An Unfinished Life (42 page)

M
y phone call to Duffy took longer than I expected it to. He wanted to know every last detail of my conversation with Jack, but I pushed it off until I could meet with him tomorrow in Boston. My head was killing me with a slow pounding at the base of my skull. Making my way back to Zoey’s room, I entered to find her missing from her bed. I called out to her before checking the bathroom, and that too was empty.

A sudden panic began to rise within me.
She wouldn’t have just checked out without telling me? Stop it, Paulson, you’re just twisted in your head over Jack right now. Your girl is here. You just have to find her.

I took a few calming breaths, and then my next call was to Janice, the goddess of all travel agents. She was able to arrange a private jet to take me to Boston. The plane was being prepped before I even hung up with her. This was another perk of having banked millions from my football days, along with my inheritance. I’d invested wisely, and I was financially sound to just spend the rest of my days lazing around on a beach if I wanted to, but only if Zoey was by my side.

I never flaunted my wealth to any of my buddies on the force, or even at the FBI. They all knew who I was but accepted me just the same. I did use my contacts for good sometimes, like getting Duffy season pass tickets for the New York Giants. He’d been a good friend, and I owed him a lot.

Speaking of him, no sooner after hanging up with Janice, Duffy was calling me and tried with great effort to talk me out of flying to Boston. I didn’t want to hear it, and my mind had been made up.

“For the last time, I’m fine, and I know what I am doing. I leave in about an hour. I just have to gather Zoey, and then I will call you when I land. Goodbye, Duffy.”

“And just where, Agent Paulson, are you taking me to?”

Just the sight of Zoey set my soul on fire. She looked lovely in the clothes that Tenley had bought for her. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and for make-up, she was only wearing lip gloss, which I was about to kiss off.

“Good evening, Ms. Steele. You are gorgeous!”

I placed my hands onto the armrests of her wheelchair and kissed her plump lips. I had meant to be gentle, but my kiss soon turned aggressive, as I demanded entrance to her mouth. Our tongues tangled with each other, and Zoey whimpered a soft moan that just about made me come. It had been a long time since we’d been together, and all I wanted was to make love to her. It was a need that caused me to lose my mind.

“That’s quite a welcome, Agent Paulson! Shall I leave and come back in again?”

“Just try it, and I will take you over my knee and turn your skin to a lovely shade of pink.”

“How about I just stay, and you do that anyway.”

My girl wanted to play!

“As inviting as that sounds, you are still healing, and I am not going to touch you the way I want to until I know you are one hundred percent recovered. It still pains me to look at your bruises.”

“Oh, Jake, I am better. And maybe I need a different kind of healing, one where you bury that big cock of yours inside of me and ride me so hard that I’m hoarse from screaming your name. Yeah, that kind of medicine is exactly what I need.”

“Thank you, beautiful girl. Now I have to go commando, because my boxers are filled with come.”

“Are they really?” she was actually smiling.

“I was just joking, but I am close, so please stop playing with my emotions.”

“Okay, then let me just play with your dick, and we will call it even. She pulled on my belt and would have had my pants down if it wasn’t for the nurse walking in with her discharge papers. I quickly refastened my pants, while Zoey smiled wickedly at me.
She is so getting spanked.

She was laughing to the point where her cheeks were turning shades of red. I kissed her sensually on her lips, and then I was the one moaning. We needed to be on our way, and I still needed to explain to Zoey my sudden change of plans.

“As much as I would love to continue this game of wills with you, we need to leave for the airport.”

“Where are we going? I thought we would be going back to the Drake Hotel?”

“That was my original plan, where we would really talk, but this afternoon when I met with Jack Vanelle, everything changed. Please trust me, Zoey, and just come with me. I will have more time to talk to you once we are up in the air and on our own with no interruption. The doctors have cleared you to fly, so what’s it going to be?”

“Seriously, Jake? A little finesse wouldn’t kill you. Fine! I will go to…?”

“Boston, we are going to Boston.”

“I will go to Boston with you, but you need to start talking, and don’t try to stall me with that sexy mouth of yours, because you know I will cave. I’m so weak when you are in touching distance. I lose my mind over you.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth, because baby, that’s exactly how I feel about you. I love you, and thank you.”

She smiled and wiped a tear from her eyes. I grabbed her bag, and we left for the airport. I wish I was taking Zoey back to my ranch in Colorado. It was the one place that I felt most at home. I had designed the house of my dreams and watched it get built, brick by brick. It was heaven on earth. I would return home every chance I had when I wasn’t playing football. During the off-season, I never left the ranch. I had my horses and the beautiful Rocky Mountains as my view. I missed that place so much.

I never had an opportunity to show Minela what I loved and hoped to share it with her. She was a city girl, and I knew when the time came, it would take some convincing on my part. I never brought a woman to my home, or to my bed, and now being with Zoey, that’s all I want to do. That dream would have to wait until I finished my business with Joseph LaRocha. I knew I could never find the closure I so desperately wanted until I made him see how his selfishness and greed got his daughter killed.

We boarded the plane and took our seats. We would be airborne in a few minutes, and then I would brace myself for one hell of a conversation with Zoey. She wanted answers, and deserved them, but I just got her back and didn’t want to risk losing her over someone from my past. She held my hand as we began our take-off. She was adorable with her eyes closed and one little hand squeezing my own.

“You don’t like take-offs?”

“No, I don’t. I always get really nervous, but once we level out, I’m fine.”

“It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you.”

“You certainly do, Agent Paulson, but did you bring the handcuffs?”

That’s my sweet temptress.
I was getting more lost in her beautiful eyes as I continued to stare at her, and thank God she made it. I don’t know how I got so lucky to meet Zoey when I did, but I would never question it again. She was here with me now, and if I had my way, she would be forever.

“Well?” she asked. “You never answered my question: did you pack them?”

“I never leave home without them,” I winked back at her.

Once we were at cruising altitude, we unbuckled our seatbelts and moved over to the leather sofa. Janice went all out with the accommodations. She knew what I liked when I traveled. The jet had a private bedroom, but with Zoey just being released from the hospital, I wasn’t ready to introduce her to the mile-high club yet. We needed to talk first, and the conversation I needed to have with her could no longer wait.

She sensed my apprehension but gave me room to breathe and waited until I was ready. I stretched my legs and invited Zoey to sit in between them with my arms around her, a perfect position for me to lay kisses down onto her head. If it became too much for her to hear, I would let her go to find safe haven in the bedroom. I never talked about my past, not ever, and it was very hard for me to find the words, but I started with the reason why we were going to Boston. I started with
her.

“Her name was Minela LaRocha, and she was to be my wife, but our love story ended the night she was gunned down and died in my arms.” I immediately felt Zoey shiver, but I held her so I could continue with my story. “She was beautiful, smart, tough, and a damn good cop. When we met, it was like oil and water. I was adamant about not wanting another partner, but she soon changed my mind. She challenged me to get to know her better, and at the end of the day, that’s all I wanted to do. Our working relationship eventually turned personal, and I was in love for the very first time in my life.”

“She was his only daughter, the pride and joy of his life. She was one of five children, the first four all boys, and all cops. She defied her father’s wishes and joined the force. I met her when she transferred from Boston to New York. We were both detectives, and Duffy, who you met, warned me off from the very first day.”

“Why would he do that?” she asked, turning to look up at me.

“Duffy wasn’t being a jerk or anything, but he knew me better than most. He gave me her stats and experience, and I wasn’t really interested in all of that because I was stubborn and wanted to work alone. As I left his office, he told me not to fall in love with her, which of course, I scoffed at the notion. What was he, crazy? You don’t fall in love with the person who has your back on the streets! But after spending one afternoon with her, I was pretty much eating my words.”

“I fell in love, and I fell hard. All I wanted was to have what my brother had with his wife. What my parents share and still have today after years of being together. It was time for me to man up and tell her how I felt, and I didn’t really have to do much convincing, because she felt the same way. We dove into the big pool of love, moved into a shoe box of an apartment, and were happy. Losing Minela made me lose parts of myself. I drove my family away and used my work as my refuge. I was just…dead…inside, and I didn’t really care.”

I let out a deep sigh, and closed my eyes to fight back the tears, but it was too late. They were falling, and Zoey turned and held me close to her.

“Shhh, it’s okay Jake. I’m here, and I love you.”

I wanted to make love to this amazing woman holding me in her arms. Skin on skin was all I could think about. She could talk dirty to me all day long, but what I was craving most was intimacy with her. I needed her, and she needed me too. She moved off of me and extended her hand out for me to take.

“When did you know that you wanted to be with me?” I asked her as we lay in bed wrapped up in each other, very naked.

“There is something about you, Jake, that I can’t even articulate into words. I knew I had to have you, but you were so guarded with everyone around you. I don’t even believe I saw your teeth until you smiled at Tenley’s wedding. You were so hot in your suit, and I was fantasizing fucking you with you only wearing that blue tie that matched your eyes. I know you must be thinking I’m absolutely crazy with my wild thoughts, but guys have been doing it for years! Girls are entitled to some hot one night stands too.”

“Is that all you wanted when we went back to my hotel room?”

I hated to ask, but I wanted to know.

“Yes, but I kind of had the feeling you did too. Am I wrong?”

“No, you’re not, but then it was so much…”

“More?”

“Yeah, something like that. I tried to convince myself that it was a one-time thing, and we would go our separate ways, but then after I found your note, I wasn’t so convinced.”

“That was fun. I had never done anything like that before, but something about you just excited me, and I wanted to see if what I was feeling was real. You know the rest of the story.”

“Zoey, it can have a perfect ending if it’s me who you really want, not just the fantasy. I’m looking for more in my life. I want to get married, have a family. I want it all, and I’m asking you if you feel the same way?”

She suddenly was quiet, too quiet, and I didn’t like it. I know I just dropped a lot of baggage from my past on her, but I needed her to communicate with me, not shut down every time I showed her my heart. I was chastising myself for pushing her. I understood that I came off strong, as patience was never one of my strong suits. I wanted her, it was that simple. I could work with some hesitation, knowing how much fun it would be to convince her to give us a chance.

“Hey, are you still with me?” I finally asked.

“I am, just deep in thought.”

“Anything I can help you with?”

“No, you’ve given me enough to think about, and I mean that in a good way. Jacob, why are you so sure about me?”

Finally! She was talking, and now don’t fuck it up Paulson. Simply tell her without scaring the shit out of her.
I shifted our bodies and pulled her right on top of me. I wanted to hold her face and look in her eyes when I told her my answer.

“Zoey, I wasn’t looking for you when we met. I was not an easy man to be around. Most times I came off as cold and pretty much a dick. Just ask Jagger. I’m sure he won’t hold back on how we met.”

She laughed and said, “I’ve heard about the pissing contest, go on.”

“I won’t give you every detail about the women in my little black book, but one did exist, and it was filled with women I dated, had random hook-ups with, and some I called friends. But never one that I could actually say I was in love with, until Minela. She was my first love, and one I will never forget. Losing her in the manner I did, just broke me. I was walking, talking, breathing, but I wasn’t living. I gave up on ever finding love again, and then one day…there was you. You just took my breath away with your sassy mouth, pink streaks in your hair, and that gorgeous ass of yours that made my heart skip a beat or two. And after the night we shared, I was scared to death on how I was feeling. It was strong, Zoey, and I almost didn’t believe it. That’s why it was so easy to believe that it was a one-time thing and nothing more, but then you came to me, and I knew I was just fooling myself. You came at me with such a force, you knocked me on my ass, and then all I wanted was to mark you and make you mine.”