All This Time (37 page)

Chapter
Seventy-One

September

I’ve
been back in Willow for seven months now and it’s been the hardest seven months
of my life. Kris’ funeral was held three days after she was murdered on
Valentine’s Day, and I decided against going. Saying goodbye to Kris once was
difficult enough. Looking into the face of her parents, her brother and the man
she was supposed to marry would be too much. When I spoke with Russ and
explained my feelings he said he understood. That day, I did however do one
last thing for my best friend. My attorney deposited the money into her
account, covering the debt she was working so hard for. I only wish I would
have done it sooner.

Decks was
moved into protective custody the night he signed
the paperwork. Luckily Blues’ coercion tactics didn’t void our agreement. His
confession alone got Nelson Kennedy fifty years in a maximum security facility.
Decks is
securely tucked away into a new life under
the witness protection program. Apparently because of his misbehaving and
attitude about uprooting his life without me the government decided assigning a
federal agent to watch over him was the best idea. I just hope it’s not a
female agent. And bless her heart if it is.

Lourdes
is serving a life sentence for premeditated attempted murder on an officer off
the law. That totally fucking satisfies me. Luckily her babies’ daddy is a good
man, well, he is not in the drug world so he’s a bazillion times better than
her or the rest of her family.

Granddad’s
chuckle breaks me out of my thoughts. “Hey Sugar dumpling.” He walks through
the doorway joining me and Gran in the kitchen. “
You staying
for lunch?” I stay for lunch every day, breakfast and dinner too. I love my
precious grandparents, but all of this hovering and watching me is getting
boring.

I
smile sweetly. “No sir, I found a place of my own and I have movers coming over
for my things this morning.” Living in my own place without traces of Kris
around isn’t going to be easy. I still miss her every day, but this is what she
asked of me.
I’m living Kris
. Well, sort of.

“Well
good for you. I guess your dad finally relented on holding your trust then?”
With a grimace on his face, he plucks a bottle of soda from inside the fridge
and sits next to Gran at the island. I shrug. “I never understood his
stubbornness with it.”

“Me
neither,” I mumble my lie and Gran’s eyebrows narrow in on me suspiciously. I
feel the inexpugnable conversation looming. “So you’ll come to my place for
dinner this weekend, yeah?” I ask with my huge grin flashing, hoping that she
will stop looking at me like that.

“Well,
the boys come home from their European vacation today so you’ll need to make it
a feast for five,” Granddad smirks knowingly before taking a long drink from
his beverage. “Still trying to fix those two, huh?”

“What
are you talking about?” I smile innocently.

“I’m
talking about suggesting and paying for them to backpack across the continent.
You’re a clever girl. Marcus loved the idea and I hope it works, but something
tells me that Morgan will be a little tougher to convince on reconciliation.”

“
Oooh
, I’m glad you brought them up,” Gran says smiling from
ear to ear and clapping her hands.
Whew
! Crisis averted. “I’m planning a
welcome home party for them.” Both Granddad and I roll our eyes at her because
she throws a party for any and all occasions. Lucky for us, she leaps from her
barstool and misses our playfulness. “Since they will both be moving back
permanently at the end of next spring, or at least Marcus will, I want it to be
huge. I know it will be at the castle, but perhaps we can make it even more
outrageous with a super formal theme…” She continues rambling on and I catch a
strange look in Granddad’s eyes. Gran blusters around and eventually walks out
of the kitchen while still chatting away.

“You
talk to Russ lately?” he asks watching me intently.

Shaking
my head, I reply, “No.”
It hurts too much
. I think about Kris and get
all broken up when I hear his voice, and also because…

“He
called me again and told me that he has been trying to get in touch with you
for weeks now.” His eyes continue to penetrate through me so I shift around in
my seat and reach across for a green apple sitting in a bowl on the counter.
Shit,
not this again
!

“Granddad...”
I warn biting the fruit while looking out the back window seeing the wave’s
crash onto the beach.

“It’s
about the case, Sam.”
No, the hell it isn’t
!

Scoffing
inwardly, I narrow my eyes on him. “I
really
don’t want to discuss it
again. He confided in you about what happened and that’s fine, but I’ve told
both of you that Ethan Sloane didn’t mean anything to me. Please, just let it
go.”
Blues is one of the reasons I don’t have Kris in my life anymore
.

“Sammy,”
his tone grows harsher. “Stop being a royal stubborn ass and pick up that
phone!” I sigh and nod, but little does Granddad know, I won’t be making that
phone call. Ever! After receiving the reply from an important email that I sent
yesterday, I vow to not break this pledge. Glancing down at my cell, I reread
the message again.

Investigator
Walker,

Thank
you for agreeing to join our small DTF unit. Your contact on the island will be
Kole De Luca. He will be in communication with you immediately to provide all
the information available. Your commander will be arriving soon as well.

Welcome
to the team!

Max

Finally,
retribution time has arrived for all the hell that the fucking X’kapz, Dr. A.,
and Mad Hatter rained down on my world.
Thank you, Max
!

***

Two days
later
…

Ring,
ring, ring… Ring, ring, ring…

Glancing
at the blocked number, I huff, but answer the damn thing after sixteen missed
or rather dismissed calls.

“Hello?”
I practically growl.

“Samantha
Walker?” A hyper voice belonging to a young guy who sounds like he is bouncing
asks.

“Yeah?”
I say with a sarcastic tone. I mean damn he called
my number so he knows it’s me, right?

“Oh,
great,” he laughs and then his voice lowers threateningly. “I need you to meet
me at the gym downtown in fifteen minutes and come alone.”

“Wait,”
I snap barely catching him before hanging up on the call. “Why in the hell
would I do that and who the fuck are you?”

“Sorry,”
his voice is unyielding, “For your new assignment and I’m Kole De Luca.”

Oh,
yeah
.

Begrudgingly
after remembering that I was supposed to expect his call, I roll out of the bed
and make quick work in the bathroom before driving down to Kole’s gym. Walking
in I speak briefly with the desk clerk who points me in the direction of Kole’s
office. Waiting patiently I watch a large muscle-head guy flirting with a cute
and very young brunette stuffing boxing equipment into a large duffel bag. He smiles
at her, they fist pound and then she walks away, leaving him behind to drool
after her. He whips around and begins fast-walking this way. Another smile
flashes on his face when he spots me. He comes into the office and plops down
in the chair behind the desk.

“Sam?”

“Kole?”
I laugh.

“The
one and only,” he winks while stretching out his arms for me to take a good
look at him and I shake my head.
Good grief another flirt
.

“So,
you’re my contact for this new assignment?” He leaps out of his chair, rushing
over to shut the door before taking his seat again.

“Sorry,”
he says. “Yes. So we each have several roles that we’ll be juggling. I
understand you are good with computers.” I nod. “Cool, okay so you’ll be our
techie and you will provide surveillance on our main objective. But that duty
will only be until the newbie joins us.”

“Newbie,”
I ask wondering how many people are on this small team before remembering Max’s
email mentioning a team leader, “Oh, the commander. Yeah, I forgot he’s coming
too.”

“No,”
Shaking his head, he stammers, “Well, yes the commander, Rhys Bentley is
coming, but that’s not who I meant. Our last member won’t join us until next
spring. I believe you already know him.”

Arching
an eyebrow up, I wait for him to explain, but he’s glancing down at his cell
phone now distracted and misses my frustration. “Are you going to explain?”
 He glances back up at me with red cheeks from whatever he is looking at
and I chuckle.

“Damn
women,” he growls slamming the phone down on the desk. “Sorry, Sam, uh…our
other member is your brother, Marcus.”

Stunned,
I narrow my eyes on him and ask, “What are you talking about?”

He
laughs. “Dang, maybe you two should talk more.”
Oh, we’ll talk plenty now.
He intentionally kept this
shit
from me, and I’m sure
he thinks he did it to protect me. Ugh
! “He joined up, we recruited him and
he will be going to the academy. After that he’s all ours,” He shrugs and
smiles wide, “So you’ll need to get his cover set up soon. No one can know his
connection with us.” He leans forward with a serious look in his eyes. “It’s a
matter of life and death.”

“Understood,
but you’ll need to clue me in on what the hell we’re doing here, Kole. Max
didn’t fill me in on anything. He said that was your job.”

“Max?”
he asks his eyebrows pinching in tightly. “Who’s Max?”

“The
guy who recruited me,” I say flatly. This guy’s ADD is weirding me out.

“Uh,
I don’t know anyone named Max.” He shrugs and continues on like it doesn’t
matter, “So we’re monitoring Julia Madison Maxwell. Here’s her dossier.” He
tosses me a couple of file folders. “She is a contact on this island for Dr.
A.” I nod intrigued already. “Her stepdaughter will be our second objective.
All of
her
information is in the folder underneath.” He glances out the
window behind me. “That was her I was speaking with when you arrived.” I twist
my head around finding no one standing there. “Breesan Maxwell,” he adds with a
small smile pulling at his lips.
Hmm, interesting.
Maybe Kole has a bit of a crush on the young girl
. I continue listening to
him go on about the covert government head quarters expectations of our unit
and after several hours of planning and organizing, we decide that until our
lead investigator, Commander Rhys Bentley, arrives with more details regarding
our task we will continue to meet here and brainstorm.

Finally,
I’ve got a job
! I’ve been going berserk. After being out of the Atlanta DTF
for so long it actually feels kind of good to be getting back to work. These
past months haven’t been easy. At least now I will have something to focus all
of my time on. The slow life, with your average daily fluff and filler, all
while feeling numb, isn’t my thing.

Chapter
Seventy-Two

Arriving
back at my condo, I notice Marcus’ Jeep and a black motorcycle parked in my
driveway. It looks like Morgan’s Ducati, but something about it reminds me of
my little black beauty that I abandoned back in Georgia. Finding them here
together after everything that they’ve been through, fighting over some dumb
broad they’ve both been screwing, I try to remember if I purchased Ibuprofen
when I was on the pharmacy isle earlier. I grab my sack of groceries out of the
trunk of my car and while clutching my house keys I walk up the steps. I turn
the doorknob and find that it’s already unlocked. Marcus knows where I hide my
spare key so it’s expected.

“Hello?”
I call softly as I push the door closed with my heel. It’s late so they may be
asleep already.

“Sam?”
Marcus yells back, “In the kitchen.”
Good, we’ve got shit to talk about
!

After
dropping my keys and purse on the table beside the door I walk down the short
hallway leading to the back en route toward my brother’s voice. He sounds like
he’s speaking to someone so I must be right, Morgan is here too. After a quick
inspection on my way through my condo, I notice that everything is still in one
piece. That’s surprising.

“Hey idiots!”
I announce entering the small space and my
eyes move from Marcus’ face in search of Morgan’s, but I don’t find him.
Instead I find dark blue eyes narrowed in on me with a light curl upward on a
pair of dark red lips that I am all too familiar with. “What the fuck?” I growl
dropping my bags onto the table beside the doorway.

“Hey
sis,” Marcus chuckles, “I understand you know this guy?” I bob my head languidly
like one of those little freaky bobble-head dolls with my eyes still transfixed
on the man across the room, leaning casually with his backside against my sink.
“Old boyfriend, huh?”
I cut my eyes at Marcus and he
stifles his laughter immediately.

“What
are you doing here?” I ask trying to control my temper seeing him in my house.
The memory of Kris’ face, moments before she died, flashes in my mind.
He’s
to blame.

“I
need to speak with you and it’s rather urgent,” Ethan says crossing his large
arms over his chest and I gulp hard remembering how it feels to be enveloped in
that tight embrace. He smirks like a real bastard seeing my discomfort, and
seeing it, I pull myself out of my Blues induced haze quickly.

“It’s
nearly midnight,” I counter almost unable to stop the growl and hoping not to
tip Marcus off to who the unwelcome guy really is. “I think you need to leave.”

“No,
Doll,” he smiles brilliantly now, “We need to talk.” Turning to my brother he
says, “Give us a minute?”
Motherfucker
!

“Yep,”
Marcus hops up and grins at me before leaving us alone.
Ugh
!
Traitor
!

After
the front door closes I snap through gritting teeth, “What in the hell do you
think you are doing coming to my house, Mr. Sloane?”
Intentionally, I use
this name because I know he has daddy issues.

“I’ve
already told you not to call me that.” His eyes sparkle brightly and I roll
mine.
He would probably prefer it over what I really want to call him right
this minute
. He uncrosses his arms and stands up his full height. The
bastard is totally intimidating, but I know that I could kill him easily. Sure
he works out, but there’s more assassin in my right thumb than his whole body.

“What
do you want?” I beg trying not to let the whiney voice out. Crossing my arms, I
ignore the whisper of my heart and pleas of my body.
Ugh
! I’m still so
damn drawn to him and it disgusts me.

“I
need to ask you one question,” he says striding toward me. He captures my left
hand, pulling it away from my body and running his thumb over the surgical scar
on the inside of my forearm. His eyes flick down to the six inch reminder of
the damage his lifestyle did to me. Even repulsed by the memories, I can’t stop
the tremor surging through me from his touch. I pull my arm away and step back
removing myself from the kitchen. He smirks wickedly. The bastard knows what
he’s doing alright!

“One question?
That’s it and then you’ll leave?” I ask
narrowing my eyes on him in disbelief.

“Well…”
He shrugs noncommittally.

“Uh,
huh, that’s what I thought.” I turn around marching down the hallway in search
of my phone or gun, whichever one I can get my hands on first.

“Wait,
Angel,” he demands catching up with me and spinning me around to face him. His
right hand on my left shoulder drops to my hip and the other one wraps around
me completely, drawing me against him tightly catching me off guard. I take in
a deep breath and my heart soars at the remembrance of his heavenly smoke and
whiskey scent mixing with our sex the last time we made love. He moves his arm
from my back to tangle his hand deep in my hair and grasps it tightly so that
he can tilt my head back.

“No,”
I whisper locking my eyes with his.

“Do
you love me?” He whispers leaning his face in close to mine. My heart slams
hard against my ribcage. I swallow, but with him tilting my head back so far to
make me look up at him I struggle. I can’t even take in air now because my
lungs feel like they’ve taken a siesta. Tears sting my eyes and I place both
hands on his chest to push away, but he tightens his grip on me. “Do you love me,
Doll?” he growls narrowing his eyes on me and I shake my head. With the weak
movement, a single tear slips down my cheek, betraying my strength. “Tell me,”
he demands squeezing me against him.

I
suck
in a deep breath and whisper disappointedly,
“Yes.”

His
mouth crashes against mine and his left hand moves to cup my ass. He forces his
erection against my stomach, and I gasp allowing him to slip his tongue between
my lips. My whole world flips up on its ass end when he pushes me backwards
against the wall. Both of his hands move up to the sides of my face before he
pulls away from me.

“I
know,” he says sweetly, touching his forehead to mine. The silent tears slip
down easier now. Reaching up, I grasp both of his wrists and pull moving away
from him.

“Why?”
I whisper turning my back, forcing away the wetness on my cheeks. “No! It
doesn’t matter,” I correct. “I don’t need to know anything. You can’t be here
and this can’t happen.” I glance over my shoulder. “I want you to leave.”

“I
can’t leave, Doll,” he counters walking up behind me and sliding his arms
around my waist. “I’m in love with you, too.” I feel defeated. My body slouches
and my head
tilts
forward into my hand. I shake my
head, but don’t move away from him, because I can’t. “Let me love you, Doll.”

That
did it
. Now I pull away.

“Stop!”
I snarl. Angrily, I force his hands off of me and
spin around. “What the hell is wrong with you? I am not Angel. I AM A COP!” I
punch each word harshly, “A cop who threw your ass in jail. How you got out is
beyond me, but I’m sure it had to do with all of your filthy money.” Smirking,
he reaches a hand up to me, but I swat it away. “Don’t you dare touch me and
get the hell out of my house!”

He
shakes his head and reaches for me again. “No. You love me.” He says with a
cute lopsided smile. “I’ll never leave you and…” He playfully points a finger,
“You will never leave me again either,” he says dominantly. I laugh
sarcastically at him trying to dictate my life. “I’m going to marry you, Doll.”

My
pulse stops. Literally, my heart isn’t beating. My mouth drops open. My eyes
bug out. The room’s spinning, or is it tilting? Who the hell can tell when
you’re having a coronary? I am either dying or I’m in shock.
Breathe
, in
through the nose, out through the mouth, I force the life-giving air. I can’t
form a sentence. “
Wha
…” Hell, I can’t form a word.
Inhaling slowly, I blink rapidly and move my hands to cover my mouth wishing I
had a brown paper bag handy.

“You
are going to be my wife, Love,” he says it again, like I didn’t understand what
he meant the first time.

Coming
out of my Blues induced haze again, I snap crossly, “I understood you jackass.”
Then I mumble, “I just don’t understand you. I’m confused.”

He
smirks, “Clearly.”

“Shut
up,” I screech, moving further away from him. “I won’t marry you. I don’t even
want you here.”

“Oh,
you will and yes, you do,” he says smugly. He steps closer and draws me into
his embrace, pushing away my flailing arms. I spin around and he takes advantage
by pulling me against his hard chest.

“Let
me go,” I shout.

“No,
listen to me first.”

“No!”
I stomp on his foot and he tightens his arms around me. “Fucking let me go!”

“Sam,
if you will calm down I will, but until you hear me out I’m not going any damn where.
Do you understand
that
?” he growls against my neck. My skin prickles and
the vibrations make my body become a traitor too. I dissolve instantly.

Frustrated
beyond anything I’ve ever experienced, I
shout
back,
“Fine!”

“Fine?”
He whispers kisses against my neck, and I feel his
smile move across my sensitive skin.

“God,”
I huff, conceding. “Yes, fine.” He hums completely pleased with my irritation
and places several warm kisses against my ear before releasing me.

“Good,
now sit. I believe I’m running out of time.” He glances at the clock and
smirks, pleased with me conceding. Curious, I peek over and see that it’s
nearly midnight.

“I’m
up to 84000 seconds already,” he says reaching for my hand and escorting me to
the sofa. I sit down on the far end. He sits right beside me and scoops me up,
placing me on his lap, and I sigh.