Learning to Love Again

by Cynthia P. O'Neill

  “Touché, love! When you’re feeling better, I’ll hold you to it.”

  She swallowed hard at my flirting, but it was nice to see her a little more animated than she had been. I didn’t want to admit it to her, but she’d given me quite the scare.

  Laurel slept a great deal over the next two days, but her color was beginning to come back. She quickly tired of bed rest and felt up to some short walks around the winery, checking out the aspects of wine making and learning to appreciate all that went into creating the various wines.

  When she slept, I looked through the latest information Dillon had pulled up. Apparently Walt has been a very naughty boy. The money that was skimmed from work accounts had been embezzled funds, hidden in dummy accounts around the world. Walt had also recently cashed in all of his stocks within his own company, causing the price of his stocks to plummet, which cost his investors dearly. He’d sold his mansion, cars, yachts, and any other properties he’d had, along with procuring several new identities.

  “Seems like the bastard is trying to cause problems for you,” Dillon commented, “while he diverts attention elsewhere so he can make a run for it. Luckily, Thompson and I have called in our buddies from the FBI and CIA and they’re in the process of freezing his assets and getting him on the run. They feel he’s about to leave the country.”

  I was happy to hear that Walt’s life was getting a little more tedious to live, but the next words out of Dillon’s mouth floored me. “The copies of the coroner reports came in on Mrs. Peterson and Jackson Peterson, Walt’s grandfather.”

  “And?”

  “The grandfather’s cause of death was deemed undeterminable, while Mrs. Peterson was ruled as suicide, but the same coroner received large amounts of cash the days they came in and he’s still working for the county.”

  “Good. See if you can get any clarifications from him on what happened. Offer up rewards for his honesty, if you need to.”

  I’d been pacing the floor, listening to all the information, when Dillon stopped me and motioned for the sofa. “You might want to sit down for the last part, sir.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  “It seems that Chase Peterson is able to pass most any psychological profile test that’s thrown at him. As a result, he’s considered an upstanding citizen, a model of the community. However, he was a very troubled youth at the time of his mother’s passing. One of the maids said that he was the one to find his mother dead. Rather than be numb or lashing out, all he asked for was a place where he could go to get some solitude and refocus his life.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. “But you said he was nearly eight.”

  “Yes, sir. But he was well beyond his years, pushed hard by his father to excel in all aspects of the securities business, when all he wanted to do was be a little boy.”

  I got up and paced some more. Why would a parent send a child to an institution? If they were threatening to reveal the truth…

  “Check into Chase and see what more you can find out. Something about him being admitted for evaluation doesn’t sit well with me. If he’s more of a threat to Laurel, I need to know now.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Within a couple of hours, Dillon came back with the information I’d feared. Something had caused Chase to crack, right around the time his mother committed suicide. If my suspicions were correct, he either saw her commit the act or watched her murder. My guess is that Walt handled his wife personally. He managed to take my family away from me to get what he wanted in life, who knows what his wife had on him.

  Thompson had gone a little further than Dillon and bribed the psychiatrist treating Chase to find out that he was treated under hypnosis with suggestion and trigger words, so his father could control his behavior if he got out of line. He’d been seen as recently as a couple months ago.

  I heard a gasp and turned to find Laurel, out of bed and listening in on everything we’d discussed.

  “That makes sense,” she said quietly. “When he attacked me at the condo, he seemed wild and out of control. I thought his eyes looked feral and full of rage. His facial expression seemed more of a mask than actual human nature.”

  We watched as she paced the floor back and forth, thinking back on something else. “In my psychology class, the professor passed along a bag with different topics for us to do our mid-term papers on. I’d pulled out the slip on hypnotic triggers and laughed, thinking such a thing didn’t exist, but it did. If I remember correctly, there was a wonderful British article detailing the ins and outs of the subject online.”

  She continued pacing and talking to herself, which I’d come to know as nervous habit of hers to find a solution to any problem she was working on. I had to admit, while it troubled me to see her pacing about, she did look damn sexy walking back and forth in her nightgown and robe.

  Laurel turned suddenly, snapping her fingers. “Chase had taken advantage of me at school, but he never looked out of control at the time. Granted, he tried to approach me several times after the attack, but he kept his distance as long as I was with people. Now that I think back on it, I wander if all he wanted to do was talk and apologize, as his buddies had once mentioned. I’d almost forgotten all about that, because I didn’t care to hear anything they had to say. When he violated me in college, his eyes and behavior were never as animalistic as he was during the second attack.”

  “You can’t be sure of that, Laurel. He may have been playing your trustful nature,” I tried arguing.

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so, Garrett.” Then she snapped her fingers. “I bet almost anything his father is controlling him. If I recall correctly, he had bumped into my seat on the bus, but was apologetic, keeping his face turned away from me where I couldn’t see it was him. It wasn’t until a phone rang, shortly before the police boarded the bus, that his disposition changed. Just think about how many men it took to take him down that day. Is there any way we can track incoming phone calls to his number on that date? Or did he have a burner phone that he disposed of?”

  “He most likely had a disposable phone,” Dillon said, “but his father might be the link to whether a call was made, from either his office, home or own personal cell. I’ll check into it and see if the timing coincides with what Mrs. Waters is saying.”

  Laurel was fuming when she found out that I’d been investigating Chase and Walt while she’d taken ill. To make things up to her, I showed her the files and let Thompson and Dillon fill her in on our thoughts.

  She was upset to learn that Chase had tracked us to the Caribbean, but thankful that we deployed the decoys to lead him on another errant pursuit. She’d realized the boat had been the means of tracking, but with our use of various friends’ private jets, false passports, and credit cards, we’d managed to keep ourselves hidden.

  In light of everything, I wanted to extend our honeymoon, but she wouldn’t hear of it. “I need to get back for my check-ups to ensure our babies are growing just fine,” she insisted. “Plus, we have the final details to negotiate and review on the prosthetic foot and ankle. Not to mention we have to think about which room in the penthouse we’ll use as a nursery.”

  I walked up to her, placing a finger on her lips while she was in mid-ramble. “Laurel, sweetheart, you can’t put all that weight on your shoulders. Think about the stress you’re causing for the babies. All you need to focus on is staying healthy during this pregnancy. I’ve already checked with Williamston Technologies. Mark and Jerry are in the final stages of testing the new prosthetic and we’ll have a working model and films to review in a few weeks, so there’s no hurry. Everything is on schedule or being handled by my V.P., my brother, and my father. You know the company can run without us for a little while.”

  “But what about the nursery? Don’t we need to be putting something together and start buying two of everything?”

  No wonder Laurel was feeling lethargic. I’d never realized how much she had running through her mind on a daily basis. I ju
st wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. “We can hire a decorator to help create your vision of a nursery. Just relax, darling.”

  I knew I put up a good front, but the whole Peterson fiasco had me on edge. To try and get our minds off of it, we went on the wine tour to see the full details of how wines were made. We dined at several of the local restaurants, walked some of the tourist districts, and even managed to spot some kangaroos and koalas. Laurel seemed to melt at the sight of them, which gave me an idea, sending one of the security detail to pick up a surprise for us to bring home.

  It was our last day in Australia before we had to head back to the real world. Laurel was feeling a little more energized, so we decided to join some of the locals at a restaurant for some dinner and dancing.

  While I waited on Laurel to finish getting ready, Dillon approached me with startling news.

  I’d been reviewing some paperwork for a contract that was coming up soon for work, but paused to hear Dillon out. “What do you have?”

  “We tipped off the FBI about the unusual transfer of funds within Peterson Securities and they looked into it. Apparently Walt has been extorting money from the company for years and stealing ideas from some of his top engineers. The engineers are no longer with the company, they were either fired or met with an unfortunate accident. This bastard is into heavy intimidation, resorting to any means necessary to get what he wants.”

  He paused a little too long for my tastes. “And?”

  “His company was seized by the government a few days ago and is being dismantled and sold off for tax evasion, embezzlement and a whole list of other charges. Walt Peterson wasn’t there, though, he’d claimed the need for a personal vacation several days earlier. We have confirmation from his document handler that a wide variety of identities had been created for him. The worst part is that his housekeeper says several guns are missing from his safe. He’s on the run, sir, armed and dangerous.”

  I shot off the couch, panicked. “Do we know where he’s currently at? Do we have any leads?”

  “We lost all traces of him, sir,” Thompson said as he walked in. “He’s exchanged vehicles and is nowhere to be found. But, that’s not the worse part.”

  I ran my hands through my hair, agitated beyond belief and thinking only of protecting my family. “Give it to me straight, Thompson.”

  “We were able to persuade the hired help to cooperate in our investigation. One of the staff members, who had been there almost thirty years, shared that Mr. and Mrs. Peterson’s marriage was one of convenience. He’d married her mainly to obtain her wealth and use her social standing within the community to move up and gain the approval of his grandfather. As the years went on, their relationship became very volatile. Apparently, Walt had threatened his wife and two days later she was found dead, strangled, but the incident was covered up with the coroner’s office.” Thompson’s face was quite pale.

  “Let me guess. Chase saw the whole thing go down and was traumatized by the events. He didn’t want to be near his father and Walt was worried he would make accusations against him.”

  Thompson nodded. “Yes, sir. But it gets worse. A couple of days ago, one of the staff overheard Walt on the phone talking to someone. He’s paying through the nose to try and get a lead on where you’re at. He’s driving his son’s desires towards Laurel to track you down. He was quoted as saying, ‘I’ll never stop until I find that bastard and destroy all he holds dear, just like his father tried to do to me. The bloodline will end with him and his precious mate.’ He fully intends to kill both you and Mrs. Waters, sir.”

  I had to sit back down and place my head between my knees to finally breathe again. The one thing of mine he could threaten to destroy had been made. I could live without a lot of things in my life, but Laurel wasn’t one of them. I’d protect her with everything I had, even if it meant my own life.

  “What do you suggest, Thompson?”

  I listened intently as Thompson and Dillon hashed out plans. We would return to Orlando and resume life as normal, but we’d wear bulletproof vests as a safety. Security would be beefed up, hired personally by Thompson. He wanted to add details to my entire family and Laurel’s too, just as an added precaution.

  We’d try to use the body doubles as bait to try and draw them out. Plus, our routines had to be non-existent. We couldn’t be predictable in the least.

  I didn’t like any of this, but what choice did I have?

  By the time Laurel was dressed for dinner, all the plans were set in motion. We went out for a lovely time on the town, enjoying the last night of our honeymoon.

  That night I had a hard time sleeping. I kept dreaming that Laurel had been kidnapped by Chase and taken to somewhere disgusting. He’d managed to overpower some of my security and knocked Laurel out with chloroform. Every time I’d rushed to save her, I was always a few minutes too late and staring down the barrel end of a smoking revolver.

  Talk about a disturbing nightmare. I wrapped my arms around my love and held her close as she slept soundly, not knowing how precarious our situation had gotten.

  The plane ride home took forever. We were on the other side of the world and would have to make numerous stops to refuel before we got back to Orlando. I was thankful for the bedroom in the plane, so Laurel and I could catch a few cat naps.

  During some of our flight time, I’d been in touch with Grace to discover that both her parents and Laurel’s had their houses up for sale and were already planning to move down to Orlando. Laurel’s mom had secured the head nurse job at the hospital, while her father was already in talks with Jonathan and my V.P. with regards to what he could do for our company in terms of reducing waste and preserving the environment.

  Laurel’s friend, Hannah, had already let me know that she was ready for a change when the environmental engineering department got up and running. All she had to do was give her notice and she was good to go. Donny had offered that she could stay at his place until she found an apartment or condo she liked. Who’d have thought those two would end up together? I knew Hannah was a bit wild and into the BDSM scene in both a dominant and submissive manner, but with Donny? I’d never of pegged him to be a kinky bastard. Looks could be deceiving. Who’d have thought his sister would turn into my little minx, almost as insatiable as me?

  After almost a full day in flight, and three pilots later, we were finally back in Orlando. The limo was there to meet us at the airport and whisk us back to the penthouse.

  “Does everything feel a bit off to you, after being gone for so long?” Laurel asked. “I almost feel like a stranger coming back to a city I haven’t seen in a long time.”

  I pulled Laurel against my side as the limo took off towards home. “With you, my lovely wife, everything feels perfect. But, I do have to admit, I would’ve loved to have had a few more weeks with you by myself. I didn’t want our honeymoon to end.”

  Her head lay across my chest, her hand coming up to cover my heart. “I didn’t want it to end either. But, wherever you are, that’s where my home is.”

  I gave her a kiss on her forehead and squeezed her tight. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  Thompson brought us around the front of the building to find that there were no photographers or reporters awaiting our arrival. He pulled into the garage and we took the elevator up to the penthouse, where other members of our security team awaited our arrival.

  As soon as the elevator doors opened, I couldn’t resist sweeping my bride up into my arms. “Aah! What are you doing, Garrett?”

  “I’m nothing if not traditional. I intend to carry my bride across the threshold.”

  Dillon ran to get the doors for us as the rest of our staff welcomed us home.

  “You can put me down now.” She began to squirm as I carried her through the doors and started heading up the stairs towards our bedroom.

  “Not until I have you all to myself for a couple of hours.” I smiled lasciviously, wanting her to und
erstand just how much I missed her the past couple of days while she wasn’t feeling well.

  Apparently, she had the same idea as me. As soon as our bedroom door closed, she started unbuttoning my shirt and pulling it out of my waistband. Our clothes were flying everywhere until we were naked. I pressed her up against the wall. “Bed or here?” I grunted out between kisses. I needed in her, now!

  I didn’t even bother to wait for an answer as I picked her up, her legs wrapping around my center, and drove into her. Her arms wrapped around my neck and held on tight as I plunged back and forth a few times, feeling like I was finally home, before grabbing her ass and walking the rest of the way over to our bed.

  I leaned down and didn’t have to say a word. She grasped at the covers and ripped them back as I slid us both into bed without breaking our bond and made sweet love to Laurel, taking my time, cherishing each movement we created until we were at the precipice of bliss and jumped over together, crying out each other’s names in a passionate plea.

  We stayed connected for a while before finally separating and spooning with one another.

  “I have to do a little work from home over the next couple of days before we’re due back to the office.”

  “Will I go back to work beside you at WMI or will I be returning to Bio-Medical Life Solutions?” Her voice was shaking, as though she was unsure of her position.

  “Darling, you’re my wife now. Even if you weren’t, do you think I’d let you go back to Bio-Medical Life with Chase on the loose? You’ll be working by my side, as a member of my team, just like Jonathan and my father.” I caressed her face and hair, kissing her on her lips gently and then pressing my cheek against the side of hers, craving more of our closeness.

  “I just didn’t want to cause problems with any of the employees. I’m sure some of them think that I slept my way to the top.”

  “Everyone knows that I pursued you, not the other way around. I sent a memo out to the effect and let them know that punishment would be handed down to anyone found contradicting that statement,” I tried to reassure her.