Riordan (24 page)

of him.”

“I am. And of you. You did something that nobody else could have done. You made my boy

into a man. And what a man he was.” As she walked away, the president told her to come to him.

It was her turn. Turn for what, she had no idea.

~~~

Riordan stood up when her name was called. He moved, picking up things that he’d put out

for this on the way toward her. He’d planned this for days now, and he hoped to Christ that she

didn’t tell him to fuck off. It would be like her to do that, here and now. The podium was moved

and flowers were bought out from the back, just as the presidential clergy was stepping forward.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to—”

Storm cut the man off and Riordan closed his eyes when she turned to speak at him. Not to

him, but at him. He nearly grinned, but thought for sure that she was armed despite her being

checked at the door for guns.

“What do you think you’re doing? I thought we agreed that this would be a simple affair and

that we’d do this at the court house. At home. In our own town.”

“No, you said it would be simple. And this is. Very simple. And we’re not having a lot of

fanfare, as you said you didn’t want. I just chose to have it here, while we’re all dressed up and

dignified.” He looked down at her. “I thought you’d have on a dress, but this is nice. Someday

I’ll see you in heels, but I guess not on our wedding day.”

“You planned this.” He nodded, and when she looked at the president, he smiled at her.

“You were in on this and you never thought to tell me about it.”

“Some things are worth seeing you not know about. We had a slight delay and I had to

improvise. That was why I came back to talk to you about the medals. Oh, and you’re welcome.”

“I’m not thanking you, you jackass.” The room erupted in laughter, and she flushed. It was

very becoming to see her face bright with embarrassment. “What I mean is, this isn’t the way

things are done. We should be planning more.”

“I planned. You’ll do this for me.” He leaned to her ear and nipped at it. “I need you right

now. And as soon as you say yes, I’m going to take you away and help you get out of this thing

before I fuck you.”

Her eyes were glazed over with need. Her tiger, nearly always on the edge, moved along her

skin and had his doing the same. When she nodded, the clergy started again, and she answered at

all the right times. Before he could slip the ring on her finger, she gripped his hand in hers.

“I want to say something.” He nodded. “I love you so very much. And your family. More

than that, I want to tell you how much I admire you, need you, and how happy I am that you’re

willing to marry me.”

“I love you.” She nodded, and he slipped the ring on the rest of the way. Riordan kissed her

hungrily and then lifted his head when the clergy told them to face their family. The president

came to them and held both their hands as he introduced them as Mr. and Command Sergeant

Major Harrison. And that there was a nice reception in the residence for those that wanted to

attend. Riordan kissed Storm again and realized then that she’d been called Command Sergeant

Major, not just Sergeant Major. Somewhere in the past ten minutes, he knew, she’d been

promoted.

As they were congratulated on their marriage, Riordan thought of the things that had

happened in the last hour. Notwithstanding, he’d been married to the love of his life, but the

things that had come with being married to her had surprised him. Most of it he’d had no idea

about. Like her job.

“I told him that I didn’t want to work for him.” Riordan thought perhaps she’d said that, but

he doubted that she really believed it. “I’ve been promoted, too.”

“I can see that.” In addition to the smaller star on her stripes, she also had been awarded

several ribbons, two of which had not been given out in a very long time. The Medal of Honor

was hanging from her neck on a ribbon, and she kept touching it with her fingers whenever she

thought no one was looking. The rest he was going to have to have her explain to him, but he

was sure she was prouder of the fudge she kept sneaking pieces of than she was all the ribbons

and pins on her chest. When Storm moved away from him, his dad came up and put his arm

around his shoulders.

“You happy, son?” He told his dad that he had never been so happy. “She’s happy, too. I tell

you, I’ve never seen a person take to the conversion like she did. Never in all my life would I

have believed that someone would come out of it in less than two hours. But then she’s always

been on the stubborn side, don’t you think?”

He nodded. Riordan thought about how he’d just settled down to wait her out when she sat

up on the bed that day. At first he’d thought she was dreaming. He knew that sometimes she had

bad dreams that would wake her in the middle of the night. He had reached for her, to help her

lay back down, when she smiled.

“When can I shift?” He asked her what she’d said. “When can I be a cat? I can feel her

there. She wants out to go on a run.”

“You’re not supposed to be up yet.” He felt stupid for saying that, and she laughed at him.

“What I mean is, you should be resting still. Not wanting to go out and play in the trees.”

“Why not?” He didn’t have an answer for her and told her that. “Then let’s go out and play

in the trees.”

Before he could try to think of a reason that they shouldn’t, even if there was a reason out

there, he found himself in the empty park behind the hospital in the middle of the night. She

turned to him, and he realized how she was dressed and laughed. The sheet that he’d pulled on

her when she’d finally fallen asleep was dirty and stained with her blood.

“Yeah, I didn’t see anything I had with me that wasn’t cut to shit or had blood in it. You

think anyone thinks I’m a nut ball?” He kissed her then and pulled the toga wrapped sheet off her

luscious body. “I feel like my skin is crawling and my body is hot.”

“You’re going to run hotter from now on. And you’re going to need to eat better. You’ll

burn more calories as a tiger than as a human.” He dropped to his knees in front of her. “And

you’re going to want to have sex with me all the time, no matter where you are. And so you

know, if the urge ever hits you, I’ll try my best to make your wishes come true. Or just you

coming.”

“You mean like I did before, or more so?” He licked the area right over her soft curls. Her

soft moan made him slide his fingers into her heat as he watched her face. “You should really get

to work there before I bring myself. I told you, my skin is crawling right now.”

“Always so impatient. What am I going to do with you?” Her answer had him laughing. “All

right, but don’t tell me later that you didn’t ask for it.”

Pulling her pussy to him, he licked her clit until she was riding his mouth. He fucked her

with his fingers, her juices running down his hand. When she begged him to stop, he looked up

at her and he could see her cat. Before he could tell her to wait, she let her go.

When her cat was standing before him, he thought perhaps he’d never seen a more beautiful

sight. And even today, when she’d become his wife, he knew that he would forever remember

the way she’d looked that day. She was golden and black, her eyes the color of the emeralds that

he’d put on her when he married her. Her cat looked up at him as if she’d known him all along.

That she’d been waiting all her life for just that moment when she’d come into their lives.

“Christ, you’re beautiful.” Her cat moved along his body, marking him with her scent.

Riordan ran his hands over her fur, amazed at her softness. “I wish there was more room here so

that we could run. But we’re in a highly public place, and I don’t want either of us to get shot.”

I love your smell. I can almost taste you, it’s so strong.
Riordan had let her have her play but

kept an eye out for intruders. And when they got home, the two of them ran for miles before they

fell asleep in the woods.

“Riordan?” He tried to think where he was when his mom laughed, bringing him back to the

present. “Your dad said that you’d zoned out on him and he went to find Storm. He seems to

think she’s the reason for you not listening to me.”

“She is. And I don’t mind telling you that she more than likely will be a distraction for a

long time.” Mom told him that was the way it should be. “I love her. I know that you know that,

but I just wanted to tell you that I would die for her. I love her that much.”

“Good.” They watched her move around the room trying to avoid the president. Both of

them laughed when he not only cornered her, but had her picture taken with him by the White

House staffer. “She’s good for the other boys, too. Darcy is finally getting out of his shell of

boredom, and Ennis is thinking of opening his own practice. I know that he has a partnership

now, but he was telling me that he wants to be on his own.”

“Mac told me he’d have her baby if she’d let him. I guess she’s showing him how to be a

better people reader. If you had asked me, I thought he was pretty good at it anyway, but he

swears he’s missing things. I think he’s going to be taking a lot of board meetings now with a

different attitude. Plus she is helping him swing a deal on a nice house. It’s pretty near where we

live now, and she thinks she can get if for him for about half the asking price.” Mom laughed

with him. “Aedan wants to leave the firm. Not that I want him to, but it’s time. He’s bored, too. I

mean, before we left he told me that he thought he could do better behind his own desk. I’m not

sure what he meant by that, do you?”

“He’s running for the governor’s position that is vacant. I think he’ll do well at it. He

certainly has the right kind of support.” They both watched him speaking to the president and the

man laughing. Riordan thought that his brother might be in the same position soon if Storm had

her way about it. “Liam talk to you yet?”

“No. What is it Storm has him convinced he can do? And she’s right, too, all of them are set

for bigger and better things, I think.” Mom nodded and smiled at him. “Not me. I’m happy with

running the family business and having a dozen or so kids, thanks.”

“You’re happy now because you have her. But when the children come, and they will, you’ll

want more. If not for you and her, then for them.” She leaned against him as she continued.

“Liam is going to talk to you soon. And when he does, keep an open mind. If he needs to do this,

then you will allow him the freedom to do so.”

“What is it I’m agreeing to?” She told him that he’d have to wait for Liam. “But Mom, I

don’t want to wait.”

Her laughter made him smile. Sitting down at one of the many vacant tables now that the

awards had been given out and most of the families had gone home, Riordan thought of what he

was going to do when he got to go home. He was going to make love to his very beautiful wife.

“Wait, I don’t understand.” Storm only nodded. It would come to him sooner or later, and

she had time. “What do you mean you’ve come to arrest me? I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m just a

lousy business man that is losing his shirt.”

“Yes, and the millions you have in an account with your fingerprints all over it is going to

help take you in for crimes against the state.” He looked at the top of his desk, and she sat down

on the edge of it. “If you reach for that gun, I’m going to be very pissed at you if I have to kill

you. I have dinner plans tonight, and you’re not going to fuck them up by making me have to

hang around and explain why I had to blow your fucking brains out.”

She put her gun on her lap. He stared at it, then at her again. He was thinking hard, she knew

it, but right now, she couldn’t care less what new lie he was thinking up. Storm kept her eye on

him as she thought of all the shit she had to do when she got home. If she got home.

There were people working The Bakery for her and her aunts, who were currently on a much

deserved cruise. She had hired seven people to not just cook and run the register for them, but to

run the small café that had come from the sandwiches that Bri had introduced to the

neighborhood. And business was booming right now.

“I want to make a deal.” Nodding, she thought of the deals she had going too. The house for

Mac. The building that she and Riordan were buying because it had been too good a deal to pass

up, as well as several hundred other things that they had been looking into.

“What do you have to offer me? And when I say me, I mean the government. I’m hoping

nothing, but you never know.” But she did know and that was what they’d been hoping for. He’d

give up his partner in exchange for some of his prison time. It was still going to be a long time,

but he might not die in there.

“I have this buddy of mine that I work with sometimes. He has some connections that you