by Jillian Neal
With that one meteoric realization, she felt another piece of her soul restore with the gentle, redeeming glide of Grady’s hands on her back and the love she felt pouring from every part of his body. She ignited. She wouldn’t stand by and allow someone to do this to the man she loved.
Her body responded to her own admission. She did love him. She always had. Spinning from Grady’s arms, every fiber of her being set to defend him.
“Wait, this opens!” Sinclair was delighted. Bevins and Grady shared one horrified glance. They all watched in horror as Sinclair wiggled the plastic covering back and forth until it popped from the wall of the hull.
“Run!” Bevins mouthed the command. Nate backed towards the boat entrance. Nadya tugged on Grady’s hand, but something kept Grady rooted to the floor of his brother’s boat. All that they’d worked for, everyone he’d tried so desperately to help, the chance to finally have a real life with Nadya, it surged through his blood like a lit snare. He would not go down for feeding children. He would not go down at all, not now, not when he stood on the precipice of a life he so desperately wanted to live.
He saw Bevins entire body slump in relief. “Yeah, it opens. Shocking. Boats have storage compartments.”
Stepping closer, Grady tried feign apathy by rolling his eyes. Somehow, magically, the hull storage had been cleaned and the water that permanently resided there from the ice they dumped inside on a regular basis had been dried. Now, the hull storage was filled with nets, ropes, massive fender holders, life preservers, and buoys.
He spun to eye Nate, who shook his head minutely. Nadya sank her teeth in her bottom lip to keep from grinning. She stepped to the side and revealed Beau, standing on the dock with his arms crossed, sporting a rather smug smirk.
“What’s going on now?” He joined his brothers on the bow.
Furious, Sinclair tossed all of the contents of the hull storage out haphazardly. “There has to be something in here.”
“Ugh! You are such an asshole!” Unmitigated wrath exploded from Nadya. Grady ran his hands over his mouth to keep from laughing. There was his girl.
Sinclair knelt to stare into the compartment, and Nadya’s hands collided with his back, shoving him forward, almost knocking him in the storage compartment itself.
Sinclair slipped on the deck as he tried to stand.
“Did your brain get lost where your dick is supposed to be, because clearly both are the size of a dime? What the hell? You want to convict honest, hard-working men for making a living. None of them have done anything wrong, but you can’t see outside of your own asshole!”
Before she could deliver another physical blow, which was coming rapidly, Grady eased towards her. “Angel.” He shook his head.
Sinclair managed to right himself. He glowed purple from Nadya’s accusations and the fact that his own assuredness had been swept right out from underneath him. “Oh perfect. Just what we need, an overly emotional female. Calm down this moment. Can’t you Gypsies keep your whores under control?”
“Oh, that’s it. Keep putting out a fire with gasoline, ass wipe. Where the hell did you find him?” Nate demanded of Bevins, who was rubbing his hands over his face as if to wipe away all memory of what was happening.
Using most of his strength, Grady managed to pry Nadya’s claws from Sinclair’s pathetic form. When she finally released him, Grady edged her to the side, grabbed Sinclair’s collar, twisted it, and shoved him against the side of the boat with pure vengeance. “Don’t you ever, ever speak to her like that again! Do you hear me? You do whatever the hell you came to do, but so help me God, if you ever come near her again, there sure as fuck will be something to arrest me for, but you won’t be alive to do the arresting,” he raged in his face and pressed harder, forcing what little air remained in Sinclair’s lungs to come out with a choked groan.
“Come on Grady, you don’t get all the fun. If some douche wants to mess with Nadya, they can tangle with all the Havens boys,” Beau chanted derisively.
Sinclair eyes bugged and glanced at Bevins and two other officers that had come to see what the scuffle was about. However, no one stepped in to help him. The officers behind Grady were chuckling.
“Nod if you understand what I’m saying to you.” He tightened his grasp on Sinclair’s collar, watching his red face tinge blue.
Sinclair managed a slight nod, and Grady released him with a shove that sent him reeling to the deck floor. “You’re under arrest for threatening an officer.” He choked before breaking out in a fit of coughs.
“Sinclair, you are a moron. The D.A. would crucify you for what you just said to her. Internal affairs would have a heyday. They’d fire your ass so fast your head would spin, and we’ll be glad to testify that you did just call her a reprehensible name.” This time it wasn’t Bevins that came to Grady’s defense. It seemed the other officers were quite done with the sanctimony as well.
“That hold smells like fish!”
“The whole damn ship smells like fish. It’s a fishing boat,” Nate roared.
More determined than ever to find something on Grady, Sinclair performed a slow, methodic search of Gemini. Bevins demanded that he return everything he dumped out to its storage compartment when it proved that nothing illegal was currently on the Havens’ boats. The hull compartment of Gemini revealed the same things that had been on Orion. Grady owed Beau a great deal, but all he could think about was now that the holds had been revealed they would be searched often. He’d just lost the only way he had to help feed those kids.
Sinclair’s pompous smirk returned to his face when he stepped up into the houseboat. Grady worked his jaw rhythmically and kept Nadya in his arms. Another round of ire crashed over his form. He felt the electricity of his anger ricochet up his spine and whir through his veins. They’d just infiltrated what he planned to make Nadya’s safe haven.
When Sinclair made quite a show of snapping on a plastic glove and opened an evidence bag, Grady’s brow furrowed.
“I knew we would find something like this,” he tsked.
“What the hell?” Grady bit his tongue to keep from saying more.
Sinclair lifted the two condoms, full of Grady’s semen, out of the trashcan, scowling at his prize, but looking very pleased none the less.
Nate chuckled. “Impressive, man. You weren’t in here that long.”
Beau cracked up.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that being a real man was illegal,” Nadya jeered viciously, but heat colored her cheeks. Her voice faltered from the violation of all that had happened between them.
Grady remained steadfast. He guided her back into his arms and let her hide in him once again. He certainly wasn’t going to apologize for having sex with the woman he loved inside his own home.
Bevins rolled his eyes. “You have lost your mind, and if you don’t locate it, Sinclair, I am going to internal affairs. Drop those back into the trashcan. That has nothing — at all — to do with this case. This is his home. He is not charged with any crime, certainly not one that is sexual in nature. As his girlfriend, whom I’m assuming is whose DNA you’ll find on those along with his, is currently being held very lovingly in his arms, I don’t think we’re looking at any kind of sexual assault. He’s under suspicion of selling stolen goods, and that’s it. If you sent those to the lab, they’d get on the stands with all of us to declare your complete incompetence.”
An hour later, Sinclair begrudgingly agreed that there was nothing on Havens’ property that they could be arrested for. Bevins ordered the officers back to their cars and apologized for the intrusion.
When all of the officers had left, Grady sank down on the bed and let his head fall into his hands.
Nate sighed. “We’ll figure out another way to help, man. At least you scared the shit out of them. Maybe now they’ll back the hell off.”
“Grady.” Nadya stood before him. He lifted his head and guided her back into his lap. “I didn’t get a chance to say this earlier, but
I’ve never stopped loving you either, and we’ll get through this together, okay? I swear. We’ll figure everything out.”
Nate and Beau were ecstatic. Their grins spread ear to ear. Not sure how it had happened, Grady felt her healing balm cascade through him again. It eased the fury and the confusion brought on by the search. He squeezed her to him and tried to just revel in that single, solitary moment. If she realized that she still loved him, then he’d figure everything else out. Somehow.
“So, when’d you clean out the hulls?” Nate quizzed Beau.
“While Grady was in here impressing everyone with his skills, and you kindly left them some privacy and went into town.”
“I wasn’t impressing everyone, just her.” A genuine smirk formed on Grady’s features as Nadya and both of his brothers cracked up.
Fourteen
The moon reflected its opulent mass on the crashing waves, and Grady and Nadya walked hand in hand from his houseboat towards the Inn. Grady wasn’t looking forward to what was destined to be another slight interrogation from Sienna as to their newly-minted relationship status. As thrilled as he was that somehow he’d been given another chance at the life he’d always wanted, he needed the rest of the world to turn around and walk away. He wanted her alone, wanted to fill his every sense with her scent and her taste. He needed to build some kind of firm foundation that night so that when he had to leave her in his bed before sunrise the next day, she would be assured of their love.
“I’m really sorry I tried to kill a police officer and almost got you in more trouble.” Her abashed admission shook him from his reverie. Suddenly, he was laughing again.
“Angel, I should be the one apologizing. I should have let you go on and do him in. I was being selfish. I just got you back. I need you with me and not in jail, plus I hear those conjugal visits are a bitch; not that I wouldn’t make them.”
Their hysterical laughter joined the melody of the crashing waves and the soft murmur of gulls seeking mates of their own.
Sienna and Ryan were on the front porch swing as they made their approach. Sienna beamed at both of them.
“Is Beau okay?” Ryan stood and offered Grady his hand. “This thing with the cops has gone so much further than I ever allowed myself to believe.”
Grady shook his hand. “Well, no offense, but you didn’t grow up around here. Let’s just say that nothing I’ve seen so far surprises me, except what they found in my little brother’s truck. Thing is, he swears someone put it in there, and the entire Pender County Sheriff’s Department is so hell-bent on catching one of us they aren’t figuring out who’s actually doing this.”
Nodding, Ryan had no choice but to agree. “If we can do anything to help, let us know. Anything at all.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate that. We’re just here to get her stuff. I’m hoping she’ll agree to trade her swanky room here for my dingy houseboat.”
“I already agreed to that, and stop calling my house dingy.” Nadya brushed a kiss on his jaw with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“Remember when Nana used to tell us that we would most often find that the only home worth having had a heartbeat?” Sienna nodded towards Grady, but kept her wide hazel eyes locked on Nadya’s.
“Yup, and she was absolutely right. She always was,” Nadya agreed readily.
“Here, we’ll just load your stuff up in my Suburban. I’ll drive you back over.” Ryan looked almost as pleased as his fiancée over Nadya’s new living arrangements. “Believe me, I get the I can’t believe I’m getting a second chance look on your face,” he goaded Grady, who was certain that as true.
While Ryan and Grady carried luggage and Nadya’s jewelry supplies out to the car, Sienna leapt. “Oh my gosh! This is so exciting. I mean, I feel terrible for everything with Beau, but you and Grady.”
“I keep trying to tell myself to slow down, but he needs me so much right now, and I’ve needed him for so long. I don’t want to slow down. I want to go back fourteen years ago and never leave. I know that sounds crazy.”
“It doesn’t sound crazy at all. Just maybe try to trust the timing. Instead of lamenting all those years Ryan and I were miserable without each other, I decided to enjoy that we’re together now.”
Yeah, but you don’t have half the regrets I do. Nadya forced a nod. She just wanted Grady to come back. He understood what they’d been through, and he was the only person that could help her build this back.
No longer doubting his belief that he could read Nadya when no one else had a hope in hell of understanding the vibes of his angel, Grady halted Ryan on the pier and took the stack of torch cases and plastic bins of wire and metal from his hands. “Thanks for your help, but you go on back home. I’ll get everything inside. She’ll have to arrange it, and we might put some of this in the office.”
“You sure? I don’t mind helping.”
“Nah, I got it.” Nadya wanted Ryan to leave. She wanted Grady and only Grady. She needed him alone. He could see it penned on every beautiful curve of her body and in the desperation of her eyes.
Ryan nodded, offered them a kind smile, and headed back to his empty, custom Suburban. Grady wondered momentarily what something like that must’ve set him back. He tried not to be envious, but he admitted that every now and then it would be nice to not have to pour oil in his truck every other day to get it to start and to actually own a home that didn’t float.
It took him and Nadya the better part of the next two hours to figure out a workstation for her on the boat. He apologized, but she seemed happy to be there. He wondered what her place in California had been like. Probably much nicer than anything he could offer her. She made good money now.
Forcing away the gnawing sense of inadequacy, he tried to reconcile the last twenty-four hours in his mind. How had so much changed? And how did every change seem to bring them even closer?
Her third yawn shook him from his endless day. “You ready for bed, angel?” It was just after ten, but she still wasn’t quite herself, and she’d been on this wild rollercoaster ride with him.
She nodded, but a different light was dancing in her eyes this time. A different kind of need emanated from her.
He took her hand and drew her back to his body. His hands rasped against her waist as he guided her t-shirt upwards, revealing her silky skin. He leaned and brushed tender kisses along her lips until she turned her head and he mated their mouths in slow, methodic cadence. Somehow, she always knew just what he needed. Together they could bury their past and begin again.
She swayed against him as he cupped her sweet little ass cheeks in his hands, squeezing and massaging as he guided her body in motion along his stiffening cock.
A breathy moan escaped from her lungs. She needed to be rocked to sleep with his body tonight and every night for the rest of their lives. She was spent and had been through enough. He sought to satisfy her every longing. This time she wanted him slow and thorough, and he was only too happy to comply.
He popped the snap of her jeans. “In my bed, angel. Go get in my bed, and show me how wet you are. I’m gonna take good care of you.”
The wildfire in her eyes lit explosively. Her lips hung open just slightly as she gasped for breath. She stepped back and stared up at him with a hundred unspoken questions dancing in the humid air between them. “Go, angel. I know what you need. I always know what my angel needs.”
With that reassurance, he watched her slowly slip the jeans and panties down the curve of her ass. They hit the bottom of the boat, and a hungry moan rumbled from his soul. Reminding himself that she needed his tender care, he moved back to the cabinet and took out the bottle of arnica solution. When she was laid out and expectant, he gently brushed his lips over every millimeter of her skin that held a remnant of the abuse she’d endured. A former life he would no longer allow her live. Together they would create a life worth having.
When he’d kissed the barely existent bruises on her cheek thoroughly, he doctored the markings with the
arnica. Trailing his lips from her neck in a slow transport to her ribs, he halted at the pulsating nipple of her right breast. He brushed tender kisses over her areola and then drew the stiff peak in his mouth and suckled gently.
When she writhed between his body and the mattress, he continued his trek towards her ribs. With tedious care, he covered the bruises there with his tender kisses.
“Please, Grady,” she panted as chill bumps raced across her skin. He applied the medication there as well, then returned the bottle to a nearby table, and located another condom.
He climbed into bed over her, protecting what was his, caring for her every need with the sanctuary of his body. This time he settled his kisses into the curve of her neck as his hand stroked the tender curls covering her mound. He pressed his fingers inside of her and felt the wet heat her body made all for him drown out every doubt of his heart.
Fifteen
Nadya hadn’t been able to sleep once Grady had eased out of the bed the next morning before sunrise. She’d pretended because he so wanted her to rest. Instead, she’d listened to him move softly around the houseboat trying to get ready for his trip, and reveled in the tender sensation between her legs from having been filled so perfectly with him the night before.
Just before he’d left to prepare Gemini for the trip, he’d moved back to the bed and brushed a kiss across her lips. “I see that sexy little grin, and I know what you’re thinking about. Don’t worry, angel, when I get back, I’ll have you all over again.”
But now he was gone, and she was all alone. The sun was just beginning to warm the shoreline, and she wondered if Grady had taken Gemini beyond the barrier islands where he no longer had cell service in the water.
She knew how to work the radio in the office. It was supposed to be for emergencies, but she’d used it dozens of times growing up. She couldn’t quite convince herself that desperately needing to hear his voice was an emergency, however.