The Bridal Candidate 2 (Heart Connections)

by Linda Verji

  “Come with me.” Damian beckoned his father to follow him as he started back towards Dr. Berlin’s office.

  The moment Archie entered the office, Aiko shot him a look filled with so much venom and anger, Damián was surprised his father didn’t melt into a puddle.

  “Doctor, this is my father, Archie Colter.” Damián introduced the two men.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Colter.” Doctor Berlin broke into a grin as he shook Archie’s hands vigorously. “I’m a big fan of yours. Big fan. You did great work in the White H-”

  “What happened to Lincoln?” Aiko broke into the doctor’s fawning while staring daggers at Archie.

  “Ah, yes. Sorry.” Doctor Fan-Boy let go of Archie’s hands with a sheepish look and plopped back down on his seat.

  Archie’s eyes met Aiko’s, wandered to Damián then back to Aiko. His expression was filled with genuine remorse as he said, “It’s complicated.”

  “Uncomplicate it for us,” Damián gritted between his teeth.

  “I can only share that information on a need-to-know basis.” Archie’s gaze swung to the doctor. “And he doesn’t need to know. Could you give us some privacy?”

  Doctor Berlin started, “But I’m-”

  “Just for a few minutes. We’ll call you back when we have something you need to hear.” The steely look in Archie’s eyes was enough to get the doctor scrambling out of the room. Once he was gone, Archie ambled to the window and sat on the window seat. His gaze on Damián, he began, “Since Jeanine, I always do a background check on the women you date. So when Aiko appeared in your life I did the same thing…”

  The background check on Aiko had revealed that Seraphina’s father was Lincoln, Archie explained. Further investigations had revealed the discrepancies in Lincoln’s records. As a former government official, Archie was well aware of the practice of ‘killing’ military personnel so that they could be used in covert operations. There was every chance that Lincoln was still alive, which played right into Archie’s plans to break up Damián and Aiko.

  It was really nothing personal against Aiko. She was a good woman – just not the right kind of woman for a man with political ambitions in their state. Sure, Damián kept insisting that he wasn’t interested in politics but Archie was sure that once he’d had a taste of power, he’d be addicted. But that taste wasn’t going to happen if Aiko was at his side. Lincoln’s return was supposed to throw a spanner in the works. Ideally, he would break Damián and Aiko up.

  While he waited for more information about Lincoln’s whereabouts, Archie had explored other strategies to break up the happy couple. One of these was the plan to reveal Aiko as a gold-digger. That plan had failed abysmally. Worse, it’s discovery had created a chasm between Archie and Damián that was so deep that it had left him with the realization that if he continued pursuing his plans, he might lose Damián completely. Not just as a political mentee but as his son. To that end, Archie had ditched the plan. But before he could call off the hunt for Lincoln, they’d found him.

  Lincoln was being held in an internment camp in North Korea. His captors had tried to ransom him but the American government had denied that he was even a citizen. There was some speculation that he might’ve been a double-agent but nothing that had been proved.

  Now, Archie had even more reason not to bring Lincoln back. If Lincoln was a double-agent as suspected then he’d end up being more than just roadblock. He’d be a real danger to Damián and Aiko.

  “… but I just couldn’t leave him there to rot.” His gaze on the floor between his feet, Archie said, “So I paid one of the generals in the internment camp to release him and pretend that it was an escape.”

  The confession was enough to knock the wind out of Damián. “You were the one who had him released?”

  Archie lifted his gaze to meet his son’s, then he nodded. “Yes.”

  Aiko looked just as shocked as Damián felt. The temptation to draw her into his arms and just hold her was almost overbearing. If he didn’t have Seraphina in his arms, Damián would’ve given in to that temptation. She didn’t deserve this, to be dragged into his father’s shenanigans.

  Her voice was low and her eyes were filled with hurt, she asked Archie, “So we’re supposed to believe that the real reason you decided to organize Lincoln’s release out of the kindness of your heart?”

  Archie shrugged. “I felt sorry for him.”

  She snorted derisively. “Yeah. Right.”

  Archie was quiet for a long moment before continuing, “To keep him as far from you as we could, we dropped him off in Jeju City. My hope was that he’d be so happy to just be free that he’d quietly retreat into the deepest parts of that country and disappear. But just in case he didn’t, I set some people to watch him and stop him if he tried to come back…”

  But Archie had underestimated Lincoln’s desire to see Aiko. Somehow, the man had lost Archie’s people and made his way to the U.S.. Archie had been as surprised as anyone to hear of his return from Damián.

  “So even when I came to you, asked you to investigate Lincoln… you already knew where he’d been and how he’d left?” Damián stared at his father aghast.

  Archie nodded.

  “Why couldn’t you just tell me that you were the one who’d arranged his release?” Damián asked.

  Archie dropped his gaze to the floor. “I was afraid you wouldn’t take it well. You know how irrational you can get-”

  “How irrational I can get? So this is now my fault?” Damián had never felt quite as foolish as he did now. To think that his father had been playing him all this time. To think that while he was trying to protect his family, Archie was playing ‘cover my ass’. How could he have trusted Archie?

  “You still haven’t told us what happened in San Diego,” Aiko broke in before Damián could go off on Archie as he was itching to do.

  “After you told me that he was in San Diego, I did some digging and found out that CIA picked him up for questioning,” Archie. “They wanted to know how he’d left North Korea and what he’d told them. But I sorted it out with them.”

  “Oh, you sorted it out.” Aiko’s lips lifted in a sneer. “How magnanimous.”

  “What are you going to tell the doctor?” Archie asked. “Like I said most of this information is classified.”

  Damián wanted to tell him to shove his classified information where the sun don’t shine, but fortunately Aiko was more rational than him. She was the one who suggested that perhaps it was better for Archie to speak to his government buddies and get Lincoln a military therapist. It was while they were explaining this to Doctor Berlin, that Brenda burst into the office with Femi and Lewis at her heels.

  “Don’t tell me I can’t see my son. I want to see my son.” The woman’s yells were so loud, they could be heard clear across the state line.

  The doctor tried to explain that Lincoln was sedated and wouldn’t be responsive for several hours but Brenda was having none of it. Ultimately, she got her way and was allowed into her son’s room along with Aiko. Damián, Femi and Lewis stayed behind to make arrangements for the night.

  Damián knew that Aiko and Brenda wouldn’t want to leave town until Lincoln woke up, so he made reservations at a local hotel for everyone but Lewis. Lewis would spend the night in Montgomery then drive over early the next day with a change of clothes for all of them.

  By the time Brenda and Aiko came back to the waiting room, all the arrangements were made. Brenda tried to resist leaving the hospital but she was no match for Femi, and soon they were heading for the hotel.

  BY THE TIME they got to the hotel room, she, Damián and Seraphina were sharing, Aiko was dead on her feet and emotionally wiped out. It felt like she’d participated in a triathlon then spent the rest of the day digging a grave. Actually, she would’ve preferred spending her day doing all that if it meant foregoing today’s drama.

  “Just relax,” Damián ordered. “I’ll help Phia with her bath then wake you up.
”

  “Thank you.” Even as she said the words, she was already collapsing onto the bed. Aiko wasn’t sure how long she slept, but the next time she woke up it was to find Damián lifting her into his arms.

  “Phia?” Aiko asked groggily as her arms circled Damián’s neck.

  “Bathed, fed and asleep.” He used his head to motion towards the bed where Seraphina was tucked in. Reassured that her daughter was fine, Aiko set her head on Damián’s shoulder and sighed contentedly. His strides long, he carried her to the bathroom.

  The bathroom was warm and smelled of sweet wild flowers, and the tub was filled to the brim with foamy, heated water. After setting her on her feet, Damián carefully stripped her of her clothes piece by piece. Once she was bared, he put her hair up in a bun before lifting her again. When he finally lowered her into the warm bubbly water, Aiko couldn’t help releasing a long sigh of delight.

  “Oh, that feels good,” she murmured as she closed her eyes and lay her head against the rim of the tub. She heard rustling of clothes as if Damián was undressing but was enjoying the relaxing water too much to even open her eyes.

  “Mm,” she groaned when Damián cupped the back of her head and lifted her head. She opened her eyes to shoot him a narrow-eyed glance

  “Don’t worry,” he murmured, a slight smile raising his lips. “I’ll get you comfortable again.”

  With a few deft maneuvers, he shifted her slightly in the tub to create space for himself then climbed in behind her, his chest against her back, his thighs bracketing hers and his turgid length teasing the cleft of her cheeks.

  Aiko smiled sleepily and shifted lightly against his cock. “Somebody’s happy to see me.”

  “He’s always happy to see you.” Damián cocked his head to kiss her forehead. “But you don’t need to worry about that. Right now I just wanna take care of you.”

  “Okay.” Eyes closed, she lay her head on his shoulders and let him.

  And he did – in the best way possible.

  His hands traced over her skin, massaged over her tender, aching muscles and lingered over all the areas she wanted soothed. The soles of her feet got some special attention as did a few other sensitive places. He soaped, caressed and rinsed every inch of her, murmuring in approval as her body eased under his spell.

  “Baby, I might need you to do this tomorrow too,” she stretched languorously against him.

  “And I might make you pay,” he teased as he scooped some warm water and poured it over her shoulder. His hands fell over her shoulders, and massaging them he asked, “How does that feel?”

  “So good. You have no idea. After the day I’ve had…” She let her words drift off as she sighed in pleasure.

  Savoring the feeling, she bathed in his touch, luxuriating in the reminder that she was here. In his safe, protective arms. Not in some dark forest frightened out of her mind trying to figure out how to save hers and Seraphina’s life. Damián had come for her, she thought in wonder. And just in time too. She didn’t know how long she could’ve survived seeing the hatred and accusation in Lincoln’s eyes without faltering and giving him the upper-hand again. Thank goodness for Damián.

  The man had made a habit of walking into her life just when she needed him. If it wasn’t for him, she and her family would be out of a home, her father would probably be worse off, and Lincoln would still be stuck in that prison. As much as she hated to admit it, if it wasn’t for her relationship with Damián, Archie would never bothered looking for Lincoln. So technically, Damián had had a hand in Lincoln’s rescue too.

  Just that thought was enough to fill her with a sense of gratitude. And more than that a sense of intimacy beyond anything she’d ever felt. In her heart, she knew that Damián would risk anything, do anything for her and her child. Because he loved her.

  It was humbling to think of someone loving her that much. What had she ever done to deserve that? What had she ever done to deserve him?

  For a while there was silence in the steaming room save for the splashing of water as he rinsed her off, but Damián finally broke that silence. His voice was so low, she almost didn’t hear him say, “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  He lifted a hand to her forehead and brushed back a struggling tendril of hair as he said softly, “I couldn’t protect you.”

  “What?” She turned her head slightly to meet his gaze. “Protect me from what?”

  “From my father.” His eyes were filled with both sadness and guilt as he added, “I thought he was done with all his bullshit after I told him to leave you alone, and I let my guard down. I should’ve known that he wouldn’t give up so easily. I should’ve stopped him. Instead, I sat back, and he ended up causing all this. If it wasn’t for him Lincoln wouldn’t have taken you. I kept thinking of him, with that gun-”

  “Damián, stop.” Water sloshed around them as Aiko turned in the tub until they were facing each other and she was kneeling in front of him. A tremor of fierce emotion rippled through her as she added, “Yes, Archie is partly responsible for what happened today, but that has nothing to do with you. He’s a grown man who chose to do what he did on his own. He fooled you. He fooled me. We’re not the ones to blame.”

  Damián’s jaw hardened. “He’s my father.”

  “So?” Aiko swallowed hard as she stared at his remorse-wracked features. “That doesn’t make you responsible for his actions.”

  Damián’s eyes lowered to the water as he mumbled. “I wish I believed that.”

  “You should believe that.” She reached forward and caressed his cheek, his stubbled skin startlingly warm against her finger. “Besides that you’ve gotta admit that Archie’s underhanded shady stuff had one good side-effect. Lincoln was finally released.”

  Damián’s response to that was an unamused laugh. “Hmm.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” But a moment later, he said in a slightly strained voice, “I’m just thinking of all the shit Lincoln went through, and how I didn’t make his life any easier by investigating him.”

  “You did what any normal person would have done. And your investigating isn’t what broke Lincoln.” She shifted forward to hug him. “Please stop blaming yourself. Today was not your fault and there was nothing you could’ve done to prevent it.”

  He was stiff in her arms for quite some time before he finally sighed and brought his arms fully around her. Burying his face into the crook of her neck, he whispered, “I thought I was going to lose you and Phia.”

  She pulled back to look him in the eyes. Lifting her hand to rub at the frown lines that marred his forehead, she said, “You didn’t. We’re right here.”

  He stared at her for a long moment then his frown eased and his eyes softened in a smile. “Yes. Yes, you are.”

  And then he was drawing her back into his arms for a deep kiss. The kiss was as tender as it was passionate, soft as it was possessive. His mouth ground deliciously against her promising what words couldn’t. That he’d always be there for her. That he’d love her with all his might. That he’d protect her to the best of his ability until his dying breath. What more could she ask for?

  She easily melted into the kiss, accepted everything he offered, then made the same promise.

  He was hers. She was his.

  Together they made one.

  EPILOGUE

  Four months later.

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Josiah drawled from his position on the only couch in the room.

  His eyes and fingers on the tie he was knotting, Damian offered distractedly, “Believe it.”

  Josiah sighed. “I think you’re making a big mistake.”

  “Yes, we all know what you think.” Damián jerked the tie a few times, straightened it then grinned at his image reflected in the mirror. He looked good if he said so himself. Navy morning coat, gray vest to match his gray slacks, white shirt and ice-blue tie. Not bad. Not bad at all.

  Josiah, who was similarly dresse
d for the occasion, grimly warned, “Just remember that I told you so.”

  His smile still in place, Damián turned to face his best-friend. “You do know that the best man’s job is to encourage the groom right?”

  “Then they need to rewrite that job description,” Josiah retorted. His somber tone suggested that he was entirely serious as he said, “I’m telling you. You and Aiko have a good thing going. Don’t ruin it with marriage. Marriage is a load of bullshit that’s only useful if you’re looking for money, connections or kids. You already have all that. You don’t need the ring. You and Aiko could just keep having fun until you get tired of each other, then walk away with minimum fuss.”

  “One day, when you’ve found a woman who you’re actually in love with and want to spend the rest of your life with we’ll have this conversation again and I’ll say I told you so.”

  “Not fucking likely.” Josiah snorted.

  “We’ll see,” Damián retorted jovially.

  Honestly, Josiah was a horrible best-man. He’d tried to get Damián to go to a strip club for the bachelor party, conned him into meeting with a divorce lawyer who proceeded to bombard Damián with divorce stats, then spent all of last night listing all the ways Damián would be screwed when he got married. When all that hadn’t worked, he’d insisted that Damián at least have a pre-nup to fall back on when he finally got his sanity back. Damián’s announcement that he and Aiko were going into marriage without a pre-nup had almost given Josiah a heart attack. The poor guy!

  Oddly enough, Josiah’s objections had only made Damián more certain that he wanted to marry Aiko. Sure, he could just keep things easy. No rings, no licenses, easy to walk away. But that also meant that it would be just as easy for her to walk away from him. That thought alone was enough to get him scrambling for the rings.

  Call him selfish but he wanted to make it as difficult as possible for either of them to check out on the other. He wanted the world, every other man and God to know that she was spoken for. That she was his, just as he was hers.