***
“Mia, wake up, baby.”
Mia snuggled farther under the comforter, the soft material sliding over her skin. Last night had been a high and low of emotions and not hearing Vin tell her he loved her too had been devastating. But then he’d made love to her and any doubt she’d had about his feelings disappeared because she’d seen what she needed to see as his eyes held hers as his joined their bodies together. He’d finally looked at her and he’d let her see him – every part of him. Whatever he was still struggling with, she knew the words would come eventually.
Big hands turned her and then soft kisses were being brushed over her mouth. His weight settled down on her once she opened to him but when she felt the fabric of his clothes beneath her palms, she forced her eyes open.
“Are you going to work today?” she asked. It wasn’t unheard of for Vin to work on a Saturday but she’d hoped that after the hellish day yesterday that they could just spend some time together. It took her a moment to realize that what he was wearing was completely wrong for the office or a day at home. They were the same clothes he’d been wearing the night he’d come home and found her hiding out in his house – fatigues.
She instantly sat up, ignoring the duvet as it dipped precariously low around her chest.
“Ren?” she asked quickly, her body tightening with anxiety.
Vin nodded.
Fear went through her because she knew the danger that awaited Vin but the hope that went through her was even greater. Vin needed his brother back. He needed to bring Ren home.
“We got an anonymous email this morning with a GPS location. It’s a long shot-”
“Go,” she said quickly. “Go get him.”
Relief seemed to go through Vin and he stole another kiss. “Dom and Logan are going to come stay with you,” he began to say. Mia was about to protest but he silenced her with another kiss. “Please Mia, I need to know you’re safe while I’m gone.”
“Yes, okay,” Mia said quickly. “Be careful,” she whispered.
“I will,” he said before kissing her once more. His eyes lingered on hers and then he pulled away. “Be back soon,” he said quickly as he hurried from the room. The front door opened and closed a moment later and she found herself squeezing her eyes shut and saying a quick prayer asking God to bring Vin safely back to her. And then her thoughts shifted to Ren and she hoped liked hell that the brother Vin found was the same one he’d lost.
***
Mia’s gut clenched at the sight of Logan and Dom embracing in the kitchen. She’d gotten used to seeing the two men’s stolen kisses and lingering, emotion-filled glances in the past week that they’d been staying with her at Vin’s house but the sound of Dom’s soft crying had the panic firing through all of her nerve endings. Words escaped her as she stood in the entryway to the kitchen. How would she survive if they told her something had happened to Vin?
Dom finally caught sight of her and pulled free of Logan. “They found him, Mia,” Dom said as he laughed. “He’s alive.”
It took her a long moment to realize Dom was talking about Ren and that had been the cause of his tears. She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around Dom. She felt Logan’s arm settle around her as he joined them and she reveled in how good it felt to be a part of the emotional moment. Dom finally released them both and grabbed a towel off the counter to wipe at his damp face.
“Vin said they found him in the caves near Bamyan in Afghanistan. He’s in pretty bad shape but he was conscious when they found him. They flew him to Germany for treatment,” Dom said.
“And Vin’s okay?” Mia asked, her voice breaking a bit.
“He’s good, Mia. He’s safe,” Logan said as he reassured her with a pat on the arm.
“He’s going to try and call you tonight,” Dom added.
“Does he know when they’ll be able to come home?” she asked.
“It will probably be at least a week or more to get Ren stabilized and then he’ll have to be debriefed before Vin can bring him home.” Dom’s eyes shifted to Logan. “Ren’s coming home, baby,” he murmured and Logan smiled softly at him before embracing him once more. She thought she heard Rafe’s name mentioned but she couldn’t be sure and she didn’t want to intrude on the intimate moment so she headed back to Vin’s room...their room.
Chapter 10
It ended up being three agonizing weeks before Vin finally said they were on their way home. Mia had managed to keep busy with her new job in the accounting department that Dom set her up in after his assistant’s return, but it hadn’t been easy. Her interview had been released the day after Vin’s departure and the media had become even more determined to seek her out. They still hadn’t tracked her to Vin’s house but that was only because of Dom’s careful planning to get her in and out of the office building unseen. On more than one occasion, he’d sent her off with one of his employees while Dom had distracted the press with claims that he had no knowledge of her whereabouts. There’d been a few instances where he hadn’t even been comfortable enough to return to Vin’s house out of fear he’d lead the press there so it had been her and Logan along with different bodyguards who spent the evenings patrolling the grounds along with the dogs.
Her nightly calls with Vin had kept her going through all the chaos and when he’d finally told her last night that they were coming home, she’d been overjoyed. Ren’s physical condition had improved enough to travel but Vin’s reluctance to talk about his brother’s emotional state had her figuring it was probably pretty bad. Fortunately, Dom and Vin had somehow managed to keep the news about Ren a secret and the press had yet to discover the missing soldier had been found. But apparently the hacker who’d stolen information about her was still at it and Dom and Vin’s main concern was that Ren’s rescue wouldn’t be discovered next.
“Mia, they’re here,” she heard Logan call from downstairs.
“Okay,” she said as she finished preparing the third guest room for Ren. Although she hadn’t been using her own room since Vin’s departure, Percy and the kittens were still in there so she’d decided to set Ren up in the room Dom and Logan had been using.
“Come on guys,” she said to Bane and Briego who’d obediently stayed put when they had heard the car pulling up. She led the dogs to Vin’s room and shut them in, suspecting poor Ren would probably be too overwhelmed to deal with everything all at once. She hurried down the stairs just as the front door was being opened and her heart stopped at the sight of Vin. His eyes caught hers and she wanted nothing more than to launch herself into his arms, but the sight of the young man just behind him had her staying put.
Ren looked a hundred times worse than she ever could have imagined. She’d seen pictures of him all over Vin’s house along with older pictures of when the four brothers were younger. Ren was as tall as Dom but had a leaner build like Vin’s. His pictures always showed him smiling or goofing off in some way and his eyes had been full of life and vitality. The man who entered the house wasn’t even a shell of the young man from the pictures. Hollow, lifeless eyes stared unseeing ahead of him and his almost skeletal frame was slightly hunched as if it hurt to walk. Scars marred the skin she could see, including over his face which looked sunken and pale.
“Ren?” she heard Dom whisper from the far side of the parlor and then the man was dragging Ren into his arms. Ren didn’t react or speak but his arms did come up to briefly hug his brother back.
Vin used the distraction to quickly trot up the stairs and brushed a kiss over her lips. “Hi,” he said softly, his eyes lighter than she’d ever seen them.
“Hi,” she said back.
“He’s pretty overwhelmed right now. Do you think you and Logan could...” Vin began to say.
“Yes, of course,” she said without hesitation. “We were going to start on some dinner,” she said as she glanced at Logan who’d kept himself apart from the group. He too seemed to sense that it was all too much for the younger Barretti.
/> Vin nodded and stole another kiss. She scooted past him and hurried to where Logan stood but not before her eyes suddenly connected with Ren’s. A chill went up her back at the dark look he sent her but she forced herself to brush it off and followed Logan to the kitchen.
***
Vin sighed when he was finally buried as deep inside of Mia as he could go. He kissed her as her body adjusted to him but when he felt her muscles tighten around him, the pressure was too intense and he began to move.
“So beautiful,” he murmured between kisses. “So fucking perfect.”
“Missed you,” Mia whispered as her legs came up to wrap around him. Her hands stroked up and down his back, her nails dragging along his heated skin as her hips lifted to meet his every thrust.
Vin let his body settle along Mia’s so they touched everywhere as his hips snapped against hers. His need for her was too much and he reached between their bodies to rub his fingers over her clit. She moaned at the contact and her body tightened around him even more.
“Come for me,” he said as he changed the angle of his hips. The move had her orgasm overtaking her and he managed to stifle her scream of pleasure with his mouth as he came long and hard within her. He was content just to kiss her as the pleasure slowly ebbed from his body and he had to force himself to release her long enough to dispose of the condom. But the second he crawled back in bed beside her, she was plastering herself up against his chest, her fingers curling around his side as if to prevent him from leaving her again.
Ever since the surprise email that had arrived with Ren’s supposed location, Vin had been in overdrive. In the past when such leads had come in, he’d been more than eager to get on a plane, but this time around there’d been just the slightest bit of reluctance. And not only because of the fear that the lead would turn out to be another false one like so many of the others. No, he’d hesitated to leave Mia with so many unanswered questions between them. Her safety had also been at the forefront of his mind because he’d known that her interview would stir up the media, not to mention her father’s too silent accomplice. The fact that she’d so readily told him to go, along with her acquiescence to have Dom and Logan stay with her, had given Vin the resolve he needed to get on that plane.
The trip had been long and arduous but he and his team had been stunned to find that the lead had actually panned out. The extraction had gone far easier than he’d thought since they’d had the element of surprise and the seven extremists guarding Ren were dead before any of them could even get a shot off. When they’d finally found the ten foot deep, six foot wide hole within the dark cavern, Vin had thought the worst, especially when one of his men had shone a light down the hole and all they’d seen was a body lying prone on the ground. Going down that hole had been the hardest thing Vin had ever done and when he’d turned the body over and recognized his brother’s once handsome features marred and mottled with dirt and blood, Vin was sure they’d been too late. But then he’d felt a shallow pulse in his brother’s skinny throat and when he’d whispered Ren’s name, his brother had opened his eyes. Everything after that had been done in fast forward.
The flight to Landstuhl, Germany had been the longest of Vin’s life and he’d held Ren’s cold hand as one of his men started an IV drip and administered first aid as best he could to Ren’s broken body. He’d begged Ren to wake up just so he could hear his voice, but Ren was out for the entire flight and didn’t wake until well after they’d started treating him at the military hospital. And at that point his brother had become like a madman and swung at every nurse and doctor who’d been working on him. Vin had managed to hold him down long enough for a sedative to be administered and Ren had finally whispered Vin’s name just before he passed out from the drugs. It wasn’t until that point that he called Dom to tell him the news, though he’d skimmed over the true nature of Ren’s condition.
In the days that followed, Ren hadn’t said much but he had asked about Dom as well as news of Rafe which had given Vin the hope he needed that part of his brother still existed within the shattered body. Ren’s injuries were extensive including evidence of countless fractures and scars – proof that he’d been tortured repeatedly. Vin hadn’t been allowed to sit in on the debriefing Ren had undergone but from the looks of the officers that had left the hospital room afterwards, whatever had happened was beyond any of Vin’s worst nightmares. Even when Ren finally recovered physically, his mental recovery would be a long, slow battle that Vin wasn’t sure even someone as strong as Ren could ever win.
“You’re worried about him,” he heard Mia say.
Vin sighed and let his fingers trail down her back. “He doesn’t say much,” Vin said. “And his eyes...”
“You don’t see your little brother in them anymore,” Mia observed.
“I know it takes time – the logical part of me keeps trying to remind myself of that. But I thought I’d see a glimpse of the man he was by now. He won’t let me touch him. When Dom hugged him downstairs I thought he was going to explode.”
“He’s strong, Vin. He may not ever be exactly the same, but he’ll come back to you.”
God, he hoped she was right. Because it would be the ultimate cruelty to have finally saved Ren only to lose him to himself.
***
Mia gently maneuvered Georgie into the shed for the evening and gave him his dinner. She secured the gate that Vin’s gardener had installed to keep the pig in the back part of the small building but left the front door open so that Bane and Briego could use the shed as shelter on the off chance it rained overnight. It had been Vin’s idea to keep the dogs outside since Ren’s arrival three days earlier. While the dogs hadn’t shown any outright aggression towards Ren on the few occasions he’d come out of his room, Vin had noticed that both dogs kept their distance from the quiet man. Ren himself didn’t seem overly fond of them and made no effort to interact with them. Of course, he hadn’t interacted with anyone including either of his brothers. It had gotten to the point that a heartbroken Dom had agreed to give Ren some space and not visit until Ren indicated he was ready for more.
Mia left the shed and headed towards the house, her eyes automatically glancing up towards Ren’s window. A shiver went through her when she saw that he was watching her again. From the distance she couldn’t see the expression on his face but something about the way he watched her made her uneasy. Every time she’d been outside with the dogs or Georgie, Ren had at some point appeared in his window. She supposed he could just be watching the animals’ antics but something in her gut had her suspecting otherwise. They hadn’t spoken other than a brief introduction by Vin the morning after he’d brought Ren home. And that really couldn’t count as speaking since she’d been the only one to say any words.
Pushing away her apprehension, Mia entered the house and found Vin setting the table. Two place settings, not three.
“He’s not joining us?” she asked as she closed and locked the patio door.
Vin shook his head. His brother’s continued withdrawal was taking a toll on Vin though he wouldn’t admit it. “I’ll bring him something later,” he said quietly.
With things as tense as they were with Ren in the house, Mia had been reluctant to try to examine her relationship with Vin. On the one hand they were playing house like any other loving couple and Vin was more attentive than he’d ever been, but there was still an underlying tension between them that she just couldn’t figure out. She hadn’t told him she loved him again since the night before he’d left and he’d yet to say the words to her. But her gut was still telling her that he did love her even as that little voice in her head kept asking why he’d never actually told her so.
Dinner was a quiet affair and instead of watching a movie after Vin had taken Ren something to eat, they called it a night and went to bed. Vin had surprised Mia earlier in the day by moving Percy into his bedroom. He’d guessed that she was missing having Bane and Briego in the house and the added loss of the kittens that’d bee
n sent back to the rescue group earlier in the week so they could be adopted hadn’t helped. The ornery bird had even started to settle down around Vin and only called him “asshole” softly when he was around instead of shrieking it.
Long after Vin drifted off to sleep after an intense round of lovemaking, Mia lay awake and considered the future. As soon as things were settled with Ren, she’d need to find out where Vin was at with their relationship. It would be devastating if he didn’t want the same things she did, but she needed to plan what she would do either way.
“Can’t sleep?” Vin murmured as he gently tugged her so that she was laying on top of him.
She shook her head.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked as he threaded his fingers through her hair to push it back off her face.
She shook her head again and Vin smiled.
“Want to do something else?” he said suggestively as he added an exaggerated waggle to one eyebrow. The silly move had the desired effect and she laughed and brushed a kiss over his lips.
“In a minute,” she finally said with a chuckle as she pulled free of him and climbed out of the bed. “I need sustenance. You want something?” she asked as she pulled on one of his T-Shirts. Lust slammed through her as his gaze traveled up and down her body.
“We have any whipped cream or chocolate sauce?” he mused as he watched her hungrily.
God, this man was going to be the death of her because even now she felt her insides clench with need. She leaned down to lick over his lips and whispered, “I’ll see what I can find,” and then hurried from the room before he could grab her.
She was quiet as she passed Ren’s room, though his door was closed. The floor was cold beneath her feet as she hurried to the kitchen. A glance outside showed it was a clear night with a bright full moon. As she reached for the handle on the refrigerator, she thought she heard a sound, but before she could turn, a brutal grip fastened on her arm and spun her around and slammed her back up against the door of the refrigerator. A hand closed around her throat and her scream was cut off as fingers pressed mercilessly into her windpipe.
Loving Vin (Barretti Security Series, #1) Page 11