Chapter 18
T aryn looked up from where she sat in the visitor’s chair and sighed. Cassie was on the hospital bed beside her brothers, holding their hands, as Alex walked in again. Hopping to her feet, Taryn raced into his arms and held him close. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she whispered into his ear.
He just smiled and nodded.
“Are you in trouble with the FBI?” she asked, pulling back enough to see his face.
“Always, but who cares? It was the right thing to do. And, since they got their man, Gordon, I think the Feds are just fine right now.”
“It was the right thing to do. No doubt about that. I still don’t get the hesitancy on the part of the Feds.”
He smiled at her. “The FBI has its own internal rules and gets territorial. From the beginning, they more or less ordered us to stay out of it and to stay away, and I didn’t want to get Levi or Terkel in trouble over this deal. We do try to work within their rules and those of the local authorities—somewhat. Yet, after too much waiting on the part of the FBI, even Terk and Levi were also of the opinion to just go with our instincts and get something done.” He rolled his eyes at her. “That led Terk and his team to work up that spot-on profile, as Levi and his team coordinated with an international group of super-hackers to find some very interesting money trails. And it’s all good.”
“It’s better than good,” she agreed, with a sigh. “Two bad guys have been captured—well, three now that the missing father turned up, wanting his half of the sales proceeds. Can you believe that?”
Alex could very well believe it, and now the lie he told Gordon had turned into the truth. “Plus more bad guys to find and arrest, per Gordon’s statement.” Alex smiled. “But the best of all news is that we have these little boys here, finally getting some medical attention. The doctors say John and Jack will both be just fine, but they’re keeping them for a bit. Both boys had a nasty crack on the side of their heads, definitely skull fractures,” he muttered, looking at the twins, sedated but breathing just fine. “Both are pretty pale, but definitely some energy is moving in the air.”
“You’ve got that right.” Taryn laughed. “It’s Cassie. She’s connected with them,” Taryn declared proudly, with a beaming smile.
“Has either one woken up at all?” Alex asked.
She nodded. “Yes, both surfaced a little bit, then went right back under, but it was enough for Cassie to let them know that they were okay, that they were in the hospital, and that good people were looking after them. Believe me when I say that John and Jack were relieved.”
“Good.” He stared over at the three united kids. “That has to be a pretty special bond among them.”
“It is,” she murmured. “Yet it’s also one forged in pain, and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”
“No, of course not.” He hugged her gently and asked, “You want to go for a coffee?”
She hesitated, then looked back at Cassie and Jack and John. “I don’t want to leave them,” she murmured.
He nodded. “I get that you’ll probably be like that for a while.”
“I probably will. How can I not be, until I hand them safely over to Bruce?” she asked, with a smile.
Alex nodded. “Speaking of Bruce, have you heard anything from him at all?”
She nodded. “Not from Bruce himself,” she clarified, “but I did hear from Terkel that Bruce is awake, and they’ve had a chance to really talk to him. He knows about his sister’s death and that we’ve got the kids and will be bringing them his way. He doesn’t know all the other horrid details though.”
“Good, that’s a bit much for anybody to assimilate all at once,” he murmured.
“That is what I thought too,” she agreed, “though I don’t want to keep anything from him.”
“You can tell him later,” Alex suggested, “after he’s had a chance to deal with what he’s learned so far. Keep in mind that he’s already got a lot to deal with from his own captivity.”
She winced at that. “God, people suck,” she muttered.
Alex burst out laughing. “Yeah, some people suck,” he conceded, still smiling. “Yet other people are great.” Then he squeezed her tightly to his chest.
She looked up at him, laughing, then threw her arms around his neck and just clung to him for a bit. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she murmured.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he whispered. “Helping kids?… Well, it’s special. It’s what we do.”
“I know. To even have the opportunity to do something like that?… Well, it’s why I told Terkel that I wanted to help.”
Alex raised his eyebrows at her. “You did?”
She nodded. “And I meant it, though I don’t know how or what I can do,” she admitted. “It’s not as if I really have any idea what I can do, but I sure want to do something.”
“What did Terk say?”
“That we would talk about it when we get to his place,” she replied absentmindedly.
“Well, that’s good. And you’re okay to go to England?”
“There’s no okay about it,” she declared. “I’m going because Bruce is over there, and because I’ve got the kids, of course. Now, staying over there, that’s a whole different story. Yet Bruce will need some help for a while anyway, not just for him but for these children.”
“He sure will,” Alex agreed, with a nod. “I can’t imagine waking up from what he’s been through, only to find out he’s suddenly got three kids to raise.”
She laughed. “But he’ll take it all in stride.”
“Sounds like a nice guy,” Alex noted. “I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
“You’ll love him,” she stated. “He really is one of the good guys in the world.”
He smiled at her. “In that case, I definitely want to meet him.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment but looked up at him. “When are we going anyway?”
“You tell me,” he said, moving her away from the children. In a low tone, he asked, “Do you want to dive right into Terk’s world, or would you like to have a weekend away with me first?”
“Well, that’s definitely a yes to both,” she said. “We will be hindered with paperwork before we can fly across the pond, right?”
He laughed. “We absolutely will be.”
“And,” she added softly, “the doctor said the boys will remain here at least a week or two, right?”
He gave her a smoldering smile. “Yes.”
“So you and I and Cassie can take off a weekend here in the States, right?”
Alex smirked and tapped her on the nose. “You had me going. Yes, we three can have our weekend here in the US. After we are all in England, maybe you and I can have that special solo weekend?”
“You got it. Not immediately, but not too far off into the future either. I don’t want to leave Bruce in the lurch.”
“I understand,” he murmured. Then he walked over to the hospital bed and looked down at Cassie. She opened her eyes, smiled at him, and reached up her arms, so he could give her a big hug. “Hey, little one,” he whispered. “How are you doing?”
“Better now,” she whispered. “Jack and John are waking up too.”
At that, Alex turned to the twins.
Taryn checked Jack and John, their eyes opening, staring at her, puzzled. “Hey there,” she murmured. “How are you doing?”
The boys blinked, then saw their sister, and immediately a connection of love and relief washed over the twins as their sister gave them a hug. Not too many dry eyes were in the room now, as they realized just how close and connected these three children were.
“It is pretty special,” Alex murmured.
“Very,” Taryn whispered at his side. “I still can’t quite believe it.”
“But, hey, it’s all good. This is what was meant to happen.”
She didn’t say anything, her tears falling, and just nodded.
When the doctor finally came, he let them stay for a little bit longer, then explained that, since he would be running some tests, they should probably just take off for a while and come back a bit later to visit again.
Taryn looked over at Cassie, who was yawning, then asked Alex, “Do we have a hotel or anyplace to even go?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a hotel room already booked for us,” Alex replied. “I suggest we all head over there and get some rest. Riff is over there sleeping right now.”
“In that case, yes, let’s go,” Taryn agreed.
And, with the three of them in a rental vehicle that she didn’t recognize but presumed was Alex’s, they headed to the new hotel. As they walked inside the hotel lobby, Taryn held Cassie’s hand. “This brings back memories. What about the FBI?”
“Oh, they’ll be here to talk to you soon enough, don’t worry.”
She rolled her eyes at that. “Well, that’s great ,” she muttered. “I was hoping they would be long gone.”
He pushed the button on the elevator, and the door opened, and they all stepped inside. “No, there are still lots of questions. They are struggling right now, tying up loose ends and all that good stuff,” he explained, “but it’s not bad news. Not for us.”
“If you say so,” she muttered, with an eye roll. “It seems as if a lot of this is bad news, no matter which way you look at it.”
He just smiled and waited for the elevator to open. He brought them out into the hallway and led Taryn and Cassie into their hotel room. As soon as they got inside, Taryn noted it was a suite, with multiple bedrooms.
Cassie, having shaken off any remnants of her old reserved self, raced through the place and quickly claimed a bedroom of her own. Then she looked back at the others and announced simply, “I’m going to bed.” And, without any argument from them, she headed to the bedroom, closed the door, then opened it again and shook her head. “I guess maybe I should leave it open.”
“I think leaving it open is a good idea for now,” Alex agreed, with a smile. “I would feel very cut off from you if you closed that door.”
Cassie gave him a grateful smile for letting her off the hook, then headed back inside.
Taryn smiled at him. “Look at that. You already have a built-in radar for that sort of thing, which makes you totally father material.”
He shook his head, frowning. “I don’t think so. I don’t have any experience. It’s just called being human.”
“Ah, but it’s more than that. It’s called being a nice human,” she whispered.
He smiled. “It shouldn’t be a hardship to be nice, particularly to children,” he noted. “It’s a sick world when that’s the way it is.”
“We already know it’s a sick world,” she pointed out, “but we won’t dwell on it.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that.” He pointed to the nearby bedroom, its door closed. “Riff is asleep in this room, but there’s still another bedroom, if you want to go rest.”
She pondered it, then shook her head. “No thanks. Now, if we were alone, maybe, but like this? No.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Why would being alone make a difference?”
Walking closer to him, she threw her arms around him and gave him a big kiss.
He stared at her in surprise, and then his face cracked into a big smile.
“I might follow up on that if we were alone,” she muttered.
“You want me to chase people out of the bedrooms?” he teased. “I did say there was an empty one.”
“Yeah, but they would know.”
“Well, Cassie wouldn’t care, and Riff already expects it.”
She stared at him in shock. “Riff what?”
Alex chuckled. “Riff already knows what the deal is,” he stated, with a knowing smile. “So, I just don’t think it’s a problem. Not for him.”
She pondered that and then added, “I think it would still bother me to know that people would hear us.” Then she shook her head. “On the other hand, I would really like to take a shower.” She turned and looked back at him with a sexy grin. “Join me?”
“Hell yes,” he said, then stopped. “Although that could be torture if it’s really a shower you want.”
“It would be torture,” she agreed. “I really do want a shower, but, if we get lucky while we’re at it, I won’t complain,” she clarified, with a waggle of her eyebrows.
And, with that, she ran to the third bedroom and into the attached bathroom. She turned on the water to give them a little bit more privacy. She wasn’t lying. She really did want a shower, and a clean change of clothes, if such a thing was possible. If she got a chance to sleep a bit as well, she wouldn’t argue.
Seconds later, she was nude and stepping under the water. When she turned around, Alex was climbing in behind her. She smiled as he picked up the bar of soap.
“If you want to do my hair that would be lovely,” she whispered, “but other than that, I can manage.”
“I’ve got the hair too,” Alex stated easily, putting the soap down for the moment and picking up the little shampoo bottle. By the time Alex had her hair scrubbed and her scalp clean, Taryn turned around and did the same for him. She almost felt normal again. Of course, being in that hot shower with that incredibly sexy male body was a whole different story. She picked up the bar of soap and turned, smiling at him as she again waggled her eyebrows.
He rolled his eyes and chuckled, with a smile that just burned through her. “It sure won’t be easy to stay quiet in here.”
“Are you serious?” she asked. “You can’t be quiet?”
“Are you sure you could?”
She didn’t answer that question and just started at his chest with the bar of soap and worked her way down to his hips. Of course his manhood was already standing proud and firm in front of her. She smiled, as she slipped her hand around it and stroked up and down, the soap creating a smooth silky finish. He sucked in his breath, his hands on the shower walls over her head, closing his eyes as he enjoyed her ministrations.
She reached up and kissed him, her tongue loving his as they gently warred, their lips fused together in heated kisses, until she accidentally dropped the bar of soap.
He quickly retrieved it from the shower floor and chuckled, still in a crouched position. “My turn,” he teased, looking up at her. Then he started at her ankles and slowly soaped his way up, stopping with a gentle caress at the V of her thighs, before sliding a finger between her legs, inserting one slowly inside.
She shuddered, her legs going wide, and she leaned against the back wall. “I never thought it would be so easy to lose one’s self in a shower,” she whispered. “But to feel as if I’ll have my feet slide out from under me?… That is something else.”
He straightened, lifted her up, and gently pinned her against the wall, all too conscious of the bruises and abrasions that covered her body. “I’ve got you,” he murmured, kissing her deeply, flesh to flesh, chest against chest, his erection prodding her belly. “And, of course, from here, we’re in the perfect position.” He shifted ever-so-slightly, sitting right at the heart of her and then slipped inside just a bit.
She wiggled against him, as he dropped his head against her cheek, whispering, “God help me.” She immediately increased her wiggling, her thighs tightening around his hips, his hands sliding down to grab her butt cheeks, as she whispered, “Do it. Just do it.” But he held back, kissing her softly, over and over again. “Damn it, why aren’t you doing it?” she panted.
He lifted his head and faced her. “Look at me.”
When she opened her eyes to stare up at him, he lowered his head and kissed her softly. As his tongue slid inside, he slowly slipped into her body and rammed right to her center. She shuddered, impaled against the wall and completely overwhelmed at his possession of her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, shuddering, the ripples completely overtaking her body as they started to move, and she knew she was in for it.
She came apart in his arms almost immediately. By the time he exploded deep inside her, she was still pulsating from her own climax, only to have him do the same thing all over again. When they finally stopped moving, he turned off the shower, slid open the glass door, grabbed a towel, and wrapped her up in it, before carrying her to the bed. He laid her down gently, then returned to the bathroom and grabbed another towel, wrapping it around his waist.
When he rejoined her in the bedroom, she sat there, smiling up at him, looking bemused. He sat down beside her and whispered, “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “But I am feeling really tired now.”
He nodded too. “Sleep,” he whispered. Then he stretched out beside her, still wet, both still naked under their towels, as he pulled her into his arms and repeated, “Sleep.”
She closed her eyes and slept.