Her Gentle Giant, Part 2: Remember to Dance (16 page)

* * * *

Ethan said good-bye to the others when they left and went to his office. He worked for a while, looking over purchase orders and paying bills. Thoughts of Grace occupied his mind and made it difficult to focus for any length of time.

Ethan could relate to how Eli felt right now. He remembered a time when he’d felt like killing the bastard who had mistreated Grace. He recalled not being able to move fast enough to stop Owen before he’d viciously struck Grace twice in the face. He shuddered at the memory of the way she’d toppled backward against the kitchen counter and then had hit the floor at Owen’s feet. His heart throbbed at the memory of the way her body had shaken as he held her tightly in his arms afterward.

They’d made it their mission to begin to undo the negative self-image Owen had sown in her mind and to convince her the woman they saw was beautiful and precious, not fat and ugly. With their love and attention, they’d made a believer out of her, and she made them the happiest of men.

During the previous night, he’d awakened with her curled up beside him in his bed. He’d stayed at the club late and she must have come to check on him and decided to snuggle up under his covers. While he watched her sleep, she’d stirred and cuddled closer to him with her lips pressed to his chest. Later that morning as dawn turned the sky a pale gray, they’d made love. Ethan remembered the way she’d felt, so warm and sleep tender as he held her in his arms and stroked into her sweet, hot pussy, both of them coming with a deep, burning intensity.

Ethan slipped his phone from his pocket. Today was Grace’s day off, and when she answered, he could hear horses neighing in the background. She must be out in the barn.

“Hello, my baby.” Her voice had a mellow, seductive tone that sent a shot of lust straight to his cock. He knew he’d be hard and aching by the time he was done talking to her.

“Hello, Gracie. What are you up to?”

“I’m out in the barn, brushing down Coraggio. What are you doing?” Grace had a way of asking questions like that. Her subtle, suggestive tone hinted at what she wished he was doing. He answered the question she was
really
asking.

“Wishing I could take you in my arms and sink right into your silky little pussy. The sound of your sexy voice makes me hard enough to hammer nails.”

Grace hummed softly in approval. “I wish I were there. I’d let you hammer me instead. After I finish with Coraggio, I’m going to work for a while. I have a hot love scene to write.”

“Well, honey, you’d know a thing or two about hot love scenes, wouldn’t you?” The throbbing steel pole in his jeans testified to that fact. Ethan, Jack and Adam had watched her blossom into their very own sex goddess since she’d begun writing.  

“As well-loved as I am? I should be able to set my laptop to smoldering,” she replied with a giggle. “Wanna come help me with research?”

“I’m tempted. I should be done here in another hour or so. I had another reason for calling, though.”

“What’s that, babe?”

“You haven’t hinted to me what you’d like for Christmas.”

Ethan already knew what the three of them planned on getting her for Christmas. There was a BMW Z4 on special order for her at the dealership in Morehead. It was going to be a deep, sparkling blue that reminded them of her eyes with butter-soft leather seats and a premium sound system.

 “I’ll have to think about it, Ethan. The way you all spoil me, I’m hard-pressed to come up with something I need that I don’t already have.”

“A flat screen TV for your bedroom?”

“My bedroom is
not
for watching television. All the entertainment I need up there walks up my stairs in cowboy boots,” she said, chuckling.

 “New outdoor furniture?”

“I wouldn’t trade that old porch glider for anything. Too many beautiful memories made in it.”

“I’m pretty attached to that old glider myself,” he replied softly, remembering all the times they’d made love on it with her straddled in his lap under a blanket. It rocked
just right
.

“
I know
,” she said quickly, a soft hitch in her voice.

“What, Gracie?”

She paused, breathing softly in the phone. Boy, whatever it was, it was
good
. “Do you remember the night I wore my clit clip for you the first time?”

 “I’ll
never
forget that night. I’ve never seen anything hotter in my whole life, especially the way you teased us into discovering it on you.
Yes
, I remember, Gracie.”

“Well, you said Clay makes…that kind of jewelry, too.”

Ethan growled softly, loving the way her mind worked. “Is that what you want? Maybe something with a little more weight to it? Like solid gold?” At her strained, whispered assent, he knew he had the perfect gift. “Any type of jewelry in particular?”

“I’ll leave it all…up to you. I wish you were here.” She sighed with need. “You’ll be home in another hour or two?”

“Maybe less, if I hurry.” He was a newly motivated man.

“Hurry.”

Chapter Forty-two

Eli laughed with Rachel when Craig Morgan’s “Bonfire” played on the country radio station as he drove them out to the Divine Creek Ranch for the bonfire and pig roast Saturday night. Eli was planning to drop Rachel off and visit for a little while with the men before heading in with Ethan to the club.

His dad and sister arrived with baby Matthew in tow. Grace had talked Kelly into staying over at the ranch so they could talk wedding plans later, and Rachel went with them up to the ranch house to get her settled. His dad was staying in the second bedroom at Rachel’s duplex.

Eli smiled when Ace and Kathleen arrived, and Ace showed him the corner of a manila envelope in his jacket pocket and nodded. The man worked fast.

The Divine Creek Ranch hands helped to set up tables, and one of them with the necessary skills helped Ethan get the sound system connected and working so they’d have music later if anyone wanted to dance. Adam had
his
fun earlier in the week, using the rented bulldozer to pile the massive mounds of mesquite they’d cleared the year before into a gigantic pile on the edge of the new pasture. Rachel helped Grace, her mom, and some of the other ladies with setting out the food on the tables.

Eli, Ace, Ethan, Jack, and Adam had a chance to put their heads together. Ace removed the manila envelope from his coat pocket and opened it, saying, “Mr. McCoy was easy to track down and tail. He doesn’t go very far afield to hide his activities. This is even more serious than we thought. It made me nauseous, what we uncovered.”

Eli and the others waited as he laid out the papers and photographs on the work bench in the first barn where they were less likely to be interrupted. “What do you mean? He’s done that sort of thing before?”

“He’s a pedophile.” The disgust was evident in Ace’s tone of voice.

“Oh, fuck,” Ethan muttered softly.

 Ace pointed to a black and white photograph. “That’s a roadside hotel on this side of Morehead where McCoy rented a room on Wednesday night. That girl being escorted into his room is a young prostitute.”

Jack groaned, “Oh, no. How young?”

 “My guy, Kemp, pulled some long hours this week and matched his photograph to her face on the NationalCenter for Missing and Exploited Children website. She’s a fourteen-year-old runaway.”

“She’s only fourteen?” Eli said, filled with revulsion. The hardened girl in the image looked young, but not that young.

 “Yeah. Drugs and living on the street ages you. Kemp had an inkling, and once he found her on the website, he called me, and I contacted the police with the description and license plate of the car that brought her, and they told me they would act on the information immediately.”

“Damn,” Adam said softly. “Fourteen?”

Ace nodded sadly. “If we’d known, that would have been when he got arrested. If adults want to get together and do crazy stuff in a roadside motel, that’s one thing. Start messing with kids and people take action. Another friend of mine hacked into his computer and provided us with his e-mail and Internet contacts, along with archived e-mails. He saves records of his conquests instead of deleting them. He likes to brag. The most recent e-mail is a description of what he did to the girl in the hotel room. I don’t recommend reading it. It’ll ruin your evening. In the right hands, this information is just cause to search his residence.

“A skilled friend of mine has been to his house and located his hiding place for storing videos and pictures, mostly teenagers, but also some preteens, both male and female. He also found a drug stash that he probably uses when his victims won’t settle down for him, or it may be for his own use. The dumb bastard even used credit cards to pay for the motel rooms.

“I’m surprised it was this easy to find evidence for bringing the proper authorities down on him. Have any of you ever heard what happens to pedophiles in prison? He won’t fare well. The information is copied and ready to be sent to the FBI, the local police, and county authorities, as well.

“Rachel’s name has been left out of the documentation. The young girl in the motel room was the most disturbing part of this for me once I saw the pictures. Kemp got a good enough digital image of her that hopefully it won’t be long before they track her down and get her back home, or more likely into rehab and off the streets.”

“So what do we do next?” Eli asked, still trying to take it all in.

Ace nodded, almost apologetically. “I have a friend at the FBI who will take an interest in his activities and can get the ball rolling. Eli, I know you wanna kill him, but avoid any contact with him if you can. All his buddies and regular coworkers will probably be investigated, too. Judging by some of his contacts and e-mails, he may work with other men who are involved in the same sort of activities.”

“Part of me wishes I could have just two minutes alone with him.”

Ace nodded again. “I hear ya, but I’d steer clear of him. I’ll be watching him again tomorrow. McCoy appears to be settled at home for the evening watching television tonight, so Kemp is taking a break right now, and he’ll check in with me after supper. If there are any new developments, I’ll let you know. I know we have enough evidence now, but I feel like it’s our civic duty to keep an eye on this asshole.”

“Ace? If he…” Jack looked disgusted and hesitated for a second before continuing, “If it looks like he’s up to something real bad…”

“I get what you’re saying,” Ace replied. “If he is on one of his exploits, we’ll call the police and FBI immediately and document until they arrive. We won’t let any other children be hurt. If it comes down to it, we’ll act if we have to.”

“Thank you,” Eli said.

Ace smiled with grim determination. “Like I said, it’s our civic duty to bring this evil motherfucker to justice. He held out a black and white surveillance photo of McCoy to them, which they passed to each other. “This is what he looks like, in case you’ve never seen him before.”

Eli reminded them, “Remember, Rachel can’t know about any of this.”

“We’d be cool about it,” Adam said, and the others nodded.

Eli put out his hand to shake Ace’s and the others’ and said, “Then I guess you need to contact your friend at the FBI.”

Ace nodded and replaced the papers and pictures in the envelope and put it in his coat pocket. “Consider it done.”

* * * *

Rachel sat with Grace, Kelly, and Teresa in lounge chairs a safe distance from the bonfire. The sun had long since set, and Rachel and Grace would be leaving shortly to take massive amounts of food up to feed their men and the other employees at the club. Adam and Jack were, at that moment, loading disposable aluminum pans with ribs and roasted pork, potato salad, beans, cole slaw, cornbread, sausage, Ethan’s homemade barbecue sauce, and Grace’s peach cobbler into Jack’s SUV. They were doing it for Grace so she could sit and visit with the other ladies. The only reason they weren’t also delivering the food was because Rachel and Grace wanted to see their hard-working men, since they couldn’t be there for most of the evenings’ festivities.           

Rachel chuckled into her plastic cup. “My dad is drunk.”

She was drinking Coke and serving as the designated driver for the evening trip up to the club. Grace snorted before taking another sip from her beer.

“How can you tell, Rachel? He’s always so stoic and serious,” Grace said.

“See how he’s all lovey-dovey, getting in Mom’s space like that? Ooops! He just
grabbed her ass.
Shit, now I’m scarred for life!” she said dramatically, covering her eyes. “He likes to dance with her when he’s drunk. Listen to her giggle, would you?”

“Your parents are the cutest thing,” Kelly said. “It’s nice to see older married couples like that are still totally into each other. Gives the rest of us hope for the future. I hope Christopher is still grabbing my ass when I’m that age.”

“Aw! Look at Brice and Corina. Aren’t they sweet?” Rachel nodded to where the couple were sitting on the tailgate of Brice’s pickup truck, smooching.

Adam and Jack came over and squatted down beside Grace’s lounger.

Jack said, “Darlin’, everything is loaded up in the back of the SUV. Make sure and take it slow on the turns.”

Grace leaned forward to smooch Jack’s nose. “Okay! Rachel’s the designated driver for this trip.”

“Are you getting inebriated, baby?” Adam asked, quirking an eyebrow at her when she snickered and patted his tanned cheek.

Grace shook her head and replied, “Nuh-uh, but I have had a couple of beers. I don’t want to take any chances behind the wheel.”

“Good. Thanks for doing that for her, Rachel,” Adam replied, smiling over at Rachel.

“You’re welcome, Adam. I don’t mind.” Jack handed Rachel the keys to the SUV, and Rachel said, “We’ll be back in a little bit.” To the girls she said, “Ladies, keep the party lively until we return.”

Rachel had Grace text message Eli as they neared the club. The girls were supposed to pull up to the rear entrance, and the employees would bring the food in through the backdoor and put it in the kitchen. Then they could come and go and eat as they had time. Grace and Rachel set the food up and put out the utensils and paper plates then made up nice, full plates for Ethan and Eli. They came back to take a break and eat while the girls were there. Their men talked them both into one little dance before they returned to the ranch.

It was a good thing the Divine Creek Ranch didn’t have any close neighbors. Even with the SUV’s windows closed, as they pulled down the long driveway toward the barns, they could hear the music blasting. Rachel parked Jack’s SUV next to the screened-in porch, where they were met by Jack and Adam.

“Everything go all right, darlin’?” Jack kissed Grace.

“Oh, yes! They all said they were coming out after they got off at one. They all said thanks for sending the food. The club was busy, but I think we have them beat with our noise level. What are you doing?”

“We’re claimin’ our dance partners!” Jack laughed as he put Grace over his shoulder and carried her giggling around the barn to the area that had arbitrarily been designated as the dance floor.