Lessons Learned (The Gifted Realm Book 2)

by Jillian Neal

  Rainer did note that Adeline had added in her own soothing love when she casted Logan. He’d recovered much faster.

  “I’m gonna get a shower,” Rainer leaned his head to either side until he popped the crick out of his neck, and tried to unkink his spine.

  The hot water beat against his back as he tried to let it wash away his exhausting day. When he stepped out of the shower, Emily handed him a towel she’d heat-casted.

  “Thanks, baby,” he dried off, and then pulled her close. Rainer inhaled her sweet, spicy scent. Citrus cloves mixed with vanilla and her personal brand of musk filled his nostrils and his heart. Everything about her soothed him, and holding her against his bare chest eased his weary soul.

  “Let’s go to bed.”

  With a nod, Rainer ran the towel haphazardly through his hair and pulled on a pair of boxers before falling into bed with her.

  “I’m sorry, baby; I’m just beat tonight.” They’d hoped that moving into their own place would allow them to engage in the physical side of their relationship a little more often.

  The last two nights hadn’t gone that way. Rainer hated to admit that Garrett had been right; he would’nt have made for much of a lover right then.

  Emily giggled. “It’s okay, Rainer. I wasn’t really expecting that. I’m just glad you seem to feel better.” She brushed sweet kisses on his chest and then on his cheek.

  He rubbed his hands up and down her back as he cradled her in his arms.

  Emily’s soothing Receiver’s cast spun out of her pores, and wound around his body. His breath panted from being inside the very essence of her. The only time he was ever closer to her was when he was physically a part of her, when he made their bodies one as he thrust deeply inside the heavenly confection between her legs.

  “Go to sleep,” she whispered.

  He let his eyes close and drank in her adoring love with every draw of his breath and every beat of his heart.

  Follies

  “I’ve got to go talk to Stariff,” Rainer whispered to Logan. He was careful not to take his eyes off of the work he was studying at his desk. He glanced back discreetly. Vindico’s office door was open, and he was on the phone dictating the terms of O’Ryan’s house arrest for the weekend.

  Logan nodded his understanding, “We haven’t left here before nine all freakin’ week. Even Adeline sort of complained.” As Adeline rarely complained about anything at all, Rainer understood the depth of the sentiment.

  “I know; Em’s been asking me all week to come pick her up from practice instead of one of the Non-Elite guys. She was nearly asleep Wednesday when we finally got home. Playing for the Angels is wearing her out. If I ever want to see her awake, I’m gonna have to be home before ten o’clock.”

  “I don’t want her to know about the whole will thing with Stariff. It’ll just freak her out. I was supposed to be in his office a half hour ago. I need to go sign whatever it is I’m signing, and then go home before she suspects something.”

  “Just go,” Logan urged, “You told him Wednesday you had to, and he said it was fine.”

  “Yeah, after I got a lecture about my work being my top priority.”

  “Stariff’s not gonna stick around forever on a Friday night. He doesn’t have a boss. He’s the head of the Senate Legal Department.”

  With a nod, Rainer swallowed down his nervousness, called himself a coward, and then leaned into Vindico’s office.

  “Sir, I need to head on to my meeting with Stariff, and then I need to get home. Emily and I are leaving early for New York tomorrow.”

  “Fine, Lawson, have a nice trip. Be careful, and call me if anyone shows up there when you’re getting the ring duplicated. No one needs to know why you’re there. You took Emily to spend the weekend in the city and to visit her uncles, nothing more.”

  “Yes, sir. I know,” Rainer noted that Vindico seemed better about his guys leaving at five, instead of at nine, when he felt that he’d given the order to do so.

  “Good man. Keep her safe, Lawson.”

  “Yes, sir,” Rainer rushed back to his desk to grab his badge, pistol, and the file folder Stariff had given him, with the documentation making all of the Lawson family fortune Logan’s if anything should ever happen to him.

  After apologizing repeatedly for being late, Rainer rushed through the documents of his last will and testament.

  “Tell Dan not to burn you out yet. Some people still have a life to live,” Stariff pointed to three lines on the lengthy document that required Rainer’s signature.

  Though he would never have quoted that to his boss, he did find the statement both true and yet almost heartless. Vindico would stop at nothing to avenge Amelia, his fiancée, who had been kidnapped from their home and brutally murdered by Wretchkinsides.

  Rainer never questioned Vindico’s obsession with revenge. It was a banner he would gladly carry alongside his boss. The unspeakable emptiness that Vindico must be living with haunted him. He would carry those unending moments of sheer terror after Emily had been attacked near her car at Angels Arena with him forever.

  Wretchkinsides needed to be stopped. His ever-expanding organization of evil needed to be hunted down, man by man, and crushed brutally into oblivion. It was the only way to keep Emily safe, and that was all that mattered.

  “All right, Lawson, sign here and here, and you can go home to your sweet redhead. I really think this is a brilliant decision. Stephen was right. You are one hell of a guy, and Emily Anne is a lucky girl.” Mr. Stariff had been a friend of the Haydenshires since long before either Rainer or Emily had been born. He tended to still view Emily as a little girl with freckles and pig tails, but Rainer appreciated his assessment.

  “Thanks. I’m just trying to keep her safe. I mean, if my uncle ever tried anything, or someone else,“ Rainer choked slightly as he discussed his own demise, “Logan would make sure Em got everything.”

  “I know, son; that’s why I said it was a brilliant decision,” Stariff gathered the documents and formed them into a solid block. The paper representation of Rainer’s lifelong goal, to take care of Emily, tapped succinctly against the cherry wood desk.

  “You’re home!” Emily raced to the garage when she heard the Mustang pull in. Rainer flashed his badge to the officers standing in the driveway. They nodded, and quickly fell into their squad cars, thankful to be off for the evening as well.

  He and Logan had worked up a story to cover why Logan might be home before him, in case they had to use it.

  “Hey there, baby,” Rainer squeezed her tightly in his protective embrace. She’d already showered and changed into a pair of tight Angels sweatpants with ‘Arlington’ written down her right leg and ‘Angel’ scrolled across her backside.

  Her beautiful face was scrubbed free of make-up. Her faint freckles, which appeared in the sun, the ones that Rainer adored but she hated, were showing. Emily had donned one of Rainer’s old Ioses t-shirts on top of her sweats.

  As she folded into Rainer’s arms, he was immediately aware that she was no longer wearing a bra. Her ample cleavage slid against Rainer’s chest as she squeezed him and sighed contentedly. His mouth watered as he inhaled deeply of the sweet spicy scent of her.

  Emily raised her head, and gave him her deliciously mischievous grin as she felt the effect she’d had stiffen against her stomach.

  She blushed slightly, and Rainer chuckled. She tried so hard to be more wanton than she was really capable. She wanted so badly to be qualified as extremely experienced, but Rainer found her sweet innocence absolutely intoxicating.

  “We ordered pizza,” she took his hand, and led him inside of their home. It was small, and occupied by Logan and Adeline as well, but Emily was there and the cozy familiarity eased his endless week.

  “Good, I’m starved,” Rainer piled several pieces of pizza on a paper plate and fell on to the sofa.

  Emily snuggled in beside him, and he felt the exhaustion wash from his soul. It was replaced by hunger. A hun
ger that was fed not by the pizza he was devouring, but by watching her run her fingers through her long auburn hair, watching her emerald eyes glimmer as she smiled up at him, and her soft curves melding into his muscled frame.

  “Did you see the papers this morning?” Emily rolled her eyes.

  “I didn’t see them. Vindico pretty much buried me in work and told me to dig my way out.”

  “Now they’re saying that you’ve been seeing Samantha Peterson on the side for a few years, and that you were hiding it from me because you lived at our house.”

  Rainer shook his head. “Where do they come up with this crap? I mean, why Samantha, or anyone that they’ve said I cheated on you with for the last five years? Why can’t they just say Rainer’s crazy mad over Emily Haydenshire, and she will always be it for him, and let that be it?”

  Emily brushed a kiss over his cheek. “It’s okay. I know that, so that’s all I need,” she assured him, though he knew the constant insistence that he was cheating often shook her confidence.

  “So, what did Vindico make you do tonight?”

  Rainer did appreciate the subject change, though he remembered to phrase his response carefully. “Mostly we’ve been going over old evidence. He’s trying to get us caught up on the past few years that they’ve been after Wretchkinsides.”

  “Vindico is about to bust wanting to find out everything Mitch’s dad knows,” Logan jumped in quickly as he stood to get more pizza.

  “How’d you get out?” Rainer quizzed stupidly.

  “Wait, you didn’t leave together?” Emily’s brow furrowed.

  Logan came to his rescue, just as he always did. “Oh, uh, no. Vindico sent Rainer down to legal to get a few things. Dad came in, and told him to let us go home that we’d worked enough this week. He sounded kind of pissed. Told Vindico that working constantly and not having a life outside of the office meant that Wretchkinsides was already winning.”

  “Well, good for Dad. I haven’t seen you all week.”

  “Aww, Em, I never knew you cared like that,” Logan harassed as he walked by and tousled Emily’s hair.

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t,” she assured her big brother.

  Rainer laughed as Logan feigned heartbreak. “We have all weekend in New York, baby. Be nice to get away for a while.”

  He set his empty plate on the coffee table, and grinned as Emily laid her head in his lap. Her eyes held a spark of the fire he loved to ignite. They darkened slightly. Her lips were swollen. They needed to be kissed.

  “Yeah, I can’t wait,” she bit her lip and then, with a sassy smirk, she pulled the quilt up higher until his lap was mostly covered, and she traced her index finger along his zipper line with her eyes locked on his.

  Rainer’s entire body tensed in his need. It had been too long. The week with its terror and exhaustion had simply taken too much, and he’d done nothing to restore their physical relationship.

  “Let’s go to bed,” Rainer all but commanded. His voice was low and eager. He hadn’t meant to let his need show so readily.

  Logan rolled his eyes. “It’s barely seven thirty. Keep your pants on, geez.”

  “We have to get up early, and I’m tired,” Emily lied.

  “Right,” Logan shook his head.

  Adeline giggled, and then shook her head minutely at Logan.

  “Night,” Rainer led Emily toward their bedroom. He didn’t particularly care what Logan thought. He wanted her underneath him, with her eyes closed and that tight, silkened channel enveloping him completely. He needed to hear her moan and gasp her approval as he took her. He wanted to worship her, to feel her flesh in his hands as he caressed and pulled the erotic energy from her. He wanted to explode inside of her, and everything and everyone else could just wait outside the door.

  New York, New York

  The alarm sounded at five, and Rainer groaned as he slapped his hand across it. The sun had yet to make an appearance in their bedroom, but he was thrilled to wake up with Emily in his arms and her hair cascaded across his chest.

  He allowed himself a long, drawn-out minute to recall her begging him for more the night before as he’d made her all his own.

  A long groaned “No,” was her morning greeting.

  Rainer chuckled, “Hey there, baby,” before clearing his throat. “We’d better get going.”

  She whimpered, and slid further down under the covers. “Come on, you get to see Tad and Nathan, and I feel very certain that I’ll be spending a great deal of time in Bloomingdale’s. And I was thinking I’d see if I could score us a room at the Gansevoort.”

  Her eyes blinked open as a broad grin spread across her face.

  “Really?” she wiggled her way back up the bed to seat herself beside him.

  Chuckling and kissing her forehead, Rainer nodded, “Yeah, I mean I think we could use a little getaway from everything, and you always say you want to stay there whenever we visit.”

  “You are the most fantastic fiancé ever!”

  “Have you had many others?”

  She giggled, “No, but as fiancés go, I still say you’re the best.”

  “Well, you deserve the best.”

  Emily brushed kisses along his bare chest. With a sigh, she crawled out of bed. Her hair was in a tangled mass on her head, and she had sheet marks across her cheeks, but he was quite certain he’d never seen anything more beautiful as he gazed at her intently.

  “What?” she blushed.

  He sat up and winked at her. “I was just thinking how beautiful you are, and how lucky I am.” He watched her give her customary eye-roll at what she considered hyperbole. She tugged on his hand.

  “Get up and take me to New York, and then take me in New York.”

  After giving her the ravenous growl she was looking for, Rainer pulled her to him. “So…” He slipped his hand to her backside and massaged it heatedly. “Would you like to be taken in the steam shower or in the whirlpool tub?” He let that imagery play out in his mind.

  She shivered, and appeared thrilled with what was quickly becoming the focus of their weekend.

  “Maybe in the rooftop pool.” She waggled her eyebrows at him.

  Rainer laughed at her outright. He could only imagine what the relentless press, endlessly fascinated with him and Emily because of his father, would make of that story.

  “Although I feel fairly certain Tad would come bail us out, I don’t think your parents would be too impressed if that came up, say… at Christmas dinner this year.”

  Emily wrinkled her nose adorably. “Yeah, probably should skip the rooftop pool.”

  “Don’t worry, baby; I feel certain that we can make use of many of the surfaces at the Gansevoort without getting arrested,” she stretched up on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss across his jaw.

  A little while later, Emily was still hemming over what to pack. Rainer shot her a knowing grin, and tried to hurry her along.

  “We need to go, baby. We’re coming home tomorrow; you don’t need much.”

  “I’m almost done. I was just trying to decide what to wear for you tonight.”

  He raised his left eyebrow in intrigue. “How about nothing at all?”

  A warm flush rose in her cheeks and she giggled. The effect had Rainer’s shorts suddenly feeling tight.

  “But I need something to sleep in,” she waggled her eyebrows at him. He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her to him.

  “I’ll keep you warm, baby.” He lavished her mouth with a long drawn kiss. “Inside and out.” He watched her body shiver as her eyes flashed heatedly.

  “I can’t wait.”

  “If you hurry, we can get out of here.”

  She whisked away from him and threw something that was skimpy, black, and all satin and lace in her bag as he pretended to sneak a peek.

  She donned the stack ring set her uncle had given her a few years before and, after checking her make-up, declared them ready to go.

  Rainer loaded the bags into the
Hummer. While Emily ran back inside to grab a few Dr. Peppers, he projected a detection cast over the car, just as Vindico had instructed him to do before she rode anywhere. There was no detectable energy anywhere except inside the engine so, once Emily returned, they were off.

  “This is the first road trip we’ve taken since we got engaged.”

  Rainer grinned at her, and made his way towards the interstate. “Am I supposed to do anything differently now that we’re engaged than I would have when we were just dating?” he pulled into the gas station he always stopped at just before getting on the interstate.

  As he put the Hummer in park and turned off the engine, she cocked her jaw to the side and raised her left eyebrow. “Well, you always said that we couldn’t have sex in your car, but this is my car.”

  He chuckled, and shook his head as he brushed a quick kiss across her lips. “That’s not true, Miss Haydenshire.” He opened his door and stepped out. “I said our first time wasn’t going to be in my car.”

  He filled the Hummer, and then went inside to purchase her favorite cinnamon candies and a few other snacks, along with additional Dr. Peppers. He thought it might be nice to have some in the hotel room.

  When he returned, Emily was on her phone. “We’ll be careful, Mom,” she sighed, “I promise.”

  They’d been on the turnpike for a little while, talking and laughing. Since she had him locked in a car, Emily decided to corner him about wedding plans.

  Rainer tried to answer her questions, but, truthfully, anything that got them married was all he really wanted. He didn’t particularly care much about the details.

  He was good with Governor Carrington performing it in his office, but as he recalled from all the times Emily had begged him to play wedding with her when they were growing up, he reminded himself that the dress and the details meant a great deal to her.