by Honor James
“Well, I thank you for loving me, too,” she told him happily. “All right. We need to get ourselves done and out of here or else we are so never going to make it out of your bedroom, my love.” Because she would want to have him naked all the time and keep her naked all the time.
Chuckling, he nipped at her thumb lightly. “We should clean up and then we can go and get food,” he told her softly. Stepping back a little, he passed her the soap. “And then you can talk with Katherine.”
“Sounds good,” was all she said before pulling from him and winking.
Chapter Eight
Holding her hand in his, Laighean led her down the stairs. At the bottom, he looked at her. “Are you all right?” he asked. She looked nervous for some reason, and he couldn’t figure out why. “It’s just Katherine down here,” he murmured. “Her mates are gone for the day, little one.”
“I’m good.” Rimi paused and then tugged on his hand to pull him closer. “I’m not afraid of them,” she whispered urgently to him. “But I am worried that someone will overhear what Katherine and I talk about.” That had her worried, that a human would eavesdrop and listen to all she and Kat had to discuss.
“No one will hear you,” he promised quietly to her. “They are out on a nature trek today and won’t be back until just after dark for dinner.” He only knew that because he was a guard and therefore had to know the movements of everyone. Pressing a kiss to her lips, Laighean smiled. “Don’t worry. Katherine is actually fairly good at saying a lot without saying much of anything.”
“Thank you, honey.” Reaching up, she impulsively hugged her bond-mate tightly before pulling back. Taking in a deep breath, she pulled back from him and nodded. “All right. I’m going to go and have a catch-up chat with Kat, and I know you have things to do, darling.”
“If you need me just say the word,” he told her quietly. “I won’t be far. I will be near the house all day, so just call out for me should you have any need.” Lifting her hand, he kissed her fingers gently. “I will see you later.”
“Yes, you will.” She gave his hand one more squeeze before walking from him before she wasn’t able to. Seeing Katherine sitting behind the antique desk in her office, she smiled and dropped into one of the chairs in front of it. “So, I am in love with Lee. I’m taking him as mine.”
Grinning at her words, Laighean shook his head and headed for the kitchen. He knew Katherine would be sitting there with a surprised look that she would school to utter calm quickly. He’d caught a quick glimpse, enough to tell him that Rimi had caught her by surprise. Collecting a cup, he poured some of the coffee that was strictly the “guys’,” in other words strong enough to put hair on your chest, and stuck his head in the fridge as he sipped the brew.
Blinking at her friend, Kat licked her lips and nodded slowly, her mind still trying to process what Rimi had said. “All right.” Not exactly the most intelligent thing she’d likely ever said, but it would do for a start—she hoped.
Rimi grinned. “Good.” She leaned forward and added, “He’s truly amazing. He’s truly my dream man. So I’m moving into his rooms with him, if you are all right with it.”
“All right.” Kat nodded slowly again. She was repeating herself, but it apparently couldn’t be helped. Clearing her throat, she put the pen in hand down and, licking her lips, looked at her friend. “I likely shouldn’t ask since it really isn’t any of my business, but”—she paused—“are you sure you know what you’re doing, Rimi? I mean you just had something horribly traumatic occur in your life, and I’d hate to think you were rushing into something without thinking it all the way through.”
That had Rimi pausing and swallowing hard. Leaning back, she crossed her legs and nodded. “I know that you don’t know this, but I will tell you all the same. All of my life, every single night that I dreamed there was one recurring theme. A man. When I was young he ensured that I had fun in dreams. He was always there,” she told her friend honestly. “When I got older, became a woman, he became my lover. He and I were always meant to be. I love him, and if you can’t accept that, Kat, then we have an issue.”
“I’m assuming you mean Laighean?” she asked softly, watching her friend. At the tight, abrupt nod, Katherine smiled slightly. “I always did wonder about that,” she murmured to herself softly. What she’d gained in the chamber besides the crown of the Fae and Pixie realms was a knowledge of all her people. Laighean, while he’d been a little resistant toward her for reasons his own, had come around, and she liked him. But the glimpse she’d had of his life had included a hint of something of his dreams, dreams that apparently shouldn’t have occurred. “You’re his bond-mate, aren’t you?” Kat asked her, shaking her from her reverie to look her friend in the eye.
“I am,” Rimi admitted softly. “We bonded last night.” Lifting her sleeve slightly, she showed her friend the vine with flowers blooming on it. “It was amazing. He has one on his arm, and when we made love, it reached out and planted a seed in me. I swear I can feel him through it, not just in my heart and soul, but really and truly feel him.”
Leaning forward, Katherine tipped her head. “Huh, I always wondered how the Fae bonded their mates to them,” she said with a crooked smile. “And you do feel him with you because a part of him is now inside of you and a part of you with him. It’s how the bonding works. I can feel Trey, Mac, and Sully even when they aren’t here with me. We had to work a bit on the mental communication, but over the last while, we’ve gotten to where we can be some serious distance and still speak crystal clear.”
That had her smiling. “I would like that, to be able to speak to him in my mind at any time.” Taking a deep breath, Rimi nodded. “He’s amazing. Everything about him. I love every part of being with him. He’s the most amazing being that I’ve ever met.” She had tried dating. It had never been right, and no one had ever measured up to her dream man, and now she knew why.
Watching Rimi for a moment, Katherine nodded. “Yeah, the men are definitely something special,” she murmured with a smile of her own. “So, what do you know about our world and what do you have questions about?” she asked, knowing that declaring her naughty intentions for Laighean hadn’t been Rimi’s only reason for coming into Kat’s office.
“I need your help in telling my godmother that Lee isn’t after me for my money,” she asked softly. “You know her. She will have him completely and fully investigated, and when she comes up with nothing or roadblocks she will have a fit, and I would be very upset with her if she upset him at all.” It would more than upset her. She would likely cut ties fully with her godmother.
“Right.” Katherine drawled the word before sitting back in her chair. “Yeah, that one’s going to be interesting to deal with. But we’ll come up with something,” she murmured and wrinkled her nose. “Uh, you do realize that Laighean is loaded, right? I mean beyond anything most of us could ever dream of loaded. He had a good fortune when my people were put into their sleep, which has accumulated and multiplied in the years since thanks to Gaia liking the guy.”
“Well good, then he will know that I don’t want him for his money and vice versa.” She snorted. “I only want him, but I need your help convincing Betsy Wilderbrand of that very thing.”
Nodding, Kat tapped her fingers on the edge of the desk as she swung her chair back and forth ever so slightly. “Well.” She elongated the word as she continued to think hard and fast. “He comes from a moneyed background, truth. His parents are no longer with us, truth. He inherited everything, mostly the truth. He invested wisely, true to a point, since technically it was Gaia that invested his money, not that Bets needs to know that of course.” Kat tapped her fingers quicker. “He works for me since we’re friends, truth. He prefers living off the grid because of money-grabbing wenches who just want to use him for his money and nothing else, likely the truth if he’d ever met anyone outside of me that was a female before you.”
“That would actually work. It’s close enough to the tr
uth that she wouldn’t be able to tell the division of truth from fiction.” Leaning back, Rimi let out a breath. “Why me?” she asked suddenly. “Why would someone try to kidnap me?” She had been asking that question since she had been saved. “So why me?”
“I don’t know, Rimi,” she admitted freely. “The boys are looking into it. They have Skittles working it from every angle to see what the motive might be. Right now they think it might be money or possibly a power play to get Betsy to do something she doesn’t want to do. But those are the obvious answers of course. Sully told me earlier that they are going to track down everyone you had contact with in the last while and see if someone isn’t who they said they were. Apparently Talon thinks there may have been someone snuggling up to you for no other reason than to learn your patterns.”
That had her frowning. It was clear that her mind began turning over who she had met in the recent months. “I did recently get a new personal assistant. She came highly recommended, but she was so shy. I swear a loud noise would have scared her out of her skin, so I seriously doubt that she could be the one you are looking for.”
“Don’t bet on that, darling. Anything is possible, especially if the agent was well trained. A very well-trained agent can be a chameleon all the way, adjusting as needed in the situation.” Katherine sighed softly as she rubbed at her forehead. She hated the thought someone was out trying to hurt her friend.
Leaning back, Rimi shook her head. “I don’t like this at all,” she admitted. “I’m honestly no one. Yes, I have a bit of money, but no one has ever tried to do anything like this before. I’ve never had to worry about watching my back, because no one actually knew me. I kept a low profile and didn’t run in the ‘moneyed’ circles, mostly because I think those people are pretentious assholes, but still.”
“You’re a bond-mate, Rimi. That makes you very important to your mate at the very least. Plus you are my friend and I love and adore you, Rimi.” Kat looked at her. “I would not be very pleased if anything happened to you.”
Rimi nodded and smiled as she thought about Lee. “I really rather adore him as well. I love you like a sister, but before I met Lee no one knew that I was a bond-mate, so what kind of sense does that make?” she asked quietly. “I mean honestly, what kind of good is that line of thinking?”
“Good point.” Kat frowned and drummed her fingers to the desktop once more. “Are you working on anything sensitive or potentially volatile?” she asked quietly. “Maybe you started something new with someone that is or potentially could be high profile?” Kat asked her as she tried to come up with as many possible and plausible scenarios as she could.
Rimi had to think of it for a moment, and she frowned. “The most potentially volatile or sensitive item I’m working on is a volunteer project with the governor’s wife. I’m helping her to put together a foundation to stop child abuse. She’s a strong opponent against child abuse, and her foundation will work hand in hand with local law enforcement and child protection agencies,” she murmured. “But other than that I really have nothing going on at all. Apart from some real estate that simply won’t sell.”
Shaking her head, Katherine leaned forward to prop her elbows on her desk. “Well, that doesn’t sound like anything that would garner you that sort of unwanted attention. Did they say anything to you to give you any clue as to what or even who might be behind this all?” Kat hadn’t gotten much from Talon, just the barest of details, and that annoyed her at the same time she understood it.
“Nothing,” Rimi whispered. “All that I know was that the realtor who had the house listed, and is a complete douche bag by the way, started to have a fit because I was seeing a client without running it by him first. This is why I ran, that and the really bad feeling I had. See, when I got the text to meet a client, it was from said DB realtor, and when he texted me back acting as if he didn’t have a clue as to what I was talking about, I took that as my cue to get the hell out of there. I didn’t pause. Didn’t hesitate. I sent Sebastian Montrose as far away from me as possible and ran. Thankfully the nav system alerted the police when I hit the panic alarm and I was guided to the nearest police station.”
“Very good and lucky,” Kat said quietly with a frown. “Well, hopefully Skittles can do a little back tracing and figure out just who it was that actually sent you the message. If we can find that maybe we can figure out who the so-called buyer was and, if we’re lucky, figure out who he was working with. In other words, maybe we can find who tried to snatch you and who ordered it.” Because not a single thing so far made a damn bit of sense.
“I certainly hope so, because whoever they are they need to be pulled off the streets before they come for another person.” And sadly they would. “If they would take me off the streets then who would be next?”
“That’s exactly the question,” Kat murmured, watching Rimi very, very closely. She was missing something, something important. There was a piece to all of this that when it fell into place would make complete and total sense. Shaking her head, she stood up and smiled. “Come on, let’s go and get you something to eat. I need more coffee and we still have so much to chat about and catch up on.”
“I have to agree,” Rimi murmured and grinned. “Like how is it being married to not one but three men?” Sure, legally Katherine was only married to one, but they had a civil ceremony to marry her to all three men, and Rimi actually thought that was rather sweet.
“The married part wasn’t all that hard. Finding a bed big enough for me and the bed hogs…” Kat rolled her eyes as they walked toward the kitchen. “You want to hear about a challenge, I can tell ya, sister. I love them to death, each and every single one of them”—she smiled, her heart going all gooey at the thought of her bond-mates—“but some days I could just find the biggest skillet I own and beat them. They are so bloody stubborn it’s not even funny!”
That had Rimi snickering. “Well, Pot, I’m very happy that you have met Kettle. I think that the four of you will be very happy together.” She saw the sparkle in Kat’s eyes and hugged her close to her side. “Besides, seems as if you have had custom made beds for all the rooms. I’m sure that you’ve made some furniture maker and bedding maker exceptionally happy with your new designs.”
“Well, we had to go to a designer.” She grinned, hugging Rimi close to her. “No one had a bed either wide enough for us four or long enough for the guys. I was good in the one that was wide enough, but they were all practically hanging from the knees down off the end. And the one that was long enough”—Kat groaned—“it was like a comedy act gone wrong. I thought the sales guy was going to blow something either from the shock he was getting or from the nearly non-stop laughter that kept coming from him.”
Rimi had to giggle and shake her head. “Yeah I wouldn’t imagine that it is every day that three men and one woman walk into a bedding store and ask for a bed that will fit all of them, especially when the men are as big as your guys are.” Lee wasn’t a small fry either, so Rimi was glad they had a big bed as well.
“Oh yeah, it was a gong show,” Kat told her as they entered the kitchen. “What do you want, Rimi? We have coffee ready at all hours, I can make tea if you prefer, and then we have muffins, cinnamon buns, or raspberry scones all ready. Other than that I can pretty much make you anything and everything you could likely dream up.”
“Coffee and scones sound absolutely heavenly right now.” Rimi loved raspberry anything, tarts, scones, berries, drinks, anything. “You know just what I love and what my weaknesses are, you wonderful wretched woman you.”
“Pure coincidence.” Katherine grinned as innocently as she could. Chuckling, she poured a cup of coffee and grabbed a plate. Setting everything before Rimi, she uncovered the scones and pushed the plate closer to her friend. “They are fresh and likely still warm, so eat as many as you want.” Going back to the coffee maker, Kat poured herself a cup and moved to join her friend on a stool at the large island.
Before Kat was able to get
back to the stools, Rimi had unabashedly downed three of the scones and added another four to her plate. “Oh God, I love these.” Whoever the baker was needed a raise. “So sinfully light and delicious. So very good,” she murmured and licked her finger tips.
Sliding a napkin over to her, Katherine snickered. “Gods, you’re just the same as always. So glad to see getting matched up to a Fae hasn’t changed you in the least,” she teased. “By the way”—Kat shot a look around before leaning in—“some of the girls on base will adore me for the rest of time if I find this out for them. How is making whoopee with a Fae anyway?”
“Amazing. Spectacular. Toe curling. Mind blowing. Sparks flying. Holy hell. Amazing.” Rimi didn’t even hesitate. “He’s so giving and loving.” She flushed as she added, “And huge. Lordy he was huge. God he was amazing. I will never get enough of him. I swear I’m craving him even now.”
“Wow,” Kat breathed out and fanned her face. “All right, I will be sure to pass that along to my guard groupies out there.” And there were many, women that had gotten one look at the Fae Guards and Royal Guards and were all hungry to take a bite of them. Shifting uncomfortably on her seat, Katherine had to wonder when her men were getting home. She had the sudden need to grab them all for a few hours of loving.
“Hopefully he won’t be busy too long today, because I so want to go on a picnic with him or something. I wonder just how much more amazing it would be loving him in nature. Can you imagine? Wow.” Rimi started to fan herself again.
Whimpering slightly, Kat picked up a napkin to try and fan herself with. “Enough of that,” she groaned. “Gods, it’s like I’m in heat every time someone mentions s-e-x around me.” She already needed a change of panties as it was.
