Finally Home (Home Series) (17 page)

"Go away, Commander."

"Open. The. Door."

"Go. Away."

"I'm not going to talk to you through the door."

"Fine.  Don't talk."

Shaking his head, he reached into his pocket for his keys, found the key to the interior doors and unlocked it, stepping inside...and immediately ducked
from the phone she threw at him.

"Stay away from me."

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.  She stood on the other side of the bed, ready to strike if need be.  He found it amusing, actually.

"What are you so mad about?" he asked.

"What am I...?  You, you practically...that was..."

"Mike?  Lainey?" they heard Riley call from downstairs.

"You called him?" Mike asked in disbelief.

"No," she replied.

He turned and opened the door when he heard Riley's footsteps on the stairs.  Riley hit the top of the stairs and slowed his walk when he saw Mike in his suit, and the deep scowl that was on his face.

"What's going on?" Mike asked Riley.

"Where's Lainey?"

"I'm here," she said, walking toward the doorway, "what's going on?"

"Did y'all go out?" he asked, taking in Mike's suit and Lainey's dress and heels.

"We had dinner at my parents' house," Mike answered.

Riley's eyes shifted to Lainey and she knew he could tell she was upset.

"I hope Carolina kept her mouth shut," Riley said, studying Lainey.

Lainey shrugged.  "It was more of a shock learning that Mike is a twin.  Neither one of you bothered to mention that."

"So, she did
mouth off to you?" Riley asked.

"She tried.  What did you want, Riley?  I'm really tired."

Riley looked back and forth between them for a moment, then focused on Mike.

"I was just checking in. 
Is everything OK?  You both seem...off."

"Fine," Lainey answered, "everything is just peachy.  I'm going to change.  Say hi to Jenna and Cam for me."

With that, she turned and slammed the door behind her, pretty much right in Mike's face.  Mike cursed under his breath in Italian and turned to head down the stairs.  Riley glanced at the closed door, then followed Mike down to the kitchen.

"What the hell happened tonight?"
Riley asked, watching Mike fill a glass of Scotch.

"Want some?"

"No, thanks.  What happened?"

"My family happened," Mike replied, downing his drink.

"Lainey looks pissed."

"She is.  Partly at my family.  Partly at me.  Maybe more than partly at me."

Riley glanced up toward the bedroom and then looked back at Mike, seeing that no matter how aloof his friend was trying to play it, he was affected by Lainey's anger. 

"Do you need a break?  I can stay with her a while so you can..."

"No, that's OK.  Go home to your family.  I'll handle Lainey."

"Mike -" Riley began but Mike held his hand up to stop him.

"It's fine.  I've faced down Al Qaeda, right?  I think I can handle one pissed off little blonde."

"No.  Not like this.  You're pissed, too.  I'm not leaving her here with you like this."

"Do you really think I would hurt her?" he asked Riley, his voice deceptively soft.

"No," Riley sighed, "but you're not yourself right now."

"Go home, Riley," Lainey said from behind them.

Both men turned to see her walking toward them.  She'd changed into leggings and an oversized sweater; nothing particularly sexy about it, but Mike felt his blood heat nonetheless.

"Are you sure?"

"It's fine," she replied, taking a bottle of water from the fridge.

"All right," he said, leaning down to kiss her brow.  "See you tomorrow."

They watched him leave, then Lainey wordlessly left the kitchen and walked to where his piano sat.  It had been years since she last played, but she sat and began softly picking out a tune.
  Mike walked up and sat beside her, watching her.

"It's been way too long since I've played," she said when she'd finished the short piece she was trying to remember. 

"Wasn't bad," he said.

She looked up at him.  "Do you play?"

"I haven't in years, either."

"Remember anything?"

He placed his hands on the keys and closed his eyes.  He began softly, a tune she recognized as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.  He played flawlessly, eyes closed, fingers caressing the keys as they would a lover.  Lainey found herself entranced watching him.  What a contradiction he was, she thought.  This masculine, wounded warrior, leader of several strong men; yet he played as if he'd been playing every day for years.

"That was beautiful," she said, softly, when he was done. 

"It helps calm me.  I haven't played in...I can't even remember how long."

"You must have practiced a lot growing up."

He began idly playing again.  "Not really.  I took lessons.  We all did.  I didn't do very many recitals once I became a teenager...I mainly kept playing because I enjoyed it."

"You're very good."

He stopped and turned to face her. 

"What upset you the most tonight?  The way my family was acting, or that I kissed you for the first time in front of them?"

"I didn't like how they treated you...but, that kiss...I felt..."

He brushed her hair back from her face.  "You felt what,
cara
?"

"Used."

His hand went to the back of her head, "They may have been my catalyst, but if I hadn't wanted to, I wouldn't have done it."

"And now?"

"Now?  Now, I'm sitting here wondering what's keeping me from taking you right here where we sit."

Chapter Eleven

Lainey felt her world come to a complete stop.  She could hear the pounding of her heart, the shortness of her breath.  Mike turned so that he was straddling the piano bench.  One arm snaked around her waist and the hand on the back of her head fisted in her hair to pull her head back so that her face was tilted up toward his.
  He studied her face a moment, then lowered his head, touching his lips to hers.

A gasp escaped her lips, giving him the opening he needed and Lainey knew she was in trouble.  He kissed her so thoroughly, so completely
, she knew she'd never be satisfied with anyone else's kiss; he was just so much more than she ever dreamed.  She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and he pulled her so that she was nearly straddling him.  He lifted her so that she was sitting on his thighs and angled her head to deepen the kiss.  When he pulled back, she was panting, and she moaned when his lips trailed from her mouth, down her neck to her collarbone.

"Mike," she whispered, bringing his lips back up to hers.

"You taste sweeter than honey," he said against her lips. 

"I want -" she began, but stopped when several alarms began going off from the monitors in the office area. 

Mike quickly lifted her off his lap and rushed over to the monitors, answering his phone when it started ringing.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear them," he said into the phone.  "Ar
e you checking the perimeter?  I don't see anything on the monitors.  The house looks empty but you'd better check it out just to be sure.  I'm going to go back through the recordings.  Check in with what you find."

"What is it?" Lainey asked, hugging her arms to her to ward off a chill that spread through her.

He shook his head slightly, eyes on the multi-screen monitor of the outside and all the rooms of her house.

"Something triggered the alarms at your house.  Likely just an animal
, but we have to check it out."

His phone rang again
and Lainey left him to deal with this latest crisis.  She headed upstairs, glancing toward the piano, fingers pressed to her lips, still feeling his lips on hers; the scrape of his stubble against her neck.  In his bedroom, she sank down on the bed, pressing a hand to her stomach.  She'd thought she'd loved Kevin at one time.  She thought she'd experienced passion in his arms.  Now she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what she'd felt with Kevin hadn't even scratched the surface.  With Mike, everything was raw and on edge.  There was no hesitation in his touch, no timidity at all.  He was intense and she knew instinctively that making love with him would be like being caught in a storm.

"Oh, God," she whispered, feeling a chill run down her spine. 
It was overwhelming, this passion she felt for him.  She'd been angry with him for giving her their first kiss to get back at his family, but at the same time, it thrilled her that he would kiss her in front of others.  Kevin had always been very much aware of the fact that she had practically grown up with his family and so he'd been reluctant to show affection around others. 

She wondered what would have happened between them had Riley not shown up when he did. 
She'd thrown a phone at him.  He'd been furious but had stayed on the other side of the room from her to try to sort out why she was so upset.  If Riley hadn't come in just then, would things have escalated?  Would she be in bed with him right now?  It was highly possible, she realized.  If the alarms hadn't gone off downstairs, where would they be?  She was so attracted to him, she had no doubt she would have given him whatever he'd asked for at that moment.

Needing a distraction from the sinful tract of her thoughts, she got up and dug her phone out of her purse, calling Kacee.

"Hey, honey," Kacee answered, "what's up?"

"Just needing a distraction.  Have you gotten all your appointments either moved or rescheduled?"

"Yes.  You?"

"All except Cam, but he's family, so I can see him whenever I need to.  I hate that we have to do this to our patients on such short notice."

"They were all very understanding.  Face it, we don't even charge half of them, so they are all very accommodating."

Lainey sighed.  "I know...we had dinner at Jeannette's house tonight."

"Oh?  How did that go?"

"Was certainly a shock finding out that Mike is a twin."

"Did I never mention that?" Kacee asked, and Lainey wasn't quite sure if she was being sincere or not.

"No, you didn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Come on, Kace, like I would forget?"

Kacee laughed.  "True.  Well, other than that shock, how did it go?"

"Not good.  There are a lot of unresolved issues in that family, and Mike just ignores it all.  Nick and his wife, Carolina, made things uncomfortable.  And then we're sitting at the dinner table and his family pretty much ignored him.  The only one to speak to him was his mother. 
I got upset and asked him why he allowed it and he said because he didn't care; then he asked if I wanted to help shock them and then proceeded to whisper in my ear and kiss me in front of them."

"Oh.  Wow.  I bet that went over well."

"To be honest, I don't really know what his family thought about it.  I was so...shocked and...and hurt, I guess."

"Why, honey?" Kacee asked in a sympathetic tone.

"It was our first kiss...and he did it to tick his family off."

"OK, yeah, I can see where that would be upsetting.  Has he made up for it yet?"

"Yes...but now he's dealing with a problem with the alarms at my house.  We've slept in bed together the last two nights and..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Back up and run that by me again?  You've slept with him and he hasn't kissed you??"

Lainey laughed.  "Slept.  As in, actually slept.  Riley said Mike's been having trouble sleeping, so I got him to lay in bed with me, but after tonight..."

"Do you want to sleep with him?  As in have sex?"

"Well, yeah, have you
looked
at the man? He makes me feel...I can't explain it except that I've never felt that way about anyone before. But, at the same time, it's too soon."

"Says who?"

"Me!  It's only been three days."

"Yes, but you've had a thing for him since we were seventeen."

"A school girl crush doesn't justify..."

"Stop over-analyzing, Lainey.  Sometimes you've just got to follow your heart."

Lainey sighed, raking her free hand through her hair.

"I guess.  I just -"

She looked up when Mike walked into the room, his icy eyes locking onto her.

"I gotta go.  I'll call you later."

"OK.  Love you, Lain."

"Love you, too, Kace.  Bye," she said, then put the phone down, her eyes locked on him.  "Did you find anything?"

"Conroy tried to get in the window to your guest room in the back of the house.  He was gone by the time Riley got there."