Unchained

by Suzanne Halliday

  “What’s the matter,” he asked sharply. “Are you okay?”

  Damn. The real concern in his voice almost unraveled her.

  “I’m fine. Just have a lot on my plate.” She eyed him dispassionately although she wasn’t sure how well she covered the interested gleam in her eyes. “Is there something you need,” she asked.

  “Well …” he began.

  She looked at him closely. Finn didn’t usually hem and haw. He was too cocky for that.

  “I have this business thing coming up. Kind of a dinner.”

  “What business thing?” she asked. Far as she knew, the guy was just killing time. Waiting for Major Marquez to return and possibly sign off on sending the swaggering dickhead back to Boston. Where he couldn’t get under her skin anymore.

  “I, uh, met this guy and one thing led to another. Smart dude. Anyway, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity kind of fell at our feet.”

  She was gaping at him and couldn’t help it. He wasn’t beating around the bush, but she could tell he was a world away from his comfort zone.

  “Wait,” she blurted out with her hand up for him to stop. “What? I thought you were a paramedic or something. What sort of rare anything …” She stopped with a growl of frustration when a word didn’t appear in her mind.

  He crossed his arms and peered down his fine-looking nose at her. His expression was a mask of stone, and she had the distinct impression she’d inadvertently touched a nerve.

  “Being a paramedic, or a pilot,” he drawled with enough snark to raise her eyebrows, “isn’t a life sentence.”

  Remy damn near glanced down at her t-shirt to see if she was wearing a bull’s-eye because damn-it-all, he’d landed that one near the center.

  Inclining her head slightly to indicate she accepted his statement without argument, she stopped any further dancing around by going straight at him.

  “What are you up to, Beantown?”

  “Goddammit, Remy,” he growled. “Why do you have to be such a bitch?”

  “Excuse me?” She nearly dove across the desk to smack him.

  “Bitch,” he repeated. “You. A bitch. Now, shut up. I’m trying to fucking ask you out, okay?”

  Was he serious? Oh, my god! He was. “Why the hell are you asking me out? Are you high?”

  “Please, god. Shut up for two seconds, would you? I’m asking you out because I need a fricking date for an important business meeting.”

  He was near shouting by the end, and Zeus, alarmed at his tone, stood at attention and leaned protectively closer to her leg.

  “I’m not high, lady. And I’m not insane. I’m desperate, or I wouldn’t be here trying to drag a tomboy out when a real woman is what I need.”

  She went around the desk so fast he hadn’t a hope in hell of avoiding her when she stepped up, hauled off, and smacked him one across the face.

  “You wouldn’t know a lady if she sat on your face,” she screamed. The second she said it, Remy’s face flamed with embarrassment.

  “Is that an offer?” he yelled back.

  “Get your rude ass out of here,” she hollered. “Nobody speaks to me that way. I don’t care who the fuck you are or who you’re related to.”

  He grabbed her wrist, pulled her close, and twisted it behind her back before she had a chance to react. Then he kissed her with a punishing hunger she couldn’t resist.

  His eyes burned with a fierceness that stole her breath and rendered Remy mute.

  “I’ll pick you up at six tomorrow night. Be a girl, please. Wear something pretty.”

  And then he left her alone. Well, not totally alone. Zeus was still standing guard waiting for her master to come home.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Meghan muttered for the tenth time as she bent over the scale model of the compound and examined every little thing. “This is beyond anything I imagined.”

  Ben chuckled. “We’ve been calling it the Great Justice Shuffle.”

  “I love it,” she replied with a broad smile. “Oh Ben, this is fantastic!” Meghan went to the kind older man, slipped her hand through his arm, and hugged him close. “Alex will be so pleased.”

  “Got it done just in time too. Betty says there’s a full house starting right after Labor Day.”

  “I can’t believe it’s all finished and ready to go.”

  “Well, you know how it goes,” he said with a wise snicker. “The boss wanted there to be nothing for you to do at home, so you can focus on the final touches at the family center.”

  “Did you know he hasn’t let me see any of the work being done?” She shook her head and bubbled over with lighthearted glee. “Wants it to be a surprise.” Meghan clutched Ben’s arm tighter and drawled furtively, “I swear if it resembles a monument to New England, he and I will be having a talk.”

  His laughter was full-hearted and full of the fondness she knew the man felt for the Marquez family.

  “He’s a good man, Mrs. Marquez.”

  Meghan smiled into his kind eyes. She knew he used her formal title out of respect and admiration for the man they both loved.

  “Well”—she sniffed in mock offense—“he’s also a whiner, if you ask me. I mean, sheesh! By the way he carries on, you’d think I was a terrible cook or something.” Ben snorted a huge laugh and then tried to act as if he hadn’t. “All he does is blather on and on about Ria and finally getting a good home-cooked meal.”

  “I think the brisket is in the oven as we speak,” he replied so drily she barked with surprise.

  They exploded with laughter at the inside joke.

  “Well, they seem to be having a good time,” Alex drawled after he signed the last stack of papers Parker shoved across the desk at him. “Bet that old fart is flirting with my wife.”

  “Don’t worry”—his friend snickered—“he is. I slipped him a fifty to lay it on thick.”

  Alex tossed the pen across the desk, instantly regretting not having pegged the asshole’s white shirt. Serve him right to end up with a huge ink stain. The pen might be a missed opportunity, but he always had one way to shove his foot up Parker’s ass without moving an inch.

  “Marry my sister yet, you fucking pervert?”

  Parker tapped his pen on the desk and appeared unperturbed, but Alex knew him well enough to detect the telltale jaw clench.

  “Marry her? No. Collar her ass with a ring? Also, no. And you know damn well why. You’ve met her, right? She’s your sister, for Christ’s sake, and there’s no way in hell she’s gonna pass up an opportunity to rattle everyone’s collective chain with one yank.”

  Tossing the pen aside, he kept ranting. “Calder was in here too. Laughing at me. That girl lives to cause trouble.”

  “She doesn’t cause trouble,” he muttered. “She is trouble.” Alex sneered. “But you’re hardly a pushover, man. Are you telling me you can’t handle one twenty-something female?”

  “Suck me, Marquez.”

  Biting back a laugh wasn’t easy. “You want big brother to talk to her?”

  Muttering irritably, his friend scowled. “No. But you will anyway.”

  “Yeah, well, my dad wants this settled.”

  Parker exploded. “Like my folks don’t? You know my mom. She’s so hyped about having a daughter-in-law, one she already loves like her own, that she’s on fire. They go shopping. Have lunch. Shit, man. Every week or so, they get all chummy and go have mani-pedis.”

  Okay, Alex thought. Now, that is funny.

  “Can we talk about something else?”

  Holy shit. The guy’s shorts were in a serious knot. Tempting as it was to continue needling his friend, Alex backed off remembering all too well what it was like to be the one dragging his knuckles in the dirt back when Meghan wasn’t having any of his crap.

  “Oh, shit,” Parker mumbled. “Almost forgot. You got a delivery. Saudi Arabia. Huge crate. You guys want to tell me anything? Bargain hunting in Riyadh perhaps?”

  With a note of mockery in his voice, he drawled, “Guaran
teed it’s a peace offering from that smarmy prince. The one with the questionable history.”

  “Oh, shit. You mean Prince Little-Prick al Fuckwad? Who moved the rock? I thought he was on the no-fly list as far as Justice is concerned.”

  “He is. Permanently. But he fucked up big time and the CIA trumps Justice. Somehow, he ended up running one of their black site dog and pony shows. Now that it’s a shitstorm, they’re vetting options for a fix.”

  Parker whistled. “Whoa. For real?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “Come on. You were DOJ long enough to know how this goes.”

  Parker hastily leaned forward and crossed his arms on the desk. Speaking quietly, he asked, “How deep are you?”

  He rolled a shoulder. “Up to my chin.”

  “Anything your attorney needs to know about? And if you say one word about making sure your will is up-to-date, I’m having you kidnapped and put in a safe house.”

  “Nothing to report yet but they’ve assured me that if my unusual expertise is needed on the ground, I’ll be in and out before anyone knows I’m gone.”

  “What’s Red got to say?”

  “She doesn’t know yet.”

  “Is that wise?”

  Of course, it wasn’t, but he was cranking open the information vault an inch at a time.

  “I don’t want her overwhelmed.”

  Parker nodded but gave him a bit of shade. “She knows the compound has morphed into a traveling carny show, right? Jesus, Alex. That brother of hers needs a serious thumping. Have fun getting his ass in line.”

  “I’ve filled her in. More or less. Finn. Cameron. Gus. Brody. And some other things.”

  “Those other things have anything to do with the St. Johns?”

  Alex gritted his teeth. He hadn’t expected Parker to bring it up. Meant things were more fucked up than he knew. “How bad is it?”

  “Dude. For real. A crystal ball would be nice because those two are like a reality TV show. Changes week by week. And Drae? Fuck. He’s acting weird—and not the usual weird. But he isn’t talking. Has a bad case of that stoic bullshit going on. And Tori. Holy god. She’s like dealing with Sybil. In one five-minute conversation, she can play three different parts.”

  “I think we came home just in time.”

  More laughter rang out just on the other side of Parker’s office door. Meghan. She sounded so happy. And carefree.

  He was going to have to keep a careful eye on what landed in her lap once they were back in the saddle at the Villa. Things were going really well at the moment, and he didn’t want anything to rock their happy boat.

  THEY WERE IN the car and had gone a short way when Meghan took off her seat belt and climbed onto her husband’s lap. Knowing they were on the last leg of a journey that started months ago when she left Arizona for her hometown and the wedding of her dreams, and that had taken them to faraway lands on different continents, she was suddenly overwhelmed.

  She felt a little like everything was coming full circle. Behind them lay their first meeting. A whirlwind romance and a gut-wrenching breakup followed by the most romantic proposal and weddings ever. Yes, weddings. Plural. Because her wonderful alpha beast had seen to her every need. Even the spiritual ones.

  And then the honeymoon of all honeymoons. She was a happy, content bride.

  Seeing the model of the compound shook her up a little bit. So many changes since she had last been here. It hit her that a honeymoon like theirs—far away and removed from the daily grind—was in many ways surreal. For her, Villa life was on pause—stuck in a moment of time—and until this second, she thought, just waiting to be set free.

  The Great Justice Shuffle, Ben had called it. Very definitely surreal. But while she was on a pause, life went on for everyone else.

  She’d been so anxious to get home. To get back in the groove and find a daily rhythm. The idea of hanging out with the girls and laughing, gossiping, sharing stories, drinking coffee, and doing inappropriate Goggle searches—she missed all that.

  But so much was different. Heather was now part of the scene and Finn too. Things weren’t the same, not how she remembered, and they were going back to something that didn’t really exist anymore.

  “Everything okay?” he asked as she settled.

  Meghan burrowed into his neck and feathered her fingers along his strong jaw. “Just making one last memory before Justice explodes all over us.”

  The way his chest rumbled and shook as he chuckled made her smile. “You mean like a can of Coke shaken furiously and then cracked open?”

  “Something exactly like that.”

  Ben called on the intercom. “Sorry for the interruption, Boss. Just wanted to let you know construction is slowing things down near the turn off for Bendover.”

  Alex snickered. “Our very efficient driver letting us know we have an extra twenty minutes.” He grunted in that totally sexy way he had and drawled, “You know the first question the old fucker asked was if you were pregnant. Come to think of it, Parker did too.”

  She sighed. Ugh. “We’re going to be getting a lot of that, I’m afraid.” Tracing her fingers along her husband’s rugged mouth and chin, she tilted her chin and kissed his jaw. “I wish it would just happen already. Y’know?”

  He placed his hand on her tummy. “It’ll happen when it’s supposed to. Look at me.”

  Meghan was reluctant to change positions. She rather liked laying on his big chest. It always made her feel small and delicate, but if they were going to get serious, she had no choice.

  Shifting, she sat up and leaned against the leather at her back. He kept one arm around her waist and reached for her hand with the other. Kissing her knuckles, he curled his hand into his chest and held her fingers tight.

  “It’s been good. Just the two of us. Hasn’t it?”

  Aw, she loved him for where she knew his comments were going.

  Looking at him with all the love she had shining in her eyes, she assured him in a husky purr, “I will cherish this time forever.”

  “We’re already a family, Meghan.”

  She removed her hand from his grasp and reached into the bodice of her dress to pull out the chain with two hearts she liked to keep close to her skin.

  “Yours,” she murmured, suddenly feeling very shy.

  “Mine, indeed,” he answered before putting his hand on her neck and pulling her face in for a romantic kiss. When their lips drew apart, she couldn’t hide the wistful expression.

  The man she would adore with her dying breath reacted. “I want a baby too.”

  The second she heard the words, her inner narrator laughed and barked in a teasing voice, Be careful what you wish for. Her tummy did that butterfly tumble again, and she stopped to wonder what the hell that was all about.

  “Thank you,” she murmured softly.

  “For what?”

  “For loving me the way you do. For a thousand different things but most of all for being you. I feel so”—she searched for a good word—“safe. It’s weird. That feeling of knowing you’re half of a whole and never doubting you’ll protect me. Always. Thank you.”

  He got all kinds of serious and stared deeply into her eyes. “I’ve told you before, nothing matters except your happiness. All of this,” he said with a jerk of his head, “could be gone tomorrow, and I wouldn’t care as long as you were happy. And by my side.”

  A minute went by, and he said in all seriousness, “If you want, we can turn the car around right now and go back to the airport.”

  Could he be any more wonderful?

  Meghan smiled sweetly and made a teasing face. “Can’t do that, I’m afraid.”

  “Why not?” her alpha beast grumbled.

  “Because Ben says there’s a brisket in the oven at the Villa with your name on it.”

  It was just the right touch of levity, and they both laughed.

  “Well, okay. I suppose,” he mocked with a long-suffering sigh.

  Meghan giggled and patte
d his rock-hard stomach. “It’s a wonder my awful cooking didn’t make you waste away, Major.”

  “Hey now!” he crowed with good-natured humor. “You did okay, baby. Got that tapas thing down to a science.”

  She snorted a grim laugh. “Right. Woohoo! Tapas. Stuff bought at the market and artfully arranged on a platter.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “But you arrange so well.” He ran a finger down the center of her chest. “Especially naked. I like the naked tapas arranging very much.”

  “Well”—she sniffed indignantly on a half giggle—“all that panty-ripping bullshit got old. Just seemed easier to dispense with the underwear before I ran out.”

  Alex chuckled. “Is that a complaint? I thought you liked my gorilla hands shredding your panties.”

  “Shred away, oh masterful one,” she snickered with a wag of her eyes, “when we’re at home and replacement lingerie is easily procured.”

  “Oh,” he challenged. “So shaking your sexy bare ass in my face was just because you were worried about your wardrobe? It had nothing to do with how much you enjoy being bent over the table with your legs spread?”

  “Actually,” she said with a deliberately bratty fiddling of his tie and a super sexy pout, “not being bent over, although that is my favorite, as much as it was being slammed down on the wood table with my legs up on your shoulders.”

  He roared with laughter. “Then we’d better figure out a way to get a table in our bedroom, my lusty Irish Fuck Goddess, because whatever you want, I’m determined to provide.”

  “Maybe we need a playroom like the one your sister is getting.”

  “Seriously?” he complained. “How the hell do you even know that?”

  “It was all she talked about in Boston. Poor Parker.”

  They both had a good laugh.

  Alex grew serious. “Do you want a playroom, Meghan?”

  “We already have quite a few,” she reminded him. “Let’s see,” she said with devilish delight. “There’s the old truck. Not very roomy but good for a delightfully bumpy ride.”

  His expression was priceless.

  “And then there’s Vortice Amore. Also—not a room, per se, but we need a hash mark board to track the number of times we’ve made love there.”