Laying a Foundation: Bonus volume: Includes series prequel, The Groundbreaking (The Love Under Construction Series) (72 page)

“I think you missed me a little,” Nikki whispered after their third go-round. Lying on their sides in each other’s arms, Tony was still inside her and still hard as marble, and he flowed into and out of her, a slow and gentle rocking, her velvety tightness soothing him like a salve. He cupped her breasts in his hands, his thumbs lazily drifting back and forth across her nipples, and stared at them like they were the most amazing things in the universe. Late afternoon sun was streaming in the bedroom window, throwing a golden light all over the room and across her hair, fanned out over the pillow. She was overcome by his touch, the heat in his hands, and the love he’d breathed into her with every stroke.

His smile was soft and warm. “I knew I missed you, but I didn’t realize how much until I undressed you and touched you. That first second, my hands on your skin, almost took me down, precious. I’ve never wanted anything or anybody so much.”

Nikki buried her face in his chest. She’d missed his scent; it was beyond comforting, and it engulfed her. She’d had a security detail following her, not to mention Clayton and Vic watching her every move, and yet she hadn’t felt as safe in over two weeks as she felt right at that moment. She ran her fingers softly down his cheek, and he caught her hand and kissed her palm, his stubble tickling her fingertips.

“I missed you more than I can say,” she said quietly and kissed him. His lips were soft and warm, and she could taste her own juices on his mouth from the attention he’d laved on her hot, needy folds earlier. She sighed into him; he breathed in her sigh and then sighed back into her. So utterly immersed in him, so breathlessly consumed by her desire, Nikki felt she might lose consciousness.

“Babe, what do you want? I’ll give you whatever you want,” Tony whispered to her, rolling her nipple between his thumb and finger.

Nikki smiled. “I just want to be here with you, to satisfy you, to make you happy.” A tear rolled from her eye and into her hair.

“I am happy.” He kissed her again. “I’ve never been so happy in my entire life.”

Nikki spent the next day working, part of the day from the house, and part of the day in the office, even though walking out of the house and leaving him there that morning had been one of the hardest things she could imagine. She got Todd, a young man from accounting who also took care of most of their computer issues, to help her get everything together.

By afternoon, Cheryl got a big surprise. She came back from lunch and powered on her monitor, only to have Tony’s face fill the screen and hear him call out, “Hi, Cheryl!” She screamed and jumped back. The commotion got Nikki’s attention and she came out to the front, only to laugh hysterically at Cheryl. Tony was laughing at her from the computer screen.

“Welcome to the modern world of work!” Nikki laughed and patted her on the shoulder. “The boss is in the house!”

“You could’ve warned me!” Cheryl cried out, then started to laugh at herself.

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, I can see you. I can see when you’re reading that needlework magazine instead of working.”

“I’ll have to hide it better, huh?” Cheryl chuckled back. “So you’re officially back to work?”

“Thanks to my tech-savvy girlfriend.” He pointed at Nikki through the screen. “And you – you’d better get back to work too. I’m watching you!” He looked at her sideways and gave her an evil glare.

“Oh, your bark is sooooo much worse than your bite,” Nikki smirked, walking away. “Now you’ve got to figure out how to switch from Cheryl’s camera to mine or you can’t . . .” She walked around her desk and there he was, giving her a guess-I’ve-shocked-you look. “Hmmmm. You’re a quick learner,” she grumbled with mock sarcasm.

“Guess I’m in business, huh?” Tony laughed.

“Yeah, looks like it. Figured out the fax and scanner yet?”

“Yep. Check your printer.”

Nikki looked in the printer tray and found the modified bid packages she’d left for him to review that morning, all edited, redone, and printed off. “Well, you’re a quick worker too.”

“Hey, I don’t fool around,” he announced. “Well, I
do
fool around, but only with you. Not with business. And now, business, dearie.” And his face disappeared from her screen.

Within ten minutes, he was back, asking her a question about some documents he’d been working on the day he was arrested, so she sent them to him. A little while later, she pinged in to show him some pictures of one of the jobsites, and he weighed in on her questions. At four thirty, she told Cheryl, “Day’s almost over. You know, this is working out pretty good.”

Cheryl smiled. “Yeah, it’s good to have him back, even if it is just on a screen.”

“I heard that!” Tony called out from the speakers. “And thanks – it’s good to be back.”

“Travis, we’ve got to tell somebody, the police or somebody,” Autumn begged, the blood draining from her face.

“You’ll keep your damn mouth shut is what you’ll do,” Travis snarled. He hit the PLAY button onscreen and the video from their surveillance camera rolled again.

Autumn had decided to check some of the video feeds from other sites, and she was appalled by what she’d found. The scene was almost the same as the video they’d seen before; the Walters Construction truck, the passenger door opening, someone getting in, what looked like the truck’s occupants having sex. But then a shadowy, crouching figure crept from an unidentifiable vehicle outside the fence, stopped at the front driver’s side corner of the truck, raised an arm, and a flash burst out. In the next few seconds of footage, the figure ran away, and one of the truck’s occupants practically fell out of the driver’s side door and jumped around a bit. Whoever it was seemed to have walked a few feet away, done something that looked like throwing up, and gotten back into the truck before driving slowly away.

“But Travis, we’d already seen the body being dumped, and now we just witnessed the murder! We have to tell somebody. And we have to let them know Mr. Walters didn’t do it! He’s innocent and he doesn’t deserve to go to jail!” Autumn wailed.

“He deserves whatever he gets. I don’t want to hear another word about it!” Travis yelled and stormed out of the room.

Autumn reached into her purse and pulled out a flash drive. She plugged it into the computer and downloaded a copy of the video. She had to get it to someone.
I know,
Autumn thought.
I’ll take it to Mr. Walters’ girlfriend. She’ll know what to do.

Autumn had wracked her brain, trying to figure out how she could get to Nikki. Travis kept tabs on Tony Walters and his girlfriend; while he was at work at the office supply store, she went through his notes. On the newest page of notes, he’d written that the girlfriend worked at the construction office now, but had gone back to her old job at the florist shop on the weekends. She didn’t know what their weekend hours were, but she decided eleven in the morning would be a pretty safe bet.

She thought for a few minutes, then decided she’d call to make sure. She dialed the number and waited, then heard a woman’s voice say, “Good morning! The Passionate Pansy. How can I help you?”

“Hi. Is Nikki there?” Autumn was trying to figure out what she was going to say if Nikki was there and especially if she was the one answering the phone.

“No, I’m sorry. She only works on Saturdays. Can I help you with something?” the woman asked.

“Oh, no thanks. She called me about something she wanted to buy from me, so I’ll call her back another time. Thank you.” Autumn hung up – fast.
Whew, that was scary,
she thought.
So Saturday it is. Now I’ve got to work up some courage.

“Hi Dad!” Clayton turned to Nikki, smiled, and said, “This is pretty cool!” Turning to look back at the computer screen, he told Tony, “I wanted to show you this order, Dad. Something looks wrong, but I’m not sure what it is. Can you look at it for me?”

“Sure. Send it over and I’ll see what’s up with it. In the meantime, can you check with the site supervisor over at the university site, see why they haven’t gotten the framing done for those front windows for the library building? That should’ve been done several days ago.”

“Okay.” Clayton was beaming. “I’m really glad you’re back, well, sort of back. You know what I mean,” he laughed.

“I’m glad to be back too. Thanks for all your hard work, son. You did a really good job while I was gone. You do a really good job all the time. It’s going to pay off pretty soon.”

“What do you mean by that?” Clayton asked, one eyebrow cocked in question.

“Oh, nothing. So I’ll see you guys this weekend? Bring Stringer and Ella Jane over? Please?” he whined.

Clayton grinned. “Yes, I’ll bring your little playmate over, Dad. He’s driving us crazy wanting to see you too.”

“Ah, that’s my boy!” Tony crowed like a proud grandpa. “How’s the adoption thing going?”

“Going. I think it’s going to go through soon. Plus they’re working on getting Ella Jane’s mom to sign over parental rights. And since she’s the only living relative who has any contact, if she’ll do that, we can go straight to adoption.”

“Clayton, I want you to know,” Tony said, his eyes reddening, “that you’re turning out to be a great dad. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks, but it helps that I had the absolute best teacher in the world.” Clayton was getting a little misty-eyed himself. “I just love them the way you’ve always loved us. That way, I can’t go wrong,”

T
hank god she decided to close this place next Friday. I don’t think I could work next Saturday – this has just been too much,
Nikki thought. When she’d promised to help Marla out, Tony hadn’t been home and she was looking for something, anything, to help her get through the weekend. Now he was back and she was busier than ever. This was just one more drain on her mental and physical resources.

She got out the cash box and turned on the OPEN sign, hoping it would be a slow morning. Through the front window she could see the familiar sedan across the street; looked like it was Laura this morning. If she waved, Laura probably wouldn’t wave back. Even though Nikki felt she’d made some progress, the pretty brunette still had the personality of a twice-dead zombie.

Nikki took several phone orders for poinsettias and miniature Christmas trees, and one order for a dozen red roses for someone whose birthday was, bless their heart, on Christmas Eve. After watering everything, she swept up some dropped leaves and cleaned the customer restroom. Then she went to the workroom and cleaned out the refrigerator. A lady came in to see if they had any paper-white narcissus, but they were completely out.
Oh, god, this morning is going so slow,
Nikki thought. She was still so tired; maybe she could take a nap in the afternoon while Tony watched a game on TV. As she dusted she daydreamed, thinking about lying on the sofa with her head in his lap as he twisted his fingers into her hair while he watched the game.

At five after eleven, a young woman walked by the glass, looked in, and went on past. In a few seconds, she came back and walked in. Nikki greeted her with, “Good morning! Can I help you with anything?”

“Um, I hope so. Could I borrow your phone? My car won’t start. My phone’s battery ran down and I need to call my brother to pick me up,” the young woman explained.