This is Love

by Foster, Melissa

  Breathe, breathe, breathe.

  She’d been avoiding going downstairs in case Mason came in. She wanted to be right there waiting the second he came through the door to be sure he was okay, but she couldn’t take it anymore. She ran down the steps and hurried down the long hallway to the steel door at the end. When Aiden had told her there was a security control center when he’d first rented the fortress, she’d told him he was crazy, that she was going to be just fine.

  She was an idiot.

  As she pushed open the heavy door, she was glad Aiden wasn’t there to be as freaked out as she was, but equally glad that he’d taken such strong measures to keep her safe.

  Porter turned as she walked in, his face a mask of seriousness. It was the face that had been ingrained in her mind during his time as her bodyguard. He stood in front of a wall of monitors. She could see him struggling to form the smallest of smiles as he said, “Hi. Are you okay?”

  “No,” she said honestly. “Did you see anything on the videos?”

  “Nothing helpful. The guy kept his face shielded from the camera, and he was quick. He tossed the letter through the gates and took off. I’ve checked all the perimeter cameras. He hasn’t been anywhere else on the property.” His eyes darted to a letter on the desk, lying on top of the plastic bag she’d seen him put it in earlier.

  She reached for it and he grabbed her wrist. “It’s evidence. You can’t touch it.”

  “Let go, Porter,” she demanded.

  “It’s dark stuff, Remi. I sent a picture of it to Mason. I think he’ll want to be with you when you read it.”

  Her stomach plummeted. “You talked to Mason? Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine.” He nodded to one of the monitors on the far side of the wall. Mason was talking with several other men, including two policemen, down by the front gate. Several vehicles crowded the street in front of the house. “I’ve already sent copies of the footage to the police.”

  She was so relieved to see Mason, her words came out too soft. “Did they get the guy?”

  The regret in Porter’s eyes conveyed the answer before he said, “No, but we’ve got men canvassing the area.”

  Anger boiled inside her. “Porter, show me the letter.”

  “Remi—”

  She lunged for it, but he was too fast, moving between her and the desk.

  “Do you want to mess up this investigation?” he said sharply. “You get your fingerprints all over this and we’re screwed.”

  “This is my life this guy is messing with!” She couldn’t keep from yelling. “Show me that damn letter or I’ll kick you so hard in your privates you won’t walk for a week!”

  With his jaw clenched tight, he picked up two pens and held the paper down on either side with their edges so she could read it and said, “Never let your opponent know what you’ll do. Take action—don’t threaten.”

  “I’ll remember that,” she said, shocked that even after she’d snapped at him, he was teaching her about safety. She glanced at the letter, recognizing the sloppy, tilted handwriting. “That’s the same handwriting as the letters I got in LA.”

  “I know,” he said with a bite of anger.

  Bile rose in her throat as she read the letter.

  Remi, every day without you is torture. Did you like my other letters? Have you been thinking about me as much as I’ve been thinking about you? Waiting to be together? Not a day goes by that I don’t see your face. We were so close the other day, I thought our time had finally come! But you let that bastard bodyguard steal you away. I can’t wait to tear off your panties with my teeth and use them to bind your wrists. I’m going to make that bastard watch while I fuck you in every way possible. He’s going to regret the day he ever put his mouth on you. And you’ll regret the day you let him. Our time is coming, my love.

  Remi looked away, feeling sick and angry. Porter carefully folded the letter and slid it into the bag.

  “I feel like I’m going to throw up,” she said.

  Porter took her by the shoulders, guiding her into the chair. “I’ll get you some water.”

  “No. What I want is someone to get this sick person and put him behind bars. He’s threatening me and Mason. How psychotic do you have to be to write those things to a stranger? To even feel them?”

  “He’s a stalker, Remi. The guy’s clearly unstable.”

  She looked up at Porter. His features were soft and hard at once, like he wanted to kill someone but knew he should be empathetic for her. “I’m sorry I was such a shit to you and Merrick.”

  “You’ve already apologized, and you weren’t a shit. You were in a difficult position.”

  “Well, I’m sorry. You were just doing your jobs.” She pushed to her feet. “I hate this. I hate that anyone has the power to make me feel like this, and to take over my entire life. I mean, look at us. Mason chased a guy through the woods with a gun, we’re in this . . . room that is right out of a suspense movie, and—”

  The shrill ring of Porter’s phone interrupted her. She held her breath as he answered it.

  “Boss?”

  Mason. She looked at the monitor and saw Mason pacing with the phone pressed to his ear.

  “Yeah, she’s right here. Okay. Got it.” He ended the call and grabbed the plastic bag with the letter in it.

  “What’d he say?” she asked anxiously.

  “He’s on his way in. The police are leaving. They need the letter.”

  She followed him out the door and up the stairs. “Did they find anything? What’s the plan?”

  “Mason will fill you in.”

  Mason came through the door looking even angrier than Porter. The veins in his neck and arms bulged like thick snakes, and his shoulders rode high, muscles corded tight.

  “Mason!” She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. He embraced her, but stood rigid, not hugging her the way he usually did. She felt his holster on his waist, and a chill ran down her back. He must have put that on after he got back to the SUV.

  He pressed a chaste kiss to the top of her head, then pried her from his body, his eyes locked on Porter. “That it?”

  Porter nodded curtly, then motioned with his head for Mason to follow him.

  Mason grumbled, “Be right back,” and followed him out the front door.

  A second later she heard Mason hollering. “What the fuck, Porter?” She stumbled back as more shouts rang out. The door flew open, and Mason stormed past her, straight down the stairs.

  “Mason?” She followed him. “What happened out there?”

  His long legs ate up the distance to the control room. He pushed through the door and stalked to the desk, pounding at the keys, angrily shoving a mouse around, his eyes glued to the monitors. His jaw was clenched so tight it had to hurt.

  “Would you talk to me? Please? Why were you yelling at Porter?” She studied the monitors, trying to figure out what he was doing—and then she saw it. The image of the stalker pushing the letter through the gate. Mason zoomed in on his face, shielded by the hood and shrouded in shadows.

  “Porter had no business showing you that letter,” he seethed, zooming in on the guy’s body, his chest, then his jeans, and last his sneakers.

  “This is my life, Mason. I need to know what’s going on.”

  “Fuck!” He shoved the keyboard away and punched the keyboard tray, snapping it in half. He spun around with rage in his eyes and grabbed her by the arms, his fingers digging into her muscles, nostrils flaring. “Not like that. Not without me.”

  “How would you being here change anything? I needed to see it!”

  His eyes bored into her. “Because I’m the one who loves you! I’m supposed to be there to protect you from shit like that. I should have been there when you read that disgusting letter from the sick fuck, not Porter!”

  Her jaw dropped, and tears flooded her cheeks. Love and anguish battled for dominance in his eyes as he pulled her trembling body against his hard frame, cocooning her within his ar
ms.

  “I hate that you had to read something so demented. The bastard slipped right through my fingers.” He released her abruptly, pacing, his hands fisting. “I was only two minutes behind him. I should have had him.” He twisted his fist in the air, baring his teeth like a rabid dog. “And that goddamn letter. I’m going to tear that fucker to pieces.”

  Her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. How could such an awful event spur the most magical moment of her life? Did he even realize he’d said he loved her? Or was he just caught up in the moment?

  “Mason?” she said just above a whisper.

  He stopped pacing and blinked several times, as if he had to clear the fog of rage from his eyes.

  She went to him with her heart in her throat and said, “Breathe, Mason. Just breathe.”

  He scrubbed a hand down his face, then gathered her in his arms with a gentler touch, with the warmth and protectiveness she’d come to love and expect. There were so many emotions coursing through her she couldn’t separate them, but one rose above the fear, above the anger and confusion.

  “I’m sorry, Princess,” he said vehemently, his cheek resting on the top of her head, his hand moving soothingly up and down her back.

  “You love me?” she asked shakily.

  He framed her face within his hands, and a smile pushed the anger from his eyes as he said, “I’m not making a great case for you to love me back right now, but I do, Remi. I love you, and it kills me that this is happening to you.”

  “Happening to us,” she said softly. “I love you, too, and I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”

  “Shh. Don’t say that.”

  He sat on the chair and guided her onto his lap. She wound her arms around his neck, and he buried his face in her chest. They held each other as the fear and anger shifted, allowing their love to fill the silence.

  After a long while, Mason gazed lovingly into her eyes and said, “Before you, I was just existing. I’d rather be living through this mess with you than spend another day without you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  MASON STOOD AT the bedroom window late Sunday morning with his cell phone pressed to his ear, updating Aiden, as he’d done every day since they’d found the letter. “The handwriting matched the letters received in LA, but we’re coming up empty at identifying the perp. We’ve tried to identify everything we could, from the manufacturer of his hoodie to the tread of his sneakers, but you know New York woods in September—the ground is covered with leaves. We’ve canvassed the surrounding homes, looking into anyone who matched the height description and didn’t have an alibi, but it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

  “How’s Remi really holding up? Is she giving you any more trouble?”

  He glanced at Remi sprawled across the bed, her pink panties peeking out from beneath the T-shirt of his she’d slept in. He’d taught her to play strip poker last night, and she’d played him like a violin, purposely losing. His chest swelled with love—and guilt for not telling Aiden the truth about them.

  “Your sister is braver and stronger than any woman I’ve ever met.”

  “She’s a pistol, but don’t let her fool you, Mason. Beneath all that gusto, she’s as vulnerable as a kitten.”

  “I know,” he said, remembering the way she’d tried to hold it together the night they’d found the letter, but once they were lying in bed and she was safely nestled within his arms, she’d surrendered to the relentless fear that she’d been holding back all evening and sobbed her sweet little heart out. “Don’t worry. I’m taking good care of her.”

  “Thank you, Mason. She’s all I have in this world, and I’d like to kill the bastard who’s doing this to her.”

  “You and me both. When are you coming back?”

  “Next Sunday.”

  He knew Aiden owned several houses, and he was curious about what home meant to the man who had raised the woman he loved. “Where is home for you, Aiden?”

  Aiden didn’t hesitate to say, “Wherever my sister happens to be at the moment. This month it’s Harmony Pointe.”

  For me, too.

  When Mason had bought his loft in the city, he’d thought he’d finally put down roots, but he worked so much it wasn’t anything more than a place to rest his head. After only three weeks, the fortress felt like more of a home than any other structure ever had, and he knew it was because of the beautiful woman he shared it with.

  “Remi’s wrapping up filming on Wednesday. She wants to head to her cabin for a few days. Think you can meet us there? I know she’d like to see you.”

  Between filming, soliciting donations for their project, and coordinating with the staff of CCF to bring the effort to fruition, Remi’s schedule was bursting at the seams. She needed that time off. She needed a hell of a lot more time than that.

  He couldn’t shake the image of the guy at the gate, and he fought the anger it sowed with everything he had on a daily basis. He never wanted Remi to bear the burden of his wrath again. He was looking forward to spiriting her away for a few days, knowing that Porter and Merrick would be staying nearby and accompanying them wherever they went, while the rest of his men would keep an eye on things in Harmony Pointe and alert him if anything suspicious popped up.

  “Of course. But that’s pretty remote. Are you sure it’s safe?”

  Remi rolled over, arching her back and stretching like a cat, toes pointed, arms over her head. She looked sleepily at Mason and mouthed, Who’s that?

  He mouthed, Aiden.

  She scowled and stepped from the bed, sauntering over to him with a seductive look in her eyes. Her hair was messy and tangled, and his T-shirt hung nearly to her knees. She was stunning. Ever since he’d confessed his love for her, he’d been seeing images in his mind of the two of them years from now, with children underfoot. He had visions of Remi teaching their little girl to make ornaments and a little troublemaking boy wreaking havoc, the little girl chasing her brother as he scampered away with her supplies, giggling. For a man who had never imagined being in love, much less having a family, the images were as overwhelming as they were enticing. For the first time in his life, Mason was looking at a future with hope and inspiration.

  “We wouldn’t be going if I didn’t think she’d be safe,” he said to Aiden.

  As he told Aiden their plans to get Remi out of town without anyone other than Piper, Harley, and Bodhi knowing, Remi did her best to distract him.

  She kissed his chest, trailing her tongue along his nipple. He gritted his teeth as she kissed a path lower, slowing to trace the ridges of his abs with her tongue.

  “Sounds like you’ve thought of everything,” Aiden said. “How long will you be at the cabin?”

  Remi hooked her fingers into the hips of Mason’s briefs and drew them down to his ankles, palming his cock with a boastful look in her eyes. She teased the head with her tongue. Mason clenched his teeth, and said, “Through the weekend.”

  She mouthed, Hang up, then lowered her mouth over his cock, taking him to the back of her throat. He inhaled sharply and fisted his hand in her hair, tugging her head so she couldn’t miss his warning glare.

  Her eyes went dark and predatory as she again mouthed, Hang up!

  He loved when she got demanding. “Aiden, I’ve got to run. We’ll see you Sunday?”

  “For sure. Thanks, Mason.”

  He ended the call, and in one quick move he lifted Remi up and tossed her on the bed, coming down over her. She laughed as he shoved his phone to the other side of the mattress and tore off her panties. When she bit his shoulder, he growled with pleasure.

  “You think you’re funny?” He trapped her hands beside her head, nudging her legs open with his knees.

  “Hilarious!” She wiggled to align their bodies with a self-satisfied smirk. “You should have seen your face.”

  “Forget mine. I can’t wait to see yours.”

  He buried the head of his cock in her tight heat, fighting the urge t
o thrust in deep. She lifted her hips, trying to take him deeper, and he rocked back, withdrawing completely.

  “Mason!” she pleaded.

  He kissed the edges of her lips, teasing her with just the tip, then withdrawing again.

  She rocked up as he pushed in a little deeper, and she hissed, “Yes.”

  He pulled out, enjoying the way her eyes filled with determination.

  “You promised to keep Aiden out of our bedroom, remember?” she said heatedly.

  “He called, and I didn’t want to leave the room. Can you blame me for wanting to be close to you?”

  He repeated the exquisite torture, pushing in just enough to drive them both wild with desire. She whimpered, and the sweet sounds tore at his heart. Fuck, it was hard to deny her. He covered her mouth with his, and she wound her legs around his hips as he sank deeper into her. She felt so good, so right, a moan tore from his lungs.

  He gazed into her victorious eyes and said, “I want to disappear into you, Princess.”

  She grinned as she said, “I think you already have.”

  His forehead fell to her shoulder with his chuckle. “God, I love you.”

  Their mouths came together as their bodies took over, and they moved to their own private beat. Their lovemaking had become richer since they’d said those three little words. The knots from holding back had loosened, and then those heartstrings had tangled between them. Now, as they loved each other with all they had, Mason lost himself in the feel of her softness against him, her sweetness swallowing every inch of him. He quickened his efforts, kissing her more passionately, and her thighs tightened around him.

  Her head fell back, and she panted out, “Don’t stop.”