by Brynne Asher
I narrow my eyes, wondering where this is going. “That’s another way to look at it.”
Her hand comes up, her thumb lightly tracing the scar down my hairline and she whispers, “Grady?”
I run my hands up her back and pull her tight to me, her tits pressed into my neck. My voice is rough when I look up into her eyes to try and figure out what she’s thinking. “Yeah?”
She pauses a long moment and both her hands frame my face, her voice filled with nothing but compassion. “You killed your dad?”
I search her face for something, but all I see is my beautiful Maya. “I did.”
“To save your sister?”
“To save us all.”
“Grady,” she whispers again. “Just when I thought it wasn’t possible to fall deeper, here I am. You’ve sunk me.”
“Baby,” I breathe, and when I do, she dips to kiss me.
Her lips move light over mine, but after the last few moments, wondering what she thinks, how she sees me? I need her.
I put my hands to her waist and pull her to me. She climbs on my lap, putting her knees beside my hips to straddle me, and I get what I have wanted all day.
Her.
I pull the big clip out of her hair and toss it to the floor. I cup her head and take over her kiss, wanting nothing more than to be as close as possible. I reach between us and pull the tie on her robe.
When I dip my hand inside, I become instantly hard. I tear my mouth from hers long enough to push the robe down her shoulders.
She’s completely bare.
Just when I allow my eyes to drag over her body, she interrupts me by reaching for my dick. When she wraps her small hand around me through my boxers, I press into her hold.
She dips her hand inside and I feel her, skin-to-skin.
“I want you, Grady.”
She does. I see it in her eyes. Just when I think there’s nothing more beautiful she can do, she tops it.
With her needy gaze and her hand wrapped around my cock, I can’t wait another second.
“Hold on to me.” I wrap an arm around her waist and stand just enough to push my boxers down.
When I sit back down, she immediately comes up on her knees and sinks down on my cock.
I groan.
Her head falls back with a whimper and she closes her eyes, her fingers digging into my shoulders.
I pull her face to mine and kiss her. “I want nothing but you, baby. For the rest of my life, to have you like this, to be wrapped up in you.”
She opens her eyes, bringing her hands to my face, she lifts right before impaling herself again.
“Baby?” I call for her but reach for her clit while trying to control my breathing.
She doesn’t answer, so I start to play with her and she arches to get more as she fucks herself on me. When her head falls back and her eyes close, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.
Damn, she’s making this difficult.
“Maya.” I try again. “Baby, you want me to get a condom?”
When she straightens her head, she looks like it’s the most painful thing in the world to pry her eyes open and look at me.
But she doesn’t stop moving.
And I don’t stop circling her clit.
“Maya?”
“I don’t know.” If her eyes tell the truth, she’s conflicted. “Just … don’t stop.”
I give her clit more pressure and I get a little moan as a gift in return. But she also starts to move faster, which does little for my self-control.
“Baby, you keep fucking yourself like this, I’m not gonna be able to stop. I’m okay with it, so you’re gonna have to be the one to say the word.”
Damn if she doesn’t move faster, and I have to take a deep breath. It might help if I could shut my eyes, but there’s no fucking way I can look away from her, not when she’s riding me for the first time and so close to falling apart.
I didn’t lie when I said I was good with going bare. She’s wearing my ring and I don’t plan on her ever taking it off. We make a baby now, that’s just more goodness for us.
Just when I’m thinking about our future, she answers my question. “Please. Oh, please don’t stop now.”
She moves faster, and I rub harder. That does it. She releases a guttural moan and her body tenses.
I pull her down on my dick and hold her there. Her pussy milking my cock is the sweetest feeling I’ve ever had—I want every second of it. And if she keeps moving, I’ll come faster than we can ask if it’s pink or blue.
When she drags her eyes open to look into mine, she starts to move again. Fuck me, I guess I’ll let her, but as much as I’ve enjoyed this, I need more.
I wrap my hands around each globe of her ass and stand. Turning, I put her back to the bed. Picking up her feet to hold her legs high and wide, I really start to fuck her. When I look down, her eyes are on me, her tits moving, and she’s grasping the covers below her.
I feel it in my balls. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to hold on between her tight pussy and looking down as I fuck her. I drop her feet and bend, putting a hand to the bed beside her head. When I lean to kiss her, I pull out and fist my cock as I come all over her stomach, shooting up to her tits.
At this point, we’re a fucking mess, so I give her my weight. We lay here like this until we breathe evenly and I turn to kiss the side of her head. “Pulling out as a form of birth control sucks.”
She starts to laugh and turns to me. “That was my fault.”
I raise my brows and smirk. “Oh, I know that was your fault.”
She puts her hands to my face and tries to keep from smiling. “I’m sorry.”
I shake my head and kiss her again. “I need to clean us up. Hang on, I’ll be right back.”
By the time we’re cleaned up and settled in bed with the lights out, I sigh. “I forgot to check your eyes.”
“Geeze-Louise, it happened hours ago, I’m fine.”
I pull her to me, close my eyes, and decide to give in.
After a few moments of quiet, she whispers, “Grady?”
“Hmm?”
She presses into me tight and announces, “I hate your dad.”
My eyes fly open and stare into the dark.
“I mean, obviously, you hate him, too. But I hate what he did to you and your sisters. I hate that you had to live so many years in that nightmare, and I hardly know any of the details. I hate you had to do what you did to save your sister, but at the same time, I’m grateful you’re the person you are and had the will to do it.”
I roll so I’m facing her and breathe in her soft hair, but say nothing.
“You saved me today, too.”
I look at her through the dark.
She brushes my lips with the tips of her fingers. “Thank you.”
I put my hand to her face, but quickly move it into her hair so as not to hurt her raw skin, before I put my mouth on hers.
When I finally pull away, I kiss her forehead and pull her to me. Not sure I can take more of her words, I whisper, “It’s been a long day. Go to sleep.”
She nods and I feel it against my skin.
A few moments later, just when I think she’s about to drop off, she adds, “And I was serious before. I’ve fallen so deep, there’s no way to find my way back.”
I rub her back. “Baby, the path I’ve walked to get to you? I’m never going back.”
I feel her exhale against me and her body finally releases some of its tension.
>
Then, for the first time in more than a year, when I close my eyes, my body fully relaxes. And lying next to Maya, who’s wearing nothing but my ring, who just admitted she’s in so deep she doesn’t want to find her way out, and who could be pregnant with my baby, I sleep.
Really, sleep.
Chapter 24 – Or Else
Grady –
I stand at the opening of Crew’s barn and watch as Jarvis lays another man, Stafford, out flat. Stafford, who is lying face down, just laid the rest of them out, so he’s no slouch. After being away for so long, seeing their improvements is impressive, but Jarvis stands out.
I fought for him to be here, so it feels good to be right.
This is the first time I’ve been back since I was captured. I had an early morning appointment I’ve been anxious about and decided to stop in here before getting back to Maya. I left her with my sisters at Crew’s house so she’d be close to him while I was gone. But I need to get back to her. The girls are heading into the city for the day, thank fuck.
“I think he’s ready.” I look over at Crew and he juts his chin toward Jarvis. “He’s tested out of three languages, but he was already fluent in French and Spanish. He can keep working on the Middle Eastern languages as he goes, but he has a good enough start, he should be able to travel with no problem.”
“Has he learned to control himself?” I ask, as I watch Jarvis unnecessarily pressing the guy who’s clearly pinned, into the mat with his knee.
I hear Crew huff one laugh. “Enough that he won’t get himself killed. The rest of his intensity should only serve him well—I think it’s what makes him who he is. He’ll be in high demand soon enough.”
I turn to Crew and cross my arms. “I’ll be back once all this shit gets settled with Maya. She’s agreed to take a couple days off work, but eventually she’ll need to get back to the Ranch, and I’ll have to be there with her. After that—count me in.”
“I wouldn’t speak too soon if I were you.” I look out the door and it’s Asa.
As he approaches, his eyes are on me. “I just got off the phone with my source at the FBI. You’re gonna be getting a phone call, and before you chew my ass for giving them your information, know that I had to convince them to contact you instead of Maya. They want to talk to both of you, but they have a laundry list for her.”
As he speaks, my phone vibrates. I step outside to take the call that’s listed as unknown on my screen. “Cain.”
“Mr. Cain, this is Special Agent Jason Gordon from the FBI Organized Crime Task Force in Buffalo. I need to speak to you about an incident that happened yesterday at the regional airport there. We have surveillance video of a gunshot and standoff before you boarded your plane.”
I pause even though I’m not worried. If they’ve got video, they know we did nothing wrong. But he doesn’t wait for me to respond.
“I also need to interview Ms. Maya Augustine about yesterday, regarding her connection to Weston MacLachlan.”
“What about her connection to Weston MacLachlan?”
“We’ll discuss that in person. I’m en route as we speak, and should be in your area soon. I’d appreciate your cooperation as this is urgent and time-sensitive. Where can we meet?”
I have never dealt with the FBI, we’ve always let Asa take on that responsibility as our main contact. Time sensitive and urgent can’t be good when it comes to them.
“There’s a vineyard close to where I’m located. Whitetail. Give me your ETA, we’ll meet you there. I’ll make sure we have a private place to talk.”
We work out the details, and I’ve got some time before they get here to explain to Maya we’ll be having a conversation with the FBI about her ex.
When I turn back to Asa, he says, “Sorry that happened so fast, but it seemed urgent when my guy called to get your information. You have nothing to be worried about, they only want information.”
“I’m not worried.” I slide my phone into my pocket. “We’re not the ones who ambushed others on the tarmac, and they have the surveillance video. I’m ready for this to be over.”
“My guy didn’t give me much, but I got the feeling something’s happened to move their case along. Up until now, they’ve been in a holding pattern,” Asa adds.
“If it means they’re close, I’ll take it.” I turn to Crew. “I told them we could meet at the tasting room—they don’t need to be here. Can you call Addy and set that up?”
“Sure,” he pulls his phone out to make the call.
“You back, Cain?” I look over and Asa’s got a shit-eating grin on his face.
I shake my head, and as I turn to make my way back to the house where my sisters are surely torturing the woman who’s wearing my ring, I answer, “Yep, but only because I missed fucking with you, old man.”
As I walk away, I faintly hear Asa say to Crew, “It sure hasn’t been the same without him.”
*****
Maya –
“Byron Murray is dead.”
I feel my body go tense and Grady instantly squeezes my hand, but otherwise he doesn’t show any signs of alarm.
“Come again?” Grady calmly asks for clarification from where he’s sitting beside me.
“But,” I start and try to find my breath, my voice edging on hysterical. “You just said you have video surveillance at the airport. He might’ve been knocked silly, but I’m almost certain he wasn’t dead.”
“Ma’am—”
“No, I’m positive—he was not dead,” I interrupt. “He was still sort of fidgeting around on the ground when we got on the plane, kind of like a turtle stuck on his back.”
“We—”
“Tell him,” I turn to Grady, “that he would’ve shot you had you not knocked the gun from his hand. Tell him.”
“Baby,” Grady lowers his voice and squeezes my hip where he’s got his arm around me. “Let him talk.”
We’re sitting in the basement inglenook at Whitetail for privacy. Grady and I are on the big sofa and the agent is sitting across from us in one of Addy’s big leather chairs.
Grady came to get me this morning and told me the FBI wanted to question us about what happened yesterday. We just sat down and he started by informing us Byron is dead—even though he was very much alive when we escaped yesterday.
“We know he was alive when you left the airport. We have solid information he was killed later in the day, although we haven’t located his body yet. We’re working on leads,” Special Agent Gordon explains.
“Oh.” I breathe a sigh of relief. Honestly. He could’ve shared that bit of information first, but who am I to tell the FBI how to conduct interrogations? Even though he assured us this is nothing more than a fact-finding trip, talking to the FBI is worrisome, nonetheless.
“Ms. Augustine, can you tell me what you know about MacLachlan Industries?” He flips a piece of paper on his notepad to take notes.
“They’re importers. More like shipping, I guess. They ship a lot of produce from Central America,” I share.
“Do you know of anything else, anything questionable? I know you were with Weston a long time, you’re bound to be close to his family, too. Ever hear anything?”
“No, everything always seemed on the up-and-up, but I didn’t ask or even think to be on the lookout back then,” I answer.
“How long have you been estranged from Weston MacLachlan?” Gordon asks.
I can’t help but grimace. “I broke off our engagement well over a year ago. But he’s an insistent man and wouldn’t take no for an answer. When the pressure got to be too much, I left. No one knew where I was until recently.”
“Please, call me Maya.” I’ve been called Ms. Augustine my entire life, even as a young girl. I hate it.
“Maya,” he goes on. “Before yesterday, have you ever felt in danger? From Weston MacLachlan or anyone around him?”
I look over and Grady gives me a nod, so turning back to Gordon, I reluctantly lay it all out. “Yes, that’s why I left. Weston never threatened me directly, but Byron, the one you said is dead? He did.”
“How did he threaten you?” He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“I overheard something. It was at my parents’ house before I left, during one of my mother’s attempts to get me back together with Weston. After that, I was approached by Byron and was told if I didn’t get on board, I’d be in trouble. That was when I figured out they were involved in some type of organized crime.”
“What did you overhear that would cause them to give you such an ultimatum?”
My eyes go big and I bite my lip.
“Maya.” Gordon gives me a small frown. “Your ex-fiancé is involved in nefarious activities and incidents. Please don’t feel the need to protect him.”
“Oh, no.” I shake my head quickly. “I have no desire to protect him. It’s just, I overheard him talking to his dad and he said he killed someone. They realized I was there, tried to cover it up, but in the end I didn’t believe them. That’s when Byron came to give me my options. And my options weren’t good. They told me to either get back together with Weston, or else. I figured I knew what that meant and decided to get the hell out of there.”
I feel Grady give me another squeeze, and this time I relax into his side.
I watch the agent lean back in his seat with an assessing look—and I don’t like it one bit.
I must not have imagined it, because Grady demands, “What aren’t you telling us?”
“You were right to feel threatened. We have inside intelligence that says you’re considered a liability by the MacLachlan family, and therefore, a target.”
