She giggled, cutting into one of the boxes strewn across the floor and pulled out a small, black, velvet box. “What’s this?”
I shrugged. “No clue. Open it up and see.”
Her cheeks pinked as she smiled, peeking up at me through her lashes, a flirty shimmer of excitement dancing in her eyes. “Right. You don’t know.”
But I honestly didn’t. I figured it had to have been something of Roman’s that had gotten mixed in with our stuff.
I peered over the mountain of presents as she pried the top up.
I’d barely made out the glint of a diamond before it went sailing across the room, slamming into the wall before dropping to the floor.
“No!” she shrieked, but she was already searching through the brown packing paper until she found another box. “No,” she whispered, slapping a hand over her mouth and staring down like she’d seen a ghost.
“Talk,” I ordered, shooting to my feet and then closing in on her.
“He knows where we are,” she breathed, her wild gaze bouncing to me then back to the box in her hand.
There was no need for her to explain who the “he” was.
Molten lava surged in my veins as I snatched it from her hand and pulled the top open.
A tiny, gold bracelet with a heart charm that read Daddy’s girl sat within, but that was all I could observe before it was suddenly gone from my hand.
“No!” she yelled, racing to the front door and yanking it wide. “He does not get to do this.”
I marched after her just as she sent it flying through the chilly night air. The sensor lights flashed on, illuminating the darkness.
“Fuck you!” she screamed manically.
I hooked her around the waist, but she frantically spun, racing past me through the living room to the first box she’d opened. She snatched it off the floor then, rushing back to the door and hurling it out to join the bracelet. A guttural, “No!” tore from her throat as she watched it sail through the air.
“Clare,” I called cautiously. I braced for her to fall apart and prepared myself for another breakdown the likes of when she’d checked out on me after the DNA results. “Come here, babe,” I urged, staring at her back.
Her shoulders were rising and falling with her heavy breaths, and her fists opened and closed at her sides.
I prowled toward her, only to stop dead in my tracks as she slammed the door and pivoted on a heel to face me.
Not a tear in sight.
Her back was straight.
Her shoulders square.
Her jaw clinched.
Rage radiating off her.
And that subtle flicker of fear she wore so often when it came to Walt was gone completely.
“You okay?” I asked warily.
It was safe to assume she was not as she seethed, “It’s Christmas for God’s sake. He does not get to do that. Not today. Not fucking ever.”
I caught sight of Roman and Devon storming down the hall toward us. But I lifted a hand to halt them, shaking my head as I assured them, “We’re good.”
Clare spun to see who I was talking to, but she was nowhere near done with her rant. “We are not good. We are fucking great!”
Roman cocked his head to the side, but he had the good sense to mutter an apology and back away.
With the hall empty, Clare turned her anger back on me. “I swear to God. I’m finally fucking happy for the first time in my entire goddamn life. He does not get to take that away from me!”
It made me an asshole, but a huge smile spread across my face, pride swelling my chest.
“What do you need, Clare?” I asked, fighting the urge to sweep her off her feet.
“To kill him,” she replied without missing a beat.
Weeks ago, she would have crumbled, overwhelmed with fear and panic. She would have lost it at the thought of Walt knowing where she was.
Weeks ago, it had been, “He’ll kill me.”
Today, a beast emerged from within her.
Today, it was, “To kill him.”
I smirked. “While that’s not exactly legal, I wouldn’t stop you.”
She stomped past me, plucked the cardboard box the gift had been delivered in, and slung it across the room. “Why haven’t they been able to find him?” she snapped. “It’s been over a fucking month. I refuse to believe he’s hiding in an underground bunker. He’s out there, Heath. Shopping at a goddamn mall for Christmas presents while I’m locked up here, hiding like a fucking coward.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and continued to smile at her.
She continued with the bitchy little attitude that had me fighting a hard-on. “Why are you smiling?”
I shrugged casually. “Oh, maybe because the man you’ve been terrified of since the day I met you sent you a present just to fuck with your head and, instead of allowing him that move, you exploded and threw that shit on the front lawn.”
Her lips thinned, but her resolve stayed strong. “He didn’t send them just to fuck with my head. It’s a warning.”
“How do you figure?”
“The diamonds. Those aren’t new. He gave them to me after he almost killed me on our first anniversary. He thought I was flirting with the waiter. I spent a week in the hospital. It was so bad we had to tell them I was in a car accident.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “We were staying in that cabin I told Tomlinson about. He took me back there every year and made me wear the diamonds as a not-so-subtle reminder.” Her gaze flashed to the floor. “He knows about you.”
For fuck’s sake, I wanted to kill that bastard for ever having laid a finger on her. But, worse, for have mentally manipulated her with fear for so damn long. It was a miracle she wasn’t a head case after everything that son of a bitch had put her through. It was a true testament to her strength.
I closed the gap between us and rested my hands on her hips. “So?”
“So?” she repeated in confusion.
“Why does it matter that he knows? Honestly? I hope that motherfucker lays awake in bed every single night knowing that you’re with me.” I stabbed my thumb at my chest. “Knowing it’s me you chose. Knowing it’s my body you crave. Knowing it’s my name you call when I make you come. I hope that shit eats away at his soul because he knows it’s happening and cannot do one goddamn thing to change it. You aren’t his anymore, Clare.”
A playful grin pulled at the side of her mouth as she whispered, “It’s probably destroying him.”
“I’m sure it is. It used to kill me when you went home to him every night.”
Her smile fell flat. “Oh, Heath.”
“But you’re with me now. And he will never get you back. Those diamonds and that bracelet was his last-ditch effort of getting in your head because he can’t get to you any other way. He doesn’t even deserve your anger. Don’t give him that. Let’s sit back down. Finish playing Santa. And carry the fuck on with our lives.”
Her lips once again curved up. “You’re right.”
I narrowed my eyes and studied her face, searching for the chink in her armor.
But I didn’t even see armor anymore.
I just saw Clare.
My Clare.
The one she gave me when we were alone with Tessa.
The brave woman whose smile could light even the darkest night.
The one who had ensnared me from the moment we’d met.
The one I would protect with my life for no other reason than she was made to be mine.
The one I’d fallen in love with before she had even known my name.
If I hadn’t had to get Walter’s fucking gifts off the front lawn and bag them so the lab could dust them for prints, I would have carried her upstairs and showed her how much it meant to me that she gave me that kind of trust.
I didn’t have that kind of time though. We had a boatload of presents left to wrap and a little girl who was dreaming about Christmas morning upstairs.
But what I did have was forever with her.
> Whether she knew it now or not, she would soon enough.
I dipped my head low and brushed my lips across hers as I arrogantly said, “I’m always right, Clare. You should probably get used to that.”
She swayed away and gave me the side-eye. “Except for when you’re playing Wheel of Fortune.”
I groaned and slid a hand down to pinch her ass. “Oh, come on. Let it go already.”
She giggled and pressed up on her toes to kiss the base of my neck. “Sorry, but I’m never letting that go. You guessed ‘Winter Woman’ on a superhero puzzle. It’s just sad.”
I had to laugh. It was because it was becoming abundantly clear that my Wheel of Fortune abilities were definitely lacking. “Okay, enough out of you, Vanna White. Let’s finish this Santa gig up so we can actually get some sleep before Tessa wakes up.”
“Maggie, this is Clare. Clare, Maggie.”
Clare removed her arm from around my waist and extended it toward my baby sister.
Maggie looked up at me and grumbled, “This is so not fair.”
I grinned. I’d threatened her with all-out retaliation of the law if she embarrassed me when she came over for Christmas. Just to make sure my point was made, she’d started her Christmas morning with a parking ticket on the windshield of her car.
She clasped Clare’s hand and said, “It’s really nice to meet you, but you have to understand it’s against my religion not to give Heath hell. It’s well deserved though. He shut down my senior prom for over an hour because he thought my dress was too skimpy. My entire prom. He told the principal that drugs had been found on the premises. And refused to give the all clear until I put a sweater on.”
I smiled. That wasn’t even the worst thing I’d done to her. But that was what she got for switching dresses after she’d left the house. My dad was worthless when it came to parenting, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have someone to look after her.
“I didn’t break your date’s legs when I caught him feeling you up in the driveway,” I said. “Consider that my apology.”
“He was kissing me goodnight…on the freaking cheek! That’s hardly feeling me up. And he was pulled over and detained by a state trooper on his way home.”
I beamed with pride at the memory. “Yeah, I had to call in some serious favors for that one.”
Her voice took on that crazy monkey squeal that sent dogs into a tailspin as she shrieked, “He refused to speak to me again!”
I smiled wider. “He was touching you, Mags.”
She growled, clenching her teeth as she turned to Clare. “Heath has a collection of Pokémon cards in the top of his closet at home.”
Clare burst out into laughter.
Son of a bitch. I had known bringing her here was a bad idea, but the rest of the family went to Melanie’s in Augusta for the holiday. And God knows why, but for whatever reason, the two of them weren’t speaking. I was sure it had to do with borrowed lip gloss or something equally as trivial that my sisters found to bicker about. It wasn’t like I could leave Maggie alone at home.
“I collected them when I was a kid!” I defended.
Maggie leaned toward Clare and whispered, “He was in high school.”
I glared at her. “Are you done?”
She batted her eyelashes and smirked. “For now.”
“Well,” Clare started, barely able to speak around her laughter. “It’s very nice to meet you, Maggie. And, if you happen to think of anything else you think I should know about your brother, I’d be thrilled to listen.”
I turned my glower on Clare. “Don’t encourage her.”
Her lips curled up at the corners in a patronizing smile. “Why not? I love getting to know you better. Besides, I find it incredibly sexy that you know which card could beat a Pikachu.”
I cocked my head. “That’s the only Pokémon you know, isn’t it?”
“That’s the only Pokémon seventy-five percent of the population knows. And that percentage goes up to ninety-nine if you only count people who’ve actually gotten laid.” She lowered her voice and teased, “Honey, I didn’t realize I took your virginity.”
“Oh my God! I love her!” Maggie exclaimed, pulling Clare into a hug.
Funny thing—I did, too.
But I kept that to myself and pretended to be annoyed.
I stared up at the ceiling, muttering, “God help me.”
Tessa suddenly patted my leg, holding up a Barbie doll. “Luke, you open dis?”
Clare and I had gone to bed late by the time we’d finished wrapping, and Tessa had gotten up at the crack of dawn, demolishing all of our hard work in less than an hour. It was only nine a.m., and I was already on my third cup of coffee. But it was worth every minute of the exhaustion to see Tessa smiling and laughing with her mother.
Maggie’s eyes twinkled as she squatted in front of her. “You wouldn’t happen to be Tessa, would you?”
Tessa looked up to me then back at my sister and nodded.
“Oh good!” Mags exclaimed, digging into her purse and pulling a small gift-wrapped box out. “See, Santa accidentally delivered this to my house. It was addressed to a Tessa, and Heath told me it was probably yours. I rushed over this morning as fast as I could.”
Tessa’s big, green eyes lit as her mouth fell open. “Yes! Dat’s mine!”
Maggie stood up and extended her hand. “What do you say you and I go sit down and open it?”
“Yes!” she squealed, bouncing on her toes as though it were her first and not hundredth present of the day.
Before taking off, Maggie pulled another box from her purse and slapped it against my chest. “Here ya go, Romeo.”
She tossed Clare a smile then took Tessa’s hand and disappeared around the corner.
“What’s that?” Clare asked, anxiety in her eyes.
I chuckled and curled her into my chest. Kissing the top of her head, I murmured, “Relax. It’s nothing big. I had her pick it up for me a couple of days ago.”
“Heath!” she scolded. “We agreed no presents.”
“Babe, it’s our first Christmas together.”
“Right. And I got you nothing.”
I smirked. “Oh, I don’t know. I plan to sneak you away for a shower in a little while.”
Her cheeks pinked as she swayed into me, repeating, “We agreed no gifts.”
I offered her the box. “Fine. It’s not a Christmas gift. But it’s something I’ve wanted to buy you for a really long time. I finally got the chance, and here it is. Better?”
She chewed on her bottom lip and stared at the box. “You’ve wanted to buy me something for a really long time?”
“Too long…so do me a favor and quit bitchin’ and actually open it.”
She glared up at me, but a second later, she snatched it from my hand and tore it open.
“Oh, Heath,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.” She traced her finger over the bracelet-style silver watch with diamonds surrounding the face of the dial.
It was beautiful. That was why I’d picked it out. But I’d made a modification that had thoroughly confused the sales person at the jewelry store.
She tilted it to the side and shook it. “It doesn’t quite work. It…” And then the words died in her mouth as she sucked in a sharp gasp and looked up at me with wide eyes. “Oh my God.”
I took the box from her hand and removed the watch. “I had them take the battery out.”
“Oh my God,” she choked out, tears slipping from her eyes.
I slid it on her wrist. “You’re with me now, Clare. I’ll make damn sure you don’t ever need another wish again. But, if you do, it’ll always be 11:11.”
“Oh my God,” she repeated, staring down at her watch. “I can’t believe…” She trailed off and shook her head. “I know you don’t believe in my silly wishes. But there is no other explanation for how I got you.”
And, if it were a wish that got me her, I’d kiss that clock every fucking day for the rest of my natural life.
/>
She stood on her toes and pressed her lips to mine, inhaling reverently. “Thank you.”
I let her have her kiss, but when she was about to break away, I snaked a hand into the back of her hair and held her to my mouth as I murmured, “I love you, Clare.”
Her eyes popped open, and her head jerked away an inch. “Don’t say that!”
I cocked an eyebrow and reluctantly let her go. “And why not?”
“Because that’s my line. You got me an amazingly thoughtful and meaningful watch. Telling you I love you was kinda all I had left.”
I stifled a laugh. “And what if I hadn’t gotten you the amazingly thoughtful and meaningful watch?”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “I’d still love you, but I’d probably wait until I was absolutely sure you loved me before I told you.”
“Well, nothing says absolutely sure like me telling you I love you. So, how about you just say it back and we’ll be square?”
She adamantly shook her head. “Now, it doesn’t have as much impact. You ruined it. Now, we’ll just have to wait until I can catch you off guard.”
“Excuse me?” I said roughly, but I was smiling, so it didn’t quite pack the punch I had been hoping for.
She returned my smile and kissed me again. “Thank you for the watch.” Kiss. “I love…” Deep kiss, complete with tongue and a rumbled groan. She pulled away, grinned, and finished with, “It.”
“Very funny,” I deadpanned, sliding my hand down to her ass, squeezing, and using it to grind her against me. “I think I’ll have better luck coaxing this out of you in the shower.”
She moaned her approval, but when I stepped away, she caught the front of my shirt. “I loved you when I thought you were Luke. I didn’t understand it, but day after day, I felt it”—she took my hand and placed it over her chest—“right here.”
“Fuck,” I growled, my fingers spasming against her chest.
I went in for another kiss, but she dodged it.
“I still loved you even when I thought you were Agent Light sent to arrest me. You risked everything and saved me and my little girl’s life. I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”
The Complete Retrieval Duet Page 30
