by Rye Hart
I bit back a groan of frustration when I saw that smug smirk on her face. Not willing to let him get away with anything just yet, I pushed him back onto the sand. Harley fell backward with a look of surprise before I straddled his hips. I was greeted with that familiar hardness pressing up against me.
“What are you doing?” Harley asked, giving me a wary look. “I don’t know if you could handle a top position yet. No offense.”
“A lot was taken,” I said and reached between our bodies to unzip his pants. A nervous tremble filled me again, but I quickly shoved it away. We’ve done it already once. Why am I so nervous? I rubbed at the heat and hardness that waited for me there.
Harley’s head fell back into the sand with a groan. His hips shifted up under me to grind up against my hand. Feminine smugness filled me to see the pleasure across his face. I have the ability to make a man trained in the Special Forces to writhe under me in desire and pleasure.
“Fuck,” Harley growled a minute later. “If you keep going, I’m gonna come, Abi. I am telling you.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No, because I want to be inside of you when I come. That’s why.”
He sat up suddenly, so I was cradled in his lap. His lips nipped at the column of my neck while my hips rolled against his for the friction. Carnal Instinct was all I could think. It took over everything in my mind. I wanted this man underneath me before he flipped me over onto my back with ease.
I didn’t get a chance to think of anything else besides the feel of Harley entering me with a grunt. There was nothing gentle about it this time. His hips buried into mine, and I could feel every inch of tension radiating off him. This wasn’t just about sex. I could sense it as Harley’s fingers buried into my hips to thrust hard and fast.
Hot sand ground against my back as pleasure built up in me again fast and hard with each frantic thrust. I could only hold onto Harley’s arms while I thrashed from the crushing wave of an orgasm.
“Now,” I heard him grit out and reached between our bodies to rub his thumb against me until I bucked up with a gasp.
I came hard with a scream that echoed I was sure. Harley gasped against my mouth before collapsing against me. I felt the heat of his release lingering inside of me long after he slipped out with a shake of his head. He knelt in front of me with his head bowed.
“We shouldn’t have done that,” he said through pants. “What is it about you that I can’t resist?”
“It’s not a bad thing,” I said, sitting up as well. My heart slammed against my rib cage. “Why do you make into a bad thing?”
“Because I’m way older than you, Abi,” he said. “There’s ten years between us.”
“Age doesn’t matter to me.”
I reached out to grasp his hand, but Harley pulled it away. The gesture stung, but I let my hand fall between us uselessly.
“It should because your life is ahead of you still,” Harley said. “Mine is pretty much over. My glory days are gone. I live at home with my Mom.”
“To take care of her,” I said, alarmed at the disgust in his voice. “You didn’t waste your life over in Iraq fighting for freedom.”
“And there’s that too.” Harley looked up with a haunted gaze that chilled me. “I watched one of my best friends get blown apart right before my eyes. I killed people over there. All of that weighs on me in a way that you don’t even know.”
“I don’t pretend to understand it,” I said. Tears started to fill my eyes. “What do you think that I want from you?”
Harley tucked himself back into his pants. He felt so cold and distant when I knew there was warmth beneath his skin. I numbly reached for my bikini bottoms to tug them up my legs.
“You want a relationship,” he said. “I get why you do, but trust me. You don’t want to be in a relationship with me. I’m not the type of guy you want to commit your life too.”
“Everyone deserves to have something like that. You—”
Whizz. Sand dusted my hand. I felt a flutter of a breeze in my hair. I jerked back in surprise at the sound before I heard Harley let out a string of curse words. He reached out to grab me by the arms painfully.
“Run,” he shouted.
I stumbled on the hot sand with my bag dangling from my fingers and tangling about my legs. Sand burst next to me again followed by that whizzing sound. Fear shot through me as Harley pushed me down to the ground violently without pausing to see if I was alright.
I realized with a horrible and surreal jolt that Harley was crouched next to a boulder with a gun pointed in the direction of a tree line. His eyes were scanning the trees intently. I held my breath when something whizzed by to thud into the rock next to him.
Bullets.
Fear rendered me motionless. I couldn’t do anything even if I tried. Someone had been shooting at us. I watched as Harley aimed his gun in a certain direction, one finger reaching around to click the safety off. He fired once. I covered my ringing ears then as I watched his finger work the trigger two times, three times, and something hit the rock again next to me. I sank down to the hot sand to cover my head while bits of rock and sand covered us.
It wasn’t until Harley shook me violently that I looked up to see his lips moving.
“We have to run,” Harley said, impatiently. He helped me up to my wobbly legs and guided me forward with a steady push. “We need to find a cab to take us back to find Libby. Where is she?”
I couldn’t answer. Harley pushed me forward at such a pace that my legs burned in an effort to keep up with him. Before we reached the steps that led back up to the streets, Harley holstered his gun but kept a hand on my arm as he half-dragged me to the curbside. A cab pulled up to the curb, and Harley shoved me into the backseat without waiting for the driver to put his brakes on.
I couldn’t stop shaking. All I could hear was the sound of bullets hitting the sand next to me.
“Abi.” Harley’s warm hand fell over my trembling ones. He squeezed them when I looked up at him. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise you okay?”
All I could manage was a nod. Harley took my purse to dig through it before pulling out my phone.
“We have to find Libby,” he said. “We need to find her now, and get out of Madrid as fast as possible.”
CHAPTER FORTEEN - HARLEY
It had to be someone at the hotel. That was all I could think while the cab drove around aimlessly under my instructions.
“Pick the fucking phone up, Libby,” I snapped when it went straight to voicemail again. Roco. It had to be Roco. He was the only who knew that I would be at the beach with Abi.
I glanced over at a pale and trembling Abigail. Her eyes were wide and glossy as she watched cars and people through the passenger window. Years of instinct kept me from reaching out to assure her further that everything would be okay.
Whoever those shooters belonged to were dead on the beach. I had watched the three of them tumble out in surprise. They hadn’t expected a gun fight, but I had given them one. Neither were experienced either. They couldn’t even hit anywhere near Abigail where all those bullets had gone too.
Finally, I felt the steady buzz of Abigail’s phone to see that it was Libby’s name calling.
“Libby,” I said. “It’s Harley. Where the hell are you?”
“In a shop a few blocks away from the hotel,” Libby said, alarm filling her voice. “Harley? Why are you calling on Abi’s phone? Is everything ok—”
“No,” I said, shortly. “There was someone trying to shoot at us.”
Libby gasped into the phone.
“Listen to me. Who are you with?” I asked, keeping an eye on the driver for any movements towards his phone. He didn’t reach for it once.
“Roco,” she said. “We were having lunch together, but he said he had to make a phone call a few minutes ago.”
“Get away from Roco. Get back to the hotel, and lock yourself in the room. Don’t tell anyone where you ar
e, and don’t answer the door until I’m there. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Libby hung up a second after that. I bounced my legs anxiously as I rattled off the address to the hotel. The driver pulled off a side street to head in the right direction.
“Is Libby going to be okay?” Abigail asked, voice a hoarse whisper. “Please tell me that she’s going to be okay, Harley.”
“She’ll be fine,” I said, one hand resting on the hilt of my .22. I didn’t look at Abigail who clung to my arm. “I told her to get to the hotel. She’ll probably be there the second we pull up.”
“I don’t understand,” Abigail said. “Who was shooting at us? I don’t even know where they were, or how they found out where I was.”
“Someone told them where you were,” I said. “I have a feeling that they knew about your trip to Madrid.”
I watched the realization spread across Abigail's face at those words. There was no doubt in my head that she posted her adventures to social media. Libby too. It was an easy target for anyone to know where they were going to be.
“I’m calling your Dad,” I said, scrolling through her contacts. “We have to get out tonight. We can find out who the people worked for that shot at us soon enough.”
Abigail swallowed thickly. “How soon?”
“Within the next hour or two. When they figure out why they aren’t answering their phones to confirm whether or not they killed you.”
She didn’t say anything to that. I waited for the secretary of Robert’s office to transfer me to his direct line.
“Robert Carter speaking,” he said, annoyance evident in his voice. “This better be an emergency whoever is calling.”
“It’s Harley Jordan,” I said.
“Harley? What is going on?”
Panic filled Robert’s voice instantly as I knew it would. The only person who had the money and connections to get us out safely and fast was Robert.
“We have to get out of Spain,” I said. “Within the next hour preferably. A hit on Abigail had been attempted just now.”
“Oh, God. Please tell me my baby girl is okay.”
“She’s going to be fine.” I glanced over at Abigail who was close to tears. “Can you get us out of Spain? I’ll explain everything once we are in the air.”
“Yes. I will call now.”
I hung up before he could ask anything else. I spotted the hotel and Libby walking up the sidewalk at a hurried pace. I opened the door quickly to pull out Abigail before throwing money at the annoyed driver. He sped off without pausing even to see if the passenger door was shut.
Libby hugged Abigail tightly as they both fell into tears. I ushered them both up the sidewalk while glancing over my shoulder. No sight of Roco, or anyone else that looked familiar to the shooters in the trees.
“What are we going to do?” Libby asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Harley. I should’ve listened to you. I just didn’t think that something like this would happen.”
“We can’t stop to apologize right now,” I said, flatly. We entered the elevators. Once the doors slid shut, I let my hand fall away from the hilt of my gun. “Get all your shit and pack it up in ten minutes. Keep that damn door between our rooms open too.”
“What happened?” Libby asked.
“I don’t know,” Abigail said, holding onto her. “I don’t know. We were down at the beach when someone came up on us shooting.”
“Tried to shoot,” I corrected. “Whoever they were, weren’t good at all. I can tell you that they had shitty aim. Someone hired amateurs to take a hit out on you.”
Libby looked aghast at the thought. “Who though? Who would come to Madrid to kill Abigail?”
“Someone that her Dad is putting in jail,” I replied, and the elevators dinged open. I glanced out to find the hallway empty. “It’s not that difficult to figure out. Give me your room key.”
Abigail handed it over without question. I did a quick survey of the room before pulling them both in. The startled affect. I could read it on their faces as they stood there together looking about their room with wide eyes. I sucked in a deep breath to keep myself calm as I pulled the door open to my room. Gunfights never fazed me anymore. It was pure adrenaline and instinct that took over now.
“Hurry it up,” I told them. “Get your things. Whatever you leave behind, is what stays behind.”
They moved then. I gathered my things that were packed neatly in one spot out of years of habit of having to move quickly when we needed to. It only took me a few minutes before I had everything gathered.
I entered the room to find them silently throwing things into their suitcases without speaking or looking at one another. While Libby went into the bathroom to gather a few things, I stepped over to where Abigail was zipping up her suitcase with trembling fingers. I reached out to calmly grasp them in mine.
Her eyes were still wide with absolute terror. I pressed a kiss against her right temple, ignoring the fact that it was an intimate gesture. Even if I had spent the past few weeks fighting with her, fighting my desires to have her, I knew how terrified she felt. In just a matter of minutes, her world had came crashing down on her.
“I’ll get you home safely,” I said. “I promise. This is what I was paid to do.”
“I know,” she said, numbly. “You were only paid to protect me from horrible things. Go figure that it actually happened. At least I had someone in the Special Forces there to shoot back.”
I smiled thinly at the tearful compliment. “I’m just glad you didn’t get hit.” It hit me then I hadn’t even checked either one of us for wounds. I took a step back to survey Abigail’s bare legs, but there wasn’t any sign of blood on her. “You weren’t hit, right?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t think that I was at least.”
“I don’t see any blood or anything.”
“Roco just texted me,” Libby said, coming from the bathroom with a pale face and phone in hand. “What should I say? He’s looking for me back at the shop.”
“Tell him that you went down to another shop,” I said. “Whatever one you can think of that is away from here.”
“Do you honestly think he had something to do with it?” Libby asked.
I felt Abigail rest her head against my shoulder with a quivering breath. I didn’t miss the quick look Libby sent her.
“Yes,” I said, darkly. “I have no doubts. I’ve had a feeling from the day he was here at the hotel trying to talk to you both.”
“He kept tabs through me,” Libby said, aghast. “I’m sorry, Abi. I had no idea. I shouldn’t have forced you to come on this trip.”
Her fingers danced across her phone screen. “Done,” she said and looked up at me the. “Let’s get the fuck out of here before someone else comes back.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - ABIGAIL
I couldn’t let go of Harley’s hand no matter how hard I tried not to hold on. I had no idea if he was annoyed with it either, but he never pulled away. His fingers remained strong and steady intertwined in mine the entire flight back to the United States.
The sight and sounds of Manhattan never felt more welcoming the moment we touched down in a private plane my Dad sometimes used to charter around the city if he had too. Two SUV’s with armed guards waited for us when we walked outside of the airport.
“Tell me everything that happened between you two later,” Libby whispered into my ear, hugging me tightly to her. “I’m sorry, Abi. I can’t forgive myself for the danger I put you into.”
I hugged her back fiercely. The both of us looked like hell with our pale skin, unbrushed hair, and smudged mascara. I know Libby hadn’t slept once on the entire flight back as well.
“Don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault. Text me to let me know when you made it home okay.”
“I will,” Libby said, and she nodded at Harley who stood at my side still with his hand in mine. “Thanks, Harley. I’m sorry I was such a pain in
the ass the entire time.”
Harley didn’t say anything. We watched her disappear into an SUV before Harley’s hand guided me to the one waiting for us. He let go of my hand before reclining back into the leather seat with a long sigh.
“I never thought it’d feel good to be back in Manhattan,” he said, rolling the window down a crack to let fresh air in.
“No kidding,” I said, and resisted the urge to reach across to grab his hand. We were now surrounded by drivers hired from my Dad to take us back to our Manhattan apartment. “I used to hate it sometimes— the city noise. I used to want to live in a small town upstate to just escape the constant traffic and noise.”
We fell into silence while the SUV navigated through traffic. I half-listened to Harley talk with the other drivers about the details of what happened. I'm sure one of the drivers was from the FBI, or a cop, knowing my Dad. He had been furious on the plane phone when I had called to talk to him.
My days of living the country were officially done.
The weight of that realization along with the memory of what had happened on the beach settled on me painfully. It had been such a good time on that beach too. I glanced over at Harley who was distant as usual whenever people were around. I was paid to protect you.
I swallowed down the bitterness of it. I had made the decision to be with him. For that brief moment with him, I had felt alive and free of everything. I refused to regret losing myself to the person who had saved my life on the beach without hesitation. The person I was falling in love with.
The second I entered through the front door of my parents Manhattan apartment, my Mom swept me up into a tearful and nearly hysterical embrace. I patted her on the back awkwardly while I tried to fight tears off too.
“My poor baby girl,” she cried, sweeping a hand across my forehead. “I can’t believe this happened to you. Do we know who they were?”
My Dad came from the kitchen. “Not yet,” he said, and also gave me a tight hug that nearly brought me to tears again. “Are you okay, Abigail?”
