Read Lily's Outlaw (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 2) Online
Authors: Kori David
Lily's Outlaw (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 2) (14 page)
“I saved the woman I love from the woman who should have loved her first.”
Lily’s mother sat slumped over her desk, her hair was lightly disheveled and her cheek was already turning darker from the bruise forming. Her eyes were glazed and staring, as if she couldn’t believe there were two dead men bleeding on her oriental rug.
“No one has ever understood the sacrifices I’ve made—”
“Oh shut up, Virginia,” Lily interrupted. “You’re a criminal and deserve to be treated as one. Not only that, but you’re a bad person.”
“No one understands…”
She trailed off, running her hands through her hair. Jesse went to the big bay window and made a few quick hand signals. He and Lily would handle the police. Damon would be out of the area before they arrived. Jesse was the only one who would know the truth about what happened.
He aimed to keep it that way.
“Call the police, Lil. They need to respond to yet another homicide.” Then he pulled some tissues from the desk and went about securing the weapons without leaving any of his fingerprints on them. When Lily didn’t answer he looked up at her. She hadn’t moved.
“Did you say you loved me?”
Women. He grinned. Even after surviving six sisters he’d never understand how they could laser focus on one thing at the worst time. They were standing over two dead bodies, the police were going to interrogate them both for hours when they arrived and she’d been through so many traumas in the last couple of days that anyone else would have had a lovely fainting spell by now.
But not his woman.
No, she wanted the words. And she wasn’t going to move until she got them. “If I tell you, then will you call the police?”
There was a frown, a toss of thick chestnut hair, and both hands went on her hips. “Jesse James Calhoun! Did you just confess your love for me or not?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
And that’s when the waterworks started. Virginia Tate muttered something about maintaining one’s composure and both Jesse and Lily yelled, “Shut up.” And she finally did.
Jesse moved both women out of the room and into the front entry, and made the call to the police. Then he put Lily’s mother on a velvet bench on the opposite side of the room and led Lily to the set of padded chairs where they could have a bit of privacy. He pulled her into his lap and handed her a tissue.
“Are you going to cry at our wedding too?”
“I never cry.”
“It’s okay, I can take it. I’ll even let you cry all over my shirt if we don’t have tissues handy.”
Lily hiccupped and looked up at him with her liquid emerald eyes. “Did you just ask me to marry you?”
“Yes, I did.” Using his thumb, he brushed the tears away. She was so beautiful, inside and out. Strong, compassionate, and equally fearless. They would have the rest of their lives to be adventurous together.
“I think I fell in love with you when you hot-wired that damn Camaro and dared me to go joy riding with you back in high school, but I wasn’t ready for it. So I ran that night. Because if I had stayed, we would have done a helluva lot more than dance. And I wasn’t good enough for you back then.”
Her hands came up and cupped his jaw. “That is the dumbest, sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s the truth. And it wasn’t about my lack of money or your overabundance of it back then. Or even our different social standings. It was about not being man enough to be all the things I knew you needed me to be.”
He kissed her because he couldn’t stop himself. “I love you, Liliana Richardson. Marry me.” It was bare and without finesse but it was too real to fancy up. He thought she understood that.
She threw her arms around his neck and whispered, “Yes.”
He hugged her to him, feeling their heartbeats begin to match rhythm. “Now give me the words before I start to worry that you’re marrying me for my body.”
He could feel her laugh well up from inside and spill over. “I love you. Of course I love you. I always have. I always will.”
Jesse stood up and spun her around. When he stopped he faced the wilted woman staring at them helplessly. “I’m marrying your daughter.”
Virginia waved her hand in dismissal. “You deserve one another.”
He grinned. “Yes we do.”
And with sirens getting louder in the distance, he got down on one knee and did it right.
Epilogue
“Well, the scandal finally broke. It’s front page news,” Jesse said coming into the bedroom.
Lily yawned and stretched and then admired the view in the door. Jesse shirtless, jeans pulled up but not buttoned—yum. He had the paper in one hand and two coffee cups in the other. She pulled herself up, wrapped the sheet around her body and reached eagerly for the coffee.
With the cup in her hands, she sipped the warm brew and closed her eyes. She felt the paper being laid in her lap and the bed dipped from Jesse’s delicious body.
“Hmmm. This is so good.”
He laughed. “It beats all the hotels we’ve been staying in.”
“And the cave.”
“Hey, I liked that cave.”
Lily shivered but smiled. Only a Marine would be content in a smuggler’s cave. As for her, she was happy being sequestered away in the mountains of Arizona at Jesse’s cabin. And it turned out, Elizabeth was right, that shower was perfect for two people.
“So what’s the paper say?” She didn’t bother to look at it, she’d much rather look into Jesse’s eyes and listen to his deep voice telling her the story. Seemed less sad that way and she felt less alone.
“Well, the ATF and the FBI are both involved now since this officially became an international gun smuggling ring. Your mother is being held without bond and has managed to look good in an orange jumpsuit. And there is speculation that the deaths of one Ramon Garcia and Enriquez Saldano were the work of one or more members of a rival drug cartel.”
Lily raised her eyebrow at him over the rim of her mug. “A rival drug cartel?”
Jesse nodded solemnly. “Apparently, being a drug runner is a very dangerous line of work, with a low life expectancy.”
“And it just so happened that this ‘rival cartel’ picked that time and that place for an assassination?”
“I try not to speculate. These things are best left to the professionals. And that is their prevailing theory.”
Lily could only shake her head. She knew that wasn’t the case, but she wasn’t about to begin pointing fingers elsewhere. Damon Dupree had taken the law into his own hands and no one would ever be able to prove it. Jesse had told her who the shooter had been, but only because he didn’t want secrets between them. And while she didn’t necessarily approve she’d decided that investigative journalism was not for her and she was grateful to be alive. Lily planned to stick to what she was good at, taking great pictures.
“You’re right. I’m sure they will solve the mystery to everyone’s satisfaction.”
“In the meantime, you and I have one last glorious week off before we have to go back to Texas for the engagement party to end all engagement parties.”
“Your entire family is coming, aren’t they?” Lily sighed and tried to sound dramatic. She eyed the square cut emerald that graced her ring finger, the one that matched her eyes, and held in a smile. The truth was that she loved every single member of Jesse’s family.
She used to lie in bed at night wishing she was part of his big, loud, loving family. A family that hugged, gave kisses, argued, and laughed. All the things that were deemed unseemly behavior in her joyless, loveless, house. And now that was all about to happen.
“They love you already, you know. Especially, Mom.”
“Even if my mother is a criminal?”
Jesse threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, honey, you have no idea what you're marrying into. Half my family are career thieves, most of them on my mother’s side. Do not take that ring off around Uncle Dennis or he’ll have it fenced within the hour.”
“Really?”
He winked at her. “Really. Your mother will fit nicely into the family stories.”
“I’m thinking of disowning her altogether. She never wanted me anyway.”
Jesse plucked the coffee cup out of her hand and set it on the side table. Then he pulled her down and under him on the bed. He kissed her nose. “I don’t care what you do about that woman. Keep her or never speak of her again.” He kissed her forehead. “All I care about is you.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
She reached down and smacked his tight butt. “Don’t get cocky.”
“Well, now that you mention it—”
Lily slapped a hand over his mouth while she giggled. “You are so bad.”
He moved his hips and she felt the hard length of him pressing through the blanket. “I can show you how bad.”
She was about to say something when Jesse’s cell phone went off. His work cell. He gave her a quick peck on the lips and slid off her to answer the phone.
“What’s up?”
Lily could hear the yelling as Jesse held the phone away from his ear. Jesse rolled his eyes but grinned. Then he barked into the phone in a tone she’d never heard before. “Get it together, Marine.”
The yelling stopped.
“It’s going to be fine. Just get her there. And call us as soon as we can come visit. And drive carefully or Beth will kick your ass.” He disconnected the line and started laughing.
“What was that all that about?” Lily asked.
“Elizabeth just went into labor and Zach is taking it a bit hard.”
“Oh my God. He was the one doing all the yelling?” Lily’s jaw dropped open. In the short time that she’d known Zach, she had never seen him even close to losing his composure. Not when he was setting off little bombs, talking with temperamental customers for their business or even shooing one of the largest black bears she’d ever seen back into the forest. Nothing bothered that man. He was quiet and reserved, content to let his wife do most of the talking. That’s the Zach she’d come to know over the past several weeks.
“He’s just a little worried.”
“I wonder what you'll be like when that day comes.” Lily blew him a kiss.
“How about we start practicing now?”
Lily pulled the sheet down, exposing her naked breasts. “A baby? You don’t think it’s too soon?” She didn’t think so and wanted to start a family this moment. And from the looks of Jesse’s jeans and the gleam in his eyes as he stared at her, he didn’t think so either.
“Maybe we should wait.” She pulled the sheet back up. Teasing him was fun.
He was back on the bed and had the sheet off her before she could scramble away. “I think you will be a ravishingly beautiful pregnant lady.”
“Ravishingly, huh? What a fun word.” Hooking her arms around his neck, she whispered, “Then let’s make a baby.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Then he was kissing her and loving her so tenderly that she could have cried again because this incredible man was finally hers. She’d been told that in the Marine Corps his code name was Outlaw, and it was perfect for him. He’d stolen her heart long ago and she didn’t want it back. He’d restored her faith in love and the true meaning of family.
Together, they were perfect.
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