“Where is the money?” she shouts.
“Gone, baby,” I tell her. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Don’t you get it?” she shouts. Abigail is coming undone at the seams and I inch a little closer to her. “I’m a murderer! I killed my husband. I’m a killer! Please let me go,” she cries.
“No, honey,” I say as I inch a little closer. “I can’t let you go.”
“So that’s how it’s going to be?” she asks me with tears in her eyes and it breaks my heart.
“Yeah, darlin’,” I say moving just a little bit closer.
“You’re going to throw me in jail.”
“No, darlin’,” I say.
“But I’m a murderer.”
“You’re not, honey,” I say not wanting to give her the rest, but I love her, so I owe her the truth. I will always give her honesty. “Your husband isn’t dead.”
“What?” she screams.
“He’s not dead, baby.”
“I have to go!” she shouts, her panic ramping back up.
“No, you do not. You belong here,” I bellow back surprising us both.
“Don’t you get it?” she cries. “He will kill you to hurt me! I have to go.”
“He will never get to me,” I promise her.
“You don’t know that!”
“I do, honey, I’m just that good,” I smile a crooked smile at her as I wrap my arms around her holding her tight. “Let me keep you safe.”
“I love you, Tanner. I can’t handle it if something happens to you because of me. I won’t survive it,” she says solemnly.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” I promise. “I love you too,” I say before I crush my mouth onto hers, and it’s as wild as it is sweet, all lips and teeth and tongue.
“Tanner,” she says my name on a gasp.
“What, darlin’?” I ask her as I run my hands up and down her back.
“I want you.”
“Darlin’, I always want you,” I say before I pull her shirt over her head and reach behind her to unhook her bra. “You’re beautiful,” I whisper cupping her breasts in my hands and teasing her nipples with my thumbs.
“You make me feel that way,” she says as she pulls my tie over my head, knocking my white hat to the floor in the process.
I make quick work of the buttons on the front of my white dress shirt. Abby’s graceful hands part the material and shove it down my arms before dropping to the floor. I unsnap her jeans and pull down the zipper, shoving my hands down the back to cover her beautiful cheeks, one in each hand.
I let out a hiss as she palms my erection, clenching it tight in her fist over my khaki slacks before unbuckling my belt and unzipping my pants, shoving both and my boxer briefs to the floor, my cock springing free in the process. I step out of my boots while she pushes her jeans and panties down her legs before stepping out of them.
No one reaches for the other first, we both just move towards each other with a quickness, a need to touch, to feel each other as if the sands of time are ticking down on us.
I grab her and pull her towards me as she wraps her arms around my neck as my lips hit hers. She leaps into my arms. Abigail coils her legs around my waist and her pussy fits snug against my cock. We both groan at the contact.
She rocks against me frantically and I am desperate to be inside her. I tip my hips back to align myself with her entrance and then push in. She whimpers at my mouth as we slowly move against each other.
I can’t take it anymore. My need for Abigail is overwhelming.
I drop to my knees on the floor in the middle of my living room and slowly lay her back. I look down at her. Abby’s golden hair is a mess, flying everywhere, her whiskey brown eyes flash with her desire for me. I do this to her. She lights up for me.
“I love you, so fucking much,” I vow.
“I love you too, Tanner,” she says as I cover her with my body and link her hands in mine.
I thrust into her, harder than before, and she comes undone. Arching her back to meet her hips with mine, Abigail takes everything I have to give her and more, so much more. It’s as beautiful as it is wild.
“Yes,” she pants as I pump my cock into her over and over again.
“That’s it, baby,” I shout as I feel her pussy clench around my cock like a fist making me go a little wild. She does this to me. Only Abigail tears me up and makes me fall apart like only she can. It’s all for her.
“Tanner,” she cries out a little frantic as she burns for me.
“Yes, darlin’, I’m right here,” I tell her as my hips meet hers again and again. “I’m right here. Let go, baby. Come for me.” And she does, screaming my name and it is spectacular. And I follow her over the edge, my own climax greater than any that ever came before because it was always meant to be Abigail.
Afterwards, I glide my cock slowly in and out of her, wringing every last drop out of us both and completely unwilling to let this beautiful moment pass between us.
“I love you, Tanner,” she says with tears in her eyes.
“I love you too, darlin’. It’s always been you. Only you.”
Chapter 15
Abigail
HOME. THAT’S WHAT IT FEELS like in my heart, that I finally found home, that I’m finally where I’m supposed to be.
After Tanner made love to me again on the floor, this time less frantic, and more slow and sweet—a reaffirmation of our love for each other, that we’re going to be okay—we both go up and redressed, touching, caressing each other as much as possible.
Tanner and I talked and we both agreed, I won’t run. I will stay here and fight with him by my side. I am going to trust Tanner to protect me from Brandon. And I do, I trust him more than anything. Tanner is everything that Brandon is not. Tanner is good and kind, honest to a fault and strong. Where Brandon is mean and cruel and weak.
“Lock this door behind me and do not open it for anyone but me,” he said as he clipped his duty belt back around his waist. It’s as if a different persona takes over when he clips the Sig Sauer P226 to his belt. This formidable man is a Texas Ranger and he is not to be messed with. This is a glimpse at the Marine. This is my warrior.
“I will, I promise,” I tell him. Tanner kisses me hard on the mouth and it’s over before I want it to be. I will never get enough of Tanner Savage.
I watch him walk out the door before locking it behind him. With Brandon out there somewhere, I can’t be too careful. I decide to pick up the mess I made when trying to find my go bag to get out of here when there is a knock at the door. I smile to myself. Tanner must have forgotten something. I pull open the door and the smile slides right off my face.
Unfortunately, it was a decision that would cost me everything, even my life.
For the rest of my life I had thought that I would hear those church bells on the day that I died. That is until Brandon walked into my life. After we were married, I had often questioned whether I would hear church bells or hell’s bells on the day that I died.
Today I know for sure.
Yes, today all of my questions on life and love and fairness were answered when I opened the front door to Tanner’s home and realized that a demon stood on the front steps. A demon who took not only my person, but my hopes and dreams and crushed them under his boot heels.
I should have known only princesses get happily ever afters with men who are kind and sweet and strong like Tanner—a man I could love for all of my days and would love me back unconditionally. Former strippers from the trailer park do not.
It’s only been about twenty minutes since Tanner left, he must have remembered something halfway to the station.
“Hello, wife,” he sneers. “Miss me?”
“No!” I shout as I try and slam the door closed but he blocks it, shoving me back into the house and he follows. His fist connecting with the side of my head, making me see stars.
I fall to the ground, curling in on myself. This is the drill I know by heart. Thi
s is how to survive what is to come . . . hopefully survive. Brandon lands kick after kick to my back and side.
“I watched you, you know,” he screams. “I saw you every time you got on your back and spread your legs for him. Imagine how surprised I was to find out that after my sweet wife poisoned me and left me for dead, I finally find her and she’s whoring herself out for a fucking cop!”
I never stood a chance against him before, trying to overpower him now would be pointless. My only hope now is to buy enough time until Tanner gets back.
Brandon grabs me by my ponytail and yanks. I have to wrap my hands around his at my hair to keep him from pulling it all out as he drags me into the kitchen, throwing me down on the cold, tile floor.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” he spits.
“I love him,” I say with confidence, as I look him directly in his cold, dead eyes.
“You belong to me!” my husband shouts as he backhands me across the face.
“I belong to no one,” I say, my voice clear as a bell but he hits me again.
It doesn’t take my husband long to best me. His lips move as he speaks but all I see is movement. It’s kind of like when a parent talks in one of those old cartoons all “whomp, whomp, whomp.” He pauses as if he’s asked me a question, but I wasn’t listening. I just nod from where I kneel in front of him. My body bruised and bloody. He holds a gun to my bowed head and I know there is no escape this time. Not so long ago, I made a deal with the devil and now he’s here to collect.
When the gunshot echoes through the dark room, I know that I was wrong all those years ago. It wasn’t church bells I would hear on the day that I died, it was hell’s bells because the demon had come to drag me straight back to hell. My only regret is having married him six years ago.
I close my eyes and bow my head as I wait for death to take me. Three more shots echo through the room and tears stream down my cheeks. There is no pain. Only darkness.
“Abby,” Tanner shouts as someone shakes me. “Abby. Abby, baby, open your eyes for me. I need to see your eyes,” he pleads.
I slowly blink them open and there he is, as beautiful as always, “Tanner?” I ask. “You came back for me.”
“I did, honey,” he says as cops swarm the house. “I’m so sorry he hurt you. I was halfway to the station when I got a call that they had seen him in the area.”
“Did he get away?” I ask feeling confused.
“No, honey, he’s dead. He can never hurt you or anyone else again.”
“He’s dead?” I ask needing to be reassured.
“Yeah, darlin’, he’s well and truly dead.”
“I’m free,” I whisper looking up into Tanner’s bright hazel eyes. “I love you, Tanner.”
“I love you too, baby,” he says. “Everything’s going to be alright now.” And then he folds me into his arms as I cry my tears of joy. Tanner held me the entire time.
Epilogue
Tanner
Christmas Day . . .
THIS IS THE FIRST DAY of the rest of my life.
This morning when the Church Bells rang out, the sun was shining, there was a light dusting of snow on the ground, and not a cloud in the sky. Today is a perfect day.
Today, I’m marrying Abigail Williams.
Today, I stand at the altar in our little country church in a gray suit that Abby hand-picked. She laughed when I said I was going to buy it to remember this day for the rest of my life. I can’t help but also remember the day that Ginnie Winslow died on my kitchen floor with her husband, Brandon.
After that day, we moved forward to legally change her name to Abigail, which it turned out was her grandmother’s name, William her grandfather. I couldn’t think of a more fitting name for the rest of her life as they were the only people who never abandoned her or turned there backs on her. That is until the day she landed in Mason.
Once Major, another friend of mine and Holt’s from the service, and all of his buddies from agencies with initials instead of names finished their investigation of Brandon Winslow, no charges were filed against Abigail. My killing of her first husband was ruled self-defense but Internal Affairs—a clean shoot. They said I didn’t need to take a leave of absence following the incident, but I did anyway to make sure that Abigail was going to be okay and that she was ready to settle into her new life with me. And she was.
I proposed on Thanksgiving Day, surrounded by our friends and family with my great-grandmother’s ring. And obviously, she said yes.
I also did not want to wait to claim this woman as my wife for the rest of all of our days, so I insisted on a Christmas wedding and she also agreed. I wanted Abigail to have all of her dreams come true, so I sent her with my mom with the instructions to make today perfect. And they succeeded.
The music changes and the doors to the church open wide. Abigail walks in on the arm of Russell, the man who now sees her as a daughter of his own. Only Abigail could turn a big, gruff pit bull of a man like Russell into a fluffy puppy. She credits him with saving her. And so, do I. He recognized her for what she really was all those months ago when I couldn’t.
When she reaches me at the altar, she smiles at me so brightly, so honestly, it takes my breath away.
Everyone in the building has their eyes on Abigail. She’s gorgeous in a white satin gown with the full, poufy skirt that makes her look like a princess and long white lace sleeves that do something to me. She holds the attention of everyone around her, including me, but my Abigail only has eyes for me. That knowledge burns through my chest in the very best of ways.
It would have been understandable if she never trusted another man again after what she went through, but here she is, putting that trust, that faith, in me. And she echoes those thoughts with her vows to love and to cherish from this day on. And I do too.
Forever
***
The night is winding down and Abigail and I are dancing in the middle of the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the Jennings’ big, red barn. They were over the moon when we asked them if we could hold our reception where we had our first date.
“Unchained Melody” swirls all around us. Our friends and family eat and drink and dance all around, celebrating the day with us, but as I hold Abby in my arms as we sway to the music, it feels like it’s just us in the world our in our own little bubble.
“I have a surprise,” she says hesitantly, and I know what she wants to say to me is important.
“Don’t be scared,” I reassure her. “I love anything you do.”
“I’m pregnant,” she whispers and that warm glow blazes bright. Right here, right now, I have everything.
“Really?” I ask excited.
“Truly,” she says.
“But when? We’ve been so careful.” And we have. I have used a condom every time.
“Except . . .” she says a smile playing on her lips.
“That day on the living room floor,” I say. We were so scared so desperate for each other that we didn’t stop.
“Are you okay?” she asks me.
“I’m more than okay,” I say, smiling at her. “You’ve given me everything today. Everything I have ever wanted.”
“Me too,” she says as she settles back into my arms as we sway to the music. “I love you, Tanner.”
“And I love you, darlin’.”
Sometimes out of the ashes grow the most beautiful blessings. Abigail is everything I didn’t know I that needed and so much more. As we dance the last dance of the night before I take her home, I vow that she and our child will never go a day without knowing how much I love them, how truly wanted they are.
“Ready to go home, honey?” I ask her.
“I thought you’d never ask,” she says, smiling.
“Let’s go get started on that forever, darlin’.” And with her hand in mine, we walk out of the barn and into the night to our waiting car where we do just that.
Forever.
The End
Pl
aylist
Hells Bells—AC/DC
Broken Halos—Chris Stapleton
I Could Use a Love Song—Maren Morris
Wanted—Bon Jovi
Fancy—Reba McEntire
Wanted—Hunter Hayes
Church Bells—Carrie Underwood
Better Dig Two—The Band Perry
Earl Had to Die—The Dixie Chicks
What Ifs—Kane Brown ft. Lauren Alaina
Ring on Every Finger—LoCash
About the Author
JENNIFER IS A THIRTY SOMETHING lover of words, all words: the written, the spoken, the sung (even poorly), the sweet, the funny, and even the four-letter variety. She is a native of San Diego, California where she grew up reading the Brownings and Rebecca with her mother and Clifford and the Dog Who Glowed in the Dark with her dad, much to her mother’s dismay.
Jennifer is a graduate of California State University San Marcos where she studied Criminology and Justice Studies. She is also a member of Alpha Xi Delta.
10 years ago, she was swept off her feet by her very own sailor. Today, they are happily married and the parents of an 8-year-old and 7-year-old twins. She lives in East Texas where she can often be found on the soccer fields, drawing with her children, or reading. Jennifer is convinced that if she puts her Fitbit on one of the dogs, she might finally make her step goals. She loves a great romance, an alpha hero, and lots and lots of laughter.
Follow Her . . .
www.JenniferRebeccaAuthor.com
facebook.com/JenniferRebeccaAuthor
facebook.com/groups.JRdangerousdames
Twitter: @JenniRLreads
Instagram: @JenniRLreads
Thank You
I HAVE A HUGE SPECIAL thank you for Kelly Elliot, not only for letting me be apart of her Wanted world, but for creating that world. Her words, her books are so special.
Thank you to all of the Wanted World readers who have welcomed and embraced us all with our stories. I hope I did Mason justice and I hope you love Tanner and Abigail as much as I do.
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