Falling Hard (Hidden Secrets Book 6) (10 page)

Tears fell rapidly as my head dropped to the table. I knew that my letter was going to be worse than theirs, but to know the way I made her feel, in her own words… hurt far more than I ever expected. I can’t handle the pain I’ve caused her. It was time to start righting the wrongs. To do that, we had to start with one thing first.

“I think I’ve found Kristy.”

Gasps of shock sounded around the table. Mum started shaking her in her chair and she sobbed. Rebecca covered her mouth and silent tears fell down her cheeks. My Dad moved to my Mum’s side. He whispered in her ear before he looked up at me, his own tears falling down his cheeks.

“You sure about this?”

“Yes, I literally ran into her twice. I wasn’t sure at first. Even as she yelled at me for running into her. But then a guy yelled her name from behind me and she looked in his direction and…” I trailed off at the realization of those events.

“And what?” My Mum asked eagerly.

“I think she’s in trouble. Both times I met her, she was running from someone. I saw the same guy both times.”

“Okay, we need to find her, now. Let’s start pulling the crew together. We’ll find her and save her from whatever she’s into. Then hopefully we’ll be able to mend some bridges,” my Dad said, strength coming back to his voice.

“We found her,” Mum whispered to no one in particular.

She’s alive!

Chapter Twelve

Nate

It doesn’t seem like it, but I’ve been over here for over two months now. Was I angry? Did I miss home? No, not at all. For the first time in my life, I was truly, wholeheartedly in love with a woman. What killed me was having to leave her. She has taken me all over this beautiful country. When she said she’d be my tour guide she wasn’t kidding. We traveled several hours to a place called
Surfer’s Paradise
. One of the places she took me to was this amusement park called,
Adrenaline Park.

Part of the reason, I got into the law enforcement field to begin with was for the rush of intense cases. It was one of the reasons I worked hard to make detective. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m an adrenaline junky or anything, but it was a feeling like no other. This park was a great way to give me that rush.

“Dove, I’ve been to theme parks back home. They just aren’t fun for me.”

“Will you trust me on this? Please.” She gave me puppy dog eyes.

I nodded my head. She pulled me up to the counter to buy our tickets and we entered the park. When I realized what I was walking into, a huge smile spread across my face.

“This is called Adrenaline Park for a reason, Nate. There you have the
Sling Shot
. It shoots you a hundred meters at one hundred sixty miles per hour. They swear that your face returns to normal after it,” she laughed.

“You’ve not been on it?”

“No, I’ve not been here before. We’re both experiencing this together. I’ve just read about this place so many times when I was little wishing to come here,” she shrugged like it was no big deal.

“I’m glad we can experience this together. Nice to know I’m not the only one that’s going to enjoy myself.”

“That ride over there,” she pointed to a ride that had a bunch of swings attached to a pole.

“Come on, I went on one of those rides when I was a kid. No more thrilling than riding on the swings on a swing set,” I rolled my eyes.

With a devilish glint in her eyes, she pulls me in that direction. “This ride first, then.”

We stood in line and were actually one of the first people on which left me no chance to figure out why she had that look on her face. Once we seated in the double bucket seat swings, we were strapped in and the belt locked by some weird device.

Kristy turned to me with fear in her eyes and I could see her heart racing at that pulse point in her neck. “I’m afraid of heights,” she breathed.

Taking her hand in mine, “Don’t worry these things barely leave the ground.”

A buzzer sounded then letting us know that the very boring ride was about to start. Kristy was trembling next to me. Very awkwardly, I leaned through the chains and kissed her neck.

“I’m right here. I won’t leave you. You don’t have to be afraid.”

The fact that she was so scared, but got on the ride with me meant more to me than she’d ever know. Just then we started lifting higher. My head shot toward Kristy. The fear had left her eyes and laughter took its place.

We continued to climb higher and higher. I could see over the whole park and it was breathtaking. But none more than the woman sitting next to me that looked out over at the view before us, seeing the ocean, the park, and surrounding area. Her fear was forgotten. Her laughter filled my ears and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching my hand over to her.

Turning her head, so she faced me, “You are so damn beautiful. You win,” I breathed. “You have me.”

Her eyes just stared into mine as they slowly filled with tears. Leaning over, I claimed her lips with mine. It was a passionate kiss that I poured my feelings for her into. I was head over heels in love with this amazing, enchanting, sexy as hell woman.

The swing ride spun us in circles forward and backward up and down before finally lowering us back down to the ground. My heart was in my throat and as much as I wanted to say it was from the ride, it wasn’t. It was because I loved this woman and I had to leave her at some point.

Once we were released from the ride, we walked on our shaking legs out the exit side of the ride and out into the hustle and bustle of the park. She was laughing again.

“I tried to tell you it took you higher than any other ride, but you wouldn’t listen. You got too cocky and I just proved you wrong.”

Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her against me. “I’ll show you cocky,” I growled as I trailed kisses down her neck and pushed my erection into her.

“Later, we have more rides to go on,” she smiled up at me with what looked to be pure happiness.

Reaching down I lace our fingers together. “Okay, fine. Which ride next?”

It was as we were on our way to our fifth ride that I pulled her into a picture booth. The minute I pulled the curtain closed, I kissed her like I’ve longed to do for the past hour. We’ve been running all over the country for the past two weeks. Not staying in one place very long. But it was enough to really experience the area.

“Nate, we need to get to the next ride.”

“We are at the next ride.”

With that, I turned her around, pushed her hands down to the stool. Gripping her hips, I pulled her tight against me. She moaned loudly. The flashes stopped. After waiting a few minutes, I reached out, grabbed the pictures and slipped more money into the booth. We were on a less busy side of the park, but there was no way anyone was watching me make love to my woman.

Taking her jeans down to her knees, I bent down and bit each beautiful rounded globe before me. Standing, I slid my pants down mid-thigh. Circling my hands on her ass, I brought my hand up and smacked her on one cheek. Kristy tossed her head back, flinging her hair in the movement.

“Oh shit,” she moaned.

The flashing stopped. Again, I reached out, grabbed the pictures, and put more money in. I slammed into her as the first picture snapped. Kristy moaned out my name as she reached back with one hand, grabbing my ass. I pounded into her with vigor. It was going to be a quick one, but damn if it wasn’t going to be good.

After a few more minutes the flashing stopped and we were near our climaxes. Much to Kristy’s disapproval, I pulled out. Again collected the pictures and put money in. Then I switched her around and sat on the stool and pulled her down onto my erection. It wasn’t going to be long for either of us. My hands gripped her hips firmly, moving her quickly up and down. The flash continued to go off and we both fell over the edge together.

It was quick, it was intense, but it still had all the same emotions behind it for me. It was me expressing my love to the most important woman in my world. Quickly, we corrected ourselves and stepped out of the booth, collecting the last of our pictures.

The park was great. It was one of the hottest moments with Kristy aside from making love to her in the changing room, in front of the mirror. That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. To watch myself take her. To watch her, watch me take her. It was the hottest moment in my life. After I’d stepped out to collect the last of our photos, Kristy pulled me back into the booth for real pictures, good ones, not our sexy as hell ones. We split them evenly and I put them safely in my wallet.

Kristy had gone into the bathroom for a soak. I couldn’t blame her. We’ve been doing a lot lately and even more making love. Even my muscles were sore and I’m used to constantly moving. I keep telling myself that I’m going to leave her alone, but I just can’t. I can’t pass up a minute to make love to her. Not when I’m facing a lifetime without her after this.

I’m actually considering just staying here in Australia. What was I going back to anyway? The thought of being without her, going to bed at night without her, waking up without her… It killed me.

We just got back to the hotel in Sydney yesterday. We’d come back for the flower festival last night. Um, it was called the Floraide or something. Whatever it was, I’ve got some pictures on my cell phone that I’ll keep just for me. I’m not even sure that Kristy ever caught me taking her pictures that day. She looked so beautiful, wearing a dress that she got from the shopping spree. My heart clenched tightly because I knew that our time was coming to an end.

Just as I got up to go join Kristy, there was a knock on the door. Looking at the clock on the nightstand, it was ten in the evening. Who the hell would be knocking on my door? My mind immediately wandered back to the conversation that Kristy and I had about her past.

“Because this drive will take so long, I want to use this time to get things out in the open. Especially since you can’t get away from me,” I grinned wickedly at her.

She swallowed hard. “You want to know about what I’m running from, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.” She started to object, but I reached over with my hand and took hers in mine. “If something happened to you, it’d kill me. I need to know what’s going on so I might be able to protect you.”

“Why do I always cave with you?”

“Because of my devilish good looks and my ability to rock your socks,” I beamed.

“Full of yourself are we?”

“No, but you were a little bit ago. Do you need another dose of… What is it that you call me again?” I grinned.

She knew that I knew her nickname for me, but I wanted to hear her say it. I wanted her to say out loud that I, Nathan Lane, rock her world so much that she feels I dominate her.

“Domi
Nate
r,” she grumbles, but couldn’t stop the smile or the blush from spreading.

“Oh, that’s right,” I winked at her.

There was a bit of silence. The only sound from inside the car was the occasional voice of the GPS telling me where to go and what to do. I worried at first that she wouldn’t confide in me. But, as she continued to stare out the window, she sighed and I watched her wall drop as she finally told me her story.

“I met this girl at a restaurant that allowed me to sit in there. Some days I could afford coffee, some days I’d just sit there. The owner was nice to me and if they weren’t super busy she’d send food to my table. Never talked to them at all. They wrote on a piece of paper that said, ‘
Whatever your story. It doesn’t matter to us. We’ve watched you, your sad face, lonely eyes… We can’t do much, but please don’t stop coming in. We’ll worry.
’ It was the first act of kindness anyone has ever shown me,” she smiled sadly.

“Contrary to what you’ve seen beautiful, there are still good people in the world.” My voice was soft and gentle.

“I know that. But it was proven with you,” she blushed.

“I’m glad I could help,” I replied honestly.

“One day this girl came in. She thought I was someone else, but then still came back to my table and started talking to me about a guy outside that was hot. I remember glancing out the window. I didn’t find him good looking. Didn’t know who he was, but he was watching us. Later, I found out his name was Vin,” she looked at me and my back stiffened.

“You mean Vin as in Vin West leader of the Night Hawks?”

“The one and only. He apparently took a special interest in me. None of this I knew at the time. I thought that the girl and I were friends, but that turned out not to be true. You know how I told you my protective detail beat the shit out of me and left me for dead, but not before stealing my money?”

“Yeah,” I answered nervously.

Why was it that suddenly I didn’t want her to tell me the rest of her story? For some reason, I’m regretting asking her to fill me in. Yet I couldn’t stop her either.

“Well, I was given this protection by Chain,” she started.

“Fuck!” I growled. Because I knew exactly who Chain was too.

“He sent this dark and scary guy to make a deal. I called the cops and reported about a deal going down between the Sidewinders and Night Hawks. Chain was offering me protection for doing so and the guy gave me money. Once I pulled through on my end of the deal, I asked when my protection would come. The only response I got was it was already there. It was. That night was when they jumped me. Anyway, Shelby, the girl from the restaurant, must have told Vin what I did when I went to her for support. Now Vin is after me. He’s the reason I don’t have my place anymore. It should be torn down and burnt anyway. That’s what I’m up against.”

“I’m sorry. As long as I’m around no one will ever lay a hand on you again.” I lifted her hand to my mouth and pressed a kissed to her knuckles.

She snorted. “What about when you’re gone?” She says so softly I almost didn’t hear it.

“No one is going to hurt you,” I stated firmly. “Ever again!”

Peeking through the peephole, I saw an empty hall. This was a set up many people fall for as the would-be-thug tried to catch you off guard. They stand to the side of your door or squat down so they are not noticed in the viewing area.  Well, I’m not a dumb man. Instead, I slipped the chain on the door and backed away. Walking into the bathroom, Kristy went to say something.

“Shh,” I whispered. “We need to be very quiet. I don’t know who’s at the door, but I have a feeling it’s something to do with Vin. Get up and get dressed as quietly as you can.”