Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (42 page)

Tori hoped she wasn’t going to sick the dog on her. It was a hard enough day as it was. When she whistled and called for the dog, Tori braced herself for the ferocious killer.

Around the corner trotted a
very fat beagle.

“That’s the guard dog?” she asked, shocked. “What’s he guarding?”

Clarissa laughed as the dog came over and sat on Tori’s feet. “He guards the food, of course.”

Tori shook her head and laughed. “Roger, you need a diet, buddy,” she leaned down and scratched behind his ears.

The hound responded immediately by tapping his leg and howling in pure pleasure at her attention.

Roger was a good judge of character, and Clarissa knew it. He’d approved of all her other children’s spouses
, and it looked like he was good with Tori too. When he rolled to his belly and allowed her to scratch him, the woman knew her son had picked well.

“Welcome to the family,” she said, laughing at the horrified look on her face.

Tori didn’t know what to say.

Well shit!

THE FAMILY?

                                *    *     *

As always,
Wyler cooked an amazing dinner that had all the customary Native American foods that the boys grew up eating at Timothy Blackhawk’s house. The fry bread with the strawberry jam had to be her new favorite food. After she ate three of them, and the baby hiding in her belly didn’t mind, she was happy. Gorging got ugly if it was followed by a wicked bout of morning sickness. Elizabeth even found that she could eat the venison stew, without it turning her stomach completely. The hardest part of the evening was avoiding the alcohol. Both men kept trying to fill her glass to get her liquored up, and she kept sneaking away to dump it out in the kitchen sink.

Elizabeth couldn’t wait to just tell them.

After dinner, Elizabeth cuddled CJ on the couch while the men did all the clean-up. They must have been seeing how badly she just wanted to spend alone time with her son. Playing with his toes, he giggled, yawned, and Elizabeth carried him up to his crib. She fed him his bottle and cradled him in her arms to sing him to sleep. When she looked up, both men were standing in the doorway watching her. Ethan’s eyes were filled with tears, and Callen’s filled with such need for a child of his own.

Standing, she tucked the sleeping child in his crib and laid a kiss on his forehead

“I love you, Callen James. Merry Christmas my little love bug.” Since ‘love bug’ was what she called Ethan, it only seemed appropriate that his son was now going to carry the little nickname through life.

Both men met her out in the hallway, and
she went into Ethan’s arms, while Callen surrounded the back of her. “I love you, Lyzee,” said Blackhawk.

“I love you too,
angel,” Whitefox said, dropping a kiss on the nape of her neck. Then he unwrapped her hair, letting it fall down her back.

“I love you both too. I’d be lost without both of you.”

Ethan released her. “Want to go sit on the couch and get tipsy?” he asked.

“Hell no! I want to open presents,” she answered, laughing.
“I’m not shacking up with two men just for the sex. I’m after the presents on Christmas too.”

“And Mother’s
Day…” Blackhawk added.

“Don’t forget Valentine’s Day,” suggested Whitefox.

“And…”

Elizabeth snickered. “Ok, we get it. I’m a big present loving girl. Sue me.”

Callen laughed. “I’m curious what’s in all those boxes myself.” Growing up as kids, before his grandfather took him in, there never were Christmas presents or a holiday meal. He was nine before he realized that it was a holiday. Mostly his mother would sleep all day from her drug bender, and Callen would hope to find something to eat. Now it was completely different.

The three of them went way out of control with the presents, but it was only one day of the year, and CJ needed to be spoiled.

“I’m going to have to build a shed in the back yard to house all his toys.”

“Or we make Callen’s bedroom a playroom, since I never want him to sleep anywhere but beside us.”

Callen’s heart skipped. Having a bedroom all alone never made him feel cohesive to the unit. Yeah, he had a place to run and hide if he needed silence, but in a marriage that wasn’t the norm. Callen wanted to never leave that room again.

“Care to make it official, Cal?” asked his brother, walking down the steps in front of his wife. “Do you really need that room?”

He swallowed the emotion. “I don’t need the room. I know where I want to spend the rest of my life,” he answered.

Elizabeth linked fingers with him and they walked down behind Ethan. At the bottom off the stairs Wyler stood waiting for them.

“I have some last minute things to wrap. Can I see you three in the morning? I’m old and I need my beauty sleep.”

Ethan laughed.
“Night Dad. Dinner was amazing, and granddad would be proud.”

Wyler hugged his son. “Thank
s, Ethan.”

Elizabeth hugged the man next. “Best fry b
read I’ve ever eaten,” she said smiling. “I may start demanding it for breakfast daily.”

Wyler was sure that for his daughter-in-law
, he’d make it on demand anytime. If she was giving him another grandchild, he’d make it at every meal if that’s what it took.

“Night sweetheart,” he answered, kissing her on the forehead.
Just holding her against him, there was a subtle change in her energy. He again had more proof that the dream was correct. Now he was getting excited.

Callen hugged his father tight. He’d lost Timothy, and now he knew his dad was desperately trying to fill the void. The meals, the planning of holidays and the comforting words even when he was hurting himself.

“I love you, Callen,” he said, patting his son on the back. “See you three tomorrow. Behave,” he said laughing.

“Love you too,
Dad, and I’m always well behaved.”

Now Elizabeth snorted. “Yeah, right.
Even on Christmas there’s a slim to zero chance that’s going to happen.”

“No comment,” stated Blackhawk. “I know better than to comment on your behavior.”

Wyler waved from the top of the stairs.

Callen was getting excited. “Is it present time?” he asked. “I think we should give Elizabeth hers first.”

She dropped onto the couch and shrugged. “Again, I’m not going to complain if two sexy men want to buy me presents. I’ll definitely go first.”

Callen and Ethan both grabbed their boxes and sat on the floor in front of her.

They did rock, paper, scissors to see who went first. This time Ethan won and he grinned. “Start with this one,” he said, handing it to Elizabeth. It was a flat envelope. “It was too big to put under the tree, and it’s for you and Callen. I hope you both like it.”

Elizabeth leaned over and opened the envelope so Callen could see what was inside it. Inside was a
note and she read it out loud.

“I love you both more than my own life.

Callen, you were my brother, and now you're so

m
uch more. Elizabeth, you’re my heart and will

a
lways live inside me.

This is to always remember.
”

~Ethan.

She slid the picture out and tears filled her eyes and also his brother
’s. It was a large totem hand made by Wyler.

“He’s been working on it for three months. It’s for our front yard. I want to announce to the world that
there’s a new name for the fort.”

Callen examined the photo. It was only three totem animals. There was a fox standing on his back legs, and on each one of his outstretched arms sat a raven. It was only their three animal spirit guides, and above the ravens sat an arch with their names.

                                 
Fort

               
   
Blackhawk -Whitefox

Elizabeth sniffled, but when she saw Callen’s tears start to fall, she broke down and started too. “I love you both so much.” Immediately, she hopped off the couch and went into both of their laps. First she kissed Ethan for the amazing, thoughtful gift. “You’re so damn smooth,” she whispered, running the pad of her thumb over his bottom lip.

Ethan grinned. “I do try.”

She moved to Callen next, wiping his tears away. “Are you okay, Cal?” she inquired, kissing his cheeks.

“Yeah, Ethan that’s amazing.”

Elizabeth kissed him slowly and offered him comfort. Breaking away, she stared into his eyes. “Looks like we’re out of the closet now for sure.”

“I don’t mind,” he answered, placing his hand on his brother’s arm. “Thank you for everything, Ethan.”

The man nodded. He’d promised his grandfather that he’d keep his brother safe and from becoming lost. Honestly, he loved having this bond with him. They shared a woman who owned both of their hearts. Never once had it made him feel weird or unusual. It just always felt right.

“I’m okay, Lyzee. Let’
s get back to the presents,” insisted Callen.

Elizabeth hopped out of his lap and back onto
her spot on the couch. “Okay, Ethan. I’m ready,” she said laughing. “I can’t imagine what you have next. That was a pretty great gift.”

“Next are just p
retty things for my gorgeous wife.” Now he wiggled his eyebrows lecherously.

She laughed, taking the next box. “I can’t wait to see what you have in here.” Ripping into the paper, she popped the top off the box and pulled back the tissue paper and started laughing. “I’m pretty sure this is a gift more for you two than me.”

“You get to model it,” he answered.

Whitefox looked down into the box. “Holy
shit Ethan! Where did you find that?” he asked, running his fingers over the very erotic lace. It was black with hints of hot pink accents. The most seductive part was that it was completely see through and looked incredibly naughty.

“I found a little shop on a back street in Georgetown. There’s a website. I’ll show you later.”

Elizabeth snickered. “Uh, again. This is all about you two, and very little about me.”

“Will you wear it later
?” asked Blackhawk. “I really haven’t stopped thinking about seeing you in it, since I bought it.”

Callen looked up at her. “Now I’m thinking about it too.”

“Anything for you two,” she said smiling. “I really think it’s beautiful, Ethan.”

Blackhawk forced himself to focus. “Okay, this is about all of us,” he said, handing her the last box that he’d previously snuck
in from the jewelers. “It’s my big present to you.”

“The totem was pretty damn big.
Literally.”

He grinned. “Go ahead, baby.”

Elizabeth tore into the paper and opened the box. When a black velvet box fell into her hand, she looked up. “Jewelry?”

He nodded. “I hope you like it.

She snapped the box open, and stared at the locket inside. On the front there was engraving.

                        
Our Heart
.

When she opened it up, there was a picture of Callen and Ethan on each side.

“Read the back,” he suggested, grinning.

Elizabeth delicately flipped it over in her hand. Reading the back she saw only a date and then she understood. The tears started and Elizabeth didn’t even try to hold them back. “Ethan, it’s amazing.”

“You understand the
significance?”

She nodded, handing the locket to Callen so he could see it. When he flipped it over he looked confused.

Ethan let him in on it. “That’s the date we all came together as a couple, and it’s our new anniversary. I’m willing to forget the day we got married, and make that our permanent one.”

Callen ran his thumb over the
numbers, memorizing them. The day was forever in his mind, but he never acknowledged the actual date. “You’re giving up your anniversary for me?” he asked, overwhelmed with emotion once again.

“Yeah, that’s the date we all became whole, and that’s the only date we ever need to celebrate.”

Elizabeth couldn’t love him more.

“I’m willing to forget the other date and only celebrate that one.
It doesn’t seem fair that I have a date with Elizabeth and you can’t Cal. You’re an equal part of this, and we all deserve one date.”

Callen hugged them. “I love you both.”

She was a very lucky woman to have found love not only once but twice with two amazing men.

Whitefox recovered. “Okay, my turn,” he said, pulling out a box. “This one’s for you and Ethan and I hope you like it.”

Elizabeth pulled off the pretty ribbons and opened the box as it sat on her lap. Already her bottom lip quivered, as she pulled out a beautifully made baby book. On the cover was a black and white photo of CJ, minutes after he was born, as he slept in her arms.