Page 71 of Dauntless

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Visiting hours were over, but the second Trish saw me standing by his door, she spoke with the officer outside, and he let me in alone and closed the door behind me. Elliott was the only one in the room and asleep on one of the beds. He had a black eye and a swollen jaw, though it was mostly covered with the beginnings of a beard. His most severe bruises were burns at his wrist where he must have been tied.

But he was alive, I reminded myself. He would recover.

As quietly as I could, I lifted the plastic chair in the room and placed it close to his bedside.

Sitting down, I gently placed my hand over his and closed my eyes. Oh, how I missed his touch. I missed him.

“Gia,” Elliott whispered. I looked into his blue eyes, and my heart filled up.

“They found you… you hurt?” he asked. His voice graveled.

I swallowed and shook my head. He was worried about me. “Yes, and I was hurt, but now I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it,” he said bluntly.

I giggled. “Thanks a lot. You don’t look so good either. That makes us a matching pair.”

His gaze intensified as he stared at me. “Come closer and let me feel you. I need to know you’re real.”

I didn’t hesitate. I moved to the edge of the bed and leaned over him. His gaze traveled. There was a tremor in his hand as he slowly traced over my face. “You, Gia. Seeing you in my head kept me going. I knew it could be a trap, but I wouldn’t risk you. I also had faith that it wasn’t over for us. That I’d see you again.”

I took his hand and brought it to my lips and kissed the center. “I’m real. I’m with you.”

His hand moved down my chin and neck. I shuddered at his touch, but what we had was more than a sexual connection. It was part of the bond we shared, and I needed it. I needed him. Though I couldn’t remember all that I had endured, I wanted his mark and claim on me. I wanted to be his.

He took my hand. “When I was locked in that room, I kept thinking, ‘what would Gia do?’ You’d fight. You wouldn’t give up. Every damn time something happened you got back on your feet and every time you did, I thought, damn, that’s the woman I want to know forever…. This wasn’t how I planned to tell you.”

My heart thudded. “This is the time. We can’t wait. When we waited, I was taken. I thought I’d never see you again and you’d never get to know just how much you had come to mean to me. I…I held on because I knew you wouldn’t give up on me. You’d look for me and find me, and I’d be ready for you. For us.”

“I love you, Gia,” Elliott said. “I have for a while and I remember the moment you took my heart. It was when you were all banged up at Vincent’s and got on your feet to protect Melinda. You pled with Angel to drop the gun. You could barely stand, but you put yourself out there, right in the middle of danger to protect someone else. You fought and continued to fight every day. You’re a fighter.”

My heart swelled in my chest. “You taught me to fight.”

“I did, and I liked how you took to it, but you were a fighter before that. I liked spending time with you then and afterward. I liked you, but I had thought Dane was who you really wanted,” he confessed. “I wasn’t willing to give you up. I agreed to share you, and we’d be friends. But then you fucking impressed the hell out of me every minute. I wanted you for myself.”

“Then you should have taken me,” I replied ardently. “I wanted you to when we were in the hotel room. I had realized then that I couldn’t keep going on as we were. My feelings for you were strong. You were on my mind all the time, and I wanted you there. I want you, Elliott. I love you.”

The officer knocked, interrupting the two of us. “The nurse is on her way back in. She’ll have to go.”

Elliott cursed, and I lightly squeezed his hand. “I won’t be far. And when you get out of here—”

“You stay with me, and we fuck all day and night,” he said wickedly. He teased, but then he turned serious. “Honestly, I want you with me, sweetheart.”

“I want that too,” I said and grinned. “I also want you to meet the other man I love in my life. My father. He loves big band music, maybe you can play something on your trumpet for him.”

He smiled. “We’ll do that. Now come close so I can kiss you.”

We kissed with all the feeling we had for each other. It took time for us to get to this place with each other, but that’s what we had now: more time. Together.

***

After a week, Elliott was released. And instead of heading back to Seattle, we took a detour to Palm Springs to see my dad. I had been in contact with him, calling him more than once a day. He was delighted, but nothing was better than seeing him in person.

We were free to go. The Agency was going under. The FBI had information on the members, thanks to the seizure of Dimitri’s records. Elliott’s physical scars and mine had faded, the other ones would go with time. It wasn’t just an adage that time didn’t wait, and we wouldn’t anymore. Loving each other was our first step. Second for me was for him to meet my father. We greeted his nurse inside, and she gestured for us to go out back.

I rarely came to Dad’s home in Palm Springs and met bad weather. Today was no different: he was taking advantage of the weather as he had always done. We found him sitting in his lounge chair outside on the veranda at the back of his home. He was immaculate in his pressed trousers and short sleeve shirt; his grey hair freshly trimmed. I was dressed up in a pale pink dress with long sleeves to hide any bruises that remained from Dimitri’s manhandling. I didn’t want to worry him.

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