by C. M. Steele
“Son of a bitch,” the DA roared. We all looked at him and he focused on me right away. “Wyatt. You are taking my daughter out of town back to Seattle or wherever and keeping her safe. Shit,” he said, slamming his fist against the wall. What the fuck was going on? He tried to keep me away from her all this time. Now I was tasked with protecting her. Not that I would mind, but I wanted answers.
“Sir, if I take her with me, I won’t be giving her back.” I had no idea what changed his mind other than the fact that someone was after Miranda. It was a good enough reason for me to take her away, but if he didn’t trust me, then why was he letting me take her.
“All I want is for her to be safe,” he expressed. “Excuse me.” He stepped from the room, but Agent Morris went after him.
“Mr. Wyatt. I know your background. You have the ability to do a lot of sneaky things. Get her away safely, and well, you didn’t hear it from me, but…” She leaned down and whispered by my ear, “Work your magic and help us find out who it is.”
After they left me alone for a minute, I thought about where I could take her and hide her away. A tropical beach of sand, sex, and baby making sounded like a good idea, but to where. I did have some connections. They weren’t always the reputable sort of people, but they tried to stay clean now.
Maybe I could stay at their place in the south of France. I don’t know how Miranda would feel, but she would be going. Thankfully, my phone had been in my pocket and didn’t get damaged, so I made the call to Nikolai Rykov.
“Nikolai, this is Duke Wyatt. How are you doing?” I asked.
“Well, my friend. But since you have not spoken to me since I last asked you for a favor. I assume you need something,” he said with a suspicious raise in his pitch.
“Yes, I was wondering if you still had the villa in France.”
“Yes, we just vacationed there with my wife and kids. Did you need it? A special woman? You know we only take kidnapped women there.” I could tell that he was teasing, but it really did happen that way. Nikolai took his wife there without her consent and so did his best friend Sergei. Both women fell madly in love with the guys and they all are living the life, but I know they weren’t a hundred percent legit back in the day.
“Ha. She may not go easily, but she’s not being kidnapped. By the way, she’s as special as they get,” I confessed the truth.
“Very well. I will have my staff prepare for the visit. When will you be arriving? Within the next day?” he asked holding back a laugh.
“Yes.”
With a chuckle, he replied, “It was what I expected. I want an invitation to the wedding. Bianca loves weddings.”
“You’ll get the second invite. My mother would kill me if I didn’t send one to her first.”
“Very true. Excuse me, I must get back to my son. He’s coloring on the damn walls again.”
“Can’t wait for those days,” I remarked. I was ready for moments like that or so I thought. Who knew? All I knew was that I wanted Miranda to be the mother of all my rug rats.
“Yes, it is the good life. Take care, my friend.” He hung up and now all I had to do was call Jackson Blake and have him let us use the private jet after we landed in Maine.
“Hey, Jackson.”
“Duke, how are things going with this Miranda chick?”
“It’s going okay. I have a slight problem and need a favor from you.”
“Anything, man.”
“I need to get Miranda away from a nut here in Arizona, and I wanted to use your family plane to take her to Rykov’s home in the south of France.”
“Do the brothers know about the problem?”
“Not yet. They will soon. I just need to get some answers before I can say anything. Miranda’s safety is my top priority.”
“I can have the jet there tomorrow to pick you up. Just let me get things together.”
“Can you have it ready in Maine? We’re going to fly out in a few hours from here.”
“Sure that’ll be easier. Just be safe.”
“Thanks. Give the family my love,” I said, hanging up to get my shit together and leaving this place.
Five minutes later he sent me a text with the flight information. The man was a machine too. We worked to get him cleared of some bullshit and have been close ever since.
Once everything was set up, I went on the hunt for Miranda. It had been enough time. There was no way I could stay away from her for another minute. I didn’t care that she was being protected by armed officers. I was her protector; her father even gave me permission to do so.
I swung open my door like a mad man only to see the most beautiful sight. Miranda had a hand up poised to knock on my door. Our eyes met in one of the movie moments, where time stops. But just as she cracked a smile, reality struck me that the danger was real. Quickly, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into the room, closing the door behind us.
I bent down and kissed her roughly, pouring the events of the day into the kiss. Breaking away from her soft lips, I held her close and let relief wash over me that we were still alive and together. Taking her mouth again, I slipped my hands in her luscious long black waves.
“Ah,” she sighed, tilting her head back and wrapping her hands around my neck. Her nails ran through my hair, rubbing my scalp. It felt so incredible that I dropped my head back and into her hands.
“Damn, Miranda,” I moaned.
“They told me they were discharging us, so I had to see you. I didn’t want you to leave me without saying goodbye.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you,” I said. “We’re leaving together as soon as I get released.”
I cupped her face, caressing the soft skin that now had a bruise. She tried to hide the pain, but I saw her wince. It pissed me off that she was so hurt. My woman shouldn’t have to suffer at all. Guilt consumed me. “I’m sorry that I didn’t protect you.”
“Duke, don’t start that. It wasn’t your fault and it sure as hell had nothing to do with you. It was all me and my dad, and I’m so sorry you got dragged into it,” she apologized, her lips softly brushing against mine.
“Now you don’t start that. I chased you around and didn’t give up. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’d fallen in love with you, I wouldn’t be in this situation, but I wouldn’t change that decision ever,” I reminded her that I was here because I wanted to be here. “We need to get signed out of here and onto a plane.”
“I can’t get on a plane and leave my dad and mom here after what just happened,” she said with panic voice. One thing was for sure, she had a good heart, but her safety wasn’t up for negotiations.
“I’m not the one who came up with the idea. It was your dad who said to leave with you in tow. Now, come on,” I grabbed her hand and walked her out of the room.
Since she was fully dressed in some scrubs the hospital gave her, we could go as we were. Needing her purse, we stepped into her room and grabbed it. “I’m so glad the police were able to retrieve my purse from my car after the bombing,” she said. She stepped over to the bedside table, doing a quick check of the contents when I noticed her gait.
“What other bruises do you have on your body?” I moved my head looking for visible injuries. She was moving gingerly and that worried me.
“Just a bruise and a scrape on my left side,” she remarked, pointing to the area that hurt. That could explain the way she was moving.
“Okay,” I said, making a mental note of her pain, we headed down to the nurses’ station.
“Where are we going?” she asked me.
“To the nurses’ station,” I remarked. Telling her the full details was out of the question. I didn’t want her to change her mind or accidentally let it slip where we were going to be hiding.
“No, I meant where are you taking me afterward,” she replied contemptuously.
“You’ll see when we get there.” She stopped, forcing me back. “What’s the matter?”
She stood there with al
l her sexiness, pouting at me with her arms crossed. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where we’re going.”
Walking up to the nurse on deck, I asked, “Are Miss Russell’s and my papers ready?”
“Yes, Mr. Wyatt. I will need you both to sign these, and then you are both free to go.”
It was already six at night when we arrived at the airport with a small amount of pain pills. I had to call my brothers in arms before Jackson told them.
“Hey, man, what’s up?” Mike asked.
“Did you hear anything on the news over there?”
“Nah, been with the wife all day in bed. What’s up man?”
“Miranda and I are okay, but someone tried to blow up my truck with us in it today.”
“What?! Let me get Milo on the phone.” He patched Milo in and I explained what happened and the plan to get us out of the country. They were all for getting me as far away as possible until we had everything under control.
“We’ll fly out men to protect the DA and assist with getting you any info you need,” Milo said. I knew my boys would have my back, but it was good to know that they would help protect Miranda’s father.
“Thanks for looking out for the DA,” I said. They didn’t have to do it, but I still appreciated it. I didn’t want anything to upset her.
“Hey, man. You told us that although he’s a shithead to you, he loves his daughter. That in itself is enough to make sure he’s safe. You know that’s not the case for most of our women,” Milo replied.
“That’s true, and I know Zoey would be destroyed if something happened to her dad,” I added.
“That’s for sure,” Mike said for certain. His wife was Jackson Blake’s sister and their family was tight. We said our goodbyes and made our plans to talk later when things were in place.
Miranda and I took a commercial flight into Maine before climbing aboard the Blake family’s private jet for a four in the morning flight into Nice. I pulled the friend card with Jackson who told his father, so Mr. William Blake had set it up for me. We wouldn’t be arriving until two in the afternoon. With it still being winter time, the sun would be setting early, but I wasn’t sure how early there. Since we were in the same hemisphere I assumed it was the same, but I just didn’t want to show up at the villa in the dark. With everything going on, I didn’t want to have to feel like we were walking into a trap. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard Miranda ask me something.
“Sorry, could you repeat that? I was thinking to myself,” I apologized.
“Are you still going to keep it a secret?” she asked me in a not so nice tone as we took our seats next to each other on the plane. The flight attendant already gave us the warning that we would be departing with all the rules and emergency plans.
“I just want us to be safe. I don’t know why someone tried to blow us up or who, but I won’t take any chances.”
“I know what happened.” Miranda bowed her head. I unbuckled my seat and reached for her face.
“Look at me, Miranda.” When she did, I asked, “What happened, baby doll?”
“It’s all my fault you were hurt today,” she sobbed.
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t put a bomb under my truck.”
“My dad called me into his office this morning because he was giving the internship to the other candidate. I was crushed and ran out. Earlier when he came to see me in my hospital room, he explained why. He wanted me safe. There was a crazy person targeting the DA’s office. I didn’t know about it because he was trying to keep me from being scared, but it didn’t do any good. My dad was going to hire you to find out who this person was and that’s why he wanted me to stay away from you. If you were hunting the person down, I might become a target.”
“That makes more sense now, but I wished he would have told me when it first happened. I would have looked into it before it came to what happened today.”
“He said he only got the threat yesterday morning.”
“So that must have been the case he wanted me to take, but wouldn’t discuss it on the phone. And now that’s why he wants you well protected and hidden away until it clears up and that bastard is caught. I’ll find the son of a bitch and hang him by his balls,” I growled, thinking about it made me angry all over again.
“Oh, my knight in shining armor,” she sighed playfully, teasing me on my method of punishment for the SOB. With that grin etched on her face, I needed to kiss her. I reached over my seat and pulled her face to mine. Tilting her chin and running my thumb across it, I kissed her softly. It wasn’t anything more than a simple, chaste kiss. I longed for more, a lot more, but I wanted her in my bed, not on the airplane, for our first time together.
“I love you, Miranda. I’ll be whatever you want,” I said, moving back to sit in my seat.
It was silent until the flight attendant brought us our drinks. She was an attractive woman and Miranda seemed to be eyeing her in a bad way. The moment the woman brought us our drinks, I cracked her a smile and thanked her. Nothing I wouldn’t do for any server, but Miranda’s expression was almost comical in her jealousy. Something about being civil to another woman didn’t sit well with her.
The instant she left us alone, I said, “You know I was just being polite. She’s serving us. The least you could do is be civil.”
“I was being civil,” she hissed through gritted teeth. She looked down at her drink like she didn’t want it anymore. Like our flight attendant did something to it.
I shook my head because I knew it was a lie. She was jealous, which was cool with me as long as she didn’t try to fight with the chick. I wasn’t up to stopping a cat fight, especially one with no real purpose. I loved her and wouldn’t do shit to hurt her. “Bullshit. You looked ready to claw her eyes out.”
“She looked like she was ready to jump in your lap,” she answered back with a scowl.
“She wasn’t; she was doing her job,” I argued, clutching Miranda’s hand in mine.
She pulled her hand from mine angrily, and said, “Whatever, I don’t want to argue about it. It doesn’t matter.”
I took it back because I wasn’t liking her acting distant toward me. “It matters to me. Whether or not she was being flirtatious, I wasn’t. I wouldn’t do that to you, so relax and enjoy the flight. It’s going to be a long one.” Lifting her hand up to my lips, I kissed it and placed it on my thigh before closing my eyes in an attempt to calm myself. Miranda attempted to remove her hand from my thigh, but every time she did I’d yank it back.
“Duke, where are you whisking me off to?” I knew it wouldn’t take her long to ask again.
“The south of France,” I replied with my eyes still closed.
“What? For real?” she gasped excitedly. Good, she wasn’t going to give me too hard of a time.
“Yes, do you like it?” I asked with a hopeful feeling in my heart. After everything that happened, I wanted something to be jumping up and down about.
“Yes, I do, but damn I didn’t know you were doing that well.”
“I have the right connections. We’re staying at the vacation home of a friend of mine. He told me I had it until I said otherwise.”
“Wow. Do you know if I’ll be able to contact my parents?”
“Soon. I have it all set up so everything rerouted. Once we land, we can call from my cell phone.”
“Thanks for being my hero. I really mean it,” she whispered, resting her head on my shoulder.
Chapter 7
We landed in Nice, France, and it was so beautiful. I was in awe. Instead of the living nightmare I was just in, I was in paradise with the man who turned my heart and world around until all I wanted was him. The plane opened up and he did a cursory looksee before helping me down the stairs. Duke held my hand and had me close to his side as we walked from the tarmac to the car that was waiting for us. The driver held the door open, so I turned and asked Duke, “Can I call now?”
“Sure, sweetheart,” he said, while helping me int
o the vehicle then climbing in behind me. Once we were seated, he took out his phone from his pants pocket and handed it over easily. The way he looked out for my feelings and took care of my worry sent a warm sensation throughout my body. I had to kiss him. Reaching across the limo seats, I cupped his face and lowered my mouth on his. Duke let out moan and gruffly pulled me into his lap. My legs straddled his legs as he cupped my ass and pushed my pussy into his hard cock. It felt so good that I began to roll my hips. We hadn’t even started to drive away from the landing strip before I was grinding on him with my head tossed back as I enjoyed the ride. I should be ashamed but I wasn’t. My hands moved into his thick, dark, short waves, tugging and running my fingers through it.
Shaking with need, I attacked his lips again. I loved the short scruff on his face. I traced my hands along his jaw. They were soft against mine until he took control. Duke flipped me onto my back and crushed his mouth to mine while he continued to work his cock against my pussy. I don’t know how long we spent dry humping when there was a knock from the limo divider. It caught our attention, making us both stop at the sound. Duke popped off me and helped me sit up. He hit the intercom and breathing heavily he asked, “Yes?”
“We’re going to be leaving. The road was rained out so we’re going to take a detour through town,” the driver replied, speaking with a thick accent.
“Thank you,” Duke said, straightening himself. I watched has he attempted to cool his ardor. He looked at me and gave me a nod. “Call your parents.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess I got carried away,” I said with a blush, completely embarrassed now that the spell was broken.
I dialed my parents number and my dad picked up right away. “Russell residence.”
“Dad, it’s me,” I said anxiously.
“Oh my God. How are you, sweetheart?” I heard the fear in his voice and I prayed no one was in the house with them.
“I’m fine. Duke and I are in…”
He stopped me in my tracks. “Don’t tell me where you are. Please just stay safe.” It totally slipped my mind that someone might be listening in to our conversations. I couldn’t believe I’d already forgotten what Duke had told me. That was why he didn’t want to tell me sooner.
