Finally Home (Home Series) (20 page)

He raised his head from her neck and cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. 

"I've pulled away from you these last few days because I need the distance in order to focus.  I can't think when we're together like this.  And after I kissed you last week, there's no way I can merely lay in that bed beside you without touching you, and I don't think either one of us is ready to take that next step just yet."

"Speak for yourself," she breathed, touching his lower lip.

"All right, fine.  But still.  I did promise Riley that I would keep you safe.  Our next big challenge is the Founders Day Ball.  That's a tempting, semi-public event.  You are Conroy's obsession and he hasn't been able to see or speak to you in days.  That's got to be driving him nuts.  And if he's from Springfield, then he knows the Founders Day Ball is a big event and that you will most likely be attending.  I think it's too tempting a chance fo
r him to ignore.  The Adtkissons' security is top notch and Colt is going to make it even better, but that doesn't mean it's infallible.  I will not cut corners and take any chances with you, do you understand?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Then cut me some slack out there, please."

"I meant what I said, though, Mike.  What difference does it
make if I sit in on your briefing or not?  You're going to do what you're going to do and tell me what to do and where to go, anyway.  Why not spare me the technical stuff and just tell me what you want after you've ironed everything out."

"Because for you to fully appreciate what's being done on your behalf, you need to participate.  You need to know what will go on every step of the way.  You'll need to..." he stopped when a knock sounded on the door.  "I'm going to kill him," Mike muttered.

A beat later, Lainey heard Riley's voice on the other side of the door.

"Mike?  Everything all right in there?"

"We'll be out in a minute," Lainey called to him.

"All right.  But if you aren't out in ten, I'm coming back."

"Bite me, Riley!" she snapped.

"Back atcha, sweetheart," he said, his voice fading as he retreated.

Mike shook his head.  "Damn Irish."

"Sure and don't you be forgetting it," Lainey said, mimicking her grandmother's accent.

Mike actually smiled at that, and this time, she noted, it went all the way through to his eyes.

Chapter Thirteen

The room fell silent when Mike and Lainey came back downstairs.  She felt all eyes on them and even though she wanted to join Jenna and Sarah in the living area, she knew it was important that his men see that he was still in control, so she went back to the office area and sat next to Riley.  She
also knew that some of them would think that she'd been put in her place, but knew that Riley would know she was backing down. 

Mike walked past her, allowing his fingers to skim her shoulder as he passed, then turned his attention back to Colt, asking him to continue the briefing. 
Colt cleared his throat and began speaking again and Lainey did her best to concentrate on what he was saying, but a lot of it was technical terminology that was going way over her head.  Riley leaned over several times and told her to pay attention, and she tried, but it wasn't happening.

"Lainey," Riley snapped, drawing her attention.

"What?"

"It's fine," Mike cut him off. 

Lainey blinked up at Mike, truly stunned by his words.  It's fine?  Then what the heck had all that earlier been about?  She was at a complete loss and truly baffled by him, so much so that she could only gape up at him.

"Mike, can we steal Lainey for a while?" she heard Jenna ask, and her eyes widened even more when Mike nodded.  Jenna placed her hand on Lainey's arm and smiled down at her, prompting Lainey to get to her feet and follow her across to the living area where Sarah sat with her head back on the cushion of the couch, eyes closed.  Seeing her discomfort was enough to pull Lainey from her thoughts of Mike and into the present.

"Sarah?" she asked softly, "Are you feeling sick again?"

Sarah nodded slightly.  "I feel like the room is spinning."

Lainey checked her pulse, then sat on the coffee table before Sarah, lifting her feet into her lap.

"I'm going to try a bit of a
cupressure on you, if that's all right?"

Sarah nodded.  "Whatever you want," she answered quietly.

Lainey removed Sarah's shoes and began massaging her feet.  She could tell it was working when the lines on Sarah's face began to relax.  In the background, she could still hear the guys talking, and oddly enough, the deep timbre of their voices was relaxing to her.  She supposed, since she grew up surrounded by guys, that hearing men's voices had become soothing to her; even when their tones were anything but soothing.

"That is amazing," Sarah said after a while. "I don't feel sick anymore."

Lainey smiled.  "Acupressure seems weird but it does work."  She glanced over her shoulder when she heard the scrape of chairs, knew the briefing was over.  "Hey, Colt, can you come here a second?" she called.  "I'll teach him what to do so he can help you when you start to feel sick again."

Sarah smiled, tears shining in her eyes.  "Bless you."

Colt crossed over to them, leaning down to kiss Sarah before turning to Lainey, studying her.

"Whatcha doing there?" he asked, curious.

"Come sit here by me," Lainey told him.  When he did, she placed Sarah's right foot in his lap.  "This will help relieve Sarah's nausea," she said, showing him where to stroke Sarah's foot and how much pressure to apply.  After he'd caught on to where to massage her feet, Lainey showed him where to massage Sarah's hands as well.  "I prefer feet," she told him, "but sometimes if you're in a public place, hands will work just as well."

"Is that helping, baby?" he asked, and Lainey felt her heart surge at the tenderness she heard in his tone.  She would give anything to have someone speak to her like that.  Her eyes flashed across the room to where Mike was talking with Riley and Coop and Whit.  Would he ever regard her the way Colt was looking at Sarah? 

She stood, patting Colt's shoulder.  "I think you've got this under control.  Can I get either of you anything?"

"I'm good," Sarah replied, smiling at her. 

Lainey's hand tightened on Colt's shoulder.  "Need anything?" she asked when he looked up at her.

"I'm good, too.  Thanks."

She left them, seeing that Jenna had followed her into the kitchen. 

"Did you have any issues like that when you were pregnant with Cam?" she asked Jenna.

"Thankfully, no.  I loved every second of being pregnant."  Lainey watched Jenna's eyes dart across the room to settle on Riley.  "I can't wait to get pregnant again; to feel Riley's baby growing inside me."  Her gaze returned to Lainey and she offered her an embarrassed smile.  "Sorry.  Newlywed."

Lainey laughed.  "Don't apologize.  That's my cousin and I love that you are both so happy.  Cam is doing great, by the way.  He loves Riley so much."

Jenna smiled.  "He definitely thinks Riley hung the moon.  I love to watch them together.  Wade doesn't realize yet the damage he's done to his relationship with his son.  The way I see Riley and Cam is how Wade should be with Cam and never has."

"Well...you have to remember, Wade is not Riley.  If you and he were still together, he may not ever have had the sort of relationship Riley has with Cam.  Riley is different.  He was a SEAL so there's the whole excitement angle, and he's an older brother so he already had some fatherly instincts...well, at least where I'm concerned...I'm sure Jack, Trev and Aaron wouldn't agree. 
But I always knew Riley would make a great daddy one day.  He's always been the one to look out for me and for his brothers."

Jenna's gaze slid to Mike and then back to Lainey.  "How are things progressing with Mike?  I saw some serious sparks fly between you two a few times at my house when you were coming to see Cam."

Lainey shook her head, eyes on Mike for a moment.  "Who knows with him?  Right now, things are...okay.  Not great but not bad.  But the last few days he acted like I didn't even exist.  I know he's been through a lot and I know that it's eating away at him.  He needs to talk it out but I'm sensing that he won't...at least not any time soon."

"Riley still has nightmares," Jenna confided.  "They aren't intense
but they do wake him up.  Sometimes sweating, sometimes trembling.  He calls out for Zig and Mike a lot.  It's amazing to me that they never lost a man until that happened to Zig."

"Has Riley talked much to you about that day?  I know some of it from my sessions with him but I know he didn't tell me everything.  I know it wasn't long after Tessa and Colt left the Unit...Tessa because she'd been injured in an IED attack when she was in a convoy away from the guys and Colt because his brother-in-law had died."

"That's pretty much what I know, too.  Riley said that they'd been called in to retrieve some diplomat who'd been kidnapped.  They were in Mosul and they didn't like the feel of the town the minute they rolled in.  They were on foot and the woman who'd been acting as their guide got really agitated.  Zig had kind of bonded with her because she was pregnant and his wife was pregnant.  When he turned to touch her, a sniper shot him.  Riley said he was dead before he hit the ground.  Riley was closest to him, he moved in to go to Zig and took a bullet to the shoulder and one grazed his neck, really close to his carotid.  The insurgents started swarming in.  Mike was the next closest.  He yelled for Coop and Whit to get Zig and Riley and he charged in to provide cover fire.  They got Riley and Zig but Mike was surrounded.  Riley said that he was always doing stuff like that; putting his guys before himself."

Lainey nodded, watching Mike, seeing that his eyes were on her.  She had a feeling he knew they were talking about him from the scowl on his face.  She thought of that night he woke up with the nightmare. 
He'd been so controlled when he woke up.  How could he do that?  It had chilled her then; it frightened her now.  It wasn't good for him to keep that inside.

Colt came into the kitchen and she was distracted by the happy glow in his eyes.  He grabbed her in a fierce bear hug, making her laugh when he kissed her cheek.

"Thank you," he told her, his lips near her ear.  "Nothing we've tried has helped.  She says she feels much better now."

Lainey laughed and kissed his cheek in return.  "I'm glad I could help."

She felt Colt stiffen slightly and looked over her shoulder to see Mike standing just behind them, his icy gaze trained on Colt.

"Relax, Boss, just saying thanks," Colt said, placing Lainey back on her feet.  "She's too short for me to bend down to," he said with a wink to Lainey.

"Go harass Sarah and leave my cousin alone," Riley said, trying to lighten the tension that had settled on the room. 

"She helped Sarah's nausea go away.  That's gold to me
...even if she is related to you," Colt said, bumping Riley's shoulder as he left the kitchen to go back to Sarah. 

Lainey glanced at Mike briefly, then opened the refrigerator, looking for something to fix for the crowd.  Mike started to step toward her but to his surprise, Jenna cut him off, standing between him and Lainey.

"Everything is cool in here," she told him.  Why don't you go relax with the rest of the guys and Lainey and I will fix food for everyone, OK?"

He studied Riley's new wife for a moment, feeling a smile tug on the corner of his mouth. 

"Turning Mother Hen on me, Jenna?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, smiling at him. 

"Maybe I am.  You don't fool me, Commander.  Not one single bit."

He leaned in, nodding toward Lainey.  "Then maybe you can impress upon your new relative there that I'm not as bad as she seems to think I am."

Jenna lightly touched his arm, causing Lainey's brow to rise. 

"I think she knows that," she said with a wink.

Mike looked up from Jenna, glanced at Lainey, then, taking the beer that Riley handed him, followed Riley into the living area.  Sarah got up and came into the kitchen, promising Colt she would take it easy, rolling her eyes as she faced the others.  Lainey and Jenna laughed and they set about throwing together food for everyone. 

Sitting around Mike's table during the meal, Lainey compared it to the meal she'd shared with him at his family's home.  Everyone here, including the Commander, was relaxed.  His table was one of those huge square high-top pub tables so that there was no "head" of the table, which she loved. 
The guy's banter was just like what she'd grown up with around her cousins.  Jenna joined in regularly, clearly at home with all the men.  Sarah was more reserved but she did chime in from time to time.  Riley and Colt were constantly on each other's cases, much the way Riley was with his brothers, and she could see that even though they ribbed each other, they really did like each other.  Best of all for her, Mike was an active participant in the stories.  While he wasn't as loud and boisterous as the others, he did still smile and occasionally chuckle and he did speak.  So different from their dinner at his mother's house.