Laying a Foundation: Bonus volume: Includes series prequel, The Groundbreaking (The Love Under Construction Series) (47 page)

Nikki and Tony stood on the steps and waved goodbye, his arm around her waist, Tony still gasping and wiping his eyes. When they turned to go back into the house, Nikki growled, “I thought you picked up all of our clothes yesterday morning!”

Tony had finally regained his composure. “Well, I obviously missed something! I don’t know how we missed them before, but leave it to Vic.” He chuckled as they closed the door, then slapped her on the ass as she turned to the stairs.

Tony sighed as they lay side by side in the big bed, staring at the ceiling. “Well, I guess there’ll be no lovin’ for us tonight with a house full of people.”

“Yeah, neither one of us can be quiet when we’re screwing, so here we are.” Nikki smiled to herself. She didn’t bother to mention the banging headboard. That thing really bugged her sometimes, but at other times she loved hearing the sound of that headboard amplifying him pounding into her.

“Now that we’re alone, I’ve got one more surprise for you.” Tony reached into the nightstand and pulled out a rectangular box. “I hope you like it. I had it custom made for you.” He handed Nikki the box.

She took the lid off and lifted out the red velvet box inside. It had a large “C” imprinted with gilt in the red velvet. When she lifted the hinged lid, she gasped and her mouth formed a silent “O.” Inside was a bracelet, and it was impressive. It was a bangle, and she wasn’t certain but it looked like the band and settings were done in platinum. It was set with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, all baguette cut and set perpendicular to the band, and each one was about twice the size of a grain of rice. Along both edges of the band were diamonds the size of birdseed. She couldn’t begin to guess – altogether, maybe eight to ten carats of stones or more? It was fairly heavy for its size. She wouldn’t even venture a guess at its monetary value, but none of that mattered to her. Tony took the bracelet from her, opened it, and put it on her – it fit perfectly on her tiny wrist.

“Wait!” He took it back off her arm and pointed inside the band. “Read the inscription.”

Nikki took the bracelet and looked at the inside. It said
Tony & Nikki – Our first Fourth of July. Baby, when I’m with you – FIREWORKS!
She laughed right out loud and hugged him. “Thank you, sweetheart! It’s beautiful!” She put it back on her arm and admired it, then looked at Tony. He seemed extremely proud of himself.

“Do you realize this is the first thing you’ve ever given me?” She looked at the bracelet dreamily.

“No, it’s not,” he retorted, a small smirk on his lips.

“So what else have you given me?”

“Well, let’s see . . . I sent you pink roses.”

“That you did.”

“And I tried to give you a handgun. And I still will if you want it.”

“I want it now.”

“And I’ve probably already given you more orgasms than you’ve ever had in your life, and that’s got to count for something,” he answered matter-of-factly.

“You’d better believe it. Best gifts of them all.” Nikki winked as she kissed him goodnight.

E
veryone from out of town was staying until the weekend, but Tony and Nikki had to get back to work. Tony got up early, got ready, and took Nikki home so she could get ready there. Regardless of the fact everyone else was at the big house, they’d be staying in Louisville for the rest of the week so they’d be close to work.

Nikki almost put the bracelet away, but then decided to wear it to the shop. She’d had a rule with the jewelry Randy had given her: Enjoy it and wear it, every day if possible. Why should this be any different? Tony had given it to her proudly and with great joy, and she should wear it and let it make her happy.

Marla and Carol were both impressed with Nikki’s gift. They kept asking to see it throughout the day and, at one point, Carol wanted to try it on, but it wouldn’t fasten on her wrist. Nikki had extremely small wrists, but how had Tony known what size to have the bracelet made in?

Late in the afternoon Nikki texted Tony and asked if he’d be at the gym after work.
Late meeting. Won’t make it. Kids are coming over. See you at home.
Home. Their home. She had to get busy packing up her personal stuff so she could move in. She wanted to be at home in her new home with him.

She went into the gym locker room and changed from her street clothes to workout gear. When she walked back onto the floor, Peyton sat at a table in the window in the smoothie café, talking to another man she had never seen before. Nikki walked straight over to them and said, “So, Peyton, who’s this?”

The man stood and extended a hand. “José Flores, Ms. Wilkes. I’m Peyton’s relief.”

“Good to meet you, José. And please, it’s Nikki. Might as well warn you, after dealing with me, Peyton definitely needs relief!” Peyton laughed right out loud and shook his head, and Nikki laughed and took José’s hand – strong grip. He was positively dangerous-looking, his waist-length, dark hair pulled back into a smooth ponytail, his dark eyes almost black, with an ominous-looking goatee that hung, braided, almost to his breastbone. He was good-looking in an almost sinister way, and so muscled up that his skin looked painful stretched over the tautness of his structure, his dark skin defining every ripple. He had an overall build much like Peyton’s, powerful but not tall. But he had a warm smile and almost microscopic smile crinkles in the corners of his eyes.

“Well, I’m out of here. José will take good care of you. Just go on about your workout. I think he’s enjoying the scenery anyway.” Peyton laughed, punching José good-naturedly on the shoulder as he walked out. Nikki could tell they were pretty good friends.

“Yeah, man, very nice!” José yelled at his back. He leaned toward Nikki and whispered conspiratorially, “I’ve been trying for two years now to tell him I’m gay, but he just refuses to believe me.”

“Is that true?”

“Nah, but he doesn’t know for sure. Actually, I’m AC/DC, if you know what I mean,” José whispered back, smiling.

“Equal opportunity banger, huh?” Nikki smiled and winked, and José tipped his head back and laughed loudly. “It’ll be our secret!” Nikki whispered to him. Growing suddenly serious, she looked up into his face. “Thanks for being here. I’ll try to not be too much trouble.”

“No trouble at all. You’re a great addition to the scenery,” he laughed. She playfully slapped his arm and headed back toward the treadmill. Even though she barely knew this guy, she already liked him.

Ten minutes into her walking regimen, Nikki saw something, a brightening of the room, that she couldn’t identify. She looked up and across the room at a guy facing her and saw his face literally light up and his eyes widen as he looked out the windows behind her. But before she could turn to see what he was looking at, she felt a hand on her arm, and in the next instant, José was half pushing, half pulling her toward the locker room at a dead run. He ran in without calling out to see if any other women were in there, then hustled her into a restroom stall.

He pointed to the toilet. “Get on it.” Confused, Nikki started to sit, but he barked, “On your feet!” She climbed onto the toilet seat. “Crouch!” he barked, and she did it quickly. “Now lock this stall door and don’t come out until one of us comes to get you. Understand?” he shouted at her. She nodded, bewildered, and he disappeared.

Nikki leaned forward and locked the stall door. What was going on? She heard lots of voices, then shouting, and then something very loud, a bang of some sort, and the building shook. It seemed like she crouched there forever, and she started to tremble, wondering where everyone was and why no one had come to get her. Her three-eighty was in her gym bag, but it was in her locker all the way across the locker room – not much use to her.

Then it got quiet. Within a few minutes, she heard someone say, “Nikki?” She waited – was it a trick? “Nikki, it’s Peyton. Where are you?”

“I’m here, Peyton, in the restroom stall.” She scrambled off the toilet seat and threw open the stall door.

Peyton ran to her and looked her up and down. “You okay?” She nodded.

“What happened? Where’s José?” She had started to calm down a little as Peyton took her hand and led her from the locker room, but he said nothing.

When they walked out into the main workout area, the scene through the windows was insane. There were police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, every type of emergency vehicle she could imagine, all clustered in the parking lot. And light – a bright orange light. A fire? “Peyton,” Nikki asked, her voice rising, “what’s happening? Where’s José? Is he okay?”

“José’s fine, Nikki. Everybody’s okay. But your SUV – um, not so much.”

Nikki stood and stared at the burned-out frame of her SUV. There was nothing left of it. The explosion when its gas tank ruptured had taken out the windows of every other vehicle in the parking lot; pebbles of safety glass were everywhere. She was glad she’d parked away from everyone else like Peyton had told her to earlier on, or other vehicles would’ve caught fire as well. He’d told her it would make their jobs easier, making sure no one could hide between vehicles to hurt her when she came out, but she doubted they’d expected anything like this would happen. The ambulances had gone, the paramedics satisfied no one had been hurt, and the police were making reports and talking to other gym members when the big silver Walters Construction truck came racing into the parking lot and slid to a halt. Tony hit the ground running and swept her up in his arms.

“Are you okay?” he practically yelled.

“Yeah, I’m fine! Peyton and José took good care of me.” He set her down and looked her up and down like Peyton had. “I promise, honey, I’m fine,” she repeated. “I was so scared, though. José left me in the restroom, and I heard this big boom, and . . .”

“Nicolette Wilkes?” Nikki turned to find a uniformed officer standing behind her with a clipboard in his hands. “Ms. Wilkes, that is your SUV, correct?”

She grimaced. “Was. Any idea what happened to it?”

The officer looked at Tony. “Mr. Walters,” he said and nodded; seemed like everyone in Louisville knew Tony. Tony nodded back. The officer turned back to Nikki. “It looks like somebody broke out a window, threw an incendiary device into it, and ran; you know, like a Molotov cocktail. We’ll know more when the fire marshal takes a look at it. Any idea why anybody would do this?” It was the first time Nikki had taken a second to think about it, and she started to shake and cry.

Tony intervened. “Officer . . .” He looked at the badge. “Hanson? You need to talk to Detective Ford – he’s been handling arson cases involving my business. This is the first time something like this has happened, at least with anything of Nikki’s, anything personal, in fact, but I have to believe it’s related.”

“Oh. Yes sir. I’ll get with him and get the rundown. Mr. Stokes and Mr. Flores have given me your contact information, Ms. Wilkes. We’ll be in touch.” Officer Hanson walked away while writing down more notes.

Nikki took a really good look and the reality of the situation sank in. “Oh, my SUV!” Nikki wailed. “And it was paid for!”

“It was old,” Tony said, not missing a beat.

“It was mine!” Nikki snarled indignantly. “I loved it.”

“You’ll get a new one,” Tony said simply.

“I’ll get a used one. I can’t afford a new one.” Nikki stared in disbelief and wondered how she’d ever afford something to drive. She’d dropped her comprehensive coverage to save money when the loan was paid off on it, and there wouldn’t be replacement cash coming.

“No, you’ll get a new one.” Tony took her arm and led her to his truck. “Come on, get in. We’re going home. We’ll get you something to drive tomorrow.”

As they drove home, Tony turned a couple of times until they were on Shelbyville Road. He drove down near the malls and turned into the lot of a car dealership, driving right up front to the new models. Nikki looked around; it was a Volvo dealership. Tony parked right behind a brand-new black Volvo XC90 SUV and got out. “What about this one?” he pointed.

Nikki got out and walked straight up to the window with the sticker on it. Her mouth dropped open. “I can’t afford this,” she whispered.