I held my breath as I put my watch against the keypad next to the gate. Relief flooded my nerve endings when it opened, but the feeling was temporary as I hurried through the second gate and then ran to the front door. Blessedly, it too opened.
“Vincent!” I called the second I was inside. The house wasn’t in lockdown mode, so that had to be a good sign, right?
I ran past the garage and into the kitchen, which was empty. There was no sign of Mickey or Minnie as I darted up the stairs. “Vincent!” I shouted again, and just as I rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, I slammed against a hard body. I sagged in relief as familiar hands came up to grab my arms.
“Nathan, what the hell-”
I cut him off with a hard kiss. “Thank you, God,” I whispered just before I kissed him again. Vincent kissed me back, and then he was pressing me back against the wall as he consumed my mouth.
“Fuck, no time for this,” he said as he grabbed my hand. I saw him snag a black duffle bag off the floor. He dragged me down the stairs. “Is your car in the driveway?” he asked impatiently.
“What?”
“Your car?” he repeated.
“I didn’t drive. I took a cab.”
“Good,” was all he said, and then he was leading me to the garage. “Get in,” he said as he motioned to his car.
“Vincent-”
“There’s no time. In the car.” His eyes caught mine briefly as he went to the trunk. “Please, Nate.”
I held my tongue and climbed into the front passenger seat. I was immediately greeted with two distinct meows, and I turned to see Mickey and Minnie watching me from separate pet carriers in the back seat. The trunk slammed closed and then Vincent was climbing into the front seat. He hit the garage door opener as he started the car up. It took less than a minute to get out of the driveway. Vincent pulled the car to a stop by the end of the curving road leading to his driveway. As far as I knew, it was the only one in or out. I watched as he glanced at his watch.
“What…what are we doing?” I asked in confusion as we sat there.
“Need to make sure no one comes up the road,” Vincent murmured.
“Why-”
That was all I got out before I heard a huge booming sound. I jerked my attention to the right and saw a black plume of smoke along with a huge fireball shoot into the air.
In the same direction where Vincent’s house was.
“Oh my God,” I said. “Was that your house?”
Before I could even process what was happening, Vincent was dragging me into his arms and his mouth was closing over mine. I forgot all about the explosion, the cats, and everything in between as he kissed me.
“Missed you,” he said softly against my mouth.
I knew I needed to figure out what the hell was happening, but at the moment, I didn’t care. “Me too.” I practically crawled across the console to get to him. He eventually pulled back from the kiss and urged me back into my own seat.
“Buckle up,” he said with a wink, and then he was getting the car on the road.
I did as he said. “What’s going on, Vincent?”
“What are you doing here, Nathan?” he asked, ignoring my question.
“I talked to Everett. He said he hadn’t heard from you in a while and I started to worry-” I stopped talking when Vincent began shaking his head.
“Meddling bastard,” he said with a smile.
“What?” I asked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“He pulled a broken watch on you, baby.”
“What?” I had entered the Twilight Zone, because nothing was making sense to me.
“I talked to Everett this morning…and every day for the last two weeks,” Vincent explained.
“You did? Then why did he…”
My brain registered what Vincent had said about the broken watch. The watch I’d broken weeks ago to scare Vincent into coming back to check on me.
“That bastard,” I said in disbelief. “He conned me.”
“Yeah, he did,” Vincent said with a laugh. “Saved me a trip to Charleston, though.” He motioned to the watch on my wrist. “That asshole knew the first thing I’d do after leaving the house was figure out where you were – probably assumed we’d pass each other on the way.”
“Huh?” I shook my head. “Was that your house that blew up?”
Vincent curled his fingers with mine and pulled my hand up to his mouth. “I promise I’ll tell you everything when we get to where we’re going, baby.” He pressed a kiss to my skin. “Why don’t you get some rest? That press conference had to have worn you out.”
“You saw it?”
He nodded. “You were amazing.” He kept our hands joined as he dropped them to his thigh. “Get some sleep, Nathan. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
His words gave me an odd sense of comfort…and hope. “You’ll tell me everything?” I asked, even as I laid my head back on the headrest.
“Yeah, I will.”
I was sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but I closed my eyes anyway. A couple of hours later, Vincent was gently shaking me awake. “Baby, we’re here,” he said.
I sat up and tried to clear the cobwebs from my brain as I looked around. “Are you kidding me?” I said when I realized where we were.
It was the motel we’d spent the first night together in after he’d saved my life at my house. The tacky one with the heart-shaped bed and mirror on the ceiling.
Vincent smiled and kissed me. “It’s our special place. I knew the second you pressed that hot body of yours against mine that morning that you were going to fuck everything up for me.” His mouth brushed mine. “You did…in the best way.”
I groaned as I put my hand behind his neck and held him to me for a deeper kiss. When we finally separated, he got out of the car and reached in to get one of the pet carriers. I grabbed the other. The room was the exact same one, and while I got Mickey and Minnie out of their cages, Vincent went back to the car and returned with his bag and a litterbox for the cats. He got the cats some food and water while I put the carriers aside. The animals were unsettled at first, but once they found the window, they sat on the small ledge in front of it so they could look outside.
And just like that, I was back in Vincent’s arms as his mouth descended on mine. I wrestled with his clothes as he walked me backwards towards the bed, but he grabbed my wrists before I could reach for his pants. He pushed me down on the bed and kissed me hard. “Talking first,” he said, his breath coming in heavy pants.
I tried to sit up so I could pay better attention to him, but he shook his head. “Nope, like this. I’ve been waiting weeks to get you underneath me again and now that I have you here, you’re not going anywhere.”
I was about to remind him that he could have had that this whole time, but I held my tongue. I’d rather hear what he had to say.
“Yes, I blew up my house.”
“Why?” I asked, completely floored.
“Because for me to really live, Vincent St. James had to die.”
I shook my head, not understanding, but he kissed me to silence my next question. “If Vincent St. James no longer exists, there’s no reason to hunt him…there’s no revenge to be had. They called me The Ghost for a reason, Nate. It was because I was good at not being seen. The men I worked with years ago haven’t seen me since then. They know where I live because I never tried to hide that, but that’s it. No friends meant no links to the outside world. No lovers meant no one else they could target.”
“But Everett,” I said.
“Everett is going to mourn the loss of his friend. He’ll likely be the only one who will attend my funeral. He’ll handle my estate. He’ll make sure to spread the word that Vincent is gone…died tragically when a natural gas leak caused his house to explode.”
“You can’t do that to him, Vincent…”
“He’s in on it, baby. He knows all about it.” He ran his fingers down my cheek. My bruises had mostly h
ealed, but he seemed to linger on the spots they’d once been. “My enemies won’t have any way of tracking me because I won’t be me anymore. Turns out Ronan and Dom have some skills even I don’t possess.”
“Like what?”
“Like finding a body at a morgue in Chattanooga that fit my general description. Like giving me a whole new identity. Social security, employment history, the works.”
It was almost too much to believe. “Why?” I asked.
“You know why,” he whispered, just before he kissed me.
“For me?” I asked. “You did this to be with me?”
“I thought I’d have to wait until you finished your first term in the Senate to beg you to make some changes for me.” He shook his head. “But when I saw the press conference…it was like my second chance and third chance all wrapped up into one.” His eyes held mine. “Nate, it wouldn’t be safe for me to be in the public eye in any kind of way, but if you decide to run for office at some point, we can make it work.”
“You mean like what Everett and Pierce had? Sneaking around? Hiding?”
“I know it’s not ideal, but I would do anything for you…but standing by your side in front of news cameras…it would just be too dangerous.”
“No,” I said with a shake of my head.
Vincent froze and then he was lifting off me. I grabbed his arm because I knew exactly what he was thinking.
“I mean no to the hiding and sneaking around, Vincent.” He stopped his upward motion and sat back down on the bed next to me.
“If we do this, we’re all in. Both of us.” I leaned in to kiss him. “Don’t you know, Vincent?”
His eyes met mine as I pulled back just a little. “You’re it for me. I don’t need anything else.”
His arm snaked around my waist and then he was pulling me flush with his chest. “Just us,” he murmured.
“Just us.”
“Sounds perfect, Nate.”
I let my hands stroke over his face, hardly able to believe he was really here and that he was mine.
“That’s because it is.” I put my arms around him and held on, certain I’d never be able to let him go again. “It really is.”
Epilogue
Vincent
One month later
“Three,” I said impatiently.
“Two,” Nathan countered. “Keep arguing and it’ll be one.”
“Not one,” I said with a shake of my head. “Impossible.”
Nathan shrugged his shoulders. “Two. Take it or leave it,” he said.
“Fine,” I grumbled as I wrote it down on the piece of paper in front of me. “I’m sure there are plenty of places that have more than two locks on the damn front door.”
“Yeah, they’re called prisons,” Nathan said.
He leaned back in the chair as I scanned the plans in front of me. He’d vetoed most of the security measures I’d wanted to put into place in the new house we were building. Logically, I knew most of his vetoes made sense, but I was having trouble giving up the habits of the past. Just this morning I’d finally managed to not check for tampering beneath the hood of my car after we’d stopped to get coffee. I’d been a nervous wreck about the whole thing, but I’d managed it.
“I want you to carry a gun.”
“Absolutely not. Veto. Next.”
“I’d give you lessons on how to shoot it,” I said.
“Only kind of gun I’m interested in learning how to shoot is a paintball gun…maybe. What’s next?”
I sighed. “Escape hatch.”
Nathan rolled his eyes at me. “Did you seriously sneak that on the list?” he asked.
“It’ll be like a panic room,” I insisted.
Nathan merely shook his head. Mickey jumped up onto his lap. “I gave you the fence,” he reminded me.
“A regular fence,” I said. “Not even a single watt running through the sucker.”
Nathan sighed and put Mickey on the floor. He stood and came to my side of the table. I automatically moved my chair back because I knew what his plan was. He straddled my lap and closed his hands around my neck. “Take deep breaths, baby,” he said. “I’m safe. You’re safe. Vincent St. James is gone.”
I nodded. It was something he had to remind me of often. Even having seen the pictures from my own funeral hadn’t been enough to always convince me that Dominic Barretti’s crazy plan had worked. And crazy was exactly what I’d thought of it when he’d suggested it to me. But the more he’d talked, the more I’d listened.
And hoped.
Ironically, it had been the reclusive lifestyle I’d been living for so long that had made the whole thing possible. While I’d been “alive,” I’d been a threat to countless agencies and individuals. But “dead” Vincent was a harmless Vincent. Undoubtedly, there were some who’d waited to see if any of the countless secrets I held would die with me or rise up from the dead, but over time they’d forget all about me.
If only it was as simple for me to forget about them.
And the threat they’d posed to me for so many years.
It hadn’t been hard in the least to give up all the associations I’d forged over the years, even the beneficial ones. Although the director of the FBI had gotten me out of a couple of jams in exchange for the many jobs I’d done for his agency off the books over the years, there’d been no exception for him or anyone else. Every single person I’d ever worked or interacted with were led to believe I was dead. The only ones who knew better were Everett, Ronan and his men, and the Barrettis.
All people who would take my secret to the grave.
The new identity Ronan and Dom had created for me had allowed me to keep nothing of my former life except for my first name. Surprisingly, there’d been little else to leave behind. The only thing I’d lost that had really hurt had been some of David’s stuff, including his treasured books and the motorcycle he’d loved. I’d ended up walking out of my house with a few changes of clothes, David’s picture, and the well-worn copy of The Outsiders that had a special place on my nightstand. I’d thought Nathan might have a problem with my attachment to the book, but he’d surprised me when he’d not only invited me to read the book to him on the nights I was feeling nostalgic, but had found a special place in our bedroom to hang David’s picture. He hadn’t relegated my lover’s memory to a drawer like I had for so many years. No, he’d welcomed him into our lives, and he’d continued to pry stories out of me about when David and I had been children. It was his way of helping me make sure I never forgot my first love.
Undoubtedly because Nathan knew he was, and always would be, my last love.
In addition to the new identity Dom had procured for me, he’d offered me a chance to buy into his and his brothers’ business. I’d been hesitant at first, but once I’d met all four Barretti brothers, along with their partners, I’d realized they were all gladly willing to sell equal shares of the business to me. They’d taken it a step further and welcomed me and Nathan into their lives, too. We spent nearly every Sunday at Dom’s house on San Juan Island as part of their family dinner celebration that had gotten so big, they needed an entire day to enjoy it. Our plan was to drive or fly out to Dare to spend the weekend with his brother and the extended family out there at least once a month. Brody, Quinn, and Beck similarly traveled to Seattle nearly as often for the family get-together as well.
Everett continued to struggle with Reese, who hadn’t warmed up to the idea of letting his father back into his life, but Gage had been trying to smooth Reese’s rough edges. And while I suspected part of that had to do with being Reese’s friend, I had to wonder if the man didn’t have an ulterior motive, since he seemed to have an awfully hard time taking his eyes off a certain former Commander-in-Chief whenever they were in the same room together.
Which seemed to irritate Agent Jon Nash to no end.
It was a dynamic that I still hadn’t made sense of, and I wasn’t sure Everett had even noticed, since he’d long ago dismissed the idea
that anyone could take Pierce’s place in his heart. I hadn’t bothered to try to explain to him that it wasn’t about replacing one love with another. Not when there were men out there who were strong enough to love you and that piece of your heart that would always belong to another.
Men like my Nate.
“How about we finish this another time, Vincent Dorfmeyer?” Nathan said as he rubbed up against me.
“Fuck, I hate when you call me that,” I said.
I still wanted to kick Dom’s ass for the ridiculous last name he and Ronan had come up with for my new identity, but, of course, each man had pointed to the other when I’d asked about it.
“I had some thoughts about that, too,” Nathan murmured as he placed soft kisses all around my mouth, but never landed on it.
I snagged the back of his head and held him in place so I could take what he was teasing me with.
“You were saying?” I asked when I pulled back. The cocky grin faded and Nathan’s hungry eyes met mine.
He toyed with my hair. “Although Dorfmeyer has a certain ring to it,” – he yelped when I pinched his ass – “okay, okay.” He wriggled his ass against my palm when I went to rub the sore spot.
“Nate?”
“What?” he asked as his breath got heavy and he began to grind his cock against mine.
“You going to finish your thought?”
“What? Oh, right.” He began chewing on his lip, a sure sign he was nervous. “I was thinking…Wilder might be a better fit.”
I stilled at that.
“Vincent Wilder,” Nathan said softly. “What do you think?”
Was he…fuck, was he actually asking me to…
“Don’t fuck with me,” I said. “That better not be a hypothetical-”
“It’s not,” Nathan cut in. He kissed me hard. “It’s me asking you to marry me.”
“This is me saying yes,” I snarled as I slammed my mouth down on his and lifted him up. “Yes,” I repeated as I swept the blueprints that were spread out on the table to the floor.
Defiance (The Protectors, Book 9) Page 28
