Not just sex, she thought to herself. Delicious, wonderful, mind-blowing sex. She rolled over and stared at the ceiling. They would win this war, they had to. She needed to know what the future held for her and Harley. She wanted to see if what they had lasted on into a future she had only dreamed about.
“What are you thinking about?”
She looked over to see Harley watching her intently.
“How amazing you are in bed.” He grinned at her response, and it had her blood warming again.
“You’re pretty amazing yourself.” Harley propped himself up on his elbow and pulled her close to him. “Interested in round two?”
“Only if it’s followed by a round three.”
“I think I can meet that demand.” He smiled and took her mouth with his.
* * *
IT WAS WELL past four in the afternoon by the time they ventured downstairs for food.
“I was wondering when we might see you two.” Marissa winked as she kneaded some dough on the counter.
“Sorry, I guess we were more tired then we thought.” Norah grinned, and Harley led her to a chair across from Gerry.
“No need to defend it to me, honey. I’ve seen him shirtless.” Both Norah and Harley blushed this time.
“All right now, woman, keep it in your pants.” Gerry’s voice was more irritated then usual.
“Coffee?” Harley asked, and got down two mugs.
“Yes, please.”
“Gerry?”
“No thanks, Harley. I’ve about drank an entire pot already.” He laughed now. “How are you feeling today?” He reached across and gently patted her hand.
“Much better. Are you okay?”
“Yep, just not sure what we need to do next. Any ideas on that, Harley?”
“Actually, yes, I think I have a plan. It’s part of what took Norah and I so long; we were working out the details.”
“I’m sure you were.” Marissa winked again, and after washing her hands, took a seat next to Gerry.
“Let’s hear it.”
“I know where Clayton lives, or rather lived, I suppose.” Norah straightened and gripped Harley’s hand. “If Tom is still using it, then maybe we can get close enough to gather evidence against him. Pictures or something like that.” She was nervous.
Harley hadn’t been keen on her going with them, and she had argued her point until she finally said she wouldn’t tell him where it was unless he took her. She had to be involved after everything she had been through.
“Why would they be using his house?” Gerry rubbed his hand over his beard. “With Matthews dead, why not find somewhere else?”
“They may not be. It’s probable that they have moved on, but it’s a start. We never had a solid location on his residence before. That’s why we targeted the charity banquet. If there is any chance at all that Tom is operating out of Matthews’s place, then we need to at least check it out. If he’s not, then no harm done, we can search it for any evidence and then we can circle back to find another option.”
“Who is going to listen to you even if you do manage to gather anything against him?” Marissa asked him. Gerry shot her an annoyed glance, and she held her hand up. “Look, all I’m saying is that you are a wanted man, Harley. What’s going to happen when Tom plays that card? He obviously must have someone on payroll, otherwise they would have never been able to trace you and Norah to the charity banquet deaths.”
Harley nodded and thought for a minute. “Then I kill whoever is behind things, including Tom. That should put a stop to the operation.”
“True,” Gerry said. “But it does nothing about your current wanted status.”
“I can stay under the radar.”
“And what about Norah?” Marissa asked.
“I will go with you,” Norah said, and squeezed Harley’s hand. “Whatever happens, I want to be with you.”
Harley smiled at her. “Bottom line is we can’t let them continue to operate. They are killing innocent people, so even if it means I have to take them out and we have to hide, then that’s what we need to do,” Harley said.
“There’s too many ‘I’s in your sentences,” Norah said. “I’m with you. That means even when we go against them, I am with you.”
“Looks like I’m coming out of retirement,” Gerry said.
“What exactly did you retire from?” Norah asked, curious.
“I gathered information and cleaned up messes.”
“You did what Harley does,” Norah concluded.
“Yes. After a security leak, I was targeted. Needless to say, I decided an early retirement was best,” he said, and stood. “I’m not much for hand-to-hand anymore, but I’m still a damn good shot with a rifle.”
Marissa stood and narrowed her eyes at Gerry. “Well, I guess that’s settled then, isn’t it?”
“Marissa.”
“No, Gerry.” She threw her hand up to stop him. “There you go making all the decisions for us both yet again. Tell me, are you going to decide again that I’m better off without you when this is all over? You know what, don’t even bother answering.” She strode out of the room and they heard the door slam shut.
Gerry stared after her for a moment before turning to face the table. “As you can guess, there’s some baggage there,” Gerry said with an empty laugh. “I’ll be back.”
* * *
“MARISSA,” GERRY SAID when he found her in the barn.
“Are you seriously going to go running back into a war that’s not yours to fight?”
“I can’t let them go alone, Marissa.”
“We spent thirty years apart, Gerry. Thirty damn years without hardly any contact. You finally walk back into my life and now I’m going to lose you again? You’re sixty-two, for shit’s sake.”
“Age isn’t anything but a number. I’m still—”
“A damn good shot, yeah, yeah. I heard you.” She looked at him, tears in her eyes. “We should have had a future.”
“We should have. I will never forgive myself for not taking you on the run with me, but I honestly believed it’s what was best for you. I couldn’t have stood it if anything happened to you.”
“We could have stayed safe together.”
“Yes, we could have. Whatever time we have left we will spend it together, but I cannot let them go in alone, Marissa.”
She watched his face. Even after all these years, he was still the same man he had been the day she had met him nearly thirty-five years before. A damn good man with a heart of gold, and she knew he would go in guns blazing if it meant saving someone else.
“Marissa, I have my reasons for not wanting them to go in alone. I promise I will tell them to you, but I need your blessing. I need you with me, you watch my back and I watch your back. It’s when we work best. They are just like us, Marissa; if one of them goes in and the other comes out, it will kill the survivor. They will both die. I know that because it’s how I would have felt.” He took her hand in his and pressed it to his lips. “Please understand.”
“You’ll tell me why?”
“Absolutely, just not yet. I want it to be your decision, and not because of my reasoning.”
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
Gerry pulled her closer. “Thank you.” He pressed his forehead to hers and kissed her deeply.
“I love you, Marissa. You are one fine gal.” She smiled at his words. They were some of the first he had ever spoken to her.
“Just promise me something, Gerry.”
“Anything.”
“When this is all over, whatever time we have left we will spend it together.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
* * *