[B.S. #3] Claiming Laura Page 13

  Clay held the phone away from his ear and caught Jared’s attention.

  Jared walked over and Clay explained the situation and Jared took the phone from him.

  After talking to Brad for a few minutes, he hung up and handed the phone back to Clay. “Brad and Grant are on their way here. They should arrive here by tomorrow. Brad’s not going to sit back on this one. He told me to ask you for the full story on how your unit got discharged. He’s told us bits and pieces over the years but he has never really broken down and told us the entire story or who was involved.”

  Jared walked back to his chair and picked up his glass. “Might as well make yourself comfortable and have some wine and tell us. Maybe with our different perspectives, we can help in some small way.”

  Clay made his way back to his seat beside Laura and reached an arm behind her back and hugged her close. “Well, it’s your chance to sit back and hear my whole story now.

  “Ten years ago we were on the trail of an internationally known enemy that the army wanted captured in the worst way. James had received the orders to surround then take over the village and capture the enemy. The order came from the higher-ups. We didn’t know at the time that our Intel was flawed. Angel had had a bad feeling that morning when he first heard the orders come down. Thank God he insisted that we stop after only firing a few shots.

  “When the dust cleared, we saw that the village held nothing but a few women and children, but no enemies. One woman ended up injured anyway. She had come out of the one bar that the small village had. She didn’t look like a woman with her hat pulled down over her eyes and wearing army fatigues in the enemy’s colors. Brad had winged her, thinking she was our target.

  “How were we to know she was an undercover agent? Her name is Sam and she has become a good friend since then. She now lives with permanent damage to her shoulder because of that bastard. The brass seemed to think we should have known of all the operations going on in the area and a court was convened. Their findings were that yes, it was part of our job to be informed of all the operations going on in the area. Whoever had fucked up and mixed up the orders couldn’t be found. So, being an elite covert unit, we took the fall. Sam, unable to fight any longer, also came under the same scrutiny and was discharged, too.

  “Now the next bit I can’t confirm. But it seems awful coincidental that the main brass in charge of our area at that time was General Brown. Grant dug and dug but could never come up with him having a direct path to giving the orders. We could find out about the lower ones on the totem pole, and they were disciplined by the army. But that bastard was away when the orders came down. We still curse his name, as his office is the only direct route that the orders should have come from. He’s a slimy one and he covered his tracks well. We could never get an airtight case enough to go against him.

  “I’m hoping with Laura’s information, it may be the break we need to piece the whole picture together and finally get this rat bastard.” Clay stopped and took a deep breath.

  “That’s about it. We’ll just have to wait and see if Grant can dig something new out of Laura’s information. Even if it doesn’t help us, we sure are going to bring him down for what he did to Laura.”

  Laura couldn’t believe that after Clay’s unit had been through so much, that they had flourish and now ran a fortune five hundred company. They’d had their names run through the mud, and still came out on top.

  It just made her feel closer to Clay knowing that he understood her situation and didn’t question her integrity. Turning to look at Clay, she saw what a strong man he was. He hadn’t allowed himself to get entangled in something he couldn’t change and had just made the best of it. Laura knew she had to do the same thing and with Clay’s help. Maybe this was their chance to clear all their names.

  Jared sat forward in his chair, and reached out and picked up the bottle of wine. He poured himself a glass after everyone refused a refill. “Well, you know we will help all we can. I think for everyone’s safety that you should keep your base here. Detroit will be on their radar right now, if they think they’ve found Laura. It won’t take them long to start digging and find out the connection between you two.

  “Stan and I have the place outfitted with the best technology, downstairs in our control room. Don’t forget that we also have the safe room that my uncle built down there. We’ve refitted it and know it will keep Janet and Laura safe in any emergency. If you agree, we could do some digging tonight and start the process after the women go to bed. What about the other members of the team? Won’t they also want to be involved as their butts are on the line also?”

  Clay took his arm from around Laura and sat up, putting his empty glass on the table.

  “Well, I agree with your take on the situation. We will lead operations from here as long as you understand that by helping us and Laura that things could get ugly for you, too. As for James and Angel, in different circumstances, I would agree that they would want to be involved. But with both just getting married and taking time to be with their ladies, I really don’t know if they would want to be disturbed. I will wait until Grant and Brad get here and ask their opinion.

  “As for tonight, that, I don’t agree with. I think Laura needs her rest and I’ve been traveling all day. I’m sure you three can keep busy until the morning.” He looked over at Stan nuzzling Janet’s neck, who had returned to his lap from the couch after his call to Grant. “We’ll all be fresher in the morning and start then.” With that, Clay stood up and reached for Laura’s hand to help her rise from the couch. Putting an arm around her, they made their way up across the living room to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Clay looked back as he walked up the stairs. He could see that Jared had left his seat and was now on his knees in front of Stan’s chair and also nuzzling Janet. Clay just smiled. They seemed like the type of people that he would like to get to know better. They sure had come through for him, with keeping Laura safe.

  Clay walked Laura to the door of her bedroom. He wanted her in the worse way, but didn’t want to push things tonight. He knew it wasn’t the time, no matter how much he wished it was. Time had passed so fast at his apartment that they hadn’t had time to discuss his overprotective attitude that she took exception to. He didn’t know at the time to what extent she need protection, but was damn glad that his instincts had been right. If Brad hadn’t been outside her house that day, she probably wouldn’t be standing in front of her right now.

  Clay turned her in his arms and held her shoulders in both of his hands.

  “I’m going to say good-night now.”

  When she would have protested, he gave her a kiss on the forehead and opened her bedroom door.

  “No, tonight is not the time to bring everything back up. We need to discuss it, and I think that we should clear the air between ourselves before we take our relationship forward. I don’t want this to come up between us again, and it will if we don’t agree about things.”

  “Don’t you want me anymore?” Laura looked into his serious gray eyes. “I thought we could just forget that it ever happened and start again.”

  Clay hugged her to his chest and rubbed his stiff cock on her stomach. “Does that feel like I don’t want you?”

  “Then I don’t understand. You want me, I want you, and we have a bedroom right here. “

  Clay leaned his forehead against hers and looked deep into her eyes. “You make it hard to walk away, but I’m going to. I don’t want to start again. I want to carry on with a lady that scorched my cock with her heat and blew my mind with just her hands touching me. That’s what I want, but not until we talk. Tonight is not the time. You have dark circles under your eyes and Janet will probably be up here shortly, if her men let her go, to see to your hands.” Clay raised his head and gave her another kiss on her forehead and released her from his arms and opened her bedroom door fully. He gently took her arm and pushed her thorough the door. When she started to protest again, he winked at her and closed the
door. Clay gave a long sigh, rearranged his cock that was pressing against his zipper, and made his way down the hall to his bedroom. It was going to be a long night.

  Clay threw his clothes off and lay down on top of the bed in just his boxers. Putting a hand over his hard-as-a-rock cock, he willed it to go down. He needed to think about the General and what they could do to bring the bastard down. He cursed at himself when he realized it was useless and sat up on the bed. Putting his feet over the side, he got up stiffly and stepped out of his boxers and walked in to the adjoining bathroom.

  Who was he kidding? He had thought about Laura all the time he had been gone. With her just down the hall, he knew he wouldn’t be able to think straight or sleep without taking himself in hand. Walking up to the glass shower, he turned the water on so that only the chill was off it. He was so hot he didn’t need the water adding to the heat coursing through his body and stepped in.

  Laura watched the door close and the wink that Clay had given her. Well, she had been told again what was best for her.

  Walking to her bed, she sat down and thought over everything. One, she knew that Clay wanted her. By the feel of his hard cock on her stomach, she knew this was a fact. Second, he thought, through some misguided sense of looking after her, that he knew what was best. She didn’t think the argument at her house before everything went to hell had anything to do with him going to bed alone. No, he had made the decision that it would play out this way and he thought that he was right. The more Laura thought about it, the more she got pissed off. It was OK to want what was best for her, but she needed to have a say in things, too.

  Getting to her feet, Laura walked to her door, opened it, and walked down the two doors to Clay’s room.

  Not giving herself time to rethink what she was doing, she swiftly opened the door. And found nothing. Clay wasn’t on the bed where she expected to find him.

  Walking into the room, she heard the shower going and walked to the bathroom door and leaned against it. And what a sight beheld her as she got an eyeful of Clay in the glass shower. His head was bent back with his eyes closed while the water cascaded all over him. His muscles were all bunched up and as she watched she saw his hand moving swiftly on his cock. His face almost looked like he was in pain as he stroked himself. Laura knew she should leave him to his privacy, but the view was just too much for her. Hell, no woman would pass it up.

  As she watched, his strokes sped up and he let out a long groan with her name leaving his lips. Laura watched the long streams of his cum hit the tile wall and then he started to straighten up. Slipping back from the doorway, she silently made her way back out of his room and to hers.

  Sitting back on her bed, Laura went over all she had seen. God, her man was just beautiful. And he was hers, make no mistake, this man she was claiming. She just had to make him understand that a relationship was a two-way street and she would start tomorrow.

  Taking her clothes off, she put her nightgown on and rubbed the salve on her hands. She didn’t expect to see Janet tonight the way her men were looking at her. Laura knew her last thoughts would be of looking after her hands. Plus, she probably thought she was with Clay, the way he maneuvered them both out of the living room. Getting into bed, Laura turned the light out and closed her eyes, thinking back again to the scene in the bathroom. She had an itch herself when she thought of it, but sleep overtook her, and she was soon fast asleep after the excitement of the day.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Laura awoke late the next day. She hurriedly took care of business, had a quick shower, got dressed, and walked down the stairs. She found the four of them in the kitchen sitting around the table drinking coffee.

  Clay spotted her as she made her way into the room and rose from his seat and met her halfway, kissing her forehead when he reached her. Taking her arm, he led her to a seat that he pulled out from the table beside his. After seeing her seated, he walked to the coffee pot and poured her a cup and set in front of her.

  “How did you sleep?” Clay asked, taking his chair next to her.

  “OK,” she answered with a sly smile on her face.

  Before he could ask her about the smile, she asked, “What were you talking about?”

  Janet, sitting across from, her picked up her coffee took a sip and looked at Laura over the rim of the cup. “The guys are planning our safety in case something dares to come up to the cabin. I’m glad you’re here. I thought for a time I was back in the old west with their talk of keeping the little women safe and how they were going to catch the bad guys.”

  Jared put a hand on her knee. “Tell the truth, love. It wasn’t that bad. You just didn’t like that we didn’t give you a say in what we were planning, as to the safety of both of you.”

  “Well, what do you think, Laura? You and I are to hide in the safe room. Our job is to have the phone ready to call in reinforcements if something happens to any of them. The poor defenseless women need to be protected. They can’t look after themselves.”

  Stan reached over and snatched Janet from her seat while she was still talking and placed her facing him on his lap. “You know you are the most precious thing to both of us and you are also our one weakness. If someone gets to you, we would lose our focus. We would forget the rules of the game and just go in with guns a blaring to save you. We need to keep our heads in a situation like this, and we can’t do that if we’re worried about you. We need to know that you are safe. This room is more for our peace of mind than thinking you can’t look after yourself. We can attest that you can go toe to toe with either of us, but the wild card in this thing is that we don’t know who might show up. We just can’t take the chance of you or Laura”—he looked over at Laura just sitting quietly listening to them—“being hurt. Hope you understand that we are not belittling your need to help. You can, just not when it would put you in danger.”

  Janet just gave Stan a half scowl and turned and looked at Jared. “I love you both, but I don’t need to be coddled all the time.”

  Janet got up from Stan’s lap and returned to her seat. “OK, I’ll make a deal with you he-men. I want to be in on all the planning and I promise that I will hide in the safe room when the time arrives. I’ll let you men do the manly stuff. OK?”

  Jared and Stan just laughed at her disgruntled expression and both told her. “OK, sweetheart. It’s a deal.”

  Both men turned and looked at Clay watching them with a smile on his face.

  “So do you want to go down and see our setup, or do you want to wait until Grant and Brad get here? I know they will be here shortly. They just texted me and I turned off the security field.” Jared put a remote back in his pocket as he spoke.

  A few minutes later a noise at the door alerted them to Grant and Brad’s arrival. Jared went to the door and they followed him back into the kitchen. After seeing them seated, he poured them each a coffee and sat down. Everyone at the table took in their serious expressions as they picked up their cups and took long sips.

  Grant put his cup down on the table and pushed his glasses back up his nose. “I’ve been doing some digging and from the brief glimpse I had of the Feds files, Laura’s case was dropped from lack of evidence. I think the lucky bastard, his family, and the father-in-law are into this up to their dirty necks. It stinks. All of them seemed to get ahead awful fast after he married into the family. The General rose from a private to the rank of General very fast without the background and work needed to achieve the rank. His father also made a name for himself in the import-export business. The father, while not confirming that the money came from him, also didn’t deny that he had been giving money to the General. He just didn’t tell how much had been passing hands.

  “I want go back more years, but being just on a laptop and traveling at the wicked pace we were, I thought I better wait until we got here to do more digging. I wouldn’t want to press the wrong key while surfing the Feds or the army database.”

  Brad just looked between Grant and Clay. “I t
hought it was more important that we get here fast. I didn’t think it was necessary to give Grant a smooth ride so he could work his magic. He can do it now that we’re here.”

  “I think that’s our cue to show Grant the computer room and start this investigation.” Jared got up with Stan, Clay, Grant, and Brad following him as they made their way out of the kitchen.

  “Well,” Janet said as she looked at Laura, “are we letting them get away with keeping us in the dark or are we going to follow them?”

  Laura smiled at Janet. “I say we join them. After all, I’m one of the main characters in this drama that is going to play out. Let’s go.” Laura got up from her chair and Janet joined her and they followed the guys down into the basement.

  Walking up to the computer room in the basement, it looked more like NASA control station to Laura. Every gadget that she knew and some she didn’t was set up in the room. It was also equipped with tables and a long couch along one wall that she and Janet took a seat on. They watched as the guys booted up the computers and listened and tried to understand all the jargon that they were using.

  Grant sat at one of the tables and hooked up his laptop to one of the main computers in the room. He was soon pounding on the computer keys, with Clay and Brad watching over his shoulder. Jared and Stan sat at another computer and seemed to be looking at some maps on the screen.

  After about an hour, the girls got tired of watching the men grunt and point at the screen and left them to go make lunch.

  Janet walked to the fridge and started handing cold cuts, bread, and the fixings to Laura, who put them on the counter and asked.” Do you think they were doing it on purpose to annoy us with all the grunting?”

  “I don’t think so. I think that’s just the way they work. More grunts, more effort put into finding things. I just think it’s a guy thing,” Janet told her as she closed the fridge and stepped to the counter and took plates out of the cupboard above her head.