Finally Home (Home Series) (12 page)

The guys went immediately to the office area, each setting up at a different workstation as if they'd all done this a million times, which, she assumed they had.
  She watched them for a moment, then decided to take a tour of the main floor.  Everything was exceedingly neat and pristine; military crisp, as she always referred to her cousins' places.  There wasn't anything particularly inviting about the space, and that saddened her a bit.  Although, she knew he'd been staying at his parents' homes for a while now, in an effort to placate his mother.  She'd heard him say a few times that he'd put her through enough stress, so he wanted to indulge her any way he could. 

He had a few pictures on the shelves by his television.  Most were of the guys on his team in various desert locations.  She saw a few of him before he'd gotten that nasty scar on his face.  There were a few of him where he had a hint of a smile showing, but it never reached his eyes.  She found one picture of him with his family but it seemed as if one of his brothers were missing.  Kacee said he had two brothers and a sister, but there was only one brother in the picture.  She wondered how
long old this picture was.  His hair was longer than he wore it now.

Turning from the shelves, she saw something she missed earlier.  In the corner opposite from the boxing ring sat a baby grand piano.  That surprised her.  Did he play?  She had to consider, as one of Jeannette Chandler-Casiano's children, he probably did take piano lessons growing up. 

Sighing, she picked up her briefcase and laptop bag and settled down at the end of his sofa to work on some of her patient notes.  She had a feeling he wouldn't be letting her go in tomorrow so she needed to send out notifications to reschedule appointments.  It would be an inconvenience all around, and once this was all resolved, she was going to have a heck of a time catching up on everything, but she supposed it couldn't be helped.  She absolutely could not chance having that man show up at her office and jeopardize any of the children.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the couch, listening to the guys talking in the background. 
The sound of their voices, low and steady, was oddly soothing and it wasn't long before she found herself drifting off to sleep.

Mike felt a little better about Lainey's security here at his loft.  He had most of the windows black
ed out.  The few he had cleared were strategically placed where there was no line-of-sight from surrounding buildings, and the glass was heavily tinted on the outside so it was hard to see in from the outside.  His family called this his lair, and he supposed they were right.  After years of government housing, he was happy to have a space of his own to retreat to...and he was very much aware of Lainey wandering about in it.  While he listened to Colt and Riley trade barbs, his eyes followed her around the room as she explored.  He probably should have said something to her when they came in, but he needed to put a bit of distance between them with Riley around.  He'd already succeeded in upsetting her father; he didn't need Riley to be upset as well.

"How do you want to handle security for this place?" Colt asked, pulling him from his thoughts.  "You want us to take shifts watching outside?"

"That's probably a good idea," Whit said. 

Mike nodded.  "I'll take the first..."

"You stay in here with her," Riley said, cutting him off.  "That's non-negotiable."

"I can..."

Riley pointed into the living area toward Lainey, who they all saw had fallen asleep on the couch.

"
Outside of Jenna, Lainey is the most important person in the world to me.  I want the best person for the job with her at all times.  That is you.  No offense to the rest of you," he said to the others.

"None taken," they all agreed.

Mike nodded.  "OK, fine."

"Coop and I will take the first shift
tonight.  I know Colt wants to go back to the hospital and see Tessa.  Riley, you need to go home and see your stepson."

Riley nodded.  "Are you making her stay here tomorrow?" he asked Mike.

"Yes...and I'm recommending that Kacee stay home as well.  I don't think they need to go back there until we can get a better take on who this guy is.  Lainey says she doesn't remember him, but he keeps indicating he has met her, so somewhere along the line, she had to have had some kind of contact with him.  I'm going to work with her on remembering."  Riley gave him an odd look.  "What?"

"She says she doesn't remember him?"

"Yes."

He glanced into the living area where she was sleeping.  "Lainey has eidetic memory.  Photographic memory, as it's more commonly called.  She doesn't forget much.  If she says she doesn't remember him, then it's possible she never did have contact with him and he's just created these supposed things in his own mind."

Mike glanced over at Lainey.  Photographic memory.  Why hadn't she mentioned that?

"Is it possible that her memory is failing her?" Coop asked.  "I've heard that eidetic memories fade as we get older."

Riley shrugged.  "Anything is possible.  This is a high stress situation.  Maybe that's keeping her from remembering.  Who knows?"

"I'll see what I can get out of her tomorrow," Mike said.

Whit and Coop gathered up their things. 

"We'll be in the van across the street," Coop said, heading toward the elevator.

Mike tossed Colt a set of keys.  "Take the sedan."

"Thanks."

Riley also handed Colt a set of keys.  "You can crash at Jack's.  Remember how to get there?"

"Yeah.  Thanks.  I'm gonna go check in on Tess and then crash for the night."

"Thank you," Riley said, holding his hand out for Colt to shake.

Colt took his hand then pulled Riley into a quick backslapping hug. 

"No problem, man.  See you tomorrow."

He got in the elevator with Whit and Coop, leaving Mike and Riley alone.

"Honeymoon, good?"

Riley smiled.  "It was great.  Jenna is...I don't have the words."

"I'm happy for you, and I hate that had to cut it all short."

Riley again glanced toward Lainey.  "Jenna knew I couldn't stay away."

"We need to talk about Lainey, and not about what is going on with her right now."

Riley rubbed the back of his neck.  "I get that...but..."

"All these years, you talked about her all the time, but aside from that one time at the end of the Founders Day Ball, you never introduced us.  I got the feeling you didn't want her involved with any of your friends...and I got that while we were active duty.  None of us wanted to put someone through what Melissa went through with Zig.  But now...what are you thinking?  Any of us could be in here with her and she would be perfectly safe."

Riley took a deep breath.  "My Aunt Lisa and Uncle Gavin had a really hard time getting pregnant.  When Lainey came along, she was a miracle for them, and my mom was always close to her brother, so Lainey was more like my little sister.  You know all that.  As she got older, even though she was tiny, she attracted a lot of male attention, and being good big brother-types, we chased them all away.  Anyway, one time we were, hell, I don't remember exactly where we were, but we were all sitting around a f
ire and talking about our dream woman.  We were all throwing out some pretty sexist, chauvinist shit...except you.  I never forgot what you said."

Mike shook his head.  "Hell, Stanton, we were drunk."

"
You
weren't. When it was your turn, you said, 'I want someone I can worship'.  We all cracked up and Colt said some kind of smartass, typical Colt remark, but you said you were serious.   You said you didn't want some brainless little piece of fluff who would go along with anything and everything you said.  You wanted someone you could have an intelligent conversation with...I started thinking then that you were who I wanted for Lainey.  I remembered how you reacted when you saw her at that last Founders Day Ball we went to when she was just seventeen.  I didn't talk to you about her much after that because...you're my best friend and you were my team leader and there isn't anyone else in this world who is good enough for her."

Mike found himself struck speechless. 
"I don't..."

"I know what you went through and I know it's been hard on you.  Lainey can help you, if you let her; and I really hope you do let her, because this is eating away at you
.  I'll see you tomorrow."

Mike watched Riley walk to the elevator and leave.  He sat on the edge of the desk, eyes on Lainey as she slept.  She looked so small and vulnerable.  He remembered that night Riley was talking about.  They were in
Afghanistan.  He hadn't been drunk but he'd been relaxed for the first time in a while.  They were getting ready to head home after a two year deployment and were all talking about what they would do at home, what kind of women they would meet.  He rarely participated in those types of talks but for whatever reason, on that night he had; and it brought him to now, with Riley's blessing.

Chapter Eight

Mike worked for several hours after the guys left, going through invoices from previous jobs, signing the things Melissa had overnighted him, thinking he had to get her here to streamline operations. He checked the security cameras from outside Lainey's office building and outside her house, making sure all was quiet.  Colt's ID was showing as logged on so he knew Colt was monitoring the cameras as well.  Finally, after he'd closed down the books for the evening and was satisfied with the cameras, he shut the main computer off and got up, crossing into the living area.

For several moments, he stood looking down at Lainey, debating on whether to wake her up or just pick her up.  In the end, he decided he wanted to have his hands on her, so, just as he'd done the night before, he gathered her into his arms, she murmured something he couldn't quite make out and snuggled into his chest.  He carried her up the stairs to his room and just stood next to the bed for a minute, enjoying the feel of her in his arms.  She was so tiny; she barely weighed anything.  Because he was a glutton for punishment, he dipped his head down and pressed his face to the side of her head, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair.  Lainey sighed and snuggled closer to him and he knew he had to put her down or risk doing something he'd regret.  As carefully as he could, he flipped the covers back with the hand that was under her legs, then gently laid her down on the bed.  Just as before, as he was pulling back from her, her hands tightened in his shirt, holding him in place.

"Don't leave me," she said sleepily, her eyes still closed.

"Go to sleep,
cara mia
," he said, keeping his voice low and soft.  He again tried to pull away, but her grip in his shirt tightened.  "Lainey," he cautioned.

"Stay with me, Mike. I'll never get any sleep if I know you are still up.  Just...lie here with me like you did last night.  You have to be just as tired as I am."

He sighed, realizing defeat.  "I'll stay, but only if you'll let go of my shirt."

She smiled and released his shirt.  He stood and turned to walk away, making her frown.

"Where are you going?"

"Your suitcase is downstairs. 
I'll go get it so you can change."

"Just give me one of your shirts.  We can get my stuff up here tomorrow."

He stared at her a moment, then crossed to his closet and came out with a grey Navy T-shirt and tossed it to her.  Without speaking, he went into his bathroom and shut the door.  Lainey scrambled out of the bed and out of her clothes, pulling his T-shirt on and folding her clothes to place them on the chair in the corner.  She couldn't believe she'd gotten him to agree to stay with her again but she was glad he did.  Crawling back into bed, she pulled the covers up to her chin against the chill she'd gotten by changing clothes.  After a few moments, he came out of the bathroom and went into his closet to change.  When he came out, she saw he was wearing a similar Navy T-shirt and navy blue warm-up pants.  He stood at the side of the bed for a moment, and she heard him mutter, 'I must be crazy' low in Italian just before he got into bed next to her.

They were facing each other, but in his King-size bed, there was plenty of empty space between them.  Mike folded his arms across his chest, just as he'd done the night before.  Lainey suspected he did this to keep himself in check, which secretly thrilled her. 

"You aren't sleeping," he said, and she could hear the humor in his tone.

"No, I'm not.  Tell me something about you."

"You pretty much know all there is to know about me."

"I know the basics.  You went to private school but met Riley at a summer camp and y'all stayed close.  You didn't want to go to Yale alone so you got your parents to foot the bill for Riley to go with you.  Thank you for that, by the way.  He never would have gotten to do that without you.  After law school you were supposed to go into the family law firm but you shocked them all by deciding to join the Navy with Riley, then shocked them even further by becoming a SEAL.
  I know you rose through the ranks quickly, became team leader and formed the Orion Task Force made up of hand-picked members of the SEALS, Naval Intelligence, the Army Rangers and Marine Recon.  And I know that on your final mission, things went horribly wrong, one team member was killed, Riley was shot and, in order for the others to save Riley and recover the body of the member you lost, you allowed yourself to be captured.  And I know that it took Riley and the others twelve hours to find and rescue you."