by KaLyn Cooper
From the back of her throat all the way to her heart was pulled so tightly she couldn’t speak. She nodded. Pressing the button for the next message, this one from her older brother, she held the phone so he could hear, too.
“Hey, Gracie, they’ve got Dad in the cardiac care unit.” She heard Jeremiah swallow. “The EMTs had to jumpstart his heart…twice…on the way to the hospital.” His voice had broken several times trying to get the words out. “Look, I don’t even know how to get ahold of you except with this number. But guess I’ll just keep leaving messages. Bye.”
Grace wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or scream. Her family never listened. She’d taped a list of emergency phone numbers on the inside cover of her mom’s address book. She’d left the same list with her dad and had watched him slide it into the top left drawer of his desk. She was still a Navy Lieutenant. They could call the local recruiter to track her down. She thought maybe even the Red Cross could still be used in emergency messages to active duty military.
But her family had gotten it in their heads that after Kevin had been killed, the Navy miraculously let her out of her contract and now she was in international banking. It was a misconception that she hadn’t corrected, and that was her fault.
She had failed her family. She had failed her father. And he might already be gone.
“Okay, sweetheart, that was good news. He made it to the hospital where I’m sure he’s in good hands.” He nodded toward the phone. “You have several more to go. You can do this. I’m right here with you.”
She dragged in a reinforcing breath and exhaled slowly trying to get her emotions under control before she punched the button for the next voice mail. Rebecca this time. She could barely understand what her middle sister was saying between the sobs and gasps. In the end, it was little more than an emotional rehash of her brother’s information. Part of her wanted to scoff at her sister’s usual drama. The other half wanted to cry along with her.
Griffin placed a comforting kiss on her temple. “Okay. Let’s move on to the next one.”
“Gracie, this is your mom. I just wanted to let you know that they’re running some tests on your dad and he’s going to be here in the hospital for several days. But I don’t want you to worry. Everything is in God’s hands. We held a special prayer vigil for your dad last night at the church. It was very beautiful. We sang several of his favorite songs and there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Maybe when you get this message, you can give me a call.” That was recorded twenty-one days ago.
“Keep going. It looks like there several more.” Griffin hugged her to his chest. His steady heartbeat was reassuring.
“You can do this,” Katlin encouraged from the front seat. “We need to know the situation so we can deal with it. You know we’ve all got your back.”
Each message was an update on her father. He’d definitely had a heart attack and open-heart surgery was required. With each consecutive message Grace had started to feel better.
“The next one is from yesterday,” Griffin noted.
She still couldn’t talk so she simply nodded.
“Gracie, this is your mom. Your dad is out of surgery and the doctors say he did very well. Of course, he’s going to be in the hospital for several days.” There was a long pause before she continued, “Gracie, I’m just as worried about you. I’m hoping you’re getting these messages. But if you’re overseas, of course you’re not getting your messages. Do they even have cell phones over there? Oh, blessed be, it doesn’t really matter. You will get all these when you get back home and I’m sure you’ll call me. I love you.”
Grace looked at her watch. It was after midnight in Iowa. Although she really wanted to call her mother, it was far too late. Her family had a hard time staying up to watch the ten o’clock news. It would just have to wait till morning.
“Your father is doing fine,” Katlin announced from the front seat. “Lei Lu tapped into the hospital’s records and Nita deciphered the medical speak. He had four bypasses, and if you really want to know what that entailed, Nita will explain it all to you when we get to the condo. She checked out his doctors and his surgeon was one of the best in the area.”
Leave it to her friends to know what she needed to hear. Grace sent up a small prayer to God thanking him for saving her father, holding her family together in the crisis, and bringing her together with four of the most wonderful women in the world. And for Griffin.
“I’ve already put you in for emergency leave,” Katlin continued. “Unfortunately, the new executive jet service that Guardian joined doesn’t fly to Des Moines, Iowa. The good news, I was able to get you there via three legs, leaving Dulles at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. You’ll finally get in there around six tomorrow night. I’m sorry, that was the best I could do.”
Grace flew from Griffin’s lap and awkwardly hugged Katlin by throwing an arm across her chest. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“You’ve taken care of me more times than I can count,” she whispered in Grace’s ear.
When Grace returned to the back seat, she planned on strapping back in but Griffin grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back onto his lap.
“I hope you made those reservations for two,” Griffin asked Katlin.
“No, I didn’t.” Katlin stared at Grace. She wasn’t sure she wanted Griffin there. Grace had to be in Iowa for her family, but Griffin’s presence would just complicate things far too much. First of all, her family would immediately jump to the conclusion that she and Griffin were one step away from the altar. Second, she wasn’t sure what she was going to find when she got home.
Rebecca would be a mess, but that was nothing new. Her mother’s voice on the messages seemed to be strong, but when Grace’s grandfather had passed away, her mother had totally lost it for weeks. She slumped into a depression that had taken months for her to recover. Her brother, who was usually a rock, had sounded shaky in some of his voice mails so there was no telling how solid he was by now.
No. She didn’t want Griffin there.
The ever so slight shake of her head toward Katlin conveyed the message.
“Griffin, you have some hand-to-hand combat training you need to complete at the Guardian D.C. Center.” Katlin’s gaze caught Grace’s. “Perhaps when you’ve finished your assignment, things may have changed.”
Grace gave her thankful smile.
“Griffin, since Alex is in Chicago, why don’t you take the penthouse apartment,” Katlin suggested. “And would you mind taking Grace to the airport tomorrow morning? You know what Grace, why don’t you just stay over at Guardian tonight. It will take a few days for the word to get to this side of the ocean that Khalid Junyard is dead so there may be some people out there still hunting you. I’d feel better if you stayed with Griffin.”
“We still need to stop at the condo so I can pick up some civilian clothes.” Grace looked at Griffin. “Does that work for you?”
“You, in my bed tonight really works for me.” Griffin drew her head to his and placed a promising kiss on her lips.
Twenty minutes later, Griffin followed her into her bedroom in the D.C. condo. He stood in the door and his gaze swept the room. “Not what I expected. I thought you liked antiques?”
Grace grabbed a bag from the back of her closet. “I love antiques, but Kevin hated them.” She placed the bag on the bed and opened it. She ran her gaze over the furniture that she hated more every time she saw it. “Replacing this furniture is at the very top of my list of things to do as soon as I get back from Iowa.”
Griffin walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders then bent down slightly to look at her in the face. “Are you sure you want to come stay with me tonight?”
He could be so sweet and considerate. “I’m positive I want to spend the night with you. Or more accurately, what’s left of the night.” She went up on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss.
It didn’t take her long pack a bag for her trip home. She’d only be gone
a week.
Katlin was sitting at the dining table typing away on her laptop. Grace went over and threw her around arms around her best friend. “Thank you for everything.”
“You bet. Anything for you.”
“Don’t stay up too late,” Grace warned as she went back over and picked up her bag and joined Griffin.
“I had a chance to sleep on the plane, so I’m good for another few hours.” Katlin sat back in the chair and stretched. “I just want to finish these After Action Reports and officially file leave requests for everybody.”
“Everybody?” Grace wondered who else was going home.
“Yeah, everybody.” Katlin folded her hands in front of her. “Nita has decided there is an emergency physicians medical conference in Puerto Rico that she needs to attend, Lei Lu has decided to visit her parents in Salt Lake City before they decide to come see her here in D.C., Tori is going to hang around here but she doesn’t want to get called in so she is taking a week leave, and I’ll be meeting Alex for supper tomorrow night in Chicago.”
“We all needed this break,” Grace noted as she headed through the door that Griffin held open.
“Stay in touch,” Katlin called to her back. “Let me know how your dad’s doing.”
“Will do,” Grace said as the door shut behind her.
Half an hour later, Griffin opened the door to the penthouse apartment. Grace had never been there before so she took in the Italian tile floors in the foyer before she stepped into the living room with its leather, glass and chrome furniture. “Definitely not my style, but it looks like Alex.”
Griffin chuckled. “The one in Miami looks exactly the same, and I mean exactly.” Making himself at home, he carried their bags to the bedroom.
Grace wandered through the very modern kitchen to a dining room that featured a thick glass table balanced on what looked to be short Greek pillars. She looked at the fresh arrangement of yellow roses, then remembered a large spray of the same flowers on the table just inside the door. She wondered if they’d been set there for Katlin since they were her favorites, expecting her to be spending the night there rather than Grace and Griffin. She bent over to literally smell the roses.
Griffin stuck his head out the bedroom door. “Okay, there is one difference in this apartment from the one in Miami. Come see.”
Was this his way of getting her into the bedroom? As she entered the beautiful room, the gorgeous Tiger oak furniture made her gasp. “This has Katlin written all over it. Fact is, I think this is the same color as she has in her bedroom in D.C. Maybe even the same furniture. She says green is supposed to be one of the most relaxing colors. I just love the way it makes the furniture look.”
“Like I said, exactly like the apartment in Miami with one exception.” He pointed to a picture between the doorways to the bathroom and the large walk-in closet. “This is definitely the D.C. skyline and the penthouse at my center has the Miami skyline.”
“Smart, I guess that’s so when Alex wakes up he knows which city he’s in.” Grace yawned and looked longingly at the big king-sized bed.
Griffin came up behind her and swept her hair off her shoulder as he kissed his way from her ear down her neck. “You’re exhausted. Let’s get you into bed.”
Suddenly, she was so drained she could barely stand. Her brain just wanted to shut off and her body wanted to be weightless.
Almost clinically he removed her clothes, kissing various spots from the inside of her elbow to her ribs, totally ignoring her breasts an inch above. When she was naked he picked her up and slid her under the covers. Quickly stripping, he crawled in next to her, pulling her back to his chest.
“Good night, sweetheart.” Griffin kissed her temple then draped his arm over her waist.
Grace awoke feeling safe for the first time in what could’ve been years. The body beside her was tall and very strong as he cuddled her to him. Inhaling deeply, she took in spice and male knowing instantly it was Griffin without even opening her eyes. She smiled as her heart felt that little twinge. He’d taken care of her last night. Although they were naked, they hadn’t had sex. He’d been more concerned about her physical and emotional condition than satisfying his own desires. She admired him for that little gift.
This morning, though, now that Grace was rested, she was interested in repaying the favor. She’d take care of him, certain he wouldn’t let her go unsatisfied. She rolled over to face him and he opened his eyes.
“Good morning, sweetheart.” His voice was raspy and it ignited the heat within her.
She reached between them, finding what she had expected and hoped. He was fully aroused. She stroked him from base to tip.
“You’re playing with fire there,” he warned as he reached over and cupped her breast. He rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and pinched it lightly.
“I think that just turned up the heat.” She leaned forward the last inch to kiss him.
“Guess I’d better check the temperature then.” His hand found her center and he deftly opened her folds with his fingers. “Christ, I love how wet you are for me.”
She gripped his cock even harder as she pulled her hand up its length and rubbed the tip with her thumb.
The alarm clock next to the bed went off and Griffin reached over and hit the snooze button. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but this is gonna have to be fast.” He rolled over and positioned himself between her legs, spreading them even wider fully exposing her to him.
He lowered his head and inhaled deeply. “Christ, I want to taste you, but damn it we don’t have time.”
She looked at his cock, long and fully engorged. This wasn’t the time she wanted to ask how many women he’d been with since she’d left, but it was important to her. Especially since he’d enjoyed sex without a condom so much with her, he may have done it with another woman.
“You are all I could think about for the past six weeks. You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve missed you, Grace. I couldn’t even touch another woman if I’d wanted to, and trust me, sweetheart, I didn’t want to,” he confessed as though he’d read her mind.
She had to be sure, though. “Are you telling me the southern bad boy has been celibate since I left?”
“I’m telling you I don’t want any other woman but you, so yes. I haven’t even kissed another woman since you left me in Quantico.”
Satisfied, she wrapped her fingers around his cock and guided it into her. Griffin closed his eyes as though absorbing the sensations before he slowly withdrew and slid back in. He reached down and thumbed her clit until she lifted her hips to meet his thrusts.
She was shocked when he lifted her up under her knees, and pumped back in. It completely changed the angle and her pleasure. He groaned. “This is so good, and I’m so close. How about you, sweetheart?”
Talking during sex was new to her, but so were most things she’d done with Griffin. “I’m close,” she panted. “But not quite there.”
“Touch yourself. Help me out. I don’t want to put you down because I think we both like this position.”
Griffin wanted her to what? She had never in her life touched herself in front of another person. But she wanted to come with him and if that meant this would ease his pain, she’d suffer the embarrassment. She reached between her legs and quickly brought herself to the peak.
“That’s perfect, sweetheart. I can feel you’re ready.” He grinned and stared as she moved her fingers over and around her clitoris. “Let yourself go. I want to watch you and feel you soak my dick with your release. I’ll be right behind you and catch you in the dark.”
She matched his thrusts with pulls on her clit then gave in to ecstasy. She forced her eyes open just before she fell over that magical edge to see the most beautiful smile on his face.
Chapter 16
Grace knew all too well that getting to Ames, Iowa was never easy. She had to fly into Des Moines and have someone pick her up or rent a car at the airport. She went for the second option.
She really didn’t want to call home and let anybody know she was coming because she wasn’t sure where she was going to stay. Her personal preference would be a hotel, but she knew her mother would be upset if she didn’t stay with family.
On the other hand, within weeks after moving out, her room had been commandeered by her middle sister. When Rebecca got married shortly after high school graduation, her mother had turned the bedroom into the official craft room. Several nights a week, ladies from the church would congregate there to create everything from quilts to fancy scrapbooks. They’d installed open shelves filled with bins, brought in folding tables of several sizes and enough folding chairs to seat two dozen. There wasn’t even enough room left for a blowup mattress.
When she and Kevin visited, they always stayed with his parents. His mother hadn’t touched his bedroom since she decorated it for him in high school. Sleeping in the small full-size bed at the age of twenty-four as a married couple, surrounded by soccer trophies, King crowns, and posters of soccer heroes, really put it damper on sex. Although that didn’t really matter, Kevin never liked to have sex in his parents’ home. Grace briefly wondered if his bedroom still looked the same. She wouldn’t put it past his mother to have simply shut the door, sealing his life inside, forever enshrined.
She considered asking her brother if she could stay at his house. At least his two boys were decent human beings. Staying with Rebecca was completely out of the question although she did have a guestroom. Her two little girls brought new meaning to the word diva. They would go from happy and playful, and a little bit devious, to screaming hellions at the word no.
Grace’s youngest sister, Margaret, didn’t have a home. She was currently in training to be a missionary in Africa, or maybe it was South America. Since she hadn’t received any texts or voice mails from her, Grace wondered if she had made it home.
As Grace pulled off to the side of the familiar driveway, she turned off the car and stared at the house where she’d grown up. It was the parsonage, owned by the church where her father had been the resident preacher since she was eleven. It had been a wonderful loving home, but at that moment it didn’t feel like her home.
