All in the Timing Page 11

  “In the living room,” he said. He laughed when she clicked her tongue and changed direction. “Well, if you’d asked prior to dragging me around the house… I was thinking we could leave mid-next week. I have to be around for a couple of days, both for my own sanity and to ensure my former employers don’t need anything from me as they finish crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s on the paperwork. Not only for my resignation, but also for the last of the case still in progress.”

  “Well, crap, I just was trying to get you to where I wanted you, the bedroom,” she teased. “And that would be good, mid-next week.” She would do whatever she needed to in order to ensure that they were able to have their time together regardless.

  “I know, that’s why I put it in the living room. We do need to look at this stuff, and you tend to get rather distracted in the bedroom.” He gave her hand a squeeze. Sitting on the sofa, he tugged her down next to him, and then grabbed his laptop. Starting it up, he went online to the links he’d bookmarked before passing her the laptop. The first was to a villa in Tuscany where they would have the whole place for two weeks with only maid service to interrupt their time. The second was to Australia for a stay in Sydney where he also had links for the Opera House at the ready for their current listings of upcoming events. The third was to a tropical island in the Bahamas. It was a house on a semi-private beach with no worries about people wandering in on them.

  “This one,” she said as she looked at the semi-private beach. “I want to go to this one right here. I think that it would be the best time and we would be able to be naked together all the time. I’ve always wanted an all-over tan, so, yes, please.”

  “I thought you might like it.” Shaking his head, he took the laptop back from her. A couple of minutes later, he looked at her. “Thursday next week work for you? We get better rates flying out, hopefully fewer people too, and then we can get an extra couple of days there as a bonus.”

  “Thursday next week is fine. Gives me time to ensure that everyone has their marching orders, so that’s a good thing.” Anything so she could just have her time with him. “How long are we taking, by the way, for our honeymoon?”

  “Three weeks. That should give you a fantastic all-over tan. If I let you out on the beach at all, of course.” Bumping his shoulder to hers, he got to booking everything. They waited for the confirmations, and then he shut the laptop down. “There we go. We’ll be gone for three weeks, and still back with plenty of time before Christmas.”

  “Oh God, Christmas. I need to get shopping done. Crap. What will your mom want for Christmas? I pretty much know everyone and what to get them but your mom. That woman is as hard to pin down as Jell-O.”

  “Yeah, it’s always best to make her a gift. It’s part of the tradition of our family. Mama and Pops always insisted we use our hard-earned cash on ourselves only. We weren’t permitted to ever purchase them anything. We could buy items to create a gift, but there was a forty dollar limit on that. The only time we broke that rule was for their thirtieth anniversary. We all put in and sent them on a European vacation. We all stuck around to keep the ranch going, and they had a blast. But other than that, only made gifts.”

  “I think that’s a fabulous idea and a tradition that I want to have in our family. If we are ever blessed with kids, that is. I want them to make our gifts. We can even help them with it if you want to?”

  “I’ve had a lot of practice,” he said. “I do have six younger siblings, if you recall. That was a lot of practice. But yes, I think it’s a tradition worth continuing. Especially in this day and age of commercialism. They need to understand that not everything can be bought.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. And when we tell our kids to go out and play, we will damn well go out with them.”

  “I will be buying your gift, or rather, have already bought your gift.” Frank gave her a small, crooked grin, and promptly clammed up.

  She cocked her head to the side and then grinned. “You already have my Christmas gift? Really? I thought that the honeymoon was my gift. What did you get me?” She hated to wait. She was so bloody impatient, and he damn well knew it.

  “I’m not telling you what I got you. You will have to wait for Christmas morning, like everyone else in the family, and then you will see it. It also isn’t here. It’s safely stored somewhere you can’t get to. The honeymoon is your wedding present, completely different from your Christmas gift. Well, technically, there are two gifts. One for Christmas Eve, and one for Christmas Day with the family.”

  “Oh, you are bad. I love you, Frank, but seriously? Very bad. And thank you for the honeymoon. I got you something for a wedding present as well. I just hope you like it. I didn’t know what to get you, and then I got to talking to your brothers, and one thing led to another...” She trailed off for a moment. “The package is on the dresser. If you want to open it?”

  “Is this another ploy to get me into the bedroom?” he asked in return. He got to his feet and tugged her up with him. “All right, lead the way, sweetheart. Let’s go see what you got for me.” He put his hands on her hips when she stepped in front of him.

  Eli led him to the bedroom and grabbed the package. She nervously chewed her lower lip and then handed it to him. “Okay, but if you don’t like it, we can’t take it back. We would have to find another buyer for them, okay?”

  He turned it over in his hands and took a seat on the end of the bed. “Why are you so nervous, Eli? Come on. You have to know that I’ll love anything you got for me.” Reaching out, he pulled her to sit next to him before he began to work his way into the package. Lifting the lid, he stilled completely. She wasn’t even sure he was breathing. “Holy mother,” he whispered. “Eli, are these? I mean, are they? Holy mother of God.”

  “Yes. I tracked them down through a buyer out of Austin, and then he pointed me to someone in Oklahoma City, and then another place, and…” She took a deep breath. “Short and long of it. You are holding the verifiable and certified .45s from Wild Bill Hickok. There is a certificate of authenticity as well as a weapons expert’s certification that they are real. Are they okay?”

  “Baby, okay does not cover this. Holy shit. These are…wow. They are…damn.” Turning to her, he lifted a hand to drag her in for a deep kiss. “Thank you, these are amazing. I can’t believe you went to so much trouble for me.”

  Eli frowned and cocked her head to the side. “Honey, I would do absolutely anything for you. You are my reason for being. I wake up because of you. You are it for me. I literally would do anything for you, Frank.”

  “This is way too much, but I’m keeping them because they are also the coolest thing anyone has ever gotten me. I love you, Elizabeth.” He kissed her again. Drawing back, he looked down into the box and shook his head. “I can’t believe I am actually holding a piece of American history. I may need a moment here to regain my balance a little.”

  “You deserve them. I know that you will protect them and keep them safe, just like you do me. I can’t think of a better person alive to have them than you,” she assured him, and then moved back. “Now, when you are done drooling over your guns, how about you come drool over me?”

  He ran a finger down the handle of one of the guns. Closing the lid, he moved to gently set the box on top of the dresser once more. When he turned to face her, he had a hungry look to his face. Frank tugged off his shirt, tossed it aside, and went to work on his jeans.

  Eli was reclined and ready for him. She was naked, her nipples puckered in wait for him, her pussy bare and dripping wet. “What do you think? I had it waxed while you were away.” It wasn’t their first time together since he had come back, but the night before he had been exhausted, as had she, so they hadn’t had much time to explore each other.

  He kicked his jeans aside, but stopped to get a good look. “Damn, how the hell did I miss that?” Shaking his head, Frank climbed up onto the bed. Easing toward her, he paused to run a finger over her smooth skin. “So soft,” he said in cl
ear appreciation.

  She shivered. “We were both a bit on the tired side last night, and we were both just plain horny and didn’t give two hoots about anything around us except for each other.” They had both been desperate and had gone far too long without the other person, so it was to be expected that they would forget the little things in life.

  “True,” he said, giving a slow nod. “Doesn’t excuse me from not noticing something as stunning as this silky little pussy of yours.” Leaning over, he brushed his lips to her mound before trailing them along the seam of her thigh. A flick of his tongue over her skin had her jolting on the bed.

  Eli moved her hand to his head and held him to her body. She shifted and moved under him. “Hell.” She breathed out that singular word, her body on fire with need. “Please. More.” Her legs shifted under him. She was restless and getting wilder with each moment that his clever tongue worked her clit.

  Frank threw an arm over her hips and held them down to the mattress. His gaze lifted and locked with hers right at the moment he sucked hard on her clit. With his free hand, he teased her opening with a finger, dipping in a little before pulling out to circle lazily.

  He was killing her and he knew it. She saw the look on his face and she could read it easily. He loved what he was doing to her, then again, so did she! Her hands clenched the bedding under her. She arched up into him, and before she knew what was happening, screamed. She climaxed hard and fast. Her whole body seemed to tighten and clench on him as she came.

  He didn’t let her come down easy either. Instead, he pushed his fingers deep into her pussy, pumping them in and out, and kept sucking on her clit. She felt the slightest scrape of his teeth over her sensitive nub before he bit lightly and tugged.

  She was tossing her head side to side and whimpering as she did so. Her fingers clenched and unclenched the bedding, her legs jolting with each teasing bite of her clit. “Frank!” She screamed his name again. She couldn’t help it, not with as perfect as this felt right now.

  Licking his lips, he lifted up from her pussy and began to move up to cover her body with his. “You taste even better than I remember,” he told her. “Which should be completely impossible. Yet is the truth nonetheless.”

  “You are so good to me,” she said with her breath coming in gasps. “Holy mother of God, you killed me, I think.” She grinned. Wrapping her leg around his hip, she pulled him closer. “I need you, husband, now.”

  “My little wife is extremely greedy,” he said. Sliding his cock through her swollen folds, he pressed into her deep. “It’s a good thing I’m as greedy as you are. Because that little taste didn’t do a damn thing to dampen my need for you in the least.”

  “Yes, very greedy.” She was happy that he was, as well, because the two orgasms he gave her weren’t enough. She needed more.

  He began to thrust as he kissed her, whispering soft and very dirty words to her.

  Epilogue

  A week later, Frank slipped into the house, the box tucked under his arm. Peeking around corners, he moved stealthily through their home. He was ninety-nine percent sure Eli was at the diner, but given how his luck had been going as of late, he wasn’t taking chances.

  Hearing a creak, he froze, cursing internally before darting into an empty room. Another creak followed by a bit of a moan let him relax. The house was settling, nothing more.

  He gave it another moment in case he was wrong before continuing to work his way to the master bedroom. Easing around the door, he checked the space, and then the adjoining bathroom. Assured it was clear, he quickly went to the closet and worked free the panel he’d rigged earlier in the week. Slipping the box into the resulting cavity, he put the panel back into place.

  When his cell phone rang, he about came out of his skin. “Motherfucker!” Frank pressed a hand to his chest in the hopes of stilling the wild careening of his heart. Checking the display, he rolled his eyes. Of course it was his brother.

  “You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack,” he said in way of greeting.

  “Hello to you too, big brother,” Brant said back. Frank could clearly hear the amusement in the other man’s tone. “Why did I nearly give you heart failure?”

  After a check around, he slipped back out of the closet and made his way to the kitchen. “I’ve been trying for a week to slip Eli’s Christmas present into the house to hide it. Every time I’ve turned around, the woman’s been there, like she knew. This was the first chance I actually managed to get where she wasn’t within hearing distance. I’d just stashed it when you called.”

  “Ahh, feeling guilty and thought you’d been caught.”

  “More or less,” he grumbled. “What’s going on?”

  “Got a call from someone that apparently knows you. Verdaan has been arrested and charged. He’s currently being held without bail, and it doesn’t sound like his highly overpaid lawyers will be able to change any of the judges’ minds in the area. They do not take kindly to that sort of thing, especially since a good number of them either have kids or grandkids in the age ranges he prefers. He’s going to be fucking lucky as can be if they don’t put him in front of a firing squad of the victims’ families.”

  “Highly doubtful they’d do that. Keeping the death penalty off the table will be something for the lawyers to attempt. Unless he hands over a shitload of information that’s got a worthwhile nature to other ongoing investigations by various agencies, I doubt he’ll even get a crack at an offer like that,” Frank said.

  “Personally, I hope he fries,” Brant said. “But Interpol apparently found something interesting. Verdaan was aware of the second buyer our former mayor was dealing with. He didn’t have a lot, but it looks like he was trying to discover the identity. They’ll be sending us copies of everything that may relate to our second skin dealer as soon as they are able. Unfortunately, they are pretty swamped with trying to get a nice, tidy package for the various countries who want a piece of Verdaan’s hide to prosecute.”

  “Comes down to a numbers game,” Frank told him. “It’ll be a count of women he took out of each country up against the political ramifications laid out for the local government. He was getting a shitload of women from here, but the US wasn’t his only source that we knew of with any certainty. It’ll be up to the politicians to work out in the end where he gets dragged back to for the first of many trials, and will likely end up serving his sentence until they terminate.”

  “If he survives that long. While his main targets were single women with no families, it sounds like he may have screwed up on a few. The guy over at Interpol let me know that there’s a certain family out of Australia, fairly high profile from the sounds of things, that one of the girls came from. She’s a fourth daughter, very young, and was snatched off the streets for Verdaan’s personal collection. Thankfully, she was found alive, but…”

  Frank didn’t need his brother to finish that sentence. He knew the disgusting and truly despicable things Verdaan did to the women he kept for himself. The girl had a family to return to, but that might not be enough in the end depending on how long she’d been in his “care.” “Shit. That could make this very interesting. You never know what people with money might do, especially a pissed off parent. Not that I’d blame them one little bit for anything they did. If anyone hurt one of ours like that…” He stopped himself from saying any more. No need to put that out there.

  “I hear you, brother. Believe me, I definitely hear you. Anyway, wanted to update you. As soon as I have the stuff from Interpol on our second buyer, I’ll give you a shout. Maybe you can poke some of your sources and see what stirs up in the pot in regards to her.”

  “Copy that. I’m around anyway.” They talked a little longer, mostly about Levi’s latest discovery, peeing once his diaper was off. The kid was apparently learning the art of perfect timing and had gotten Brant twice so far. Still laughing as he hung up, Frank tucked his phone away.

  It didn’t stay there long since he soon had another
call coming in. Surprised at the number, he frowned. “Mama, everything all right?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, Frank. I think Brandy’s in trouble, though. Would you mind terribly coming to the ranch? She left me the oddest message and I want you to listen to it. You always were able to get a read on her better than anyone else,” Theresa Carver said.

  Hearing the worry in his mother’s voice, Frank headed for the front door. “I’m on my way now. I’m sure it’s nothing, Mama. But it’s always better safe than sorry, right?”

  “Thank you, sweetheart. I’ll put some coffee on, and we can have some pie while you’re here too.”

  “See you in twenty, Mama.” Locking up the house, Frank jogged to his truck, his mind on his baby sister, Joshua’s twin, and what might be wrong. The kid designed high-end, fancy undies for women. It was likely more complicated than that, but that’s all he’d managed to glean from their mother’s many enthusiastic, and usually long-winded, discussions on her youngest child’s business. Unless it was Eli in some fancy underwear, Frank really didn’t care.

  Grinning at that happy thought, he sent his wife a quick text to let her know where he was going before he got himself going. Rolling the window down, Frank breathed in the cooler air of Texas. He had the foundations for a fantastic life back in his hometown. Now all he had to do was keep his wife happy, stay out of trouble, and somehow manage to keep her from figuring out he’d stashed her gift in their house. Little witch had some serious voodoo when it came to him being sneaky. And really, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

  The End

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