Restrained Under His Duty

by Stacey Kennedy

  It’s something I considered, too. Logically, him talking to a tabloid doesn’t add up. Which brings me back to my original thought that something else was going on here, besides Tobias’s involvement. “You did plant the bugs in O’Keefe’s Pub, yes?”

  Tobias gives a bitter smile. “Find those, did you?” I nod, biting back a few choice words, as he adds, “That was Viktor’s suggestion.”

  “Why would he make that suggestion?” I ask.

  He pauses, and his expression looks like he’s eating a lemon. Obviously, I’ve got him by the balls and telling me the truth is the last thing he wants to do. “Well, once we heard that you were a regular at the pub and tended to have very private conversations there, the plan came together,” he explains. “Not only would we know private details of the senator’s life, we would also know your schedule so we knew when your guard would be down. And we also discovered Hadley’s involvement with that club, which worked to my benefit for a while.”

  I clench my jaw, wondering who would have known that I attended Gabe’s pub regularly and had private conversations there. I’m at a loss. The leaks to the tabloids still don’t add up. Someone had taken a photo of Hadley and me on her private balcony and had given that photo to the tabloids. That person is exactly who I need to find to clean up this tabloid mess once and for all. “Did this person who planted the bugs also follow Hadley?”

  “Of course.” Tobias gave a dark smile, lacing his fingers together, clanging the metal against the table. “I wanted to ensure that she was taking my threat seriously. When I heard you two were together, I assumed she was.”

  I draw in a deep breath and lean forward, looking Tobias right in the eye. “So, let me get this straight: You hired someone to plant those bugs to keep an eye on me, and this person also followed Hadley as per your request, but you never asked them to sell any photographs to the tabloids?”

  He nods. “That’s right. Are we done?” I stare at him, finding no deceit in his posture. He’s relaxed, breathing slowly. He makes eye contact when he answers. There’s no sweat beading on his skin. I hate to admit it, but he’s telling the truth.

  Then who is doing this to me and my friends and why? runs across my subconscious.

  Because why would this person whom Tobias hired and paid—probably well, I’m sure—go one step further to sell the photographs to the tabloids? There are still pieces missing in all this, and that’s something I can’t have. “Just one last question. Who did you hire to plant the bugs?”

  He tsks me, as if I’m some child beneath him. “Really, after all you’ve accomplished, you would think you’d have figured this out by now.”

  I ignore the mocking nature of his voice. “Who. Is. It?”

  His lips part, and what he says next stuns me so much that I say nothing to him as I grab my phone from my pocket and text Gabe.

  We need to meet. All of us. I have a name for you. But I need a few hours. I’ll text you when to come to headquarters.

  Gabe texts back: I’ll gather the troops. We’ll be ready.

  “You will hold up your promise and leave my sister alone,” says Tobias, dragging my focus to him.

  Sometimes in the game of life you have to pick the lesser of two evils. I needed this information, not only to create peace in my life, but because I made a promise to my friends that I would find out who our mole was. “I will.”

  Chapter 21

  Hadley

  Later that afternoon, I lift my head after my nose has been stuck in my phone reading all the news articles about my father, me, and the governor to find out that my mother has driven me to Blackwood Security. “This isn’t home,” I gently remind her.

  Mom puts the Audi SUV into park, then turns to me with a sly smile. “Maybe it should be.”

  Oh, Lord, not this again. “What are you doing here, Mother?” I ask, crossing my arms. Now is not the time for some Mom intervention. Well, never is the time. But especially not right now.

  “I’m doing nothing here.” She turns to face me better, giving me the classic “sweet mom” look that all moms seem to possess. “You, however, are going to go into Ryder’s house, because like I said before, I know when a man has been hit by the love bug. Besides, Hadley, you should know better. I’m always right.”

  I eye his front door and then the door to headquarters. Thankfully, I don’t see him anywhere. But his truck is right there. “I am not going in there because you have a gut feeling. Let’s go. Right now.”

  “It’s not just my gut feeling, honey,” she says gently. “A mother always knows best—”

  “Oh, my God, Mother,” I snap at her. “Go!”

  Mom laughs in her easy way, as if she’s not trying to murder me by embarrassment. “Okay, okay, I’m just trying to prove my point.” She pats my arm gently. “You can calm down. Remember that phone call I got earlier?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That was Ryder, and he asked me to deliver you here after we left the hospital instead of taking you home.”

  My heart flutters. “Oh. He did?” But that could mean anything, right?

  In the land of Ryder Blackwood, no one could make assumptions. Because for the most part, I had no idea what he was thinking. I guess I kinda liked that about him. He did the unexpected, even if sometimes the unexpected wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

  Mom unclips my seatbelt. “Now hurry up and go to him. I have to get back to your father.”

  I lean over and kiss her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Love you,” she calls as I exit the car.

  “Love you, too.” I slam the door shut.

  I’m not quite sure what I’m feeling watching her drive away. In fact, ever since I woke up in the hospital, I seem calmer than I’d expect and well…a little numb, if I’m honest with myself.

  Once the SUV fades away, I turn and find Ryder standing in the doorway of his house. I can’t move, barely able to breathe. He’s only wearing a pair of jeans. No socks, no shirt…God, he’s sexy as hell. Though it’s his eyes that get me, every damn time. They’re warm like usual and intense and captivating, but then there is something else there, too…determination, maybe?

  Instead of standing there gawking at him, I approach and smile. “Hi.”

  He gives me his drop-dead gorgeous smile and winks playfully. “I didn’t think you were ever going to get out of the SUV.”

  I admit his change of mood is confusing. One second shut down and distant. Now playful and bright-eyed. Instead of focusing on what he’s said, and way too curious to find out the reason for the shift in his mood, I stop in front of him and push the conversation along. “Why am I here?”

  “Because I want you to be,” he replies as he takes my hand, pulling me into his house.

  The second I step inside, I find his home is a lot like him; simple, masculine, and warm. There are mostly stone walls, except for some gray-painted ones. Up top, I see a loft and imagine his bed is probably up there. But then when I look to the right, where his living room is, I find two kitchen chairs in the middle of the living room, facing each other.

  They’re so out of place, I turn to Ryder and ask, “What are those for?”

  He’s already walking forward, keeping his fingers tangled in mine. “Come. Sit.”

  I exhale slowly and follow him to the chairs, wondering what’s up.

  He gestures to a chair, and when I lower down, watching him do the same, a nervous laugh bubbles up. But in the same breath, I gasp when he spreads his legs and pulls my chair forward so my chair is right up against him.

  “We’re going to talk,” he says next.

  “Okay…” My heartbeat kicks up at the closeness of the conversation. There’s just nowhere else to look but right into his intense eyes as they strip me bare. “Is this how you usually talk to people?”

  “With you. Yes. This is how we’ll talk from now on whenever something needs to be discussed. It’s clear. There can be no confusion, because it’s just us, sitting and talking until
we’ve talked out whatever we need to.”

  It’s weird, I admit that to myself. But I guess with Ryder’s background in the military and his company, these face-to-face talks must be more normal than they are to me. I also admit they’re effective. He has my full attention. “What is it you want to discuss?”

  “Tell me what you felt when you woke up to find yourself abducted.”

  My lips part, and a harsh breath escapes. “Ah, I don’t know.”

  Eyes intent on me, he repeats, voice hard, “Tell me what you felt when you woke up to find yourself abducted.”

  I gulp. “I already said that I don’t know.”

  He watches me closely a moment and then stands, taking something from his pocket. I realize it’s a black silk blindfold. I could question his motives, but for some reason that I don’t fully understand, I don’t. When he places it over my face, careful of my stitches, I stay silent. Because if there is anything between us, it’s trust, and I know I’m safe with him.

  Darkness soon covers my eyes, and I hear him sit back down, my senses heightened. I hear my heartbeat and his breathing, when he asks, “Go back into your mind—what was the first thing you heard when you woke up?”

  I heave a long sigh. “Ryder, why do you want me to do this?”

  “Trust me.” A pause. Then, “What was the first thing you heard?”

  He’s not going to let this go. And I’d rather do something else much more fun with the blindfold on, so I indulge him. I retreat to my mind, entering the dark room again. Mentally, I reopen my eyes, seeing the room as I saw it. “Water. I hear drips of water.”

  “What do you smell?”

  “Mold. It’s damp.”

  “Is there anything else that you hear?”

  “A voice…”

  I feel myself slip deeper…and deeper into the memory as he asks, “What do you feel against your skin?”

  “Burning on my wrists.” My voice blisters. “Cold.”

  “Are you alone?”

  “No.”

  It’s like I’m there, right back there in that moment. That’s when the walls start closing in, slowly…until they’re moving faster and faster. “He’s here.” I gasp. “He’s got a gun.”

  “You’re safe, Hadley.” Ryder’s smooth voice brings me back, reminding me I’m not there, I’m with him, as he adds, “Is he threatening you with the gun?”

  My breath catches in my throat. “He has it to my head.”

  Suddenly, the darkness is gone as the blindfold comes off. Once my eyes adjust, I’m no longer in that dark room, I’m staring at Ryder.

  He cups my face, and as I lean into his touch, he asks again, “Tell me what you felt when you woke up finding yourself abducted.”

  “I felt…” My throat squeezes tight and tears well in my eyes, until Ryder’s nothing more than a blur in front of me. There’s not a damn thing I can do to stop them. The floodgate is open, and they fall heavily. “Violated. Scared,” I cry. “I felt really, really scared.”

  “Rightly so.” Then I’m in his strong arms, my face pressed against his chest.

  Time becomes something I don’t care about, as I dump days’ worth, if not years’ worth, of heartbreak in the safety of his arms.

  Only when my cries turn into whimpers does he lean away and hold my face in his hands again. “You can’t hide these feelings from me. It will destroy you, Hadley. I’ve seen PTSD destroy friends from the military. You need to talk about what you feel, and if we need to go back into your mind so you remember, then that’s what we’ll do, so you can begin to accept your feelings, not become numb to them.” I can’t even understand or process what he’s done for me now, as he brushes the tears off my face with his thumbs. “I can’t fix what you’ve been through. Not the accident. Not the abduction. Not the fact that a man put a gun to your head. But I can refuse to accept you shutting down. For this to work, for us to work, you need to be open to me and you need to see I won’t let you fall.”

  I stare at him, laid bare to him. Somehow, this man did what years of therapy didn’t do in, what? A matter of minutes? “How did you do that?” I touch my tears, reeling in shock they’re there.

  “Classic interrogation techniques,” he tells me gently, “and victim interviewing techniques.” He pauses. Then adds, “More important, I’m loving you right.”

  I blink, not even sure what to say.

  Good thing for me, he takes control of the conversation. “Do you remember that bold statement you said to me as a child at the dinner party the first night we met?” he asks.

  I shake my head to clear the disbelief, accepting the warmth filling me now. That sensation that only comes when someone gets you. When someone cares enough about you to love you in the way you need to be loved.

  He adds, “You told me that we would get married one day.”

  The memory is a fresh one in my mind, and not one I ever need to be reminded of. I’ve thought of it often. Sure, I had been a child when I’d said it, but I remember thinking Ryder was Prince Charming. Then when he came back into our lives later on, I remember thinking he was mine.

  “Well, Hadley, you were right all along.” He reaches into his pocket and takes out a vintage princess-cut diamond ring. “This was my grandmother’s ring. I adored her. She adored me more. But I think she would have loved you most.”

  I’m so speechless at the turn of events that I sit here and stare at the ring. Never before have I seen anything so perfectly beautiful. Back at the hospital, I thought Ryder walked away from me because he was torn about us being together. But it becomes clear to me now that he wasn’t torn about me, he was torn about his life and the fact that he couldn’t make me a permanent fixture in it.

  “Hadley,” he says.

  More tears fill my eyes as I throw my arms around him. “Yes, of course, yes. A hundred times yes, I’ll marry you.”

  When I lean away, he slides the ring on my finger. “It’s us now, Hadley. Forever. You got that, right?”

  I blink away my tears. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  The happiness that reaches his expression does something crazy to my heart, as he seals his mouth over mine, gently guiding me into the kiss. Slowly and surely, he begins to deepen the kiss until he has me moving closer, nearly climbing onto his lap.

  His heated chuckle brushes across me as he leans away. “I’ve got another surprise for you.”

  “Do you?”

  He gives me a big grin and rises, lacing his fingers with mine and tugging me forward, toward his glass dining room table. “Do you remember when we talked about going on a proper first date?”

  I smile. “Yes, I remember you being old-fashioned and saying to be a couple we needed a proper date.”

  He drops my hand and gestures to the glass-topped table. “I think it’s time we do that, don’t you?”

  “Ah…” I glance at the empty table, thinking if a dinner date was his plan, he definitely needed me to help him set a table properly. “Are we having dinner or something?”

  “No, you’re not having dinner, I am.”

  I glance sideways at him. “Okay, then, what are you having?”

  “You.”

  Chapter 22

  Ryder

  I allow myself the right to let Hadley tremble for a minute longer than I should, enjoying the way she’s breathy with desire. Day after day, month after month, she’d teased me. Now my only plan is to show her exactly what it means to be mine.

  Not wasting any more time, I place the blindfold into my back pocket and step forward, grabbing the wireless vibrator off the kitchen counter, where I’d left it in preparation for tonight. Her eyes flare as I return to her and turn the vibrator on to high. I tuck my fingers into the waistband of her yoga pants, pulling them out to put the vibrator into her panties, leaving it there against her clit. She gives me a lovely, soft moan and I smile, letting go of her pants, ensuring the vibe is exactly where I want it. On her clit, warming her up.

  Those
same heated eyes roll back in her head as I trail my fingers along her face, then seal my lips over hers. Careful of the stitches on the back of her head, I drag my fingers through the hair framing her face, then slide my touch down her neck, slowly enticing her to react under my touch, until her breath becomes heavy and fast.

  It’s only when I have her right where I want her—aching for me in the way I ached for her—do I reach for the hem of her shirt and gently ease it over her head. I kiss her shoulder, unhooking her bra at the back, and slide my tongue along her collarbone to the other shoulder while I pull the fabric off her shoulders.

  She shivers when I bring my lips back to hers. I delve my tongue into her mouth, exploring the ways she likes to be kissed, learning the ways she reacts. I can practically smell her desire in the air, and I definitely feel her ripe body, all curves and heat, against my hard planes.

  Her moans become a singular sound of need as I reach inside her pants, take the vibrator out, and turn it off, placing it on the counter next to me. “More?” I turn and ask her.

  “More,” she rasps.

  With her sizzling eyes on mine, I grin at her and slide her yoga pants and panties down to her knees. Once she steps out of them, I take her hand.

  “Come.”

  She follows me as I lead her to my dining room table. There, I assist her until she’s lying on her back in the middle of the table. Perfectly laid out for me. I gaze upon her, this woman who dug her claws into me and never let go. Her back has a slight arch, her erect nipples pointing up to the ceiling. I drag my fingers along her body, introducing her to my touch this way. A touch that only belongs to a man determined to own a woman’s body for the moments she’ll allow him to.

  Slowly, I make my way around to the end of the table, dragging my fingers gently along every inch of her beautiful body, causing her to wiggle and squirm under my touch. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to have you…just like this?”

  She moans, and it’s the only answer I need. Because I get it; I’m overwhelmed by her, too. We’re unleashed in a way we haven’t been before.