by Katie Reus
“Ah…moving back. Got divorced and figured it was time to return home. Got tired of Florida anyway.”
Brooks walked in then, made a beeline for the coffee maker. “Got tired of Florida or that bi…” He trailed off after his dad cleared his throat sharply, and nodded at Valencia—who was watching them raptly.
“Hey, kiddo,” Brooks said, smiling. “Your mom still asleep?”
She nodded. “We fell asleep in the movie room last night.”
Right around then Martina walked into the kitchen and to Zac’s surprise Douglas grabbed a mug and poured her a cup. “A little bit of cream, right? No sugar?”
Martina’s dark eyebrows rose, but she nodded and sat next to Valencia, sitting the unicorn in her own lap. “Yes, thank you.” She kissed Valencia’s head, then she frowned at Zac. “What’s that supposed to be?”
“Ah…Mickey Mouse.” It looked more like a warped version of South America. He was pretty sure he’d added too much water because it was running everywhere.
Valencia giggled. “It’s not very good.”
“Valencia,” Martina murmured, “that’s not nice.” But she laughed too.
Brooks’s dad actually nudged him out of the way. “Watch a pro handle this.” He pulled out a bag of flour and added some to the mix, thickening it up.
“I feel like I’ve walked into an alternate reality,” Brooks muttered. “My dad’s cooking pancakes.”
Zac hid a grin because it was clear Douglas was trying to impress Martina. Which seemed…odd for the man Zac knew. He’d never seen the man try to impress anyone. Not even his last gold-digger wife who’d been a good thirty years younger than him. He seemed a hell of a lot different than the man Zac had known.
“Sit next to me, Mr. Savage,” Valencia said, pointing to the seat by her. “I want to talk about the turkey play.”
“Call me Zac,” he murmured, pulling the seat out.
“Turkey play?” Olivia asked, stepping into the kitchen entryway, her jet-black hair down and around her shoulders in soft waves.
Wearing jeans and a loose T-shirt, she looked more rested than he’d seen her all week. The stress of the last few days was gone and all he could think about was kissing her senseless. After a long moment when her cheeks tinged pink, he realized he was staring at her. Clearing his throat, he stood and held the chair out for her. “I thought we could put on a play for Thanksgiving since Valencia is missing hers.”
Olivia blinked, but sat in the chair. “I think that’s a great idea.” Warmth infused her voice as she wrapped her arm around her daughter.
Zac got her coffee and fixed it the way she liked—and felt like a randy teenager when their fingers brushed as he set it in front of her. He had to consciously think of things not Olivia naked and stretched out on his bed. Because getting a hard on now simply couldn’t happen.
“Thanks,” she murmured, her cheeks flushing that sexy shade of pink.
He just grunted and moved back to the counter with Brooks as Valencia started chatting about turkeys and costumes.
Zac forced himself not to stare at Olivia, but it was damn hard. As soon as he got a chance, he was getting her alone and talking. Because he wasn’t letting her go without a fight.
Chapter 23
—I may not be your first, but I want to be your last everything.—
Zac knocked on the halfway open door to Olivia and Valencia’s room. It had been two hours since breakfast and he was running out of patience. Olivia stepped out of the walk-in closet and smiled at him, blushing again.
Man, that blush. He cleared his throat. “You got a sec?”
She nodded and set a child’s-size cardigan on the bed before stepping toward him. “Valencia’s at the stables with Martina and Mr. Alexander. I think he’s got a little crush on Martina.”
Zac nodded. A crush indeed. The man was smitten, something he hadn’t thought possible of the other man. Not that he gave a shit about that right now. He just wanted to talk to Olivia. More than talk.
“I just got a text from my neighbor,” she said before he could speak, pulling her phone from her jeans pocket. She handed it to him.
He read it, gave it back. A local DEA agent had come by the house looking for Olivia, wanting to talk to her, and left his card for her to call him. “This is good. It’s what we expected.” After breakfast that morning they’d gone over what the next few steps would likely be. And the DEA would definitely want to talk to her. She just had to stick to the plan.
“I know.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I just want this all over with.”
“When are you going to call the agent?”
Sighing, she perched on the edge of the bed, arms still tight around herself. He didn’t like it. It felt as if she was closing herself off from him. That was unacceptable. “Soon, I guess.”
“You want to go over what you’ll say?”
She started to shake her head, then paused. “I’ll tell them that my ex-husband showed up at my place wanting to talk to me about custody stuff. He’s never shown any interest in our daughter but apparently changed his mind. But it turned out that my ex was the same old jerk. He just wanted to borrow money from me and maybe rekindle the past. When I told him no he got angry and hit me.” She motioned to her face.
“Which your neighbors can corroborate.”
“Yeah. So he left and then somehow knew I’d planned a getaway to Miami with my new boyfriend. Gage will make it look like he’d been stalking me.”
Zac nodded as she continued.
“He confronted me again in Miami, demanded money or he’d make my life hell, would try to get partial custody of Valencia, even threatened her. So we decided to head back to Redemption Harbor where my daughter was staying with friends.”
“The timeline works. You’ll just have to sell it, especially when they ask you about Kyle Neely.”
“I’ll tell them I’d met the man before but didn’t know him. He was just one of my ex-husband’s associates, a man who actually scared me.”
“They’ll push you about the heist—both of them.”
“And I’ll feign ignorance. Act like I have no idea what they’re talking about.”
Zac nodded. “You’ve got a strong timeline to back up your version of events and an alibi for the second heist.”
“One that’s a lie.”
“You’ll make them believe it. And with an ex-husband who had no problem hitting his wife, it’s not much of a stretch that he’d try to hurt you simply because he could, to make you and your new boyfriend look guilty of something you had no part of.”
“Kyle’s the one who tried to sell me out.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Tomato, tomato,” he said, making it sound like tomayto, tomahto. The only way this truly worked was if Agent Moore didn’t turn them in for being part of the jewelry heist. So far it appeared as if he was holding up his end of the bargain. Probably because he was going to get a huge promotion from this. Taking down such a big crew basically by himself would help the man’s career. “And Maxwell and Smith haven’t said a word about you either.” Whatever Leighton had said to them had done its job. They were going to get sentenced but it wouldn’t be too bad, especially since they’d cut a deal and turned on Neely. They’d probably decided to just do their time and not get dead.
“Okay, you’re right. I’ve got this.” Tossing her phone onto her bed she raked her fingers through her hair. “Then hopefully my life will go back to normal.”
“Not completely, I hope.” He shut the door behind him. Because he wanted to be part of her future.
She stood as he did, eyeing him almost warily. Which just annoyed him. Was she really surprised by this?
“Savage—”
“It’s Zac. You don’t get to keep me at a distance anymore. We’ve seen each other naked and I’ve made you come multiple times.” Blunt, raw words. Mainly because he wanted to see her cheeks turn pink again.
They did. She cleared her throat. “That’s…f
air. Look, I don’t want to do this right now.”
“Too bad. We are.” They were finally alone and he needed to get some things out.
She jerked at his tone, her spine going ramrod straight. When she glared at him, he got hard. Because Olivia mad at him was fine by him. Mad, angry, turned on, happy, whatever. He just didn’t want indifference or distance. He wanted her heat and passion. “Fine. What do you want to talk about?”
“Us.” He closed the distance between them and cupped her cheek, rubbing his thumb against her soft skin. He’d never get tired of holding her, touching her. She wasn’t pushing him away either.
For a moment she closed her eyes, leaned into it. He bit back a groan. Such a simple touch shouldn’t affect him but it did all the same.
But just as quickly she shook her head and brushed his hand away. “Look. I know you said what you said because you wanted me to find that gun. I’m not going to hold you to anything. I’m—”
“Are you kidding me?” He kept his voice pitched low even though her words pissed him off. “I didn’t say any of that because I had to. I said it because I meant it.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Her voice wavered slightly.
“You can’t know anything for sure. But you can trust the man who caught you when you were three stories up and your rope was cut. The man who admitted his feelings for you in front of his whole team. Not because I was making shit up as a distraction. I’ve fallen for you, Olivia. I want a future with you.”
She let her arms drop from around herself and laid one hand on his chest. Just that one touch and all the muscles in his body pulled taut. He wanted to feel her hands all over him, stroking and teasing. “Valencia and I are a package deal,” she whispered.
“I know. And I want to get to know her, to be in both your lives. And I understand you can’t just throw some man into her life but I’d like the opportunity to ease into it. To be there for both of you, to be more than your friend.” He did want to be her friend, because he loved everything about her and who she was, but he wanted more. That whole package he’d always convinced himself was bullshit? He wanted it so bad he could taste it. But not with just anyone. Olivia was it.
Her eyes filled with tears and she wiped them away before he could. “Zac, I live in a different state.”
“So? We try long distance and see where it goes from there. Then I’ll move once we get to the point where long distance isn’t working.” Because he knew himself well enough that he couldn’t live far from her for long. No, he wanted to be in her life, not on the periphery.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
He barreled on, needing to get all this out now. “Does that scare you? Because if this is about you not having the same feelings for me, then say it. I’ll walk away right now. I know I screwed up with what I said to Brooks. But I’m owning it. You scare the hell out of me, Olivia. Not an excuse—just the truth.” If she told him she didn’t return his feelings, it would carve him up. But he’d rather know sooner than later. “Just don’t push me away because of something stupid I said or because you’re afraid of the future. Because that’s a cop-out if you do. We deserve to be happy.” Something he hadn’t believed about himself for a long time. Until her.
She swallowed hard, watching him intently for a long moment. “I’m pretty sure that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say at once.”
Okay, she wasn’t pushing him away. Slowly he reached out, grasped her hip. “Olivia—”
The bedroom door flew open and Valencia and Martina walked in. Martina’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of them, then she just grinned. “Douglas and I are taking Valencia for pizza and to see the baby at Mercer’s. I just wanted to get her another sweater. It’s starting to get chilly.” She picked up the cardigan from the bed and tucked it under her arm.
“Do you need extra batteries for her processors?” Olivia asked.
Martina shook her head. “I have everything. Don’t worry about a thing.”
“Mommy!” Valencia ran at Olivia, wrapped her little arms around her waist. “Nana said if I was really good we might get to go see a movie in town tonight. Can we go?”
“Absolutely.” Olivia cupped Valencia’s cheeks before kissing her forehead. “And you can have popcorn, before you ask.”
Valencia smiled up at Savage. “You want to come with us to get pizza, Zac?”
He started to say yes when Martina clucked her tongue. “Mi pequeña, Zac and your mommy have to start on the script for the turkey play. We’ll see them in a few hours. They’ll go with us to the movies.” Then the woman winked at him before hustling Valencia out.
“Did she just wink at me?”
Olivia’s cheeks were full-on crimson now. “Yes. Yes, she did. She pretty much just told us we’d have a few hours to ourselves.”
“I can think of a way to kill time,” he murmured, only slightly teasing.
She cleared her throat. “Can we go to your room? Just in case they come back early.”
Oh, hell. What? “Are you saying…”
She nodded.
His throat tightened and it took all his restraint not to just pick her up and carry her when he wanted to go straight into caveman mode. Grasping her hand in his, he tugged her out into the hallway. As they turned down the next one, Gage was coming out of his room.
The other man opened his mouth to say something, but Zac shook his head. “Unless something’s on fire or it’s an emergency, it can wait.”
Gage just grinned as he looked between the two of them and saluted before heading in the other direction.
“Oh, he totally knows what we’re doing,” Olivia murmured as Zac pulled her into his bedroom.
“Do you care?”
“No.”
“Good.” Everyone in the house could know, for all he cared. That primitive part of him wanted every man here to know she was his. That she was off-limits.
He backed her up against the door and locked it as he crushed his mouth to hers. She hadn’t actually told him she wanted a future with him but he was taking this moment at least.
They’d already proven they worked well as a team and he wanted to show her how good they could truly be together. Because he wanted everything from her.
Arching into him, she immediately grasped at the hem of his sweater and tugged it upward. Her fingers skated over his bare stomach as she lifted it up, up, up—he took over and jerked it over his head. His hands actually shook as he cupped her face, his mouth on hers once again.
All the military training in the world couldn’t have prepared him for Olivia. Being calm and in control around her wasn’t possible. When she grasped at his belt, he pulled back slightly, breathing hard. Keeping his hand over hers, he said, “Not yet.” Because he needed to keep his clothes on for now. At least he needed to keep his dick covered.
He’d been waiting for this, for her, it felt like a lifetime. Who was he kidding? He’d never even thought someone like her existed for him. Olivia was this slice of heaven and he felt damn lucky to know her.
“You’ve tasted me. It’s my turn.” Her dark eyes glittered with hunger.
Groaning, he picked her up and carried her to the bed. He stretched her out underneath him, caging her in with his arms and body. “You’ll get your turn—but I’m tasting you first. I need you to come before I’m inside you.” And…that was when he realized he didn’t have any condoms. “I don’t have any protection.” In Miami things had never gotten that far—because he’d been a dumbass, still trying to resist her.
She paused, pushing up on her elbows. “I’m on the pill. And I’m clean…it’s been years.”
“I am too. I was tested a year ago and I haven’t been with anyone in…longer than that.” He’d been all about the one-night stands for so damn long but that had lost its appeal long before his last abandoned job in Hong Kong. God, that seemed like a lifetime ago. Back then he’d never imagined working with his friends, making a difference like this—or me
eting someone like Olivia.
Her eyes widened slightly. “Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Have you seen you?” She trailed a finger down the planes of his abdomen, making his muscles tighten and his cock kick against his zipper.
He wanted her mouth and hands all over him. “Right back at you, sweetheart.” He slanted his mouth over hers again, teasing his tongue against hers. He wanted to devour her.
She touched him everywhere as they kissed, her fingers dancing over his back, his stomach, up over his chest and shoulders. It was as if she couldn’t get enough of him.
Good, because he felt the same. He’d never been possessive before but when it came to her, it washed over him. Possessiveness and protectiveness.
He still couldn’t get the image of her free falling down the side of that building out of his head. For the first time in years he’d felt true fear. The kind that sliced into a person with talons. He needed to erase that image, to mark her as his. If only for now. Because it would be a while before he could forget that.
Even though she said she wanted to taste him, he stripped her down, taking his time, unwrapping her like the present she was. First her jeans, then her sweater until she was in her lacy bra and panties.
Her breasts weren’t more than a handful. Perfect for him. Only him.
Leaning down over her, he just tugged the cups down, not taking her bra off completely, and sucked one nipple into his mouth. Instead of teasing, working her up to it, he sucked on it hard.
She arched off the bed and wrapped her legs around his waist, making the sweetest moaning sound. If he hadn’t still been wearing his pants, he’d have thrust inside her.
He rolled his hips against hers as she did the same to him. With her, he wanted to do more than just fuck. And he realized that was all he’d ever had. But with Olivia, it would be more.
Everything with her was more, real.
She dug her fingers into his back hard, holding on to him as if she thought he might stop. Hell no.
His cock pushed against the zipper of his pants but first he had to taste her again. He wanted that sweetness on his tongue when he pushed inside her.
