Cyber Illusions: Sensory Ops, Book 6

by Nikki Duncan

  As much as he’d expected, anticipated, his daughter’s lecture about a balanced dinner, he’d also expected another round of questions about what he and Taryn were actually going to do about them. They weren’t talking about it, though, so he had no idea what the plan for the future, at least beyond the summer, was. Every time Sidney or Ryder asked, he hated that he didn’t have an answer.

  He hated it for their sakes as much as his own. And he hated that he and Taryn hadn’t been talking as much.

  “You really miss her, don’t you?” Tyler asked.

  Ryder answered with a simple “Yes.”

  But there was nothing simple about it. The longer they were with him and away from Taryn, the more Ryder retreated into his computer. At night, he was having an increasing number of bad dreams that drove him to Tyler’s room. Tyler was glad Ryder felt safe enough to come to him, but sad that he wasn’t really happy.

  “Tell me, guys, what is it you want?” He knew they’d talked to Taryn about the possibility of living in Florida. They’d even thought in the beginning that he was just going to take them. With the chaos of the case and getting to know each other though, he hadn’t blatantly asked for their opinion.

  The kids looked at each other for a minute and then Ryder looked directly into Tyler’s eyes and answered quietly. “We like it here, but we want to live with Taryn.”

  “Is it California or Taryn you want?”

  “Taryn,” Ryder said. “She’s our mom.”

  His son’s honesty was a taser’s unwelcome jolt. Half expecting it, like he had been, did nothing to soften the blow. His kids liked being with him, maybe they were even growing to love him like he did them, but they loved Taryn more and if push came to shove they would choose her.

  He couldn’t say he blamed them. She’d been all they knew for a long time, and the woman had a way of wriggling beneath a person’s skin, getting into their heart until she lived in their every breath.

  At least that was what she’d done with him.

  While they finished dinner, Tyler listened to the kids talk about all the things they did with Taryn in the summer, things they weren’t getting to do with him because he was working. They told stories about trips they’d taken, silly games they played. She was the rare person who was as good as she sounded, and he didn’t want his kids to have to live without her. Not even for a little while.

  His son had finally called him Dad, and while that filled him with joy, Tyler’s heart was aching that night when he got on the computer and ran a search he’d never imagined himself running. He was looking for job openings within the FBI in California.

  Leaving his team, his family, had always been the last thing he wanted to do. Now, wants didn’t matter. Needs did and he needed to make his kids happy. If he dragged them into court, he’d lose. Even if he won custody, he’d lose because he’d break their hearts.

  Finding nothing listed online, he picked up the phone. Breck answered on the third ring. “Tyler, what’s up?”

  “I think I need a transfer.” He got right to the point. “The kids are happier with Taryn, but I can’t be without them.”

  “I hate to admit it, but I saw this coming.” It sounded so simple when Breck said it, like he should have asked for the transfer as soon as he’d heard about Ryder and Sidney.

  “You’ll approve one?” Without an approval, he’d most likely have to quit the FBI and look for a completely new job in California. He didn’t see himself liking anything as much as he loved working Specialized Crimes, but his life wasn’t himself anymore.

  “You sure this is what you want?”

  “No, but it’s what I need to do for the kids.”

  “I’ll reach out to the California offices to see what they have. It could take a little time.”

  “Thanks.” His soul ached, thinking about leaving the team. They’d saved him from himself when he’d lost his way and every day they’d given him purpose.

  Breck had made the request easy, but it had been the toughest call he ever placed. The upside was that being in California would give him a real chance to develop what he and Taryn had started exploring.

  Kids really did change everything, because without the kids he and Taryn could probably make a long distance thing work. Then again, without the kids he’d have never met her, or given her the chance to prove herself innocent if he had.

  Unable to settle, he called his mom.

  His mom’s standard, “Hey, baby” greeting sounded a little tired. “You okay? You don’t normally call so late.”

  Looking at his watch, he realized he’d probably woken her up, but he was going to finish what he’d started. “Everything’s fine. I need you to come stay with the kids though.”

  “Work?”

  “Taryn.”

  As soon as her involvement in the case had wrapped up, she’d told the kids goodbye and returned to California. In the weeks since they’d talked several times, but their conversations always centered on the kids. He’d tried to talk about them, about what they’d started, but she’d changed the subject, saying she needed to focus on how she was going to rework her show.

  Now that he knew exactly how the kids felt and he’d taken the first steps to make it happen, he wanted to talk to her. Needed to talk to her. Hell, if he was being entirely honest, he needed her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Four a.m. was a number Taryn worked hard at never seeing on her clock. She believed firmly in getting a full eight hours, minimum, each night. With the kids in Miami, she’d been seeing closer to ten, but she’d also been working twice as hard with them gone, because she didn’t have them in the afternoon to remind her to relax and have fun.

  So, when she’d lost herself in packing up the kitchen and hadn’t gone to bed until past one a.m. the last thing she wanted was to wake to the sound of her security alarm at four a.m.

  Heart slamming, alarm blaring, she leapt from bed, grabbed the baseball bat beneath the bed and rushed to the keypad in her bedroom. After punching in her code to deactivate the alarm, she moved to her bedroom door that she closed even when she was home alone.

  The handle turned before she placed her hand on it. Moving aside before the door opened and hit her, she positioned herself against the wall with the bat positioned for a strong swing.

  The door opened. A male figure, silhouetted by the light coming in through the windows stepped in. She raised the bat a little higher and swung down, releasing the tiniest of grunts.

  “Taryn.” The man, Tyler, turned, called her name and raised his hand to stop the bat’s swing all at once. “It’s me.”

  Shaking, she dropped the bat and fell against him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “You scared the crap out of me.”

  “You’re a little scary yourself,” he said, hugging her close.

  The phone rang. Taryn pulled away to answer and assure the alarm company everything was all right. She was shaking pretty violently, but she was okay. After giving them her code and hanging up she sank onto the edge of the bed. Tyler sat beside her, leaving only a few inches between them.

  “I entered the code, but it didn’t work.”

  “I changed it.” Her eyes were adjusting more to the darkness, but she reached for the bedside lamp anyway. “What are you doing here, Tyler? And why are you doing it at four in the morning?”

  “I needed to see you.”

  “About what?” Her heart rate was settling, making room for exhaustion’s return. Her pillow was looking just as tempting as it had a few hours earlier.

  “Us and the kids.” He stood and pulled her covers back. “But it can wait until you get some sleep.”

  “If my sleep mattered to you, you shouldn’t have woken me up.”

  “If you hadn’t changed the code, you wouldn’t have known I was here until you woke up in the morning.” He nodded toward the bed. “Come on. In you go.”

  Too tired to argue, she lay down and settled into her pillow. Her eyelids lowered as he turned off th
e light. Then, to her surprise, he got in bed behind her, draped an arm over her stomach and held her.

  “You too good for the guest room?”

  “When the kids aren’t here, yes.” He smoothed her hair back, brushing his fingers against her forehead. “Now sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”

  Sleep was good.

  Snuggling deeper into him and the satisfaction of his nearness, she closed her eyes and told herself to go to sleep. She was tired and knew she needed to sleep, but its escape didn’t come. Her mind buzzed with questions and possibilities.

  Turning in his arms, she asked, “The kids are okay, right?”

  “Yes. They miss you, but they’re fine.”

  “You didn’t bring them?”

  “Left them with my mom. She’ll spoil them and undo any good you’ve managed before I get home.”

  She fingered the collar of his T-shirt, as the memory of other quiet moments with him returned. “I’m obviously not going to sleep, so why did you need to see me?”

  “Ryder called me Dad. Sidney was lecturing me about pizza not being a real dinner and Ryder stood up for me and called me Dad.”

  Her heart trembled with a mixture of sadness and happiness over what was a big moment for Tyler. It was great that Ryder was coming around to Tyler. For that she was as happy as Tyler sounded. She was sad because of how their feelings could complicate things in a custody battle, though she still wanted to avoid that.

  “You flew here to tell me that?”

  “He’s had some bad dreams and ended up in bed with me a few times.”

  “Really?” The update broke her heart, because he’d gotten over his bad dreams and the need to be in bed with her. “He’d beaten that.”

  “I think it’s from missing you.”

  “He’ll get better. Just be patient.”

  Tyler swept his thumb along her cheek, jaw, lip, staring into her eyes all the while. “Thing is, I don’t want to be.”

  “You’re going to have to be. You’re their father.”

  “You misunderstand. We got to talking over dinner, if you can count take-out as dinner, which Sidney doesn’t.”

  “You eat out a lot, don’t you?”

  He nodded. “I’m a bachelor who’s never learned how to cook. This parent thing, it’s tricky.”

  “They tell me you’re pretty good at it.” She grinned, not surprised, but not bothered by his inability to cook. “So what did they say they wanted?”

  “You. They like my place, Miami, and me, but they want to live with you. To quote them, you’re Mom.”

  “Oh, Tyler.” She flattened her hand over his heart, feeling the heavy beat and imagining how hurt he’d surely felt. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m glad they were honest with me, and I have to say that I see your appeal. You’re the one they’ve always counted on. The one who’s never let them down.”

  “So you came here to talk about what to do with the kids?” She couldn’t pick how she could be feeling. Happy to see Tyler, aroused by his brushing touches, anxious about a custody talk or all of the above. Mind, body and soul she was a confused mess.

  “Sort of. I can’t take you away from them and their lives are here, so I talked to Breck and requested a transfer.”

  “What?” Shocked that he would give up the job he so clearly loved, Taryn lurched up in bed and moved so she could look at him more directly.

  Tyler sat up and turned the light back on. Studying him, she saw the signs of how tired he was. He was still the sexiest man she’d ever known.

  “Why would you do that? You love your job and your family’s there.”

  “I did it for the kids, but I’m hoping you’ll have it in your heart to let me stay here until I get a place of my own and get settled. In the guest room when the kids are here, of course. And I’m thinking if we’re living in the same town we could give this you and me thing a real shot.”

  “No.”

  “No?” He sounded like he hadn’t considered the possibility of a no. “Oh.” Tossing the covers back, he moved to the edge of the bed.

  “You misunderstand.”

  “No seems pretty clear.”

  “No, you can’t move here. To California. No, you can’t stay here. In the guest room or in my room. Not for the reasons you’re thinking.”

  “Then why not? The kids would be happier.”

  “I won’t be here. I’m selling the house.”

  “What? Why? When did this happen? Where are you going?”

  Apparently, waiting to surprise them in Miami wasn’t going to work. “When Kimber got back from Miami and put in her notice.”

  “You’ve lost her too?”

  “No, because I came up with a solution that works for everyone.” A solution she clearly should have shared before he requested a transfer, though it was nice to know he was willing to make the sacrifice.

  “What solution?”

  “I’m selling the house and moving to Miami. Kimber is moving there too, because she eloped with Daryl. The guy from the gala.”

  “You’re…”

  Fighting a sudden bout of insecurity, she poked a fingertip against his knee. “I was going to talk to you.”

  “Before or after you got to Miami?”

  “After. I’ve been focused on getting the house ready to list and packed.”

  “Taryn.” He lifted the finger she was poking him with and linked them together. “Were you going to talk to me about us?”

  “I was hoping you’d be open to it.”

  “I’m open to it.” He grinned, employing all the charm that had won her over.

  Her lips curled with a grin of her own and every trace of exhaustion vanished. Shifting so she sat on her knees, she leaned close and kissed him. She didn’t normally make the first move, and maybe she was a little cowardly to wait until she was certain he’d be receptive, but she was who she was—a confident performer on stage and a woman with insecurities off.

  Pulling back, with her hands braced on his thighs, she pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

  “I don’t want to take the kids away from you, Tyler, but I can’t live without them. The last few weeks have sucked without them. They’ve been my babies since the first time I changed their diapers. I would do anything for them.”

  She kissed the other side of his mouth.

  “Kimber and I are going to regroup when we’re both settled. We’ll plan a new show and put feelers out for some new crew.”

  She kissed the pulse on the left side of his neck, feeling the bump of the beat against her lips.

  “In Miami, you can keep your job, the kids can get to know your family, their family, and you and I don’t have to juggle school holidays or vacations to see them.”

  She kissed the pulse in his neck, on the right side, knowing it was a more sensitive spot than the left. The bump against her lips was harder than on the left, thrilling her that she affected him.

  He smiled. “Best of all, you and I can see where this thing between us will go.”

  “The idea had occurred to me.”

  “You’ve thought a lot about this.”

  “Constantly.”

  “You could have talked to me about it.”

  “I needed to know I was making the move for myself.”

  “You sure it’s what you want to do?”

  “I do too few things for myself.” She slipped her hands up his thighs, pushing beneath the legs of his shorts. “I don’t have a single doubt, Tyler.” Not when it came to her show or the kids or him. “Now, since you’ve broken into my house and jolted me from sleep…” She leaned into his space, nudging him back. “I think you should help me fall back to sleep.”.

  “You’re being so accommodating, I feel I should only do my share.”

  Laughing, she moved into his lap so she was straddling him. She tugged his shirt over his head and took her time exploring his chest. She loved his body, but there was something so appealing about the smatte
ring of chest hair. It could be silken soft beneath her palms. Or tickle her cheek when she rested her head on his chest after they made love. Or tease her nipples as he kissed her and moved her closer to the edge of orgasm.

  “I’m really glad you’re here, Tyler.”

  “Me too,” he said, tugging her shirt over her head.

  “I’m finished talking, though.” Proving her point, she shoved against his shoulders, knocking him to his back. She stripped him of his shorts and slipped off her own. Eager for more of the purest magic she’d ever found, she caressed his legs, kneeling between his knees.

  Her spine tingled and she grew wet enough that even the friction of her legs against each other was a luxurious temptation. Easing her hands back up his legs until she reached his hips, she committed the feel of him to memory.

  Gazes locked, she rested a hand over his erection, curled her fingers around him and swiped the pad of her thumb over his tip. His eyes popped wider. “Taryn?”

  Slow, applying almost no pressure, she massaged him, reveled in his softness when he was anything but soft. Up and down, slow and steady, she moved her hand over him, moving the other hand to cup his balls.

  “I’m really glad you’re here, Tyler.”

  He dug his head into the mattress, and his eyes demanded completion, but he said nothing more than a groaned, “Me too,” and he did nothing to rush her. Every other time they’d been together he’d been in control, leading her body into the dance. Now she was the leader.

  She wanted more, all of him, on her and in her, touching her and filling her. She’d dreamed about him. This was no dream.

  He reached down and rested his hands on either side of her breasts, flexing the tips of his fingers into her flesh. Her body tensed, her breasts grew heavier. With the tension, she gripped him tighter.

  Breaking her gaze from his, she eased down and wiped her tongue across his tip, licking away a drop of come. She’d never wanted to please a man as badly as she wanted to please Tyler. Never wanted to make one squirm, but she wanted to give him everything he’d given her. Plus some.

  Shifting her grip so she only held him at the base of his erection, she tilted her hand so his cock was standing proud away from his body. With a hum of hunger, she licked her lips and then took him into her mouth.