Gage handed her a towel and watched her dry. “You don’t have to push yourself if you want to stay home, you know.” He worried about her. She was too calm.
“I know. But it will be better for me to go to work and have a normal routine. The police may never find those disks, and I need to accept that possibility and move on.” She wrapped her hair in the towel and stood before him naked and sexy as hell.
He stepped forward, pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. “You’re an amazing woman, and I thank God every single day for putting you in my path.”
She blushed, her face turning every shade of red. “Gage…” She pushed on his chest, never one to easily accept his praise and admiration.
He trailed his hands up her warm back and wrapped one around the back of her neck. “I mean it.” He pinned her with his gaze. “I love you, and we’ll get through this and come out stronger.”
She opened her mouth, hesitated, and then spoke. “What if the disks get leaked? What if my face is plastered all over social media or on a porn film? Worse yet, what if my entire body is displayed for the universe at large? I don’t think I can live with that, Gage. And I sure don’t intend for you to.”
He closed his eyes for one second and then whisked her off her feet, carried her cradled in his arms to the bedroom, and dropped her unceremoniously on the bed. He came over her without a pause, his body pinning her to the mattress as the breath whooshed from her lungs. He grabbed both her hands and tugged them over her head to hold her down. “Listen to me, baby. There isn’t one scenario or resolution to the case that will end with me not in your life. Do you hear me?”
She didn’t move. Her eyes were wide, but her mouth was pursed.
“I don’t give a fuck if I have to spend the rest of my life chasing loose videos of you across the entire planet, collecting them, and getting them off the streets. I will do so until I die. So, don’t look at me again and suggest you’d leave me over this. It’s not going to happen, and frankly it’s insulting. I’m a bigger man than that. A few naked videos is not going to stop me from loving you to pieces. Ever.” His voice rose. “Don’t insinuate otherwise again. Are we clear?”
She nodded. Tears fell again. Finally, she opened her mouth and gave him what he’d longed for for weeks. “I love you too, Gage.”
A smile formed on his lips and spread so wide it felt like his cheeks would split. “Then that’s settled.” He leaned closer and took her mouth in a long, thorough kiss that led to him sliding into her warmth and them arriving several minutes late to work.
•●•
The morning went smoothly. Gage tried not to think too hard about what was happening in Alabama, and he only buzzed Chief Edwards once an hour for an update. Chief Edwards’ voice grew leery with each call, but Gage was undaunted. He wanted answers, and until he had a satisfactory resolution to this topic, he wouldn’t rest easy. For Kayla’s sake. And for his own.
It was almost lunch when Marci came running into his side of the building and stopped, heaving for breath as she interrupted his class. “Gage. She left.”
He dropped the papers he was holding and jumped off the edge of his desk where he’d been perched. “What? Who left? Kayla?”
“Yes. She tore out of here like the hounds of hell were on her heels. Chief Edwards is up front.”
Gage ran after Marci with Thor on his heels. He ran out the front door and joined Chief Edwards where he found him in the parking lot. “Where did she go?”
Chief Edwards spun around and faced Gage. “No idea. She didn’t say a word. Did she have her car?”
Gage glanced at the parking lot. “No. She took mine. She has her own keys.”
“Do you suppose she couldn’t handle the pressure of being at work?” Chief Edwards asked.
Gage’s heart beat faster. He shook his head. “Not buying that. She was fine this morning. Better than she has been for two days. Something must have happened. No one saw anything?”
Chief Edwards shook his head. “No. Nothing. She was alone in the front, and suddenly she jumped up and tore out of here. A few of the guys saw her from next to their cars where they were getting ready to patrol.” Chief Edwards nodded toward Rider coming from across the parking lot. “Rider saw her peel away and called me on the radio.”
Rider jogged forward. “What happened?”
“No idea,” Chief Edwards said.
“I’ve got to go find her.” Gage spun in a circle, realizing he had no transportation.
“I’ll take you.” Rider turned on his heel and headed for a patrol car.
Seconds later the two of them were speeding down the road with Thor in the back seat, alert and sitting upright. Rider had the lights on, but not the siren.
“Where do you think she would go first?”
“Drive by my place.” Gage grabbed the handle above the door and held on as Rider took a corner, hugging it tight.
It took only five minutes to get to Gage’s house with Rider driving, and there was no sign of Kayla. “Her place next.” He gave Rider the directions, and they took off again. Gage dialed her phone over and over, but she didn’t answer. He texted her also. Nothing.
When they pulled up to Kayla’s condo, he sensed immediately that something was off. His jeep was in the driveway, askew as though she’d parked and exited hastily.
Thor jumped out of the squad car the second Rider opened the back door. That dog could sense even more than Gage or Rider. Thor followed Gage toward the house, his ears standing up, his tongue wagging.
Gage pushed the front door open with Thor right beside him.
And what he encountered when he entered the house and slid to a halt made his heart stop.
Kayla stood in the center of the room, but she wasn’t alone. Some jackass had his arm around her throat and a gun to her head.
Thor growled low and menacing.
“Call your fucking dog off now, or she’s dead.”
Thor didn’t speak asshole, so he kept growling. The dog was smart though and trained to handle this sort of situation. Gage knew Thor was waiting for the signal to pounce. Gage would wait for the perfect moment and then give Thor the command to take this motherfucker down.
And the best part? This son of a bitch didn’t know that.
Gage could sense that Rider hadn’t entered the house behind him. Which meant he was either lurking outside the door waiting for an opportunity to shoot first and ask questions later, or he’d circled to the back of the house.
Gage lifted both arms in the air. He wished he had his .38 on him, but it was in the glove compartment of his jeep. As a civilian, he couldn’t carry a weapon inside the police station. Rider was somewhere nearby, and that man was indeed packing.
Who was this asshole, and what did he want with Kayla? Gage wished there was some explanation that didn’t involve the Bollings, but the likelihood of that was slim. The coincidence the dude happened to be in the house for a random robbery was nil.
“What do you want?” Gage asked.
The guy snarled. “Money, dickface. What do robbers usually want?”
“Money, as in a roll of twenties from the underwear drawer, or money as in extortion and revenge?” Gage didn’t bother mincing words. “I suggest you put that gun down now before you find yourself in more trouble than you’re already in. If you add homicide to extortion, you’ll serve life without parole.”
“Fuck you.”
Gage shuffled slowly forward, still holding his hands up.
“You think you and Fido here are going to take me out?” The fucker laughed sardonically as if he had the upper hand.
Gage did nothing to insinuate this shithole wasn’t far from the truth. As long as he held a gun to Kayla’s head, he did indeed have Gage by the balls.
Kayla held on to the fucker’s forearm, tears streaming down her face, her eyes wide, and her mouth open. She wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Her feet barely scraped the floor.
Moments of silence as Gage angle
d to one side, trying to get out of the way in case Rider planned to get by him. He moved right, forcing the asshole with the gun to follow him with his gaze.
“Stop fucking moving, dickface.” He gripped Kayla tighter, making her whimper.
A shot rang out behind Gage, but that wasn’t what took this jackass down. The distraction was exactly what Gage had been waiting on. He gave Thor the signal, and the dog leaped into the air and clamped his jaw down on the fucker’s forearm while the guy looked in the direction of the shot. In less than a heartbeat, Kayla was free, the gun went flying across the room, and the jackass went down, screaming in pain.
Thor did not release. He was trained to incapacitate. One word from Gage and he would do just that.
Rider came around the corner on the next heartbeat, gun raised. He made his way across the living room, grabbed the jackass’s free arm and slapped a cuff on him.
Gage hesitated, letting Thor continue to grip the man’s arm tight. He knew it had to hurt like a son of a bitch, but all the more reason. He still didn’t say a word when Rider glanced back.
Finally, Rider lifted an eyebrow. Calm as could be, he announced,” I’ve got this, Gage. Call him off.”
Gage took a deep breath and transferred his gaze to Thor. “Release.”
Thor dropped the man immediately and turned toward Kayla.
The squirming asshole on the floor flailed, screaming about his arm, but Rider set a knee on his chest and then flipped him to his front, locking his second hand to the first behind him. Next, Rider pulled out a radio and hit the side button. “Need backup at two seven five Maple. Man in custody.” He put his radio back in the holster and inserted his knee in the center of the fucker’s back.
Gage took three long strides to get to Kayla, who sat choking on the ground, her sobs mixing in with her erratic breathing. Thor nuzzled her arms, trying to get her to look at him. The dog was a genius.
Gage bent down and gathered Kayla in his arms, lifting her and turning to go outside, Thor on his heels. He didn’t want her witnessing another second of that man’s face. He went straight to the squad car, opened the back door, and slid inside, still holding her cradled in his arms. When he was seated, Thor jumping into the open door on the other side, he brushed her hair from her face. “It’s over, baby.”
She shook violently and sobbed harder.
Not surprising considering what she’d been through.
He let her cry, listening to the sirens as they came closer. It seemed like an eternity, but probably only lasted about three minutes. After all, the entire precinct had been aware of the situation before it went down.
Kayla heaved deep breaths as two squad cars squealed to a stop in front of her condo. Gage blocked her from the view, hoping to calm her. It took forever for her to speak. “Oh my God, Gage. If you hadn’t…”
“I did, baby.” He held her closer, kissed the top of her head. “I’m here. I’ll always be here. It’s over.” He lifted her chin to meet his gaze, hating the number of times he’d seen her in such pain in the last few days. “Talk to me, baby.”
“I never met Simon’s brother.”
“That was Simon’s brother? Fuck.”
She nodded. “He wasn’t too pleased that his parents were arrested, and he demanded fifty thousand dollars or he would turn the entire stack of disks over to the highest bidder. The box of DVDs is in there. He actually brought them.” She sobbed again, fighting to control herself enough to continue.
“Baby, why on earth did you come here alone?”
She inhaled sharply. “I didn’t know he was here, Gage. I’m not that stupid. All I got was a series of e-mails that shook me up. I just wanted to get the hell out of there.”
“Baby…” He stroked her hair again and then rubbed his thumb under her eyes to wipe away the tears.
“I’m sorry. It was stupid. It never occurred to me he was here in Vegas. I just opened the e-mails and saw his name. He ranted about what a bitch I was and how he was going to make me pay. I had no idea he was here in my condo.”
Gage pulled her head in to his chest and blocked the commotion behind him. He watched Thor nuzzle her from the other side and wiggle his face into her lap.
Kayla reached out and clutched his fur. “Your dog is the bomb.”
“Yes he is, baby.”
“He saved my life.”
“Mmm hmm. That’s what he’s trained to do.”
“How did he know?”
“No idea what goes on in his head, but he loves you to pieces and won’t tolerate any threat to you. He knew before we got in the house.”
“Amazing.” She leaned down and held him closer, kissing his fur and squeezing him tight. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind if he stayed with me twenty-four seven from now on.” She grinned.
“Wish he could, baby. Close. But he does work in my part of the building. He’s a great watch dog, but he sucks at front desk work.”
Gage held his dog and his woman close, taking deep breaths and thanking God for both of them.
Epilogue
One month later…
Kayla cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted through the crowd at Gage. He’d taken several hits to the head and chest, but none powerful enough to throw him off his game. He was clearly the better contender in this fight. “Go, Gage. Come on, babe. You can do it.”
Jenna stood next to her, chuckling. “Lord, we’ve created a monster.”
Kayla glanced at her and grinned before turning her attention back to the cage.
Katy spoke next. “I blame Emily. She’s a bad influence in the fighting department.”
Emily hip-butted Katy to the right of Kayla. “Don’t listen to them. They don’t appreciate good masculine sweaty chests when they see them.”
“Oh, I appreciate the chests all right. I just prefer mine to be dry and clean and hovering over me in bed. The bloody parts make me squeamish,” Jenna said.
Gage threw a serious leg kick, landing on the other guy’s side and making him buckle. They were only two or three minutes into the first period, but Gage took the opportunity, swept the guy with one leg, and forced him to his knees. He then grappled for a dominant position and knocked the poor guy out with one direct hook to the face.
That part Kayla hated. She cringed when someone was seriously injured. And she held her breath waiting for the guy to get off the floor even though her man had won the fight.
She finally let out an exhale when the opponent stood on wobbly feat and nodded at Gage.
But Gage, Lord he was magnificent. All firm muscle and sexy tattoos. She loved to trace the lines of the words across his abs and on his biceps with one finger while they lay in bed on a lazy day.
That didn’t happen often, though. Gage was a busy man. Between work, the gym, the club, and making Kayla’s eyes cross with need, he didn’t have much time for lazy.
Kayla didn’t either. She’d signed up for two on-line classes the week before, and she was loving getting back into school. Gage had wanted her to quit working and go to school fulltime, but she wasn’t ready for that much change yet. She’d only given up her lease last week and officially moved in with him. Letting him support her so fully made her nervous.
He shook his head when she expressed her feelings about that, but didn’t argue. Instead he set his foot down. “One semester, baby. You can juggle these two classes and work for one semester, and then when you’re comfortable and back in the swing, I want you to give up your job and concentrate fully on your studies.”
She’d opened her mouth to argue, but he held up a hand. “We’re a team. I don’t want one member of my team too tired to have sex with me at the end of the day because she’s burning too many candles.”
“It’s gonna be expensive, Gage.”
“And we’ll handle it.”
Kayla could afford it, but she hated to chip away at her savings while not working. Without rent and utilities, she was in much better shape, though. And Gage hadn’t permitted her to
give him a dime to help out with his house yet. She was still negotiating that one. Although, Gage was not so much.
By the time she had everything settled concerning her finances, she wasn’t in too bad of shape. She no longer had to make enormous monthly extortion payments, and there was a chance she might recoup some of the money she’d lost for the last two years. The Bollings, including their son, were in jail without bond awaiting trial.
Oh, and the new car in the driveway gave her peace of mind. Gage had done that behind her back also. She’d shot daggers at him with her eyes for two hours when he came home with it, but he did nothing but chuckle at her ranting and raving until she gave up and thanked him with her lips and her body.
She was the luckiest woman on Earth, and she didn’t hesitate to thank Gage every single day.
Kayla waited for Gage outside the locker room at the arena. Some of the women she saw even went into the locker room. She cringed every time she noticed. Gross.
He came out fifteen minutes later, hair dripping wet and a smile spread across his face. He’d told her he had plans for her that night, and whatever his plans were, he was certainly excited.
She smiled as he lowered his face to kiss her. “Let’s go, baby. We have stuff to do.”
She’d already prodded him on the way to the arena. There was no sense continuing along that path. Clearly Gage Holland wasn’t a man to divulge his secrets.
Twenty minutes later they were back at home. Kayla lifted a brow as they pulled in the driveway. How was an evening at home so exciting? They did that every night. And it was always heavenly, but Gage had something else up his sleeve this time. And it was a Friday night. So, usually they went to Extreme.
Perplexed, Kayla entered the house, or rather was tugged inside by Gage’s hand. The man was excited. His enthusiasm rubbed off on Kayla, making her giggle. “What the hell, Gage?”
He flipped on the light at the same moment Kayla heard a strange whimpering noise. She startled and glanced around the room. And then she doubled back when her mind caught up and realized she’d seen something that didn’t belong. “Oh my God.” Her hands flew to her mouth. Her eyes darted back and forth from Gage to the small cage sitting next to the kitchen table. “Oh my God,” she repeated. “Gage?”
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