Kristen Ashley - Raid

“They were away from Jesse for a day,” Raid told her. “They hooked up with me, and Tucker went back to Denver ‘cause we were havin’ better luck with our informants using Sylvie. Then Sylvie found she couldn’t be away from her boys and she took off to join Tucker and Jesse in Denver, but those two worked the case in Denver. Tucker came back, then he left and Sylvie came back. In the end, Tucker came back, Sylvie left to go to Jesse and then it was done.”

“Sounds confusing.”

“They don’t like to be apart and they don’t like to be away from their boy. Now they’re all together and headin’ back to Phoenix.”

“Good,” she murmured.

“Is it?” he asked, and she lifted her head to aim her still sleepy eyes at him.

“Well, yeah. The family back together, this done.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” he returned.

Her head tipped to the side and her sleepy eyes warmed. “You mean you and me?”

“Cuddled close to me, baby, you throwin’ yourself in my arms when I got home last night, I’m guessin’ we’re all right. What I want to know is if you are.”

Her eyes drifted to his collarbone before she said quietly, “I should have talked to you at Chilton’s after I overheard your conversation on the phone.”

That was when he shifted and the cat jumped away, surprisingly without objection, as Raid rolled to his side. He pulled Hanna into his arms.

She rested her casted hand on his chest and tipped her head back to look at him.

“This is not your fault,” he stated firmly.

“You were going to take care of it. I jumped the gun.”

“This is not your fault.”

She looked deep into his eyes before she dipped her chin and pressed her face in his throat.

“They killed Bodhi,” she said there.

“Yeah, and they fucked Heather up in a way she’s not ever gonna heal,” he shared. Her body twitched then her head went back and she caught his eyes again. “Their consequences. Not on you. This is no one’s fault except the asshole scumbags who make poor life choices and blame good people doin’ the right things for those assholes bearing the consequences of their own fucked up decisions. They made more, they got more consequences. Now they’re done and you’re done. Safe.”

Hanna studied him a moment before he saw that settle in and settle deep, thank fuck.

She then asked, “I get the sense you don’t want to talk about it, but after looking for this guy for ages, how did you find him in three weeks?”

“Phantoms can’t be seen in the sun. Men can be phantoms for a while but they make mistakes. He always stood in the shadows.” Raid’s arms got tight around her. “To do what he did to you, he made a mistake. He came out into the sun.”

“Uh… that’s kinda bounty hunter speak,” she informed him, and Raid felt his lips tip up.

“What I’m sayin’ is he never got close to his business. This time he showed. Your neighbors saw the car and the Nevada plates. You saw him and told the team about him. This time he left breadcrumbs. We followed them.”

“Oh,” she replied, and his grin got bigger.

She pressed closer, her eyes grew warm and intense and she asked, “Are you good?”

“Absolutely.”

He knew she knew he did not lie when he watched her face go soft and she whispered, “I love you, Raiden.”

“I know you do, honey. That’s why I’m absolutely good.”

Hanna smiled.

Raid asked, “You think I can fuck you without you giving me a head injury with that cast when you latch onto my hair?”

Her smile changed as her eyes grew excited.

“I can try, but you should know, my ribs aren’t one hundred percent,” she warned.

To that, he rolled into her, but he did it carefully. Then he shoved his face in her neck.

“I’ll take that into account.”

From the floor, they heard an insistent, “Meow.”

Raid’s hands up her tank, Hanna’s fingers drifting over his back, Raid lifted his head, found her mouth and the fat cat had to wait a long time for breakfast.

He survived.

Three years, two months and two weeks later…

I moved out of the kitchen at Grams’s place, into the hall and stopped.

Raiden was crouched in the hall, head turned to me, camera in one hand. He lifted his other hand and put a finger to his lips.

I tiptoed his way and peeked around the doorway he was crouched in front of. I took in the scene and smiled.

Grams was in her chair, Raid and my baby boy, Clayton, in her arms. The lights from the Christmas tree we’d only just finished putting up in the window were twinkling into the room. Spot was dozing on the arm of Grams’s chair.

“So then, I walked in the backdoor of Momma and Pop’s house, still smoking, mind, and I asked Momma, ‘What’s for dinner?’” I heard Grams saying to a Clay, who, being only three months old and also snoozing, had no clue.

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing.

The struck by lightning story.

I heard Raiden’s camera going.

“I know you’re there,” Grams stated, not looking our way.

One hundred and one years old, and still the hearing of a German shepherd, and now proof she had eyes in the side of her head.

I bit my lip harder and looked down at my husband.

His head was tipped back to me and he was grinning.

Then he looked back to the sight of his camera and kept clicking.

Three hours later…

I felt Raid fit his front to my back and his arms come around me.

Then I felt his lips at the skin below my ear.

“You know, he can sleep without your help,” he whispered there.

I didn’t take my eyes off my baby boy lying asleep in his crib.

“I know,” I whispered back. “But I’m sure me standing here watching him helps him to have sweet dreams.”

His arms tensed around me and his voice was rumbling when he replied, “I’m sure too.”

There was something more in those words. Something that made me melt further into him.

Something I knew had to do with the fact Raiden hadn’t had a nightmare for years.

It wasn’t me who got rid of them. It was him working through things with Hal.

Still, Raiden gave me the credit.

We stood there for a good long while, our eyes on the tiny little living, breathing dream we created.

Raiden broke the moment.

“Could do this all night with you, honey, but we gotta talk,” he told me.

Before I could reply, he moved away, his hand curled around mine and he tugged me out of the nursery to our bedroom. He went direct to the bed, sat on the edge and started to fall back, taking me with him.

I landed on top of him and we stretched out.

I lifted up on a forearm in his chest and smiled down at him.

“How long is this talk going to take?” I asked, my free hand moving down his side.

He grinned up at me and lifted a hand to tuck my hair behind my ear. “Not long.”

“Good, because Clay’ll be up soon, and it’s my turn to feed him so I need some shuteye,” I told him, my body shifting so my hand could move over his stomach before it changed directions and started down.

His head on the pillow cocked to the side.

Hot.

Why did I love that?

It didn’t matter. I just did.

“You goin’ for shuteye, babe, or are you goin’ for my dick?”

I dipped my face closer to his and I also dipped my voice quieter. “Me having the latter makes the former better.”

My hand slid in his pajama pants and I found him hard.

His eyes flashed.

“Jesus, baby,” he growled.

His arms, having been around me, moved so his hands could cup my behind.