“Is there any way you can get your brother out of there? Can you call him?”
“I’ll call him now. How much time does he have?”
“Five minutes.”
Faulkner hung up abruptly and West didn’t hesitate. Punching a few buttons, Travis’s phone rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Son of a bitch. Why wasn’t he picking up?
West could hear his brother speaking on the recording sounding perfectly normal and relaxed.
He hit the end button before quickly typing out a text and pressing send.
Sucking in a breath West watched the front doors of the club, waiting for his brother to come out. With each passing second his nerves stretched thin, causing sweat to trickle down his neck and back.
West’s fingers fumbled with his cell again, trying to call Travis one more time even as the clock ticked down. A SWAT team was about to raid the club and no one would be safe.
No answer. Shit.
One glance at his watch told West that time was up. Even from this distance West could see the dark shadows of officers rushing through the front doors. West’s guts twisted into a knot as the sound of gunfire pierced the dark night along with flashes of light through the windows.
Upstairs, where the gambling room was located.
Travis was in the middle of a firefight.
And there wasn’t a damn thing West could do about it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
‡
“They’ve been gone for hours. Maybe I should call West.”
Gigi paced the hotel room, her hands wrung together in worry. West and Travis had gone to Alan’s club despite her pleading to the contrary. They wanted to learn as much as they could and see if perhaps they might get some information that might help the government’s case. They’d known it was a long shot but sitting around in a hotel room waiting for the Feds wasn’t something these Anderson men did well.
Zach was sitting at the small table in her room, half watching television and half watching her. “You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet. Just relax. I haven’t known West Anderson all that long but I got the distinct impression that he can handle himself in just about any situation. His brother didn’t look any less capable. How about we check out the mini-bar?”
“That’s not a bad idea but I’m not sure I can eat when I’m this nervous.”
Her heart was racing faster with each passing moment. At this rate she was going to stroke out before West and Travis came back.
Zach chuckled and pulled open the door of the mini-bar. “Who said anything about eating? I was talking about busting open some booze. We’ve got Coke. I bet there’s some rum down here.” He held up two small bottles in triumph. “Rum and vodka. There’s gin in here too.”
Gigi reached for her glass on the dresser and slapped it down on the table. “That sounds like a plan. I swear West Anderson does this on purpose to make me crazy.”
Zach poured her a rum and Coke, generous on the alcohol. “Drink this and calm down. I’m sure everything is fine.”
She took a big gulp enjoying the burn all the way to her now empty stomach. She’d been too nervous to eat dinner so it wasn’t going to take much rum to make her tipsy.
“I just wish he’d call–”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. The door of the hotel room flew open to reveal West and Travis – alive and in one piece – although the older brother looked a trifle worse for wear. There was a small cut over one eye and his impeccably tailored suit had a few dark spots on it that hadn’t been there when he left.
“Are you alright?” Gigi raced to West’s side and wrapped her arms around his middle, breathing in his familiar scent. He patted her on the back and pressed a quick, reassuring kiss to her lips.
“We’re fine. Agent Faulkner’s men raided the club and Travis was still in there.”
Alarmed, Gigi’s gaze jerked back to Travis running up and down his form, but her original inspection proved correct. Other than a cut he appeared to be okay.
“I’m fine. Really.”
Travis held up his hands in a sign of surrender as Zach stepped forward to give the oldest Anderson brother the once over.
“I’ll get the first aid kit. Then I’ll make you both a drink. I think you could use it.” Zach pointed to the still oozing gash on Travis’s forehead. “How’d that happen?”
“A drink is exactly what we need.” Travis fell into a chair and groaned. “When the SWAT team raided the place there were a few people who didn’t want to surrender. Gunshots were fired and I pushed a woman at the bar to the floor to protect her. She fought me for a few moments until she realized what I was trying to do. She was wearing jewelry and it cut me. It’s not a big deal.”
Zach dabbed at the injury with a cotton ball soaked in antiseptic, making Travis wince and curse. “Shit, that hurts worse than actually getting hit. Give me that.”
Gigi had to suppress her laughter as Travis snatched the cotton from Zach’s fingers, a scowl on his face.
West tilted her chin up so she was looking him in the eyes. “They got him. He was arrested and now he’s in jail. We watched him being marched out and placed in a police car.”
Her breath whooshed out of her body and she sagged in relief against West. The fluttering of a million butterfly wings could be felt in her abdomen as it began to dawn on her what this truly meant.
Freedom.
Free to come and go wherever and whenever she pleased. Freedom to live her life without Alan’s control. Free to love and be loved.
Free to have a future with West.
Overwhelmed and in shock, she had to sit on the bed as her knees gave out and her entire body shook. West settled next to her, his arm around her shoulders reassuring her that she hadn’t imagined this. It wasn’t a dream. This was real and it was happening to her after all this time. Her running and hiding days were over.
“Easy, babe. Just relax. This is a good thing.”
Logically, she knew that but at the moment emotion had taken control. Tears began to leak out of her eyes and down her cheeks as the news began to sink into her brain. She hadn’t realized how on edge her nerves had been, how deep the fear had wormed its way into her very soul.
She’d been like this for two long years, longer really once she added in the time with Alan. It had become her normal and now it was gone. For a second as she’d felt the layers of protection she’d built up slip away, she’d scrambled to pull them around her again, not sure what or who she was if she wasn’t this…a woman frightened and on the run.
His callused fingers brushed the tears away as he pulled her into his strong, warm embrace, his lips capturing hers in an all too brief kiss. The emotion that was spilling over was indeed gratitude but it was so much more than that.
It was love. She loved West. Deeply. Irrevocably.
This was no crush or friendship love. This was real. The kind that lasted forever and made you want to share everything with someone, even the bad times.
Holy crap on a cracker. It scared the hell out of her.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t know anything about love or family. If she couldn’t have West Anderson in her life it wouldn’t be the same.
“It is amazing. I’m just trying to process it all. I didn’t expect you to walk in and tell me it was all over.”
She congratulated herself for getting the words past the lump that had formed in her throat. She simply didn’t have the capacity at this juncture to express her feelings.
“I didn’t think it would all happen tonight but it did. I don’t know why they changed their minds and raided the club tonight but it’s a done deal. It’s time to stop looking over your shoulder and start looking ahead. With me.”
A quick glance up and she could see Zach and Travis sneaking into the connecting room, sliding the door closed after them, leaving Gigi and West alone.
She gazed up into his soft green eyes, so full of love it m
ade her heart ache. She’d finally done something right. The day she’d said yes to West’s request for a date was the day she’d taken the first step to putting her life back on track.
“With you,” she echoed, the words coming out choked but audible. “I love you.”
West’s smile widened, that dimple she loved so much making an appearance. “I love you too, babe. More than you can imagine. Everything is going to be okay from now on. I promise you.”
He’d shown her every single day that she’d known him – when West Anderson made a promise, he kept it.
“I know it will. You take good care of me, handsome.”
West lowered himself to the bed and lounged back on the pillows, his hands under his head and a grin on his face. “All part of the service I offer.”
Gigi climbed onto the bed and crawled over to West, her legs on either side of his muscular thighs.
“Is there any way I can thank you, Detective Anderson?”
“I’m sure there are a few ways,” he smirked, clearly trying not to laugh out loud. It shouldn’t be this hot in the hotel room but suddenly Gigi was overheated. “Did you have something in mind?”
She did. Nudity and sweat were involved.
Leaning down, she pressed her lips to his collarbone and his warm, masculine smell filled her nostrils. It wrapped around her, inching up her arousal even as he placed his hands on her cheeks and lifted her face so he could capture her mouth with his in a long, drugging kiss.
West grasped the bottom of her t-shirt and tugged it over her head before reaching behind her and squeezing the hooks of her bra. Cool air puckered her nipples and sent shivers down her spine as he discarded her clothing into a heap on the floor. His fingers worked their way under the elastic waistband of her yoga pants and he had them sliding down her legs within seconds, his rough touch on her skin turning her knees to jelly. Her panties followed the same path until she was completely naked to his gaze and touch.
His hands cupped her breasts while this thumbs brushed the tips until she ached with need. “I think you like that, babe. Do you want me to stop?”
His tone was dark and playful at the same time and her heart tripped in her chest at the promise of fun and pleasure in his words.
“Don’t you dare,” she choked out, swallowing hard to dislodge the lump that had taken up residence in her throat as he kissed and caressed her more than willing body. “Fuck me.”
“I’m planning on that. But I think I’d like to play a little bit first.”
Liquid heat was already flying through her veins and a bar of arousal had formed in her abdomen but when West was in this mood… there was no hurrying him along. She bit her lip as he flicked his tongue around a pebbled nipple, drawing a ragged moan from her lips. The ridge of his erection pressed against her sex and she ground herself against him showing him in no uncertain terms exactly what she needed and wanted.
Chuckling, West simply wrapped his fingers around her wrists and placed them behind her back.
“So naughty. I think you might need a spanking before we’re done here tonight. But first you’re going to be a good girl and keep your hands exactly where I’ve placed them while I have some fun. No breaking the rules or I’ll make you wait for your pleasure.”
He’d do just that too.
“Sadist,” she hissed but obeyed, keeping her hands pinned to her lower back while his fingers skimmed up her ribs and began to tweak at her nipples until she was squirming and writhing on top of his denim covered length. The friction against her clit only served to send her arousal higher, flames dancing on her sensitive flesh.
“If you hated it you would be kicking me in the balls. I think you like this more than you want to admit. Now scoot up here and stay still.”
Kicking him in the balls wasn’t off the list. Yet. But if he was planning to do what she thought he was going to do she’d mark it off permanently.
Still on her knees and straddling West, she crawled farther up his body until her slit was right above his mouth. Grasping her hips, he positioned her exactly as he wanted right before running his tongue up and down her folds until she let out a half scream-half moan. Her toes curled and her head fell back as pleasure washed over her like the incoming tide.
“Might want to keep it down,” West chuckled, his voice muffled. “Your dearest brother is in the next room.”
With his tongue dancing over her swollen clit she couldn’t form the words to make a retort. Instead she groaned and squirmed in response but he only clamped his fingers on her hips more tightly, holding her in place as his tongue drove her slowly out of her ever loving mind. Each flick sent her closer and closer to the edge until he had her shaking with an arousal so powerful it was almost painful.
“Now,” she pleaded, her tongue snaking out to wet her dry lips as beads of sweat trickled down the valley between her breasts. She was on fire from the inside out, flames consuming every inch of her skin. “Fuck me now.”
The breath was knocked out of her as he rolled her under him, his fingers tearing at his button-fly. Cursing, he shoved his jeans downs his legs and she reached for him impatiently. Hard and ready, he pulsed under her eager fingers and she caressed the velvety flesh stretched over solid steel.
“Are you ready for me, babe?”
Gigi slid her legs apart, her feet braced on the mattress as West positioned himself between her thighs. He thrust home in one mighty stroke and she cried out at the pleasure of being so deliciously filled. Her channel walls stretched to accommodate him but he didn’t give her much opportunity to recover. Pulling out almost all the way, he thrust back in again and again, each stroke rubbing her clit so she was teetering on the precipice.
Digging her nails into his shoulder blades, she panted with each mind-bending stroke until she finally exploded in a flash of light. She bucked underneath him as pleasure poured through every vein and bone, sending her higher into the clouds than she’d ever been.
When West reached his own peak he groaned her name as his muscles tensed and bunched under her palms. She watched in rapt attention as he closed his gorgeous green eyes for only a moment before burying his face in her neck.
Her hands glided down his back, the flesh slick with sweat, to rest at the base of his spine. Cradling him in her arms, she pressed baby kisses on his chest and jaw, anywhere she could reach until he rolled over on his back, taking her with him. They lay that way, arms and legs entwined, as their breathing returned to normal.
It was at that moment it hit her.
She had her life back. That meant no more excuses, no more putting off all the things she wanted to do and see. The future was lying right beside her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
‡
Gigi exited the hotel the next morning with a sunny smile on her lips, her heart practically dancing the foxtrot in her chest. Today was the first day of her new life and nothing was going to stop her from living it to the fullest. Still breathless from her unlimited possibilities, she could barely contain the joy bubbling up inside. She had a future with the man she loved. True, she didn’t know what that future entailed. Life didn’t come with guarantees but now she had something to look forward to. Something to hope for.
West was back in the hotel room still asleep as they’d stayed up late, too excited to rest. There was a coffee shop just half a block down and she wanted to surprise him by picking up coffee and muffins for the two of them. It wasn’t a fancy breakfast in bed but it was a start in showing him how much she loved him. She had a powerful urge to spoil the heck out of him.
A long black limousine with dark tinted windows pulled smoothly up to the curb and stopped, the back door opening. Gigi only barely registered its presence until Alan appeared from its depths, a smile on his face.
She stumbled and then froze, too frightened to move or even breathe. She had to force herself to exhale as he stood there on the sidewalk, his intense gaze eating her up with his eyes. There was a look of triumph too in his express
ion. She’d seen it before when she would bend to his will, but nothing like this. His cheeks were ruddy with excitement and his entire body was coiled with tension as if he was holding himself back by sheer force of will.
“Georgette, I’m so glad to see you this morning.”
Licking her suddenly dry lips, she tried to stay steady on suddenly shaky legs. “Alan…”
Her voice trailed off and she had to suck air into her aching lungs. Her voice was screaming inside her head to run, find West. Anyone. Just get away, but utter shock had frozen her limbs.
“I have a surprise for you, Georgette. One you’re going to love. I’ve found your sister Aubrey. I know you’ve been looking for her. Don’t you want to meet her? Reunite?”
That superior tone she knew only too well set her teeth on edge.
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered so softly she wasn’t sure he could even hear her on this loud and busy city street, but he must have. Alan smiled and pointed inside the back of the limousine.
“I thought you might not so I brought proof. Aubrey, come say hello to your big sister.”
Finally gathering control of her wits, Gigi was poised to flee when a young woman stuck her head out of the vehicle. A heart-shaped face with thick dark hair and eyes.
Aubrey. Grown, but Gigi would know her sister anywhere.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Her sister’s lips were trembling with fear and Gigi could no more run and leave her to the tender mercies of Alan than a small puppy or an infant. It was Gigi’s fault that Aubrey was caught up in this in the first place.
“What do you want from me, Alan? You need to let Aubrey go.”
Gigi congratulated herself at how strong and determined she sounded even when she was terrified inside. Alan stroked Aubrey’s cheek, causing the young woman to shudder and press her lips together as if to smother a scream.
“I want you to get in and take a little ride with us. Of your own free will, of course. You know I’d never do anything to force you, Georgette.”
God, she hated being called by her full name. Alan knew it too, which was why he did it. He’d always said he wanted to call her by a name no one else used. It had been his way of being so damn special.
Hiding From Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 2) Page 16
