“MEESUS MARQUEZ,” CARMEN squealed with unabashed delight. “Meghan! You look fantastic, amiga! Abrazo! Abrazo!” she cried as Meghan flew into the older woman’s warm embrace.
Alex heard his wife’s choked greeting. “I’ve missed you.”
They continued to embrace as Ben walked past him and rolled his eyes heavenward.
With his longtime housekeeper barely sparing him a glance as she and his wife headed for the house, he chuckled at how far down in the pecking order he was now that a full-on ladies’ squad was in Family Justice.
Loosening his tie as the natural heat of a scorching summer day grabbed him by the balls, he joined Ben at the trunk of the limo. Uncharacteristically miffed because no greeting party was on hand to welcome him home, he looked around at the empty driveway and wondered aloud, “Where the fuck is everybody?”
Usually, the circular drive was a cluster fuck of vehicles with cars, trucks, and motorcycles parked along the edges or pulled over on the patch of landscaped green. Everyone always parked wherever the hell they pleased with the firm caveat that the area closest to the Villa’s walkway was left clear for his and Meghan’s use.
Ben hauled a couple of suitcases from the trunk and stacked them beside the car. A van would be along later with the insane amount of cargo they’d hauled from Boston to Spain to Washington D.C. and now to Arizona.
He stopped stacking long enough to put his hands on his waist and follow Alex’s visual once-over. “Sure is hard to get used to, huh?”
“What am I getting used to?” Alex bit out. “Everyone find someplace else to hang out?”
Ben snorted. “If only. Nah. This place is still ground zero, but Miss Remy, she won’t have it. The unorganized parking lot from hell does not work for her.”
Alex nodded and said, “Hmph. And they listen? Interesting.”
“One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen happened right here.” Ben gestured with his head as he looked around. “Told Ria about it because I almost wet my pants.”
He pointed at the low rock wall on one side of the walkway. “So Calder parked over there one day. A bit too close to the shrubs. He was driving the Sprinter van. Remington threw a fit. The little lady went up one side and down the other. Your uncle was quite literally speechless as she freaked out about some hundred-year-old vines and what a lazy ignoramus he was for parking in the driveway.”
“You’re serious,” Alex replied.
“As a heart attack,” was Ben’s dry answer. “After that, your new transportation director laid down the law. No parking in the Villa driveway. Everyone has to park at the garage. We added a couple more carts, those bigger Polaris things because she doesn’t want everyone damaging the environment or some such bullshit. Here at the Villa, cart parking is outside the kitchen door.”
What? Talk about changes. “So people come and go through the kitchen now? Not the front door?”
“Pretty much. Well, family at least. Visitors and guests still use the front door, I suppose. Not much in the way of company, though, while you’ve been gone.”
“Okay. So no parking. Understood. But where the hell is everybody?”
“Well, let’s see,” Ben said with a thoughtful look at the empty driveway.
“Obviously, Cameron’s not around. Ms. Lacey came by earlier, but Dylan was grumpy. Teething, I think. So she went home for him to nap.”
Got it. And? Alex was starting to feel impatient and out of sorts. What happened to the choruses of ‘come home quick?’
“Draegyn is in Flagstaff for the day. He’ll be back before dinner.”
Flagstaff? What the fuck was he doing in Flagstaff?
“Justice business?”
“Not that I’m aware of. He’s been there a couple of times.”
All of Alex’s antennae went up. His mind stilled, and he focused like a laser on Ben’s every word and movement. The man was leaving breadcrumb trails a yard wide.
What should he ask? Something deceptively simple would tell him a lot. “Does he drive himself?”
Of course, he drove himself, and he knew it. I mean, shit. Ben was standing right there. But in answering he was pretty sure, he’d have another tidbit in the trail.
“Yep. Takes the Lamborghini, too.”
He started counting back from ten and made a real effort to control his breathing. It wasn’t so easy, though, to tamp down his thoughts and immediate reaction.
Motherfucker. The Lamborghini? He thought Drae’s go-to pussy magnet accessory had retired a while ago. Tori crying on the phone begging Alex to come home, and now this. What the fucking fuck was going on around here?
“And Tori? Where is she while her husband takes in the scenery?”
There was no way to overlook the meaning and emotion Ben gave to his response. “Mrs. St. John,” Ben began slowly.
Aw, jeez. When old Ben got formal, something was up.
“She is in her office. At work. Got the D-Man with her. It’s a scheduled data dump day.”
“So she’s here?” Alex asked. “In the bat cave?”
“Yes, sir. Waiting for you, I imagine,” he added with a side-glance.
“Thanks,” he said shaking Ben’s hand and patting his shoulder. “It’s good to know you have our back.”
Alex’s declaration startled the older man, and he shuffled uneasily. Guys never felt at ease when emotions were on display.
“Ria would do unmentionable things if I didn’t. My old lady seems to think your wife is some sort of magic spirit sent to sprinkle goodness and light over all of us. All hail Double M!”
“Can’t say that she’s wrong about that,” Alex admitted. “My wife has changed everything around here in ways she barely understands.”
“Word.”
Alex laughed at the man’s use of the trendy idiom.
“So Tori’s hiding at work, Drae is cruising in the Lambo, Cam is M.I.A., and Lacey has a teething baby on her hands. Keep going. How about my houseguests? Calder and Stephanie? Are they also hiding or sightseeing?”
He silently watched as Ben decided what to say.
“Something is going on there too, I’m afraid.”
Mincing words was a waste of time. “Anything to do with the St. John situation?”
“Yes and no.” Ben looked around uncomfortably and lowered his voice. Who the hell did he think was listening? “Um, don’t rag on the ladies for this, Major, because here’s one time when gossip is probably helpful.”
“Go on.”
“Well, the way I hear it, Ms. Stephanie was over in Betty’s office for a meeting with Cheryl Prescott. Long story. Something about a party business or midwives or some women’s crap like that. I dunno. Didn’t care about that part of the story. Anyway,” he continued in a rushed murmur, “in stomped Ms. Tori barking about someone named Carol. Wanted Betty to check and see if the name pinged in the system. It didn’t, and she left right after. I guess her mama chased after, and they got into a row. Ever since, Ms. Stephanie has been in an awful funk. The wife says she’s got the meno-blues.”
“Oh, great.”
“Right? So Calder stepped up big time. She keeps having these episodes. Not fainting but damn close. He got an appointment and took Ms. Stephanie into Sedona for a checkup. He’d have been here otherwise, but you know how he is. She walks on water far as he’s concerned.”
“Family first,” Alex murmured in agreement. He still didn’t know why they were talking in hushed tones, but it added emphasis to what he was learning.
Digesting the wealth of information Ben eagerly imparted, he took a minute or so, and then a red haze of suspicion and anger hovered in his thoughts.
“Who the fuck is Carol?”
“Nobody knows,” Ben answered with a shrug. “The ladies are all in a dither, of course. Doesn’t look very good for Drae.”
Yeah, no shit.
“So that leaves my brother-in-law since I already know Brody and his gang settled nearby. What’s young Finn O’Brien up to? He too busy being a butthole to be here and welcome his sister home?”
“To be honest, Major,” Ben drawled. “He’s not around here enough to know squat about what’s going on. Bet a dollar he doesn’t even know you’re homecoming was imminent.”
Not around? What the hell did that mean? “Do I want to know where he’s hiding?”
“Definitely not.”
Plainly said. This was not going to go down easy. He was sure of it.
“All right, ya grizzled old shit,” Alex playfully grumbled, “just say it. I can take it. Well, maybe ‘cause I can think of a couple of things I couldn’t take.”
“Well, Major,” the other man said. “It’s like this. Seems he prefers the greasy spoon kitchen at Pete’s. Either that or he’s a serious drinking man. Not sure which.”
“Pete’s?” Alex barked. Incredulous, he shook his head to clear it and bellowed, “As in Whiskey Pete’s?”
Ben bobbed his head and made a grim face. “Yep. You heard it here.”
Throwing his hands up in the air, Alex growled and eyed the door of his house. Shit. He was going to have to explain this to Meghan.
“On that note,” he groused, “unless there’s more I need to hear, I have some damage control to do.”
“It’s good you’re back, Alex.”
He smiled. Ben rarely called him by his given name.
Throwing some humor into the less-than-funny situation, Alex grumbled petulantly. “Swear to god. There had better be a brisket in the oven or your wife is fired.”
“Now, what do you think, Major?”
Ben’s happy laughter followed Alex as he made his way along the familiar walkway past plants and the structures his ancestors had placed. Didn’t matter at that moment how much of a shitshow things were. It was good to be home. With his bride. Good to be back where they belonged, where their future waited.
Leaning with her butt against a counter, Meghan had one arm around her waist as she held a glass of lemonade in the other. Listening to Carmen enthusiastically prattle on made her heart so happy.
She glanced around while nodding at everything the excited housekeeper said. This was her home. She was Señora Valleja-Marquez. Doña Meghan as the lovely townspeople near their finca in Spain had respectfully called her. And just like generations of Valleja-Marquez brides before her, she would leave a mark on the beautiful old hacienda. She suddenly wanted to run upstairs, greet Abuelita’s portrait, and tell her all about the wonders Meghan had found in the proud old grandmother’s home country.
Her tummy fluttered again, and she slid a hand out to grip the counter. Eating something may have been a smart idea, she thought, while doing the time zone calculation to figure out her body’s clock.
From the corner of her eye, she saw her man approach. God almighty, he was handsome. Nobody, absolutely nobody, walked like her Major did. He didn’t swagger or strut. And he didn’t amble without a destination in mind. He walked like he approached life. Straightforward. No wobbling. Strong. Powerful. Passionate.
She stifled a giggle-swoon. They weren’t back yet fifteen minutes and, already, he started to get back the absent-minded professor look she fell in lust with a year ago. He’d loosened his tie and popped open the top buttons on his shirt. As he came toward them, he was already sliding the tailored suit jacket down his arms.
Yum, her brain tittered. Maybe he’ll do the beard thing again now that we’re home. Meghan liked her husband in a suit and tie with his serious scowl and larger than life persona. But oh dear baby Jesus—put Alex Marquez all scruffed up with a beard and long hair in a pair of washed-out and well-worn jeans and those massive arms and muscular chest clearly visible under an ancient concert t-shirt, and she was slipping off her panties.
He knew exactly what she was thinking when he kissed her soundly after dropping the suit coat on a kitchen stool.
“Carmen, my love!” he teased with a twinkle in his eyes. “Get over here, Señora, and give me a hug.”
Being old enough to be his mother didn’t stop her from giggling like a schoolgirl. “Meester Alex”—she sniffed, her voice filled with emotion—“you were missed.”
Watching the two embrace was another heart-happy highlight. She saw Carmen whisper something, and Alex almost imperceptibility shook his head. The housekeeper put her hand on his arm, patted it, and then offered them a dazzling smile.
He didn’t look at her, so she figured the Justice information train was just informed that no, the Marquez bride didn’t return from the honeymoon pregnant. How the hell was she supposed to react? In a way, she was relieved the news would pass person-to-person without any comment from her.
The sound of hell breaking loose burst on them without notice when a frantically barking and running at high speed Zeus came barreling into the kitchen, her doggie paws and nails making a scrambling noise as she bounded through the space and launched right at Alex’s chest.
“Girl!” he shouted with unabashed glee. Dropping to one knee before she toppled him over with her enthusiastic greeting, Alex and his devoted canine did the dance of love while Meghan watched with a smile. Rubbing her neck and chest, Alex praised his best girl for her beauty and manners. It was so freakin’ charming; a small sigh escaped her throat.
For Zeus’s part—she lost her doggie shit. The barking stopped, but she was doing a doggie-whine interspersed with happy yips. Licking her master’s face and rubbing her face on his chest, the two were adorable.
She glanced at Carmen and found her taking a cell phone snap as if she read Meghan’s mind. Great Christmas card potential!
Ben rounded the corner, saw the man-dog love fest happening, and laughed. “She was all over me when I took the limo to the garage. Got one whiff of the Boss’s scent and she was off and running!”
Zeus barked happily as if agreeing with Ben’s explanation. That was when the faithful Lab remembered about Meghan. Taking off with a scrambling burst of speed, she came straight at her and rose up on her hind legs to put her paws on Meghan’s chest and sloppily lick her face.
Dropping to a chair—no way was she rolling around on the floor in a dress—she hugged the dog and did her own fair share of singing the praises of the remarkable family pet.
Alex was smiling and looked really, really happy. Carmen might have wiped away a tear. Ben was grinning ear-to-ear.
The housekeeper started bustling about, Zeus calmed down but stayed glued to Alex’s side, and after a hushed back and forth with her husband, Ben took off.
Alex offered assistance to help her stand and then nodded with a pleased gleam in his eyes when she moved in close and meshed her body to his. It felt right when he moved his hand to her bottom and grabbed hold. He could do that every day for the rest of their lives, and she wouldn’t complain.
“You okay?” he asked. “Seem a little pale, baby. The heat too much?”
“Oh, I’m all right,” she chided. “Stop worrying.”
Undoing his tie the rest of the way, she pulled it from around his neck and rolled it around her hand. He’d pushed up his sleeves when on the floor with the dog, and without the tie, he appeared relaxed and in high spirits. She feathered her fingers through the hair above his brows that threatened to cover his forehead.
“I’m surprised there wasn’t a greeting party.”
“Do you imagine changing the subject is going to deflect my concern?”
Her mouth quivered with amusement. “Was worth a try.”
“Talk to me, Meghan,” he urged. “Pale is one thing, it’s your damn Irish coloring, but I’m sensing something else.”
“I love you so much,” she replied in a rush. “Do you know how reassuring it is?”
He looked at her with a question on his face.
“Knowing you’re the one taking care of me.” Was she explaining this feeling right?
“I will always take care of you.”
“I know. And really, I’m fine. Unless I’m dreaming, Carmen is making tea as we speak. I think my blood sugar dipped earlier. No big deal. The excitement. The flight. The time difference and yeah, the heat. But I’m good. I’ll eat something and sip some tea.”
He ran his hands up and down her bare arms. She wished he’d grab her butt again.
He wasn’t convinced, and Meghan sensed his hesitation. She’d responded to his concern and didn’t feel any more discussion was necessary, so she backtracked to her earlier observation. “So where is everybody?”
“Before I explain, I’d like to ask a question.”
“Sure.”
“Why haven’t you used your phone at all? I thought you’d alert the troops to your return.”
He’d noticed. Well, my goodness. The Major didn’t miss a thing, so she didn’t balk at explaining.
“The truth? I got overwhelmed. Talking to Ben while you were with Parker and seeing the model of the compound, well, it got to me a little.”
“Now, do you understand why I imposed the no-information zone?”
“Yes.” She kissed him softly. “And thank you for being such a badass dominant at the perfect time. You were right. Focusing solely on ourselves was a brilliant tactical maneuver, Major Marquez. I’d salute, but it’s more fun touching you.”
“Ease back slowly, honey,” he murmured. “This isn’t a race. If you need time to chill, that’s totally cool.” He smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear. “I guess it’s good everyone is scattered and not all here with their loud and crazy antics.”
She didn’t disagree.
“I’d give Lacey a ring when you feel ready. She was here, but Dylan was grumpy. Ben mentioned teething, so she took him home to nap.”
“Okay.” She could do that.
“Don’t know where the fuck Drae is. Our arrival wasn’t a secret, so fifteen points from Hufflepuff for being a d-bag.”
Oy. She heard the displeasure dripping from her husband’s voice.
“Your brother keeps busy in town. That’s a direct quote from Ben, and I have no idea what it means.”
“Jesus,” she muttered. “Continue.”
“I’d keep an eye out for Calder and Stephanie. Please don’t freak out; Ben told me some wild tale about menopause and stuff like that. I think the word fainting might have been spoken. He says Calder dragged her to a doctor to get things sorted out.”
“What? Did you say menopause? Who came up with that? Good lord! That’s not how it works. What’s been going on around here while I was gone?”
She was kidding. Kind of. But not about the menopause. Meghan was pretty certain it didn’t happen out of the blue one morning when you woke up. Stephanie was barely fifty. And she knew for a fact that her cycle was regular and as predictable as Big Ben. An odd piece of personal information, but it’d come up right before the wedding when Tori was making baby noises.
Alex didn’t chuckle at her attempt to be funny. She focused on him and saw the tension around his eyes. Who hadn’t he mentioned?
“And Victoria?” she said when the obvious hit her broadside.
He sighed heavily. “She’s here.”
Meghan glanced toward the hallway leading past Alex’s study that split off to a quirky labyrinth of oddly shaped rooms where his absent-minded professor’s lab was situated. And the music studio. Among other things.
He silently nodded when he saw where she looked.
“She needs you.” It was all she could say. “Go.” Meghan gestured with a jerk of her head. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”
After a brief kiss and a delicious booty squeeze, she reminded him as he walked toward the tech zone with Zeus obediently at his heel, “If she has Daniel with her, you bring me that baby!”
He laughed and gave her a thumbs-up. Good. Sending him off with a smile to what she suspected would be an emotional reunion was the right thing to do.
“Tea, Meesus. A new one! It’s called Soothing Sunset. And Ria, she sent up a big jar of cactus honey. Come. Sit.”
Another tremendous tsunami-like surge of emotion overtook her for the good people who were such a big part of her life.
Ben, the trusted jack-of-all-trades, who managed Alex’s life. Carmen. Jeez, Carmen, the longtime Marquez caretaker. She’d been making Meghan’s life easier and waiting on her hand and foot from the moment she showed up at the Villa for what was supposed to be a simple lunch.
If she sneezed, these people said, “God Bless You,” and passed the tissues. If she needed her car washed or a dinner party planned, all these things and so much more were taken care of for her.
Was that another reason why she and Alex were so perfectly bonded? Without the minutiae of every day clogging her schedule and thoughts, she was free to concentrate on her husband and the wacky extended family living with them.
Carmen ushered Meghan into a comfortable chair, poured the tea as though she were serving the Queen, and shoved a small dish of oatmeal raisin cookies toward her. They were a favorite. Tears briefly blurred her vision when she thought about the dear woman baking up a storm making Meghan and Alex’s favorite treats to fill their homecoming with comfort.
Boy, she thought on a bite of the soft, cinnamon-spiked indulgence, I had better get a grip before all this happy heart stuff turns me into a blubbering baby.