Chapter Forty-Five

While Mac and Grace thoroughly enjoyed playing tourists in their city with the Becker Family, it was time for everyone to get back to work.

After bidding their friends goodbye, Mac checked in with his lawyer, Michael Stone, to see if he had any news about Bakary Konen, the man from Grace’s past who was trying to blackmail her. While Mac’s inner rage wanted to go after Bakary personally and castrate the fucker, he knew it was best to let cooler heads prevail. Having Michael involved would prevent him from doing anything foolish enough to backfire and cause trouble for his wife and son. But the local authorities wouldn’t be enough to handle this; Mac wanted the big guns. So, they contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

“I’m waiting to hear back from an FBI agent named Zach Harris. I promise to call you the minute I have anything to report. In the meantime, I think it would be best for Grace to write everything from start to finish. I want to ensure that we dot and cross every i and t. I’m hoping for minimal blowback on you and Grace, especially Grace. She doesn’t deserve this bullshit,” Michael said firmly.

“I appreciate that. I know there was a time when you didn’t like or trust Grace,” Mac said.

“I didn’t know her back then, McKinley. But I’ve grown very fond of her. She’s been an amazing asset to your firm and a wonderful wife and mother. She’s had a remarkable influence over you both personally and professionally. I’ll do my best to protect her reputation; you can count on me.”

“Thank you, Michael. Any chance we can see if Konen is still connected with Armel Kouassi? I’d give anything to fry his ass as well.”

Michael didn’t need to ask why. Before he and Grace were married, McKinley had told him about Armel Kouassi, the foreign dignitary from Cote d’Ivoire. Kouassi had wooed Grace as a young woman with the promise of a romantic weekend on a private island, surprising her instead with a gangbang that left her emotionally broken.

Both Mac and Michael realized that present-day Grace was not a damsel in distress that needed her battles fought for her. But they would do everything in their power to ensure that Grace wouldn’t have to face her past alone anymore.

“I’m looking into that as well. One thing that is clear is Konen was an idiot to have used email to contact Grace. Blackmail via the internet makes this a cybercrime. I can’t tell you how glad I am that Grace didn’t delete the email,” Michael explained.

“Me too. By the way, is there anything new with Alice I should be concerned about?” Mac asked.

“No, she seems to have faded into the woodwork, fortunately. I don’t think you need to worry about her brand of shenanigans. I’m keeping her in my peripheral vision, though, just to be safe.”

“Keep me posted on anything I should know about.”

“Will do. Give my best to Grace.”

After his call with Michael, Mac focused his attention on the profit-margin reports and did a little poking around to see if there were any small firms in places where he might consider further expansion. Focusing on business helped him to stop visualizing taking a hatchet to the genitals of both Bakary and Armel.

He spent a couple of hours narrowing his choices to companies in Lisbon and Helsinki. Both were relatively small but rising firms. He put his notes on each into files and saved them to share with Grace.

And just at the moment he thought of her, she was standing in the entranceway of his office. It reminded him of the first time he saw her, and it took his breath away.

“Busy?” she asked, somehow unaware of how the sight of her had rendered him incapable of words.

When he said nothing and just stared at her, she frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not a thing,” he said, finally finding his voice. “You’re so incredibly beautiful, Grace. Let’s blow off the rest of the day and make love all afternoon.”

Grace smiled wickedly. “Give me a minute to ask Avery to cancel my 2:30 meeting.”

Ten minutes later, they were locked in a passionate embrace as the elevator took them to the sixth floor. When the doors opened, Mac held her back for a moment.

“I meant what I said downstairs. I want to take our time and enjoy each other.”

Grace sighed. Here was a man once so committed to his work that he couldn’t even put his phone on silent mode. Now here he was, all hers, and about to spend the afternoon putting pleasure first.

“Sounds like a much better way to spend time than the reports I was working on.”

They stood in their bedroom kissing for a few moments, tongues savoring each other, as the heat continued building between them. Neither realized that the other had the same vision in mind: the first time they’d made love.

Not that disappointing rendezvous in the tacky hotel where Grace Remy lived before she met McKinley Stewart, but rather the night in Paris when they finally connected after what felt like an eternity of misgivings and missed opportunities.

He’d shown up late and rather inebriated that evening, but Grace was needy and forgiving, as luck would have it. Just like that night, he placed soft, wet kisses along her neck and whispered, “I want you, Grace. Don’t make me wait any longer. I need you. You know you need me too.”

Her eyes lit up with recognition of his words from that encounter. Pleased that they should be recalling the same memory, she answered as she had that night, “God, yes, I need you.”

“Before you ask,” he smirked, “my phone is on silent mode.”

“I love that we were both reminiscing about our first night.”

“I love that you count Paris as our first night instead of my disastrous first attempt with you.”

“That wasn’t a complete bust,” Grace said as she nipped on Mac’s earlobe. “If I recall, the oral sex made me see God.”

Mac scooped her up and dumped her on the bed. Joining her there, he began to unbutton his shirt.

“No,” Grace said, stopping him. “Let me undress you.”

Pleased that his typically impatient wife was willing to take it slow, he dropped his hands to his side and let her take over. He should have known better because instead of carefully undoing the rest of the buttons, she ripped the shirt open and had the little plastic fasteners flying everywhere.

“Hey, I liked that shirt!” Mac pouted in feigned protest.

“You have a dozen more exactly like that one,” she laughed. But she was gentler with the belt and trousers. Once she had Mac fully naked, she undressed herself in slow, seductive, striptease-style movements.

Mac felt his already hardening cock go stiff as a metal rod when she finger-checked her wetness and sucked the digit clean.

“You’re so naughty, Gracie.”

“You like me naughty, Mac.”

“Let me have a taste.”

Instead of sliding her finger back into her pussy, she flipped onto her back and spread her legs.

“I’m all yours,” she purred.

He smirked, climbed between her thighs, and hovered over her smooth mound, allowing his hot breath to tease her. He looked up at her, grinned seductively, and let his tongue start its magic. He flicked, nibbled, and sucked on her clit, easing up each time he felt her getting close.

“Please, Mac! I need to cum!”

He stopped and looked up at her again. “What’s the rush, darling?” Then he continued his sensual assault on her pink folds and hard little nub, edging her, denying her, until she whimpered.

Instead of pushing her over the edge, he kissed a trail along her body until he reached her sensual mouth. He shared her taste in a toe-curling kiss before resting the tip of his manhood, wet with precum, against her lips.

“Lube up my cock, Gracie,” he directed as she opened her mouth willingly.

He slid inside and toyed with just enjoying a blow job from his very talented wife. But he wanted her pussy more.

Releasing himself from the grasp of her clever tongue, he moved down again and spread Grace’s legs apart. Debating whether to take her like this or have her ride him, she made the choice for them by lifting her hips to take him in.

Their eyes locked as he entered her slowly. In hers, he saw so much love, so much passion, and so much of something else for which he couldn’t find the words.

“Joy,” she said as if reading his mind again. “You bring me so much joy. I love how you love me and make me feel like I’m the only woman in the world.”

“You are,” he said as that joy consumed him.

The slow, deliberate thrusts of their joining had their arousal building. Trying hard to keep the pace unhurried, Mac captured her wrists. She grinned at him with a sassy sparkle in her eyes.

“You have the bluest eyes,” he murmured as they moved together. “I get lost in them sometimes.”

“I much prefer your brown eyes,” she sighed, “so incredibly sexy.”

Inwardly smiling as he felt the rub of the little gold ball from Grace’s delightful pussy piercing, he remembered being surprised by it the first time and how she’d said it wasn’t something a girl put on her resume or vitae.

Wasn’t it funny? They’d been together less than two years, but he felt he’d known her for a lifetime.

Grace smiled as she knew he was replaying some memory in his head, and she couldn’t help but do the same. The man whose thick stiff shaft was penetrating and stretching her open was a stranger not all that long ago. Now he was her husband and partner, the father of her son, and most importantly, her best friend. Typically, she’d have insisted he go harder and faster by now, but this leisurely pace was deliciously erotic, and she allowed herself to let him take her close to the edge for what felt like a thousand times.

Mac looked at her face and saw the moment she had become incapable of any rational thought. Her eyes were glazed over in a dreamy state of heightened pleasure and her brow, usually furrowed when she was frustrated by her need for urgency, was smooth. She looked a little bit high, and the thought amused him. So did the fact that this might be the first time he’d ever made love to her that she wasn’t demanding he speed up the pace. Instead, she had completely given herself over to him, relinquishing all control.

Eventually, it was his own need that spurred him to grab her hips and thrust into her more rapidly. She screamed his name as her orgasms came in intense waves, triggering his climax as he emptied himself into her.

Several moments passed by before either of them could speak.

“Well, that was far superior to the meeting I had scheduled,” Grace teased as she curled up into Mac.

He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “You’re so impossibly beautiful, Grace. The expression on your face the moment you came was indescribable. It spoke volumes to me without a single word.”

“I don’t know if I can always be that patient, but I have to admit, not rushing you was pretty fucking heady this time around.”

“You surprised me, actually. I kept waiting for my sassy little redhead to demand that I fuck her harder, deeper, and faster. Giving me complete control and trusting me to get you there was intensely satisfying.”

“Well, you got me there. I feel a little buzzed. I don’t think I can go back to work today; do you think the boss will mind?”

“He’s kinda strict. Maybe if you give him a second round, he’ll let you off easy.”

“Well, then,” Grace said, wiggling her eyebrows. Without another word, she scooted herself between his legs and took his flaccid cock in her mouth. Her hands massaged his balls, and her tongue did that swirly thing that always drove him wild. It didn’t take long for his shaft to come back to life. He grinned when she looked up at him and said, “I think you’re ready.”

They spent the afternoon enjoying oral pleasures, and, in what Grace called round three, he fucked her hard and fast and deep, and left them both completely sated.

Fortunately, Grace had the wherewithal to set an alarm because when it sounded, Mac woke up surprised that they’d both drifted off to sleep in the mid-late afternoon.

“Do we have time to shower?” he asked as he stood up to head to the bathroom.

“Not the way you mean,” she said with a sassy grin. “But sure, you go first. I will text Claudette and tell her we will come down there for the baby. I’d rather she not see the tangled sheets of our afternoon tryst, even though I’m well aware that Bentley informed the staff that upstairs was off limits due to our fuck fest.”

Mac laughed. “I doubt he put it that crassly, darling. But yes, he did inform the staff to stay on the third level or below.”

“They must think I’m an oversexed hussy,” Grace lamented.

“Nonsense! They know we are a happily married couple with a young baby and very little opportunity to have time for ourselves. We could be doing anything up here; you could be knitting, and I could be reading the paper.”

It was Grace’s turn to laugh. “Knitting can be very titillating.”

“Perhaps you were just praying, my love. You did repeat the phrase, ‘Oh God’ many times.”

Grace made a face at Mac but burst out laughing.

When they headed down to fetch their son, she took his hand and said, “Thanks for this afternoon. It was exactly what I needed.”

Mac felt a warm satisfaction come over him. It was precisely what he needed too.

Chapter Forty-Six

Two days later, another email came from Bakary Konen with instructions to wire fifty thousand dollars into an account in the Cayman Islands. Mac and Grace put in a call to Michael but had to leave a message.

A half hour had passed when Grace received a call from Zach Harris.

“Hello, Mrs. Stewart? My name is Supervisory Special Agent Zachary Harris. I’m calling regarding the situation described by your attorney, Michael Stone. I’d like to come to your office and meet with you tomorrow. Mr. Stone indicated he can be present with you, and you are welcome to have your husband attend.”

His tone was a bit intimidating. “Am I in trouble?” Grace asked pensively.

“No, ma’am. On the contrary. The bureau believes you can assist us in a case as there appears to be a connection between your situation and our investigation.”

“Oh, well, of course. Anything I can do to help.”

“Does 10:00 a.m. work for you?”

“Yes, I can shift some things around.”

“I will be bringing my partner, SSA Sam Jenkins. We will see you tomorrow. In the meantime, do not answer the email. We have alerted the local authorities and have someone watching the house for your safety.”

“Oh, thanks for letting me know. Do you think I am in danger?”

“No, but these are dangerous men. It seemed prudent to take precautionary measures.”

“Thank you.”

The call rattled Grace. She’d assumed the worst thing that could happen was that Bakary would leak details of the gang bang in Cote d’Ivoire or how she’d spent time working a brothel there. She’d never considered he might mean to bring her harm.

The urge to run away and hide that had been tucked away since the day she met McKinley Stewart threatened to rear its ugly head. Grace’s heart raced, and she felt clammy. Fighting the instinct to grab the baby and run, she got up from her desk and raced into Mac’s office.

“Grace? What’s wrong?” Mac asked. Her face had drained of all color, and she was pale as a ghost. She rushed past him and into his bathroom and became violently ill.

Feeling helpless to do more, Mac held her hair and rubbed her back while she lost the contents of her stomach. When she had nothing left to sick up, she crumbled into his arms and sobbed.

Avery, being a wise executive admin and knowing a bit about women, closed the door to Mac’s office and sent a message to his Uncle Bentley, the house manager.

Bentley, in turn, stopped in to see Claudette and see if she could stay longer to keep an eye on DJ.

“Our Grace isn’t feeling well, and Mac needs a bit of time to get her settled before he takes over with the baby,” he explained.

“Mais oui! But of course. I can stay as long as they need me to.”

Mac helped Grace clean up and brought her to their sixth-floor living quarters. “Would you like me to draw you a bath or help you get into bed?”

“I just want to lie down,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Once he had her tucked in, he asked, “Do you want to talk now or later?”

“Later. But you should know that two FBI agents will be here tomorrow, and they’ve contacted local law enforcement to watch our house.”

Mac was alarmed and wanted to know every detail, but he knew what Grace needed most at the moment was to rest.

“Sleep a while, darling. You can tell me everything later. Just know that you’re safe with me here; I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise this will all get taken care of, and you will finally be able to put your past to rest for good.”

Grace nodded, desperately wanting to believe him. But she was too weak to do anything but close her eyes and pray he was right.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Many hours later, Grace woke to an empty bed. Noticing a dim light coming from the nursery, she got up just in time to see Mac putting DJ back to bed. When Mac noticed her standing in the doorway, he smiled.

“There’s my best girl,” he whispered. “Your son was wet and ravenous, but he’s got a dry diaper and a full tummy. What can I get for you? Are you hungry?”

“Hungry for you,” she answered softly.

Guiding Grace back to their bedroom, he smiled. “I think we should get you a little chicken broth first, so you have enough strength before I ravish you.”

“I could eat a little soup.”

“Sleep help?”

“Yes, tremendously, thanks.”

“Shall we talk before or after I take you back to bed?”

“Before.”

Grace filled Mac in on her conversation with SSA Harris and how he was bringing his partner tomorrow for a meeting.

“Then I’d better not keep you up too late.”

“I need you, Mac.”

“Oh, don’t worry, my love; I fully intend to bring you pleasure before we go back to sleep.”

Grace felt the knot in her stomach loosen as he fed her soup and then scooped her up and took her to bed. There, he kissed the back of her neck and caused her bones to feel like rubber.

He grinned when he found her wet and ready for him and entered her slowly from behind in a lying position. He gripped her shoulders to get deeper inside and nipped at her earlobe as their bodies rocked together.

Each thrust brought them closer to climax, but neither was in any hurry. It was pure heaven to be joined like this, feeling like they were floating. The walls of Grace’s tight wetness stroked Mac’s hard shaft into a state of pure bliss. But when his sac tightened, the act of lovemaking became animalist sex as they panted, moaned, and exploded together.

Mac spooned her and stroked her hair as they drifted off. “Feel any better?” he murmured drowsily.

But Grace was already asleep, feeling safe in Mac’s arms

She woke to an empty bed again, but with a note on her pillow.

I let you sleep a little longer. You needed it. DJ is with Claudette in the kitchen this morning, so you need only worry about getting yourself ready for the meeting at 10:00 a.m. Let’s use the formal dining room as a conference room today. Love you!

Grace showered and put her hair up in a twist. She chose a navy pantsuit and a cream-colored blouse. She kept her makeup neutral and wondered why she felt the need to downplay her looks. Was she afraid the FBI agents would judge her and suggest she’d invited the sexual abuse all those years ago? She remembered how she was treated when she tried to report what had happened to the police. They’d been cruel, telling her she had invited trouble, going to an island with a man looking like she did. Men like Armel Kouassi and his associates couldn’t be blamed for taking advantage of a slut with loose morals.

It had been a long time since she’d felt this anxiety-ridden, and she wished for a brief moment that she had allowed her doctor to write a new script for Xanax.

But when she headed down to the kitchen, Claudette had a cup of tea and a blueberry scone waiting for her and was giggling up a storm with DJ. The laughter was music to Grace’s ears and was just what she needed to feel calmer.

“Your little man here is growing so fast. Look how he entertains himself in that bouncer! Such a sturdy little boy; it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he were an early walker,” Claudette cooed.

“It helps that he has a wonderful nanny,” Grace said, grateful that their chef had insisted on helping with the baby.

Michael Stone arrived early and helped Mac set up in the dining room. Grace reviewed her written statement and fretted over how the meeting would go. Michael felt very protective of the woman he once mistakenly thought of as an opportunist.

“Try to relax, Grace. You’re not in any trouble here. The FBI agents want to find out as much information as possible,” he said, hoping to calm her nerves.

She smiled weakly and nodded. It was overwhelming, and the memories that all this had dredged up threatened to consume her.

When the agents showed up, Grace smiled. SSA Sam Jenkins turned out to be Samantha, which put Grace more at ease.

The meeting started with Grace sharing details of the first time she’d been contacted by Bakary Konen and how she’d been desperate to keep her past quiet so as not to destroy the career and life she had built after scraping by for so long. SSA Harris asked a few questions along the way but mostly let Grace talk.

“I know that paying him off was foolish. I didn’t feel I had any other choice at the time. This time around, it’s different. I have someone in my corner.”

Her eyes met Mac’s, and she saw a tenderness that tugged at her emotions. Not wishing to cry any more than she had already done, she looked away and inhaled sharply.

Michael nodded. “You have several someones in your corner, Grace.”

Mac turned and addressed the agents. “I need to know that you will take action here. There must be something the bureau can do about these predators.” He was pissed but reined in his temper.

Harris and Jenkins looked at each other and nodded.

“There are some things we are not at liberty to divulge. But you should know that we’ve been familiar with Bakary Konen and Armel Kouassi for some time now. What you’ve given us here helps us with an ongoing investigation and adds considerable weight to it,” SSA Harris said. “We’ll need all records of communications with Konen. We are working alongside Cyber Crimes to get enough on him to prosecute. Your information helps tremendously.”

“Grace will give you everything she has. We want this son of a bitch nailed for whatever you can get him on. And if you can get Armel Kouassi for any part of this, all the better. A man like him shouldn’t be able to walk free after what he did to my wife all those years ago, but we’d be happy to see him behind bars for whatever you can legally pin on him,” Mac said, trying to reign in his anger.

Grace nodded. “There must be something he can be punished for, isn’t there?”

SSA Jenkins sighed and shot her partner a look that said she appreciated his patience. “Grace, you’re not the only woman Konen has targeted. I can’t tell you more, but I will say this, he’s been working with Kouassi to find and target other women that both have previously sexually abused. Your coming forward will help us stop them both.”

“Thank you, it helps to know that,” Grace said quietly. “I wish I’d been strong enough to report it when he contacted me the first time.”

“No sense beating yourself up over this; they weren’t on our radar back then, so it would have been up to local authorities who may or may not have done anything at all if I’m being honest. Please don’t spend any more time regretting that you didn’t come forward sooner. Sometimes timing is a key factor in the success of an investigation like this,” Harris said.

“We will be in contact with you soon,” Jenkins said as they rose to leave. “I’ve asked the NYPD to keep an eye on your home for a few more days as a precautionary measure. We believe the real danger isn’t physical harm; his threat to divulge past events is a concern. Since he seems to be honoring the allotted time for you to make the transfer, we just need to get to him before the deadline, and hopefully, your past should stay right where it belongs.”

“Thank you so much for everything,” Grace said.

“I’ll see them out,” Michael offered, leaving Mac and Grace alone.

Chapter Forty-Eight

“Timing is key,” Grace said absently as she stared at the door. She shook her head and turned her gaze to Mac. “I know it costs you to let the FBI handle this, that it would be more satisfying to pound them both into the ground. I love that you love me enough to do this the right way.”

He nodded and gave a heavy sigh. “It would only end up hurting you and DJ if I took matters into my own hands. But yes, it costs me dearly.”

“I know I should have reported Bakary the first time he started blackmailing me, but I wouldn’t change how I handled things. It may have cost me so much but look what I’ve gained. If I hadn’t been homeless and on the verge of bankruptcy, I wouldn’t have interviewed for the job as your last escort. I’d never have met you, and I wouldn’t have the wonderful life I do now.”

Mac contemplated her words for a moment, then surprised her by saying, “I disagree. I think we were meant to find each other and would have somehow, some way, regardless of events that came before.”

Grace tilted her head, “Pretty deep stuff coming from a man who is normally so grounded. Are you suggesting the Universe was conspiring to make sure we met?”

“And if I am?” he said, moving to her and taking her in his arms.

“Well, how can I argue with your logic?” she said before bringing her lips to his in a passionate kiss.

“Regardless of how we got here, I’m so glad we are together. We fit perfectly like two puzzle pieces. Three pieces now, with Dominic Jordan.”

“Our little man with the name of his two grandfathers,” Mac continued. “Someday, I’d love to hear more about Jordan Remy. He must have been one hell of a man to raise such an amazing daughter.”

Grace sighed. “Someday, when this other mess is all cleared up, I’ll tell you about him and my mother.”

Mac held her close; he couldn’t help but be aroused by her soft body against his and the scent of her perfume.

“We have time on our hands, and our baby is busy with his nanny. Want to go fool around?”

“Oh, God, I thought you’d never ask!”

Mac surprised Grace by shutting the door to the dining room and turning the lock. He sent a quick text to Bentley about keeping the staff away from the third level and put his phone on silent. Unbuckling the belt to her slacks, Mac slid them down her hips and let them fall to the floor. Grace stepped out of them and waited for Mac’s next move.

He scooped her up, set her on the table, and spread her legs. Pulling the fabric of her powder blue panties aside, he slipped a finger into his wife. “You’re wet and ready, just how I like you,” Mac murmured as she moaned.

Moving between her legs, he flicked the gold ball of her intimate piercing; his tongue darted in and around her pink folds. He continued impaling her with his finger as he took her hard little nub between his teeth. As he nibbled, Grace’s eyes fluttered, and her hips rocked.

“You’re so easy to please,” Mac said as he teased and tormented her. The gentle motion of her hips became bucking wildly as her climax closed in. But just before she hit the peak, he stopped.

“McKinley!” Grace protested.

But Mac was clearly in charge. He dragged her off the table and flipped her around, so she stood bent over with easy access to her dripping pussy, begging to be finished off.

He spanked her sexy ass a few times before entering her. Just a little reminder that she belonged to him, he mused.

“Oh, God, yes! Fuck me, Mac!”

“Say please, darling.”

“Please! Please, Mac! God, I need to cum!”

“Do you? Perhaps I should take that pretty mouth of yours and leave you frustrated.”

Grace whimpered.

“But your pussy feels so fucking good!” Mac growled as he picked up the pace and jackhammered into her. “So hot and wet and so fucking tight!”

“Yes, oh God, your cock feels so good inside me!”

Mac grabbed her hips and rammed into her as if his life depended on it. The decadent friction had him bring her over the edge with him, shooting his seed inside her.

They stayed this way for a bit before Mac slid out of her and wiped his spent dick on her ass.

“Don’t clean up,” he said with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Let my cum run down your leg and dry there. You’re wearing pants; no one will notice. I’ll take my dirty whore again later.”

Grace shivered with arousal. She was so lucky. He could have treated her with kid gloves after she had shared the nightmare of her sexual abuse from years ago with the FBI agents. But instead, he made her feel alive, reminding her of her need to be his in all ways. And he stood for her as no one ever had in her adult life.

She put her slacks back on and winked at Mac. “Let me know when you require my body again, Sir.”

“Keep talking like that, and it won’t be long, my sweet little slut.”