by Natalie Ann
“It works. And works well.”
“Glad you approve,” he said. He was standing there while Ava undressed him. When she pushed his pants and underwear down, he toed off his shoes, took care of his socks, then said, “You need to catch up now.”
“But you might like me to keep this all on,” she said. “Easy access if you want it.”
He picked her up under her arms and set her on the table in the kitchen. “Don’t move.” He went back to his pants and got a condom. He’d love to just plunge into her, but they only did that one night and he’d honor her not wanting to again. He wasn’t sure either of them were ready for any accidents, not that he thought it’d happen, but why test fate?
He got his condom on, then lined up just right at the table. This was going to work out pretty good in his eyes.
She reached down and moved the tiny bit of lace to the side and he slid right in. “Just like that,” she said.
He grabbed her hips and yanked her closer onto him rather than him moving to her. She yelped and then smiled.
“Touch yourself,” he said. “Let me know what you do to yourself when we aren’t together.”
Her face turned red. “How do you know I do that?”
“Because I do it,” he said. He’d never admitted that to another person before either. Never wanted to. Not even Ellen.
But here was Ava making him feel like he was freer than ever before.
He watched as her hand went down between her legs, slipping between her lips and moving up and down, the tip of her nail touching the base of him with her movements.
“I can see you like this,” she said.
“What’s not to like about the fact that I’m buried deep inside of you on the kitchen table while you’ve got spiky heels on your feet and your legs wrapped around my hips while you touch yourself? This might be every guy’s dream come true.”
“I’m not sure this is every woman’s, but it happens to be mine,” she said. “Not where we are, but just with you.”
She had to be feeling what he was. There was no doubt. “Make yourself come,” he said. “I want to feel you pulsing around me without me doing anything else other than filling you.”
“Do you think you can stay still while I do?” she asked slyly.
“Not positive, but I’m going to damn well try.” And she was testing him, there was no doubt. She was holding his stare, her hand moving. And when her eyes started to flicker shut, he said, “Keep them open.”
“It’s so hard.”
“I know. But it will be better,” he said. “Watch me.”
She did. Her legs were shaking now around him, the heels on her shoes scratching the back of his legs a bit, but he didn’t care.
All he cared about were the clear light eyes of Ava’s watching his. Her internal muscles were flexing around him and he knew she was close. “That’s it,” he said. “Keep it up.”
Her hand was going faster until it dropped away and her head fell back. He’d cut her some slack for not watching him as she was coming because he couldn’t hold still any longer either and picked her up with her legs around him. He started thrusting up into her, holding her ass tight as he was jerking with every movement until his own legs felt they were going to give out when he came.
“Wow,” she said, clinging to him. Her arms were around his neck, her head on his shoulder. “Now that was totally worth it.”
“You’re worth it,” he said. “And maybe you don’t want to hear this, but I find I can’t hold it in any longer.”
She leaned back. “If you’re going to tell me you love me then I’m going to beat you to it. I love you, Seth. Not sure when it happened and it doesn’t matter, but it’s there.”
He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Same here. Love you like I never thought I would again. In some instances it’s so much stronger. It’s scary and worries me and then I tell myself to give in.”
“Why don’t you let me down before you drop me and you can tell me why it worries you.”
He let out a sigh, but held her as her legs slid down. Together they walked into her bedroom, him going to the bathroom. When he came back out, she had his clothes on the bed and she was wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts like she slept in at his house.
She moved into his arms for a hug once he had his underwear on and he relished holding her. “So, why are you worried?”
“It’s hard to explain.”
“Try me,” she said.
“When you love something...”
“You fear the past happening again,” she finished for him. “There are no guarantees in the world. We both know it. You experienced something horrible. I’m a doctor and try to prevent it, but it doesn’t always happen.”
“No, it doesn’t. There is more to it too,” he said.
“Do you feel guilty that you are moving on?”
“And there is the fact that you seem to know me so well. Yes. I look at your family. How they are there for you. How they treat me. How they’ve treated Adele. I’ve never had anything like that with anyone other than my mother and brother.”
“And you like it?” she asked.
“I find I do. I see how Adele reacts to it all. She never had it and maybe she needed it. She missed it in life without even knowing. But then I wonder, am I balancing it enough? Do you get enough? Does Adele get enough?”
“You’re balancing it perfectly,” she said. “And that’s the thing about family and life. Sometimes we don’t know what we are missing until we get it.”
He snorted. “I think you’re right.”
“I don’t plan on going anywhere, Seth. It’s easy to say the words, but so hard to execute a promise.”
“Very true. I’m not naive enough to blame myself for not protecting Ellen. There was nothing either of us could do or would have known. We followed orders. We did our own research and everything seemed to be in line. As you said, promises can’t always be executed.”
“No. All we can do is try. Is live the time we’ve got the way we can and enjoy it.”
“And that’s what I’m doing,” he said, kissing her lightly. “If you feel we are moving too fast, you need to tell me.”
“I don’t. I’ve told you from day one you held the wheel in this trip and I’m riding shotgun. If I thought you were going too fast, I would have grabbed the wheel. I worry that what is going on with me stresses you and I don’t want that to happen.”
“It’s not. I can see the support you’ve got and it helps. A lot. I trust your family in that if there was a serious threat or issue they’d have you locked away in a castle.”
She smiled. “Something like that. Just like you’d do the same for Adele.”
“It’s a father’s job.”
“And you’re doing a great job at that. I don’t expect you to put me first. I understand that. But I’d like to think I’m close to that top.”
It was funny she was saying that. “You’re at the top right with my daughter. You can share that spot without me feeling guilty because I know you understand. Or without the guilt piling too much.”
“I do and I always will understand.”
And the next morning, they were in the kitchen having breakfast. They’d indeed worn each other out more into the wee hours of the night and got up around nine. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept that late.
“Thanks for making breakfast,” he said.
“You did most of the work last night,” she said. “It’s the least I could do.”
“I probably should call Adele at some point. My mother told me not to worry last night when I texted. It was too hard to call from the casino and Adele was watching a movie anyway.”
“I’m sure she is up, go ahead,” she said.
“She’ll want me to come get her right now,” he said, not ready for their time to end.
“If you need to go, it’s fine. I’ve got a lot to do around the house and to figure out what to pack for next week.”
&n
bsp; They were going on vacation next Saturday and he was looking forward to it.
“Then I’ll help you clean up after breakfast and get out of your way. Adele will be wound anyway. How about dinner one night this week?”
“Sounds like a plan. Tell me the day and I’ll be there.”
An hour later he was pulling out of her driveway and away from the street to get his daughter. There were people outside walking and doing yardwork and he thought to himself, this was the life he thought he’d have years ago. It just took losing one thing to find another.
33
See This Yourself
“Hello,” Ava said, picking her phone up. She’d just walked into Seth’s for dinner on Tuesday night when she saw Griffin was calling her.
“Sorry to bother you, Ava. But I went through to look over the videos from the past week. The weekend was nuts and I’ve got it set up for alerts, but there was a software update and I didn’t catch one.”
“What?” she asked. “What do you mean an alert? Someone was in my house?” Seth stopped to look at her and she waved him off from talking so she could hear what Griffin had to say.
“No. That would go off right on my phone. I’ve got other alerts if people step on the property too close. Not the mailman either. Common or repetitive faces etc. You don’t need the details. Anyway, on Sunday morning, there was someone trying to look into a side window by your office.”
There were chills running along her arms and down her back. “Can you see who it was?”
“I can. It’s a woman. I ran a face recognition, but it hasn’t come up with a hit yet. I’m going through a criminal database so she might not be there. But I’m wondering if you can swing over to see if you recognize her. After going back through all the videos to see if she was spotted before, she has been seen walking up and down the street a few times always looking at your house.”
“Maybe it’s a nosy neighbor,” she said.
“Could be. Again, I’d like you to come in and let me know and then we can give Mac a call.”
“I can be there in fifteen minutes. I’m at Seth’s right now.”
“I’ll let the front desk know you are on the way, just give your name and they will walk you to the penthouse elevators.”
“Thanks.” She hung the phone up and looked at Seth, then nodded her head to Adele who was in the living room watching TV.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen. “They found something?”
“Someone was looking into my office window on Sunday morning and Griffin said she’s been walking up and down the street looking at the house a few times. Nothing is coming up in a database he ran it through. He wants to see if I recognize the face. Maybe it’s a nosy neighbor.”
“I’m going with you,” he said.
“What about Adele?”
“Shit,” he said. “I can’t bring her to the casino.”
“Well, you can if you want. Kids stay in the hotel, but they can’t go into the actual casino.”
“Let me see if I can get a hold of my mother,” he said.
“I said I’d be right over,” she said. “I really don’t want to wait, if you can understand.”
“I can. Okay, go, but call me if you need me.”
She gave him a quick kiss. “I will.”
She got to the casino, went to the front desk, gave her name, and was brought to the elevator, but this one didn’t open up in Eli’s place but a hallway. A door opened and Griffin was standing there, “Come in. This is my place.”
She was looking around the apartment and trying not to be jealous of how nice it was. Not as flashy as Eli’s. Instead of marble everywhere, there were wood floors, but it was modern and simple and gorgeous. “Living in style up here too,” she said, laughing.
“Not many get to see this place,” he said.
“So when you have a woman, you don’t bring her here?” she asked with a wink.
He grinned at her. “No. I’ve got another room in the hotel. No one comes in here but Eli or his family. Not even another employee.”
“Why does that make me nervous?” she asked, her good nature dropping. She was trying to be distracted from her nerves and it wasn’t working.
“No reason to be. It’s a security measure. Very few know this is my place. They think I’ve got the other room,” he said, smiling. Things sure were secretive here and she wondered why and then figured it wasn’t anything major. Maybe all casinos were set up this way with the amount of money flowing through it.
They moved down a hallway and stopped in front of a security panel. He got his eye scanned, then put his palm on it, then his eye again, and the door unlocked. “Now that is fancy. You need all three and in that order?”
“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you,” he said, laughing. Her jaw dropped. “Just kidding. Yes. Sorry, I forget that I can’t talk to everyone the same.”
There were TVs all over two walls. “How the heck can you do anything in here? My eye wants to go everywhere at once.”
“There is a security manager and these cameras are down on the floor and watched nonstop for cheaters, card counters and so on. Someone is always watching, but rarely me unless there is a serious issue. That’s not what I’m here for.”
“I’m not sure I want to know why you are here,” she said.
“Someone has to run it all and set it up,” he said. He moved over to a keyboard and shut off a few cameras so it wasn’t distracting and then she saw her house pop up. “I’m not going to show you where the cameras are, just going to show you the person that was looking in that morning.”
She watched as the woman walked up the street, looked around to see if anyone was watching her, then moved across the grass to the window. She couldn’t make out the face until the camera switched over to another view. “Oh shit.”
“You know her?” Griffin asked.
“Yeah, I need to call Seth.”
Seth hadn’t expected Ava to call him and say he needed to come over as soon as he could. She wouldn’t tell him why and he couldn’t get a hold of his mother. The last thing he wanted to do was bring Adele with him, but Eli was waiting by the front when he walked in.
“Hey, Seth. I hear you need a sitter. Do you mind if I give your daughter a tour of everything...other than the casino? Though she might enjoy looking at the cameras down here of the place.”
“Sure,” he said. How could he not trust the guy? “Adele, this is Ava’s cousin Eli Bond. He owns this place. Do you mind staying with him while I go see Ava?”
“I get to walk around here?” Adele asked. Her eyes were wide as saucers.
“You do,” Eli said. “Do you like to swim? You should see the pool I’ve got here.”
“Bye, Daddy,” Adele said, turning away from him easy enough.
“Guess that means it’s my cue to go away.”
“We have to get your father to Ava though. Follow me while I get him on that elevator.”
Seth watched as a keycard was swiped and then a passcode from Eli’s phone was put in. He got in the elevator and when it stopped, he walked out into a hallway with a door open and Ava standing there. “This is Griffin’s place. And don’t let anyone know you are here or even that his place is up here. No one is supposed to know.”
“I won’t tell anyone. What is going on? Why couldn’t you tell me on the phone?”
“You need to see this yourself.”
He followed her in the apartment and another room with TVs everywhere. “Hey, Seth,” Griffin said. “Take a look at this.”
He watched the woman walking on Ava’s lawn. “When was this?” he asked. The hat on the woman’s head looked familiar and he remembered seeing the back of it when he left her house on Sunday morning.
“Sunday,” Ava said. “Right before you left.”
The camera switched over and he saw the face of his ex there. “Are you kidding me?” he said. “How the heck could Michaela know where you lived?”
“No clue,�
�� she said. “I wanted you to see this to make sure it was her. I don’t know her last name.”
“Nelson,” Seth said. “Michaela Nelson. She manages a jewelry store on the island.”
“I’m going to call Mac to pay her a visit. Is she dangerous?” Griffin asked.
“No. She’s jealous though,” he said. “But even I didn’t think this would happen.”
“There is no way she could have anything to do with my identity being stolen,” Ava said. “That happened long before I knew you so don’t think that.”
“I don’t think they are connected,” Griffin said. “The timing is off.” Seth watched as Griffin was typing onto his computer and information came up on the screen. “There is nothing showing up in her accounts or history that would lead me to believe she could do that.”
“Are you looking at her bank information?” he asked with his jaw dropping. His bank should be secure from this.
“Not like you think,” Griffin said, dropping the screen. “Your bank is safe, no worries there.”
Seth assumed he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the guy. He turned to Ava and said, “I’m so sorry that I brought this to your life.”
“Don’t worry about it. You couldn’t have known. Let’s see what she has to say. I kind of hope it was her in the house because then we’ll know and can put that behind us.”
“Mac is going to pay her a visit right now,” Griffin said. “He said to meet them at the station. Do you want me to go too?”
“I don’t think you need to go,” Ava said. “We should be able to handle this. And thank you.”
“Let me get Adele,” Seth said. “Eli is giving her a tour.”
“Why don’t you have her stay here?” Griffin said. “You might not want her at the police station either.”
“No,” he said. “But she should know I’m leaving. Let me try my mother one more time.”
“How about letting Adele spend time with my mother?” Ava asked. “She should be home.”
“That might be better,” he said, then waited while Ava called her mother.
“We are all set. Let’s go find her and by then Mac might be ready for us.”