Harkham's Choice (Harkham's Series Book 2)

by Chanse Lowell

  The last few remaining people—Michelle, Daniel and Kendra—started helping a little, too. Kendra kept watching Daniel in a creepy way.

  Eventually Daniel left out the side gate, and Kendra was gone a few seconds later.

  He was glad they were out of his life.

  Adam had ignored them while they were here as much as he could.

  He kissed his wife some more and couldn’t stop roaming his hands all over her back. “I’m picturing you naked,” he admitted.

  “I’m sure you are,” Mari said, chuckling.

  “No, really, really naked, like where I can see all of you in bright lights. Not in the dark in my bedroom or in a shower, but in the full light. You’ll let me do that, right?” His voice wavered as his breath caught. What if she didn’t let him do that? He really wanted to.

  The gate opened, but he didn’t bother to look. It was probably London. She said she’d be late, and she was—very late.

  It was nice of her to show up, though. He knew it would mean a lot to Mari.

  “So? Can I? See you?” he asked, pressing for an answer.

  “Yes, sweetie, I’ll let you do any damn thing you wa—”

  “It was a nice wedding—Samara would be proud,” Daniel said, interrupting them, his hands in his pockets.

  Adam startled, not realizing he was standing right next to them. Why did he return?

  Adam thought he saw some movement back by the gate. What was going on?

  “Thank you,” Mari said, her lips stiff as they moved.

  “Only one thing would make her prouder,” he said, and in a blinding flash, he had a gun pointed at Mari.

  “No! You can’t hurt her!” Adam growled and launched himself at Daniel.

  The gun went off, and all he could think about was tearing Daniel’s arms off and swallowing the gun down so it wouldn’t be a threat to his darling wife.

  “Move, Adam! I don’t want to hurt you!” Mari yelled, shoving him off.

  She somehow removed him and had her hands ripping into Daniel’s throat. He still had the gun, but she had his arms pinned down with her knees.

  He bucked, and his hand was trying to aim at Adam, off to the side.

  “Yaaaaaah!” Adam yowled like a dying animal. Choppy barked hysterically behind him.

  Then he remembered with his next heartbeat those moments last night before he’d stolen his pet back into the house.

  The icepick!

  He ripped it out of his pants pocket and whiiiiiiiiiipphh!

  His hand flew up and then down, landing straight into Daniel’s wrist, the one holding the gun. He barely missed Mari’s leg and her beautiful white dress.

  But then blood spurted out as Daniel screamed. “I hate you! You destroyed Samara—the one woman I loved!”

  “What the hell is g—” Dustin’s voice cut off. He flew to Adam and ripped Mari off Daniel.

  Zach stood Daniel up and put in a choke hold.

  It sounded like Michelle was on her cell, talking to 911 officials.

  Kendra was the most surprising. She raced right up to Daniel and kneed him in the groin. “You asshole! This was supposed to be their perfect day!” She slapped him right after she spit in his face.

  Zach laughed, and Adam could have sworn his brother leaned back with his arms interlocked around Daniel’s arms he had behind him. It made Daniel’s body round toward Kendra so she could take another cheap shot at him.

  “I never liked you, you freak!” Kendra continued berating Daniel. “I knew you’d be here. I just didn’t think you’d actually have the guts to do anything. That’s why I was following you around and why I stayed until you left—making sure you left them alone.”

  Mari gasped almost inaudibly, but it was there.

  “I hope they put you in prison just like your messed up, weirdo girlfriend!” Kendra said, pointing in his chest. “She paid me to come here, too. She wanted me to do the same thing, so I lied and told her I would for a large sum.” She groaned. “Jesus—who does this at a wedding? I can’t believe you!” She pointed at him once more with her shaking finger, then dropped it to her side. “You’re pathetic!”

  “She what?” Adam choked on his words.

  “Yeah, I’ve been watching out for her for you guys. She called me a few times, asking me to do stuff to you guys for her. I always told her I would and then gave her some lame reason that I didn’t go through with it so she’d keep trusting me. But I figured out where she was calling from. I have a cousin who actually found her in France. Samara is in jail for attacking your mom,” Kendra said, her eyes apologetic.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Adam asked, his hands shaking inside of Mari’s. He hadn’t even realized he was holding her hands. They were wet.

  He looked at them for a moment and cringed at the blood on both their fingers from when he’d stabbed Daniel’s wrist. It was on her dress, too.

  Well, he wanted the red roses to symbolize blood.

  “I’ll kill you both!” Daniel hissed. “You deserve to die!”

  Dustin got in front of Daniel, looming over him. “Say one more word, and I’ll finish you off with my son’s icepick!”

  “You too! I’ll kill all of you! That’s what I was going to do anyway. After everybody left—I was going to make sure every last fucking Latham that ever hurt Samara would pay!” Daniel groaned, and it turned into what sounded like a ferocious war cry.

  Adam dragged Mari behind him until they were inside the house.

  “We can’t leave them out there with that maniac,” she said, pulling away from him.

  “I know—but we don’t have to listen to his shit,” he said. “I’m gonna shut him up. He can’t talk like that.”

  He went to the laundry room, found the duct tape and went straight back out there.

  Instead of just taping his mouth shut, because that was too nice, he wrapped it all the way around his head. That way, when the police removed it, it would rip out gobs of hair.

  Yes, he was a genius.

  And the cops told him that later, before hauling off a crying, broken Daniel.

  They even congratulated Adam on the sly about having an icepick in his pocket to defend himself and his bride on his wedding day.

  Adam watched them drive away with Mari’s bloody hand tucked up under his arm, against his ribs. He could feel his heart pounding there. He almost lost her on the day she finally became his.

  “Let’s leave before somebody else tries to off me,” she teased.

  “Yeah, let’s. I’m gonna lock you away forever in a room with me so nobody can reach you.”

  “Not if I do it first,” she said, taking his hand, pulling him over to the car and all but shoving him in.

  It was her wedding day too, and the woman had plans, it would seem.

  He would never stop her from fulfilling them. Because that was what a good groom would do.

  Chapter 17

  Mari drove fast. He liked that.

  “I’m in a hurry, too.” He smiled at her.

  “Not in as big of a hurry as I am,” she said. “I’m dying to have you.”

  His tummy jerked at the expression on her face, along with other parts of his body.

  Why not get started now? His fingers pulled the roses out of her hair one by one along with the pins.

  Before long, her brown hair was overlapping the white dress. The contrast was beautiful.

  “I love you,” he said.

  “I love you, too,” she responded, her voice soft but a little shaky.

  Mari had them at the hotel and out of the car before he could say those three little words again.

  She took care of valet, even though the man in him said he should be doing those things. It was evident she didn’t care about convention or tradition, and his heart was swollen, watching her take care of things efficiently so they could get to the best part of all—sex! And lots of it.

  He tripped a few times after they had their card key and were almost running to their room. />
  A few people looked at them in a horrified way. Probably because of the blood on their clothes, but he only smirked at them.

  One lady muttered, “What in the world?”

  “I’m married now. I get to have sex,” he told her over his shoulder as he passed by.

  She gasped, and a big ol’ goofy smile broke out on his face.

  “It’s gonna be great!” he called after her as Mari doubled their pace.

  They stopped in front of a door, and as Mari shoved the key in, he wound his hands around her and fondled her chest.

  “Oh, I love these firm, wonderful breasts. They haunt me all the time.” He rubbed his cheek along her upper back. “They’re perfect, and they make me really hard. Like right now. Harder than a metal brick.”

  “Get in here,” she said, yanking the door open and then him next. “I don’t want to hear about bricks. I want to hear your clothes coming off.” She thrust him inside and slammed the door shut with her foot.

  He backed up toward the bed, all the while she was ripping his clothes off and kissing him with frantic lips.

  Her fingernails scraped at his chest.

  “Ow! Slow down, you’re hurting me,” he said.

  “It’s gonna hurt good,” she growled.

  Goose bumps broke out on his chest where she was still clawing at him.

  But this was supposed to be tender.

  He pulled her hands off him and turned her around so he could unbutton her dress.

  “Just rip the damn thing off!” she cried.

  “Now wait a minute. We’ve waited this long, we’re gonna do this right.”

  “But I can’t—just rip the fucking dress already!”

  “No, sweetheart. I’m sorry, but I won’t. We’re gonna preserve this dress. I love it, and I want to keep it. We’ll get it cleaned up and we’ll—”

  She tore at the sleeves, so he hurried faster, his fingers fumbling. “I want it off now!”

  “I’m trying,” he said, his voice higher than hers. “But I won’t let you destroy this dress you worked so hard to find.” He pulled her hands off her clothing.

  As soon as he had her freed, she tried to toss him on the bed, but he wasn’t having that.

  He rolled her onto her back and pinned her in place. “Slow. Down. Please.”

  “Slow down? Are you kidding me? I’ve been about ready to stab my eyes out for months because it hurt looking at you—I wanted you so much. I’m not going to slow down.” She nipped at his neck like she really was out for his blood. “Don’t you feel uncontrollable? Don’t you want me so much you worry you might break my bones?”

  She groaned, but it wasn’t a sex-induced, lusty one. It was more like a you-just-killed-the-mood sound.

  Her body slumped into the bed, and her muscles went lax.

  “What’s wrong, love? You’re kinda scaring me,” he told her.

  A second later, she was sobbing. “That bastard almost killed you! I wasn’t going to let him do that. You . . . He can’t! . . . Nobody can take you away from me—nobody! I worked . . . worked so hard to be here with you, and to deserve you . . . And to have you . . .” She struggled to talk as her face grew wetter with tears and snot dripped down her face. “I’m a mess without you, Adam . . . I couldn’t survive anymore if you d-didn’t exist.” She rubbed her face clean. “Tell me no one can come between us—that we won’t allow that to happen. I need to feel you inside me to know that’s true.”

  He smiled at her with adoration and kissed her cheek. “There’s no reason to be frantic and alarmed. No one can ever do that. We’re safe now. And we can’t be separated. Not when there’s breath in our bodies.” With slow, measured movements to help stabilize her and keep her calm, he drifted down her body, placing gentle, sugary kisses along her burning skin.

  Her crying stopped, and it was replaced with low moans. Her hands became gentle, caressing over him like a soft blanket.

  His lips drifted from one hip to the other, and somehow he managed to get the rest of his clothes off between kisses.

  He dragged himself down to her feet, kissing each of her toes.

  Her skin pinked wherever he went, and he’d run his hands over the color to watch it move along with his touch. It was like his hands commanded where the blood pooled under her skin. He’d never seen anything more mesmerizing.

  Having the lights on while she was naked for sex was the best idea he ever had.

  His eyes grew heavy the more he stared at her curvy body. And she felt so soft and smooth everywhere.

  His mouth watered, so he used that moisture to taste his way up her right leg. She panted as he spread her open and licked at the dip between her leg and her most delicate places. When he sucked there at the tendons, her lower back would bow off the bed, and she’d emit this low, guttural sound that made his eyes slide up in his head.

  “Jesus, that’s the sound I’ll remember the rest of my life,” he said, sucking in some air afterward. His heart was pounding so hard.

  He had to tip his head back a few times to get some fresh air, because the scent there was overpowering.

  “How do I taste?” she asked.

  “Better than a donut—even the Boston creamy kind,” he said, walking his mouth over to her pubic bone. He had already been massaging that spot while he tasted her inner thigh.

  “I doubt that,” she said so quiet he barely heard it.

  “Oh, you do. You very much do. Very sweet and creamy, and you’re almost melting in my hands. I love it when a donut does that, but I love it even better when you do it.” He took a deep inhale, almost feeling a buzz of sorts in his head when he did it for too long.

  “God, Adam,” she said, breathy.

  He ran his nose across the padding over that pubic bone, then pressed it harder with the tip. “You do. So yummy.” His tongue poked out and he tasted her there too. “Boston . . .” He sucked hard and let go. “Cream.” He licked at her clit. “Creamier each time I taste you.”

  “Oh, fuck!” she said through her teeth. She fisted the bedspread and her legs tensed, then released.

  A whine came out of him as her hips thrust up.

  He used his fingers to make sure she was ready. She really was a Boston cream—all wet and delicious on his fingers.

  His tongue took another taste, and her hands came down on him, grabbing and guiding his head where she wanted him to go.

  “I’m gonna take that virginity now,” she said, rubbing herself on him.

  “No, you’re not, ‘cause I’m gonna give it to you myself.” His arms trembled and they were barely able to prop him up, but he did it. A moment later, he had his hard dick at her entrance. It was no longer barred from him. “I’m going to fuck my wife, and she’s going to let me because she wants it, too. Doesn’t she?”

  She nodded, her eyes filled with pleading. “Yes, goddammit. I want it worse than you do.”

  He chuckled. “No way. No one can want this more than I do.” He eased his way in, groaning with each excruciating inch of blinding ecstasy. His eyes wanted to shut, but he wouldn’t let them.

  He had to see her, too. Make sure it felt good to her as well as him. And good Lord—he was going to die from too much donuty goodness.

  “This is . . . Christ!” He bit down on his top lip, then let it go. What could he say to describe this Heaven she was giving him? Nothing compared to the softness of her curves and her tight hole—her wetness. He was encased with slippery, gooey warmth, and his entire body flamed from the feeling. There was nothing better than this. No donut or soda would ever compare. This was perfection.

  “Oh . . . God, I’m there . . . I’m really there, Mari. This is making love to you, isn’t it?” His entire body strained as he stayed in one spot, pressing as deep as he could go. “I’m in deep—like really deep. I’m not a virgin anymore, and I love this! I can feel you on me. I want to make a mess inside you. Will you let me?”

  “Fuck, yes! But you have to. Move! Please, sweetie, I can’t take it�
�you’re too still,” she said, her voice gravelly.

  She grabbed his butt, and it lit a fire down the backs of his legs, making him suddenly pull out and drive back into her.

  “Sorry . . . I want to be gentle, I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “And I want to memorize all these sensations.” He pulled back slowly, making this grunting sound as he went. “God—you’re body’s gripping me. I like that. It’s good. It’s so good I want to bite you.”

  “Hurt me, goddammit. I want you to, or I’ll never forgive you,” she said, gripping his backside harder. “Hurt me so bad I can’t feel my body! Thrust as hard as you can.”

  “No. You have to feel all of it—everything we do,” he said. “Like me. Don’t you feel how nice this is? Each groove of you passes over my hard dick, and it makes it jerk inside you. I love that you’re doing that to me with all your tiny parts inside you. This is why this is so special. I can feel the small things no one else ever did.”

  She blinked hard, sucked in a tight breath and her fingers dug into him so hard he winced.

  “Okay, sweetie, you have to stop hurting me—I don’t like it that way,” he said. He grabbed her hands and moved them into his hair. She could pull all she wanted there. He actually liked that.

  She chuckled for a second, then her breathing went low, deep in her belly. “God, this is torture—with how slow you’re going, but at the same time it feels better than anything I’ve ever felt. I don’t think I’m gonna survive this.” Her head lolled from side to side. “How did I resist having sex with you?” She tried to nip at his hand on the pillow next to her head.

  He wanted to ask, “It does? Better than the other guys you’ve been with?” but he couldn’t. She was right. He was . . . Oh . . . Tightening . . . down his thighs, in his belly, at his pubic bone and spreading behind it. Everything was on fire and waging a war to continue. He could feel it about to erupt and end, and he wanted to keep going—keep having this mind-blowing feeling.

  “Oh, Adam . . . I’m gonna . . . Already, but I don’t want to. But you got me going so much with all your teasing beforehand and the things you’ve been saying . . . God, so sexy!” She exhaled in a rush. “I wanna come at the same time as you,” she said, biting her lip. Then her mouth was on his, her tongue plunging inside.