Taking the Thief

“Julian, you won’t let me go. You need me.”

“The only one I need is Natasha. You heard my sister. Adios, Carina.”

“Well, I’m sorry about that Mr. and Mrs. O’Connell. Would you care to join us for dinner?”

“That would be nice. That bitch should never mess with a hungry, possessive pregnant woman.”

“That’s why I love you,” Rick says, kissing her hard. Natasha grabs my hand, and we lead the way as security escorts Carina away.

“Damn, now I’m short an assistant,” I mutter, thinking of all the shit I’m going to have to manage on my own.

“Natasha can definitely handle that for you. She’s done plenty of work for me over the past two years.”

“Mi amor, will you?”

“As you said, you only need me.”

“That I do. That I do,” I utter, dragging her lips to mine.

Epilogue

Natasha

Almost two years later…

“Alejandro, ven aqui. Come here,” I call out to my son. He’s just learning to walk, but he wants to help mama get the water. He’s a gentleman like his daddy. I shouldn’t be out here too long. The doctor came to see me this morning because our passion has done the job again. I am carrying baby number two. I haven’t been feeling well lately, and the sun is rough for May.

“Mama, mama. Water,” he points to the wave running over his feet before going back. “No water,” he pouts as it goes. The second it’s back he giggles. I love this boy. He’s brilliant and sweet.

“Come, we have to finish the sculpture. Can you say sculpture?”

“sture,” he tries with a smile just like his daddy. My heart’s melting. Goodness, I miss Julian.

“Close enough,” I choke out, my throat full of tears. This is our first time apart. He’s in Texas, and we would have gone with, but Alex got sick, and we didn’t want to make it worse.

“Dada,” he says, walking with a small pail of water, most of the water falling on the beach. “Dada,” he repeats.

“Daddy will be home tomorrow, baby.”

“Dada,” he says running past me. I turn and see Julian and break out into a foolish grin. I’m so happy.

He scoops our son up in his arms. “My little man is on top of it, muñeca. I’ve missed you,” he says, sliding his arm around my waist and dragging me to him. “I need my kiss first,” he growls, closing his mouth over mine.

I feel small hands on my face. I open my eyes to see Alex pushing daddy’s mouth away from me. “I missed you, too,” I say through a laugh.

“It seems I’ve got competition.” He looks at Alejandro and says, “She’s mine, mi hijo.”

“Mine,” Alex answers, leaning toward me and pressing his head on my chest.

“I’ve been gone a day, and I’ve been replaced.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t leave me again.”

“I would never dream of it.”

Three More Years…

Julian

I look over the damage to my island and the helicopter lands. “We will get this back on track, brat,” Mikhail says, clapping my shoulder. We’ve come a long way over the years. Now to the point where he calls me brother in Russian.

“I know, but I miss my family.”

“I feel the same way, but the crews have already begun work on the central hotel. The power grid is still up on most of the island. Four days ago, the island was hit by a category four hurricane. I had the island evacuated as the storm approached three days before it made landfall. My island isn’t that large where we could be sheltered in the center. The storm rode over the whole land. The entire hotel would have to be rebuilt, so the island was closed for business until next year. Many of the people were left without a home. It’s a real tragedy, but we are doing our best to make it better for every family. They are still assessing the damage before many of them can return. Fortunately, most of the residences were inland, and the hotel took the brunt of the wind and water.

I suppose it was a blessing that the Dallas Hotel had management problems about three years ago. Unwilling to stay away from Natasha to deal with the problems, I moved us there. And it’s where we’ve been since. Of course, we visit our special place, or at least we did. I don’t know when we can come back as a family.

“Thank you for coming with me, Mikhail.” There was no way I was bringing my family with me. It’s too crazy and dangerous. We’re going to be sleeping in tents in or around buildings that weren’t destroyed if there’s room. We have a crew working night and day.

“I know you would be there if it was me. Now let’s get this place back into shape.”

For the next ten hours, we talk to everyone who can give us insight as to the damage. My inspector only just cleared four more buildings habitable. There’s another ten for tomorrow, and that’ll be all of them.