by Lexi Blake
“I’ll give you everything you need this time. I won’t miss a minute,” he vowed as he nestled beside her and his hand skimmed down from her breasts to the apex of her thighs. “I love you so much. You won’t regret it.”
She never would. Even during the dark times she hadn’t been able to regret being with this man because he’d given her Vi.
The minute his finger slid over her clitoris, she could barely breathe.
“I need you to give me one because I’m already close. I lose all control when I’m with you. Maybe after we do this a couple of hundred times, I’ll be able to make it last,” he whispered. “You drive me crazy in the best way possible.”
He’d told her to give, but he was the one giving. His fingers pressed and rotated, igniting a spark she couldn’t deny. Sensation swamped her and every inch of her flesh seemed lit from within as the orgasm took her.
Then he was moving, turning over and offering himself up. Even through the haze of her pleasure, she could see he was in the same position she’d been in when he’d entered the room, on his back, giving himself to her the way she had.
“I want to watch you,” he said. “I want to watch us.”
He wanted to watch as she sank onto his cock? She could make that happen. Every limb felt loose but she straddled him. She gripped him, stroking that big dick of his and watching as he gritted his teeth and his eyes threatened to roll to the back of his head.
“Roni, please.”
Everything about him pleased her, but she knew what he wanted. She lined his cock up and let herself sink on. He filled her up, every inch a new decadent sensation to be had. She lowered herself onto his dick, going slow and watching his every move. His hands came to clutch at her hips, but she wouldn’t hurry this. He was a gorgeous sight, his stark blue eyes watching her body. Nothing in the world had ever made her feel as powerful as when Tucker looked at her like that, like she was a goddess, like he needed her more than air or water or food.
She began to move, lifting her body up and letting it slide back down. Over and over she impaled herself on his cock.
“That’s what I want,” Tucker groaned and his hands tightened around her. He moved against her. He never took his eyes off her, his gaze shifting between watching her face, moving to her breasts, and then down to the place where he could watch her take his cock. She tightened around him, feeling the orgasm about to take over again.
It sent a shudder through her and then she felt Tucker’s body go taut beneath her, felt him shake as he came deep inside her.
Peace overwhelmed her as she let herself fall forward against his chest, listening to the thundering beat of his heart.
His hands wound around her, holding her tight. “Oh, we’re going to have to practice that a lot. I mean a lot, baby. Maybe I don’t always have to be in control. You seem to take the reins nicely.”
She was so happy. “I can do that. Especially if we move back to your hometown. It sounds like we won’t be going out…” She rolled to the side and sat up, her heart thumping for a different reason. “Jennings. You called it Jennings.”
He smiled and reached up to cup her cheek. “I know. I remember where it is. I remember that it’s beautiful when the snow falls. I remember we used to keep horses. I remember what our cabin looked like and how good it was to be warm and safe inside it.”
“When did you remember?” Shouldn’t he have led with that information? “Have you called her?”
“I didn’t remember until you called me your husband and I thought about how we could get married in the mountains,” he said quietly. “I saw you standing there on our big front porch. You and Vi, dressed for a wedding. Our wedding. My mother’s name is Sharon Seeger and she will be waiting. She won’t have moved. She won’t have given up. In that cabin in the woods where I grew up, she’s going to bed tonight and she’ll pray that I come home. She’ll do it every day until she gets her sons back.”
Her tears began at the thought of her future mother-in-law waiting for her babies. She’d been apart from Vi for a few days and it had seemed like forever. “We should call her.”
He tugged her back down. “We will. We’ll go upstairs and get my brother and we’ll call Mom. You know why I really remembered?”
She looked down at him, at this man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. “You remember best when you’re in the place, so no, I don’t.”
He held her tight. “I was thinking that you’re my home. I was settled and happy and I realized no matter what, I’m home with you. And that’s when I remembered.”
She laid her head on his chest and held him, her whole soul complete.
Chapter Nineteen
Jennings, Wyoming
Four days later
“Stop. I want to look at it for a minute,” Robert said, his voice going hushed. “I remember this.”
Tucker parked the car at the beginning of a long gravel road that led to the house he and his brother had grown up in. It was the road that would lead them home, but then they’d been on it for a long time when he thought about it. Ever since that day when he’d realized his brother was alive, he’d been driving them right back here.
“It’s beautiful,” Ariel said. She was seated behind her husband, leaning forward, her hands on his shoulders as she looked out the window at the sea of trees around them. In the distance, snowcapped mountains marked the horizon. Those mountains always had snow on the top, even in the middle of summer.
“It is.” Roni sat behind him, Vi in a car seat between her mom and her Aunt Ari.
“This is where the bus would drop us off,” he said to his brother. Robert was remembering more and more, but Tucker’s memories of this place had practically flattened him the minute he’d heard his mother’s voice over the phone. So much of his life had rushed in, overwhelming him with precious memories.
The smell of her banana bread. The way she kissed his boo-boos before putting a bandage on them. The way she’d leaned over and kissed his chest, right over his heart when his first girlfriend had broken up with him because she’d said a broken heart was far worse than a skinned knee.
The way she’d loved them.
It had come back in a wave of emotion that had left him shaking and happy. Roni had sat up all night listening to stories about his childhood. About his mother and grandfather, and how he and his brother had run wild through the Wyoming wilderness.
Up ahead they could make out the big log cabin they’d called home.
Rob unhooked his seatbelt and got out of the SUV they’d rented in Laramie. He stepped out and looked around, taking in his home once again. “It was thirty minutes into town, but longer in the winter. God, this place is beautiful in the winter.”
Rob might remember some things, but he was selectively forgetting a few. He eased out of the vehicle and moved to stand by his brother, looking out over the long drive that led from the road to the big cabin their grandfather had built with his own hands back in the fifties. “It was cold, Rob. So freaking cold. We complained bitterly during our high school years.”
Rob’s face lit up. “I didn’t. You were the whiny one. I was built for the cold. And Mom would stand out here with us. She would have a thermos of hot chocolate to keep us warm. God, we’re about to see our mom.”
He put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We are.”
“Hey, why don’t you two walk down there and Roni and I will follow you,” Ariel suggested.
Roni had gotten out of the SUV and leaned against the side. “Vi’s asleep anyway. And you said the walk after school from the road to the house was a special time for you two. You’re home. Take that walk with your brother.”
He strode to her, closing the space between them. That space meant nothing since she was always in his heart, no matter where she was. “Give us a couple of minutes and then join us. It’s not that…”
She went on her toes and kissed him. “No explanations are necessary. That woman has waited a long time. She des
erves a couple of moments with her boys. You should enjoy the attention because once she gets a look at her grandbaby, it will all be over. She’ll fall madly in love with Vi.”
God, he loved this woman. It had all been worth it because she was here with him. “She will indeed. See you in a few.”
He handed her the keys as his brother kissed Ariel and joined him at the top of the drive.
“Grandad didn’t want to pave this because he said it would make it easier for people to get to the house. You know for a small-town doctor, he was a little curmudgeonly.” Rob stared straight ahead.
It was good his brother was remembering on his own. “He was a character.”
“I’m nervous,” Rob admitted.
The hard dirt and gravel crunched under his feet in a beautifully familiar way. “Why? If anything, I should be nervous. I believe I promised her I would have you home soon. It took me a long time. She might make me sit in the corner.”
Rob snorted, an amused sound. “She was a terrible disciplinarian. All we had to do was look sad and she gave in. I loved her. I loved her so much. She was always worried that she wasn’t enough after Dad left but she was.”
“She was everything and there’s nothing to worry about. I’m glad it happened and I’m going to tell her that. I’m glad because we’re here,” he admitted.
Rob nodded. “I’m glad we’re here, too.”
Here meant Roni and Vi and Ariel. Here might not have been where they had thought they would end up. Something terrible had happened, but they’d survived. They’d lived and sacrificed and built families.
“Even though we couldn’t remember her, she was with us,” Tucker said, emotion welling as the door to the cabin came open and a petite woman with steel-colored hair walked out, her hand to her heart.
Rob stopped and stared. “Mom.” Tears started streaming down his brother’s face. “Oh, I missed her. I missed her so much.”
“Last one home has to do the dishes.” Tucker felt a fierce smile cross his face. It had been their game. It had taken him years to beat his brother, though Rob had always winked and helped him after supper anyway.
Because he’d been the best big brother.
Tucker took off, jogging to meet the woman who had waited so faithfully for her sons to come home. All the years they’d been gone, she’d hoped and prayed and never given up.
Rob fell in beside him, racing toward their mom.
And when her arms were around him, when they were finally together, his job, the one he’d begun so many years before, was done.
He was home.
* * * *
London, England
The man who called himself Ezra Fain sat back and wondered how bad this particular meeting was going to go.
Because it was definitely going to go bad. He could feel it. There had been something in Levi Green’s eyes as they’d hauled him away that day in Paris. He hadn’t been upset. There hadn’t been worry or even hope in his eyes.
There had been something far more frightening stamped on his face.
Triumph.
“I hear the lads are happy.” Damon Knight sat across from him looking like he fit perfectly well in the efficient conference room. Though it wasn’t the one at The Garden, Knight still looked like he owned the place. Of course, at one point he’d belonged here since this was MI6 headquarters.
“Yes, I talked to Tucker and Rob last night. They’re thrilled to be home. I think Rob will come back to work, but you’ve probably lost Tucker. He’s already talking about finishing up his residency as soon as he can. He and Veronica are both looking to restart their medical careers.”
Damon nodded at him from across the conference table. “I always knew I would lose some of them. Most of them, really, since Sasha and Dante are gone. Jax and River are already on their way back to Colorado. Owen and Rebecca are spending some time in Scotland, but he’s assured me he’s coming back. Of course, at some point Rebecca will need to move and we’ll lose him, too. Funny, isn’t it? When Tag first foisted that crew on me, I couldn’t wait to get rid of them. I suppose we all get attached to strays. Makes it hard when they find their homes.”
“I think they’ll always come back for a visit. You won’t get rid of them so easily, but damn it’s good to see them happy,” he admitted. Although it left him wondering what the hell he was going to do next. The Lost Boys had found their places in the world, but he was still floating, still completely unanchored.
Because she was always the one who grounded you. Or rather, you grounded her and that was your place in the world. Watching her fly.
He shut that voice down because he wasn’t giving in. Being around her so much in the last few months had softened him up. Being around her smile and all that freaking blonde hair that ended up everywhere, and the way she could look at him like he was a god on earth.
“Solo really came through,” Damon was saying. “Once we turned over that data, she got pardons for Tucker and Jax within hours. I have to say I’m impressed with how quickly she worked. Especially since she was rather annoyed with you.”
Annoyed wasn’t the word he would use. Kim had felt utterly betrayed by him. His plan to distract her had worked. He’d started a fight. She’d never been able to back down, and he could keep it going forever.
Of course, he’d considered distracting her another way. He’d thought about backing her up against the wall and pressing his body to hers. Kim was the single most sensual woman he’d ever met, and she’d always responded to him like he was the only man she wanted to touch her.
Unfortunately, he definitely wasn’t the only man she’d wanted.
“Yes, she seems determined to do this right,” he replied. And then it would be over. That’s what she’d told him. She’d told him he’d finally gone too far when she realized he’d distracted her and let Levi Green escape with Tucker and Rob. The look on her face…he’d thought he was over such silly notions as shame, but he’d felt it in that moment. He glanced toward the doors. “Where is everyone else?”
Damon looked down at his watch. “They should be here soon. I was disappointed we were left out of the initial meetings.”
“Have you been out of the game so long you forgot how this works?” He’d known damn well the minute the Agency got their hands on that thumb drive that they would only see the information the Agency wanted them to. “We’re private citizens. We’re lucky they’re willing to talk to us at all.”
Damon frowned, a supremely arrogant look. “I don’t like being on the outside. I don’t like not controlling things. I know Rupert has been accommodating since that bloody Kronberg employee he brought along went rogue, but I have a bad feeling about this.”
It was good to know he wasn’t the only one. “I do, too. Something’s off about this whole thing.”
The door came open and there she was. Kimberly Solomon, used to be Kent. His one-time wife. The only woman he’d ever loved, and the only one he’d ever hated. Sometimes he thought he clung to the hate with every bit as much vigor as he’d held on to the love.
“Hello, Beck.” She moved to the seat furthest from him, putting her ridiculously expensive handbag on the table in front of her. “Damon, it’s good to see you.”
“And you, Solo,” Damon returned. “I want to say thank you for everything you did for the lads. I suspect you’re the only reason we’re here today, too. I appreciate it all.”
She sank into her seat, not looking his way. “I’m glad it worked out. But I’ve got to admit they’ve been stonewalling me about that drive. I tried to go back to DC to help analyze the data and I was told to stay here in London to liaise with MI6. I think someone convinced the big bosses that I’m too close to the subject. I have to wonder if that was you, Beck.”
He shook his head, rather hurt at the suspicion in her eyes. Even when he was horrible to her, when they fought like cats and dogs, she didn’t look at him like he was the bad guy. “No. Why would I try to put you on the outside? We kind of nee
d you on the inside. Are you telling me you haven’t seen the report?”
He didn’t like the sound of that. This had been Kim’s op. She should have been the one trying to decrypt the data, or at least it should have been her team doing it.
Damon seemed to have the same concerns. “Who is running the op now?”
She shrugged. “No idea. I suppose it’s one of the big guys. I’ll find out when they walk through the door.”
“Kim, whose name is on that list?” A chill crept up his spine. There was supposed to be a list of everyone who’d worked with McDonald.
What had Levi said? That he’d been waiting. That he’d been patient.
What if this had been Levi’s play all along?
She blinked as though thinking. “What do you mean?”
The doors came open and his worst fear walked right in wearing a three-piece suit and looking like a complete douchebag. Levi Green was back and he’d prettied himself up for the occasion. And he’d brought friends. Friends who probably had lots of guns.
Fuck. He was caught and he was about to be arrested because that fucker had stacked the deck. Anger flushed through his system and he thought seriously about going down in a blaze of glory.
This was what Levi had waited for, why he hadn’t broken under torture. He’d known this was coming because he’d set it up years ago.
He’d set up his worst enemy to take a fall no one would see coming. Somehow, Levi had put his name on that list. He just knew it.
Levi smirked as he stood at the head of the table. “Hello, all. It’s so good to be back.”
Kim stood, a look of horror dawning on her face. “What are you doing here? Why have you been released?”
“My darling, not only have I been released, I’m back to my full duties, and unfortunately the first is a bit distasteful,” Levi said, his voice silky smooth. He glanced back at the small army he’d brought with him. “Gentlemen, it’s time.”
