Assignment: Second Chances Read online

  “That one I couldn’t tell you. They complicate things and cause trouble where there should be none. It’s so much easier to just be blunt and honest about things. It works better that way, don’t you think?” She took another sip of her coffee and nodded. “I feel for him. I had ten years of therapy to get to where I am now. I will be there for him. I will be there because he’s mine. That’s what you do for those that you love, right?”

  “Absolutely,” he said. “To all of what you just said. But most of all for him. I’ve never seen him like this before. Cold, calculating, shut off absolutely, but like this. Fuck.” He breathed the word out. “This is not the Ulysses Jacobs I’ve known for ten years. Quite frankly, it’s seriously screwing with my head. He’s always been so sure of himself, so decisive, and definitely more than a little suicidal if you ask my opinion. But he’s always gotten things done quickly, and efficiently. I really hope he figured out whatever problem he was chewing on last night because otherwise I’ll have to call Michael to have him send someone else down to keep watch over you with me.”

  “I trust Lee with my life. He will be fine. He is just in a bad place right now. You know it and so do I. He’s just realized that not only did he have a son, but lost the child as well. Not only that, but someone destroyed the grave. It’s not sitting well with me either. I hate the fact that they did that not only to the stone but the grave as well. Why anyone would do that is beyond me but this is personal. Lee knows it as well.”

  “I know that, Olivia. But if he’s off his game then he’s not really aware of the potential dangers around us. This may be a thriving US city, but there are two or more people out there that want to cause you harm. That have caused you harm by desecrating your son’s grave. If he’s not up to par, then I need backup here while he’s helping you, and you are helping him to get through this. I mean absolutely no disrespect to him, but that is the fact of the matter.”

  “Could you two be any louder, or more annoying?” The snarled question came from the sofa just as Lee levered up to a sitting position and turned a glower their direction.

  “I’m sure we could be louder if in the right environment,” Olivia said with a cocky grin. “You could have slept with me last night, you know. Instead of being here in the common room between the bedrooms. I wouldn’t have minded but oh no, you took the sofa, big silly.”

  “I didn’t want to disturb you when I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping.” Pushing up, he stretched out, giving her a show of his naked torso. He scratched at his chest before grabbing a shirt to toss on and cover up a lot of his skin. Giving them another look he scuffed off to the bathroom, and shut the door.

  Nathan sipped his coffee slowly. “Well good morning to you, sunshine,” he muttered. “I think I’d better make another pot of coffee for him. This is going to be one of those days where he’ll run on the shit, I can see it already.”

  “Yeah you really should.” She watched the door that Lee had disappeared through and sighed. “My poor Lee,” she whispered and shook her head. “I will order breakfast, or are we going to go out for it?”

  “Order it in. No way am I subjecting anyone else to him until he’s had some caffeine dumped into him. We’ll do lunch out, but for the morning meal it’s better to have it in the room.” He took her cup and topped it up before pouring the last of the first pot into his cup. Then Nathan set about making up another batch.

  Olivia ordered a huge breakfast for them all, adding things when Nathan walked by and then even more when Lee walked out freshly showered. Finally she held up her hand and laughed. “Enough, boys. Seriously.” She was rolling her eyes and laughing as she spoke.

  Nathan grinned at her while Lee shrugged. He collected his bag and went digging through it for clothing, as well as his shaving kit before disappearing back into the bathroom. This time he left the door open so she was able to catch glimpses of him in the mirror while he got dressed and went to work shaving his jaw.

  Olivia moved so that she could lean against the bathroom door and watch Lee as he shaved. “I’ve missed this. Watching you as you move around. Watching you shaving. Everything. I’ve missed you,” she blurted. “Never again, Lee. You have me now and I’m making you keep me this time.”

  Turning, he pulled her in close to him, and then lifted her up onto the vanity. “Not going anywhere, Olivia,” he said. He passed her the razor then with a smirk, and tipped his chin up to reveal the shaving cream on his throat.

  She grinned as she began to shave him as she had so many times in the past. From the moment that he had gotten facial hair, he had her shaving him. Typically she was on the counter as she was now with him standing between her legs. That’s what led to the first night they slept together, and it had only gotten better since.

  Lee closed his eyes as she scraped the razor over his skin slowly, pausing to give it a quick rinse in the sink of water he had prepared. He moved his head according to the soft touch of her fingers to his chin, or cheeks until she was done. Then he gave his face a quick wash, dry, and applied some cream to his skin. He seemed to be paying special attention to one spot on his neck she hadn’t shaved. A peek in the mirror showed a burn scar that disappeared down under the neck of the long-sleeved t-shirt that seemed a part of his uniform.

  “Is that one of the scars from your time in the cave?” she asked and moved so that she could touch the shirt. “Can I see?” Her fingers were on the neck of the shirt but then her attention was drawn to his wrist when he lifted his hand again. “Lee.” She grabbed his arm and pushed the sleeve up to see an intricate tattoo that covered his wrist, her name was emblazoned upon his wrist.

  When she finally tore her gaze from his wrist, she saw him watching her. “I’ve always kept you with me,” he said quietly. “Thankfully the ropes binding me prevented them from messing it up. As to the rest.” Sighing, he gently pulled his hand from her grip, reached over his head, and tugged the shirt off to show her everything. Well everything from the waist up, at any rate.

  “Jesus, Lee,” Olivia whispered as she touched the whip marks that littered his back, the marks from what she figured must be a cane and felt herself tearing up. “The things that you survived.” She began to press kisses to his back, stroking her fingers over the worst of the scars. She did notice however that they continued into his pants. “I hate that you were put through that, but I’m glad that you are alive now and here with me. It makes me love you all the more.”

  He turned enough to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her back around in front of him. “I didn’t show you to make you sad, little one. You asked to see,” he said softly. Leaning down, Lee brushed his lips over her cheek, and then pressed a kiss to the corner of her eye. “I am here, with you, alive and well. So no tears for what was done. I survived it all, and I’d go through it again if it brought me to this place with you time and again.”

  “Well no more you getting hurt, okay? I need you to be here with me in the now and for the always. No more hurts. Only happiness from here out, please?” She had her legs around his hips once more, hands on his chest and looking up at him. “Now, kiss me and then let’s go eat?”

  His eyes seemed to be searching hers for something. Whatever it was, he finally nodded and moved his head enough to capture her lips with his. It wasn’t one of those brief brushes, or butterfly-like kisses he’d been giving her. Finally it was a real kiss. One where he put a hand into her hair, and gripped the strands tight as he thrust his tongue into her mouth to dance with hers.

  Olivia melted into his kiss. Her hands moved up and around his shoulders and pulled him closer. She moaned as his tongue dueled with hers, shivered when his hands caressed her body. This was exactly what she had been waiting for.

  He let loose a little growl. Just like he had in the past. It made her react as it always did, with her nipples tightening almost painfully and her pussy starting to throb. Stepping in closer to her, he pulled her tighter against him so she could feel the hard ridge of his cock behind the zippe
r of his jeans. Seconds, minutes, maybe hours later, he lifted his head to stare down at her from under heavy lids. He was breathing as hard as she was as they stared at one another.

  She was panting for air, her hands clinging to his shoulders. “Damn, you are every bit as potent as you always have been,” she whispered and licked her lips. “I’ve missed that, so much more than I even realized that I had missed it. It’s going to take me years of frequent kisses to get over that. Do you have it in you?”

  His smile was slow, and had the butterflies in her belly taking wild flight. “I think I can handle it.” Dropping his head, he gave her another hard, fast, and just as potent kiss before pulling back. He lifted her off the vanity and set her on her very unsteady legs. “Let’s go have something to eat, and I need a gallon of coffee.”

  “Yes, food and caffeine.” She leaned on him for several minutes and then pulled back with a nod. “Thank you, for opening yourself to me once more.” She had felt it, when he gave in and let her see the damage to his back. She was pretty sure that wasn’t something he did often and she was pleased that he had allowed her that moment with him.

  “I’m not going to screw up a second time with you, Vi,” he said softly. Gently he ran his fingers through her hair with a crooked smile. “Mussed you up a little. But it’s a good look on you, one I’ve missed dearly.” Grabbing his shirt, he pulled it on before collecting the rest of his stuff, and urging her out of the bathroom ahead of him.

  Olivia could only smile, it was good, feeling him close and knowing that he would be there with her now forever. She felt good, fabulous actually. She grabbed a nice plate of food and took a seat at the small dining table that was in their suite. “Hurry up and eat, boys. We have much to do today.”

  Nathan shot her a look, then turned it on Lee and back to her once more. Taking a plate he moved to the table and sat down. “Care to share with the rest of the class how you got him to look less like he wanted to murder someone, and more like a real person again?” he asked in a low tone. Lee might have been over at the kitchenette counter getting coffee, but the suite wasn’t so big that he couldn’t have heard Nathan’s question.

  “I finally got him to kiss me. I think that it relieved as much stress from me as it did for him. He needed the connection and I was practically begging for the kiss. So yep, that’s what happened.” She hadn’t lowered her voice and hadn’t looked away from Lee either.

  He gave her a wink over the mug as he took his first sip of the coffee. Smacking his lips lightly, he added a bit of sugar and then came over to the table. He scooped up his plate as he passed the trolley, and settled on a chair.

  “Thank God,” Nathan said. “I was seriously beginning to worry about you two. As much as I dread having to ask this, I need to know. What exactly is the plan for today?” His tone was cautious as he looked between the two of them.

  Olivia took a deep breath and looked between the two men. Finally she said, “We need to go by my mother’s house. I want to know why she lied to Lee. I think that he also will want to go by his parents’ home for the same reason. Not good things to do, but things that are very necessary.”

  “Works for me,” he said. “Do I need to know anything before we go in?”

  Lee shared a look with her before looking over at Nathan. “Don’t interfere,” he said. “I have no idea what is going to be said, but stay out of it unless it looks like it’s going to come to blows.”

  “Right,” Nathan nodded. “I’ll bring the spray bottle with me to get everyone back in their corners.”

  She began to giggle. Olivia couldn’t help herself. “Oh sweet merciful heavens, you are too funny. There won’t be blows and no need for a spray bottle either. No need to worry at all about that. We will hopefully not come to blows at least.” She added with a frown, “Crap, okay so maybe bring bail money with you?”

  “Copy that,” he said. “I have the company credit card so there’s no worry about that. But if you two get yourselves arrested I’m totally getting copies of your mug shots for future blackmail purposes. And because it’ll be fun to share with the team.”

  “Oh that’s just mean.” She was giggling as she ate though. That was a good thing. It kept her mind off of the reality of why they were back in Florida, instead she was able to simply enjoy being with the two men that she had a serious thing for. One she was desperately in love with and the other was one that she could see herself falling for as well.

  When they were done, Nathan and Lee both went to pull on their boots and arm up. How they had gotten guns to Florida, she wasn’t even going to touch. All she could do was stare in shock, and a little bit of horror. Shrugging into a jacket, Lee turned a look at her, and lifted a brow when he caught her staring at him. “What?”

  “I just can’t believe that you boys brought weapons with you. How in the heck did you get them past security?” They had been all but strip searched at the airport so how they got weapons into the state she didn’t know.

  “They were shipped down on an overnight,” Nathan told her. “We have special permission to carry in all fifty states, but we can’t carry them into the state. They have to be shipped to us through a specialized courier service. Extremely high security, and you pretty much have to give up a kidney to get the goods. When we head back north, the weapons will be turned back over to them, they’ll ship them back, and they’ll arrive at Nightshade safe and secure once more.”

  “We knew the likelihood of a threat being down here was high,” Lee told her. “So we had to do all we could so that we could protect you. Michael’s still pissed but he wouldn’t knowingly put an innocent in danger. Hopefully he did let the locals know we were here so if we get yanked over we can get out of it without having to commit some form of felony.”

  “Why was Michael pissed? He knew what happened.” She had to explain it to all of them. That hadn’t been good at all. “And most of the locals are people that Lee and I went to school with or their fathers. Trust me, when I say that this is an old boys’ school sort of town, I’m not kidding.” She snapped her fingers and looked at Lee with a huge grin on her face.

  “I wonder if Mrs. Shirley is still alive and watching everyone and everything. If so, she would be able to tell us about anyone who came in that didn’t fit.” That was the good thing about a small town, everyone knew everyone and looked out for each other. Hopefully that close-knit community vibe would carry over and they would be able to figure this out sooner rather than later.

  “Doubtful, she was at least a hundred when we were kids,” Lee said. “If she is still alive I’d be more afraid of her telling tall tales about us than what she might have seen around the neighborhood. We’ll check it out though, she might still be kicking. She was stubborn enough to still stick it out just to spite her kids.”

  “Oh now, see right there,” Nathan said. “I smell me a story. You two need to share a little more about this Mrs. Shirley lady.”

  Lee shook his head and headed for the door. Opening it, he eased out, looking up and down the hall before pushing it wide enough for her to step through. “I’m not telling you anything. We’ll be in enough trouble if the woman’s still alive and living there as it is.”

  “Amen,” Olivia added with a serious nod. “That woman terrifies me, but yet fascinates me as well. I’m seriously off my meds on that I know, but it’s nonetheless true. Mrs. Gabriella Shirley is a one-of-a-kind sort of woman, the kind of woman that would be able to put the fear of god into a retired SEAL. Trust me, she did it with Sheriff Thompson who had been a SEAL and a POW during Vietnam. She’s more than mildly terrifying but in a sweet granny sort of way if you know what I mean.”

  “Damn, sounds like my nanna,” Nathan said. At their looks, he rolled his eyes. “What? I do have one, you know. Point I’m making is she’s this little thing, barely clears five feet, but one look from her and you can practically hear the reaper coming for you. And no, not Markham, the big guy in the hood with the scythe. She’s got this way ab
out her that can make you feel about an inch tall if you get in her bad books. Thankfully she adores me.”

  Lee pushed the button for the elevator while hiding a grin behind the hand he used to rub his jaw. “Got her wrapped around your finger, do you?”

  “Hell yeah, she’s awesome. I used to sic her on the older siblings all the time. Pretty sure she made my big brother cry at least twice in our younger days. And all from one disapproving look too.”

  Olivia was grinning. “I think that I like her already. Will I ever get to meet her?” She was leaning against the back wall of the elevator as she spoke. “Because she sounds like a sweetie. Where is she now? Your nanna that is? And your family? You have lots of siblings?” Okay, so the questions kept pouring out of her, but she couldn’t seem to stop them once they started.

  “Four older brothers, one older sister, I am the official baby of the family,” Nathan said. “Nanna, and the rest of the family except for Norma, all live in Kansas. Norma is in Paris these days. She works for one of those big and fancy design houses. Clothing, I should mention. Loves it, but always makes it home for Christmas every year. Robbie will be heading off to Australia for his law firm in the next few months. They want him to get some international law practice under his belt. After that it’s London, and then if I remember right, he’ll be in Rome. The rest are farmers, born and bred.”

  “Wow, your family is a bunch of travelers. Nice.” Olivia was impressed actually. “So are you going to go back home for Christmas this year?” Weirdly enough, Olivia had a feeling that she would miss Nathan at Christmas time. “And what do they think about you being in the service?”

  “Probably for a couple of days. You know you’re more than welcome to come along,” he said. “They’d get a kick out of having guests to bury under all the excess love and adoration that their kids all shun. Oh, and the bonus is, we do a hayride on Christmas Eve. We snuggle under blankets while Dad takes the reins, and we go for a jaunt around down to the town to see the lights, and decorations. There’s even hot cocoa.”