Running Strong

by Christy Reece

  “Kelly and Ingram, your flight for Los Angeles has been booked. Your undercover personas are in place. Check with Angela on the way out for details. This is a sensitive case, so tread carefully.” Noah’s eyes targeted Riley, who had a tendency to speak more bluntly than her more diplomatic partner, Kelly.

  Raphael held his breath. He hadn’t asked for any time off, but that was on his agenda once he and Noah were alone. He had some time to make up for.

  “Sanchez, we’ll talk about your assignment in just a minute. Stay safe, everyone.”

  As the rest of the Elite team left the conference room, with the usual good-natured ribbing and various insults, Raphael kept his focus on Noah.

  Once the room was empty, Raphael said, “Any news?”

  “Yes. It’s in the works. Late next week is the earliest we can set it up.”

  “That’ll work. It will give us some time together.”

  “Speaking of that, Thorne left some information you might be interested in.”

  “What’s that?”

  “He has a place in the Caribbean. A private island. Great place to spend time with loved ones, get reacquainted. He thought you might be interested in going there this week.”

  Raphael tried to speak, but his throat clogged, and he couldn’t get the words out. Never in his life had he known people like his LCR family. Every good thing that had happened to him was because of Noah McCall and Last Chance Rescue. Even meeting Giselle had been the result of his involvement with LCR.

  Clearing his throat, he said, “Have I ever thanked you for what you’ve done for me?”

  “Many times, but no thanks are necessary. You’re one of the finest men I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I’m proud of you.”

  If he didn’t leave, he’d probably start crying, which would definitely ruin his reputation as a tough-assed LCR operative. Still, he grabbed Noah in a hard hug, “You’re the best role model I could have ever asked for.”

  Returning the hug, Noah stepped back, smiling. “And now you have a son.”

  “Yeah. Scares me to death. The responsibility is mind-boggling.”

  “Can’t think of anyone who’s more up for the challenge. How are things with Giselle?”

  “Not sure yet. Today’s the first day she’s looked like the old Giselle. We haven’t talked about the future.”

  “Samara mentioned something about a movie night for the kids. She’s going to ask Giselle if Gio can come.”

  The McCall kids had taken to Gio like he was their long-lost little brother. “He would love that.”

  “Good. That’ll give you time to pack for your vacation and to talk.”

  With one more slap on Raphael’s back, Noah nudged him toward the door. “Go have dinner with your wife.”

  Chapter Forty-five

  She was as nervous as she’d ever been in her life. Raphael had called an hour ago and asked her out to dinner. Like an actual date.

  A few minutes before Raphael called, Samara had knocked on their door with an invitation for Gio to have a movie night and sleepover with his new friends, Evie and Micah. Gio had been napping at the time, but the minute he woke and she told him, he’d been ecstatic. He already adored Evie and Micah.

  An hour later, Evie and Micah had arrived to pick him up. Gio had barely stopped to blow his mama a kiss before he was out the door with them.

  Her little boy was the most amazing child. She was sure all mothers thought that about their children, but Giselle was sure she was right. Other than crying and clinging to her after she’d been rescued, Gio had been amazingly adaptive.

  Even though she hated the Fletchers with the fury of a thousand suns, she was grateful that they hadn’t damaged him emotionally. Mavis Tenpenny likely had a lot to do with his emotional stability. Giselle believed she had done everything she could to protect Gio from the Fletchers, and Giselle was grateful.

  Things were falling into place quickly. She and Raphael still hadn’t had time alone with each other to talk. With Gio staying overnight with Noah’s family, she knew that time had come. She was both excited and fearful. What if she was misreading the signs? What if he didn’t want them to be a family the same way she did?

  Knowing worrying would not help, Giselle forced herself to settle down and get ready for her date. She had come this far. She would do everything within her power to make sure she and Raphael had a second chance.

  After a long hot bath, in which she gave herself a facial and conditioned her hair, Giselle felt like a new person. The bruises on her face were still there, but were fading. After a little makeup magic, they were barely noticeable.

  She slid into one of the dresses she had received on her wedding day. This one, a short, black cocktail dress, was both flirty and sexy. She couldn’t wait for Raphael to see her in it. How long had it been since she’d wanted to look pretty? Her life, at least in the last year, had been about survival. Looking nice hadn’t mattered. Tonight was a different story. Raphael hadn’t given her words of love, but his actions spoke of deep caring. Had he forgiven her for leaving him? For not letting him know right away that he had a son? Could he accept the choices she had made? Could they move on? Together?

  A knock on the door pulled her from her worries. Whatever happened, he needed to understand one thing. She loved him and had never stopped. She prayed that would be enough.

  The instant she opened the door, Raphael felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders. Giselle not only looked beautiful, but her eyes were free of shadows. The hope that gleamed in their depths matched the hope in his heart. They’d had a rough beginning, but more than anything, he wanted the future he’d always dreamed for them.

  “You look beautiful.”

  “So do you.” She took in his gray suit, confusion in her eyes. “Where did you get dressed?”

  “My apartment. If you like, I’ll take you there after dinner.”

  “I’d love to see it. Is it far from here?”

  “Just a few miles.”

  He held out the vase filled with flowers he’d stopped to pick up on the way.

  Taking the flowers, she sniffed them appreciatively. “Thank you, they’re lovely.” She turned away and placed them on the table behind her. “They look good there, don’t you think?”

  He took her arm, swung her around to face him. “Can we start again?”

  He almost groaned out loud. He hadn’t planned to blurt that out at her. He had a whole night of seduction planned.

  She apparently didn’t mind as she beamed a smile at him. “I would like that very much.”

  Slowly pulling her close, he closed his arms around her. She pressed her face against his shoulder. He held her gently, securely, absorbing the fact that he could. That she would let him.

  “I never stopped loving you, Raphael.”

  Tilting her chin up with his fingers, he lowered his head and kissed her softly. She had been his heart from the moment he’d met her. That had never changed.

  “There’s not a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought of you. Even when I thought I hated you, I loved you.”

  “I’m sorry for—”

  “No, baby. We’re past that now.”

  “But after I—”

  He pressed his fingers to her lips to stop her. “You have nothing to apologize for. Every decision you made was done out of love. I know that now.”

  Love shone in her eyes. “You do understand.”

  “Hardheaded is my middle name. I’m so damn sorry that I was so clueless. All I could talk about was my plans for the future and completely disregarded the facts.”

  “Never apologize that you had dreams. When Gio grows up, he’ll be able to say his father is a hero in every respect.”

  “And his mother is one of the strongest, bravest people I know. I love you, Giselle. From the moment I met you, I loved you.”

  She wrapped her arms around him, hugged him hard. “I can’t believe we’re finally together.”

  “And we have a so
n.”

  “Yes.” She smiled softly. “We never talked about children.”

  “We never talked about a lot of things. I want to know what you want, Giselle.”

  “I want us to be a family.”

  “That’s a good start, but what else?”

  “We’ll figure it out along the way.” She stood on her toes, spoke against his mouth. “We don’t have to go out. We can stay here.”

  “No. I’m going to ply you with delicious food and drink, and then we’re going to my apartment. I want you on my bed, in my bed.”

  “But Gio—”

  “I checked with Samara. Told her my plans. She said Gio was in the middle of scarfing down his second slice of pizza and was very happy. She said if there’s any problem at all, she would call us right away. We can be back here in a matter of minutes.”

  Taking his hand, she said, “Then what are we waiting for?”

  They headed toward the door, but Raphael stopped on the way and looked down at her.

  “What are you looking at?”

  Instead of speaking, he cupped her face with his hands, tilted her head, and then kissed her again, softly, sweetly. This was a new beginning for them. He wanted every moment from here on out to be perfect.

  Stepping back, he looked down at her beautiful face and answered, “Perfection.”

  ***

  To say it was the best night of her life would be an understatement. She had never been romanced before—not really. Raphael had everything planned out. The restaurant was low-key elegance. They were seated at an intimate table for two, and though the room was filled with people, everyone else seemed to be as she and Raphael were—lost in their own little world.

  Soft music played around them, candles glowed, and the food was divine. The muted conversations from the other diners added a pleasant hum to the ambience.

  “It seems so strange to be sitting here in public like this.”

  Raphael squeezed her hand. “You’ve been in hiding for a long time.”

  “Even those few years when I was married to Danny, I felt like I was hiding. They were so protective of their privacy. Being seen in public was a rare event and was usually staged for whatever publicity they deemed appropriate.”

  “You haven’t talked much about Danny. Was he good to you?”

  She wouldn’t lie—those days were over. “No. But neither was he cruel. He simply didn’t care. My usefulness passed rather quickly. He ignored me most of the time.”

  “And Gio?”

  “When he remembered him, he was kind to him. I think Gio ended up looking at him as a fun uncle that he saw only occasionally.”

  She looked away for a moment. She didn’t want to spoil the evening, but she wanted to get this said and move on. “Marrying him was one of the biggest mistakes of my life, and I take the blame for being so clueless. I was lonely and naïve. Danny saw an opportunity.”

  She held up her hand to stop Raphael from protesting. She knew he would give her excuses for what she had done, but she refused to back away and not own her mistakes. And she needed to tell him everything.

  “A few weeks before Danny died, we had an argument. The worst we’d ever had. I told him I wanted out of the marriage, that it wasn’t really a marriage. He laughed and told me good luck with that. Fletchers don’t divorce.

  “I told him he didn’t want to be married to me. I accused him of not only knowing who I was when we married, but staging the whole thing to hurt his parents. He laughed and said so very casually that he had wondered if I would ever figure that out. He said he knew within a day of meeting me who I was. That his father’s people did favors for him, too.”

  She smiled, though she knew it was a bitter one. “I was just a tool to embarrass his parents. Nothing more.”

  There was no surprise in Raphael’s expression.

  “You already knew.”

  “I suspected. Seemed too damn coincidental. He was the one who called the tabloids and told them, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes. He said he knew they’d print the story without going to his parents for permission.”

  “And he didn’t give a damn about the danger he put you and your family in.” Raphael brought the hand he was holding to his mouth. “You said you woke up the next day and was surprised you were married. Do you think he drugged you?”

  “I don’t know. I never asked him. It actually never even occurred to me until later, after everything that happened with Daniel and Clarissa. I believed we’d both just had too much to drink. But now…” She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll never know.”

  “I wish he was alive so I could kick his ass.”

  The thought cheered her. “I would have paid money to see that.”

  “He’s gone, though. And so are the Fletchers. They can’t hurt you ever again.”

  She knew that. It was just going to take some time to regain confidence in herself.

  Taking a breath, she said, “There’s one more thing I need to tell you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The letter I wrote you. I—”

  “Sweetheart, we’re past that. I understand why you said those things.”

  She shook her head. “That’s not it. I wrote two letters.”

  “Two? Why?”

  “I knew I had to say things, tell you horrible lies to make sure you didn’t try to find me, that you would let me go. One of the handlers for the WITSEC program gave me some advice. She told me to write what I really wanted to say and get it out of my system. Then write another letter, one that would keep you away. So you would hate me enough to let me go.

  “And that’s what I did. Before I wrote the letter full of lies, I wrote another one. It helped to be able to tell you the truth, even if you never got to see the letter.”

  “Do you remember what it said?”

  Locking her eyes with his, she quoted the words she’d written and lived with for over seven years: “My darling Raphael, I’m dying inside. My soul is crushed, my heart is broken. There aren’t enough tears in the world to overcome this pain. There will never be another love for me but you. You are my everything. From the first moment I met you to the last time I saw you, you were my first, my last, my always. Forever.”

  She watched him swallow, his mouth tremble, and something hot flared in his eyes. Surprising her, he pulled several bills from his wallet, placed them beside his empty plate, and stood. “Let’s go.”

  She went to her feet beside him and followed him out the door. The promise in his eyes matched the one in her heart. She was his, he was hers. That was the way it had always been. That’s the way it would always be. Forever.

  Epilogue

  Tree Top, Nebraska

  Thea Ramirez placed the last book on the shelf and turned to survey her surroundings. Her store, Book Notes, had come a long way in a short amount of time. When she had learned she was moving here, she had been determined to make at least one of her dreams come true. She had lived in books most of her life. They had been her escape, her refuge. Owning her own bookstore was her dream. Creating the perfect place for others to come and escape from their own worries was her goal. She had achieved both.

  When she had first arrived, she and her family had attended several churches to get a feel for the community. She knew she had found the right church and the right place when the minister at the last church talked about how God leads you where he wants you to go. Those words had set in her mind, settled in her heart, and she knew a peace she hadn’t felt in decades. She was where she had been led.

  She had a good life here. Her children had settled in better than she had hoped. They had friends and relationships. They had a normal life, and that’s what she’d always wanted for them.

  And she, after so many years, had started dating. So far, it was just a casual thing. He owned the hardware store across the street. They met for coffee several days a week, and last week they’d had an impromptu picnic in the park. He was a widow
er and wanted to go slow. And with all her baggage, slow was the only speed she would even consider. Building a relationship one day at a time was a new thing for her, and she wanted to savor the freedom of being able to do so.

  Neither she nor her children acted as if they had anything to hide. After all the numerous places they had lived, she had learned that hiding in plain sight was the best way to not attract attention. If you didn’t act like you had secrets, then no one tried to find them out and exploit them.

  Life wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely on the upswing. The phone call she’d received last week increased that optimism to its highest level. She was accustomed to waiting, but had to admit the last few days had been excruciating.

  The front door opened on a slight squeak, and she turned. The young couple standing in the doorway, with the small boy in front of them, was the most beautiful sight she could imagine. A dream she’d had for years had finally come true.

  Holding out her arms, she held her breath as they all ran toward her. Embracing her precious daughter, grandson, and the man she’d always dreamed Giselle would find again, Sarah knew her life could now be complete.

  Standing at the doorway, Noah and Samara watched the family reunion. This was the best outcome and what LCR strived to do every day. Bring loved ones home.

  Her eyes gleaming with happy tears, Samara beamed up at him. “You do good work, Noah McCall.”

  Gazing down at the love of his life, he said softly, “We do good work, Samara McCall. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Thank you so much for reading Running Strong, An LCR Elite Novel. I sincerely hope you enjoyed Raphael and Giselle’s love story. If you would be so kind as to leave a review to help other readers find this book, I would sincerely appreciate it.