Conklin's Foundation (Conklin's Trilogy) (50 page)

“My Ty,” I whispered into his lips after our deep kiss, bringing my hands to his face.

“Always,” he said softly, giving me another deep kiss, his hands still exploring my skin.  Once he took his lips off mine, he rolled me to my stomach, planting kisses on every inch of my back then his strong hands massaged firmly into my skin.  He lay on his side, moving his hands down to my behind and thighs, continuing his sensual massage.  I was so relaxed and at ease with my body.  Tyler’s energy surrounded me and created an unbelievable depth of tranquility.

I had forgotten about the crazy tear gas attack, and the fact that someo
ne had indeed locked Margo and me in the bathroom on purpose.  I was safe in his hands.  It was only Tyler and me, forever and always.

I felt his
legs tangle with mine as his arm became more rested on my back, his hand still forming circles in my shoulder blades.  He rested his head next to mine and whispered across the pillow, “You’re tired and have been through so much today, sleep baby doll.”

~

I hardly
noticed when Tyler quietly crawled off the bed and left the room.  My body was tired and I had been through way too much physically and emotionally, but I couldn’t fall back into a deep sleep without my Ty’s arms keeping me safe.  The reality that someone purposely trapped me in a bathroom and let off tear gas was haunting.  I sat up and found one of Tyler’s t-shirts and went to search for him.

I heard his voice down the hall in his study.  He was on the phone.  Who could he be talking to at 2:00 in the morning?  Whoever it was
, they were on speaker phone, and the closer I got to his room, the more I could hear.

“When are they going to release Mom?” Tyler asked as I stood by the door. 

“Tomorrow morning.  She is really shaken.  She was more coherent, but they are worried about her sight.  She is having trouble focusing and the gas has possibilities to affect her vision permanently.”

It was RJ. 

“Jesus.  Who do you think did this?” Tyler asked concerned.

“I have an idea,” RJ said.

There was silence.

“Well?” Tyler finally said, irritation laced with his voice.

“I had a tip off at the party.”

“From who?  What did they say?” Tyler was getting angrier and
more impatient waiting for RJ to finally fill him in on information.

“He wants more loc
ations and bricks, Tyler.  We have to go through with the deal,” RJ said sighing.

“No.  That asshole can’t threaten us into
doing what he wants,” Tyler said, his voice raising.

“Tyler, he just proved he has no boundaries,” RJ said slowly, irritation becoming
clear in his voice.  “It will only get worse.”

“Grandpa would be furious if he heard you say that.  He wouldn’t put up with this asshole’s demands,” Tyler said icily.  “Can’t we get the police involved?  Squash
his entire scheme?  Police were crawling all over the place tonight. How could he get away with this?”

Who were they talking about?

“We can’t involve the police,” RJ said stiffly. 

“This is ridiculous.  How deep are you already in with him?  How could you just throw away everything Grandpa ever stood for?” Tyler yelled.

I heard RJ sigh heavily over the speaker phone.  “Tyler, it’s not like that.  Just let me deal with this.”

He sounded so defeated and so unlike RJ.  It was unsettling
to know that whoever they were dealing with had RJ stumped, and I didn’t like that I was being targeted.  But what if they started to target Tyler?  Emotions of losing him spread through my body, and the need to have his strong embrace grew heavy. 

“Tyler?” I said wit
h a shaky voice behind the half-closed door.

I waited a minute and then slightly opened the door to find him standing next to the speaker phone in gym shorts and a
t-shirt.

“I hav
e to go RJ. Tell Mom I will visit tomorrow.  We can finish this discussion later,” Tyler said, changing his tone, no longer as frustrated as before.  He didn’t want me to know what was happening, and part of me wished I were more in the dark.

“Why are you awake, baby?” he asked with concern.

I slowly walked over to him, wrapping my arms around him.

“I just missed you,” I said quietly, nuzzling my head into his chest.  I was trying not to shake, but I was scared of what was happening.

“You’re trembling.  Are you cold?” he asked, rubbing his hands along my back.

I shook my head no, burrowing as deep into him as I could.  “Everything is finally sinking in from what happened tonight,” I said, my voice cracking.

Tyler held me tighter, resting his chin on my head.  “I know. It was scary.”  He leaned back and took my face in his hands, looking at me with all seriousness.  “Don’t worry about it anymore.  You are safe.  It was probably just some stupid prank.  I won’t let anything ever happen to you.”  He wrapped his arms around me again then nuzzled my neck with his fresh scruff trying to lighten the mood.

I
let out a small giggle then sighed feeling relieved we weren’t going to discuss anything further.  I was okay with him hiding his conversation with RJ from me… for now.  Now I wanted to stay safe in his arms and not think about anything involving Tyler’s or my family getting hurt.

Chapter 30

Six weeks went by, and our lives
fell into a normal and happy routine.  Tyler still traveled, but was home at least four nights of the week.  I was okay with that considering how busy I was with my own work.  We would take turns at each other’s condo’s, and our relationship was developing into the best reality I could ever imagine.

Jamie was still in Miami, but I saw her a few times when she would come back with Nathan and do business in
Grand Rapids.  She loved Miami and proved to be a valuable asset to the expansion plans of Conklin’s movement there. 

Tyler and I hadn’t spoken much of the tear gas event at the Valentine’s Day fundraiser.  Even when it was time for us to use the Michael Buble
’ tickets, we avoided talking about how they were purchased.  Nothing strange had happened since then, and I was beginning to think maybe it was just a freak thing.  But the conversation I overheard with Tyler and RJ proved otherwise, and it was constantly looming over me that the Conklins had some potentially dangerous business.

Margo had even backed off.  As far as I knew, her father was still taking treatment in the hospital, and I was happy she was finally leaving us alone.

On a shockingly sadder note, Tyler hadn’t mentioned anything about getting married since that evening either.  Our relationship was solid and our connection was deep, but I thought we would talk more about becoming official.  I guess I could be the one to bring it up, but I felt he was the one who needed to do that.  I wanted him to be just as ready as I was.

Tonight was
my birthday, and we were going to do something special, but he wouldn’t share details.  I told him since it was my birthday, I should know what we were going to be doing!  But Tyler insisted he put together our evening, so I went with it.

“Are you finally going to fill me in on where we are going for
my birthday?” I asked with my biggest pleading eyes.  He was loading the back of the Maserati with a suitcase then came over to me to open my car door.

“No, it’s a surprise,” he teased, urging me to slide into the sleek car. 

It was warming up and the sun was shining.  It had to have been in the low 60s, and for Michigan that was like heaven after a cold winter.  April was starting off pleasant.

Tyler put on his sunglasses and put the Maserat
i into drive, zooming to I96.  He had changed from his work clothes into his sexy diesel jeans and a half zip-long sleeve navy polo, making his eyes appear more blue.  I joined in on his casualness, dressing in jeans and a button down flannel shirt.

Tyler was very quiet, chewing on his thumb with one hand and gripping the steering wheel with the other.  His knuckles were damn near white.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He glanced over at me, his thumb in his mouth.

“Mmhmm,” he mumbled.  He was bouncing his leg.

“Are you sure,” I said slowly, a smile creeping on my face.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you have been chewing on your thumb and bouncing your leg the last
20 minutes.”

Tyler put his hand down on his now stilled leg.  “I
’m fine,” he said, his voice becoming a bit high pitched.

I raised a brow
then continued to look out the window.

We pulled off the highway near Grand Haven.  Tyler had taken me out by the water on Lake Michigan.  My face sprung to life as we drove through the little town by the water. 

“Are we going to the beach?” I asked with excitement.  I hadn’t felt the sand in my toes since Miami, and even though it wasn’t as warm as South Beach, Lake Michigan sand felt just as good on the soles of my feet.

“Sort of,” he said softly.  We drove
through the small town and into a wooded area.  The road zigzagged for a few minutes then we pulled into, from what I could tell, a driveway.

“I want to show you
a spec house we have been working on,” Tyler said with a wry smile.

He was nervous again.  Why was he nervous about showing me a spec house?  He knew how much I loved seeing the finished product of a blueprint.

The long driveway finally ended as the trees started to clear. We met a large ranch house that overlooked the water.  The outside of the house wasn’t finished and only had two large pillars at the front entrance.  I quickly wondered what might be on the outside.  Brick?  Stucco?  Stone?  I got excited thinking about it!

“This looks great, Ty.  Are we building a sub around here based on this house?” I asked, unbuckling my seat belt to get out of the car.

Tyler followed suit, meeting me as I walked around the car to check out the property.  He reached for my hand and led the way to the front door.  He pulled out a key from his pocket and turned the knob. 

The flooring was
still plywood, but drywall was hung and the house was close to being finished.  The entryway led to a big family room with a 20 foot ceiling, the back wall windows looking out over the water.  I walked through the room and noticed a circular shaped add on to the room that also had windows from top to bottom.  A fireplace was off to the side. The brick chimney thinly ran all the way to the top of the slanted ceiling.  The room would display something beautifully over the water.

Like a Christmas tree.

I smiled as I stood in the middle of the room add on, happy to see something I had always envisioned.  Tyler stood back in the living room watching me intently.  I gave him a big smile then proceeded to the left where there was a vast kitchen.  A wall with a big hole helped to separate the rooms, but at the same time, they felt united.  I wondered why there was a hole?  A fish tank would fit perfectly! In the kitchen, there was a huge island with empty spots for appliances.  The counters still had yet to be placed, and the cupboards were drawn in.  A breakfast room was off the back and led to a large porch that took up the entire back of the house.

I proceeded
down the hall into the bedrooms.  There were three total on this side, and I assumed the master was on the opposite side of the house.  One of the rooms had a Jack-and-Jill bathroom connecting them.  I examined the room further, noticing a nook hidden in each.  I sucked in a quick breath as I went into the last room on this side of the house.  There was a big bay window and another nook.

A reading nook.

These were kids' rooms.  This was my house.  Tyler had built me my house.  The special spot for the Christmas tree, the hole where a fish tank could be placed, the reading nooks and bay window… all of it was from my dream floor plan.  I turned to see him nervously studying me from the entryway.

“Come see the rest of the house,” he whispered, holding his hand out for me to take.

Our feet creaked against the plywood flooring and echoed throughout the unfinished home.  My heart swelled the more we explored.  His attentiveness to my plans was heartwarming. I felt if I were to speak my voice would crack, and I would start shedding happy tears.

We passed by a f
ormal dining room and an office then finally made it to the master bedroom.  It was a circular shape, windows from floor to ceiling.  I remembered seeing something similar on Tyler’s dream blueprints.  There was a hole in the ceiling off to the side, to what I guessed would be for a spiral staircase leading upstairs.  Looking from the outside of the home, it was only built for one room, and I would have guessed it to be an office, Tyler’s office.

My heart was pounding faster the more I put the pieces together.

He tugged on my hand before I could walk over and look out the windows and led me into a duel walk-in closet then into the master bathroom.  A large walk-in shower filled the corner, then spots for double sinks.  Walking further into the bathroom, I realized it wrapped around the master bedroom.  Facing the water was circular shaped with more windows from floor to ceiling where a large bathtub was located in the center of the windows.  It was stunning and beautiful and had so much potential.