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She was this close to him — this close. He couldn’t stop shaking. Adrenaline flooded his system so that every nerve in his body was jumping like a live wire. The emcee came to him and knelt, security had stood in a protective ring around the stars. He took Stieg’s reaction as fear. “Mr. Warner. I’m sorry if this has frightened you. Some asshole called in a gun threat. We had to evacuate the area quickly, but before we could make the announcement and calmly remove everyone, someone pulled the fire alarm. Since the shooting several years ago, we take threats seriously. The cops are sorting it out. Right now, we need to get you and the cast to your rooms for safety reasons.”
Stieg looked up. “What about the meet and greet later?” He hoped maybe she would be there. If she was, he’d find her then.
“That’s been postponed until we can make sure you are all safe. We can’t look at these incidents as crank calls anymore. Your safety is the most important thing now. Our guests are priority one.”
Stieg felt his heart drop. He simply nodded as a security guard stepped forward to lead him to his room. He stood on shaky legs and walked with the security team. Jonas fell behind them as they moved through the back halls of the casino. He could hear everyone chatting on their phones as they waited for security to unlock the private entrance that led to the Villas. Stieg stood with his head down and hands on his hips, not paying attention to what was happening around him. He fought the tears that wanted to fall. God, she was right there in front of him.
They passed through the plain metal door that led to the first long marble hallway that would take them to their rooms. People broke off as they reached their room and security stationed themselves outside each door. Stieg fought the pain in his chest. He knew Lisbeth was close, but he didn’t know how he’d find her in a mob of thousands. Every step took him away from where he’d seen her, and it went against his instincts.
He looked up to see two men and two women walking ahead of him. One woman had her arms around the other, the men were slightly behind them, leaning in talking quietly. One man with dark hair seemed familiar, but from the back, he couldn’t be sure it was the same man in the Q and A. The women turned their heads to talk to the men. He grabbed Jonas by the arm and stopped suddenly. Jonas looked up just as the group ahead of them prepared to go down the next hallway.
“Lisbeth.” Stieg’s voice was quiet at first. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “Lisbeth!” The group stopped, and the men turned to look at him. Both men smiled as they whispered to the women. The dark-haired woman holding the other female gasped and whispered to Lisbeth. The tear-streaked face of the woman he’d been dreaming of turned toward him. “Oh god, it is you. Oh, baby, come here.”
He took a few steps forward and opened his arms. Lisbeth struggled to get ahold of her emotions before she began to walk toward him. “Come to me, Lisbeth.” He couldn’t stop his forward movement, even though she was jogging toward him. Before he knew it, she was in his arms. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling her scent. Her soft body pressed against him and he could hear her sobs and feel her tears wetting his neck.
“I didn’t think you’d know me.” Her voice was muffled against him. “I was afraid you’d not recognize me.” Her hands were clinging to his waist, pulling him tight to her body. He stroked her back with one hand, cupping the back of her head with the other. Her soft hair felt so right against his palm.
“I’d know you anywhere. I’d know, Lisbeth. You’re my forever love.” He moved and began to kiss her forehead over and over. He could hear Jonas beside him talking to the security team, but not caring what he was saying, he focused on her. Lisbeth. She was real, she was warm and alive in his arms.
“Stieg, if you don’t let up, you’re going to break her before you can ride her.”
“Jonas, your sick sense of humor isn’t helping or needed right now.” He wrapped his arms around her tighter, tight enough to feel every inch of her pressed against him. He could feel her heart pounding against his chest. He couldn’t get close enough to her to calm himself.
“Who’s joking? Seriously, Stieg, relax a bit, you’ve got a death grip on her.” Jonas clasped a hand to his shoulder, his voice full of emotion. “It’s okay now, you’ve found her.” Jonas moved his hand from his shoulder and ran a finger over his cheek, removing a tear.
Stieg took a breath and realized he was holding Lisbeth a little too tight and tried to relax his arms, loosening his hold. He felt her grab on to him tighter and smiled against her forehead. “I’m not letting you go, Lisbeth. God, never, never again.” He could feel her nodding as she slightly backed away from him and rubbed her tear-soaked face with her hand. He kept his arm around her waist, not willing to completely let go of her while he rubbed her back with his free hand. He looked up to see the men holding each of the other woman’s hands. If he wasn’t so relieved to finally have Lisbeth wrapped around him, he might have raised his eyebrows at the threesome. But he could only focus on the woman in his arms.
“I know you guys want to be alone, but later after you get acquainted or, reacquainted, we’ll be around to answering your questions. I’m Dr. Marc Kensington. This is Captain Dave Amsted and our wife, Sadie.”
Jonas glanced at Stieg with raised eyebrows, then moved and shook their hands in greeting. “I’m Jonas Kirkhart, Stieg’s personal assistant. Obviously, you know who he is since you were at the event. I guess you’re with the woman who is currently wrapped around my best friend.” Humor laced his voice, and Stieg smiled.
“This is Lisbeth. And she’s mine.” Stieg hardly recognized his own voice, so full of emotion and disbelief that she was real and in his embrace.
“Well, I’m certainly glad that got settled.” Everyone looked down the hallway. A short, older woman dressed in a long red wig, a full-length, silky blue dress, and pink contact lenses stood with a smile on her face. “Now, who is staying in which room?” The older woman looked around the stunned faces of everyone in the hallway. “I’m dressed as the Elder from the Being’s homeworld. What? This is a science fiction convention.”
Jonas grinned. “I fucking love America.”
*****
Jonas smiled at the older lady, she smiled back. “I’m Telly Ann Lackney, most call me Tel. You seem like a nice young man who’d love to have an old lady stay in his extra bedroom.”
“You bet I would. You’re the greatest thing I’ve run across since we got here. Stieg, give me your key.” Stieg’s hands wouldn’t leave the woman in his arms. “Never mind.” Jonas huffed then reached into Stieg’s back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out hi
s keycard and put Tel’s key back in its place. “I’ll get your shit packed and moved.”
“Tomorrow will be fine, Jonas.” Stieg couldn’t take his eyes off Lisbeth.
“You bet it is. You’ll probably be naked most of the day anyway. And you’ll be paying for mine and Tel’s room service.” Jonas grinned at his new friend. He removed several bills from Stieg’s wallet, stuffed them in his front pants pocket, then he put the wallet in Stieg’s hand. He turned to the old lady. “Here’s your new key, Tel. I’ll make sure your stuff is sent over later.”
“Much later, Jonas.” Stieg smiled at Lisbeth, releasing her quickly to put his wallet in his pocket. He stood staring at her, afraid he’d wake up. God, she was in his arms.
“Oh, that’s more than fine, dear, I’m headed to the convention right now anyway. I’m going to be busy for hours. I hear that they are having a meet and greet for Aoki, Flynn, and Charley.” The old lady’s voice was getting farther away as she walked down the hall. “That’s the next movie he should make, you know.” Apparently, she and Jonas were leaving together.
His voice floated to him as they walked away. “I heard Mace and Abby might make an appearance.” Tel’s voice replied, but it was too far away to hear her words.
“Well, I guess we’ll head on up to our room then.” Stieg looked up to see Dave holding the woman, Sadie in his arms. Marc was grinning as he walked to them and kissed the back of her head. He placed his hand on the other man’s shoulder before turning his head to face them. “Send a message when you’re ready to talk.”
Stieg looked back to the woman standing next to him and felt something that surprised him. He was nervous. So much had happened in the last few weeks, and he’d been desperate to find Lisbeth. But he had focused so much on trying to find her that he never planned on what it would be like when he did finally meet her. On the surface, it was irrational, he loved her so damn much, but he’d never actually met her. He had known so much about her but didn’t know where she was or how to get to her. It was like a puzzle with important missing pieces.
