Scarred Sunrise: A Fortis Security Novel Book 10 (Fortis Security Series)

by Maddie Wade

  His lips twitched with humour and Lizzie felt another piece of the hastily donned armour around her heart fall. “I know what a date is, smartass.”

  “So will you go with me?”

  The first time he’d asked, she hadn’t seen it, but through the heavy-lidded desire in his eyes, she also sensed nerves. Her instinct was always to soothe him and now was no different. Enough games had been played with their lives, and she wouldn’t add to them, but she could lighten things a little.

  Moving out of his grasp, she put a little space between them, his hands falling to his sides as he released her. “You gonna pick me up at my door and face my dad and son?”

  A corner of his lip turned up. “Okay. Seven o’clock on the dot. Tonight.”

  As old as she was, she wanted to jump up and down with excitement at the thought of a date with him.

  Smithy closed the space between them so he was a hair’s breadth away, his gaze sweeping over her, with a sensual promise that made her shiver with expectation. “Wear something sexy.”

  Lizzie was torn between wanting to do as he commanded and telling him to get lost, but his next words stopped her.

  “Scratch that, you’d look sexy in a fucking bin liner.” His lips touched hers as he bent her back slightly over his arm around her waist. The kiss was brief and hot and left her reeling as she knew was his intention.

  The rest of the day was spent fielding enquiries, working on her laptop, and taking calls from a few international contacts. The entire time she was aware of the man who worked silently on his own laptop in the corner of the stall. His attention always seeming to be on what he was doing, but she felt the intensity of his gaze follow her around the room, building the anticipation until she felt flustered with it.

  At five that afternoon, Dane arrived to follow her home. He spoke with Smithy as she locked up, their voices quiet so she couldn’t hear what was said, but she saw Dane and Ty look over a couple of times as their intense conversation continued.

  She dearly hoped there wasn’t going to be an issue between the two men she loved, but just as she went to intervene, Dane smiled and made Ty laugh. It was a sound so rare she felt her heart kick in a mixture of pain and joy. He should always laugh like that, feel the freedom to express his happiness. Yet, she sensed it had been rare even before she’d lost him the first time, and after the wars he’d been in, it was a miracle he was still able to stand upright.

  Ty had no idea of the strength he possessed or the resilience he showed with every battle he won. From the despair of not knowing his father to his mother always choosing booze over him or at least she knew that was how he felt. He couldn’t see that the disease had taken his mother just as Dane hadn’t with their own mother.

  She stilled as they moved closer to her, and she shut away her thoughts.

  Dane focused on her as he spoke. “Lauren and I will take Mateo tonight. Aaron and Leah have been asking for a sleepover, and as it’s half term we thought he might enjoy it.”

  He was giving her his blessing, not that she’d asked or needed it, but she was glad to have it. They all had enough battles to fight without any of them being between families.

  “Thank you. He’ll love that.”

  “Cool, don’t bother feeding him dinner. Lauren has hotdogs and toffee apples planned for them all. I’ll pick him up around six.”

  The three of them moved off to their own cars after a slightly awkward goodbye in which she just waved at Ty like he was a friend and she was a bloody schoolgirl.

  Back at home her son was delighted to spend the night with his cousins, and Lizzie was relieved to see some of the tight rein he had on her whereabouts was easing as he began to trust she wouldn’t disappear again.

  “Are you and Smithy gonna get married?”

  The question caught her off guard as she applied mascara to her lower lids, trying not to make the weird face she knew she usually did when putting on make-up.

  Stilling, she popped the lid back on the mascara and looked at her son who was on his iPad playing a game. “What makes you ask that?”

  Lizzie had been honest with her son; he could cope with truth so much better than secrecy, as most children did in her opinion. She moved to sit next to him on the bed as he swung his legs and avoided her gaze. Laying her hand on his back, she waited until he looked at her. “Who said that, Mateo?”

  He shrugged. “Dad said you were gonna marry him, and then I’d go and live with him.”

  Her son tried to sound nonchalant, but she saw the anguish in his young eyes. Fury burned its way up her throat, the anger licking a flaming red haze through her vision at the thought her ex-husband would say such a thing. She knew he hated Ty, partly because of what happened but mostly because he knew she’d always loved him. Lizzie accepted her part in the failure of her marriage, but it hadn’t been one-sided.

  “Listen to me, Mateo.” She gripped her son’s hand as she looked at him with her emotions bare, her anger for her ex buried for now, her boy the only thing that mattered to her at that moment. “No matter what happens with Smithy and me, whether we have one date or we end up getting married one day, I’ll always put you first. I’ll always want you with me and make sure that whatever I do is discussed with you first. You’re the most important person in the world to me. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever change that, do you hear me?” Lizzie cupped her son’s cheeks and felt the relief wash through him before he shrugged.

  “Okay, Mum. I told Dad he was wrong.”

  Laughter bubbled up in her at his easy acceptance of her words and his belief in her.

  “Good because he has his wires crossed somewhere.” She didn’t add that they were probably crossed because he was jealous and spiteful. He was still Mateo’s father and she wouldn’t bad mouth him as much as she wanted too. No, that conversation would be saved for when it was just the two of them. “We good?” Her hands slipped from his face as she watched him give her question real thought.

  “Yup, we’re good.”

  Lizzie nodded as she checked her hair one more time, the long waves left down and shining in the light. She’d gone for classy with a dash of sexy tonight. Her belly was alive with butterflies as she looked in the mirror one last time, admiring the way the burgundy off-the-shoulder, belted bodycon dress hugged the curves she loved and hid most of the ones she didn’t.

  She heard her brother thundering up the stairs. He always seeming to revert to a teenage elephant when he was home, rather than the silent, spec ops operator he was.

  “Wow, sis, don’t you need a cardigan to go over that dress?”

  Lizzie rolled her eyes and slapped her brother with her clutch purse, which just made Dane laugh all the more.

  He looked at Mateo who’d jumped off the bed when he heard his adored uncle come up the stairs. “Ready to go bud?”

  “Yup.”

  Mateo gave her a hug and an extra squeeze before he grabbed his backpack and ran down the stairs.

  “Seriously, you look great, Liz.”

  “Make sure you keep an eye on Mateo. We just had a worrying conversation.”

  Dane’s face went hard as she told him what Marco had said. “That prick. Need me to have a word?”

  That he was asking instead of demanding showed how far he’d come. “No, just make sure Mateo doesn’t fret.”

  “He’ll be fine, but yeah, we’ll make sure he’s okay, and the twins will keep him busy.”

  She waved out of her bedroom window as Dane drove away and then sat on the bed, to put her shoes on. She wished she could wear heels, but these sexy kitten heels were all she could manage now. With a spritz of perfume, she went downstairs to wait. Her father was in the living room, watching some show about how things were made, so she chatted with him until the doorbell rang.

  Lizzie put a hand to her belly to calm her nerves as her dad answered it, and she heard deep voices in the hallway. Taking a breath to calm the excitement, she grabbed her black coat and bag and stepped through t
he door.

  Ty’s eyes moved to her, heat flashing through his eyes as his gaze swept over her before he smiled. “You look absolutely breathtaking.”

  He handed her the purple and white roses he had in his hands, and she grinned, feeling the blush creep over her cheeks. “Thank you.”

  She handed the flowers to her dad. “Can you put these in water for me please, Dad?”

  “Sure thing, honey.” He kissed her cheek and gave Ty a look only an overprotective father could seem to pull off and left.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked, taking her hand.

  “Yes.”

  He held her hand as they walked to the car, opening the door for her before he got in himself and turned the heater up to make sure she stayed warm.

  He placed his hand on the back of her seat in a ridiculously hot move as he reversed the car before pulling out onto the road.

  Ty broke the silence as he cast her a smile that made her belly flip. “So, your dad is kind of scary.”

  Lizzie laughed and let her nerves go. “He can be. I think it’s something only dads can channel though, and he certainly had practice with daughters.”

  “He’s a good guy. How’s Mateo?”

  Lizzie told him about what happened, leaving the bits about marriage out. She had no intention of scaring him off before they even got to the restaurant.

  “I knew I should have stopped you marrying that douchebag.”

  His face was almost expressionless, but she didn’t need to see his expression to know what he was feeling. Sliding her hand to his thigh, she felt the strength there as he lifted it from his lap, kissed her palm and then replaced it, leaving his own hand over hers.

  They pulled up at the restaurant, and he parked before getting her door again, sliding his arm around her lower back as they walked into the welcoming light of her favourite Japanese restaurant.

  The hostess took their name and led them to a table in the far corner near the fire exit. She saw Ty looking around, assessing every diner in the room and most likely judging the nearest extraction point. It should have made her more nervous, but it didn’t, it made her feel safer.

  “Is it safe for us to be out?” She hadn’t thought about it much until now, but their timing wasn’t exactly great with the shit going on in their lives right then.

  “It’s fine.”

  He didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t need him to, if he said it was fine it was. She picked up the menu and quickly made her choice as Ty did the same thing.

  A waiter in a crisp white shirt came over. “Are you ready to order some drinks?”

  Ty glanced at her and she nodded. “Can I have a glass of dry house wine?”

  “Yes of course, and for you, sir?”

  “Just water for me please.”

  “Perfect. I’ll be back in a few minutes with your drinks, and I’ll take your food order then.”

  Lizzie glanced at Ty. “You can have one, surely?”

  He shook his head. “No, I want to remember every single second of this date, and I don’t want alcohol to dull any of it.”

  He reached across the table and took her hands in his, the callouses on his hands rough against her skin, making her feel feminine and soft. Lizzie felt herself melt at his words. So many years she’d yearned for this, and now it was as if every dream she’d ever had was crashing in on her in the most delicious way and she found it almost frightening.

  What would it be like to have this and then lose it or have it taken away as if the entire thing had been one big tease?

  “Is this real?”

  She wasn’t aware she’d spoken the words aloud until Ty’s soft chuckle made her realise she had. “If it isn’t real then I don’t want to know what is. But yes, Liz, it’s all real, and you’re as perfect as you’ve always been.”

  Something about him saying she was perfect was disconcerting, but she let it go, not really knowing why the words bothered her, but they did. Perhaps because she knew it to be a lie. She was a lot of things, but perfect had never been one of them. Her mind tripped back to the day Meg had been taken from them, and a fresh knot of guilt hit her. She’d never told anyone her secret, yet it made the idea of perfection a lie. If it hadn’t been for her, Meg may never have been lost to them for so long.

  Chapter 14

  Smithy watched as the mood lighting in the restaurant played with the curves on Lizzie’s body and thought what an idiot he’d been to let this woman get away—no worse—to walk away himself when they could have had this for the last fifteen years. “Do you want coffee?”

  The date had been fun. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed until tears ran down his face. They’d talked about everything from movies to the friends they shared, and even about her son who was the light of her life. Her love for Mateo was one of the things he found so engaging and beautiful about her. He wondered what it would be like to raise a child with a woman who loved as she did. To share a life with her by his side instead of the lonely existence he’d endured by his own hand for so long.

  The thought terrified him and excited him at the same time. The idea that he could lose it or fuck it up somehow was always there in the back of his mind, and he wondered if that was normal. For once he wished he still had the close bonds that the other guys had and could ask them, but after years of pushing everyone away and erecting an invisible wall, he wasn’t sure he could tear it down as easily as he wanted.

  She leaned back in her chair, patting her flat stomach. “I’m stuffed.”

  His eyes moved over her body before coming to rest again on her face. Lizzie rolled her bottom lip between her teeth and the pulse in her neck fluttered at the intensity he knew she must see in his eyes. He wanted to taste the gloss on her lips, to feel the softness of her skin against his body, to show her what she meant to him when words failed him.

  “Do you want to go?”

  “I want to go to your place.”

  His own pulse skittered at the meaning in her words, and he had to fight from throwing cash on the table and dragging her from the room. Holding his hand up, he called for the bill and paid while Lizzie got her coat on. Lacing her fingers with his, he walked her back to the car, glad he’d used the old Jaguar he’d had since he was a teen working weekends to earn some cash. It had taken him years to restore it, but it was the one constant in his life apart from how he felt about Liz.

  The tension in the car sizzled with sexual energy, and they remained silent, each lost in their own head as he drove and pulled up outside his modest flat. He hadn’t needed much, just a place to lay his head now and again, but now he felt awkward that he didn’t have a luxurious home to offer her.

  As he opened the door and she proceeded him inside, he found himself apologising for it.

  “Sorry, it’s not much.”

  Liz dropped her bag onto the sofa and walked towards him as she shrugged off her coat with more confidence than he felt in that moment, letting the heavy wool garment drop to the floor. Her body was almost touching his as she lifted a hand to his face, and he closed his eyes at the sensation of her touching him in such an intimate and innocent way.

  Her hand came to rest over his heart, her lips when he opened his eyes were within touching distance. Her eyes held an almost drugged quality, but he knew it was desire and emotion he saw in their depths. “Don’t apologise for the home you have. The only thing I care about is in here.” Her hand slid down his neck, over his pecs, the muscle quivering under her ministrations.

  Suddenly all his nerves were gone, and he leaned in, cupping her neck under the thick fall of her hair, his other hand coming to rest on her hip. “I’ve waited so long for this,” he said against her lips, feeling the soft drag of her skin against his. His balls tightened, desire lancing through him like a bolt straight to his cock, before he traced the seam of her lips with his tongue and her body melted into his, a whimper whispering from her lips.

  His mouth explored hers as if for the first time. Smithy
wanted to take his time and commit every second to memory but as her hands travelled over his shoulders, pushing the jacket he wore to the floor, he knew he wouldn’t get his wish. Suddenly realising he had as much time with her as he wanted to take, he grappled with the belt at her waist.

  Opening her dress, he pulled back, his breathing harsh. Smithy took in her beauty, the black lace of her bra and thong barely covering the sexy body beneath. “Fuck slow.”

  He pushed the dress to the floor and lifted her by her thighs; her legs immediately closed around his hips as he walked her back to his bedroom. Falling to the bed with her, he knew there would be no finesse this time. Again, the thought bubble inside him said he could have forever with this woman.

  His mouth crashed down on hers, and he groaned when she bit his bottom lip, need a driving force as he ground his hard cock into the hot V between her legs. Lizzie shamelessly rubbed against his hardness, the pair of them like two teens desperate to get off.

  Lifting, Smithy hooked his hand over his head and pulled his shirt off, throwing it to the floor as her hands traced his skin, her short nails catching on his nipples and making his aching cock twitch to be inside her.

  With wild hands he unhooked her bra, his lips surrounding the tight nub of her nipple as his fingers toyed with other until it was a hard, perfect pink point.

  “Ty, I need you.”

  His hand snaked down her belly, over the silky skin with ridges of scar tissue from her surgeries. He followed the path his hand made with his mouth, kissing the scars tenderly as he caught her eyes, which were dark and hooded with need. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”

  Her lips quirked, and his heart flipped over with love for her, but the words stalled on his lips. “Pretty sure you’re biased but okay.”

  He grinned as he pulled her thong from her, his palm easing over her long legs. “I’m biased, but it doesn’t make it any less true.”

  Her hands gripped his shoulders as he admired her laid out like a smorgasbord of pleasure for the taking.