Amy laughed and then stopped and gave Norman such a smile full of love that if he wasn’t sat down it would have brought him to his knees in reverence to her.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed Norman but we’ve been laughing a lot. Even at the hospital when the pain was almost unbearable you managed to make me laugh and ever since then as well.”
Norman had noticed and he loved it. In fact, he’d decided that it was his new aim to make Amy laugh every day for the rest of their lives together. Hearing her laugh and knowing that it was from something he’d done or said, was one of the best feelings in the world.
Having shown Amy round the rest of the house he finished with the pool where one of his staff had helpfully left out a big jug of iced juice and two glasses. Amy’s eyes had seemed to be getting bigger and bigger the more he showed her and now she saw the pool he was sure they were going to pop out of her head.
“You have a pool! A freaking massive pool!”
“Yes, do you …. Erm.. Amy, what are you doing?” He stood and watched as she started to take down her jeans, revealing her long slim legs, slightly paler now after so much time in the hospital but starting to look much stronger than they had when she’d first woken up from her coma.
“Swimming, what does it look like?”
“But, well do you need me to get you a costume or something?”
It was too late, though, as Amy slipped into the pool in just her panties and vest top.
She splashed him, soaking his jeans and t-shirt. “That’s to get you back for earlier.”
“Earlier? You mean when I flicked a tiny bit of water at you? Wow, you really go all out when it comes to revenge, don’t you?”
She splashed him again. “Really, you’re so wet now there is no point keeping those clothes on. You should just take them off and join me in the pool.”
Her face was full of innocent fun but the look in her eyes told him it was more than just splashing she had on her mind. Suddenly finding himself eager for a swim, he stripped down to his boxer shorts as fast as he could and lowered himself into the pool. Pushing himself off from the side he glided under the water and came up right next to Amy, shaking his head like a dog.
Amy instantly wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, you’re a pain, but I’ll forgive you seeing as you look really hot all glistening with water.”
In fact, Amy was reminded of when she had first met him and how she thought he looked like Mr. Darcy, seeing him with his dark hair all wet had brought those memories flooding back. Unable to resist she kissed him, allowing herself to be completely in the moment and basking in the feeling of their wet bodies held against each other. Finally allowing the passion that had been growing between them all day to explode.
***
Amy woke some time later back in her bed. They’d moved from the pool to the bedroom and made love several times. Amy’s body felt a little stiff but Norman had remained a gentleman throughout, always making sure that she wasn’t in any pain, that they weren’t aggravating her back in any way. It felt truly wonderful to be cherished by him.
Even now while he was sleeping, he had instinctively moved and lightly stroked her. She nestled back down next to him. Drifting back off to sleep safely in the knowledge that she was well and truly loved.
Chapter 5
Sitting beside Norman in his McLaren Amy felt a little apprehensive. It had taken a few weeks to get back up to full strength but finally, the time had come to move back to her farm.
Norman had already taken Rollo and Tabatha back earlier in the morning which had taken one thing off her mind but she had to admit that she was worried. Norman had been trying to do as much as he could in between caring for her and looking after his own business but she imagined that there was still so much to do. How was she going to manage it all? She was going to have to see if she could find somebody to help her again. She turned and looked at Norman thoughtfully, she wished that it could be him but that was selfish of her.
Living with him, spending every day with him had been so perfect. Whilst she knew that they would, hopefully, still get to see each other every day it felt like it was going to be different. How were they going to manage when they both lived such different lives?
Turning into the road that led down to the farm, Amy was surprised when Norman suddenly pulled over.
“Amy, I was wondering…”
“Yes?”
“Well, the thing is, I’ve arranged a little homecoming surprise for you. So I wondered if you’d be ok with me blindfolding you?”
Intrigued, Amy agreed instantly. “Yeah, I suppose so. What kind of surprise is it? Am I dressed ok?” She looked down at her jeans and t-shirt. She really hoped he hadn’t arranged a party as she wasn’t sure she could cope with a large number of people at the moment.
“Oh yes, you look perfect, beautiful as always. You don’t need to worry about that.”
It was a strange feeling, traveling in complete darkness. She’d thought that she knew the road like the back of her hand but there seemed to be fewer bumps than she remembered. Maybe it was Norman’s car that was a little smoother than her old truck.
The car suddenly came to a standstill and Norman’s voice seemed loud in her ear. “Ok, I’m going to come over to your door and help you out. You trust me, don’t you?”
She blindly reached over until she found his hand and held it tight. “You know I do.”
Norman kissed her hand briefly and then left her sitting in the dark. It was only a few moments though before the door was opened and he was helping her out of the car and arranging her to face the way he wanted.
“Ok.” He whispered to her. “I’m going to take the blindfold off now.”
At first, all she could see was the bright sunshine as her eyes adjusted to being back in the light but slowly her beloved farm came into view. Except it wasn’t quite her farm, she looked around, trying to take in all that she was seeing. Everything was…. done. The barn had been completely rebuilt and a new roof had been put on, all the little jobs on the farmhouse had been completed and the porch had brand new boards. It had even been decorated with two of her uncle’s rocking chairs, a gorgeous table made from an old tree stump and pots of various flowers to add lots of colors.
She was turning towards Norman when something in the field caught her eye. “Are those….are those strawberry plants? Norman, what did you do? This is too much. I mean it’s perfect, everything is exactly how I wanted it to look, but how?” Unable to get her words out and overcome by shock she burst into tears. Norman’s arms were instantly around her.
“Shhh, it’s ok sweetheart. Do you like it? I wanted it to all be ready for you when you got back so I hired some workers to finish everything. I hope you don’t mind? I just wanted it to be exactly like your dream. The only thing missing is the animals but I thought you might want to choose those yourself.”
Amy continued to sob into his shoulder, unable to process the enormity of it all. How had this happened to her? How had this man just appeared in her life and then made all her dreams come true?
“Thank you, thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me. The hospital, the treatment, my recovery at your house, all this….” She pulled away from him so that she could look into his eyes. “I’m never going to be able to repay you for everything that you’ve done.”
“You don’t need to worry about any of that. All I need is to know that you’re happy and that makes me happy too. Besides, you’ve already given me so much. Without you and this farm, I wouldn’t have realized how unhappy I was in my life. How pretentious I found it all. Working here with you gave my life new hope and meaning. In fact, there is something else I need to tell you. I’ve been speaking to Mark and he’s agreed to buy me out of the real estate business, in fact, he already had the paperwork ready before I even mentioned it to him. Turned out he knew me better than I did.”
Taking a moment to process everything he was saying Amy laughed in delight. “Well, I guess that mean
s you’re looking for a new job then? As it happens I’m in need of a permanent farmhand. I do have to warn you, though, the job requires long hours, lots of hard work and comes with a very long contract.”
“How long?”
“A lifetime.”
Norman bent down and kissed Amy. “That is going to be the best deal of my life.” He smiled eager to start their life together at Cahill Farm how he hoped it would continue, full of love.
THE END
HERE IS YOUR SPECIAL BONUS!!!
Following stories contain explicit love scenes and are intended for adult readers only.
In Hiding
Chapter 1
Travis Smith was awake before his phone’s first ring had even come to an end. The clock by his bed read 3:17 am. Picking up his phone from the bedside table, Travis was already pulling a pair of jeans out of his closet by the time he answered. “Yes?” he asked. The caller display had read “Tony’s Pizzeria” and that meant only one thing - his boss was calling. And if his boss was calling at three in the morning that meant that something was wrong.
“You have to get out. Now. Meet me at Maud’s.” And, with those cryptic instructions, his boss hung up.
But the instructions were all too clear to Travis. He tossed the phone onto his bed, yanked on the jeans and stuffed his feet into a pair of red Converse sneakers. As he was grabbing a black backpack from the top shelf of his closet, he heard the lock of his apartment’s front door quietly clicking open. Silently, Travis swung the backpack over his shoulders and picked up his phone. Turning it to silent – nothing was more embarrassing than having an ill-timed phone call give away your hiding place – he slid it into his back pocket. He could hear the stealthy footsteps of three, no, four, men as they crossed the kitchen, making their way to his bedroom.
Quietly opening the door to the large en suite bathroom, Travis slipped through just as the first assassin turned the corner into his bedroom. He was a huge man, tall and heavy set, with a slight stoop in his shoulders and a thick curl of orangey red hair hanging out of the bottom his balaclava.
“He’s getting away!” the masked man shouted. A volley of machine gun fire followed his warning and Travis threw himself to the floor as bullets battered the reinforced bathroom door.
Another machine gun joined the first and Travis knew the door wouldn’t last much longer, reinforcements or no reinforcements. Keeping low and pulling himself along by his arms, Travis wiggled his way to the full-length mirror next to the sink. Gripping the edge of the mirror, he pulled it toward himself and it swung back to reveal a narrow metal shaft that headed almost straight down. Glancing back at the rattling door, Travis threw himself feet first down the tunnel, tugging the mirror shut behind him as he went. Whoever those men were, he didn’t want them following him down his escape route. Just as gravity took over and he began to slide down the shaft, he heard the bathroom door finally give way, and the armed men come bursting into the bathroom. As he fell, Travis smiled to think of their confused faces.
The shaft soon joined the garbage shoot and a moment later Travis found himself in a dumpster in the alley behind his apartment building. Making a face, Travis pulled himself out of the bags of trash and up over the edge of the dumpster. Landing gracefully on his feet, he ran for the street. Quickly checking to make sure no one was watching the alley, Travis pulled a set of car keys from the side pocket of his backpack and made a beeline for a nondescript Toyota station wagon parked on the other side of the street.
Unlocking the driver’s door, he slid in, tossing his backpack into the passenger seat as he let the engine warm up. After a few tense minutes of idling, the car groaned to life and Travis shot down the deserted street, heading for Maud’s. Maud’s was one of his organization’s safe houses, so named for the old lady that lived there. He took a circuitous route, constantly checking to make sure he wasn’t being followed. But, after twenty minutes of detours and doubling back, Travis was satisfied that he’d left his attackers back at the apartment and headed to the safe house. Parking couple of streets away, Travis snuck through a few blocks of backyards, zigzagging around swing sets, sandboxes, and forgotten toys until he reached Maud’s back garden.
This particular safe house was in a quiet suburban neighborhood, in a house that supposedly belonged to a harmless, aging lady with a penchant for cats. Though this might seem like an odd choice for an international spy ring’s safe house, the old lady, Maud, was actually one of the agency’s top weapons specialists, although she was retired now. And she did, in fact, actually quite like cats. As he approached the safe house from behind, he saw there was a light on in the kitchen. A large, white Persian was sitting on the back step, eyeing him reproachfully. Travis reached down to pet it, only to have it hiss angrily in response.
“Okay, okay, have it your way,” he whispered, taking his hand back quickly before it got scratched.
Maud, as if she had somehow heard the cat, opened the back door. Silhouetted against the warm light of the hall, Maud looked even smaller and frailer than Travis remembered. Mind you, he told himself, she must be in her eighties by now at least. She’d already been old when he’d been recruited. “We were worried you hadn’t made it,” she told Travis, interrupting his thoughts.
“I took the long way here,” he told her. “Better safe than sorry.”
Maud nodded, her blue eyes magnified behind her thick, tortoise shell glasses. “Very true. Bruce is in the kitchen. Would you like some tea?” she asked as she led him into the kitchen.
“Err, I’m more of a coffee man myself,” Travis admitted. “But thanks, Maud.”
“Eh,” Maud replied grumpily, that one sound making her opinions on coffee very clear.
“Travis,” Bruce, their boss, stood, coming forward to grip Travis by the arm. Bruce was a big man, even compared to Travis, who stood several inches over six feet himself, and his iron-like grip made Travis wince a little. “God, I’m glad to see you. I’m afraid you’re the only one who’s made it out.”
“What?” Travis gaped at the older man. “What happened?” Picking up the tabby that was occupying the nearest chair, Travis deposited the cat on the floor and sat down. The tabby glared malevolently up at him before stalking away huffily when Travis continued to ignore it.
“My best guess at the moment is that Nabokov is out for revenge,” Bruce said, sitting back down as well. The chair creaked under his weight.
“Coffee,” Maud interrupted, banging a tray down onto the table between Bruce and Travis. “Bruce doesn’t drink tea either.”
“Oh, you didn’t need to bother, Maud,” said Travis.
“You’ve got a long drive coming up, young man,” Maud told him, sitting down on the third chair, drawing the Siamese that had been sitting there onto her lap. “So do as you’re told and drink your coffee. And have a cookie while you’re at it.”
Travis nodded meekly and poured himself a coffee, grabbing a few chocolate chip cookies off the plate. “Thanks, Maud,” he said.
“Eh,” said Maud again, pouring herself a cup of tea from the floral patterned teapot she’d already had on the table. “Pass the milk.”
As Travis passed the milk, Bruce resumed his story. “You remember Nabokov, don’t you?”
Travis nodded. “It wasn’t one of my jobs, but I remember him. Russian arms dealer who was selling to a White Supremacist group in South Carolina and we brought down the whole racket. Wendy got shot in the leg during that, didn’t she?”
“Well, now she’s been shot somewhere a lot more fatal, I’m sorry to say,” said Maud, stirring milk into her tea. “I liked Wendy. Had a way with the cats, she did.”
Bruce nodded, running a hand through his close-cropped gray hair. “I’m afraid Maud’s right. Someone’s hacked into our network and decoded everything. All our agents’ true identities, addresses, weapons caches – the whole shebang. The only reason Maud wasn’t hit is because she’s not in our database anymore.”
“Really?” Travis
said, turning back to Maud. “Why not?”
“Because I retired last year, that’s why,” Maud replied. “I never trusted all these online shenanigans anyway. ‘Oh, it’s all encrypted, Maud,’ they said to me down in IT. Well, encryptions are like rules, I always told them: made to be broken. I had them take me off the registry the minute I left active service. And a good thing I did too,” she said primly, re-adjusting her blue and white quilted housecoat.
“Unfortunately, Maud’s right. Every other safe house has been compromised,” Bruce told Travis.
“But surely Nabokov didn’t have the connections for this kind of coup,” Travis protested. “I mean, his operation was more or less wiped out after we had finished with him. Last I heard, he was hiding somewhere in Botswana.”
His boss nodded. “That’s what we thought too. But he always was a tricky one.”
Romance: Billionaire In Disguise (Inspirational Clean Romance Box Set) Page 8
