[B.S. #1] Tied Up in Knotts (24 page)

Avery looked at the bundle of bills, then at James and Clay. “Where did all this money come from?” Hurrying over to the table, she got on her knees beside it and fingered the piles on the table. She didn’t think she had ever seen that much money in one place before.

“It’s all yours, Avery, we found it hidden with the drugs. Clay and I both agreed that with everything taken from you, that you deserved this money. After all, it was your father’s, no matter now he earned it.” James now stood behind her leaning down with his hands holding both of her shoulders.

Avery leaned her head back and looked up at James. “It’s too much and I don’t know if I like keeping money that was made from drug running.”

“Darling, you deserve it,” Clay piped in.

“You lost your home, your parents and the Feds took the rest. With the fire, what little you did have is gone. Don’t think of it as drug money, but something that your father saved for you. The Feds don’t need it and Carlos sure doesn’t.”

Avery looked around at the men surrounding her they all had the same look that Clay did. They all wanted her to have the money, and she knew she wasn’t going to win this argument. Still fingering the money on the table, Avery said, “it would be nice to be able replace my clothes and this would also help pay for rent for a new apartment.”

James growled at her last statement. “You’re staying right here with me. I want this to be play money for you. You’ve had a rough time since your parents passed away. Spend this on what you want. I will provide all the necessities. You don’t worry about that.” James sat in the chair behind him and pulled Avery on to his lap.

“OK, now we have the greeting and present out of the way. Can you tell me what you found?” Angel inquired of them. “I’ve called Brad and Grant they should be here in a minute.” Just as the words left his mouth, they both walked through the door into the apartment. Grabbing extra chairs from the kitchen, they finished the circle around the coffee table holding the money.

James picked up his drink that he had set down when he went to get Avery in the bedroom. Arranging Avery to his liking on his lap, he then proceeded to tell them.

“We were right, the property that the shares led us to held the key to the whole mystery of the missing drugs. We found an old cottage on the property that no one would pay any attention to. It was run down and unforgettable, unless you looked inside. You could see that someone had updated the inside to be comfortable. We found a hidden trap door under a bed in the main bedroom after some searching. Below the trap door was an old root cellar, hiding wine and a safe. Clay, with his usual skill, opened the safe and there were the missing drugs and the money. We replaced the money with the book and made sure, that we left a fail-proof trail through the house that no one would not know to follow and look under the bed. Piece of cake.”

Avery slapped his arm. “It wasn’t a piece of cake, it was dangerous and I was worried for both of you.”

James looked at her hand, still on his arm. “That’s another swat for not believing me.”

Avery’s face turned red. “James, you shouldn’t talk like that in front of the others. They don’t know you’re kidding.” Avery tried to make light of James remarks.

“Oh, Avery, we know all about James’s kink. It about time you learn it.” Clay looked at her red face.

Chase put his glass on the table, “Well I for one don’t understand and frankly I don’t want to. I don’t know if I’d ever get pleasure from spanking a woman. Let’s turn this conversation back to the task at hand.” Chase was starting to feel as uncomfortable with the subject matter as Avery was.

“Part one of the mission is done,” Clay spoke up “The drugs and the notebook are just waiting for the Feds to find. I already sent the tip to an agent friend of mine when we stopped for dinner. Now all we have left to do is get Avery’s name disassociated with the property before they work on the tip. What did you and Grant come up with?” Clay asked Chase as he stood and walked to the bar.

Grant sat up and pushed his glass up further on his nose. “I think with what Chase and I devised together, no one will ever be able to associate that property with Avery.” He then went on to lay out how their plan was going to work. With Chase’s help, they were going to change the shareholders of one of the companies that owned the off-shore holdings into Carlos’s name. Chase clarified a few things here and there.

Avery’s head was going back and forth between Chase and Grant as they outlined their plan of action, and with the others approved, would put it into action that very night.

“Is what you’re doing legal?” Avery wanted to know. “I don’t want any of you guy getting into any trouble for me.”

“Well it’s not exactly legal, without Carlos’s consent, but with Grant’s expertise they will never find the trail back to us. If I know the Feds, they will be so glad to nab Carlos and get the drugs off the streets that I don’t think they will be digging too deep. Not that they would ever find anything,” Clay said to Avery. Finishing his drink, Clay put his empty glass on the table. Rising from the sofa, Clay said he was off to the shower then bed.

Chase and the others rose at the same time. Chase and Grant to go down to the office to implement the change of ownership of the property as soon as possible now that the others had approved wholeheartedly, the others to get a good night sleep now that the end was in sight. None of them had been taking any more than a couple of hours’ rest each night, since James had brought them in on this case.

Pushing herself out of James’s lap, Avery spoke up as the guys reached the door. “I really want to thank all of you. You could have given me up at any time to the Feds. Your job was only to find out what I was hiding. You all could have wrapped the job up when you found the key. You don’t know how grateful I am that you believed in me. I can never explain how much it meant to me that you had my back. I only hope I can repay you all in some way.” Tears were now streaming down Avery’s face. She had never had this kind of loyalty from anyone. Her heart felt like it would burst she was so grateful to the men.

The men all looked embarrassed back at her and mumbled, “Thanks, we like you, too,” at her burst of emotions as they quickly fled out the door.

James stood up and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “They know, Avery. I love you, but I think they all love you in their own way. You have become part of our family.” Turning her toward the bedroom, James held her all the way to the bed.

Taking his arms from around her, he reached up and wiped the tears from her face. Taking her chin in hand, he looked down at the tear-filled eyes looking back at him. And let his heart speak to her, he wanted her to know how precious she was to him.

“I don’t know how to tell you how much you’ve impacted my life. I can’t see my life going forward without you in it. I hope you feel the same way. You have gotten under my skin, right to my heart. It seems to only beat for you. So what do you say, will you stay with me? I don’t think I could bear it if you left.”

Avery smiled up at James, through her tears, which were steadily falling at his words. “I was so afraid that you were just playing around. I feel the same way. You’ve become part of my soul. I don’t think I could functions without you in my life. Please make love to me. I can’t wait to feel us joined. It seems like forever ago that we were together.” Avery started to undo James’s shirt.

James grabbed her hands and stilled them. “I want tonight to be us giving ourselves to each other. Take your clothes off while I take mine off.” James stepped back and took up where Avery had left off on his buttons.

Avery hurriedly grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head, next came the bra and panties, throwing them on the floor at her feet. Jumping on the bed, she sat in the middle, and looked eagerly at James.

James, who had stopped unbuttoning his shirt to watch Avery, had to smile at her. Her “Hurry James!” made him go back to his job of undressing.

He hoped she never changed. She wanted him for just himself, not the money, army or job. He wasn’t losing her. He had to put a call in to Chase after she fell asleep, he reminded himself. Chase would go to the folks’ house and retrieve his grandmother’s engagement ring. She had two from her two husbands over the years. One was given to James and the other to Chase for their first love. He hoped she would accept it, as his grandmother had been a very special person in his life. He still missed her every day.

Shaking off his thought and getting back in the moment, he threw the rest of his clothes off and stalked to the bed. Taking Avery by her shoulders, he gently laid her back on the bed. Following her down, he lay on top of her, his weight balanced on his elbows.

Skin to skin, James absorbed the feelings seeping into his bones. This was so right. Avery reached up and brought his head down for a kiss. “Take me, James, I can’t bear another moment.”

James leaned on one elbow and reached with one of his hands down to Avery’s core, she was warm and wet and so welcoming. James aligned his cock and gently pushed into her. He wanted to savor their joining. He wanted to greedily take in all the feelings of her tight sheath unleashed on his cock so he could remember for years to come. One of these days he promised himself he would take his time and love Avery slowly. He had barely grounded himself in as far as he could go, when he felt her start to flutter around his cock. Her mound rose and grounded up onto his cock, pushing him even further into her as she moaned. James didn’t want to let it end so soon and lose the wonderful feeling as she tightened even more on him. But when Avery flung her head back and he felt the bite of her nails in his back as another orgasm took her, he couldn’t hold on. It felt like an electric shock had just zapped his cock and he let himself go. In that moment he knew that both of them had reached another plane together made just for them. It was perfect. James felt wrung out when he came back to his senses. Pulling himself back up on his elbows, he took his weight off Avery, who looked like a contented kitten looking up at him. James just gathered her in his arms and turned them both on their sides, still joined. Hugging her, he breathed in her unique scent. He would never forget this moment even when he was old and gray. Looking at Avery he could hear and see that she had dropped off, as quiet little snores came out of her open lips. He knew the spark that happened when they were together would never die, just get brighter and stronger as the years wore on. Pulling up the blankets, he kissed her forehead.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Two mornings later, James woke to the smell of coffee and the sound of the door bell ringing nonstop amid hard pounding knocks that sounded like they could break the door down. Pushing up from the bed, he noticed that Avery had picked up her clothes and put his pants on the end of the bed after another wild night of them gorging on each other. Pulling his pants on, he hurried into the living room.

Avery was at the door letting the guys in. Clay, Angel, Chase, Grant, and Brad barged through the door, barely taking time to say good morning to Avery. Clay rushed over to the giant wall TV and turned it on with the others on his heels.

James scrubbed his hand over his sleep-mussed hair. “What’s so
goddamn
important that I am graced with all your company before I even have my coffee?” James asked in a gruff voice. He watched stunned as the guys paid him no attention, but gathered around the big-screen TV in the living room.

Avery closed the door and looked at James, shrugging her shoulders, letting him know she didn’t have a clue either for their early morning visit.

Clay shushed them as they started to ask why. Turning up the volume of the TV, they listened to the early morning breaking news being announced on the TV.

It was telling the viewing public about the Feds receiving an anonymous tip as to the whereabouts of two million dollars’ worth of drugs. The newscaster went on to say that the cottage the drugs had been found in was discovered to be deeded to Carlos Casteel, a shady business man and a suspected drug lord by the Feds. The TV screen suddenly split into two pictures, one half showing the Feds coming out of the cottage carrying bags of white powdered drugs. The other split side was showing a raid on a large mansion. A few minutes later the Feds were leading Carlos and what looked like the two henchmen that had been staking out their building out the front door in handcuffs.

The guys stood in front of the television, slapping each other on the others’ backs, congratulating themselves on a job well done.

Avery walked over to James and hugged him around his waist, as they both watched the events unfolding on the TV. “Is this what I think it is? Is it finally over?”

James hugged her back tightly. “Yes, Avery, it’s finally over.”

“Braden Security has just tied up another well-executed covert mission. Carlos and the Feds may suspect our involvement, but Grant made sure that there were no clues leading back to the firm. You’ll also be glad to know that Danny and his gang were picked up in the last sweep of 5
^th
Street by the cops on a drug raid.” Looking over her head, he caught Chase’s eye. Chase walked over and placed something in James’s hand that he had extended.

Gently unwinding her arms from around him, James’s hands were shaking with pent up emotions. James moved Avery away from him. She frowned up at him, but didn’t say anything.

James looked around at his friends and brother, now watching them instead of the TV. Seeing the look on his face, they grinned back at him and all gave him the thumbs up. Clay clued in and turned down the TV.

“I didn’t want to do it like this, but with everyone I care about around me, I can’t think of a better time.”

James dropped down to one knee and looked up at Avery. His blue eyes were like windows into his heart, shinning with love. Holding up one of his hands, he held out an antique ruby ring. “Avery, will you do me the pleasure of marrying me?”

Avery looked at James with her eyes reflecting back the same love. Glancing at the guys standing around with big grins on their faces, she dropped to her knees in front of James and hugged him, promptly knocking him flat on his back on the carpet.