CHAPTER 32
GRAHAM

As I washed my hands in the sink, I looked over at Cindy’s house. Most of my things had been packed up and moved over already, but I still had a couple of days in my house. If I was going to stay with Cindy, it meant I had to do whatever was necessary to make sure they were safe, which meant I had to dip back into a life I thought I’d left behind over two years ago.

I roped Daniel into my plan, and we’d called up Buckley. The two of us flew to DC, and I told him I wanted to help him catch those sons of bitches once and for all. I was at their disposal so long as they let me get back to the life I was about to create, and Buckley was more than willing to accept the help.

With Paul in prison, the head of the Fresco family was scrambling.

Which meant a lot of their contacts the CIA knew about would be vulnerable.

I did things I wasn’t proud of. Dragged assholes into abandoned buildings and trod in the murky gray waters the CIA couldn’t. I took time off work and lurked in the shadows, using Paul’s own connections against him. Daniel posed as the man taking over Paul’s position, and we got everyone we needed into a room for negotiating. The head of the drug trafficking, the head of the arms dealing, and the three patriarchs of the mob family Paul had been dancing with for years.

Everyone responsible for killing my family.

We got the negotiation tactics on camera before we stormed in. We lit up the room as I pulled Daniel out. Bullets riddled the walls of the abandoned house deep within the woods.

The CIA had their firmest lead on how to take down the largest crime family on the East Coast. I got justice for my family, and I made sure no one would come after Cindy and Lily.

It didn’t bring my family back, but I still felt relief. I knew they could no longer hurt any other families, nor could they come after me. Mine and Daniel’s names were kept out of all the official documents, and we were paid a very hefty sum of money under the table for our time. Money that would be put to good use.

I dried off my hands as Lily came running across the yard. It would take time to wipe that amount of blood off my hands, but I knew I had done it in the best interest of the people I had come to love.

The family I had come to adopt.

“Graham! Graham! Is it true? Are we going swimming?” Lily asked.

“Yes, we are,” I said as I picked her up. “We’re going to the beach for the day.”

“Yay!”

“Is your mother ready?” I asked.

“Yep. She said to come get you because we’re already in the car.”

I locked the house behind me and started for Cindy’s car. I made her get out so I could drive because I knew her hip was still giving her some trouble. It was a bit of a drive to get to the beach I wanted to go to, but I didn’t mind. Lily and Cindy were singing songs in the car, and I was trying to memorize the words so I could sing along with them.

And all the while, Cindy was holding my hand.

After a two-hour drive, we pulled up to the beach. Lily scrambled to get out of the car, and Cindy stepped out to run after her. I gathered the blanket, toys, and the picnic basket out of the back and started to where my girls had taken off.

Lily was so excited about playing in the sand.

I spread the blanket out for us to sit on as Lily dug a hole that kept filling with water. She was splashing around it and giggling, her face lit up with so much happiness. I knew I had done the right thing.

“You ready to tell her?” I asked.

“I mean, she is starting to question the random boxes around the house,” Cindy said.

“How much you wanna bet she already knows?” I asked.

“A bet, huh? Didn’t take you for a gambler. All right. I’ll take you up on that bet,” she said.

“Okay. If Lily knows—and I think she does—then you have to quit that job at Nicole’s shop and follow your dream.”

“Oh, really?” she asked. “Fine. If Lily doesn’t know—and I’m sure she doesn’t because she’s only five—then you have to let me tie you up the next time we’re together.”

“Oh, we’re making those kinds of wagers now?” I said.

The grin on Cindy’s face was bright as she called Lily over to the blanket.

“What?” Lily asked. “I’m not ready to eat yet.”

“Sit down. Mommy and Graham wanna tell you something,” Cindy said.

“Okay. Then can I go play?” she asked.

“Yes, you can,” I said.

“I know you’ve been asking about those boxes around the house,” Cindy said.

“Yeah?”

“Well, how would you feel if I told you someone was moving in?” Cindy asked.

“Who else is moving in?” Lily asked.

“What do you mean ‘who else’?” Cindy asked.

“Who else is moving in besides Graham?”

I rolled my lips into my mouth to try and stifle my laughter. The dumbfounded look on Cindy’s face was priceless. I wish I’d had a camera to document it.

“How do you know Graham’s moving in?” she asked.

“The boxes have his name on them,” Lily said.

“How can you read Graham’s name?” Cindy asked.

“I learned how to spell it in school. The teacher told us to think of our best friend and try to write their name. She helped me with my best friend’s name.”

I felt tears rise to my eyes as I gathered Lily from her mother’s arms.

“We’re friends, huh?” I asked.

“Yep. Best ones,” Lily said.

I chuckled and shook my head as Lily wrapped her arms around me.

“I’m glad you’re moving. Now I can see you whenever I want,” Lily said.

“Whenever you want, princess.”

I released the little girl to the ocean, and she went and jumped in her puddle. Cindy’s jaw was practically swinging in her lap, and I reached over and cupped her chin. I shut her mouth, and she let out a giggle as my arm sank around her waist.

“Am I really going to have to quit my job now?” she asked.

“You are,” I said.

“Come on, Graham. You can’t support both of us.”

“I can, and I will. Remember those renovations on my house I was talking about?”

“Yeah?”

“They’re to turn my house into a bed and breakfast,” I said.

My eyes fell to Cindy as she whipped her gaze up to me.

“Say what now?”

“The owners of the house were wanting to unload it for a cheap price. They were tired of the maintenance and the yard work and keeping up all the acres that house sits on. They sold it to me, and the original plan was to leave it to you after I left.”

“You were going to leave me a bed and breakfast before you left?” she asked.

“Yep. But since you’re stubborn and wouldn’t let me leave, I figured we could run it together. You know, after the renovations are done.”

“Graham Tucker, you are really something.”

“Oh, about that. My name’s actually Anderson. Graham Anderson, pleased to meet you.”

Cindy flung herself at me as our lips collided. I fell backward onto the blanket, feeling Cindy’s body press into mine. Our tongues danced, and our teeth clattered together. My hands clung to her bare back as her bikini covered only what was necessary. For the first time since I had lost my family, I was excited about my future. The threat of the mob was gone, Paul was singing like a canary in prison trying to cut a deal, and the CIA was picking up one mobster after the other.

“I can’t believe you,” Cindy said breathlessly.

“Well, believe it and be prepared to work because it’s going to be a gorgeous house, and it’ll be ready for guests in four months,” I said.

I knew my past would always haunt me, but I was sure I could protect Cindy and Lily. We snacked while we watched Lily play in the water. Then, she collapsed on the blanket for a nap. She woke up ravenous and ate the rest of the food we had. After that, we gathered up our things and headed back home.

Home. A word I hadn’t used in over two years.

“Graham, could you read me a bedtime story?”

“Sure thing. Go pick out what you wanna read, and I’ll be back there in a second,” I said.

Cindy and I grabbed the last of my boxes out of my house as Lily picked out her favorite book. All my furniture had been sold off, and all my boxes were stacked in various rooms of Cindy’s house. I went into Lily’s room and read her a bedtime story before I tucked her in tightly and kissed her goodnight.

Feeling Lily cuddle into me as she slept brought me a sense of joy I hadn’t felt in a while.

Cindy greeted me with a beer from the couch in the living room, and I grinned. Her skin was kissed by the sun, and her hair was piled high on her head. She smelled of salt and grapes, an intoxicating combination. I took the beer from her hand and sat next to her, allowing my arm to fall into her lap.

“What a sight,” I said. “You holding a beer for me.”

“Well, get used to it because I always wind down with a glass of wine,” she said.

“I’m happy to wind down with you,” I said.

“You were really going to stick me with a bed and breakfast I would have no idea how to run on my own?”

“You really know how to suck the romance out of things,” I said.

“I still can’t believe you did that.”

“Do you not want it?”

“Oh, no. I definitely want it. I have no idea where you got the money to do something like this, but I’m still in shock.”

“You’ve got four months to wrap your mind around it before it’s work time. Three months, really, if you want to advertise beforehand.”

“Oh, trust me. I’ve got a business plan all laid out. It’s around here somewhere. Stuffed down into a dark corner.”

“Then bring it into the light, baby, because we’re gonna need it,” I said.

“You brought me into the light, you know.”

I turned my body toward Cindy as my eyes settled on her face.

“You’ve never been in the dark,” I said.

“I felt like I was. Drowning in it, actually, and I still don’t know how you did it, but you managed to pull me from it. Twice.”

“Twice?” I asked.

“Figuratively and literally,” she said.

I reached out and traced the outline of a couple of scabs still healing on her face. She scooted closer to me, leaning into my touch. My blood still bubbled thinking about that night with Paul in the woods and how I’d almost lost Cindy, the only other woman I had ever loved.

“We pulled each other into the light,” I said.

“Thank you for finding me,” she said.

“I told you, Cindy. You don’t have to thank me for that night.”

“Not what I was talking about.”

She plucked my beer from my hand and set her wine glass in the cup holders. She straddled my hips, her body settling into mine as her hands cupped my cheeks. I could feel the warmth growing between her legs, and I could see the desire igniting in her eyes. She pressed her lips to mine as my hands rushed up her back, feeling her soft skin beneath the fabric that covered her bikini-clad body.

“Thank you for finding me,” Cindy said breathlessly against my lips.

“And thank you for fighting for me,” I said into her skin.