Javier
One Month Later
“Good morning, Mrs. Lòpez.” I happily kiss Gabriella’s jawline.
She giggles, turns, and catches my mouth, parting her lips and circling her tongue around mine. As always, her kisses create a fire that makes my entire body throb.
“I have a wedding gift for you,” I murmur against her lips.
“Oh? I thought I got it last night?” She strokes my cock.
I groan. “No time for that right now. We have to be somewhere.”
“Nooooo,” she whines. “I want to play.”
I sit up. “Later, baby. Time to get dressed.”
She straddles me then kisses me some more.
After several minutes, I tear myself away from her lips. “We really do need to go.”
She sighs. “Okay. This better be worth it. I was planning on performing some wifely duties on you this morning.”
“You’re killing me.”
She leans into my ear. “After my wifely duties, I was going to tell you how badly I want to ride you.”
I kiss her deeply once more. “You’re evil, and I’m taking a rain check. Now, up.”
We shower, get dressed, and I make smoothies for the road as she finishes fixing her hair.
I hand her a cup as she comes out of the bedroom. “You look beautiful.” I kiss her on the cheek.
“Are you telling me where we’re going?”
“Nope.”
She pouts.
“Not going to work.” I lace her fingers in mine. “Come on.” I lead her to the car, open the door for her to get in, and then slide into the driver’s seat.
“Seems like it’s going to be a pretty day.”
“Not as pretty as my bride.” I mean it, too.
I drive across the island, to a house between her parents and Beckett and Mia’s, and pull into the driveway. It’s one of the few homes that haven’t been torn down and rebuilt and is similar in size to Beckett and Mia’s.
“What are we doing at the Forresters’?”
I pull a set of keys out of my pocket and hand them to her. “This is my wedding gift to you.”
She gapes at me. “You bought me a house?”
“Last year. Before everything happened.”
“But we’ve been viewing different places.”
“Your brothers were fixing things up.”
“Fixing things up?”
“Mm-hmm. Want to go inside and see?”
A tear falls down her cheek. “Is this real right now?”
I wipe her tear away. “Yeah.”
She throws her arms around me. “This was totally worth getting out of bed.”
“Hey, you still owe me a rain check,” I tease her.
She wiggles her eyebrows.
“Come on, baby. Let’s go check it out.”
We get out of the car, and when she opens the door, the Brooks and my parents are there. My brothers were overseas on missions and not able to come on short notice, but nothing was going to stop me from marrying Gabriella the first chance I got. Everyone yells surprise. Wrapped wedding gifts and food cover the counters.
Gabriella throws her hand over her mouth. “This isn’t the Forresters’.” The Brooks family gutted and remodeled the entire house. They also installed a pool and redesigned the entire landscape.
“Nope. It’s yours.”
“You mean ours.”
“Yeah, ours.”
After everyone exchanges hugs, I give her a tour of the house, including the nursery her family has decked out in neutral colors since we decided not to find out the sex of the baby and be surprised.
She turns to me with tears in her eyes. “Thank you. This is perfect.”
“Thank your family, too. Your brothers fixed it up.”
“I will, but...” She pulls me in for a kiss full of so much love, emotion overpowers me, and I get teary-eyed, too.
She pulls back from our kiss. “Do you remember what I told you the first night we met about why I didn’t have boyfriends?”
“You said you wanted a real man and not a boy.”
She traces the star tattoo on my arm then tilts her head up at me. “You’re more than everything I ever wanted and better than anyone I ever imagined. I knew the moment I laid eyes on you I wanted you, but I didn’t have any clue how incredible you are.”
“I knew you were trouble when I saw you,” I tease her.
She leans into my ear. “I think—”
“Javier.” Hudson dips his head in the door. “Got a minute?”
“Sure.”
“Lena wants to talk with you, too, Gabriella.”
“Guess that’s my cue to leave,” she jokes.
I kiss her head, and she leaves the room.
“What’s going on?” I ask Hudson.
“I don’t want to bring work into your party—”
“Hudson, what’s going on?”
He shifts on his feet and his jaw clenches. “How well does Carter know Kate?”
“What do you mean?”
“Her background? Has he checked it?”
“I’m sure he has, but why are you asking me this? And don’t you know her background better than Carter would?”
“How did she get involved in Twisted Hearts cases?”
I shut the door. “Hudson, why are you asking me these questions?”
He shifts on his feet. “You’ve always said you have my back, right?”
“Yes. I’ve got your back. Consider it bro code. What’s going on?”
Hudson puts his hand over his forehead and closes his eyes.
“Hudson, what is it?”
His face loses color. “Hypothetically speaking, if Kate cheated on me with Lena’s ex Max Crello, then started working Twisted Hearts cases, would that raise any red flags to you?”
Goose bumps pop out on my skin. “Tell me that’s just a hypothetical.”
Hudson swallows hard. “No. She’s been pushing Lena hard about all the people she knows in the gang and other secrets.”
“Which could be part of therapy, but—”
“I don’t want Lena working with her anymore.”
“If she’s part of the Twisted Hearts, we can’t just pull Lena. It could put her in more danger.”
“I can’t have Lena continue to do therapy with her.”
I step closer to him. “Listen to me, Hudson. Any drastic move could put both Lena and you in harm’s way.”
“I want her out of my house.”
“Okay. But then you can’t control the environment.”
He closes his eyes.
“Let me talk to Carter before we jump to any conclusions. And are you sure it was Max Crello she slept with?”
“Lena is the one who pointed it out. She remembers seeing them when she was declared six years ago. I went back to the pictures my best friend Kade sent me when he caught Kate cheating on me. It’s him and Kade confirmed it last night.”
“Your friend Kade knew Max? How?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You didn’t recognize him on Skates’ yacht?”
Hudson’s face hardens.
“It’s time you told me what happened that day. I have your back.”
Hudson looks at the ceiling then back at me. “He had a gun at Beckett’s head, and we shot him instead.”
“We, meaning Ryland.”
Hudson doesn’t say anything.
“Okay. So you didn’t recognize Max then?”
“It was chaotic. His face was covered in blood.”
“All right. Let me talk to Chloe and Carter and figure this out. Right now, you need to keep things status quo, and Lena needs to be careful what she tells Kate. Is she stable enough to handle this?”
“I think so.”
“Are you able to keep your cool?”
He blows out a puff of air.
“For Lena’s sake?”
“Yeah. I’ll play my part.”
“Okay. I’ll let you know what to do next once we have more information. In the meantime, keep Lena away from Kate unless it’s sessions. It would be wise if you let us check for bugs in your house.”
“You think she’s taping us?”
“She could be.”
His face gets red with anger.
“Hudson, are you going to be able to keep cool?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry. I won’t put Lena in more danger.”
“Okay. Chloe and I will talk to Lena before you leave.”
“All right.”
“Come on.” I open the door, and we spend the rest of the day having fun with the family. I pull Chloe aside and fill her in, and we talk with both Lena and Hudson before they leave.
When everyone else is gone, Gabriella asks, “Is something going on with Lena?”
I kiss the top of her head. “Just standard stuff we needed to go over with her.”
Gabriella gives me her expression she always does when she knows I’m covering up work stuff.
I put my arm around her. “The only thing we need to do is get our personal items, and we’re moved in. Your brothers said they would move us tomorrow.”
Gabriella slyly grins at me. “Can we stay here tonight?”
“Sure.”
She pushes me down on the couch and straddles me. “Have you missed Naughty Gabriella?”
A burst of adrenaline rushes through my veins. “I’ve really missed her.”
“Good. She misses you and wants to be extra naughty tonight.”
Ready for Hudson Brooks’s story?
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