Page 35 of Waiting for Him
“Will you tell him happy birthday from me too?”
Benny glanced at her before his eyes returned to the road. “Of course, baby. But I’m sure he’d love to hear it directly from you. My folks have always loved you.”
And she had always loved them. After returning to Sarasota Wednesday evening, Rick had told his wife about Kat’s miraculous return, and she’d called Benny’s cell phone right after their pizza dinner in the motel. Kat and Eileen Michaelson had laughed and cried over the phone for about twenty minutes before promising to see each other as soon as possible.
Kat’s smile grew wider as he pulled into the long drive, waiting behind Devon for the electronic gate to open. They had reached their temporary home. “I’ve always loved them too. I still remember the barbeques at your house when your dad’s team returned home from wherever they’d been. Those are some of my favorite memories from back then.”
Snorting, he put the car in park. “You were just hot for the guys on my dad’s team. So were my cousins, Jessica and Vicki.”
“Oh, my God, I forgot all about them. How’re they doing?”
“Jess is in California working for some big-shot Hollywood producer, and Vicki is married to a cop in New York and is a pediatric nurse.”
“Wow.” They climbed out of the car at the same time. “That’s great. I’m happy for them. Do you see them at all?”
He shrugged and pulled out his phone. “Not as much as we’d like. The last time we were all together was about a year and a half ago at Vicki’s wedding.”
Before making the call, Benny escorted Kat inside. While a fence surrounded the entire property, she knew he felt better if she was out of sight.
Following her to their bedroom to pack up again, he hit the speed dial for his dad’s cell. “Hey, Pop. Happy belated birthday. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to call you.”
Rick Michaelson’s deep voice came over the line. “No problem, son. How is everything going? You all right?”
Boomer filled him in on what had happened since they last spoke two days ago and assured him that everything seemed to be falling into place despite Jake being injured. Now they had to figure out what to do with the money and how to get the Russians’ target off Kat’s back for good.
“You need me?”
Sighing, he sat on the bed while Kat gathered her things from the bathroom. “Not up here, Pop. One of Chase’s pilots is heading up to Charlotte to bring us home. We’ll have a team pow-wow in the morning if you want to drive up, but it’s up to you.”
“Margaret wants to take us out for breakfast for my birthday in the morning, so I’ll head up after we eat. Figure I’ll get to you around fourteen hundred. Sound good?”
“That’s cool. Tell Aunt Margaret I said hello. Ian is getting in touch with Keon, and Carter has been hitting up his contacts, so maybe we’ll have a plan by then.” Kat walked back into the room, looking lost and confused over everything that had transpired. A thought occurred to Boomer. “Why don’t you bring Mom with you, so she can see Kat? They can visit with Angie, Jenn, and Kristen.”
Her mouth turned upward, and she nodded enthusiastically while his father agreed it was an excellent idea. He let Kat say a quick “Happy birthday” before she handed the phone back to him and began to fold her clothes into her duffel bag.
After Rick said his goodbyes, Boomer hung up and hooked his finger into a belt loop on her jeans. Pulling her in between his legs, his eyes met hers. “You okay? You know I won’t let anything happen to you, right?”
This time, when she nodded, it wasn’t in delight. Her gaze shifted to the side, and he knew something was bothering her. “Kitten, listen to me.” He waited until she was looking at him again. “I know with everything going on, the last thing you want to hear from me is a bunch of D/s rules. But one thing I will insist on from now on is honesty. I need you to be honest and tell me what you think and feel.”
“About what?”
He shrugged and then pulled her closer. “About anything and everything. I want to know when and why you’re happy, sad, scared, excited . . . horny.” She giggled while he smirked and waggled his eyebrows at her. “There’s the smile I was looking for. But I mean it, baby, talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in your pretty little head.”
Biting her bottom lip, she pushed on his shoulders until he lay on the bed with his feet still on the floor. She climbed on top of him and straddled his hips with her knees. Despite their position, Boomer sensed that she needed to say something important, and he rested his hands on her waist.
“I’m scared.”
The words came out in a whisper, and he almost didn’t hear them. “About what, baby? I told you, the boys and I are not letting those bastards anywhere near you. I’d die first.”
Kat’s eyes widened and filled with tears. He could have kicked himself in the ass at that very moment.
“Shit, Kitten. That’s not what I meant. I mean, it is what I meant, but nothing will happen to me. I promise. Ian, Devon, and the rest of the team? We’re damn good at what we do. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.” He rubbed his knuckles up and down her sides. “I just got you back, and I’ll be damned if someone comes between us ever again.”
Tell her, his mind yelled at him, tell her you love her! But he couldn’t. Not now. She wasn’t ready for that yet. But soon. Soon, she was going to know she belonged to him. And he belonged to her. She was the only woman who would ever hold his heart in her hands.
She stared at where her palms and fingers touched his chest. “I’m just scared someone else will get hurt because of me. Jake could have lost his eye.”
“And he could’ve been killed a thousand times on any of our missions. He could be hit by a bus walking across a street tomorrow. It’s how life is, baby. You should know it better than anyone. But we will protect you, and whether you agree with it or not, your life comes before the team’s. Every one of them will tell you that. It’s who we are and who we trained to be. And when this is all over, you and I . . . I want a future with you, Kat. The future I never thought I’d have.”
