Tamed by Love (Agent Lovers Series Book 2) (2 page)

“We should get out of here, otherwise the water bill will be insane,” said Liz with a grin, letting her fingertips wander over the back of Gray’s neck.

Gray turned the faucet off and got out of the shower still holding her. After she freed herself from his grasp and was standing on her own legs again, Liz reached for one of the towels and wrapped it around her body.

Gray followed her movements. He could never get enough of looking at her. Sighing, he wrapped one of the soft towels around his waist and followed her like a shadow into the bedroom without taking his eyes off her. “Liz?”

“Yes?” She turned toward him.

“Um…” Where should he start? After all, it wasn’t every day that he openly admitted his love for her. “Do you still hold it against me that I urged you to marry me?”

“Urged is certainly the wrong word, don’t you think?” Since she smiled slightly when she answered, he was pretty sure she had at least partially forgiven him.

“Are you happy then, with the situation as it is now?” He fumbled around the real topic.

“What do you mean? Do you want to know if I like it here?”

“That’s not really the point … but do you like it here?”

“You have a beautiful house, Gray, and I’m very comfortable.”

“It’s our house now, Liz, not just mine,” he said, pleased with her response. “What I wanted to know was whether you felt good about our marriage and if you are happy.”

“Even though I hadn’t expected it, I do feel good about our marriage. But why do you ask? Have I given you some kind of reason to think otherwise?”

“Liz, sweetheart,” he said and sighed before he looked at her again. “I just get the feeling you’re trying to keep your distance from me.”

“If that were true, then what was that all about in the shower just now? It didn’t look to me like I was keeping you at a distance.”

Gray ran his hand through his short, dark hair and sighed again. He simply wasn’t reaching his wife. “I didn’t mean that either. Everything’s great in that department. But other than sex, you withdraw from me and that concerns me. I mean, you rarely talk about what’s on your mind.”

Liz shrugged. “Are you saying I don’t trust you?” She turned away and walked toward the closet. Gray noticed the wary expression in her eyes. Determined, he got in her way.

“It’s not just a bed that couples share in a marriage, but everything else too. You never talk about your past and say next to nothing about your family. And you make it very hard to get to know you. I want to know everything about you; after all, I’m your husband. There’s a part of you that you’re keeping from me. Why? Is it because you don’t want me to get to know you?” Gray took a step toward her and stroked her cheek gently with his fingertips. With a tender look he examined her and could see in her eyes how she was pulling even further away, shutting him out. “That’s exactly what I mean, Liz! Do you do that subconsciously? Or are you deliberately keeping me out?”

“You married me; you didn’t buy me. And besides, what do you want to know? What’s so wrong with me wanting to keep something for myself?” Liz took a step back and wrapped her arms around herself. If Gray hadn’t known better, he would have sworn he saw fear in her eyes. Quickly he rejected the thought. Liz wasn’t afraid of anything.

“It means more to me than you think, Liz. I love you; I love you more than you can imagine.”

Her shocked expression spoke volumes. His confession was probably a mistake. She was still not ready to hear that from him. Nevertheless, Gray felt fantastic, as if freed from a heavy burden.

“Don’t do that Gray! You’re not allowed to do that!”

“I can’t help it, sweetheart.” He said and laughed. “You can’t stop love!”

“Then fight against it,” she said. “I will too and that will stop it!”

“That’s the real reason you hide from me, isn’t it?” He finally understood her reaction. “You’re afraid of your feelings and what will happen if you listen to them. You don’t have to be afraid. What’s so wrong with loving someone? What’s more beautiful than loving and being loved?”

When he took a step closer to take her into his arms, she whirled around, ran into the bathroom and locked herself in. He talked to her through the door. “Liz? Darling? Come on! Open the door! Let’s talk about it.”

Silence.

“Okay. I’ll be patient and won’t press you anymore. I know you’ll see it, too, one day. You’ll feel it.” Gray stroked the door and mumbled to himself, “I love you, Liz! Nothing would ever convince me otherwise, and I won’t fight it.”

With a sigh, he turned away, put on a clean pair of jeans and a short-sleeved dark gray shirt and left.

When he reached the patio, Jeff looked at him curiously from his lounge chair. “So? Did she react?” he asked, sitting up and reaching for his coffee cup.

“Yes,” said Gray with a crooked grin.

“Well, what did she say?”

“Not very much. She locked herself in the bathroom.”

Jeff choked on his coffee, coughed, and banged his fist against his chest. “She did
what
?”

“It gave her quite a shock. She even demanded I suppress my feelings for her.”

“Now what are you gonna do?”

“Just wait, I guess. At some point she’ll realize she feels that way, too. If she didn’t feel something for me, she wouldn’t have panicked and hid in the bathroom. She doesn’t know how to deal with her feelings and is trying to ignore them.”

“That’s tough. People are powerless against their feelings. No one can do anything about it, not even Liz!”

“Exactly! That’s why I’m just going to wait until she sees it for herself.” Gray leaned back in his lounge chair and put on his sunglasses.
At least she’s not indifferent to me
, Gray thought. She needed time, and he would give her as much time as she wanted—until she finally opened her heart to him. Then he would remind her what it was like for him. He had forced her into marrying him by threatening to tell her family what she did for a living. He had strong feelings for her even then, and at the time, it was the only way he felt he could keep her with him. He wouldn’t push his feelings on her. Not that. He would just remind her that she couldn’t escape them and would have to come to terms with them, even if it was unpleasant for her.

***

With her knees to her chest, Liz sat on the bathroom floor, squeezed into the corner. She was as far away from the door as she could get, just in case her husband tried to kick in the door.

With her back against the cool tile, she dropped her head, resigned. This was exactly what she had been afraid of! She had gone to great lengths to keep Gray at a great distance—except, of course, when they slept together—to not trigger this destructive feeling in him, but obviously it hadn’t worked. He must have fallen in love with her shortly after their wedding. So it was only a matter of time before he brought up the notion of love. She had actually expected it to happen much sooner, given the way he looked at her as if waiting for something.

What should she do now? Would he expect her to quit her job next? If she truly loved him, she would do that to make him happy. But then she would probably be unhappy again, or at least, dissatisfied. And she didn’t want to feel that way again. She didn’t want to get into a situation again where she had to hide herself to please others.

As she tried to figure a way out, she thought about Jenny. Her friend had been right all along, that Chris and Gray wanted more from them than just shallow affairs.

Liz opened the bathroom door and looked around to see if Gray was nearby. When she didn’t see him, she breathed a sigh of relief. Excellent. She went to the closet, a custom-made affair that took up an entire wall, opened one of the ceiling-high, mirrored doors and pulled out some clean clothes. She quickly slipped into her things and snatched her leather jacket from the end of the bed.

Without saying goodbye, she scurried down the stairs and out of the house and climbed onto her motorcycle. She revved the engine loudly as she shot down the driveway.

***

“Sounds like your wife’s on the run,” said Jeff.

“Where to now? Trying to let off some steam? She can’t go to her old apartment.”

“So, that’s why you pushed her to finally clean it out and move her stuff here.”

“Uh huh,” Gray said and laughed. When he put his mind to something, no one could stop him.

***

An hour later the phone rang and a furious Chris was on the line. That’s how Gray knew where Liz had gone. Apparently she was trying to find support from her girlfriend, Jenny.

“What’s the matter? Calm down, man!” Gray said.

“Your wife showed up here a few minutes ago and took off with Jennifer. When I asked where they were going, they said they were going to emigrate to a country without any men! Did you have a fight with Liz? Why did you have to drag me into it?” Chris asked.

“Calm down; we didn’t have a fight. Liz is just upset and needs to blow off some steam. Besides, I didn’t drag you into anything.”

“Stop upsetting her, damn it! Every time she shows up here like this, Jennifer gets mad at me afterward. I’m happy for all the progress I’ve made with her, as insignificant as it might seem, and then I have to start all over again after Liz comes over.”

“Hm, that doesn’t sound good. How far have you gotten with her?” Gray asked.

Chris told Gray about how things had progressed with Jennifer, but Gray didn’t find it encouraging in the least.

“Jeez, you aren’t any further along than I am. I guess it can only get better from here, right? Anyway, stop worrying so much. They’ll show up soon and then you’ll have Jennifer all to yourself again.”

“Yeah, but what kind of mood will she be in when she gets here?” he asked sullenly.

They ended their conversation and Gray told Jeff about the call. Jeff guffawed when he heard how Chris had behaved on the phone.

“Why should it be any better for him than it is for me?” said Gray grinning. He had barely stretched out on the lounge chair when the phone rang. “What’s going on today?”

This time it was Terence. Gray’s former colleague had been at a nearby military base for several hours and invited himself over to Gray’s for a short visit. Gray laughed and promised to pick him up.

“Jeff, when Liz shows up, will you please tell her I’m picking up Terence at Townsend’s?”

“No problem, but I don’t think she’ll show up that soon.”

“I do. It doesn’t matter how mad she gets, she’ll always come home; I’m sure of that.”

Gray took his keys from the table, left the house and got into his SUV. The Mercedes looked like new after Carlos had spent over a month repairing it. There was no indication that Liz and Jennifer’s joyride had put his jewel through the ringer. Thinking about it again sent a shiver down his spine. Luckily neither of the girls had been harmed. Luckily!

Gray started the engine and pictured having Liz bent over his knee if she ever did something so idiotic again.

Three hours had passed before Gray returned home with Terence in tow. Liz still wasn’t back. Immediately Gray’s stomach turned; he was worried about his wife. Was she okay?
What’s the big idea? You’re acting like her babysitter
.
She’s only been gone four hours
. But Jennifer was with her and that was the troubling part.

Gray stood in the entryway, looking at Jeff, who was talking on the phone. He knew that, regardless of night or day, Liza and Jennifer always attracted trouble. Always!

Jeff stood in the middle of the hallway with the telephone to his ear. His demeanor changed from disbelief to amazement. A moment later he was grinning. Gray sensed that he would start roaring with laughter soon. And so it was. Jeff broke out in raucous laughter, holding his stomach with his free hand.

A dark premonition came over Gray. The hairs on his neck stood up and he knew it could only be Liz on the other end of the line. Something had happened. But what? He threw a questioning glance at Jeff who was under control again. Jeff grinned and said into the phone, “You’re
where
?”

“We’ve been booked at the 18
^th
precinct.”

“And how did that happen?”

“We were at the wrong place at the wrong time and got into a fight.”

“You’re joking! You were only out of the house for five minutes!”

“Will you help us or not?”

“Yes, of course! After all, we’re family so I’ve got no choice.” Jeff looked at Gray who held out his hand to take the receiver. But instead of complying, Jeff took a step back with a raised hand. He was clearly enjoying this and innocently asked Liz, “Do you want to maybe talk to your husband before I get you out of the slammer?”

Gray yanked the receiver out of Jeff’s hand and pressed it to his ear.

“Liz? What’s happened?” A sigh came from the other end of the line. “Liz? Are you there?”

“Yes, but can I just tell you about it later? I have to go soon; I’ve already been on the phone too long.”

“Okay, but I want to hear every last detail. Understood?”

“Yes, of course. Can you send Jeff over?”

“I’m coming myself.”

“No, send Jeff! I really don’t need a lecture from you right now. Isn’t Terence visiting, anyway? You should take care of your friend first!”

“Terence can survive for a little while without me. I’m on my way.” Gray hung up before she could protest again. Then he looked at Jeff. “Where are they?”

“At the 18
^th
precinct.” Jeff smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

“What did they do? Rob a pizza place?” said Terence.

“They said something about getting roped into a fight.”

“Roped into or instigated?”

“You’ll have to find that out for yourself. What’s up with Chris? I’m sure he’ll want to know where his wife is.”

Gray nodded then grabbed the receiver, shaking his head. When Gray told Chris where Jennifer and Liz were, Jeff burst out laughing. Even several feet away, he could hear Chris yelling over the line, “She’s
where
!?”

“They’ve been arrested and taken to the 18
^th
precinct,” Gray repeated. “Do you want to meet there?”