Page 55 of Guarding Grace (Hawk Security #2)
Grace
With apprehension, I turned the key. The lock released, but the alarm panel didn’t start beeping when I opened the door the way it had when Terry had brought me in. What did that mean?
Walking through the garage and past the big motorcycle, I recalled the time Terry had fucked me on it, and then Serena’s words, “ full-throttle life .” It had been a full-throttle experience for sure.
With my heart in my throat, I climbed the stairs.
At the top, the rest of the clothes I hadn’t taken sat folded in a neat pile.
Terry rounded the corner from the kitchen. “Hi.” His greeting was tentative.
Holding up my hand, I announced, “I used the key.” I hoped I hadn’t waited too long. It had been three hours since Terry left my place.
“I see that.” He didn’t move closer. “The rest of your things are right there.”
Since it was up to me to make the move, I strode his way. “We need to talk.”
“Okay.” He waited with a pained expression.
“I want to try.”
He opened his arms.
I jumped up and into them, wrapping my legs around him and initiating the kiss. It started rough. He tasted like coffee and sin as our tongues danced. The room melted away, and my pulse thundered in my ears. I couldn’t get enough of this man. Panting, I let him break the kiss after a while.
He set me gently on my feet. “Welcome home. Did you bring the cats?”
I looked down at his chest. “You need to understand what you’re getting into.”
He tucked my hair behind my ear. “I’m a big boy. I know what I’m getting into.”
I looked up at him. “Seriously, I need to explain that with my business the way it is, I need to spend a lot of time at work, and I don’t want you to think it’s because I don’t want to be with you, because I do.”
He stroked my back. “Kitten, let me help with that.”
It was just like Serena had said.
“Terry, I’m scared. I’m worried that you’ll get tired of me being bitchy and always busy.”
He laughed, really laughed. “That’s one thing you don’t need to worry about.”
“Are you sure?”
“Kitten, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
I sighed and hugged him as tightly as I could. “I wanted to say it earlier, but I couldn’t get up the nerve?—”
He pulled my chin up. “I know. I love you too.”
My gasp was unintentional. “I was going to say I was falling for you,” I admitted.
“The L-word scares you?”
“Everything about this scares me.”
“I’ll wait. Now I have something to tell you.”
“Talking can wait.” I wasn’t spending one more minute waiting for my full-throttle life to begin. “I want to ride the rocket.”
He lifted me up. “I like the way your mind works.” He moved toward the bedroom.
“Not that rocket,” I objected. “The one downstairs. Will you take me for a ride?”
The disappointment on his face was clear. “Woman, you have the oddest set of priorities.”
“I’ve never been on a bike before.”
“Okay.” He smiled. “With the wind in your face, it’s a sense of freedom like nothing else.”
“I want you to open it up. I want to experience the ride at full throttle.”
“We can do that.”
We went down to the garage where he outfitted me with a leather jacket a dozen sizes too big and handed me a helmet. “We can talk to each other over Bluetooth with these.”
I climbed on behind him, wrapped my arms around him, and was surprised at how quiet the bike was when he started the engine.
“Hold on.” He twisted the throttle and the acceleration pulled me backward— hold on was right.
I grabbed him tighter.
He took us through the city streets, toward Malibu. “I have some news,” he began.
“Later. Don’t you dare ruin this.” I concentrated on the lean into each turn, and the sprint to the next intersection.
Eventually he got us on the Pacific Coast Highway. “Hold on,” he repeated when an open section of road appeared. “You asked for full throttle.”
The noise was deafening, and everything became a blur.
“I love it,” I screamed. “When can I drive?”
“Never.” He laid on the brakes for a corner.
I didn’t like that answer.
“Elliot is alive,” he added.
I had trouble swallowing. “What did you say?”
“I couldn’t tell you before, but Elliot is alive.”
I squeezed him tighter. “You’re not joking?”
“I gave him and Rudi some money and put them on a plane today. Elliot has a new identity, and if he stays out of the country, he should be safe.”
I teared up. “Really? How? I thought he blew himself up.”
“That’s what everybody is supposed to think.”
I knew Terry hated Elliot’s guts. “Why?”
“I did it for you, Kitten. Because you asked me to find a way. But you can never mention this to anyone, not ever.”
Serena had been right. Life with this wonderful man was already a lot to handle. He’d just saved Elliot. “Wow.”
“One other thing, I have four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for you to invest in SpaceMasters.”
“You’re kidding.” I wished I wasn’t on the back of this bike. I couldn’t see his face to know if he was joking or not. He had to be joking.
“It’s the reward money for finding the briefcase. You earned it. It’s yours to put into your business.”
“Stop right now.”
“No. ”
He had me hostage, and there was nothing I could do about it. “You can’t be serious.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you,” he said. “You got shot at, kidnapped, and gave us the clue to find Rudi. You earned it. All I ask is that you learn to delegate to give yourself more free time.”
God, this man had made my life so much better. “Can I say I love you?”
He laughed. “As often as you want, baby.”
I had been trying to avoid the truth for too long. I did love him. “Turn this bike around. I want to go home and ride the other rocket.”
The strength of the brakes threw me forward against him. Then, once he found a break in the traffic, we were hurtling down PCH back toward home, our home . Those two words had a nice ring to them.
After a motorcycle ride I’d never forget, I got a ride on the other rocket—and we checked the hood of his car off the list.