She looked down into his eyes. “I love you,” she whispered.
He smiled up at her. “Love you, too.”
She held still for Ellis, tipping her head back to meet his gaze. “I love you,” she whispered.
He smiled, kissing her. “Love you, too, babe.”
A satisfied sigh escaped her as he slowly and carefully worked his cock inside her ass, the familiar pinch as he stretched her tight rim with his shaft soon turning into delicious pleasure that made her clit throb.
She draped herself over Brad’s chest. “Fuck me, boys,” she said. “Please.”
Together, the men set a slow, steady rhythm her body responded to with no additional help needed. She closed her eyes and pictured their energies swirling around her, joining with hers, forming an unbreakable bond between their souls.
Never in her life had she ever dreamed she’d go through what she’d been through in the past couple of weeks, but she knew with these two men by her side, as well as her friends, she could make it through anything.
I can do this. It will be okay.
She understood.
As she felt her release build, she pictured her fear as a balloon on a string. And when her climax started, bubbling from her clit and spreading throughout her body, in her mind she snipped that string with a pair of scissors and watched the balloon soar free.
She thought she heard Julie’s voice whisper, “Namaste, sister.”
Mandaline let out a cry as another, more powerful orgasm hit her, slamming her back into her body. “Now!” she gasped.
Both men sped up, catching up and coming with groans of their own. Her eyes dropped closed as a peace the likes of which she’d never felt before settled over her.
“Namaste, sister,” she whispered.
They didn’t get more than a brief nap before daylight overtook them. With a little sleep under her belt, Mandaline shooed Ellis to work instead of going to the airport with her to pick up Sachi’s father later that afternoon. Paige ran her back to the house, which had been cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape, to pick up the Element.
She stared at the house for a few minutes in the daylight.
Her house.
Her home.
With her men.
Yes, something horrible had just happened there, but they’d come through it on the other side. And in some ways, far better off than before. Sachi, once healed from her physical and emotional wounds, wouldn’t have to live her life looking over her shoulder.
She nodded. Matt and Sami would also have a beautiful house when they finished their restorations. Despite the bad history, as Julie had said, things couldn’t be bad.
And Mandaline refused to give negative energies any power over her any longer.
Her own soul felt lighter for having finally released her fear—and in the process Julie’s spirit.
She drove back to the shop where Brad helped her load all of Sachi’s things. There wouldn’t be any reason Sachi and her dad couldn’t go back to her house now. She’d drive him out to the house to pick up Sachi’s car after they got back from Tampa.
She stopped by the hospital before heading to Tampa to check on her. The deputy was still on duty at her door. She was sitting up in bed, a frown on her face, the remote control in her good hand, and a half-eaten plate of something Mandaline assumed was supposed to be lunch on the tray in front of her.
“Do you believe this shit?” Sachi said. “No fucking decent cable channels. And look at this slop!”
Mandaline tilted her head. “I see you’re feeling better.”
“Only if you’re here to spring me.”
“Not yet. I’m going to go get your dad. You’ll be ready for discharge by then.”
A frown flitted across Sachi’s features before she schooled her expression again. She wouldn’t meet Mandaline’s gaze. “I feel bad I called him,” she softly said. “I shouldn’t have. I’ll be okay. Just a flesh wound.”
“Sachi!” she snapped, harsher than she meant, but it got her attention. “Fucking cry it out already, okay? If I can cry, so can you!”
She closed her eyes for a moment, but the tears began to spill from under her lids. “I thought we were both going to die,” she whispered. “I couldn’t have lived with myself if he’d hurt you when he was after me.”
Mandaline sat on the edge of the bed and held her as best she could with Sachi’s right arm in a sling. “It’s okay,” she said. “Let it out. It’s my turn to be the sponge.”
That got a short laugh out of Sachi.
“Listen. Mandatory minimum of one week paid vacation for you, lady. And when I bring your dad back here, we’re taking you to your house. I think we all know who was behind the break-in. You two need some alone time. You don’t come into the shop unless it’s you bringing your dad in to meet everyone. Got it?”
Sachi tearfully nodded as she wiped at her eyes. “Got it, chief. Thank you.”
“No problem.” She kissed the top of her head. “And that’s sister to you.”
Sachi let out another barking laugh. “Sister.” She hugged Mandaline even more tightly. “I like the sound of that, sister. I like it a lot.” She looked up at Mandaline. “You’re my sister, too, even if I can’t get you to shoot skeet.”
Sachi had gotten her blue eyes from her father. Instead of going to the cell phone lot to wait for him, Mandaline opted to park and go inside to the main terminal and wait by the airside shuttles. When his plane landed, he called her and she told him where she was waiting.
He looked worried and exhausted as he hurried over to her after craning his neck looking for her. Barely taller than Mandaline, his skin was tan from many hours spent outside, his short grey hair peeking out from under a Cessna baseball cap. “Mandaline?”
She hugged him. “Hi, Mr. Bloomfeld, it’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Please, call me Michael. Miki. How is she?”
“She’s about ready to take the hospital apart piece by piece.”
He froze before he burst out in tearful laughter. Putting down his backpack, he pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose. “That’s my Miki.”
On the way back to Brooksville, she related what happened to him from the start. He slumped against the door and stared out the windshield as he listened. “You must think I’m a horrible father for letting her leave home the way I did.”
“No! Not at all. Sachi…Miki is a very independent woman. I don’t see how you could have made her stay.”
“I’ve thought about moving down here the past few years. It gets so damn cold out there and I’m not getting any younger. And there are a lot of airports down here, small ones. I could find work I’m sure.” He looked at her. “Do you think she’d have me?”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“I’ve always wondered if she maybe blames me. For moving us out there. For not being home when it happened.”
More hidden pain. More unspoken fear. “Sir, not that it’s my business, but I don’t think she does. I think you and her need to settle that issue now, before you think about flying home.”
“She’s always so…you know how she is. She brushes things off. Never thinks about herself, always worries about others. I’ve been worried about her even before now that she’s not as good as she says over the phone.”
She made the turnoff to Brooksville. “Then I think that’s a great place to start the conversation. She’s got a spare bedroom at her house. And I’ve ordered her to take a week’s paid vacation, so she’s going to have to do something since, as she’s already bitched, she can’t shoot skeet.”
He nodded. “Thank you, Mandaline.” He paused. “She told me about your friend, Julie. I’m really sorry I didn’t get to meet her. I know Miki loved her.”