Finally Home (Home Series) (30 page)

"So, are you going to make me a happy man and let me be your escort?"
he asked, making the blood drain from Lainey's face, her eyes flying to Mike.

To her surprise and amazement, however, Mike stepped in between her and Kevin, putting her behind his back.

"You need to walk away, Adtkisson.  Now," he said, his voice smooth as silk.

Lainey stepped back and to the side a bit so she could see Kevin's face around Mike's broad back, but she stayed behind his back, hoping to send a non-verbal message to Kevin.

"What's it to you?  Are
you
escorting her?"

"Bottom line is, you are not," Mike replied.

"Really?  Lainey?  Is that what you say?"

"Kevin, please," she said, exasperated by his behavior.  She knew Kacee had told him that there was something developing between her and Mike.  He was just bei
ng an ass to try to get to Mike.

"He's working the whole night," Kevin said to her, "are you going to go unescorted because he's too wrapped up in his job to take you?"

Riley walked up then, Colt and Coop just behind him.  Lainey took just a moment to admire how they had recognized that their Commander was in a confrontation and they all came to stand behind him.

"You got a problem, Adtkisson?" Riley asked.

Kevin shook his head, a wry smile on his face.  Lainey silently shook her head, trying to discourage him from saying anything that would unleash the wall of testosterone that was staring him down now.

"You're a damn idiot, Casiano.  I'll see you later, Lainey," he said, leaving.

She heard Mike curse low under his breath in Italian as he turned and walked toward the opposite side of the room without a word or even looking back at her.  The set of his shoulders was even more tense than it had been prior to Kevin's arrival.  Colt placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before he and Coop went back to the work they'd been doing when she came into the room.

"Let him go," Riley said to her when she started to follow Mike.

"His mother blindsided him in there about escorting me and then Kevin comes in and pulls this.  I need to talk to him."

"No, you don't," he said, grabbing her arm when s
he again tried to walk away.  "Trust me, let him calm down first."

"Let go of me, Riley," she snapped. "Everyone has always just left Mike alone to deal with whatever is bothering him.
"

"For good reason.  He has a temper, Lainey."

"Don't we all?" she retorted.  "Let me go to him, Riley."

He sighed and released her.  "All right.  Your funeral."

She ignored him and headed off in the direction she'd seen Mike go.  One good thing about the Adtkissons' home, there was always staff around doing one thing or another.  They directed her to the security room where she found Mike talking with Mr. Jacoby, the Adtkissons' head of security, studying the wall of monitors showing all the areas of the house.  It was a bit sobering, she thought, seeing the lengths that Jack Adtkisson went to in order to keep his family safe.  There were cameras everywhere!  For a moment, she was distracted by all the things she'd done in this house over the years...and it was sobering to think someone was sitting in here, possibly watching everything she'd done.

"Miss Riley," Mr. Jacoby said, "did you need something?"

"I need to steal Mike for a moment," she said, smiling at the older man.

A muscle in Mike's jaw ticked before he turned his head to look at her, then he excused himself to Mr. Jacoby and stepped out of the security room into the hall.

"I told you, I don't have-" he began but she cut him off by stepping to him and reaching up to cup his face in her hands, pulling him down for a kiss.  He resisted for only a moment, then wrapped his arms around her, deepening the kiss.  Lainey sighed and stood on her toes to wrap her arms around his shoulders as he kissed her. 

"You do have time for me," she whispered when he pulled back, smiling up at him.

He kissed her brow. "Apparently so."

"Please don't let them upset you," she said, looking into his eyes.

"Nothing is more important than your safety.  I will not take any unnecessary risks where that is concerned.  Chances are low that Conroy will try to breech the measures we've taken here...but we have to proceed as if he will."

"I understand, Mike, I do."

"I would escort you if I thought it would be safe."

"I don't care about that," she assured him, and realized in that moment that she really didn't. 

"We've got another two to three hours work today and then we can head home, OK?"

She nodded. "About Kevin," she began but he stopped her.

"He's just being an ass.  I'm not worried about him."

"Promise?"

He tightened his hold on her.  "What did I tell you about questioning me on something I've already told you?"

A slow smile spread across her face.  "I don't know, sir, I'm not sure I remember."

A hint of a smile touched his lips. "Imp," he said, leaning down to quickly kiss her then releasing her.  "I've got to get back to work."

"OK.  Later, Commander," she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

She was smiling when she stepped out of the security hall into the foyer until she saw Kevin waiting for her, arms folded over his chest.

"Not
one word, Kevin."

"You could say thank you," he said with a smirk.

That stopped her in her tracks.  "Thank you??  Have you lost your mind?  And don't play innocent with me because I know that Kacee told you about me and Mike.  Asking to escort me in front of him?  Seriously?  Have you gone insane? He was a freaking Navy SEAL.  Do you want him to hurt you?"

Kevin laughed.  "He won't hurt me.  Mike has never lifted a hand against any of us. His brothers did, but not Mike.  He was always the peacemaker."

"Yeah, well, don't push him, please.  This between us is very, very new.  We're still figuring everything out.  We've got enough to deal with because of this stalker situation without you adding to it, you hear me?"

Kevin draped his arm around her shoulders, making her give him an irritated glare.

"I'm just giving him a bit of a push, no big deal."

"Kevin!  Stop, now, I mean it," she said, giving him a playful p
ush with her hand on his ribs.

"What?  I just-"

"Hands off, Adtkisson," Mike said from behind them.  Lainey shook her head.  She never even heard him approach.

Kevin turned, arm still around Lainey's shoulders.

"Relax, Popeye," Kevin smirked, kissing the side of Lainey's head before he again walked away.

Lainey thought it was best not to even comment on him, rolling her eyes before meeting Mike's gaze. 

"Were you looking for me or just passing through?" she asked.

"Passing through.
  You think you can manage to stay out of trouble for longer than fifteen minutes this time?"

She busted out laughing, the light happy sound echoing through the marble foyer and hitting Mike right in the gut.  The decision to let his walls down when they were at Melissa's had been a conscious one on his part.  Lainey was surprised when he'd kissed her in the kitchen but it had been a semi-planned move on his part.  He'd meant to take that next step with her while they were out-of-state and had just been waiting for the right opportunity.

"Go finish your work, Commander, so we can go home," she told him.

"Ordering me around now, Ms. Riley?"

"Absolutely.  So get going."

He winked at her and went on to
Jack Adtkisson's home office, finding the family patriarch behind his desk, typing on the computer.  Jack looked up as soon as Mike appeared in the doorway, standing as Mike walked in to shake his hand.  Jack Adtkisson had always been nice to Mike and he'd always admired him.  Shame his sons were such assholes.

"How's it all looking?" Jack asked him without preamble.

"We've replaced nine of your old cameras and added two dozen more."

"Two dozen?" Jack asked, brows raised in question.

"There were several gaps in the existing cameras coverage."

"Well, you're the expert.  I'll leave it to your discretion."

"Thank you, sir."

"What is the status of Lainey's stalker situation, if you don't mind me asking?  Lainey is Kacee's longest and best friend.  I don't want anything to happen to her."

Somehow, Mike wasn't surprised to know that Lainey had charmed her way into Jack Adtkisson's affections as well.

"We've identified the individual.  He was one of Lainey's pro bono patients at the VA hospital.  He's a former Marine who suffered a debilitating injury and has latched on to Lainey likely because she was the last person who really helped him."

"You know who he is but you can't get him?"

"He's gone to ground, sir."

"I've known you your whole life, Mike, no need to be so formal with me," Jack chuckled.

"Habit, sir."

"I suppose so.  I wanted to ask you about the changes you've proposed to the serving staff for the banquet."

"Yes, sir."

"My head of staff is disgruntled because you've denied allowing him to hire extra hands for the evening."

"Last thing we need is new staff, unfamiliar with the rules allowing Conroy the opening he needs to slip through the cracks, because no system, no matter how strong or state-of-the-art is going to be infallible."

Jack nodded.  "Duly noted.  I will let Simmons know he will have to make do with current staff."

"Thank you, sir.  Anything else?"

"Just that, I've also known Lainey Riley most of her life.  I admit to having reservations when she was dating Kevin.  Not about her, but because I knew she really wasn't his type and he would end up hurting her."

"Yes, sir."

Jack was quiet a moment, studying Mike.  Mike stood still, calmly returning the older man's regard.

"You take care of her, son," Jack said.

Mike nodded.  "Yes, sir."

Chapter Twenty-One

Going back into the family room,
Lainey saw that all eyes rose to see her walk in and all conversation stopped.  She met Kacee's gaze and smiled when her friend winked at her and rolled her eyes.  Her mother gave her a stern but puzzled look as she sat beside her but refrained from saying anything.  Jeannette pulled her glasses off and leaned forward, putting the papers she held down on the coffee table before them.

"Were you able to talk some sense into my son, Lainey?"
Jeannette asked her.

Lainey gave her a falsely bright smile.  "About what?"

"Darling, don't you want him to be your escort?"

"It would be nice, but with all that's going on, it just isn't feasible.  I'm disappointed but I understand."

Gia cut her mother off when she would have spoke again.

"I think it's wonderful that the two of you have hit it off," she said, smiling at Lainey, "maybe you can get him to remember how to smile again."

An image of Mike juggling apples on Melissa's back porch popped into her mind, dimples flashing in his cheeks when she'd called him a fraud.  The time they spent at Melissa's...that was the real Mike Casiano.  When he was relaxed, he smiled often.

"He smiles quite a bit around me.  Laughs, too."

Jeannette gasped, her hand going to cover her mouth.  Gia reached out and took her mother's hand, comforting her. 

"I'm sorry," Jeannette said after a moment, "it's just...I haven't heard a genuine laug
h from him in a long, long time," she said, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"When he came home," Gia said, then shook her head, "that wasn't my brother who came home from the desert.  My brother was always reserved, but he smiled and laughed and talked.  The man who came home was like a ghost."

Jeannette took a deep breath, nodding.  "He was...he'd lost so much weight.  He didn't tell us what happened to him.  We could all see that something had happened.  He was smaller.  He walked with a limp.  He wouldn't allow anyone to touch him, not even me.  My son was hurting and I couldn't touch him, I couldn't hold him.  Andre accidentally bumped into him and Mike had his hand on Andre's throat and slammed him against the wall...he left for Tuscany after that and didn't come back until Riley asked him to start Orion Securities with him.  He's starting to let me in now, slowly.  I can hold his hand occasionally, touch his arm, and every once in a while, I can hug him."

Lainey's heart was breaking, and as if on cue, Mike came walking into the room.  Seeing him, with Jeannette
and Gia's words echoing through her mind, Lainey rose to her feet and went to him, still well aware that all eyes were on them.

"Are you done, Commander?" she asked and even she could hear the false brightness to her tone.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately.