That was all the encouragement Noah needed. He pulled Serena into his arms and kissed her deeply, loving the feel of her hard nipples rubbing against his bare chest. She moaned low in her throat and wrapped her arms around his waist, hooking her fingers into the back of his towel and whipping it off him, then grinding the heat between her legs against his rapidly rising cock. This time, it was him groaning with need.
He managed to tear his mouth from hers long enough to ask, “What about the baby?”
“She’s sleeping,” Serena said, stepping back slightly to let the robe fall to the floor, leaving them both skin to skin with nothing in the way. Then she returned to Noah, all but climbing him like a tree as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, opening herself up to him completely. “As long as we’re quiet, we’ll be fine.”
Noah buried his face against the side of her neck and nuzzled her soft, warm skin in a way that made her breath hitch, and grinned. “I’ll do my best, but no promises here.”
13
Serena was downstairs in the B&B’s dining room, eating some oatmeal the next morning when the news hit.
“Breaking news just in,” the announcer said on TV in Spanish. “We’ve just been informed that an arrest has been made in Buenos Aires in connection with the kidnapping of candy heiress Serena Carson.”
At first, she was so shocked to hear her name that Serena just blinked at the screen. Then she reached for the remote with one hand, to turn up the volume, while bouncing baby Gracie in the other to keep her occupied and happy.
“Wanted criminals Miguel Sanchez and Arturo Casavelle were apprehended early this morning at Ezeiza International Airport as they attempted to board a plane bound for the United States. While they were taken into custody for unrelated charges connected to a Colombian drug cartel, they agreed to make a plea bargain when they were questioned and supplied information in regards to the abduction of Ms. Carson last year.”
As the intel slowly penetrated Serena’s brain, an odd buzz started within her. Free. She was finally free. The bad guys had been caught and she no longer had to live on the run. The TV screen zoomed in on two grainy images of the suspects, taken at the airport she guessed, and she vaguely recognized the two thugs from the villa where she’d been kept.
Real. This is real.
Gracie began to fuss, jarring Serena out of her thoughts.
Noah. She needed to find Noah and tell him. Serena pushed aside her half-eaten food and stood. He’d gone out to do his morning check of the perimeter, so he probably didn’t know yet. She hurried out the side door and into the gardens in the back, searching the edge of the property for him, all while giddiness bubbled inside her like champagne. She could go home, back to New York. California. Wherever she wanted. She could wear new clothes again, buy Gracie whatever she wanted.
She was so lost in her daydreaming that she nearly collided with Noah, who was standing near one of the large trees at the corner of the property, talking on his phone.
He put out a hand to steady her, then held up a finger for her to wait.
“Yep. Got it,” he said, his gaze locked on hers. “Thanks, Levon.”
Noah ended the call, then looked back up at her, saying at the same time she did, “They caught the guys.”
Serena started laughing and Noah grinned.
“I heard it on the news inside,” she said, rubbing Gracie’s back. “I think I’m still in shock a little bit. I can’t believe it’s over. Just like that.”
“Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “With a whimper instead of a bang, right? Not that I’m complaining.”
“No.” They started walking back to the house together, Gracie over Serena’s shoulder. Serena kept pinching herself to believe it was real. “I get it. It’s sort of…anticlimactic considering we were planning for hellfire and bullets, but yep. I’ll take it too. But what does this mean about the bounty on me? Is that still out there?”
“If the two guys arrested were the ones offering it? No—the bounty should be gone.”
“That’s…so amazing,” Serena said with a sigh of relief. “Were you talking to your team back home?”
He nodded. “They called me with the intel about ten minutes ago, just before it broke on the news.”
“Do they know any more about those two thugs? Why they took me?”
“Nothing yet.” He swatted away a couple of mosquitos buzzing around them and raked a hand through his hair. “The authorities haven’t revealed much. Clint’s been digging around in their histories after we learned their identities, but so far there’s no real connection to you that we’ve been able to find, other than they wanted money.” He shrugged, frowning. “I always assumed there was more to it than that, but sometimes people are just greedy, I suppose.”
“Hmm.” She transferred the baby to her other arm and stepped up onto the veranda. “So, what are our next steps? Do we head back to the States right away or…”
“Not until tomorrow. The guys already had everything booked, and the earlier flights in and out are full, so it’s less hassle if we wait until tomorrow morning to go. Without the thugs out there tracking us, we shouldn’t have any problems.”
“Awesome.” She followed him inside and upstairs to their room. “Are we spending the night here or in Frederickston?”
“The capital. Levon got us booked into some swanky hotel-casino for the night. I tried to get him to change it to something less exposed, but he said it was the only room open.” He set his phone on the dresser to charge, then headed for the bathroom door. “Besides, I guess we can consider it a celebration now instead of a staging area.”
“Staging area?” She set the baby down on the bed and rolled her stiff
