“Getting ready. We’re taking you out to dinner to celebrate.” Dylan caught her in his arms again. “I think I’ll give you the same treatment you gave Davi.”
Glancing around, Alex whispered, “I have a better idea.” She lifted her face for Dylan’s kiss and wasted no time at all before sliding her tongue between his lips. They were still locked in a passionate embrace when they heard Davi again.
“I told you they were all mushy,” he said.
Dylan took his time ending the kiss and then looked down. Davi and Juan were standing next to him, staring upward.
“Hi, Alex,” said Juan.
“Hi back,” she said, stooping to hug him. “Are you too big for a kiss?”
“I guess not, but on the cheek please. I don’t think I’d like what you were doing with Dylan.” Juan’s thoughtful assessment made Alex laugh again as she hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Okay, I’ll try to remember. Hey, Dylan says we’re going out for dinner. Where do you guys want to go?”
“Mickey Ds!” Davi shouted again.
“Seafood,” Juan said, but with such a woeful look that Alex turned a questioning gaze on Dylan.
“I think he takes after your dad,” Dylan explained.
“Oh! Then we’d better go somewhere everyone can get what they want.” Alex named a popular chain restaurant, which met with everyone’s approval, and they trooped out the door again.
It was only in the restaurant, when he had a chance to observe her while she wasn’t forcing a smile for the boys’ behalf, when Dylan realized Alex wasn’t as happy as she seemed. There was a shadow behind her eyes that he wanted to chase away with sweet lovemaking. He hoped she’d be ready for that tonight. He certainly was.
~~~
Once they’d put the little boys to bed, Alex dropped the act she’d been keeping up all night. She’d wanted to make it a joyful occasion, and it had been. Once or twice she caught Dylan’s speculative gaze, and she knew there’d be no putting off the discussion about her mom. It was best to just do it, get it over with.
The thought made her weary, though. How to convey to Dylan the numb acceptance she felt, now that she knew her mother really wasn’t coming back. She should be grieving. After all, it seemed she’d been preparing for this news all her life. Even when her dad steadfastly refused to give up hope, she’d known. How could she grieve for someone she barely remembered?
Dylan brought her a glass of wine. “Maybe this will help,” he said.
She sipped at the rich, ruby red liquid and made a face. “I think this is an acquired taste.” She took another sip. That one was better, but still something she would have to get used to if she were going to drink it regularly.
Dylan took a sip of his own. If his face was a mirror of her own, he’d done well not to laugh at her. She couldn’t suppress a snigger. Dylan smiled, and she knew it was because he’d managed to lighten her mood. She scooted closer to him on the couch.
“I’ve already told this story to one man I love. Telling it again requires snuggling, Dylan. It’s so sad.”
Dylan made appropriate comforting notices and opened his arms for her to snuggle in. “Whatever it is, babe, just tell it in your own time. If you don’t want to talk about it tonight, we won’t.”
“No, I have to. Let me get it over with. My mom is dead, Dylan.”
His arms tightened around her. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s not all of it. She died horribly, and in mental pain.” Alex began to cry softly as she told him the rest of it. She hadn’t been able to cry before, and now she recognized that not being able to cry was part of her own anguish. A person ought to be able to cry over her mother’s death. Dylan had cried for his mother. What kind of a monster was she?
The tears partially healed her hurt. At last, she was able to express her anguish that her mom had died alone, in despair. Dylan rocked her gently as she sobbed, kissing her temple, her hair, her forehead.
Alex sat up at last, her eyes sticky and red. “I look like a mess. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, babe,” Dylan said. “I understand. You needed to cry. Tell me the rest. How can you be sure the woman was your mother?”
“Right now it’s circumstantial, but I know it as well as I know my own name. The circumstances fit together too well, but they’re doing DNA comparisons, so we’ll know for sure soon. Dad’s planning a memorial service.”
“I’m sure that will help give you both closure.”
Alex got up to wash her face. “I guess you’re right. I don’t actually know what closure is. I’ve always known my mother wasn’t coming back. At least, that’s how I felt. In fact, it’s the same way I know this woman was my mother. Maybe I’ve got a psychic connection or something.”
Dylan got up and followed her into the bathroom. “I’ll tell you what you’ve got,” he said. “You’ve got a bedroom without a stick of furniture in it. Want to sleep with me tonight?”
Alex turned around, wiping her face with a grubby hand towel and then looking at it in consternation. She looked up at Dylan and smiled. “Did you do that on purpose?”
“Not exactly,” he said, but the corners of his mouth betrayed him. “Okay, yeah. But to be fair, you were supposed to put your stuff on the truck with ours and then you would have had your own bed and everything.”
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to share yours. Why didn’t you put the boys in separate rooms?”
“I didn’t want to assume. You know what that does.” Dylan wiped his thumb across a spot where the towel had left a dirty streak. “Come on, I think you’d better share my bathroom, too.”
“Oh yeah? You think I’m dirty?” Alex was flirting openly now, wanting to put the evening’s conversation behind her and not think about anything but the interrupted relationship for the rest of the night.
“I certainly hope so,” said Dylan. With that, he scooped her off her feet and sidled through the hallway with her, while she laughed and protested he was going to bump her head against the wall. They gained the master bedroom with no major mishaps and he set her on her feet.
“Alex, please tell me you’ll be here with me every night for the rest of our lives.” His beautiful face had turned solemn, his eyes searching hers.
Alex lifted her hand and traced the full lips, following her finger with her own lips and reveling in the soft warmth. With her eyes open, she kissed Dylan as tenderly and lovingly as she knew how. For a moment, she drew back. “I promise.”
Dylan’s arms went around her and he almost crushed the breath out of her as he dropped his lips to her neck and nuzzled her there. Time stopped while they stood and kissed, desperately trying to make up for lost time and for all the hurt they’d inflicted on each other.
Finally, Dylan loosened his grip on her and stood straighter. “I think I finally understand, Alex. I won’t ever stop you from doing what you have to do. Just please, try to be safe. I need you. The boys need you. We need to be a family, and we can’t do it without you.”
Alex swayed forward to lean into him again. “I’ll remember. Thank you, Dylan. I know I’ve been a brat. Can you forgive me?” She looked up at him, just taking in his face and the look of love he lavished on her.
“Already have. As long as you forgive me for not understanding what drives you. I’ll try to stop being a caveman.” Then he got a little smirk. “Did you know you have dirt on your nose?” He laughed out loud when she pushed away from him and took a swing at him.
“I do not!”
“I suggest you look.”
Alex went into the master bath and discovered she did have dirt where there’d been none until she used the boys’ hand towel. There were going to be some changes around here, or she’d know the reason why. The first item on her agenda was teaching the boys how to wash properly. Then she thought of Dylan’s smirk. She had an idea how to wipe that off his face.
While standing behind the closed bathroom door, she took off every stitch of
clothing. When she’d stared at her own naked body long enough to start blushing, she stepped outside the door.
Dylan was waiting for her right where she’d left him, and as the door opened, he said, “Come here, woman. I need to…” His words cut off abruptly as he caught sight of her. When he spoke again, it was to say, “Oh, my God!”
In one swift step, he was wrapped around her again, kissing her passionately and roaming her skin with his big, rough hands. Alex leaned into the warmth of his hands, even as her own were busy finding the buckle of his belt.
“It’s been so long,” she murmured.
“Too long,” he agreed.
“I can’t get…”
“Let me do that.”
As they spoke in unison, they looked into each other’s eyes and saw the same desire looking back. Dylan swiped at the switch for the overhead light and softer light bathed Alex as she strolled to the bed… their bed.
TWENTY-NINE
Dylan couldn’t have been much happier when he woke in the morning, still wrapped around Alex. Neither one had been able to bring themselves to leave the bed even long enough to find nightclothes. Unfortunately, now it was morning. Time to go to work, time to take the boys to their school-based daycare program.
Dylan suddenly realized Alex didn’t have a stitch to wear in this room unless she put on yesterday’s dirty clothes. Her suitcases still sat in the living room. They hadn’t even put them in her bedroom, which looked as if it would become Juan’s bedroom now, unless they decided to outfit it as a guest room.
The first order of business was to get her some clothes. He pulled on some shorts and tiptoed down the hall to get her bags. He should have known he wouldn’t get away with it. When he headed back down the hall, two little dark heads were peeking out their bedroom door.
“Where’s Alex? Why do you have her suitcases? Is Alex going to stay with us now? Can we go see her?” The questions made his head swim, until, with the last one, Davi slipped out and darted down the hall to the empty bedroom.
“Hey, where’s Alex? Oh, I bet she had to sleep in your bed.” Before Dylan could react, Davi slipped under his arm and ran into the master.
“Davi! Get back here. Sorry, Alex.”
Alex, sitting up in bed, was clutching the sheet to her chest and blushing as bright as a ripe strawberry. But she was laughing. “Davi, you really need to learn to knock. Run along now, so I can get some clothes on.”
She looked at Dylan. “Someone needs to tame that kid! Give me my bags and close the door.”
He did as commanded, forgetting he should be overseeing the boys’ preparations for the day, not to mention getting dressed himself. Alex opened one of her bags and pulled on a light robe. “I’ll get a routine going this week. Go on, get ready for work. I’ll get the boys some breakfast.”
Dylan kissed her and went to take a shower, believing himself the luckiest man on earth. If he had anything to say about it, there would be a ring on her finger by Christmas. It was fine that she’d said she was his, but he wanted the world, and specifically any other man whose eye she caught, to know it as well.
With a sigh of contentment, Dylan sat down at the table and started on the breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast Alex put in front of him, along with a cup of hot coffee. The kids were just finishing.
“Do you want me to take them to daycare?” she asked, as she sat across from him with her own breakfast.
“Not today. They’re going to be late as it is, and you’re not dressed. I’ll come straight home from work and pick you up, then we’ll go get them so you’ll know where they are. What are you going to do today? Will you be home by mid-afternoon?”
“Yeah. I’m going over to the campus to get registered, and then I’m going to pick up some groceries. From the look of your fridge, you guys haven’t had a balanced meal in a while.” Alex’s happy smile took the sting out of the words. Dylan knew one of the ways she felt at home was by familiarizing herself with the kitchen and being in command of the meals.
“That’s your department. Need some money?” Dylan expected to buy the food and pay the utilities as well as the rent. He and Alex hadn’t discussed money, and there was no time right now.
“No, I’m just picking up a few things. We can work that out later,” she said, confirming Dylan’s thoughts.
“Babe, about the Patriots…”
“Don’t worry, honey. I’m done with that, except for writing the last follow-up on Dawn for the paper in Casa Grande. I’m under contract for that, but I’ll file it by email. I’m not going back there for a good long while, if ever.”
“That’s good, babe, but can we talk about security for you here? Casa Grande’s not on the other side of the world, you know.”
“I know, and yes, let’s do talk about that. I don’t want you to worry about the boys’ safety with me here. Now you’d better get moving. You’re gonna be late for work, and besides, they won’t find me here anytime soon.”
Dylan had to admit that was true, even as he marveled at her good attitude about it. It seemed the chip on her shoulder about her work and independence had fallen off, or maybe it had been knocked off by all she’d experienced in the last week. It was good enough for now.
He did have misgivings about that article, but as long as she didn’t post it on her blog until they’d talked about security, he was okay with it. Besides, he was curious about what she meant by last follow-up. What remained to be said?
~~~
Alone in the house after Dylan and the boys left, Alex took the time to check the bedroom furniture and closet for potential room for her clothes. The walk-in closet was more than adequate, but Dylan’s clothes were spread out in the available drawers. Before she rearranged his things, she’d ask him about it. For the time being, it looked like she’d be living out of at least one of her suitcases until she had a chance to talk with him.
Showered and dressed, she presented herself on campus and began the process of transferring her credits and pre-registering for classes, which wouldn’t start for three weeks. That would give her a chance to find part-time work so she could pay her share of living expenses and for her personal expenses. Her prize money was woefully short by now, barely adequate until a payday after setting up a payment plan for tuition, and only if she found work this week.
She made it home around noon and made a sandwich, then called Dylan for the password to the Wi-Fi. She uploaded her resume to a few jobseeker sites and started combing help wanted ads. Unable to resist checking the state of affairs in Casa Grande, she logged into the newspaper site and read everything she could find on the Patriots’ raid and breakup. She found a small sidebar about Harvey Lloyd and the case she now thought of as her mother’s.
Lloyd had made plenty of noise after being informed there may be new evidence. The sidebar mentioned an interview with him, which would run in the next day’s paper. Alex made a note on her calendar. Nowhere did she see any mention of Dawn Redbird or the Patriots’ involvement in her attack, so she called Lt. Watson for an update.
“Are you going to bring charges against them?” she asked, when she’d greeted him.
“The DA says the evidence is too tenuous at present,” Watson said. Alex thought she detected frustration in his tone.
“But you have their tag!”
“Not conclusive,” he said. “Anyone could have put that there. Until we can identify the specific people who were involved and get a confession, we don’t have much to go on.”
Alex’s heart rate increased. “But Dawn could be attacked again! They know she knows who was involved. Can you at least offer her protection?”
“Not all the time. We can drive by her dorm, keep an eye on her now and then.”
Alex huffed out her frustration. “That’s not good enough, and you know it. What about paint transfer? Can you analyze the wreckage of her car and at least confirm her memory of what kind of vehicle forced her off the road? Compare it to registrations for the Patriots’ mem
bers?”
“Believe it or not, we actually know how to do our jobs, Alex. We’re working on it, and no, we haven’t dismissed the tag. We just need to tie it in better.” To Alex’s shock, he laughed.
“Are you sure you want to be an anchorwoman, Alex? We could use you in our investigations department.”
“Funny. Not. No, but I’d like to check back now and then. I still have to write a follow-up on Dawn, and I wanted to wrap this story up. And I’ll need to know when I can mention the tag.”
“Whoa, you can’t. I’m serious, Alex. More than this one case is riding on this. Mention that before we’ve closed all of them and I’ll charge you with obstruction of justice.”
A threat like that might have made Alex dig in her heels once. Now she took it in stride. “Settle down, Lt. Watson. No need for threats. I won’t mention it until you clear it. But I am concerned about Dawn. The longer her assailants are at large, the more likely they’ll try again, and this time they may actually succeed. Have you made any headway with any of them about why they’ve been focusing on Natives recently? It’s a departure from their historical agenda.”
“Again, we do know how to do our jobs. We’re getting conflicting information on that. Be patient, and I’ll give you the information when we’re sure we’ve got the truth.”
It was the best she could do. Watson wasn’t going to budge. Alex ended the call and made another right away.
“I’ve got some information I can’t yet publish about the Dawn Redbird incident. Can you give me at least a week on that follow-up?”
“A week, no more. After that, there won’t be much interest. You know how short attention spans are these days.”
Alex agreed and hung up. Now it was more important than ever that she find a part-time job immediately. She’d been counting on the money from the last article to pay for one of her classes.
Dylan arrived home shortly after three-thirty and breezed in with a kiss for her. “Sure is a better commute here,” he remarked.
Fatal Intent (Desert Heat Book 3) Page 18