The Gunslinger's Gift (13 page)

“We’ll
all
be safe here.” He squeezed her,
pressing light kisses to her hair until she turned her face up then she got
some to her cheeks, her nose, and her lips. The elevator stopped all too soon,
and James was leading her through the corridors. Stopping at a door, he punched
in a code and looked to her. “Kick off your shoes out here. Trust me on this.
Close your eyes, and let’s see if you can’t guess what my surprise is for you
once I lead you in a couple of steps.”

She did
as he instructed. “Should I strip out of the rest of my clothes too?” Yep, she
was horny…again. “Because if I get naked, I think you should to. Would be a
great deal of fun for us both to get nekkid.”

“No!
Sophia, control yourself for two minutes, woman.” James was laughing. “Shoes
off, eyes closed, and just relax. I’ll lead you in and see if you can figure
out what I’ve been working on for the last few weeks. Quickly, though, before
Vivian thinks to check the security feed and finds us.”

“Shoot,
okay.” She stepped in with him. The moment her bare feet touched the ground,
she shivered. “James,” she whispered in name in awe and turned to face him, her
eyes still closed. “Can I open them yet?” She felt nature reaching for her, the
dirt under her feet, the trees and plants that were starting to take root. She
tilted her face up to the sky and sighed. “I feel the sun. Amazing.” She could
feel
everything
and blushed. “Well,
fudgenuggets.”
No wonder he wanted me to
stay dressed. Sneaky, sneaky man.

“Open
your eyes,” he said, with a chuckle. “Take a look around and tell me if you
like it, if I need to change anything, or anything of the sort. Damn it, you
know what I mean, Soph. Open your pretty eyes and see if the space is big
enough for you.”

“James,”
she breathed out, when she complied. She studied the space that seemed to be
infinite before focusing back on him. “You did this? For me?” she asked as she
looked up, the glass allowing the sun to beat down upon them. “I—.” She had no
words.

“Wow”
was all she could say as she looked at the hammock that was strung between two
tall, strong-looking trees. There were small benches, as well as many areas for
seating that had large and comfortable cushions. “And the sprinklers?” She saw
that there were rows of tubes to mist the plant life.

“All
for you, honey. The watering system will turn on twice a day because of the way
the room is built. A heavier fall first thing in the morning then a mist around
mid-afternoon. I can change the timing as we go along to ensure we find what
works best. There are vents to let out the trapped heat, so it’s never too
stifling in here, as well as letting in cool air too. The ceiling is four
layers of glass sandwiched between military-grade, bullet-resistant polymer.”

He
grinned as he took her hand. “Come here.” Leading her over to another tree, he
stepped around it so she could see the doublewide swing hanging from a branch.
“You don’t want to know what I had to go through to get these blasted trees in
here, especially ones this old. You’ll have to keep an eye on them, though, so
they don’t get too overgrown. Sit.”

“Oh,
I’m sure,” she said, with a smile. “I can’t believe that you did this for me.
It amazes me.” She touched the tree in question. “Amazing.” It seemed to
respond to her, seemed to reach for her. “I love it,” she told him, hugging him
as close as she could.

He
rubbed her back. “Good, thank the gods, because if you didn’t, I really didn’t
have a plan B for this. Now, sit your perky little ass down. This next part is
a little more serious and will take all your consideration. So, clear your
mind, be one with nature, and hear me out. Okay?”

“Okay.”
She took the seat he offered her and settled in. Crossing her legs, she wrapped
her arms around herself. She was worried. Terrified that it was something bad.
“Please don’t ask me to move or something like that. I don’t want to be without
you,” she blurted out.

He
stared at her before shaking his head. “Hell, no,” he whispered. Crouching
down, he took her hands in his, kissing her fingers gently. “I would never do
that, Sophia. I love you. You are my heart and soul. I can’t live without you,
so get that out of your head right now.” He pressed another kiss to her
fingers. Then, he shifted, putting one knee on the ground and pulled something
out of his pocket.

When he
held it up, she saw it was a ring. “Sophia Anne Duffy, my soul mate, the only
woman who I could ever love in this lifetime or in any other. Honey, would you
do me the honor of binding with me in one more way and becoming my wife in
name, on paper, and all nice and official like?”

Sophia
just stared at him. Finally, she licked her lips and grinned. “Yes. Holy Moses,
yes.” She fell into his arms. She hugged him as tightly as she could before
drawing back to kiss him. “Forever,” she whispered against his lips, with happy
tears falling down her cheeks. “Nothing less will do.” She pulled back. “I
can’t believe you got me a ring.” She felt something in her heart shifting. She
felt lighter and more in love, if that was possible. “How about you put that on
me then we get naked?” She giggled.

“Holy
mother of the gods, woman, you have a seriously one-track mind.” He laughed.
Lifting her hand, he slid the ring onto her finger with a smile, pressing a
kiss to the knuckle above it. Then, he gave her a proper kiss, holding her
close as he smiled against her mouth.

“But
that has to wait. We need to tell your sister about the babies. While she’s
still going nuclear, we’ll lock ourselves in here, or our rooms, and then we
can get naked. After we get you food, because I forgot to stop for a snack.
Damn it, you really do distract me, Soph. All in good ways, though, honey.
Never change.”

“Yes,
food would be good.” Sophia winked. “Come on, you know that you love that I
have a one-track mind when it comes to you.” Once more, she wrapped her arms
around his neck and hugged him close. When she pulled back again, she grinned.
“Let’s race. Last one to the dining hall has to tell Vivian.” The last part she
yelled over her shoulder as she ran for the door, laughter following her.

“You’ll
pay for that,” he called after her. She didn’t hear him behind her, though. It
took her a moment, as she hit the elevator area, to realize he wasn’t behind
her. Which meant only one thing—he was using the hidden passages to get there
first.
The sneak!

“You…dirty,
rotten…” She skidded to a stop before Gaius and smirked. “Can you get me to the
dining room before James? I want him to have to tell Vivian something. Please?
It’s something he really doesn’t want to tell her, so please help me win?”

He
stared at her a moment then shrugged. “Why not? I’ve got nothing better to do
at the moment. Where were you when he disappeared?” he asked, as he began to
move up a corridor. At a panel with a screen on it showing the outdoors, he
pressed a finger just behind the corner and the wall shifted, sliding open.

“We had
just left the solarium that he made for me. And the goober disappeared into the
tunnels, which are way cool, by the way. Like crazy cool. I love them.” She
followed at his heels. “We need to go faster. Come on, mister,” she teased,
with a giggle.

“We
don’t need to go faster, just smarter,” he told her. He stepped into the tunnel
and went to another control panel. Flipping it open, he tipped his head
slightly then pressed a couple of buttons.

From a
bit of a distance away they could hear, “What the fuck?”

Whistling
softly, Gaius shut the panel and waved her back out into the main corridors.
After closing the wall up, he went to the elevator and hit the down button. He
caught her staring at him and grinned. “Security features. There are gates you
can drop to block off sections, in case someone gets in there that shouldn’t,
and trap them until you get there. I just blocked off James’ easiest route.
Now, he’ll have to move double time.” The cart arrived, and Gaius waved her
inside. “Especially, since he has to either come back into the main corridors,
or travel twice as far in the old ones.”

“Oh, I
could kiss you.” She grinned. “He just doesn’t realize that
I’ll
tell Viv to keep her from going for
his balls. I’m rather attached and all that fun stuff.” She all but danced
along at Gaius’s side when they got off the elevator. “He won’t be hurt in
there, right?” She now recalled James mentioning something about security
features and guns.

“No,
it’s all non-lethal. I just dropped a couple of gates to buy you some time.
He’ll likely be pretty pissed when he arrives, you realize that, right?” Gaius
asked. He followed her to the dining hall. “Especially if you’re still wearing
that shit-eating grin.”

“Good
point, but by then I’ll have already talked to Vivian. Besides, it’ll only mean
that he’ll spank me. Okay, now I know I’m wearing that grin that you were
talking about.”

Gaius
shook his head at her and rolled his eyes. “You’re a born troublemaker, you
know that.” A statement, not a question. “All right, here you are. Go and do
whatever you need to do. He’s probably about ten minutes behind you, unless he
got to a control panel, and then you have maybe four minutes. Depends how
clearly he was thinking. Count on the four minutes being your max.” With a
small, flippant salute, he headed off up a hallway.

Sophia
leaned back against the wall and waited for James. When he approached her with
a thunderous look on his face, she beamed. “Hey, you. If you want,
I’ll
tell her,” she told him, her hands
moving up his chest then wrapping around his neck.

“I
already figured it out, especially when I spotted Gaius smirking at me. That
was cheating.” James narrowed his eyes. “Luckily for you, I’m willing to honor
the bet and tell your sister the good news. But I’ll be putting on a cup to
protect the goods.”

“Good
idea. Or you can put me in front of you and hug me while we
both
tell her. That way, she won’t hurt
you,
and
you’ll get to hold me. I
think that’s totally a win in all ways, don’t you?”

“That
could work, but eventually, she’s going to hug you, which means she’ll get
close enough to punch me again.” He pushed a hand through his hair, messing it
up even more than normal, and let out a breath as he shook his arms out. “Okay,
let’s do this before I completely change my mind.”

Sophia
turned around and let him follow her, her hand in his. “For now, let’s get food.”
Her stomach growled as they walked into the cafeteria.

“Yes,
you need to eat.” Smiling at her, he drew her close. “Later, I’m going to tan
your hide for that little trick you had Gaius pull. Since I can’t do anything
to him without getting in shit,
you’ll
have a very rosy red ass.”

“Promise?”
Sophia asked, with a grin. When he nodded, she could have done a little dance.
“I love it when you ensure that my butt is pink because I’ve been a very bad
girl. Especially when you rub it afterwards and press kisses along my spine.”
She sighed. “Amazing.” She fanned herself. “I love it.”

“And
into the other phase of this,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Can we get back into
the food portion? Hey, look, they have a steak out and waiting for you, all
nicely cooked the way you seem to like it. You’re really hating this, aren’t
you?” he asked, when she wrinkled up her nose.

“Yes,
but my mouth is freaking watering,” she grumbled. “Seriously, it’s ridiculous
how much I crave meats and steaks. And the staff here already seems to know
just how I need it too. Now, enough talk and more food. Then, tell Viv before
having fun in our rooms.” She was back on track now, in a way.

* * *
*

“James,
you’re supposed to leave the steak on your eye, not shift it around,” Sophia
chastised him softly as she settled at his side. Reaching up, she brushed her
fingers to his cheek and frowned. “I’m so sorry. I honestly didn’t think that
Vivian would do that. I mean, I knew she would be frustrated, but for her to
sucker punch you like she did?” Sophia lifted the edge of the cold meat and
winced. “And with her ring on too. Goodness. Are you sure that you don’t want
to go to medical to have Janet look at this?”

“I told
you she wouldn’t be happy,” he muttered. “She’s out for blood now, Soph. This is
seriously uncool. I can’t be watching over my shoulder for her around every
corner, here of all places. This is supposed to be our safe haven, not a
fucking gauntlet.”

Mercury
came into the room then and leaned in. “Really? You let her punch you again? Grow
some balls, already.”

James
threw him the finger and murmured something nasty under his breath.

“Thanks,
but you’re not my type.” Mercury winked at him then nodded to the other
Guardians as they filtered in. “So, Gaius has been chit chatting with our little
traitor friend, Henry, and so far, there isn’t much good news. The only thing
we’ve gotten for sure is that they are being made aware of the VV’s.”

“How?”
Jason asked, as he sat down. He did a double take when he spotted Sophia and
grinned. “Hey, Soph. Viv says hello.” His gaze shifted to James, and he shook
his head. “You really don’t want me repeating what she has to say about you.
Even I was blushing while she was spouting off.”