Riding to Sunset Read online

  Pete laughed. “Grange, my old pal. Glad you joined us. You’re just in time. Let’s go to the house and have a beer.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere with you. Let them go and then we’ll talk.”

  Pete tightened his grip on Carla’s hair. She winced and Grange took a step forward. Pete put the gun to Carla’s temple.

  “I wouldn’t do that. You know how good I am with a gun.”

  Grange raised his hands. “Fine. Then tell me what this is all about.”

  “You know what this is about.”

  “Dina.”

  Pete nodded. “You need to pay for what you did to her.”

  “You know how sorry I am about that. But what happened to Dina was circumstance and terrorists.”

  “Your fault. If you’d been on time, she wouldn’t have been there. She wouldn’t have died.”

  Grange nodded. “And I’ll live with that guilt the rest of my life. So if you want to blame someone, if you want to kill someone, then kill me. Not Carla or Elena.”

  “No, they have to pay. They’re innocent, and they have to pay. Just like Dina.”

  Grange turned his attention on Elena. “Come here.”

  “No,” Pete said.

  Grange ignored him. “If we’re going to die, I want to hug my niece.” He reached for the gun on his hip with two fingers, took it out of its holster and threw it to the ground. “Look, no weapons. No tricks. I surrender.”

  Grange turned his gaze back on Pete. “Now let me hug my niece. I spent my whole life separated from her because I thought I was keeping her safe. Now we’re all going to die. At least let me have this.”

  Pete grinned, obviously sensing triumph. He nodded. “Fine. Then we go in the house, I lock you all up and then you blow up. But hurry, because time’s running out.”

  Elena walked over to Grange.

  Grange wrapped his arm around her. She squeezed him tight, but lost her balance when he jerked her to the ground and knocked the very breath from her.

  A shot rang out. Carla screamed.

  “Mom!” Elena cried out.

  Grange rolled her over. She pushed at him and he let go of her.

  “It’s all right, Elena. He’s dead.”

  She jumped up and saw her mother shoving away from Pete’s body. Elena ran over to her mother and threw her arms around her.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I think so. What happened? Is he dead?

  “He is.” She turned to Grange, who came over to help his sister.

  “How?” Elena asked.

  “Jed,” Grange said, motioning to Jed, who swung out of a nearby tree and started toward them, rifle flung over his shoulder. “He’s a damn fine sniper. I just had to get you and me out of the way so he could take the shot.”

  “Jed,” Elena said. She ran toward him and threw her arms around him, then pulled back when she saw the red stain on his arm. “You’re bleeding.”

  “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.” He wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her.

  “Plenty of time for that later,” Grange said. “There’s a bomb about to go off. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Jed grabbed her hand and they ran. Grange scooped Carla up in his arms and they made a wild dash to the boat, pushing off just as the explosion occurred, throwing up flames and smoke they could see long after they’d left the island. The Coast Guard and the military swarmed the island, searching for survivors.

  “That’s a hell of a lot of C-4,” Jed said as the Zodiac zipped away toward the mainland, the Coast Guard as their escorts.

  Elena leaned back against Jed’s chest, listening to Grange and her mother talk.

  She couldn’t believe they’d survived. With a little luck and because of Jed and Grange, they were alive.

  She and her mother could have been in that house when it went up.

  She grasped Jed’s hand tightly, never so grateful to feel the warm sun and sea spray on her face.

  * * *

  * * *

  “All these years I spent trying to keep you two safe by staying out of your lives, when all this time the fucking enemy was in my own backyard.”

  Grange paced back and forth in Elena’s living room, hands clasped behind his back, rigid military bearing so evident in the way he held himself.

  Elena couldn’t help being totally in love with her uncle. He’d helped save her life and her mother’s life.

  “I think you did what you thought was best. But I have to tell you, if you think I’m going to allow you to disappear from my life ever again, you’re wrong.”

  He took a moment to stop pacing and graced her with that smile that was so much like her mother’s it made her heart squeeze.

  Her mother sat next to her on the sofa, her vision restored. In the past week she had been to the hospital, had been given I.V. fluids, antibiotics for an infection and all the rest she’d needed. She’d been sprung a few days ago and was more than ready to get on with her life.

  “I agree with Elena. It’s time I had my brother in my life again, and not just a few phone calls and visits here and there.”

  Grange crouched down in front of Elena’s mother and took her hands in his. “I almost lost you.” He looked at Elena. “Both of you. That would have been unforgivable. It’s time I make some changes in my life. I’m retiring.”

  Jed, who was sitting in the chair across from Elena, arched a brow. “General?”

  “You heard me. I’ve been at this long enough, and it’s time to interject some young blood into the Wild Riders. With Mac and Lily getting ready to have a baby, I know Mac is ready to get out of the line of fire, so I think he’s ready to take over the helm of the Wild Riders with Lily at his side. The two of them can run the organization as well as I ever did. I’m ready for fishing and more time on the boat. And maybe it’s time I settle down and find a woman to spend my life with.”

  Carla laughed. “It’s about time, old man. But do you think you can find a woman willing to put up with you?”

  He arched a brow. “Are you saying I’m unreasonable, domineering, rigid and hard to live with?”

  Jed coughed.

  “Didn’t ask you, smart-ass.”

  “Didn’t comment, General.”

  Carla swept her hand across his cheek. “I think any woman would be lucky to have you. And I’d love it if you retired down here. You can help me finish that degree in psychology I’ve been spending the past few years working on, help me find a house, and help me settle down and become a good mother to my daughter.”

  Elena warmed. “You’re already a good mother.”

  Her mother turned to her. “Not yet, but I intend to work on it every day for the rest of my life.”

  “You had all these plans I didn’t know anything about. I’m sorry, Mom. I never took the time to ask you about your life. That changes now.”

  Her mother cupped her cheeks and kissed her on the forehead. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one who made such a mess of things. I was in and out of your life like a flitting butterfly, never settling on one thing, always off on another adventure.” Her mother straightened. “My adventure days are over. I’m ready to be a responsible adult now.”

  Elena couldn’t help the tears that fell. She laughed and hugged her mother, so grateful to have another chance with her, thanks to Jed and Grange.

  After Grange and her mother took off to spend the evening together and talk about their own futures, Jed and Elena were left alone.

  “So what’s next for you?” she asked, not really wanting to ask the question, but knowing she had to be an adult about it.

  He leaned back on the sofa and pulled her against him, throwing his arm around her. “Not sure. I’m supposed to report back to Wild Rider headquarters in Dallas.”

&nb
sp; “Supposed to?”

  “Yeah. Grange’s imminent retirement changes things.”

  She twisted around to face him. “In what way?”

  “I signed on to work with Grange. He’s been an amazing teacher, someone I’ve loved working under.”

  “You don’t like the other people you work with?”

  “I do. They’re all a great group of people. Amazingly talented. Tough, tenacious, and I’d work with any of them on any assignment.”

  “Then I don’t understand the problem.”

  “Grange recruited me, took me under his wing, trained me. He sought me out and asked me to come work for him. I look on him as a father figure. Stupid, I know. I should be able to work for anyone, especially at my age. And I can. That’s not the issue.”

  “It’s not stupid. I think with your talent and capabilities, you can afford to be selective. It’s not like you’re a rookie fresh out of school and you can’t pick and choose where you work. I imagine a lot of people would be happy to hire you.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  “So what do you want to do?”

  “Don’t know yet. I’ll have to give it some thought.”

  She climbed onto his lap and placed her palms on his face. “Jed. What do you want to do?”

  He squeezed her hips. “Right now?”

  She grinned. “Well, yeah, there’s that. But honestly. What do you want to do?”

  “Stay here, with you. Work with Grange. Have a family. I miss having a family. I’m jealous of what you have.”

  She arched a brow. “What I have?”

  “Your mom. Your uncle. Marco. People who love you. I haven’t had that in a long time. Never realized what I was missing until I saw it all around me. Until I met you.”

  Emotion swelled within her. “So you want a family?”

  He skimmed his hands up her ribs, teasing her breasts. “I want you, Elena. I want to stay here with you.”

  “Oh.”

  “I told Grange I was falling in love with you.”

  “You did?”

  “I did. He didn’t take it well.”

  “He didn’t?”

  “Not at first. I think he might be used to the idea by now. Either way, I told him that’s the way it was going to be, and you and I needed to have a real relationship that didn’t revolve around an assignment.”

  She palmed his chest. “That would be nice.”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  “It’s definitely what I want. I don’t want you to go back to Dallas. I just didn’t want to ask you to give up your job for me.”

  “So what are you saying?”

  “That I’m in love with you, Jed. You made my heart stop from the very first day you came into my shop. You’ve been turning my world upside down ever since. I don’t want that feeling to ever end. But I’m also a little scared.”

  “Me, too. I’ve never done this before.”

  “Neither have I. I guess we’ll just muddle through it together.”

  He flipped her over onto the sofa and came down on top of her, his lips on hers before she could even gasp a breath.

  It had been so long since they’d been together. They hadn’t had a moment alone in over a week. She’d spent all her time with her mother in the hospital, and he’d been with Grange, or they’d all been together. She’d loved all the family time, needed to be with her mother and had so enjoyed getting to know her uncle, but now she craved only Jed.

  His kiss sent her senses reeling. She threaded her fingers into his hair, the other hand sweeping down over his arm, loving the solid feel of him. Knowing he was going to remain in her life balanced her world.

  Part of her was unable to believe this man loved her. She hadn’t been looking for love, but oh, had she found an amazing man. He’d risked his life to rescue her. It was the stuff of fairy tales.

  His hand crept under her shirt to release the front clasp of her bra and tease her nipples. He lifted her shirt, put his mouth on her nipples to suck her between his lips, flicking his tongue over the buds until she arched against him, feeding her breasts into his greedy mouth. She heated up to a fevered pitch fast, rocking against his erection, needing him so much after everything they’d been through.

  He raised her shirt over her head, took off her bra, then slid her shorts and panties off her legs, leaving her naked and throbbing. When he put his mouth on her sex, she whimpered, holding onto his hair as he sucked her pussy, rolling his tongue over her clit.

  “Jed. Yes, make me come.”

  She hadn’t come since she’d been with him. For the past week she’d lain in bed alone, thinking about him, wanting to be with him again, and hoping he wanted the same thing but worried that she’d have to say good-bye to him, and wondering if she’d be able to. And now that he was with her, that he loved her, she was never going to let him go.

  “Yes. This is mine,” she said, half-crazed with the amazing things he did to her with his mouth. “I want this all the time.”

  He hummed against her pussy and she climaxed with a wild cry, bucking against his mouth as she rode out her orgasm, then pulled him up and kissed him, licking her come from his lips.

  “I need you inside me, Jed. Please make love to me.”

  They made quick work of his clothes. She splayed her hands out over his chest, then lower, reaching for his cock.

  “You’re throbbing in my hands,” she said, loving the way he looked at her.

  “You make me hard.”

  “Then make love to me.”

  He grabbed a condom and slipped it on, then kneeled on the floor in front of the sofa, draping her legs over his shoulders.

  “I love watching your pussy when I fuck you,” he said, sliding inside her with a slow and easy thrust. “The way it grips me as if you never want to let me go.”

  She rose up so she could watch, too, could see his cock sliding all the way inside her, then withdrawing. She shuddered at the intimacy of their connection, then raised her gaze to his. “Make me come again. Make me come with you.”

  He reared back and slammed inside her, pumping furiously and grinding against her. She couldn’t get enough of him, pulling him forward so she could wrap her legs around him and kiss him, his tongue licking against hers.

  He pulled back to look at her, to sweep her hair away from her face.

  “And this is mine,” he said, bending down to sweep his lips against hers.

  He ground against her, taking her right to the edge, slowing, and deepening his thrusts again with a maddening rhythm that brought her to the brink over and over. It was the sweetest tease.

  “Oh, God, I’m going to come,” she murmured against his lips.

  He rolled his hips against hers, his pelvis sliding against her clit. She exploded in orgasm, bucking against him until he groaned out her name and came with her, shuddering against her as he glued his body to hers.

  She stroked his hair, his back, kissed his face, his mouth. She’d never been so content.

  “Stay with me tonight,” she whispered.

  “Always.”

  Tonight, she’d sleep.

  SIXTEEN

  “What do you think about this piece?” Marco asked.

  Elena studied it with a critical eye. It was a welded piece from a new artist that Marco had found at an art show the previous weekend.

  “Kind of nautical, yet with a touch of fantasy. I like it, and the colors are unique. Very masculine. It should appeal to our male clientele.”

  Marco beamed. “Great. I’ll let Paolo know you dig his work and have him bring more samples in.”

  Work had picked up with warmer weather moving in. Elena was happy to be back at work, though Marco had done a remarkable job handling the store while she was gone. He seemed to thrive on autonomy, so she intended to take
more time off and let him manage the store more often, which fell in line with her plans to spend more time with the man she loved.

  Not that he’d have as much time as she’d like, but that was all right. She had other things to do, too. Her mother had found a house she loved, a cute cottage a few miles off the beach that she had bought and would be moving into within a month.

  And with Grange down here now and his new retirement “business” getting off the ground—with Jed’s help—she was going to be busier than ever, which meant she’d need Marco’s assistance with the shop.

  “Marco, can you handle things here for a few hours? I need to run a few errands.”

  Marco grinned. “You know it. Off to see your boyfriend?”

  Now it was her turn to smile. “Maybe.”

  He waved her off and went to place his new client’s piece in the window. “Have fun. Give Jed a kiss for me.”

  She laughed, grabbed her purse and climbed into the Chevy and headed down to the waterway after making a quick stop at the local deli. She parked in the lot, switched out of her heels and put on canvas shoes, then walked down the plank dock, where Grange and Jed were busily cleaning a boat.

  “Must be nice having a job where you get to hang out in the sun all day getting tan.”

  Grange looked up and grinned, something he did a lot more these days. He still wore his hair in that severe military haircut, but he’d cut off his camos into knee-skimming shorts, wore canvas tennis shoes and a T-shirt that was a different color besides green. Today he wore a baseball cap on backward.

  “Hey, we wear sunscreen. How’s my favorite niece?”

  “Your only niece.” She climbed up onto the boat and kissed his cheek, then turned her attention to Jed, who looked mouthwateringly gorgeous in board shorts and a sleeveless tank.

  Jed lifted his head from where he’d been busily sanding the deck. He was dripping sweat, and grinning like a kid.

  “Afternoon, gorgeous. How’s my beautiful woman?”

  “Taking a break. I brought you two lunch and a cold drink. Figured you’d be too busy to stop and eat.”

  “We eat,” Grange said.