After spilling all of that, I lean over and chastely kiss her then get up to go get my boots and put them on. When I turn back around, she is still sitting on the edge of the bed just looking at me like I have lost my mind. ‘Lana, you ok?’ She just smiles and shakes her head then gets up to finish getting ready. She makes her way to the bathroom with a little bag, in about fifteen minutes she is back out but with makeup on and her hair pulled back. This time I get a good look at what she is wearing and damn she looks good. She wearing leggings and a sweater that just hits her hips so I can still get a good look at her ass; she tops it off with boots with a low heel. It is a pretty common look these days, but damn she looks good in it. She steps past me to repack her bag, just as she steps past me I can’t help myself I reach out and smack her playfully on her ass. She squeals and laughs, but continues to pack her bag. I step into the bathroom to look around to make sure we didn’t leave anything, and I see her little lace panties on the floor. I pick them up and step out of the room spinning them around my fingers and ask her if she is missing anything. She laughs and comes up to me to take them from me, so I, of course, hold them out of her reach. I turn away from her to keep them away from her, juvenile I know but I can’t help myself. When I do turn, she jumps up onto my back laughing as she tries again to take her panties from my hand. I grab hold of her legs to keep her from sliding down to get off me. I toss her panties over to her open bag and then flip her onto the bed. We are both laughing as I land on top of her. I start to run kisses down her face and neck while I tickle her ribs. She is squealing and wiggling as we play. When we stop, I kiss her sweetly and tell her to please just relax and have some fun with me as we set up her new place. I promise to let her know if I need to go be with my family. I also throw in there that I would like for her to meet them. While she is a little older than Clara, I think they will get along great.
Chapter 19
Lana
By the time we finished getting ready and got checked out of the hotel, it was already eleven o’clock. We grabbed a bite to eat and then went on over to my house to meet my landlady, Mrs. Smith. We got there a little before one, and she was already there waiting for me. I walked through the house with her, and then we settled in the kitchen so that I could write out the rest of the deposit and rent check and officially sign the rental agreement. As we were doing paperwork, Ash looked around as if taking in the window and door locks.
It wasn’t too long before all the paperwork was done and we saw the Mrs. Smith out. As soon as she was gone, we started to unload my truck. I don’t have a whole lot in there just essentials that would be needed until the movers come. Once we are finished we head out to shop for furniture. Ash drives us to the furniture store.
As we park at Ashley HomeStore, I tell Ash to take a few minutes and call to check in with his family and work. I lean across the center console and kiss him on the cheek, tell him to take his time and just find me in the store when you are done. He only argues for a minute before I gently cover his lips with mine. I found the best way to get Ash to be compliant is to just kiss him so he can’t argue. When I lift away, he reaches his hand to the back of my neck and pulls me in for another kiss. I pull away and tell him to make his calls and meet me inside so we can pick out our bed, and slip out of the truck before he can say anything else.
As soon as I step inside the store, I am greeted by a salesman named Trent. I tell him I am just looking and will let him know if I need anything. As I start to walk away, Trent falls into step with me asking if I am looking for anything in particular. Before I can answer, I feel a hand grab hold of my hip and Ash says, we are looking for a new bed, since we broke ours this morning. When I look up at Ash, all I see is a shit-eating grin on his face, and all I can do is laugh. I smack him on the arm and introduce Trent to Ash. As they shake hands, Trent asks Ash about his Vanderbilt shirt and before I know it they are talking sports. I take the opportunity of sports distraction and walk away to start looking at living room sets.
I look at several combinations of sofa and love seats until I find a recliner sofa that is fluffy with large contrast stitching. The sofa itself is coffee colored, and the stitching is white. I love this sofa, and I can get the dual recliner loveseat that matches as well. I also found a nice area rug and matching coffee and end tables. My living room does have a ceiling fan with lights, so I have time to find any lamps that I want. I take pictures of the tags on each piece of furniture so that I have their item numbers. Just as I take the last picture, Ash walks up with Trent in tow. Ash wraps his arm around my waist and gives me a quick kiss across my lips. I tell him I have found everything I need for my living room and now we can shop for the bedroom. I take Ash by the hand and tell Trent that we will find him when we are done so I can give him all the item numbers for what I want.
I take Ash by the hand, and we walk through the store, stopping and several bedroom set-ups. Of course, Ash laughs and tells me that I need something with big post or slotted head and footboards so that he can easily tie me up. We laugh as we go through the beds. I tell Ash that I want a king size bed telling him I need that big of a bed for when I have overnight company we will both have enough room. He quickly picks me up tickling me and tells me that he will be the only overnight person that will be sleeping in my bed. He doesn’t set me back down until I agree that he will be my only overnight guest. However, he sets me down by gently tossing me onto a bed. Once I stand back up, we are still laughing, and we continue looking around. We sit and lay on any of them that are a possibility. I finally settle on a walnut colored king panel bed and matching set. After I find everything, I need we head up to customer service and have them page Trent so we can give him the item numbers. I pay for everything outright and schedule delivery for tomorrow morning.
It didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would for me to find furniture that I like. I am usually picky, but having Ash here with me was a big help. Now that the furniture shopping is done I need to go to a grocery store and pick up a few things. I ask Ash if he wants to go with me or if he needs to go see his family and get some work done. Ash ops to go to the store with me, but, I tell him that when we get back to the house, he has to leave and go see his dad and sister. He tries to argue, but I win out, by telling him that I will not be going anywhere once after he leaves.
At the grocery store, I pick out essentials that I know I will need no matter what I cook; then I start getting ingredients to build meals. I do not cook a whole lot, simply because it is just me, but I can cook if I want too. Since it seems like Ash will be spending time at my house, I want to go ahead and get things that will make meals for more than just one person. I ask him about things that he likes to eat and things that he doesn’t; we like a lot of the same foods which will, of course, make it easier to cook for him.
We finally make it back to the house, and I am worn out after the long drive last night, little sleep at the hotel, and a day of furniture shopping. Add the grocery store, which I hate anyway, and that makes for a pretty long day. Once all of the groceries are put away, I finally convince Ash to go see his family. He is still reluctant to leave but finally agrees. I hate to see him go because the house is going to be eerily quiet since there is nothing in it, but I have to be the bigger person and make sure he gets the time with his family. I would give anything to be able to see my family. We always tend to take family for granted until something bad happens, so I do not want to be a reason or distraction for Ash, especially when his family needs him.
I walk him to the door, well more like drag him to the door. I hug him tightly and tell him thanks for helping me today. Before I know what is happening, he has us turned around with my back pressed up against the door. He has one hand on my hip and one hand at the back of my neck. He presses a sweet soft kiss against my lips; then he grasps a handful of hair tilting my head back and deepens the kiss. We are both breathless when we pull apart. He lays his forehead against mine as we catch our breath. “I know you are banishi
ng me to my family and work right now, but when am I allowed to see you again?” This makes me laugh, ‘I’m not banishing you. You know as well as I do that you need to be with your family, and I am sure you have work to do. I refuse to be a distraction for you.’
“Ok, if you are not banishing me then I guess I will go without much of a fight. But, only if you agree to see me again tomorrow. Hopefully, we will get to bring my dad home tomorrow morning, and if we do, then I want you to have dinner with us. Nothing special just a quiet dinner with my dad and sister.”
The thought of meeting his family makes me nervous. I am extremely happy that his dad will be ok and I know it is a relief to Ash as well. His sister is into medical research, so we should be able to connect on that, so maybe it won’t be so bad. I tell him to call me tomorrow and let me know what to bring. He kisses the tip of my nose and tells me that I do not need to bring anything and that he will pick me up tomorrow around four thirty. Then he adds, “Don’t dress up, it’s just my dad and sister so dress for comfort.” He turns us back around, so I am not up against the door anymore and gives me one more chaste kiss and walks out the door with the reminder to lock my doors.
Chapter 20
Ash
I do not know why it is always so hard to walk away from this girl. We have not known each other long at all, but there is something inside that tells me that she is mine. I know it sounds crazy, but that is just how it feels. How my family reacts to her and how she reacts with my family will tell me more. Thankfully I will not have to wait long to get those reactions since we are having dinner with my sister and dad tomorrow. I am glad that it will be just us and not my extended work family and friends too because I do not want her to get overwhelmed by the first family event. I want her to be comfortable. At least that is how I hope it works. My team is coming in tonight, but they should out of the house doing recon while we are having dinner, so we will see how long they actually stay out of the house.
When I make it back to my dad’s house, everyone is there including all three doctors that have been watching out for dad and Clara. I am very grateful that these three men care enough about Clara and Nicole to take on the extra responsibility of keeping them safe. Although, they will be relieved of that task tomorrow since my team will be here to take over. However, the doctors will have to meet Brad since Nicole is his little sister and he will want to know who has helped keep her safe and what their intentions with his sister are.
I walk into the family room where everyone is. This is how I remember this house, always full of friends. My dad is sitting in his recliner with his feet up. Everyone is laughing at something Clara said. I love that with everything that is going on they are all still able to relax enough to enjoy each other. I do not want anyone, family or friend to feel afraid, especially in this house.
Without thinking about it, I walk up behind Clara. I reach down put my hand on her shoulder and kiss her on the top of her head. She looks up at me and grins. I have greeted her like that since she was little. When I would come home from football practice, or when I would leave at night to go out with my friends; I always kissed her on the top of her head in greeting and to say bye when I was leaving. It didn’t matter who was around or what we were doing. Even if she was asleep I would still kiss her; the one time I didn’t she was asleep, but when I did get home she was in my bed crying because I didn’t say bye. Losing our mom so early scarred us both in our own ways, but we knew we had each other.
I glance up at my dad to find him smiling at the two of us. Before either of us can say anything my phone rings. The screen shows that it’s Brad. I nod at my dad and answer the line as I walk to the basement. I am planning on us using the basement as our war room and base of operations. Some of us will need to be here to watch over my family while we continue to work our case. The phone call with Brad is quick, just a check in to let me know that the team is on the way and what hotel they are staying at tonight. I told him they could all just stay here tonight, but they do not want to disrupt the house that late at night. Brad confirms that Jackson and Gage are both coming back from their off time to help run other ongoing ops or cases while the team is here. The last op that Gage and Jackson worked they were both undercover long term and were frequently placed in scenarios where they had to act like they did not like each other when in reality, they are very close. The case end was rough for both of them, so they have had about six months off. It is a relief to have them back to work; it will be easier to focus on what is going on here knowing they are taking care of our other cases.
As I am moving furniture around in the basement, I hear Clara call for me. I meet her on the stairs as I am coming up. She tells me that they saw the car with Andrew in it again today. I asked her why she didn’t tell me earlier; she said that she didn’t want to cause dad any anxiety. She tells me that he did not get close but stayed with them as they ran some errands on the way home from the hospital today, but they did not see him follow them to the house. As we are talking, Hunter walks up and wraps his arm around Clara. He tells me that he, Bryan and Michael all have shifts at the hospital the next several days, but they will change shifts if need be to make sure Clara, Nicole, and my dad are not left alone. I reassure him that my team is coming in tonight and everyone is covered, however, if any of them see Andrew or anything out of the ordinary they need to let me know. He agrees, and they turn to head back to join the rest of the group. Hunter, Bryan, and Michael will be leaving soon since they all have early shifts at the hospital tomorrow. I head back down into the basement to finish moving furniture and making a note of things such as the number of outlets and their placement, so we will know how to arrange the computer equipment the guys are bringing.
Chapter 21
Lana
The rest of my evening is quiet. I am glad that I was able to find this rental house in Decatur, it puts me relatively close to campus while at the same time lets me away from downtown Atlanta. Thanks to my brother I am financially stable enough to afford this place and still not have to work full time while I am in school. I grab a book to read before I go to bed. As I settle in for the night on my air mattress, I hear my phone in the other room. I am horrible about leaving it in the other room, at least this time it wasn’t on silent. I go grab it and my charger so I will be set for the night.
My phone chimes again reminding me that I got a message. It makes me smile when I see that it is from Ash.
Ash: You miss me yet?
Me: Are you gone? Lol just joking, I might miss you a little.
Ash: You know your bed misses me
Me: Yea my bed does feel a little empty and cold, maybe I will go find someone to help warm it up
Ash: I have a particular set of skills that I will gladly use should I find someone else in that bed lol If you need someone to warm your bed all you have to do is say so and I will find a way to be there.
Me: Jeez, keep your skills in check there buddy lol Someone is cranky maybe you should be put in timeout and put to bed.
Ash: Are you a nurse or a teacher? We can play teacher-student if you want, I will let you put me in timeout
Me: Hot for teacher are we? I will have to remember that, it may come in handy one day. Now, Mr. Cranky Pants sir get some sleep. I will see you tomorrow.
Me: Sweet dreams xoxo
Ash: I like it when you call me sir, maybe I should be the teacher and put you in timeout. Mr. Cranky Pants out.
Ash: good night trésor, sweet dreams xoxo
His To Protect (Four Seasons Security Book 1) Page 9
