by Dale Cadeau
Clay heard everything James was telling him, but his gut was telling him that time was of the essence. He barreled through most intersections with no regard for traffic and just sped up faster and maneuvered around any cars in his way.
Finally he spotted Howard Street and made a sharp right turn. James was glad he had his seat belt on. Otherwise he would have been sitting in Clay’s lap.
Pulling up outside the warehouse, Clay jumped out of his truck and noticed that Brad’s truck was already there, but there was no sign of the black panel van.
Throwing open the door, he entered a large dark room. Even with the light from the open door, all he could see was dust rising from the floor. Stopping for a minute for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, he noticed that James was now beside him. Although he still wasn’t happy with how he had handled this investigation, he was glad that James was by his side now when it counted.
As his vision cleared, he could see a large industrial warehouse room, nothing special. In the middle was a single chair. Looking closer, Clay could see that the person on the chair was Laura.
With his heart in his throat, Clay ran to her side. He dropped to his knees and hugged her, chair and all. He was so glad she was alive. His overactive imagination had turned up every gruesome scenario that he had ever experienced before.
“Clay, you came for me,” Laura spoke in a hoarse voice. “Can you give me a hug later and maybe untie me from this damn chair?”
Clay leaned back on his knees and just took her face in his hands and gave her a scorching kiss.
James leaned down and touched his shoulder. “Clay, let the woman go and untie her. You can kiss and make up later.”
Clay let her go and looked up at James. “Isn’t she the most beautiful woman on the face of the Earth? And she’s mine.” Clay then got up from his knees and proceeded to go behind the chair and untie the ropes holding her.
“Well, she is beautiful, Clay, but I would have add a couple more to the list of the most beautiful women on Earth. I think Avery and Cyn fit into that category also. Our woman are in a class all their own,” James added as he watched Angel and Brad come in through the back door of the warehouse.
“You’re right, James. To each his own.” Clay was now standing with an arm around a disheveled Laura. Looking down at her, he asked her if she was hurt.
“No, not hurt, but very thirsty, and I could use something to eat now that I can breathe.”
Clay started for the door, Laura grasped tightly to his side. Suddenly he stopped and looked back at the three men standing around the chair in the warehouse. “What happened to the assholes that took Laura? This looks too easy.”
James spoke up as he picked up the rope and started gathering it up. “We missed it, big guy. Angel and Brad took them out and they are both tied up out back in their truck. Don’t worry. We’ll update you later. Just take care of Laura and leave the rest to us.”
“God, you’re the best friends a guy could have. I won’t forget this. Ever.” Clay turned back to the front door and lead Laura out to his truck.
Once outside, Clay helped Laura into his truck and fastened her seatbelt. “Are you sure you’re OK? Maybe we should go to the hospital and get you checked out.”
Laura reached down and laid her palm on the side of Clay’s face. “I’m OK, Clay, just dirty, hungry, and thirsty. Just take me home, please.”
“No, Laura, you’re coming to my apartment. I’m not letting you out of my sight, now that I’ve found you.” Clay took her hand from his cheek, turned it over, and kissed her palm, then laid her hand in her lap and closed the truck door.
Angel opened the door of the warehouse and watched Clay and Laura leave. Pushing it farther open, he, Brad and James walked out.
“When do you think he will clue in?” Angel asked James.
“Well, I for one hope that it’s after the two of them are hitched. I don’t want the big guy up my ass. Even if we did it for his own good,” Brad replied and he walked to the driver’s side of his truck.
James walked and opened the passenger door and waited until Angel had gotten in the backseat.
“We can only hope,” he replied with a smile and got in the truck and slammed the door.
* * * *
Clay and Laura arrived back at his apartment. They hadn’t spoken on the ride. Clay got out and escorted her up to his apartment. Opening the door, he bid her to enter. “It’s not much, but I call it home.”
Laura looked around the living room of Clay’s small apartment. She could see a small kitchenette off to the side and a hallway leading to the bedroom. “It’s great, Clay. I didn’t get a good look at it the last time I was here. Can I have something to drink and then maybe a shower?”
Clay closed the front door. “Sorry, Laura, I’m not thinking too well right now. Sit down and I will get you something. Water, juice, beer? I don’t have too much to offer right now, sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, Clay, water is fine. You have nothing to be sorry about. You just saved my life.”
Clay walked in the kitchenette and took a glass from the cupboard and ran water from the tap. He brought it back to Laura, who had taken a seat on his couch. “Here you go. Sorry I don’t have any bottled stuff.”
Clay, after handing her the glass, took a seat across from her in his big lazy boy chair.
“Clay, you are being ridiculous. I don’t care that you don’t have bottled water. I thought you knew me well enough to know that I’m not high maintenance. I couldn’t be, after dodging the Feds and the General for the last ten years. I make do with what I have and am satisfied. Now why are you sitting way over there? Do I stink? I know I need a shower, but you didn’t mind hugging me back at the warehouse.”
Clay smiled and moved over beside Laura on the couch. “I didn’t know if I would be welcome now that the danger is over.”
“Well, I don’t want you have the wrong impression now. Why don’t I show you?” Laura got up from the couch and faced Clay and lowered herself onto his lap. “Please forgive me for chasing you away, when all you were doing was trying to keep me safe. If it hadn’t been for you and your team, I probably would be six feet under with the General dancing on my grave.”
Clay took her chin in his hand and made her to look directly into his eyes. “Don’t even think that. You would have come out of this OK, with or without our help. In fact I think the General was gunning for us as much as you. So don’t blame yourself. And as far as me being a bit overbearing…”
Looking at her smile, Clay amended his sentence “OK, very overbearing. I love you Laura and that just brings out the protector in me. I’ve trained all my life to protect people and you are the most precious thing in this world to me. So I will try and not be so pushy but you have to give me some slack, too. Especially when I think you’re in danger. “
Laura put a hand on his cheek, then reached out and gave him a kiss which she hoped told him her feelings. She knew it wasn’t enough, by the look of hope in Clay’s eyes. Clay had been brave enough to tell her. She couldn’t leave him hanging.
Pulling away from the kiss, just leaving her breath mingling with his, she looked deeply into his gray eyes and said, “I’m sorry I pushed you away, Clay. I’ve been on my own so long. It was just easier to keep running than to start fighting. I blamed myself for everything that happened, not just to your unit and their women, but also to the people over the years who have been hurt. It was hard for me to understand that it was the General who caused all of those things, not me. I’m not to blame, and I’m not just going to let myself be a victim.” She gently caressed Clay’s cheek as her own cheeks were splashed with tears. “I’m going to stay here and I’m going to fight. I love you, Clay. Please forgive me.”
Clay rose with Laura in his arms and started down the hallway to the bedroom. “Let me prove to you we belong together.”
Laura squealed at Clay’s abrupt rise from the couch and grabbed on to his arms. “Shower first.”
&
nbsp; “OK, love, but I got a bit dirty in the warehouse myself. What if we share a bath?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Clay woke the next morning a well saturated man. He had reached time and again for Laura throughout the night. She had just tasted better and better every time. He had never known his cock to be so hard and to recover so fast. He finally had to stop when Laura told him they could take their time, there was no rush. They had plenty of time now that they had found their way back to each other again.
It was when she was straddling him that last time and he was lifting her up and down on his cock that he noticed again how beautiful this woman was to him and she fit him like a glove. There was no way that he was letting her go. So on the downward stoke he held her hips tightly to his and asked her to marry him.
She had been trying to lift up at the time, but stilled and looked down at him, her eyes filling up with tears.
“Did I hear you right?”
“I love you, Laura. Will you marry me? I know I should wait, but I can’t. I feel so complete when I’m so deep inside of you. Please say yes.”
“…Well, I would have liked us both to have clothes on when you asked. So we could tell our children, and all that, but I’m sure if we put our heads together, we can make up a story they will believe.” Laura laughed with happiness and wiped her tears away.
“Of course I’ll marry you. Now get back to work. I don’t like a lazy man,” Laura said, and she leaned down, grabbed his shoulders, and gave him a quick kiss.
Clay listened to his woman and continued thrusting deeply into her, until she broke with rapture and he followed her over.
Smiling at the memory, Clay moved his arm from under Laura’s head, gentle as not to awake her. When he saw that she just hugged the pillow and nestled in the bed more, he moved sideways and put his legs over the bed and on the floor.
Looking back at Laura, he scratched his head and wondered, why a gentle sophisticated woman like her would want to be with a big tattooed bruiser like him? He didn’t like where his thoughts were taking him, so he picked up his pants off the floor and put them on. Grabbing his cell on the nightstand, he made his way into the living room then into the kitchenette. Turning the coffee pot on, he sat down at the small table and called James.
“James here,” James answered with a sleep-ruffled voiced “Do you never sleep, Clay? I just want you to know for the future, that I do. And it’s five a.m., and unless there’s an emergency, I would like to continue. So make it quick.”
“James, can I borrow the jet later today?”
“Sure, we don’t have anything on the go at the moment. What do you want with it?” James asked with interest.
“I want to take Laura away for a few days, nothing more. I just thought it might do her good to get away from this place for a while.” Clay ignored his interest. James had a way of finding out anything he wanted, but not this time.
“Good idea. Where are you going and for how long?”
“Don’t know just yet. I have to talk it over with Laura. I’ll make all the plans, James. You just go back to sleep, I’ll talk to you later.” Clay dropped the call before James could ask any more questions.
Pouring himself a cup of black coffee, he went back to his desk in the living room.
Booting up his computer, he starting looking up the best places to take Laura to get married without delay. He wasn’t going to let her go now that she had made a commitment to him. She was his. Now he just had to have his ring on her finger. Knowing he would have to have a plan in place and a good one when she awoke in a couple of hours, Clay hunkered down and started his search.
Two hours later Clay sat back from his computer nursing his third cup of coffee, but with a plan in place.
Laura awoke with a rush. At first she didn’t know where she was, but as she looked around Clay’s bedroom it came back to her.
Stretching out muscles that had been aching from their workout last night had her groaning and smiling at the same time. What a night! Now she just had to make sure that Clay never found out what his friends had done for them. The sooner she could get him to a preacher or Justice of the peace, the better. She knew it was probably dirty not telling him first, but his friends had given her this one chance. They all said Clay would see reason after everything was said and done. Plus, Clay was a stubborn man. He had been moping, according to his friends, but trying not to let on. They had had enough. She had also come around to their way of thinking after Avery and Cyn had sat her down and made her listen until she acknowledged that what had happened wasn’t her fault.
She had a choice. She could either live with her guilt or live with Clay. After she thought about it, there really wasn’t any choice. She loved Clay and wanted him by her side always. There was bound to be a confrontation between the guys and the General at some time. Her part in it had helped by exposing the General for what he was and it really had helped the unit’s case going forward.
Clay watched as Laura came out from the bedroom. What a vision. She was wearing one of his old T-shirts that barely left her knees showing and her hair had that messy just-out-of-bed look. But to Clay she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen, and she made him catch his breath every time she was near.
“What are you doing?” Laura asked him as she sidled up to his chair and took his coffee cup and helped herself to a sip.
“Yuck, this is like oil.” Laura made a face after her first taste.
Clay just laughed and pulled her on his lap, taking his cup from her and setting it down on the desk near the computer. “Sit for a minute and listen to what I found out and see if you approve my plans.”
“Well, I’ll try, but I really don’t think too well until I have my first coffee.”
Clay just hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll get you coffee in a minute. Look at this.” Clay turned her in his lap so she was facing the computer monitor. He had a word document with points of interest and places in Vegas with pictures. At the bottom of the page was a beautiful picture of a small chapel.
Laura looked over the document and turned an astonished look at Clay. “You are very detail oriented aren’t you? It’s very nice and if I read between the lines, this is where you want us to go.”
Clay took her chin in his hand. “You are very special to me. I don’t want to waste time. I want you to be mine as soon as possible. I know it’s not the most romantic, but it is the fastest. We can do something else later, with our friends, but I need to know that you’re mine and the sooner I get a ring on your finger the better I’ll feel.”
Laura wrapped her arms around Clay’s neck. “You’re bossy and I know I should have some input. But damn, I want you, too. So I agree with everything you have here.” She gave Clay a small kiss. “But it would go down better with a hot cup of coffee.”
Clay gentle untucked her arms from around his neck and kissed her nose. Lifting her off his lap, he gave her ass a small tap and helped her sit back in the chair. “Whatever my lady wants, is what she will get.” Clay walked into the kitchenette, whistling a tune a little off-key.
Laura just drew her legs up onto the chair and hugged them. She was so happy, she felt like whistling, too.
* * * *
The day passed in a whirl for Laura. Clay had taken her for a brief stop at her home to grab some essentials then whisked her off to the airport where a larger jet was standing by.
After the jet was fueled up, they were in the air and a few hours later were touching down at the Vegas airport. Clay wasn’t surprised when they found a limo waiting for them.
Clay just sighed as he helped Laura into the limo. Just as he was about to follow her in, his cell phone rang. It was James. He didn’t want to take it, but with the last few days and everything that had happened, he knew he couldn’t ignore it. Plus the limo kind of gave away the fact that they knew where they were.
Pulling it out of his pocket he barked, “Clay,” into the phone.
/> James answered with a smile in his voice. “I found out where you were off to and just wanted to let you know that I got the penthouse at the best hotel in Vegas, which I just happen to own a stake in and it’s ready and waiting for you. The guys and I thought that you and Laura deserved some time alone and we wanted you to have the best. You will also have a surprise waiting for you.”
Clay was just going to growl back at James that he hoped it was a good surprise, when the call was dropped. Clay just shook his head and put his cell away and followed Laura into the limo.
Once Clay was seated beside her, Laura turned to him. “Clay, we don’t have to go to this expense, a limo and everything.”
Clay just lifted her hand from his thigh and brought it to his lips and kissed it. “The limo is probably from Chase, he’s James’s brother. It seems that no matter where the jet lands, there’s always a limo waiting. I just now accept it. As for the rest, we will both have to wait and see. That was James on the phone. He has booked us in some penthouse and said there was a surprise. I could never second-guess James, so anything could be waiting for us.”
“How did he know where we were going? Didn’t you just decide this morning?”
“I don’t know why I’m surprised, but James has a way of finding out things almost at the same time you think them up. It’s great for our business but not so much when you want to disappear.” Clay just squeezed her hand as the limo drove them down the main drag of Vegas and to the hotel.
The manager of the hotel met them at the front desk and took them personally up to the penthouse. Opening the double doors to the suite, Laura gasped.
“Hope that Sir and Madam are happy with the suite. Mr. Braden called ahead and made all the arrangements.” He closed the doors softly behind him and Clay just laughed and Laura gave another gasp.
The plush suite was full of flowers of every color and type from exotic to daisies. Walking into the living room, they found a table laid out with finger food and a bottle of champagne on ice. Clay noticed a note attached to the ice bucket and pulled it off and opened it.
