and brushed it back over her shoulders, her head followed. She threw it back and nearly choked on a sharp inhale when his mouth moved to her neck then slid down to her breast.

  His tongue swirled over her nipple. He sucked and licked until the clenching inside her had her leaning forward for more.

  “You feel so good.” His voice rumbled against the deep valley between her breasts.

  So sensitive, so primed, her body begged for more. She rocked against him, shifted from side to side until he moaned against her skin. She wanted him in her and around her. She squirmed until he hit the spot that made her breath catch in her throat.

  His palms traveled over her back as his lips treated one breast, then the other, to loving attention. She could feel the sweat gather at the back of his neck and ran her fingers through his hair.

  When leaning forward sparked something inside her, she did it again. The shift had them both panting as the soft strains of music filled the room. He’d said something about sounds carrying; the same thing Leah had told her. Grace appreciated the warning, but she was about to scream loud enough to bring Beck running from two states away.

  Callen grabbed her hips. “I need you to move.”

  The words ground out against her lips. She pulled him in closer for another blinding kiss. The mix of his hands and his mouth revved her up even further. He felt full inside her and hard everywhere she touched.

  He lifted her slightly, just enough to put a bit of distance between them.

  “What are you—”

  Then he started moving. Thrusting into her from below and driving her to the edge of madness. This time she did scream. Yelled his name, and did it again.

  “Oh, yes.” Her fingers tightened on his skin. “Callen, please.”

  She couldn’t hold back now. Her insides coiled, ready to spring. Need washed through her in waves and her legs tightened against his hips. She was so close, and when he dipped his finger, traced it down her stomach to her heat then rubbed inside, something exploded inside her.

  The orgasm ripped through her as he held her steady. Pumping in and out, every nerve ending zapping to life. She was so sensitive that she felt every pulse. Wanting him with her, she pushed down hard. The noise he made, half groan and half shout, rang in her ears.

  The sound of their breathing filled the air as she caught the sexy little noises coming from his throat when she kissed him again. Her body burned and her hips kept flexing as the last of the clenching let go.

  She opened her eyes in time to see him drop his head back against the wall. The muscles in his neck strained. She couldn’t resist kissing him there while he came. The rough bristle of his scruff brushed against her as his hips pumped up and down.

  Finally spent, she dropped down against his warm body. A few seconds later, the last of the pulses subsided and he wrapped his arms around her. Then she could hear the music again. It marched in time with the frantic thumping of his heart under her ear.

  “Damn, woman.” The awe in his voice matched the reverent way he rubbed a hand over her lower back.

  “That should win some sort of award.” She could barely move, so she just stayed there, snuggled under his chin and flat against his chest.

  “I think we’d have to submit a tape for judging.”

  One of her eyes opened on the horrible thought. “Never going to happen.”

  He kissed her forehead. “Not the exhibitionist type?”

  Naked bodies slapping? People could do whatever they wanted, but taping and then watching was not her thing. She feared she’d be horrified by her thighs or belly hanging down or something. Besides, she’d rather do it than watch it. “No.”

  “Me neither.” His hand brushed over her hair. “Though I do enjoy how loud you are.”

  That made her wince. She didn’t even remember screaming, but she wasn’t surprised to learn she had. In her head, she chanted his name.

  Of course, they didn’t used to have an audience for this sort of thing. “You think Declan and Leah heard?”

  “If they were in the house, yes.”

  “Declan is going to smile at me at the breakfast table.”

  Callen laughed, and the noise vibrated through his body. “He likes you. He likes that I’m with you.”

  She loved to hear the rich sound of Callen’s laughter. “And I like him.”

  And she loved Callen. Which was why she hesitated about wading right back into deep water. “Now that you’re in a good mood—”

  “No.”

  She looked up. “You don’t know what I was going to ask.”

  “It was a prophylactic no.”

  That didn’t bode well. “Listen.”

  He sat up straighter, and his arm hung looser around her. “Okay, what is it?”

  It was as if he were getting ready to do battle. He hadn’t physically left her, but his mind was off coming up with a strategy to combat whatever she said. “You already have an attitude.”

  “This is about Walker, isn’t it?”

  It kind of made it hard for her to give a big speech when Callen cut right to the point. She should have seen that coming.

  She sat up, and they both groaned. With him still lodged inside her, every move sent her body into a wild frenzy. She almost wished she had a defense against him, but she didn’t.

  She balanced her hands on the headboard behind Callen’s head. “We should invite him here for a talk.”

  “On my property? No way.” The soft caress of his hands on her breasts didn’t match the gruffness of his voice.

  She tried again anyway. “Tell him about the holes and the stuff you found. Let him do his job.”

  “Arrest us?” Callen shook his head right before he lowered her mouth to her neck. “Again, no.”

  Her resistance was fading fast here. She sensed Callen was using their attraction and her undeniable need for him to cut the conversation short. At the very least he had her brain misfiring.

  “You didn’t do anything,” she said as she tipped her head to the side to give him better access to her throat.

  “Grace, honey, you’re smarter than this.” He palmed her breast, pinching and massaging as he spoke.

  She could barely think. “He will listen to you.”

  “His hatred of me might be stronger than his feelings toward you.”

  She tried to grab on to one last point. That meant making Callen look at her . . . and no touching.

  With her hand on the back of his neck, she tipped his head up so he could face her. “Then make a deal. Information for information.”

  “No.”

  “You’re not listening.”

  His hand pressed against her back and their bodies flipped. He rolled and had her under him without breathing hard.

  Balancing on his elbows, he loomed over her. “I have better things to do.”

  “I’m serious.” But her hands went on a tour of their own, down his back to that fabulous ass.

  “About this position?” He pressed deeper. “So am I.”

  She felt him growing inside her as her body melted into his again. “You can’t possibly be ready to go again.”

  “You shouldn’t make that bet.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Callen didn’t know who he expected to see when he opened the front door, but definitely not Chief Darber. Funny how having a guy with a badge ring the bell still had the power to send adrenaline pumping and spurring on the
need to run.

  It also pissed him off, which Callen planned to make clear to the officer. “What do you want?”

  “I need to speak with Ms. Pruitt.”

  The chief slid his foot into the opening and angled his body so all Callen could see was the man’s bulk, and nothing outside. It was a good trick, filling the doorway like that and speaking with authority. It was a shame for the chief the whole act had zero affect on Callen.

  “Why?” he asked, not opening the door one inch further.

  “This is official business.”

  It always was. “You can stay on the porch.”

  Hell, he could sit out there all damn day for all Callen cared. No way was he welcoming law enforcement into his home. He’d done that in the past, and it never ended well. They had questions about Charlie that turned into accusations about Callen. He’d been through it all and was done. Fucking done.

  “What’s going on?”

  Callen had to fight from flinching when he heard Grace’s voice and two sets of footsteps coming in from the kitchen. “Both of you go upstairs.”

  Grace snorted. “I don’t think so.”

  “I agree with Grace,” his mom said as the women pulled up on either side of Callen. “Let the chief in so we can figure out what’s happening.”

  “That’s the wrong answer.” Callen knew it to his bones.

  Before moving into Shadow Hill the family had tried everything to make peace. Offered up all the information they had collected on Charlie up until then. And nothing. It hadn’t earned them one minute of rest from the claims and whispers.

  “The sooner we figure out what’s going on, the sooner this can be over.” His mom reached over and pulled the door open, motioning for the chief to step inside.

  “Fine.” Callen’s concession really wasn’t necessary, since the chief had already closed the door behind him, bringing them all to the entryway.

  “What exactly is happening?” Grace asked.

  The chief nodded at her. “This is about you, ma’am.”

  That knocked the cockiness right out of Callen. He went from planning his verbal jabs to rushing to defend. “Excuse me?”