14. Alex
14
ALEX
“ E verything’s good. Soledad’s safe,” Zach said when he returned to my house a few hours later.
“Thanks.” While Chance had taken charge of Frankie, driving her to the vet’s office, my oldest brother had taken on the responsibility of taking Soledad back to Colin’s house. She’d had to stay and give her statement to the local police, and the NCIS team that came to investigate would want to speak with her again, but she’d been allowed to leave and return to Luke. “What’s the word on Frankie?” I asked, turning to Chance.
“The vet said she’s fine, maybe a bruised rib. He’s keeping her overnight for observation,” Chance replied. “I think it’s over, cuz.”
“Scary as hell.” I couldn’t shake the image of Bruce holding a gun to Soledad’s head. I’d felt in those moments that my whole world could end. I could have lost her so easily, which was what prompted me to confess my love. She had to know, regardless of what happened.
“Been there. I know how it feels,” Zach said. The jewelry store owned by Zach’s wife had been targeted by a man bent on revenge against her family. I saw Chance nodding, too—Mandy had had her own terrible experience with a dangerous man who had put her life at risk. They both understood, but it didn’t make the situation better. Seeing Bruce behind bars would.
“They’re fighting over who gets Bruce.” Colin came to stand with us on the front lawn and indicated where Bruce sat cuffed in the back of a squad car. “The local guys want him on a couple of felony charges. My money says the Navy will win this one.” NCIS representatives were in a heated discussion with uniformed police officers. “I think I’ll stroll over and listen in.”
I let my brother deal with it. As long as Bruce was in custody, I didn’t care where. A few minutes later, Bruce, his hands cuffed behind his back, was transferred to the back of a black Suburban. I made eye contact with him one last time and saw the hatred in his expression. I didn’t feel sorry for him. Bruce had brought this on himself. He’d made the choices that led him here.
Colin walked back across the lawn as the last of the police and NCIS vehicles left. Together, the four of us went inside. I wanted to hear what Colin had learned before I went to see Soledad. A tough conversation was ahead of me still, but I was hopeful my chances with her were good.
“The NCIS guys were steamed when they realized how the earlier charges against Bruce were mishandled,” Colin reported. “He should never have had the opportunity to come at you.”
“The value of connections,” I observed. Bruce’s family had bailed him out, saved him from a harsh punishment, but nothing could help him now.
“This incident opened up a can of worms about the slap on the wrist that Bruce got. I think his father’s going to face some consequences for all the strings he pulled, maybe even get forced into early retirement,” Colin said. “And there are others, too, who knew about Bruce’s involvement in the opium trade and let it slide, either because they were paid off or because they were scared of his family. I expect at least a couple of resignations.”
“As long as Bruce is locked up,” I said. I felt no sympathy for those whose careers were ruined. They’d proven themselves dishonorable and should suffer the consequences.
“He will be, and you came out the hero for having turned him in. Might figure into your next promotion… if you reenlist,” Colin said.
I knew that was unlikely. I’d made some calls about the position Colin had mentioned to me previously, and the job was mine. “I need to talk to Soledad before I decide anything.”
“Wise man,” Zach said, clapping me on the shoulder. “I’m headed home. If I hurry, I can make it in time to tuck the kids in.”
“Yeah, me too,” Chance said. “Let’s go.”
Colin must have agreed with them both, because he led the way to his truck parked at the curb.
Ten minutes later, I stepped in the door of the little basement apartment Soledad and Luke were using while staying at Colin’s. My brother planned to turn it into a playroom for the kids, but for now it had made a good space so that Soledad had been protected but still had some privacy.
I spotted Luke asleep on his back in the portable crib. The boy was the picture of innocence in a white sleeper with his arms stretched over his head.
“He’s out. Down for the night, I think,” Soledad said softly as she came from the bedroom. She crossed to me with no hesitation in her stride. When she reached me, her arms went around me in a hug tighter than the one we’d shared after Bruce was subdued.
Unlike that one, this turned into a kiss that reached the depths of my soul. It felt like the beginning of something new…and a little like goodbye as well.
Hell, no. This wasn’t a farewell kiss. It couldn’t be. My hands went to her waist while her fingers combed through my hair. I didn’t know how long the kiss lasted—I never wanted it to end. All too soon, though, Soledad stepped back, her beautiful brown eyes meeting mine.
“We need to talk,” she said, and I saw flickers of doubt on her face. “I’m so glad this is over and you’re all right, but things…things between us haven’t changed. You’re still leaving, and I don’t know how to go forward from here.”
I do , I wanted to say. We got married and stayed together forever, with children and dogs, in a happy home. For the first time in my life, I could see that kind of future for myself. But before I could talk about that, I owed her the words I’d only spoken under duress that afternoon.
“I’m not leaving,” I said. “There’s no mission. There’s nothing that could take me away from you—today, tomorrow, next week, or next year.”
“But you said…”
“I lied. I’m sorry about that, but I needed you to believe I was deploying so you’d take Luke to safety and stay there yourself, away from the danger that Bruce posed.” It hadn’t worked. I hadn’t moved fast enough. The guilt of putting her through that horrific experience with Bruce swamped me. “And I’m so sorry about today. I?—”
“Don’t you dare apologize for that,” she said, a spark in her eyes. “It wasn’t your fault, and Luke was safe here thanks to you. I just wish you had been honest with me about your plans.”
“Would you have gone to Philadelphia if I hadn’t pushed you away?” I knew the answer. She was far too strong to have been scared off. My only leverage had been to make her think of Luke’s safety and ratchet up her anger at me.
A tiny smile played at the edges of her lips. “Probably not,” she admitted. “I see your point.”
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes when it comes to you,” I continued, reaching for her hand, “and I don’t want to make another. So here’s the absolute truth. There’s no mission, and I’m not re-enlisting. If you’d gone to your aunt’s house, I would have come for you as soon as Bruce was in custody.”
“You’re staying?” She wanted clarity on that point, and I couldn’t blame her.
“I’m staying. I even have a job offer, so I won’t be an unemployed baby daddy.” I grinned at her. “It’ll be you, me, Luke, and Frankie together.”
“I like it.” Her arms went around my neck again, but she leaned back, a curious look on her face. “Hey, about Frankie. How did she know those commands?”
“I’ve been training her. That’s what those long walks were about. I never went far from the house, because I was afraid to leave you alone. Afraid of what Bruce would do.”
“Did you walk in circles?” she teased.
“A million loops around the block.” I could smile about it now. “Frankie only knows a few basic commands. I didn’t have time for more.” I’d never meant for Frankie to get hurt, since I’d hoped the situation would never come to that, but I’d been glad for her assistance earlier. I owed her a lifetime’s worth of dog treats as compensation. “She’s a smart girl, though. She picked them up fast.”
“You’ll have to teach me the words. German?”
I nodded. “It eliminates the confusion for dogs that hear English all the time, makes the commands clearer to them.”
“Very clever of you.” Her fingers played along the back of my neck.
“About that, maybe, but I’ve done one intensely stupid thing.” A mistake I was correcting now.
“What’s that?” She cocked her head to the side, waiting.
“I never told you that I love you. I loved you a year ago before we broke up. I loved you when I was gone on my last mission.” I hadn’t let myself realize how much. With an iron will, I’d prevented myself from thinking about her during those months. “And I love you more now than you’ll ever believe possible.”
“Oh, I’ll believe it,” she said, then smiled at me. “Because I’m willing to bet it matches how much I love you.”
“Care to prove that?” I kissed the edge of her mouth.
“I think so,” she murmured, her lips against mine. “Sleeping baby, queen-sized bed right through that doorway, sounds like a perfect opportunity.”
“Works for me,” I said, picking her up and carrying her to the bedroom. I left the door partially open, so we could hear Luke if he cried. As I placed Soledad in the center of the bed, I thought that I would be forever thankful if the child slept for the next hour. Make that two hours, I amended when I joined her and began a kiss that left us both breathless with emotion and need. I was so lucky not to have lost her, and I poured that thought into my kiss along with all the love I’d been holding back.
“Clothing. Off,” she said when we came up for air. She rolled from under me and hopped off the bed, stripping away the cami and knit shorts she was wearing. “Now you.”
I’d looked at her body countless times, but there was something different about how I saw her now. Maybe it was having our love out in the open; maybe it was the commitment I’d made to her in my head and heart. “I was enjoying the view.”
“Were you?” She crawled toward me across the bed, which was about the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. My already-hard dick throbbed inside my jeans. And then she straddled me, making me groan with increasing desire.
She pulled on the edge of my shirt, lifting it over my stomach, and let her tongue coast along the exposed skin from my navel to my collarbone as she guided the shirt up. I helped her yank it over my head. When the shirt was gone, her hands were on me again, pinching my nipples, stroking over my skin, and driving me wild.
I reached between her legs, letting my fingers sink into her wet flesh. She gasped, and a shiver went through her as she rocked back and forth, helping me find just the right spot.
“I like that,” she breathed, letting me touch her as she arched her back and moaned. I wanted to pleasure her every way I could.
“Come for me,” I encouraged her.
“Not yet. Other things to do first,” she said, moving down my body and out of reach.
Her fingers deftly undid my jeans, her knuckles rubbing against my dick. I lifted my hips so she could pull my pants and boxers off. With my clothes gone, I intended to take charge of our lovemaking so I could show her how much she meant to me. But she took my dick in her mouth, and my will to move disappeared.
“Jesus,” I whispered, as her tongue slid over the tip, and she plunged down on me with her teeth gently trailing along the sides. Her mouth was hot and wet, and she knew exactly how to use it. “That’s…” I couldn’t find the words I wanted.
“That’s what?” she asked, a note of humor in her voice, before she came down on me again. She was enjoying making my brain mush and my body too satisfied to move. She changed the rhythm from a slide to a suck, bringing me right to the edge, but I didn’t want to come in her mouth. I wanted us joined in the most primal way.
I forced myself to move and reached for her, wanting to feel her body against mine. She came willingly, stretching out on me with my dick caught between us. Her lips found mine in a kiss unlike any I’d ever experienced. It went from gentle and nipping to all-consuming in seconds. Her hips rocked against me, cradling me and making me want. My hands traveled down her back to cup her butt, stroking her soft skin and feeling her curves.
“I think we’re ready,” she said, breaking the kiss as she shifted to drop her knees on either side of me, putting my dick at her entrance. I wanted to touch her, to taste her…and I would, later. For now, I pushed into her and watched a smile form on her face as I filled her.
“What you wanted?” I teased, thrusting more deeply in her.
“Yes. What I always want.” She was panting, matching her movements to mine and bringing us both pleasure.
I was on the verge of losing control, but I wanted us to come together. And she was close, so I reached between our bodies to touch her clit with one finger. A deep moan escaped her, and she wriggled, making the most of my touch. A second later, I felt her orgasm begin. Her insides pulsed and tightened around me. I followed her down, experiencing the most intense orgasm of my life.
When she collapsed on me, I wrapped my arms around her, not wanting her to move. I was still inside her, and I couldn’t imagine any better place to be.