Page 25 of Cole
“Mmhmm,” he moaned, pulling her legs around his waist. He was so hard it was painful and he wanted to take her, right there in the pond, but knew it wasn’t time.
“M-maybe we should get dressed and eat,” she said quietly.
“I think you’re right. Because if we stay here, I will make love to you, Hala and make you mine. Forever.”
“Let me dress first,” she smiled. “You can make me yours later.”
Cole did the gentlemanly thing, turning away from her so she could dress. When she was done, she turned, staring off into the distance of the property.
“I like your family, Cole. Your mother and father, Bailey, and I even met Ambry briefly. She looks positively glowing with pregnancy.”
“Yes,” he said touching her shoulder. She jumped, gasping with surprise. “Just me.”
“Yes. Just you,” she repeated.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Hala nervously looked across the table at all the people staring at her, some with looks of disbelief, others with concern.
“I didn’t know. I swear to you, I didn’t know who you were or who Cole was, who his family is. But my grandfather definitely knows who you are and he wants you all dead.”
“That’s not surprising,” said Luke with a wry grin. “We’ve spoiled more than a few parties for your grandfather and we plan to spoil this one as well.”
“How? How will you do that? The region he walked toward, the mountains, is a massive, expansive area. How will you know where to look?”
“It will be emitting radiation if we can get close enough,” said Cole.
“You can’t get close enough! None of you can,” she cried. “He’ll come for all of you.”
“Hala,” said Sophia Ann reaching out to touch her shoulder.
“No. No, I have to go back. I’ll go back and-and I’ll tell him that I was kidnapped and that you’re looking for him and maybe he’ll run.”
“Hala, honey,” said Ajei. “You can’t go back. He’ll see that your scars are gone. How would you explain that?”
“I-I…” she started to cry and all Cole could think to do was wrap her in his arms and hold her. Bailey and Angus took a seat near them, feeling her fear and anxiety.
“Trust these men, Hala,” said Bailey. “Trust us. It will all work out. We will find your grandfather and his men, and we will destroy the nuclear device. I promise we will.”
“How can I ever repay you? If this actually works, if you find him and destroy him, how will I ever repay you?” she sniffed.
“Oh, that’s the easy part,” said Kennedy. “You’re going to take your boards and work for us at the clinic. I need additional support with some of our doctors starting to cut back. You, Dr. Hala Yousef, are going to be my savior.” She looked up and smiled, nodding.
“Dr. Hala Yousef for the time being,” smiled Cole. The others chuckled, nodding at Cole.
“Are we about to lose all our children to marriage?” smiled Ham.
“I think so, babe,” grinned Sadie. “And I think I’m okay with it. Hala is smart, resilient, beautiful, and you can tell by the way she looks at Cole she’s completely gone. And Angus? I’m not sure how that happened but there are stars in his eyes when he looks at Bailey. I’m okay with Hala and with Angus. They’re all going to have beautiful babies.”
The entire room laughed, nodding their heads.
“You’re all crazy,” sniffed Hala. “My grandfather is crazier, meaner than you can possibly imagine. What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to stop him,” said Bella. The once blind wife of Razor, Bella was an engineer who’d returned to college for a second PhD in nuclear engineering.
“How? I mean, I don’t know a lot about nuclear weapons. I know a lot about nuclear medicine. What I do know isn’t good. It’s highly dangerous and toxic. If you blow a weapon in that area, you could kill thousands, perhaps millions,” said Hala.
“Trust me,” said Bella. “We’re going to figure all this out.”
