by Janie Crouch
“Is that what you think? That people around here won’t give you a second chance?”
She shrugged. “Not wanting to have anything to do with me wouldn’t be a sign of intolerance on their part, it would be good judgment.”
“Don’t you think you ought to let them make that decision? Gavin especially?”
Definitely. “Maybe.”
“But there’s more, isn’t there? You being here in Oak Creek isn’t just about making a stupid choice two years ago, is it? I always knew you were running from something.”
“Not the law. I’m not running from cops.”
“I know you’re not running from the law because you’ve been making a call to a parole officer once a month from my office since you’ve been here.”
“How did you know?” She’d always tried to schedule them when Mac wouldn’t be around.
“My phone still lists the calls that are made each month on the bill. Very old school.”
She stared down at her hands. “I should’ve told you. I’m sorry. But I’m not on the run.”
“Oh, I think you very much are on the run. Just not from the law.”
“Maybe.” She looked up into that weathered face. Steady, brown eyes stared her down.
“Why are you here rather than on that island with all your friends, Lexi? That’s my question when I ask why are you here.”
“I—” She swallowed, hardly able to form a sentence. “I needed to be here to help you. To work.”
“I was running this bar a long time before you got here, and I’ll be running it again if you decide it’s not what you want. I don’t need you here every single weekend. If I get tired, I’ll just close.”
“Mac—”
“It’s time to tell him. Not just the part about you being in jail, the part that’s got that look of fear in your eyes. Whatever it is.”
“If I tell him about my past, he won’t look at me the same.”
“Is that better than not looking at you at all? If you have to run and be alone?” Mac reached his wrinkled, dark hand across the table and grabbed hers. “Who you were then is not who you are now. Gavin will come around. But the other, the bad, you’ve got to deal with that before it deals with you.”
“I—”
“For a month, right after Christmas, I watched you blossom, young lady. Your eyes twinkled. You laughed and looked full and rested. You still worked hard. But you didn’t work like the hounds of hell were going to catch you if you didn’t.”
He let go of her hand and touched the magazine. “That changed last week. You got that scared look back in your eye. It’s because of this, isn’t it? Them reporting you died spooked you in some way.”
“I have a stalker.” She blurted the words out before she could stop herself. “A real one this time. I’m not making it up. That’s who I’m running from. I think he had something to do with that report, trying to get me to go public and set the record straight.”
She waited for him to roll his eyes, to tell her all the reasons why it was unlikely that she had a stalker. That she was imagining things, or crying wolf again.
But he didn’t. “You need to tell Gavin.”
“The person stalking me is dangerous, Mac. For real.”
“People around here can handle danger.”
“People around here don’t know who I am. They won’t care about me once they do.”
“People around here don’t know Alexandra Adams, and you’re right, they probably don’t care about her at all. But they do know Lexi Johnson, and her they will want to help.”
“I don’t know, Mac. That’s a lot to ask of anyone.”
“Give them a chance.”
She shrugged. “I want to. I . . . I don’t want to lose everything I’ve built here.”
“Why don’t you go out to the wedding? There’s not going to be much business here all weekend with that crew gone.”
“I missed the flight.”
“Let’s see if we can’t get you on another flight. It’s on me. God knows I’ve got the money to splurge a little.”
“I don’t know, Mac. I don’t even know if Gavin will want to see me. The past week, he’s been kind of distant. Cold.”
“I reckon that’s because he’s watched the same thing I have: you getting scared out of your mind again. He can’t stand to see you go back to that. Can’t stand to see you retreat back into that shell. That boy loves you.”
“What?”
“Enough that he’s got his brother out sitting in the parking lot, making sure you’re all right.”
“What?” She ran over to the window. There was only one vehicle in the parking lot, and sure enough someone was sitting in it. “I’ve got to go talk to him.”
“First, here.” Mac walked over, holding out a cell phone. “I know it’s not a new or fancy one, but it works. And it’s in my name, so no one will be looking for you with it.”
Tears welled to her eyes. “Mac, I—”
“Take it.” He took her hand and placed the phone in it. “We can take the fees for it out of your paycheck every month if you want. But it’s about time you have a way to call one of us if you need us. More than that, you need to believe we’ll come for you if you do.”
She threw her arms around the old man. “Thank you, Mac.”
He patted her back awkwardly. “Okay, okay. Let’s not get carried away. Now go out there and talk to your beau’s brother. And then let’s get you to that island so you can give your man your phone number.”
She put on her coat then ran out outside. Sure enough, there was Tristan, sitting in a truck, working on a computer.
She tapped on the window, raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing out here?”
He looked surprised to see her. “Gavin asked me to keep an eye on you. Make sure you were okay. I was going to come inside, but I thought it might be too obvious since he just left today.”
A thought occurred to her. “Did he have you watching me to make sure I was okay or to make sure I didn’t run?”
Tristan shrugged. “Probably a little of both, honestly.”
“Well, I’m officially giving you the weekend off.”
“Lexi . . .” Tristan cleared his throat. “I can’t do that. He’s counting on me. If something were to happen to you while—”
“I’m giving you the weekend off because I’m going to the Channel Islands. I’m going to Gavin. If I can get a flight.”
“You are?”
She nodded. “He and I need to talk.”
“Hell, if a flight is all you need, I can get you to him no problem. But he’ll owe me one.”
“So will I.”
“Then let’s do this.”
29
“I want to thank all of you for leaving the cold mountains of Wyoming to come celebrate our nuptials on a beautiful, exotic island.” Zac held his glass to the room full of family and friends who loved him and Anne both.
“You know your true friends are the people who are willing to suffer like this for you!” Finn called out, his arm wrapped around Charlie as always.
The night was winding down, and they were all enjoying being together.
No missions, no danger, just each other. It didn’t happen often enough.
There were a few of their group missing: Lyn and Heath were over in Egypt checking out a potential job for her. Wyatt had received a cryptic message from an informant he worked with every once in a while and had gone to Las Vegas. Dorian and Ray . . . well, no one had actually expected them to come.
And Lexi was missing. Gavin was amazed at how much he wanted her here to experience this with him. He should’ve kidnapped the damn woman.
Everywhere around Gavin were couples. The amount of love in this room was humbling for a group of soldiers who’d been a lot better at fighting than they had been at interpersonal relationships. Each warrior knew he’d been blessed beyond measure by the woman now standing so proudly next to him. There wasn’t anything in the world these
men wouldn’t do for the women they loved, no hell they wouldn’t walk through to protect them.
Although Gavin had always appreciated their love in theory, it was only now, looking at the empty seat beside him, that he could recognize his feelings for what they were. He loved Lexi. And he wasn’t going to let her keep her distance anymore.
“Truly, you are our family.” Anne stood up next to Zac, and everyone quieted down to listen to the soft-spoken doctor. “A family I thought I would never have. You took care of this man when I wasn’t around and have been doing it ever since. You guys are all trouble, but you’re our trouble, and we love you. Thank you for being here.” She raised her glass. “To friends who are family and family who are friends.”
“Hear, hear!” Everybody clinked their glasses and hugged each other, laughing and talking.
“Can we talk about the real news?” Baby finally called out. “The fact that Noah has a hickey on his neck? Forget the wedding stuff!”
Gavin chuckled at the sight of his normally stoic cousin, who suffered from PTSD, grinning hugely with his arm around sweet, quiet Marilyn. Whose face looked like it was on fire.
“You’re all going to have to keep your jealousy in check,” Noah said.
Marilyn slapped at his chest, but it was easy to see the love radiating in her eyes. Nobody let the cat out of the bag that Noah had a big proposal planned for tomorrow. He’d already enlisted all the guys for help, so evidently they’d be spending the morning helping him spell out will you marry me on the beach.
As all former Special Forces soldiers did at least once in their life.
His phone buzzing in his pocket drew Gavin’s attention away from the reverie. A text from Tristan.
I have a present for you.
Gavin let out a breath and responded. Did you find something on Lexi?
Better.
He couldn’t think of anything that would be better than knowing what danger Lexi faced. But he’d give his brother the benefit of the doubt.
OK. Hit me.
You really owe Ian one for this.
Gavin wasn’t sure why Tristan had gotten Ian involved at this point, but there was no doubt that DeRose had contacts in all sorts of places—legal and illegal—that Linear and Gavin would never have. So bringing him in now probably wasn’t a bad idea.
You know how I love being in DeRose’s debt.
I think this will be worth it.
Gavin waited for Tristan to provide whatever data would be so worth it. Would it come as a file, an email, or another text? But nothing came.
Are you sending it? I’m not getting anything. File too large?
Actually I sent it about 6 hours ago. You should be getting it any moment according to my reports.
Six hours ago? What sort of file took six hours to arrive?
I’m not getting it. Just give me the basics and I’ll read the file later.
You’re welcome, big brother.
Gavin rolled his eyes. I’m welcome for what?
You’ll know it when you see it.
Tristan’s brain was wired to play games. They’d all accepted that in the family as part of what had happened to him. But Gavin really didn’t feel like playing them right now.
And then he saw her.
Lexi was standing at the edge of the party room, looking inside like she wasn’t sure if she should come in or not.
Oh hell no, she belonged in here, with him, with this family.
He stood up. She saw him and gave him a tentative wave, signaling for him to come out to the portico. Gavin set down his glass and walked straight to her.
“Hi.” She gave him that awkward little wave again as the door shut behind him, leaving them alone. “The front desk has my bag because it occurred to me that maybe I needed to ask you before I moved my stuff into y—”
He kissed her.
He reached down, wrapped his arms around her hips, hoisted her up against him, and kissed her.
“You and I need to talk,” she said against his lips.
“Later.” She was here. That was all that mattered.
“It’s bad.”
“Are you in danger?”
“No.”
“Then it can wait.” He started carrying her toward the door.
“What about your friends?”
“They won’t miss us.” And if they did, he didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything except getting Lexi back to his room. To the bed. He wasn’t sure he was going to make it that far.
Without putting her down, he headed for the door. He didn’t care what everyone thought. Whatever it was, it was nothing but the truth—he couldn’t keep his hands off this woman, and he didn’t care who knew.
He swung her up in his arms, not breaking the kiss. It was grandiose, but he still didn’t care.
She didn’t weigh enough to slow him down for a second as he made his way back to his oceanside room. He set her down so he could get his key card out at the door, but he didn’t let her go.
“Gavin, I want this, I really do, but maybe we should talk—”
He pushed her through the door, then pressed her up against it with his body, his lips finding hers.
“Talk later.” Jesus, he could barely get coherent sentences out. “I missed you.”
He could feel her smile. “You just saw me a few hours ago.”
“Yeah, but I missed you,” he growled. “I want to bury myself inside of you until we can’t tell where you end and I begin.”
“I think we need fewer clothes then.” She pushed against his chest with a finger, walking him backward. They unbuttoned their clothes as they went, leaving them scattered all over the floor.
The need to bury himself inside her wet heat clawed at him, but he pushed it down. They could do fast and hard later. Right now he wanted to worship her. Celebrate that she was here with him—the whys and hows didn’t matter.
He sat on the bed and pulled her down to straddle him, diving in for another kiss before flipping her until she was in the middle of the bed, head resting on the pillow, and he was in between her widespread legs.
He rose up onto his knees and clamped his hands on her hips, pulling her to him. He slid inside her slowly, so slowly, just the slightest bit, wringing a moan from both of them, then stopped.
Lexi’s eyelashes fluttered as he eased in and out of her and then repeated the action, an achingly slow series of shallow penetrations. He wasn’t sure who he was driving crazy more, him or her. He watched where their bodies joined as he slid in and out, in and out, her moisture coating his skin until they gleamed together.
Just like he’d promised, neither of them could tell where one stopped and the other began.
“Gavin.” Her hips moved, trying to meet his thrusts. “What are you... I need...” Her head arched back on the pillow as she tried to push up against him, to get him to go deeper.
No. Not yet. He had a good grip on her, holding her steady, continuing the torturous pace. “I want this to last, Green Eyes.”
She let out a shuddery breath. “But . . .”
“Just enjoy.” He leaned over, keeping their bodies joined at the shallow angle, and flicked his tongue over her nipple before pulling it into his mouth and sucking then biting.
They both moaned as he couldn’t avoid slipping a little farther inside her, but he stayed still, simply stretching her, listening to the sounds she was making—a mix of frustration and yearning.
He sat back up and resumed the slow, shallow thrusts, ignoring his body’s nearly overwhelming urge for more. Her moans grew louder, her hips struggled to lift, and her legs wrapped around his hips to pull him toward her. But he was bigger and stronger and had leverage, so the pulling got her nowhere. Neither did her plucking at his hands on her hips to get them off. The slow, constant friction sensitized both of them, driving them crazy, but he kept going when her limbs moved restlessly as she tried to thrust, the motion instinctive.
“Gavin.” Her back arched again, her heels
driving into the mattress. “More. Please more.”
He reached down and grabbed one of her feet and brought it up to his shoulder, kissing at the tender arch. He looked down to see the whole long, glorious line of her body spread out in front of him, her head tossing, tangled hair crackling around her, while her hands grasped at him, her voice pleading.
“Please, Gavin, please. More. I want all of you.”
He let go.
He leaned forward, catching himself on his hands, and thrust deep, her leg still up on his shoulder, opening her fully to him. She arched with a choked cry, her hands clutching at his back, fingernails burning into his skin. He gasped for air at the primal sensation, pumping harder.
Hearing her chant his name over and over like a prayer, threw him over the edge, and he shouted her name, spilling endlessly, buried deep inside her.
This woman. She completed him.
And she was here where she belonged.
30
Lexi stretched out in the bed the next morning, staring out at the Pacific from the sliding glass door of Gavin’s hotel room. The sun was spraying its light down on the water, an uncommonly calm day out on the waves. Perfect for snorkeling.
Gavin had left a few minutes ago to meet the guys. They were hanging out together, then planning to help Gavin’s cousin Noah propose to his girlfriend. Lexi wasn’t quite sure why Noah needed help, but Gavin had seemed excited about it.
He’d seemed quite excited to see her too. Multiple times.
She had tried more than once to tell him who she really was, the whole situation, but finally she had let herself be persuaded to wait until they got back to Oak Creek. That was better anyway—no chance of ruining the wedding of one of his best friends.
Plus, who was she kidding? She would take every reprieve she could get. This might be her last weekend with him. The last time they were ever in bed together. She rolled over to look up at the ceiling. Gavin might be willing to help keep her safe but still not want to have anything to do with her personally.