He clasped her hand and pulled her down the hall. “I have a few ideas. I’ll show you.”
An acre of bed sat in the middle of a five-acre room. Done in forest green and woodsy tan, it could only be the master bedroom. “U.S. Army colors. Really?”
“The decorator was so thrilled with the idea I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’d prefer something else. Makes me feel like I’m always on maneuvers.” Arms around her, he two-stepped her closer to the bedside.
“Maneuvers are what you’re up to now, mister.” He still wanted her. A good sign.
“You’re on to my subtle stealth. He peeled away the plush quilted spread and turned back the sheets. “Want to test how comfy the bed is?”
“Tsk. No stealth at all.” She kicked off her flats and shimmied out of the yoga pants she’d worn on the flight, then lay back on the stacked pillows.
The strain carved into his face shifted to relief. And a more potent emotion— hunger. He shed his khakis and pullover and stretched out beside her. Her head pillowed on his biceps, he tucked her against him.
She absorbed his achingly familiar scent, the warmth and strength of his hard body.
“On the plane you and Andie gabbed or slept. We haven’t had a chance to talk.”
“You were the one who insisted Andie and I sit together. Don’t complain. I noticed you cutting Z’s the whole flight.”
“Yeah, okay.” A sigh growled through him and his arms tightened around her. “That night in Vegas, I was afraid I’d lost you.”
“Your little tracking buttons worked. You found me.”
“Thanks to the extra ones you used. Damn clever how you got out of the suite. The man guarding the door may never live it down. The others are riding him hard.”
“I’m sorry about that. But I had no choice. You reached me in time, Thomas. Then I was afraid you wouldn’t catch on about the explosive chip.”
“You blew me away.” Muscles flexed beneath her head. “Sorry. Bad choice of words. But as soon as I realized what your gestures meant, it made sense. Moreau must’ve hidden the chip when he fixed the locket’s clasp.”
“If Gram’s watching, I hope she forgives me for losing her locket.”
“She’s proud of you, babe. And so am I.” He turned her so they were face to face, body to body. “Our choices form the patterns and courses of our lives. Things happen for a reason, not fate exactly, but something in each of us acting when we face crossroads and challenges. Disasters and death. You made the best decisions you knew how. Those bad guys are done for. My sister’s fine and Mimi will be.” He kissed her forehead.
“There’s one thing we never sorted out— why René made two trips to the Tussauds workshops.”
“I have a theory on that. Not one I like because it puts Moreau in a good light.” She looked up to see a knowing look in his eyes. “After he hid the necklaces on the wax figures, Zervas threatened not just his wayward forger, but his girlfriend— you. Probably saw your picture on Facebook.”
As she thought about it, relief washed through her that René might not have deliberately endangered her. She rubbed her aching temples. “He tried to retrieve the necklaces to protect me. When he was dying, he even reached for the locket, but I didn’t understand until Zervas demanded to know where the chip was.”
She lay quietly in his arms, her mind flipping through the good images of the past weeks and locking away the bad. Comforted by the incense of his hot skin, she let the rest of her guilt drift away on a tide of acceptance. “And now it’s finally over.”
“The danger’s over,” he said, tipping up her chin. “But we’re not over. When I said I was afraid I’d lost you, I meant more than at the hands of my enemy.”
His mouth rocked over hers, cutting off words and thought, leaving only the feeling they’d always been heading to. “What happened to telling me you’re too old for me and all that crap?”
“You told me that was cover. It took me awhile to look deeper, but you were right. When Mom died, I closed off my emotions. Dad retreated to his work, and I had to be strong for myself and for Andie. I held everyone at arm’s length, even her.” He brushed a finger down her cheek. “But not you. With your sass, you never once let me keep up walls. You scared me, so I resorted to the age difference excuse.
“I’m done fooling myself. I need you, Cleo, more than I ever believed I could let myself need anyone. I want your light and laughter in my life. I’ve been too serious, not letting myself think beyond work and getting Andie straightened out.”
“Not too serious. You went out with a lot of women.”
“And you know that how? Ah, the BFF network. Andie must’ve also clued you in on more than my social life. You knew about Devlin Security Force before I sat down at your table on the cruise ship.”
“You’d just invited yourself to dinner. I needed time to process, to adjust. But no side-tracking. All those women?”
His hand continued down her neck, then her shoulder, along the curve of her hip, and fanned her pulse with every caress through the thin cotton tunic. She felt him hard against her belly.
“Not that many. I haven’t been celibate, if that’s what you’re asking, but they weren’t important to me. You are. When you agreed to stay here, we said it was only until we could go see Mimi. But that’s not good enough. Stay with me. Andie’s moving out.”
“She told me. She’s going to share an apartment with a woman at the clinic where she’ll be working.”
“Her room could be your studio. Great morning light in there.”
When he kissed her this time, his lips were tender, his tongue coaxing, persuasive. Irresistible.
He was asking her to live with him, a long-term relationship. Her whole body smiled, yet a painful bubble of panic swelled in her throat. Commitment. Sort of. He hadn’t said the L word.
“I can’t say you don’t know what you’d be getting. You know me better than anyone. I’ll probably still make impulsive choices.”
“One of the things I appreciate about you—as long as one of those choices is me.”
She grinned. “Like I said, I’ve learned some things about myself. I’ve had relationships too, but ones I could walk away from. I was afraid to need someone, afraid of being hurt.”
“Of being dependent.”
“So you do know me. I needed those few years on my own and these days with you to learn that needing someone, loving someone doesn’t make me dependent. So… my own studio and you in the bargain? How can I refuse?”
Thomas held her hard, the life-giving connection swelling his chest with a mix of emotions— softness, passion, need. And fear.
He didn’t want her to feel trapped but she was his, the woman he wanted by his side and not as a roommate. He couldn’t stop wanting her, wanting to make her happy, wanting to plan a future together. He reached in his jeans for the package he’d unwrapped when Cleo was staring at her paintings. He slipped the small box beneath his pillow.
Damn, he rarely had trouble knowing what to say, but how to begin had his tongue stuck to his teeth. “Babe, this deal, I need to make the commitment clearer, defined.”
The light in her gaze dimmed. “Want to negotiate on terms, like a lease?”
Shit, she thought the C word had him running scared. “No negotiation. No compromise.” He drew a fortifying breath, trusted his strategy. “When you were a hot teenager, all I could think about was getting you naked. I lost the friendship we’d had. And have found again.”
“Oh, Thomas, I—”
He placed her hand over his heart. “No one else reached me here. Because this place was already taken. By you. I’ve loved you half my life but didn’t let myself think about it. About us. No one else knew the real me or made me examine myself. And change some things, like not being so uncompromising and ceding some control to others.”
“Even me?”
“Especially you.”
Doubts clouded her gaze. “Thomas, are you sure? Aren’t you afraid
I’ll run away if we have tough times?”
Her question washed over him like a balm, eradicating his fears. “Times couldn’t get much tougher than we’ve just survived. No matter the risk, you were brave and resourceful and reliable. You ran away from nothing— except when you lost yourself in your art. Yes, I did notice. But no cage. I’m not worried you’ll fly away.”
Her acceptance of his trust shone in her eyes. “I’ve learned something else during our odyssey,” she said. “Freedom is hollow without commitment to something or someone.” She kissed him lightly. “My something is making a success of my painting. And my someone is you. So what do you want in our contract?”
“I want forever, a lifetime commitment.”
She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, her answer was in their shining depths. “Forever? Can I get that in writing?”
“Absolutely. Signed and witnessed. And as soon as possible.” He withdrew the velvet box and opened it. “I had my dad overnight this.”
Cleo’s hand flew to her throat. “Oh, Tommy, your mother’s ring.”
He swallowed. “I wanted to do this right. It was my great-grandmother’s, an old mine-cut diamond. If you don’t like it—”
She silenced him with a hard kiss. “Don’t like it? It’s perfect.” She held out her hand for him to slip on the ring. “It fits. Like us.”
He lifted her left hand and kissed the ring finger. “I made a contract offer. And gave a token of my pledge. I need an answer.”
“The head of Devlin Security is insecure?” she teased. “The answer is a big yes. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I want that forever with you.”
“Sealing this deal calls for more than a kiss.”
He peeled her tee and her bra off over her head. His fingers moved aside her bikini panty, slid it out of his way.
“But your bruised ribs. And my concussion. Although my headache has backed off.”
He hushed her with a kiss and stroked her, stirring her to writhe against his hand. His pulse rioted and he shuddered with need. “We’ll take it easy.” Between kisses he removed the rest of his clothing.
His breath hurried and shallow, he lifted her leg across his hip. When he joined them, they sighed in unison. Languid strokes in a gentle rhythm and lazy kisses shimmered through him, surging fire through his blood, reeling his senses until she spasmed around him. Gasping moans of pleasure parted her lips and her undulations pulled his release from him in a huge, pulsing wave.
Long moments later, they held each other and kissed, slowly, gently, filling him with her scent and her softness and with the assurance she accepted his claim binding them together. She saw into his heart and understood him like no one else. With her, for the first time in years, maybe since he was a kid, he didn’t feel alone.
Epilog
Toronto, Canada - Five days later
THOMAS EXPRESSED THANKS and ended the call. A woman in blue scrubs pushed along a cart laden with empty lunch trays past the half-open door to Mimi’s room. Aromas of chicken and gravy mixed with that of disinfectant, squelching his hunger pangs in mid-growl.
“Good news for a change?” Lucas asked in a distracted manner. Beside Thomas in the corridor, he shifted from one foot to the other and scrubbed his palms down his jeans. He touched his hearing aid, so tiny it was nearly invisible.
Thomas wished a curse on all those women who’d sapped the confidence of this kind and generous man. Lucas and Mimi had yet to speak to each other. The Beast had come to care for his Beauty only by watching over her silent and sleeping form.
“French agents raided Zervas’s villa in the south of France,” he said in answer to the question. “They found originals of most of the copies he sold. Including the Han horse. Mara’s authenticator in France declares it’s the genuine horse. The Tate Museum director is ecstatic.”
“Getting rid of Centaur should improve our PR,” Lucas said. “You must be glad to be back.”
“Back to stress level normal. No one shooting at me.”
The past weeks had made him see it was time to groom someone to be chief operating officer. He’d continue to be CEO but the fire in his belly to spend all his time and effort running the show had cooled. He couldn’t wait to return home every day.
To Cleo.
On Monday, they’d driven to Annapolis. Her mother was thrilled to see her— and them together and engaged— hugging each of them. Her father worked himself up to a gale of bluster about the danger his impulsive daughter had put herself in. Fear for his youngest and frustration with his injury made him testier than usual. But Cleo’s announcement of her impending gallery showing and Thomas’s obvious support dumped the winds of indignation from Hoot’s sails.
Lucas’s gaze slid to the room where Cleo and Mimi were visiting. A drop of sweat dripped from his forehead to his nose. The hospital was warm, but not that warm. “Maybe I’ll go for a walk. Or something.”
“Give them a few more minutes.” Cleo had promised not to prepare Mimi either for her protector’s appearance or for his ambivalence. But the two women had had enough time alone. More delay and Lucas was likely to bolt and not return.
Lucas shuffled his feet again. “Your sister okay?”
“Better than in years. Says her therapist thinks kicking Nedik in the nuts empowered her so she feels she has more control over her life.”
Cleo appeared at Mimi’s door. “Lucas, she wants to see you.”
Panic skittered across his broad face. He pushed away from the wall, edging a step away from Thomas. “You sure you two don’t need more time alone?”
Thomas laid a steadying hand on his friend’s shoulder. “An hour’s long enough. You’ve come all this way. Do you want to hurt her feelings?”
Jaw clamped tighter than a vise, Lucas trudged through the open door.
Mimi sat upright in the bed. Short auburn growth covered where sutures had pinched the shaved place above one ear. The rest of her hair fanned across the nest of pillows and brushed her shoulders. Caramel freckles stood out in relief against the pallor of her cheeks. Her eyes, the same green as Cleo’s, shimmered with emotion when they locked on Lucas Del Rio. No hint of fear or revulsion. Only relief and happiness.
Thomas slowly exhaled as he felt Cleo press closer to him. He slipped an arm around her shoulder.
Mimi’s smile was summer sunshine warming the entire room as she extended both hands. “Lucas, oh, Lucas, come closer. I’d know you anywhere. You’re just as I pictured you. Rugged and strong. You saved my life.”
The magnet that she was pulled Lucas’s steel to her side. She reached for him and he wrapped her small hands in his big ones. “Didn’t do much. Just kept that thug out of your room.”
“And I thank you for that, eh? But I meant something much larger, more personal. I kept floating away toward a distant light. But your voice, your gentle, warm voice brought me back every time.”
The tops of his ears reddened. “I must’ve talked nonsense. But I wanted you to know you weren’t alone.” His normally gravel rough voice, was as she described, syrup smooth.
She lifted his hand and held it to her cheek. “You did that and more. You made me keep fighting to come out of it. To live. So we could have this moment.”
Thomas was mesmerized.
Cleo’s tug on his arm uprooted him and they crept from the room. He followed her to the elevator and down to the main floor café where they purchased hot cider. As if afraid to burst the magical bubble they’d witnessed, neither spoke until they were outside at an area with seats. The air smelled of autumn crispness and the apple fragrance wafting from their paper cups. Leaves of nearby shrubs were turning color.
“That was beautiful,” Cleo said, turning her face to the blue sky. She pulled her wraparound sweater closer and tied its sash against the chilly breeze. Smiling, she accepted her cup from him.
Thomas sat beside her on the smooth granite bench, warmed by the sun. “Almost as beautiful as you.”
She smil
ed over her cider, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “A poetic compliment from Thomas Devlin. Whoa.”
Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her gently, with the love and gratitude in his heart and soul, then claimed her lips as need hardened him. Deep, wet kisses followed that took away his breath and left her clinging to him.
“You make me happy,” he said against her mouth. “You make me want to be more than a workaholic. I’m thinking a house bigger than my condo, maybe a family?”
Her lips twitched. “Oh, I don’t know. Lucas suggested you should hire me for more cloak-and-dagger missions. I kinda got into the excitement of the chase.”
A groan slipped between his clenched teeth. “Heaven help me. I’ve created a monster.”
“A life with you is all the excitement I need. I think we should start that family soon. You know, one of us is getting older.”
“Babe,” he warned. But he was grinning.
“Ranger.” She wrinkled her nose. “I meant me. In a couple of years I’ll be thirty.” She laughed, that husky, sexy sound he loved and wanted to hear for the next zillion years.
The End
Please Enjoy this Excerpt from
On Deadly Ground
Book 1 of the DEVLIN SECURITY FORCE series
Chapter 1
Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.
THE GIG WAS right up his alley. Recover an artifact with a curse—Kizin, the Maya god of earthquakes, no less. Deliver it in tandem with the rescue of a kidnap victim somewhere in the Costa Verde jungle. And outflank that damn smuggling ring. Only hitch was the time frame—beat an earthquake.
And, oh, yeah. The client. Make that two hitches. Talk to the boss on that one.
Max Rivera adjusted his back pack and grabbed his duffel bag from the carousel. Slinging the strap onto one shoulder, he headed toward the coffee kiosk by the car rental desks. The new client must be damned important to Devlin Security Force if Devlin himself took the time to make the introduction. Max searched the crowd as he wove past people gabbing in a dozen languages. No Devlin.
Cleopatra's Necklace (Devlin Security Force Book 3) Page 28