Burning For Claire (The O'Connell Family Book 2)

by Steele, C. M.

  When I found him he was talking to Rick. “Ethan, Abby thinks Chloe was your date. She left.”

  “What!? Shit. When did she leave?” Ethan’s heart looked like it was going to crumble right there.

  “Travis said about an hour ago. She’s gone back to campus.”

  Ethan rushed out of the reception in a hurry, both of us trying not to laugh at our brother.

  “Does he look nuttier than I was that day I met Sam?” Rick chuckled.

  I put a finger on my chin and pretended to consider who was nuttier. “I don’t know. That’s a tough one. You both need your heads checked.”

  “Ha. Look who’s talking. Travis waited only a few days before making his move,” Rick teased.

  “So...your point being?”

  He shrugged. “Only that your husband is just as nutty as we are.”

  “And I love him for it,” I said proudly.

  Rick wrapped his arms around me for a big hug. “I’m going to miss you, my little sister.”

  “I’m going to miss you too.”

  “You two act like you won’t see each other that often,” Travis said as he walked up.

  “Just because you didn’t mind being away from your family,” Rick retorted.

  “Hey, everyone needs a break from their family sometimes, but I had to be gone. I did miss them.”

  “Are you going to need a break from me?” I asked, which sent Rick on a mission to find his wife and avoid a possible tiff between Travis and me.

  “Never, baby. I meant our nosy family, who I know will be starting to ask when we’re going to have a baby or interrupt us during a nice romantic dinner.”

  “Did they do that to you before? Interrupt a romantic dinner?” I jealously asked.

  “Not me, baby, but Eli can tell you many times that he’s been interrupted trying to have a date night with Mel.”

  “Oh…” I said sheepishly.

  “You’ve got nothing to be jealous about. My family has never met anyone I dated in the past. That’s how they knew you were special. I told Brax about you when I called about the fraud.”

  He bent down and kissed me hard. “Can we leave?”

  “Already? Anxious much?” Rick asked with a smirk as he walked up with Sam.

  “You’re just mad because you have to stay here still. We have a flight to catch,” Travis teased as he started to drag me away.

  “Prick.” He replied with a not so friendly finger.

  Sam shouted, “Have fun!”

  “Oh we will,” Travis said suggestively. The he turned to me and growled, “Wife, let’s go!”

  Chapter 21—Travis

  We returned from our trip to Puerto Rico a week ago. It was a beautiful, romantic and very, very naughty. My wife let the sultry heat turn her into a lust-crazed siren. We had sex on every available surface we could find. As I got ready for work, she took a pregnancy test. I was jumping up and down as headed to work. I was going to be a father.

  I wanted to stay home with her and celebrate, but it was time for me to report back to the office. I strutted into the office in my jeans, boots and my buttoned up dress shirt and suit jacket. My pretty little wife nearly attacked me when she’d seen me in my Texas suit.

  Martinez was the first to welcome me back. “Williams, welcome back!”

  “I knew you missed me,” I teased my boss and longtime friend.

  “So you couldn’t leave town without burning down some buildings,” Martinez quipped.

  “Hey, neither of those were on me. The first time, I was sleeping and the second time, I was getting cleaned up. I just made a lot of enemies in a short time period.” I couldn’t really be blamed for either this time.

  “Sounds like you. So how’s married life treating you?” he asked the question I knew he was dying to ask.

  “So far so good. I can’t wait to go home and see her. That’s a big reason I’m here.”

  “Are you quitting on me?” he asked suspiciously.

  “Not on you, but on the Bureau. Not yet though. This is definitely my last six months. I knocked up the Mrs. already so I want to be there for her at all times.”

  “You got it bad, boy. You’re lucky you’re wealthy. You can quit your job and be a family man.”

  “Look who’s talking. Didn’t you bank on the investments I told you about before I left?” I knew he banked on them because so did I.

  “I sure did. I won’t be far behind you in the retirement game.” He revealed that shocker. I thought he’d be a lifer.

  “Really, the gains were that good?”

  He grinned then added, “Plus, my grandmother left me a large inheritance. It was a nice surprise.”

  “But didn’t she die like eight years ago?”

  “Yeah, it was just when you started actually. The sneaky old broad wanted me to be a man unlike my spoiled, useless pops who ran out on his family, so I wasn’t aware of or eligible to receive the money until I turned thirty eight.”

  I asked the million dollar question. “Why thirty-eight?”

  “She figured I’d be a man by then. I would had to have fended for myself and started a family. She didn’t want a wife that wanted me for my money.”

  “Sounds solid. The old woman knew what she was about.” She was a smart broad.

  “She sure did. I’ve got more money than I know what to do with, and my little guy has all the things I didn’t have as a kid.”

  “Congrats man, so when’s your last day?”

  “I’m finishing out my year. I’ll retire in seven months.”

  “Well count me in on the celebration.”

  “So let’s get you back to work.” He walked me out to the main bull pen with all the other agents and back to my old desk that had been so nicely decorated with toilet paper.

  “Hey, we didn’t have streamers,” shouted an older agent. Fucking assholes.

  I spent the better part of the day, cleaning up the mess and getting familiar with the staff again. They added a few new employees since I left on assignment. Then I delved into a new case which took me three hours passed my scheduled time. I was afraid to call Claire and tell her I was running late, but when I did she understood. She’d been busy in town getting new things for our home.

  I had bought us an estate not far from my family’s ranch that she absolutely loved. Once I retired, I planned to make it into a horse ranch. It was huge, empty, and needed to be filled with little Williams’s babies.

  I got to our home a few minutes after nine, but Claire wasn’t back yet. Then she showed up ten minutes later driven by my brother Tyler.

  “What happened to your car?” I said in shock and no little jealousy.

  “I got a flat back by your parents, and the guys said they’d fix it for me in the morning when there’s light. So Tyler offered to take me home,” she said as she turned to my brother and gave him a big smile.

  I damn near growled in jealousy. She was my wife. I was the one she should be giving her smiles to, not my idiot brother. He gave her a hug and left. I knew he did it to piss me off.

  “Next time you call me, and I’ll get you,” I snarled.

  “You were busy,” she replied with attitude.

  This was our first fight. “Is this what this is about? I had to work late so you tried to make me mad?”

  “No, you worked late and now you’re jealous that I had to rely on someone else. Now, goodnight, Travis. I’m not in the mood for your misplaced sense of guilt.” She went to bed and ignored me the rest of the night.

  The past three nights had been practically the same thing. I growled when I got home again the next night, and she wasn’t there again. This was getting ridiculous. I called my parents, but she wasn’t there either. They said they hadn’t seen her all day. I panicked and jumped back in my truck. I called her cell, but she didn’t answer.

  The guys in the office joked yesterday that I shouldn’t leave such a beautiful wife alone all the time or she’d leave or find a replacement. The thought d
idn’t cross my mind again until she didn’t answer her phone.

  I was driving in the city when I spotted her car. I pulled up just in time to watch some man walk away from her car with a smile as she drove off. My heart raced as I followed her home. I stayed a little farther back because I wanted to surprise her cheating ass. I couldn’t believe it. We’d only been married two weeks, and she’d already found my replacement.

  I pulled up to the house about two minutes after her, but I waited in my car trying to cool the burning in my chest and the ache that pierced my heart. When I got in the house, I heard the shower running. Rage consumed me as I rushed into the bedroom and pounded on the bathroom door.

  “Claire, get your lying cheating ass out of there right…fucking...now,” I roared.

  I heard the water turn off and the shower door open. “Give me a minute, you jealous, paranoid, absentee ass,” she shouted.

  What did she just say to me? Did she think I was blind?

  Then I heard a scream and a loud thud. Shit. I pushed on the door to see her on the floor unconscious with a cut to her head.

  “Claire, wake up. Shit, baby, wake up. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to fall,” I cried as I begged her to wake up.

  I carried her to my truck and rushed her to the hospital. Since she was a real emergency they left me outside the room as they examined her. I felt ten different emotions all at once. I called my dad because I didn’t know how to deal with what was going on. I ached to be at her side, yet I wanted to hate her for betraying me. It was my fault that she fell, and I wanted to kick my own ass for that alone. My parents were on their way.

  The nurse came out and said, “Mr. Williams, your wife is resting now. It was a mild concussion. She informed us that she is pregnant so we are going to keep her overnight for observation. You can go see her now.”

  There were a thousand horrible thoughts going through my mind as I pictured her dying or leaving me for someone else. I knew I fell back into my old pattern of working diligently on my cases, but it wasn’t because I loved it like I used to. It was because I wanted to give my last six months the best I could before I left. I didn’t want to half-ass my way through it. Now I lost the woman I love to another. Would he try to take my baby from me too? Hell no! No way in hell was I letting him take either of them.

  I walked into the room they put her in. I saw the bandage on her head and I was angry, but I wasn’t sure who I was angry with me or her—or her bastard lover.

  “Travis, if you’re going to start with the cheating accusations please leave. I don’t need your insults,” she groaned.

  “Forgive me when I come home and my wife is not there, and she isn’t anywhere I expect her to be.”

  “Maybe you need to change your expectations. I know I had to,” she said angrily.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I growled.

  “It means I expected to have a loving husband who actually spent any measure of time with me instead of living at work.”

  “I have a job,” I stated.

  “Well so do I, but I don’t go accuse you of having an affair with your boss.”

  I responded with attitude. “My boss is a man.”

  “You are missing the point intentionally, and it’s getting old. Leave me alone. I don’t want to see you right now,” she stated hatefully.

  “Tough shit. You’re my wife. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “So you pick and choose when I’m your wife. You haven’t been home before nine in the last four days. You call me once around lunch and tell me that you’ll be working late. Thanks. ‘Sure sweetheart, I know you’re new here and don’t have any family or friends around, but just stay at the house alone. Don’t hang around my brothers because I don’t like that either.’”

  “I never said that.”

  “You damn near snarled because your brother was considerate enough to give me a ride home.”

  I guessed that was true. “That doesn’t justify you going out with other men.”

  “You’re an idiot. Why would I want another busy ass when I already have my own?”

  “So the guy leaving your car wasn’t your lover?!” I asked in outrage.

  “Leaving my car. You mean my boss’s husband who was helping me with my purchases that I made before I started my day at the salon. He was trying to be a gentleman and help a pregnant woman who’d been on her feet all day—like his wife asked him to do.”

  “What?! You mean you haven’t left me for someone else?” I felt like a big fucking asshole at the moment.

  “Really, please go, Travis. I’ve had more than enough.” She closed her eyes, and I think my heart actually broke. She didn’t want me near her. Two weeks into our marriage, and I managed to fuck it all up. I left the room and was about to leave the hospital when I saw my parents.

  “How is she? The baby?” my mom asked.

  “Besides the fact that she hates me, she’s going to be fine.”

  “Son, you two are newly married. You’ve asked her to give up her career, brought her to a place where she doesn’t know anyone, but your family. She’s alone all day and most of the evening. She tried to occupy her time until you quit, but you dug deeper into your job. We didn’t know what to tell her. You were so involved in your career before you met her and now you are back where you left off,” my dad said.

  “It’s not like that. I told you that when I called.”

  “But did you tell her?” my all-knowing mother said.

  “No, I was acting like a jealous ass.”

  “Go home and get some rest. We’ll stay until they release her and take her home.”

  “No. She’s my wife, and I’ve left her to the care of others when she needed me. It’s my fault she’s in here in the first place. I’m not leaving unless it’s with her.”

  My parents left, and I walked back to her room. She was sleeping, and even in her sleep she looked so sad. I grabbed her hand and let my feelings and fears out. “Claire, my pixie. I’m sorrier than you could ever know. I know you hate me right now, and I can’t blame you, but I love you so damn much it hurts. Please talk to me.”

  She opened her eyes and just stared at me sleepily. “Travis, I’m too tired to talk.”

  “Fine then, just listen, please.” She only nodded, so I continued. “I didn’t mean to neglect you. I’m not getting back into my old ways.” She rolled her eyes.

  “No seriously. I just wanted to leave knowing I’d done the best and the most I could. Claire, I work for the area covering human trafficking. Every kid or young woman I rescue the better I feel about all that I have.”

  “Then you’re not going to want to quit like you promised,” she challenged my words.

  “Yes, I am. I miss you all day. I want to be home with you. I want to call you, but I know that if I hear your voice I’ll want to leave. I’m always on the brink of leaving at lunch when we talk. I want to rush home, hold you, and love you. I think I’m actually slacking at work because I spend half my day thinking about you. I don’t have the love I had for the job anymore, but I have an obligation. I want you to understand that I’m so damn sorry for not telling you what you mean to me and leaving you to find comfort elsewhere.”

  “I didn’t find or look for comfort elsewhere. I just got a temporary job to fill the time you’re gone.”

  “He’s a really good looking guy.”

  “Yes, he is…and his wife is as equally beautiful.”

  “I’m really sorry, Claire. You’re my world. I’ll quit tomorrow if that would make you love me again.”

  “Travis, I’m mad at you at the moment, but I haven’t stopped loving you.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed her more than she could fathom, even if I didn’t show it. “Thanks, I can deal with that.”

  “I don’t want you to quit yet. I started this job today, and I promised I’d stay for the next few months.”

  “I don’t want you working too hard,” I said in warning.


  “I’m not. Carrie just had a baby and is only able to work part-time because her husband is on her case about it too, so I told them I could work part-time too until she’s ready to return or within six months, whichever comes faster.”

  “Does your head hurt really bad?” I said as I caressed her head.

  “No, not really at all. I’m just tired.”

  “I’m sorry for everything, Claire. I’ll just let you sleep then,” I said dejectedly as I got up to leave.

  “Travis, please stay,” she whispered as she stuck out her hand for me.

  “Always, baby.” I kissed it and didn’t leave her side all night.

  Epilogue—Claire & Travis

  “Sammy, I’m so glad you all could make it down. I know my brother’s worried you were too far along to come on vacation, but it’s so perfect this time of year.” I said as I ran up or rather waddled up to Sam, Rick, and their three kids.

  “Girl, I needed to come back to Texas. You always come up to see us, but we haven’t gotten the chance to come down since Ricky was one.”

  My brother interrupted us and gave me a big hug. “I missed you, Claire bear.”

  “I missed you too.” I hugged my brother as I tight as I could. I was already in my last month and a half of incubation with our fourth. Sam was only at month number five and that’s the only reason Rick let her come. If she was any further along her ass would be practically locked in their house.

  “Let’s get you guys settled in,” I said as I wrapped my arm around Sam’s arm, and we left the men with the bags and kids.

  “Uncle Travis, can you teach me how to ride?” Little Rick said as he walked with his daddy and uncle, helping with the luggage.

  “Certainly sport, and we’ll take your father too.”

  “If you think I’m afraid to ride again, then you’re going to learn something today. Nothing, but Red scares me,” Rick said playfully. He hated horses especially since he was sore his whole visit all those years ago.

  “You better believe it, buster,” Sammy crowed. We entered the house in a fit of laughter.