Finally Home (Home Series) (46 page)

"I'm sorry,
cara mia
," he whispered against her ear.

"It's OK," she replied, "I understand."

He pulled back to briefly kiss her, then straightened to meet Riley's intense gaze.  They didn't speak for a moment, then Riley took a deep breath, hand on the back of his neck.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Riley said, his tone dark.

"Playing a hunch," Mike said.

"That's a hell of a chance to take," Riley countered
, angrily.

"Riley," Lainey began but he held a hand up to cut her off.

"I gotta stay here with Trev until my mom gets back.  I'll catch up with you in a few hours," he said tersely, then walked away.

"Riley!" she called after him but Mike's hand on her arm stopped her.  "Let him go.  I was there the other day, remember?  But if we're going to put you out here to draw him out, then we need to draw him out.  This is our chance."

She nodded, taking a deep breath.  He was right.  This was what they wanted.  Then why was she so scared?

Chapter Thirty-Three

They went to lunch at Antonio's Bistro, one of Lainey's favorite Italian restaurants that was owned by an extended member of Mike's family.
Mike led her in, his arm around her shoulders, and the woman at the hostess station immediately squealed and began shouting for Antonio, who came out of the kitchen cursing in rapid Italian at the woman, who was gesturing toward Mike.  Antonio looked up from the woman and Lainey thought his jaw might hit the floor.

"Michael!!" Antonio boomed, coming to embrace Mike, who, Lainey noticed had stiffened slightly but
did not back away from the embrace.  "It's been too long since you've darkened my door.  And, wait, I know you, you're Kacee's friend, Lainey."

"Yes, sir," she replied, smiling when he lifted her hand to kiss her knuckles.

"And you're with our Michael?"

Lainey glanced up at Mike, seeing that his stoic mask was back in place, and hated that he wouldn't relax his guard.

"Si, Antonio," Mike replied, making Antonio quickly kiss both of Lainey's cheeks. 

"Come, let us get you seated.  Five of you?"

"Si," Mike replied.

They followed Antonio toward the back of the room, to a round corner booth that had all the guys shaking their heads at once.  Mike spoke low to Antonio in Italian, and he immediately shifted them to a booth on the wall so that none of the men had their backs to the door.  Antonio introduced himself to the rest of the guys and then left, yelling for Talia, the woman from the hostess station, to take their drink orders.

"How are you related to Antonio?" she asked Mike when Antonio and Talia had left.

"He's my father's cousin."  Whit was looking around for a menu, Mike just shook his head.  "Don't bother.  Just like every other locally owned place around here, he'll bring you what he thinks you want. So if you have any food allergies, speak now."

As the dishes started arriving, Lainey's eyes got bigger and bigger.  There were bowls of every kind of pasta imaginable.

"He does realize it's only lunch time right?" she asked when the fifth large bowl was placed on the table.

"Who cares?" Colt said, digging in.

She watched the others dig in as well.  Why it surprised her, she didn't know; she'd seen how much this crew could eat. 
She started to reach for a spoon but Mike took it before she could and fixed her plate for her.  She smiled and leaned into his side a little.  He kissed the side of her head and winked at her when she looked up at him.

"So, the guy
s being here aside, this is like our first date," she said softly, making him chuckle. 

"Just what I always wanted, a date with three of my men tagging along."

She laughed and reached up to place her hand on his cheek to bring him down for a kiss.

"It's perfect.  It's us," she said, kissing him again.

He kissed her brow.  "That it is."

Talia came by
several times just to touch Mike's shoulder, kiss his cheek, make small talk.  Lainey was encouraged by the fact that Mike seemed more relaxed with this extended part of his family than he was to his immediate family. Antonio and Talia were like the stereotypical Italians they always showed on the movies.  Fun-loving, always hugging and kissing everyone's cheeks.  Talia was drawn to Colt, Coop and Whit, doting on them the way an aunt would.  And they were, of course, eating it up, especially Colt, who Lainey was beginning to see was a bit of a ham, just like Trevor. 

She could see how Colt and Riley had a love/hate relationship.  Riley and Trevor definitely had a love/hate relationship as well.  Riley was the quintessential big brother and Trevor was the incorrigible little
brother and they clashed, a lot.  Riley was hard on Trevor on a lot of things, but she knew he loved him...and she could see why he'd been drawn to Colt because of the similarities to Trevor. 

"Hey," Mike said, softly, drawing her attention back to him, "you OK?"

She nodded, laying her head on his shoulder.  "I'm fine.  Just thinking about Riley and Trevor, and Riley and Colt."

"What about me?" Colt asked.

She smiled across at him, seeing his warm eyes shining with humor.  The more she was around Colt, the more she liked him.  He had a way about him that made people feel at ease, despite his impressive size.

"That I can see why you and Riley have the relationship that you do.  You are a lot like Trevor."

Colt chuckled.  "So I've heard.  How was he, by the way?" he asked, since he and the others stayed outside of Trevor's room, keeping guard.

"In pain but getting better.  How is Sarah?"

"She's feeling better, and when she's nauseous, the acupressure stuff you showed me works.  Her mother flew down on Friday to be with her while I'm here."

"I hate that you're all having to spend so much time away from your families."

"We've been through this before," Coop said, "Don't worry about it."

"I know, but still."

"Melissa and Petey will be here tomorrow," Whit announced.

"That's great," Lainey said.

"It's more than great," Mike said, "I can finally be free of all that damn paperwork."

"Michael," Lainey said, pretending outrage, "we're excited for Whit to have Melissa here, not so she can be your secretary."

"Oh, Melissa won't be a secretary.  She's the office CO, make no mistakes about that," Mike chuckled.

"Really?"

"You met her.  Melissa doesn't take shit from anyone," Colt said.  "Including all of us."

"Yes, I noticed," her eyes shifted to Whit.  "Are you ready to have her here, full-time?"

"Absolutely," Whit said, smiling.

"Good."

After promising Antonio and Talia that they would be back soon, they loaded up and headed back to the loft, this time Colt driving.  Lainey snuggled against Mike's side, wrapping both of her arms around his arm, holding his upper arm against her chest, his hand on her knee.  She loved moments like these, where she could be close to him and touch him.  Her phone rang again, drawing her attention. This time it said it was her mother.  Mike still took it and answered himself, just in case, then handed it to her when it was indeed her mother.

"Hi, Mom," she answered.

"He's answering your phone now?"

"I asked him to.  What's up?"

"I'm sitting with Trevor.  Paige was running late and Riley said he needed to go...but Riley said things are heating up between you and Mike.  Is that true?"

Lainey sighed.  "Yes."

"And you couldn't tell me?  I had to hear it from Riley?"

"I thought you got a pretty good idea during all the preparations at Kacee's house."

Lisa sighed heavily into the phone, making Lainey roll her eyes.  "Well, that's true, but still!  A Casiano.  That's a pretty big deal, Lainey."

"He's just Mike," she replied, looking up into Mike's pale eyes, squeezing his hand.

"Just Mike," Lisa repeated.  "I see.  Well, I want you to bring Just Mike to dinner tonight."

"Oh, Mom, no, not tonight.  We just at
e a huge lunch.  I don't think I'll be hungry again until tomorrow."

"Fine.  Tomorrow night then."

"Mom," Lainey began but she cut her off.

"No arguments, Lainey.  Bring Mike to dinner tomorrow night.  6:00."

"I'll have to check with him.  You know that he and the guys have been going out to try to find Charles Conroy."

"Make it work.  I want to see the two of you together.
"

Lainey closed her eyes, realizing defeat. 

"OK.  You win.  Tomorrow night.  6:00."

"Thank you, sweetheart."

She ended the call and dropped her phone down in her purse with a small frustrated scream.  Mike chuckled, kissing the side of her head.

"Dinner summons tomorrow at 6:00?"

"Yes.  I'm going to kill Riley," she said as Colt pulled into the garage at the warehouse.

"I'd gladly help with that," Colt said when they got out and headed to the elevator.

"We're going to do a perimeter check, Boss," Coop said, indicating himself and Whit.

"OK, thanks," Mike said as the elevator doors closed. 

"I could rough Malibu Ken up a bit, soften him up for you to go in for the kill," Colt continued with Lainey.  "It could be fun."

Lainey busted out laughing, and even Mike was chuckling as the elevator doors opened.

"You are so bad, Colt," she said, looking up at him. 

Colt was looking back over his shoulder at her, laughing as he stepped out of the elevator first.  Lainey was thinking, not for the first time, how warm and friendly his eyes were.  Colt was just one of those people who, in spite of his size, drew you in and made you feel safe and comfortable with him right from the start.  He'd just taken one step forward when suddenly she saw him jerk and something warm and wet sprayed across her face.  In absolute horror, she watched Colt's body drop to the floor in a pool of blood and she realized as she looked in shock at him that what she had felt had been his blood splattering on her.

At the same instant, Mike grabbed her and slammed them both to the ground, using his body to cover her.  The elevator had already closed when they'd stepped out so their only option was the floor.  She was frantically glancing around the loft, looking for Conroy, trying not to completely lose control at the sight of Colt and the ever-increasing pool of blood beneath him.  All she could think was that he was going to be a father soon and she tried to free herself from Mike's protective hold to go to Colt to somehow stop the bleeding, but Mike wouldn't let her go.

"Be still," he hissed, but she fought against his hold.

"I have to get to Colt!" she cried, "I have to stop the bleeding!"

"Listen to me!" Mike growled in her ear.  "We can't help him now.  I don't know where Conroy is, we can't-"

"He'll bleed out!" she cried, "Mike!  He's going to be a father, we can't let him die!"

"Yes, Casiano, by all means, let her go," she raspy voice of Charles Conroy said.

They looked up to see Charles slowly coming down the stairs, a slight limp to his walk from his tangle with Colt a few days before. He was wearing full Combat fatigues and had a Kevlar vest and helmet on.

"Charles, please!" Lainey cried, "Don't do this!"

"Toss your gun over here, Casiano," Charles growled.  "Do it now or I swear I'll put a bullet in you."

"You won't risk hitting Lainey," Mike challenged him.

"How did he get around the security system?" she whispered to him.

"I don't know,
cara
," he replied.

"Riley?" she whispered, then showed him that she had her phone in her hand.

He nodded slightly, eyes back on Conroy.

Lainey wished she had Coop or Whit's phone number, since they were just right outside, but had to make do with calling Riley and leaving the line open.

"Toss your gun and stand up.  Now!!" Charles barked.  "You know what I did in the Marines.  You know I won't miss."

"If I stand up, he'll shoot me," Mike told her, keeping his voice low.  "Look at his eyes, he's unstable."

Lainey nodded.  She could hear Riley's voice on the open line but couldn't hear what he was saying.

"I'll stand with you," she said.

Mike cursed but nodded, tossing his gun and with his arm around Lainey's waist, they slowly stood together.

"Miss Lainey, now, you step away from him.  Go see to the big man if you want, but you step clear of Casiano."

"I'm not moving, Charles.  If you want to shoot him you'll have to figure out how to do it around me."

Mike's hand on her waist flexed, fingers digging in but she ignored him.  There was no way she was going to leave his side.

"He's kept you locked up like a caged animal for weeks!  How can you defend him?"