Laying a Foundation: Bonus volume: Includes series prequel, The Groundbreaking (The Love Under Construction Series) (42 page)

“I wanted to talk to both of you before the holiday.” Tony was supposed to be working out in the garage’s home gym on Saturday morning, but Clayton had stopped by, and Tony had dragged him into the garage; then he called Annabeth and put her on speakerphone. “There’s something I want to do, and I wanted to get your opinions before I do it.”

Clayton nodded. “Okay. Let’s hear it.”

“I’d like to ask Nikki to move in with me. How do you guys feel about that?”

There was silence. Then Annabeth made a sound – was she crying? He looked at Clayton, whose eyes were turning red. Tony’s face was crestfallen. “Geez, is it that bad an idea?”

“Oh, Daddy!” Annabeth gushed. “I love her so much. I feel like I might finally have a shot at having a real mom!”

Tony looked at Clayton, and his son managed a hoarse, “Yeah, what she said.” He cleared his throat and looked away.

“Well, by god, why didn’t you two tell me this before? I’m planning to ask her the afternoon of the party, after everybody’s gone. I want to make sure she can handle the whole family. So it’s a go for you two?”

“Absolutely.” Clayton’s answer was strong and clear. “I wish you guys would have us over more often too. I’d really like to spend more time with her. So would Brit. I’m not so sure what kind of grandpa you’re going to make, you old fart, but I think she’s going to make a wonderful grandma.” Tony shook his head and grinned.

“Katie and I feel the same way, Daddy. Please, don’t let her get away. Our family needs her,” Annabeth sniffled.

Tony was astonished – and very relieved. “Okay, it’s settled. You’re getting a new mom. I haven’t asked yet – it’s still a few months away – but I’m hoping we’ll be married by the end of the year.” Annabeth squealed, and Clayton cracked a wide grin. “And I think she’d love to spend more time with all four of you. She’s crazy about you guys, but I think she’s kind of hanging back, afraid to get too close because she’s not sure where we’re going with this. I’ll fix that on the Fourth.”

One thing was sure: This was going to be a holiday for the Walters family history book.

As Nikki toweled her hair after her shower, she watched Tony dressing in the other room, her heart slamming against her ribs. He had his back to her and his shoulders rippled as he moved, the muscles playing against each other as he pulled a shirt from the closet, looked at it, then put it back and chose another. Watching him move was like watching sunlight on water, or watching a stand of silver maples on a breezy day. It made her sigh with longing and set her pulse dancing. If she lived to be a thousand, she’d never get enough of him.

“Where are we going?” she called out to him. They’d both taken a half day off in anticipation of the holiday. The next day would be prep for the party on the Fourth, and they both needed a little extra time for all of that.

“I’m taking you to the gun range.” He buttoned his shirt as he walked toward the bathroom. “I want to teach you to handle a gun. I’ll feel better if I know you can protect yourself if you have to.”

“Okay.” She bent forward with the blow dryer and turned it on. She heard him say something over the racket and turned it off. “Did you say something?”

“Yeah, I asked aren’t you going to argue with me about it?” He looked puzzled.

“Why would I do that?”

“Well, I may be a liberal, but you make me look right-wing. I thought you’d be anti-gun.” Her heart nearly stopped at the sight of him leaning against the door facing, his arms crossed. Sometimes she still had trouble believing that this man was hers.

“Nope.” One simple word. She didn’t elaborate, which he thought was very uncharacteristic for her. Something was amiss, but he couldn’t figure out what.

“I thought I’d start you out on something small and lightweight, like maybe a nine millimeter or a three-eighty.” He stopped and waited for the backlash.

“Okay,” she replied again.
Something’s just not right here,
he thought.
She’s taking this far too well.
But he still couldn’t put a finger on it.

Once they’d gotten dressed, Tony pulled the Yukon around to the front and waited. Nikki came out of the house, and she was carrying a good-sized box that looked something like a toolbox. She knocked for him to put the tailgate up and she stowed the box in the back before she climbed into the front seat beside him. “What’s in the box?” he asked her.

“Stuff.” She didn’t say anything else.

The range was quiet for a Monday afternoon, with only one other station in use. Tony led her down the hallway to the door of the range they’d paid to use, and held it for her to go inside. She was carrying the box he’d seen her stash in the back of the Yukon. He asked her again, “What’s in the box?”

“Stuff.” That was all she said. He couldn’t figure out what it could be. It looked like a sportsman’s box of some kind, but he wasn’t sure what.

Tony had carried in a double-sided pistol case and a carton of ammunition. He opened one side of the case and took out a beautiful Heckler & Koch nine millimeter. Nikki gasped.

“Baby, don’t be afraid of it. Guns won’t hurt you; ignorance of guns will hurt you. So I’m going to show you how to hold it, how to load it, how to shoot it, and then how to clean it. That’s the most important part. It’s important to keep your weapon well-maintained so it works properly when you need it.”

“Oh, I always keep my weapon clean,” she countered with a smirk.

“Yes, you do,” he replied, smirking back. She tried to look away, but he saw her grin.

“Okay, watch me.” He shoved a loaded magazine up into the grip, racked a round into the chamber, and held it out for her to look at. “Want to try it?”

Nikki looked at him for a second. “Sure.” Then she stopped and looked at him pointedly. “But wasn’t there a sign about eye and ear protection?”

“Yes. That’s important. I thought you might want to practice loading it and chambering a round. But we can go ahead and put on our protective gear if you want to.” He opened the case again and produced a pair of safety glasses for her, then handed her some ear plugs. He had some for himself as well and, when everything was in place, he held the gun out to her. “Here you go. All ready for you.”

Instead of taking it, she reached into her pocket and laid a full magazine on the bench in front of them. Then, before he could process what was happening, she reached into the back of her jeans, pulled out a pistol, flipped off the safety, took her stance, and started firing at the target. Eight spent shells flew onto the floor. When the pistol was empty, she ejected the magazine, picked up the one on the bench, slammed it in, racked a round into the chamber, and started firing again, sending seven more projectiles into the target.

Tony stood stock still and his jaw dropped.
What the hell?,
he thought. She turned to him and simply said, “No thanks. I have my own.”

He couldn’t say anything; he couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Close your mouth, baby, you’re catching flies.” Tony hadn’t realized his mouth was hanging open, and he snapped it shut. “Now, I’m sorry, honey, what was it you wanted to teach me?”

“Apparently nothing,” he answered, embarrassed as hell.

“Okay.” She ejected the second magazine and reached into the box she’d brought with her to get more ammo. She started reloading the magazines, keeping an extra round out to replace the one she would chamber.

“Where the hell did you learn to do that?” he asked, still stunned.

“Randy was a competitive shooter. Me, I just like the guns.”

“Okay, so what have you got in that box?”

“Oh, stuff. More ammo,” she said matter-of-factly, “cleaning supplies, my custom Browning shooting glasses, my favorite ear plugs with strings, things like that.”

Everything had happened so fast that he really hadn’t had a chance to see what she’d pulled out of her jeans. He reached for the pistol; a Walther PPK-S with custom grips. “Nice piece,” he said.

“You’ve told me that before, darling,” she purred. He winced.

“Got anything else in your arsenal?” he asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, matter of fact, I’ve got another three-eighty, a vintage Browning. I’ve also got Randy’s Smith & Wesson nineteen-eleven which, in case you didn’t know, is a forty-five.” When she said that, he shot her a dirty look. “Plus a Rossi thirty-eight special rated for Plus P, and a nine millimeter Glock 19. Oh, and enough ammunition to last a couple of years. And I’ve got middle-of-back carry holsters for everything except the nineteen-eleven. Bastard’s too heavy to carry.” She looked at the H&K. “That thing’s beautiful. Is that your carry gun?”

Tony looked a little disappointed. “No. I carry a nine millimeter Ruger.” He pulled it from his holster and showed her, then put it back. “I bought the H&K for you, as a gift. I guess you probably don’t want it though.”

“Want it? I love it! It’s a beaut. Mind if I shoot it?”

He looked relieved. “No, of course not. It’s yours if you want it.”

She stopped and stared at him for a second. “Tony, that’s the first gift you’ve ever given me. Do you realize how fucked up that is? My first gift from you is a gun to protect myself from some wing-nut who’s trying to hurt or kill you and/or me. That’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, that is fucked up,” he agreed. “I take it back. You can’t have the gun – not yet. I’ll loan it to you now, and you can have it after I’ve given you something better first.”

She laughed. “That’s fucked up too. Okay, so you shoot the H&K. I want to see it in action.”

Tony pulled the target up to change it. Damn, the girl had fired all fifteen rounds into the kill zone. They hadn’t all gone into the bull’s eye, but they’d all been in the critical range. He put up a new target and sent it to the wall. Then he pulled the weapon up, stared down the sights, and started pulling the trigger. Casings flew, and Nikki watched with an appreciative eye.

She pulled the target in and took a look. Every shot was well within the inner ring of the bull’s eye, and she let out a whistle. “Wow, you’re good.”

“Thanks. You’re pretty damn good yourself. I feel much better now.” Knowing she could protect herself gave him some relief.

She grinned up at him. “Good. Let’s sling some lead, shall we?” she shoved a magazine into her Walther and sent a target back down range.

After a full hour of target practice, they packed up and headed for the Yukon, stowing their gear in the cargo deck. Tony was about to close the tailgate when impulse hit and, with no warning, he grabbed Nikki by the waist and pushed her up onto the cargo deck, squealing, then jumped in behind her and pulled the tailgate down. “Tony! What the hell?” she laughed.

He grabbed the front of her jeans, unbuttoned and unzipped them in record time, then peeled them off of her and tossed them aside. “Watching you shoot like that made me very, very horny. And I intend to do something about that right now,” he snarled, snatching her panties off. She squealed again and laughed. Tony unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, reached inside his boxer briefs, and pulled out a full-blown hard-on. The look he gave her was so scorching that she felt the heat to her core, and he came after her like a panther on the prowl. He crawled on top of her and pinned her to the deck with his body weight, and she leaned in and bit him on the shoulder. At that little erotic show of power, he ran a hand up her back, grabbed a handful of hair, and held her head still so he could stare into her eyes.

Nikki leveled her gaze at him and growled, “Fuck me, tiger,” and Tony tore into her like a hurricane, ramming her with all the force he could muster. She was pretty sure she’d be bruised the next morning, but she didn’t care one damn bit. It was so unlike him, so spontaneous, that Nikki was consumed by the pure, raw desire he was pouring into her, and she met his every stroke with churning hips and piercing cries until she was breathless. Wrapping his hands under her ass and pulling her pelvis into him, he pounded her until she screamed out an orgasm and he came deep inside her, winded and trembling.

“Son of a bitch – that was fucking awesome! What came over you?” she asked as he lay on top of her, both of them still panting.

Without looking at her, he wound his hands into her hair, pulled her head back, and kissed up and down her slender neck. “Watching you handle that gun, handle yourself, so forceful and graceful, hit me down deep. I had to take you; I couldn’t wait.” He kissed on down her neck, then worked his way up her cheek and back down to her mouth. When his lips touched hers, he gave her a solid, searing kiss and stared down at her, looking very proud of himself.