C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - E I G H T
THE NEXT FEW DAYS WERE a whirlwind of endless activity. They guys met with every one of their clients to reassure them that losing the office in no way diminished the services they were able to offer, and fortunately, since their client list was small but intensely loyal, only one opted to go with another company.
Cade’s dad had pounded the pavement to find them office space to lease, and the men had worked around the clock to get the business back up and running. Elle restored their computer systems after the new equipment had been delivered to the house, and she soon had everything back in working order.
Merrick’s workouts had suffered as a result. Though he’d gone the morning after the fire, he’d skipped several after in order to help Cade. When Elle cautiously brought up the fact that his fight was bearing down on them, Merrick had grimaced and muttered that shit happens and he had to do what he had to do.
Still, she hated that she couldn’t do more to bear the load for Cade and Merrick. She put in long hours of clerical work. She took over all phone calls, whether it was making calls to reassure clients or taking calls from clients with concerns or needs.
She was a part of this. She felt a part of it. For the first time in so many months, she had a purpose, and she was part of something much bigger than herself. She had a family. Men who loved her.
After a week of no sleep for any of them, Elle drifted off at the desk of her makeshift office in their house. There were stacks of paperwork surrounding her, and she’d just completed doing manual updates from the back-up file to the brand-new computer the guys had bought to replace what had been lost in the fire.
And that was how Cade and Merrick found her. Cheek down on a stack of printouts, hair over her face, slumped over the desk, about to fall out of her chair.
“Hell,” Merrick muttered. “We’ve been working her way too hard. She’s exhausted.”
“We’re all exhausted,” Cade said. “It’s been a tough week getting back on our feet and keeping our clients. She’s been a big part of that. We couldn’t have done it without her and Dad.”
“She’s been nagging me about getting down to the gym,” Merrick said grimly.
“Someone needs to,” Cade said as he walked quietly toward the desk where Elle was sleeping so soundly.
Merrick’s brows drew together. “Don’t you start too. I couldn’t leave this on you, man.”
Cade looked up, pausing, his hand in midair as he’d reached for Elle. “This fight is important. You can’t lose an entire week of training and expect to win. Dad and Elle have been invaluable in helping. We’ll get back on our feet. But it makes no sense for the fire to take not only our office and part of our business, but your career as well.”
“I’ll get back,” Merrick said in a determined voice. “I just needed to make sure we were going to be okay.”
“We’re going to be fine.” He glanced back down at Elle, who hadn’t stirred the entire time the two men had been talking. “Right now, what we need to do is get her to bed and make sure she stays there for about twelve hours. None of us have slept worth a damn in the last week, and we’re all suffering for it.”
“Amen to that,” Merrick muttered. “Let’s take her to bed and tomorrow… Tomorrow I’ll head into the gym to start catching up. But I don’t want Elle picking up my slack with the business. She’s at the end of her rope.”
Cade went to his knees by Elle’s chair and pulled her gently into his arms so her head rested in the curve of his neck. He looped one arm underneath her knees and then pushed himself upward.
It was a testament to her fatigue that she never even stirred. She lay limply in Cade’s arms as he carried her out of the office and toward the bedroom.
Despite the stresses of the past week. The fear of losing Elle in the fire. The utter devastation to their office. The missed workouts and the shift in focus from his upcoming fight to the preservation of their security business. Despite it all, Merrick was calm and centered, and he felt a bone-deep contentment.
Dallas was working on the paperwork for Elle, and it should be ready in the next couple of days. All that was left was for her to then marry Merrick and keep Cade’s name as well as Merrick’s on all her legal documents.
They’d already decided to circumvent any complicated, time-consuming steps and make a weekend trip to Las Vegas to tie the knot there. In Vegas, no one was going to blink an eye if Cade stood in the marriage ceremony and took an actual part.
Yeah, the legalities would be between Merrick and Elle, but Cade would be a part. She’d say vows to both men and they in turn would give them back to her.
It was the final step in not only giving her back an identity and a fresh start, a new lease on life, but also binding her irrevocably to them. And if Merrick was honest, the latter was what concerned him more. He wanted that knowledge, that reassurance that she was his. Not just as some private agreement between the three of them, but to the rest of the world as well.
He wasn’t going to breathe easy until the “I dos” were said and their signatures were on the dotted line of a marriage certificate.
Cade eased Elle down onto the bed, and then both men worked to get her out of her jeans and shirt so she’d be more comfortable. Merrick unhooked her bra and left her in her panties before he lifted her and moved her to the center of the bed.
She still hadn’t even so much as flinched, and it stirred the guilt inside him that she’d worked so tirelessly over the last week. He was going to make it up to her. A good night’s rest. Breakfast in bed tomorrow. And then she was going to take it easy for the entire damn day.
“I’m going to grab a shower, and then I’ll be to bed,” Cade said in a low voice so he didn’t wake Elle.
Merrick stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed next to Elle, pulling her into his arms. She gave one of those contented, breathy sighs that he loved so much, and she snuggled into his body like a kitten seeking warmth.
He loved that about her. How affectionate she was and how she sought out his touch even in her sleep. Though he and Cade hadn’t pressed the issue of sex since that first night they’d finally consummated their relationship and taken things to a whole new level, Elle had still slept between them every single night.
And with the fire and the fallout afterward, they were simply too damn tired at night to focus on the physical aspects of their relationship.
Merrick wasn’t wholeheartedly convinced that Elle was ready to take on a normal, healthy physical relationship with one man yet, let alone two. The first time had been just fine. But who was to say that she wouldn’t have issues the second or third time?
It was something he was already mentally preparing for because he knew Elle still had a long way to go in order to completely heal from her ordeal.
But she was his. And soon he’d have all the loose ends tied into a neat bow. Her past would no longer be a worry. Who she was no longer mattered. Because who and what she was…was his and Cade’s. Their wife. Their woman.
She mumbled something in her sleep and then threw her leg over his. He smiled in the darkness and then tucked her leg between his so that he covered the lower half of her body.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead and barely whispered, “I love you, baby.”
Merrick forced himself out of bed at five a.m. He didn’t bother with a shower yet. He’d save that for after his run. He needed to get in at least five miles and hope to hell he wasn’t sucking serious wind after having worked out so sporadically over the last several days.