by Jessica Loft
“You need to think about what you’re doing here, Becca. You’re already in a boatload of trouble; you don’t want to make it worse for yourself. This is kidnapping…a federal offense. You know that.”
“Only if you get caught, which I will not. Now get up and get dressed, we’ve got to get going.” She watched with a gleam in her eye as he pulled himself from the bed. He was completely naked under the covers, causing Damon to shiver as her eyes traveled down his body. As quick as he could, he got his pants on, even pulling on his shirt before buttoning his pants, creeped out by her leering. “Such a good show, but we will have time for that later.”
“You’re making a mistake, Becca.” He tried to warn her again, but she shook her head and grabbed a pistol from her back pocket. She used it to motion towards the door.
“Come on. You are wasting time,” she turned the gun in Jessie’s direction. “I could just kill you now, you know.”
“No,” Sinclair stepped in front of the gun then. “If you kill her, you’ll have nothing to use to make me do what you want.”
She sighed then, “You are right of course. I won’t hurt the twit. At least not right now. Now go.” She directed the gun at him and then back to Jessie. “Do not get in my way. If you try anything, it will be the last thing you do! Understand?”
Jessie couldn’t make a sound, nodding her acknowledgment.
Becca and Sinclair slipped from the room as Becca pulled the door shut behind her. It seemed like only a few moments went by, before she heard gunshots. Sirens went off and the outside was lit up with flashing red and blue. Pulling a robe over herself, she rushed down the stairs. Her body flew so fast she didn’t even feel the steps. Her mind was buzzing with fear as she hurried to the front door and opened it. That’s when she saw it. Both Sinclair and Becca were on the ground, motionless, in her front yard, and the police seemed to be everywhere at once. With a scream she rushed to his side, sweeping the hair back from his forehead. “No, no, no, no. This can’t be happening.” She was soon startled by the pair of dark blue eyes looking up at her.
“I’m ok honey. Really.”
“How can you say that? You’re bleeding.”
“Most of it isn’t mine. I’m so sorry this happened.”
She looked down to see that the blood wasn’t really his. She looked over at Becca, who was being feverishly worked on by the paramedics that had just arrived. She looked again at Damon and found it. His left leg had a large wet stain of blood. “You were shot, we need to stop the bleeding,” she screamed as she started tearing fabric from the bottom of her robe.
“Just a graze wound. I’ll be alright. I promise.”
Folding the ripped fabric into a compress, she applied pressure to the wound, causing him to yelp. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again, I mean it!” Jessie said sternly.
“What? Save your life?”
She looked confused for a moment before continuing. “Well, yes.”
“I would do it all over again in a heartbeat if it saved you. You know that. Listen Jessie, with my job and all, I’ve not had serious relationships. Just fun, and one-nighter’s, yeah, but real relationships, no.”
“I don’t want to hear about your flings,” she said with a growl, as she wrapped the wide terrycloth belt of her robe around the compress and pulled it snug.
He chuckled then, “Ouch, wait, you don’t understand. I want this to be more…it already is more. I want to have a relationship with you, a real relationship. I want even more, so much more…if you’re alright with that.”
“Of course I am,” satisfied with her first aid job, she relaxed a bit, continuing to tear fabric off her robe to add to the compress.
“Good. I think we should start with a real date.”
“What?” Looking around, frustrated that the paramedics weren’t helping him.
“So will you go to dinner with me?”
“Yes, of course. But first, let’s get you to a hospital and have your leg looked at. After that, we can talk about us.”
“But, are you saying there’s an us?” he asked with a smile.
“Yes, there most definitely is an us,” she laughed, as paramedics finally came to prepare him for the waiting ambulance.
She jumped to her feet and Damon started to chuckle making the paramedics look uncomfortable. “I’m riding along, and I’m not taking no for an answer,” she told the medics, in her sternest CEO voice.
“That’s fine ma’am, he said winking at Sinclair, but you’re gonna need a longer robe if you’re riding with us.”
“What?” looking down. She squealed as she ran, for the house, horrified, but shouting, “Wait for me!” As she bounded up the steps, all she could hear was the delighted laughter of her new partner, who was thinking this merger was going to be a great success.
Now Enjoy the Next Story Below or Choose One from the Table of Contents
Unanticipated Love
Chapter 1
Katherine leaned against the counter, looking out over the cash register at the rest of the store. Stacks of Bibles sat on the table a few feet from her, and the front of the store was covered in new summer decorations. Every time the glass doors opened, the smell of flowers floated in on a warm breeze.
She looked at Heather, who stacked CDs carefully into a display case at the front of the registers. Heather was tall, thin, and blonde. Katherine felt like just the opposite. Lanky medium brown hair, a few extra pounds, and too short and dowdy to be attractive to many men.
“Can I ask you something?” Katherine asked.
“Mmm?” Heather didn’t look up, but bopped her head back and forth and hummed to the worship music playing over the store’s speaker system.
“I have this wedding coming up.”
“Oh? When did you get engaged?”
Katherine blinked at her, then laughed. “What? Not mine, it’s a friend of mine.”
Heather sighed and tilted her head. “Obviously. I was kidding.”
“Oh. Well, anyway. My invitation says plus one, and I’m just not sure if I should try to ask someone or go alone.”
“Why would you go alone? Of course you should bring someone.”
“But who?” Katherine thought about the boys she knew from college. Now that she graduated, she kept in contact with most of them through Facebook only. There were plenty of men who interested her in the young adult ministry at church, but none seemed interested back.
“There has to be someone. Your dad’s the pastor. Doesn’t that make you prime real estate or something?”
“Prime real estate?” Katherine picked at the sticker on the counter that read “$5 Deals!” with a half-painted fingernail. “I think it makes them avoid me. Like they’d be too scared to date the pastor’s daughter.”
“Maybe you should come to my church sometime. We have a decent collection of single men.”
“Are you kidding? If I was seen at another church, my parents would flip.”
A customer walked in and Katherine waved and greeted him when he looked at her. Something about the man didn’t feel right. He appeared nervous and wore a coat too big and heavy for the warm day. Her gut told her to keep a close watch on him. She caught Heather’s eye and gestured with her head toward the man. Heather glanced over, then wandered in his direction.
“Can I help you with anything?” she asked.
The man looked around, then stared at the display of cards in front of him. “No.”
“Okay, just let us know if we can help!” Heather walked around to the other side of the display and straightened the cards there.
Katherine scanned the store to see who else was present. A mother and her small child were in the back corner, where the children’s toys were. An older women browsed books, another man looked at Bibles, and a young couple giggled together over by the CDs. She didn’t want to stare at the suspicious man in case he really was just shopping, but she couldn’t shake the bad feeling that something was up.
She no
ted the panic button, tucked under the counter right beneath the register, and moved to stand in front of it. In her mind, she recalled the protocol for times when they suspected a shoplifter. Give them the benefit of the doubt, and make sure you see them steal something before you act. If in doubt, do nothing. There were apparently severe consequences for accusing someone of stealing if they hadn’t, and her boss assured her he’d rather lose a bit of merchandise than have her put in danger or get into trouble. “If they want the cash, give it to them,” she remembered him saying. “Your life is worth far more.”
Heather walked around the store, straightening, keeping an eye on the man. Katherine wondered if she felt the same unease, and prayed quietly to herself.
The woman who’d been looking at the books came to the counter with a paperback in hand. While she was ringing up the customer, Katherine looked over at the man in the big coat. She thought she saw him tuck a jewelry box in his pocket, but couldn’t be sure. The woman paid and left, and Katherine tried to act natural.
A few minutes later, the man made his way to the front of the store. When Heather saw him moving closer to Katherine, she returned to the space behind the counter. The man looked at them, and they smiled back. Then he ducked into another aisle, and they could no longer see him. Katherine and Heather exchanged wary looks.
The man who’d been looking at Bibles stepped into their line of sight. He wore the blue shirt and black pants indicative of the Amish in the area. His face was clean shaven under his black-brimmed hat, which Katherine thought meant he was not married. He met her eyes for a moment and smiled before moving to the next aisle.
While she’d been watching the Amish man, Katherine hadn’t noticed that the man in the coat had moved. He now walked toward them, a determined look on his face. Katherine straightened up and tried to smile. The man stood in front of the counter, his hand in his pocket.
He leaned in close and spoke in a low, harsh voice. “I have a gun in my pocket, and I will shoot you both if you don’t take all the money out of the register.”
Heather’s gulp was loud enough for Katherine to hear.
“S-s-sure,” Katherine said. She quickly tapped the panic button, then hit the button to open the register. As she reached to start removing cash, something moved toward her.
In a blur of black and blue, the Amish man tackled the man in the big coat and landed on top of him. Heather let out a small scream of surprise and jumped back.
“Call the police!” The Amish man said.
Katherine looked at the panic button. It flashed a yellow orange. “They’re on their way.”
It had only been a handful of minutes, but when the flashing lights could be seen skipping across the parking lot, it felt like hours had passed. The Amish man had laid on top of the thief, holding him down while he struggled to break free.
Katherine remembered the mother and child and hoped they’d stayed in the back, out of sight. She didn’t know where the young couple had gone, but no one had left the store or come near the front.
Three policemen approached the doors with caution, guns raised. They looked in through the glass doors, saw the Amish man on top of the thief, and entered the store.
In a flurry of action that made Katherine’s head spin, they had cuffed the man and taken him out to a police car, then started questioning everyone. Somewhere in the span of the next hour, her boss had been called and arrived, the store had been closed, all people present had been interviewed, and she now sat in her car, staring at the trees at the edge of the parking lot.
She felt a mix of emotions. Grateful to be alive and for the man who’d acted so bravely. Grateful, too, for Heather’s presence and for the police who’d acted so quickly. But more than that, she was shaken. Had the man really had a gun? Would he have actually shot her over a few dollars? She’d chosen to work in a Christian bookstore because she thought nothing like that would ever happen there. She’d never felt so wrong in all her life.
Chapter 2
Katherine’s boss had given her and Heather a week off to recover from the incident. She used that time to read her Bible and pray against the fear that gripped her every time she thought of the robbery. The week ended and she had a decision to make. Throughout her prayer time, and at her parents’ coaxing, she’d considered quitting. But today, she stood tall, facing the bookstore. She’d decided not to let fear win.
She walked with determination toward the door, entered the store, and charged straight back to the employee break room where she put her things away. But she could only delay so long. She put on her name tag and walked to the front counter. Standing behind the register for the first time brought all the memories back. At first, it made her heart race, but then she thought of the Amish man and how he’d so selflessly saved her and Heather. And, if she were being honest, he had been rather attractive. Too bad he was Amish.
Heather came in a few hours later, two coffee cups in her hands. She handed one to Katherine. “How you doing?”
“Good. It’s okay.”
Heather stood with her behind the counter. “That was crazy. Got us the week off though! And I look at it this way. This store has been open for eight years now. Never had a robbery of any sort before. Since we just had one, we’ve got at least another eight years before it happens again.”
Katherine took a sip of her coffee. “I don’t think it works that way.”
“Sure it does!” She wandered off with her cup, taking sips as she straightened the items on the shelves.
By lunchtime, Katherine was feeling better. The morning hadn’t been scary, and she’d laughed and joked with Heather like they always did. She was ringing up a customer buying a few cards and looked up to see the Amish man enter. Her heart gave a little leap, but she kept her attention on her customer.
When the woman left with her cards, the Amish man approached her. “Good afternoon.” He held out his hand to her. “I’m Samuel.”
“Hi. Katherine. Nice to meet you.”
“I wanted to properly introduce myself. How are you doing after that incident last week?”
“I’m okay, thanks. I was a little afraid to come back today, but I’m here and it’s been fine.”
She looked more carefully at his face. She hadn’t really gotten more than a glimpse of him before, but she realized he was even cuter than she’d thought. Short brown hair stuck out from under his hat, a tiny scattering of freckles danced over his nose, and his eyes were a warm golden brown.
“I stopped in last week,” he said, “but your boss said you were off. I wanted to make sure you were okay, though. Something like that can really shake a person.”
“It can.” He’d come in just to see how she was? So, how wrong was it to be attracted to an Amish man? They weren’t allowed to date outside of their faith at all, right? She needed to look that up. He was just so cute and polite and sweet.
“I hope that man gets his life straightened out. Shame to think he’d continue down that path, straying so far from God.”
“Yeah. Thank you for what you do. That was incredibly brave.” She couldn’t help blushing a little as she smiled at him.
He nodded at her. “Glad to do it. Just wanted you to be safe.”
She could give up electricity, couldn’t she? If she could be with someone like Samuel, who would treat her nicely and protect her, who had a strong faith. What did she really need electric for, anyway? Her phone vibrated in her pocket, calling her bluff.
“I’d be glad to escort you to your car after your shift. If you wouldn’t mind telling me what time that would be.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, really. I can almost see my car from here.”
“Just the same, it’d make me feel better to know you were safe.”
She saw a flicker of a grin on his face, and it made her throat thick. Why not let him walk her out? That would mean she’d get to see him again. “Well, okay. When you put it like that. I’m done at five.”
“I’ll see
you promptly at 4:55 then.” He nodded to her and left the store.
He hadn’t been kidding when he said, “promptly.” He walked in and Katherine looked at her phone to see the time was exactly 4:55.
He waved to her and walked through the store, looking around. “Seems to be clear,” he said when he returned to the front.
Katherine nodded. “Heather’s off in the wedding section, and there’s only one customer in the store.” She pointed toward the man looking at books.
She clocked out and retrieved her things from the break room, then said goodbye to Heather and met Samuel at the front of the store.
He held the door open for her and looked around cautiously as they walked. “Did you have a nice day at work? Uneventful, I hope.”
“Yes, it was a nice and uneventful first day back.” Well, unless she considered seeing Samuel as an event. In that case, it’d been highly eventful and she hoped it would continue to be. “What do you do during the day?” She hoped her question didn’t sound too clueless about his lifestyle.
“Oh, today we had to wrangle some cattle, and I did some fixing around the house. After my morning chores, of course. Tonight, I’ll gather my crew and we’ll go see about someone in the community acting out of line. Might have to rough him up a bit. I generally save those activities for the evening, after the more important work is through.”
Katherine’s mouth hung open in confusion. His crew? Was it a normal Amish thing to rough someone up for acting badly? That didn’t sound right. But then, she didn’t know much about the Amish. Obviously. “I didn’t realize people were physically reprimanded for acting badly in your community.”
They stopped at her car and he winked at her.
He’d been joking about the roughing up. She smiled. So, he had a sense of humor, too? She hadn’t known they were allowed to make jokes like that. “I have to say, I don’t know too much about the Amish way of life.”
