No More Secrets

Moan For Uncle 3: No More Secrets

Copyright 2011 by Terry Towers

Cover by: Terry Towers

All rights reserved. With the exception of brief quotes used for critical reviews and articles no part of this book may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the author Terry Towers. Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Terry Towers can be contacted via her website at www.elixaeverett.com

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This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors imagination and used fictitiously.

Chapter 1

Pulling his yellow Lotus Elise into the driveway of the modest two-story house in the suburbs, which was the house of his brother and sister-in-law, Grant let out a sigh of relief. Home at last.

But more importantly than that, inside the cosy suburban house was his beautiful, young fiancée, Nikki. He had told Nikki that he had to work through the holidays so he could surprise her. It had near killed him not to tell her he was coming home, but now that he was here and anticipating the look of excitement on her face when she saw him, he was glad he had waited.

Shutting off the car, he grabbed the large bouquet of red roses from the passenger side of the car and stepped out onto the snow-covered ground. It was a few days before Christmas and he had an entire week off before he had to be back at work. His next assignment would take him back to Sierra Leone; which was not his favorite place to be, not by a long shot. But, he'd deal with that problem when the time came around. He vowed to himself nothing was going to ruin this week for him and Nikki.
Nothing.

Stepping up to the front door, Grant rang the bell and waited, hoping Nikki would be the one to answer. She was always so enthusiastic to see him, throwing her arms around him and planting frenzied kisses over his lips, face and neck. A smile touched his lips as he heard footsteps coming to the door and then the door swung open to reveal - to his disappointment - his brother, with his sister-in-law, Audrey, close on his heels.

"Well I'll be - Grant!" His brother, a stocky dark-haired man in his early-forties, grabbed him and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"What are you doing here? You never told us you were coming home for Christmas!" Once his brother stepped aside Grant's sister-in-law stepped up and took her turn at giving him a hug.

Grant shrugged, "It was a last minute thing."

Where's Nikki?
He glanced around them and into the house, but saw no sign of her. He looked back over his shoulder and noticed her little beat-up Ford Neon sitting in the driveway next to his. She had to be home... didn't she?

Slipping an arm around Grant's shoulders his brother ushered him into the house, while his sister-in-law shut the door behind them.

Grant stopped dead in his tracks. "Where's Nikki?" He hated that he may be sounding rude, but it had been a couple of months since he'd last seen her and he was more than a little anxious to feel her soft, delicate body in his arms again. He couldn't even allow himself to fantasize about how good her hot and enthusiastic little pussy was going to feel surrounding his cock for fear of having to deal with an uncomfortable rock-hard erection in his pants.

"
Ahhh
Nikki, yes, she's on a date. She's supposed to be home by midnight," his brother Ron responded, urging Grant to keep moving into the living room.

Grant frowned, not budging from his spot.
A date?
What is she doing on a date!
"Where?
With who?"
He glanced from one face to the other.

"We set her up. She seemed so lonely when she came home... I arranged for her to go out with the son of a friend of mine from my bridge club. He's a Harvard boy," Audrey, replied, beaming with self-congratulation.

"Hell of a guy, from what I can tell," his brother chimed in. "Hopefully she won't screw this one up. It would be nice to have a lawyer in the family." His brother rolled his eyes. "You know how our little Nikki can be."

Audrey nodded her head in agreement. "Handsome young man, too. She didn't seem to want to go - at first, but when we insisted she finally gave in."

His brother once again attempted to urge him into the living room, but Grant stayed planted on the spot. "You
made
her go on a date?" He couldn't keep the sharp edge from creeping into his tone as he spoke, and immediately felt guilty when bewildered expressions crossed their faces.

"She seemed so distracted and bored. We thought it would be a good idea for her to get out," Audrey frowned, "Why? Is there something we're missing?" Audrey locked eyes with Grant, made a point of looking down at the roses clutched in his right hand and then moved her gaze back up to meet his.

Did Nikki tell her mother about us? No, Nikki would have mentioned it if she had when she spoke to me on the phone last night. No, they don't realize she's engaged to me. They were just doing what they thought was right; it wasn't their fault...
Keeping those thoughts in mind, Grant kept his rising anger in check.
"No-no.
It's not a problem. I'm just... curious. So where did they go?"

"He took her to Gino and Lenny's,"
came
Audrey's reply.

Gino and Lenny's?
The restaurant I took her to for her birthday. Son-of-a-bitch! And she let him!
Grant took a deep breath in and exhaled. He'd simply go to Gino and Lenny's and get her, not a big deal.

"They'll be home in a few hours, Grant, don't worry about them. She's in good hands," Ron assured him. "Come on in, sit down and have a drink I have a great bottle of-."

"You know what. I have to go, I'll be back in a while," Grant shook his head, turned, and made his way back out of the house, briskly walking towards the car, roses still clutched in his hand, with his bewildered relatives watching from the porch.

****

As she looked down at her left hand, the indent left by the absence of her engagement ring seemed to scream up at her accusingly. Her engagement ring was stored safely in the inside compartment of her handbag. It had been there since she’d arrived home from college a few days prior.

Looking up at Jeff...
 
or was it Jeremy... maybe it was Jarrod - shit she couldn't even remember, although she was almost certain his name started with a J, she realized that he seemed to be awaiting a response from her. Had he asked her a question?

Nikki sighed, and gave him a weak smile. Maybe at one time she would have found the man sitting across from her a great catch. In truth he was; blond, blue eyes, all American good looks, attending Harvard law, from a well respected family
and
he seemed to have a great, easygoing personality. A great catch - for someone else.

There was only one man for her; one man that could leave her breathless with a touch, make her wet with a look and make her body explode with just a few kisses and light caresses.
Her Uncle Grant.

Her date reached over and touched her arm, "Are you alright?"

Pulling herself fully from her thoughts of Grant, Nikki gave him a genuine smile. Jeff! His name was definitely Jeff! "Oh, I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind right now. I'm sorry, what were you asking?"

Returning her smile, Jeff sat back in his chair. "I was asking what you were majoring in."

"Oh," Nikki chuckled before responding, "Political science."

An excited light flashed in Jeff's eyes and his smile widened, "Really? That was what I majored in. Have you considered law school after you get your BA?"

What would Grant do if he knew she was on a date? He'd kill her. No, he'd kill Jeff. Well... not literally... Well, maybe not literally. She frowned. He'd be upset that was for sure and she'd
have
to tell him when she spoke to him next.

Ultimately, he'd understand that she’d had no choice; otherwise her parents would have asked too many questions about her reason for refusing. She'd refused at first, but their insistence had made it impossible for her to say no in the end. As it was, she was getting an eerie feeling that her mother was suspecting something. Besides, it wasn't as though anything was going to happen between her and Jeff.

"Nikki?"

"Sorry. What? Oh, yes." She shook her head, flustered. "I mean no. I'm not all that interested in law school."

As she twirled a fork full of spaghetti and brought it to her mouth, she noticed Grant out of the corner of her eye. Grant? She blinked and looked again but he was gone - if he had even been there to begin with.

Nikki laughed at herself.
It's your guilty conscience playing tricks on you
. Grant had told her he was going to be held up on some classified assignment and wouldn't be home for the holidays, so it couldn't have been.
Besides, Grant does top secret, covert missions for the government, if he was spying on me, there's no way in hell I'd be able to see him unless he wanted to be seen!

Trying to put the crazy idea that Grant was watching her out of her mind, she attempted to push her thoughts of him on a back burner once more. Just because she had no intention of going out with this guy again didn't mean she couldn't at least try to have a good time. Did it?

****

Shit did see me? What am I doing? Spying on Nikki! Fuck, I'm such an asshole. I need to just go over there and take her home with me
. But he couldn't seem to make himself. Instead, he peered through the glass window of the kitchen door and into the dining room.

This was one of the first times, in many, many years that he actually felt somewhat out of control. He always kept his emotions in check, but the thought of another man with Nikki had him fighting to remain calm and not overreact to the situation. He didn't like the feeling - not one bit.

"Hey buddy, you can't be in here," a deep male voice stated from behind him.

Turning towards the voice, Grant eyed the large, balding man in the chef's uniform, as he pulled his CIA badge from the inside pocket of his three-quarter length black leather jacket. Flipping it open, as one would see an agent do in the movies, he plastered a stern look on his face. "I need to be here, sir. It's a matter of national security."

The balding chef frowned and peered over Grant's shoulder and looked directly at Nikki and her date.
"Ron's girl?
Nikki?"

"Oh, yes," Grant confirmed slipping an arm around the chef's shoulder and ushering him away from the door, he found himself grateful that the chef, with whom Grant was certain he’d gone to high school, didn't appear to recognize him as Ron's younger adopted brother.

"What did she do?" The chef whispered, allowing
himself
to be led away from the door.

"Not
her,
sir; the man she's with." When the chef's face took on a concerned look Grant gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I have things under control, the situation is contained, just go about your business and make like I'm not even here."

"What did
he
do?"

"It's a matter of national security, sir. I'm not at liberty to discuss it." Grant had to force himself to keep a straight face as he assured the worried chef. "It'll be over before you know it."

"Alright, whatever you say,"
came
the hesitant reply, but the worried look remained in the chef's eyes.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Grant made his way back to the kitchen exit and peered out through the small window to watch Nikki once again.
The schmuck is touching her hand
! Jealousy reared its ugly head and he couldn't keep a low growl from rumbling in the back of his throat. He found himself fighting the urge to go barrelling out of the kitchen when Nikki snatched her hand out of his grasp and placed it onto her lap.

That's my girl. Catch the hint college boy;
She's
not interested.
Again, he found himself thinking that his behaviour, at the current moment, was extremely juvenile.

He was watching so intently that he hadn't noticed her glance up in his direction until their eyes locked.
Fuck!
He pulled back from the window, but it was too late, she was already up and out of her seat and making her way towards the kitchen.