by Billi Jean
“Uh, isn’t that an engagement ring?” she asked, doing that cute wrinkle with her nose.
“Why can’t it be an engagement necklace?” he countered, and pulled the thing from the box. The clerk had taken off the price tag, thankfully, so Paris didn’t see that. He had a feeling Paris was frugal with her money.
He held it up, and had to admit it was worth every penny to see the shock on Paris’ face. She glowed, and the happy squeal and smile he got was worth ten hundred of the damn things. She hugged him again then turned on his lap and lifted her hair. It took him a vital second to figure out that the squeal meant yes, she’d marry him, and she wanted him to put the necklace on her now.
“David?”
“Right.” He felt as if the world had just been lifted off his shoulders. He kissed her bare left shoulder and tucked the shirt back into place before he put the necklace on. It was so small and the tiny latch a hell of a tough ticket when he couldn’t get his hands to stop shaking. Finally he got it on and she turned, giving him a sunny, happy smile before she kissed him.
Married. She was going to marry him. For real. Not yet, though. Not a chance. He wanted to give her the whole shebang. The white dress, the carpet, the flowers, the beach or a sunny garden. Somewhere romantic after.
“Start thinking on that dress, Paris, because when we tie the knot, it’s not coming undone. And we’re picking up those rings,” he said, then at her frown, he rethought the order. “If you like them, I mean.”
She squeezed her arms around his neck and laughed. “I will like them. And no way are you leaving my sight again. Not even when you’re sixty and going through that midlife crisis thing.”
“I thought that happened in the forties?”
“Well, you’re what, thirty now, and you’re still acting like a kid, so I was betting on sixty being—ahhh!”
He took that bet, and if they hadn’t been in a mall, he’d have taken a heck of a lot more.
“I love you, Paris—soon to be Jansen.”
Her eyes got all round and shimmery and her smile lit up her face. “Oh, David.”
Chapter Sixteen
“This is not a plane, this is a private jet.”
“I know, it’s for us. Faster,” David added, and pushed against her lower back to get her moving. “Back, see the door, we take that.”
She did, and stumbled inside to see an amazingly cozy cabin, complete with bed, bathroom and a few windows. David shut the door behind her, threw the crutch down and sat heavily on the bed.
“Is your leg hurting?”
“Naw, just tired. How about we sleep?”
“Oh, sleeping sounds wonderful,” she said, sighing.
“You didn’t sleep much last night,” he added, wincing when she bent to take off his brace. “It’s okay, yeah, let’s take this off.”
The sound of the engines coming to life made her pause, but David nodded. “We have five minutes, no worries.”
She did worry, though. Over him, over them, over Sara. She cleared her throat and got the last buckle undone, then slipped the brace free. “David, I’m worried about Sara.”
He was in the process of reaching for her hand, and paused. His blue eyes were tired, she thought, and red from lack of sleep. Or all his making up last night instead of sleeping.
“Come here and you can tell me why,” he murmured, helping her onto the bed and scooting back with her. “What’s wrong with Sara?”
Paris considered what to say. She trusted David completely. “I don’t want secrets between us, David,” she began.
David smoothed his thumb over the engagement ring he’d slipped on her finger. Her heart did a little jump, and she couldn’t resist kissing his cheek.
“I don’t either, Paris.” He tipped her head up to stare into her eyes. “I won’t say anything, if that’s what has you worried.”
“I know that, but I’m worried you might have to,” she managed, then sighed and leaned into his warmth. “I think she took, or maybe she was given that drug, at Duke’s.”
His chest muscles tightened under her cheek, and for a few moments he stroked her back with one hand and smoothed his thumb on her finger. Finally he sighed and she felt him nod. “I see. Will thought so too. So she’s what? Sick?”
“I think so. She isn’t eating right, and she’s anxious.”
“And?”
“She quit her job. She said it was too stressful, but she loved her job, and I think…” She hesitated again. “I think that drug, whatever it was, is doing something to her. Still. Is that possible?”
“Yeah, it is. We should get her to Chung. He’s the man that developed the first serum. If anyone can help, it’d be him. Don’t worry. I’ll see what I can find out.”
She nodded and relaxed. David would take care of it. She could count on him, and that was one reason she’d hesitated about telling him. Sara might be…embarrassed. Her friend had always been open with her sexuality, free of a lot of the hang-ups Paris had. But now, she’d changed. That meant something had caused the change. Paris only hoped it wasn’t something bad, but maybe what David had said Will suffered from—constant arousal—and not that someone had hurt her. But the way she’d taken off in Wyoming—that wasn’t Sara’s style. She’d left Paris, the car…everything and just gone. They’d talked and her reasoning had been Paris was happy and she didn’t want to rush her. But there had been something else. “Sara is back in Florida. I barely hear from her. I just want to be sure she’s okay.”
“Don’t worry, Paris,” he repeated, hugging her closer. “We’ll see what we can do, first without her knowing, then maybe if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to be more…blunt.”
Blunt did not sound good, but she’d cross that bridge when they got there. Suddenly the sound of the engines roaring alerted her and she sat up.
“Oh, we’re taking off, should we use seat belts?”
“I’m your seat belt, just hold on.” He kissed her temple and pulled her back down, then tensed his muscled stomach and lifted enough to turn off the light by the bed. “Go to sleep. Maybe I’ll wake you so we can see how good this bed is. After you let me get some rest, princess.”
She laughed remembering all the whispered demands she’d given him last night.
Wiggling up enough to reach his ear, she whispered, “Only if you promise to let me give you another wild ride.”
“Oh ho,” he laughed but sounded sleepy already. “Any time, any place.”
“I’m going to keep you to that promise,” she murmured, already feeling the heaviness of lack of sleep taking its toll on her as well.
She still heard David’s whispered, “Always.”
* * * *
“So, this is our new home for the next few…weeks?” Paris asked, staring around the cozy living room and kitchen.
This looks like my home in Canada, only…empty feeling.
“Yeah, imagine that,” he said, folding his arms over his chest. He’d come here first, making her wait outside at a post office while he’d played G.I. Joe. “Or longer.”
“Or longer?”
She might have offended him a tiny bit by playing on his phone while he’d been gone. She’d beat three levels on Angry Birds Stella, though. He’d deleted the game, so she pretty much knew she’d been in the bad because she was supposed to ‘watch’ the area. She wasn’t sure what that meant though, so after several minutes, she pulled her new iPhone out and minutes later had a few games open. Addictive wasn’t even close to what those games were.
“You wanted something more glamorous?”
“What? Me?” she asked, beginning to think this two-story cape house just might be David Jansen’s home. “It’s okay,” she murmured, turning to examine all the knick-knacks lining the bookshelves instead of books. There was a football, a really big seashell and on one of the shelves, pictures of him with various military men. One of him deep sea fishing, posing with a grin and a huge fish, and of course a beer in his hand. She circled the room and v
entured back near him, feeling oddly off balance. This was his home.
The sneaky man laughed and beckoned her over with a hand. “Come here.”
A phone’s dull vibration made her smile, especially when his smile dipped into a frown. He scanned the screen and sighed. “Shit, we just got here.”
“What does that mean? We can leave?”
“You like the place that much, huh?” he muttered without looking up. She opened her mouth to tell him she loved the place, and he added, “Naw, we stay, the doctor’s moved my surgery to tomorrow, though.”
“What? Already?”
“Yep. Did you have something else you wanted to do?” he asked, attention back on her.
“I love this place,” she said, moving to the kitchen. “It’s yours.”
He smiled but nodded.
“And we’re safe here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“David—”
“You’re safe with me. If Savage can connect you to me, then me to this place, and you with me here, well, that’s just about genius.”
“But he did connect me to Duke’s so…he must have seen us,” she said, not happy doubting him, but not happy keeping her thoughts to herself.
She noticed that his gaze dipped to her hand, where she now wore a shiny engagement ring. He had their matching rings in his pants pocket. He’d said if she had them she’d lose them. Probably. She’d already lost two phones—one back in Wyoming and another she’d bought in the hopes that somehow he’d find her and call. Although wedding rings were a bigger, way bigger, deal.
“If you noticed, this was a dead end street. My house is also secluded. No one outside of Will’s been here.”
“So we’re safe.”
“I believe so. If we’re not, the men stationed up the street and in the nearest couple of towns will let us know. There’s no where we can truly hide, Paris. Here, at least I know the land and will be warned if anyone suspicious shows up. Now”—he exhaled and dropped his arms to his sides—“is there anything else bothering you? Or can we be done and get to doing something else?”
“I think you and I have had more than enough of something else lately,” she told him when he met her eyes again. “Talking is important, too.”
He pulled her over until she fell into him. “It sure is, but we haven’t tried out this counter, or that couch. And we’re never going to have enough of something, believe me.” He stroked down her butt when he said that, and angled her hips so she could feel the semi hard-on he was sporting.
“We can’t just have sex all over the place,” she said quietly.
“Why not?”
She blinked, because really, she couldn’t think of any reasons. Every time David Jansen gave her that sexy blue-eyed stare, or held her in his arms, she couldn’t think properly.
“Princess, my house is safer than your momma’s arms. You can talk about anything, even how much you like me teasing you with my tongue along the inside—”
She covered his mouth, already aware of what she liked him teasing. Touching. Licking. Anything David did to her about summed it up.
“Don’t even say it,” she warned, but her heart swelled at the laughter in his eyes. He was leaving her again—going to surgery, yes—but so soon. I just got him back.
Everything he did was dangerous and snuck up on her—like leaving, that day back in Wyoming. Her stomach bottomed out. Maybe bringing her here was just as dangerous.
His phone vibrated again, a different sound from the last time. He pulled her hand from his face and winked at her. “You know you’re not lasting a full two minutes when we start, but let me get this—Will hates it when I ignore his calls.”
“Will has his own ringtone?”
David shrugged and kissed her lips. “You have one, too, don’t be jealous. Hold off on those whispered demands and ravishing me, okay?” He dug out his phone, laughing at her when she rolled her eyes. “Will, tell me you have good news.”
She was so close she could hear Will’s grumbled response. She moved to give David room, but he tightened his arm around her and tilted his head so she could listen.
“Not good. So far we’ve determined it was Savage in Wyoming.”
“And? Where is he now?”
“That’s the million dollar question. When I know, you’ll know.”
David nodded, a concerned frown growing on his handsome face. When he was worried, his sleepy eyes narrowed to laser slits, like now. He reminded her of a spy in a movie she’d seen once. She couldn’t remember the name but it had been a good movie. The girl had died, so that hadn’t been the best ending. Maybe it had been a James Bond movie. David reminded her of the actor, except David was wearing a charcoal-colored casual shirt and black dress slacks, not a tux.
“So, it’s a shot in the dark he’s even in DC,” David said. “You’re doing what until you know?”
“We’re pretty certain he’s here. For now, I’m on standby. Petrok is positive Walters contacted Savage. She’s also a hundred percent certain Walters never dug into his past, or probably past the money Savage wired to his accounts.”
“What do you mean?” David asked.
“Walters had no idea who Savage really was,” Will muttered. “We’re hoping Savage still believes he’s hidden—”
“In plain sight. How is it a guy like that even owns property in the US?”
Will laughed harshly. “I doubt we really want to know that answer, buddy.”
He sounded angry, much harsher than she remembered. Worse than Wyoming, even. David was also stern in a way she’d only seen back in Wyoming.
“We have more than a dozen men working on this,” David said. She sensed it was for her benefit, but didn’t interrupt to ask. “But if Savage gets wind who’s closing in on him, I want Paris long gone, is that clear? Any connection between her and us has to be completely void.”
She frowned at that, and would have spoken, but David shook his head once.
“Absolutely,” Will agreed without a pause. “We hear a whisper that he’s connected her to us, and you’re both gone. The men in Canada did a half-ass job, but at least Carson got that lid sealed tight.”
“What does that mean?” she whispered
“Sara and your uncle are safe,” he murmured with his hand over the phone.
“Besides, Savage doesn’t know you, and it’s highly doubtful he’ll recognize Paris as the blonde woman in Canada he wanted to chat with even if he did run right into her. We have men stationed down from your house. They’re doing repairs to the road out there, so it’s all on the up and up, right?”
David tightened his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him for support. He was solid and strong, but this was way over her head.
“Troy got hired on, remember him?”
“Sure, he’s here?” David asked, relaxing a little.
“Yeah, just a phone call away, too. You’re up for your surgery?”
“Yeah, thanks for the privacy, man,” David muttered, but she could see he was pleased Will knew his surgery was in the morning.
“Just stay off it for the first twenty-four. If I have to haul my ass over to pick you up again because you’ve screwed up with your leg and Paris, I’ll be—”
“I got Paris under control,” he added, squeezing her butt with a big grin.
“Good, that woman’s more than you deserve, buddy, but if you—”
“And she’s listening, so keep your comments above the belt, otherwise she’ll kick your butt first, then I will,” David warned.
Paris knew she was blushing. She shook her head at David, but didn’t really mind. This close to him, she never minded anything. Already she was starting to feel achy and his suggestion of the couch or counter was quickly building into ideas she hoped he’d explore—if he got off the phone. The danger they were in, mixed with the fear they’d be separated again, built inside of her. All those lonely nights, the tears and heartache were still too fresh for her to chance losing him
again. If she knew one thing about David Jansen, it was that when he made a promise he kept it. She’d just have to help him see that from now on, his promise to her was more important than this trouble they were in now.
She’d slept the entire flight in his arms. If she could, she’d sleep the same way for the next hundred years. He’d slept as well. He’d also told her it was the best sleep he’d had in six months.
Will chuckled. “Hey, Paris, I knew you were there, otherwise Jansen swears like a sailor. Keep him off his leg for the first day, then make him walk on it, without that crutch, even if he whines. He’s a terrible patient, too, did he tell you that?”
“Hey, hey, no spilling the secrets of my bad behavior,” David said.
“I already know about your bad behavior.” She sneaked a hand down to his belt. Watching his eyes light up, she worked the buckle open. Tomorrow, she could worry over what they were doing. Right now, she knew exactly what she was doing. Making love to her fiancée the one way she knew turned him inside out.
Through the phone, she could hear Will, but her attention left their conversation and switched to the stiff cylinder pressing insistently against David’s slacks for her.
“Right, I guess she has them all figured out. You two keep your heads down, and if this pans out, you’re just getting a long vacation.”
She smiled at Will’s phrase and kissed a path down David’s jaw to the buttons of his shirt. His attention turned to focus on her so fast she knew he knew what she was going to do. Or thought he did.
“There’s no worry over me forgetting that.” David winked at her and nodded to his zipper. He was completely shameless, but then maybe so was she. She unzipped him and, watching his face, slid down the counter so her mouth was perfectly aligned. He bit his lip sexily when the head brushed her cheek. The head of his cock was swollen, the slit already moist. Seeing him like this, so masculine, was so intimate she had a surge of jealousy for every other woman he’d ever played his games with.
This was hers, though. He was hers. Just as she was his. But today, with the threat of losing him again rising up like a terrible nightmare, she wanted to give him everything she could. She wanted him to always remember her, them, this passion they shared with their love as the foundation.
