Devoted to Love

by Shayla Black

  “That’s what men in love do, support their women. Ah, Maggie . . .” Granna sighed. “Sounds like you’re in love with him, too. Have you told him?”

  “No.” She was still afraid.

  It sounded stupid. A broken heart wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to someone, yet she feared it almost more than physical pain or death. Probably because the others were unknowns. But she’d learned early in life what heartache felt like and she’d do almost anything to avoid more.

  “Stop letting the past hold you back, sweet girl. If you don’t open up and give him your love in return, you won’t give him any choice except to leave you. If he’s the one, you can’t let him slip through your fingers.”

  “I’m trying, but . . . How did you know you could trust Papa?”

  She could almost hear her grandmother smile. “When we were in the fourth grade, Martin Turnsby stole some of the Halloween candy I’d stashed in my desk while we were out for recess. I knew it was him. That crabby old Mrs. Selby wouldn’t listen when I told her, said I shouldn’t be eating candy for lunch anyway. But your papa confronted Turnsby, who was bigger than him. I don’t know what he said or did, but he made that boy cry and confess. And I got my candy back. He promised me on that day that if I’d marry him when we grew up, he’d always stand up for me. I told him I would. The day he turned eighteen, he asked my parents for my hand. I’d just turned seventeen, but they said yes and signed the paperwork. We were married three days after I graduated. I’ve never regretted it.”

  They had such a beautiful love story. Maggie was envious. “But Papa is pretty much the best man in the world. Guys today . . .”

  Granna huffed. “Men have always been men. They might not behave as respectfully as they used to, but deep down, some are better than others. That’s always been true. For all you know, Josiah might not be the man you want him to be; no one can guarantee that he’s perfect for you. But what if he is? And you lose him because you’re too afraid to believe?”

  She was right. Maggie knew she had to let go of this fear. “Thanks, Granna.”

  “You’re welcome, sweet girl. I know you can’t change overnight, but think about what I’ve said.”

  “Believe me, I am.”

  They chatted a bit more about their respective plans and things around the ranch before they hung up. Thoughts racing, she wandered to her room, changed into a comfy pair of sweats and a loose T-shirt, then meandered back to the kitchen to start dinner. Once food was in the oven, she’d sneak back to her computer and work on the book she’d promised her agent would be done by the end of the month.

  Fat chance with everything going on. Maggie had looked for little pockets of time to plug away at the project, but the cozy, clever small-town whodunit just seemed too close to home right now, and with Josiah barging his way into her body—and her heart—she hadn’t been able to concentrate.

  She’d barely pulled the refrigerator door open when Josiah emerged from her grandfather’s study, looking solemn and tense. His gaze sought hers immediately. Everything inside her went tense when he swallowed and seemed to grapple with his words.

  “Maggie, baby . . . We need to talk.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Josiah did not want to do this. He’d give anything not to sit Maggie down so he could scare the hell out of her. Everything he was about to do would distract her from opening up so she could learn to trust him. It could seriously slow down all the fucking progress he needed to make with her ASAP. Because his gut told him this shit with Enlightenment Fields would come to a head soon. Once it did—and if everyone made it out alive—he’d have to be solid with her if he wanted to convince her to share the future with him. If not, EM Security Management would call him back to Louisiana, and he’d go on another job. She would resume her life here in Comfort. Where would that leave them?

  Over.

  “What’s going on?” Her voice shook.

  Yeah, she sensed this was going to be heavy.

  Zy and Trees exited the room behind him and melted away. Of course they didn’t want to be around for what was sure to upset her. Or maybe they were giving him and Maggie privacy because they knew she’d need comfort and reassurance.

  Josiah held out his hand. “Let’s go upstairs.”

  She glanced at the open refrigerator, then shut it before putting her palm in his. “Okay.”

  He was still trying to untangle his thoughts when they reached the corner bedroom they’d been sharing and he shut the door behind them. A few minutes ago, he had shucked his coat and tie. Instinctively, he toed off his shoes and unbuttoned his shirt.

  Maggie went wide-eyed. “You scared the hell out of me instead of just saying you want sex?”

  “No. I’m undressing so I can hold you against me, skin to skin, while we talk.”

  She resisted. “I listen way better when you’re not touching me.”

  “Maybe so. But I feel a lot steadier when I’ve got my hands on you.”

  That made her melt. “Oh. You need me to—”

  “Be naked. Yes.” Then he said something he rarely did as a Dom. “Please.”

  Without being told why, she trusted the gravity in his tone. “Okay.”

  Thankfully, Maggie didn’t waste time. The baggy shirt and sweats came off, and she dropped them into a heap on the floor. By then, he’d shucked his pants and tossed them onto a nearby chair. His underwear stayed right where he dropped them. She ditched her bra, draping it on the nearby doorknob.

  Then she came to him, beautiful, bare, and with concern all over her face. She’d compromised to make him happy, and it occurred to him that she might have dated a lot, even slept around, but she’d done it because she’d been crying out for connection. Until him, everyone had wanted her body, but no one had given her what she needed. He was trying like hell, and glad to see that she trusted him enough to want to give back. As Josiah wrapped his arms around her and pressed her warm flesh to his, it was enough—at least for now.

  “Thank you, baby. Lie with me.”

  Again, she hesitated, but only for a second or two. Then she nodded and let him lead her to the bed.

  Once they’d settled under the blankets, he pressed his palm to the small of her back, keeping her as close as two people could be, and let out a deep breath. “I need to tell you what’s going on. I’ve kept it from you for as long as I dared but . . . things aren’t looking good. You need to know what we’re up against if we’re going to survive.”

  “There’s more going on than you’ve told me?”

  “Yeah. I have to go back to Enlightenment Fields because—”

  “Does this have anything to do with Mercy asking you to ‘breed’ her?” She pressed her lips together. “I overheard that.”

  “Yeah. I won’t ask how.” He sighed. “This motherfucking shit has gotten so ugly. Of all the things I wanted to tell you, that was last. God, when you heard that you must have been totally confused. And furious.”

  Yet she hadn’t confronted him or accused. Maybe she was willing to trust him after all . . .

  “A little. I know you said that you hadn’t touched her and didn’t want to. But why would she ask you to get her pregnant?”

  “It’s going to take a lot of explaining. Bear with me.” When she nodded, he dove in. “You know I’ve been going out there. I went first to insist they leave your family alone. When that opened a can of worms, I went out there again on Tuesday, pretending interest in joining. On both trips, I’ve picked up information that’s made me worry like hell about what these people are capable of.”

  “Murder.”

  “I think that’s the least of it, but it’s what worries me most right now. Your grandparents—”

  “Are their next targets. I figured that out.”

  He nodded solemnly. “And here’s the unvarnished truth: I don
’t think I can change that, not in the twelve days until they’re scheduled to come home. I’ll keep trying, but all my efforts to turn this investigation in our favor are netting zilch. My boss has some resources with the FBI, and I was hoping they’d sweep in and take over. So far, they’ve been totally silent. I don’t think they’re going to come through.”

  “So they’re just going to let people in this town keep dying?”

  “If I had to guess, they don’t have much on Enlightenment Fields and nothing that’s happened looks too big for local law enforcement to handle.”

  “Sheriff Wayne is never around, and Kane Preston can’t do everything by himself.”

  “I know. And I wish I had better news. But the wheels of justice never turn easily or fast. I know that sounds cliché. Unfortunately, it’s true.”

  “Is there anything else we can do?”

  “I’ve been trying. The last time I was at that wacky compound, I saw a man chastising some teenagers for taking a car out on a joyride. He was making them wash the grill, tires, and undercarriage really carefully, which I thought was odd since they live at the end of a long dirt road. I shared that with Deputy Preston, who tried to get a search warrant in conjunction with Mildred McIntyre’s hit-and-run. The judge decided there was insufficient evidence to warrant a search of the car or the property. I hate it but he’s probably right. It would probably have been ruled inadmissible in court.”

  Maggie clung to his shoulders, searching his face . . . looking for answers. “Are we out of moves?”

  “Not entirely, but now we’ve come to the tough ones. If you could persuade your grandparents to stay gone another couple of weeks, maybe—”

  “I’m going to be hard-pressed to keep them there for another twelve days. Mildred McIntyre was one of Granna’s dearest friends. As soon as they announce that woman’s funeral and if it takes place in Comfort, I have no doubt they’ll come home. So far, they aren’t fans of California. They’ve never much liked being away from home anyway.”

  “You have to keep talking to them, baby. Convince them to stay. I don’t want to scare the hell out of them, but I’ll tell them they’re in danger if it will keep them away.”

  “It won’t. My papa will come racing back like some knight on a white horse and try to save everyone. He’s in decent shape for a guy his age, but sometimes he’s got so much macho running through his veins he’s convinced he’s as badass as he was at thirty.”

  Josiah grunted in frustration. “Then I don’t know what to do. Would they go someplace else? If I got a plane to take them to Hawaii or the Mexican Riviera or . . . anywhere, would they take it?”

  “Maybe I could persuade them to visit my mother in Costa Rica. Maybe. But I doubt it.”

  “Could your sister help?”

  “If I call her on her honeymoon and tell her to convince Granna and Papa to travel to a foreign country at a moment’s notice, she’ll be awfully suspicious. Probably enough to come home. What is your boss telling Cutter?”

  “Nothing. That was the agreement. Real life will kick them in the teeth soon enough. We all want them to have this well-deserved time together.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Talk to your grandparents. See if you can appeal to their sense of adventure. Try to persuade them to visit your mother. That’s all you can do. Anything else you can think to sweeten the pot for them, tell me. I’ll move mountains if I have to.”

  Her face softened. She hadn’t said she loved him yet, but she sure as hell looked at him as if she did. Josiah hung on to that.

  “I know.” She cupped his face. “You’re amazing at your job.”

  “Baby, this is personal. We both know you’ll lose your grandparents someday. That’s the way life is. People are born and they eventually die. But they’ve got a lot of life left in them, and you need them still.”

  “I do. And I’m terrified for them.”

  “My goal is to help them stay around until they’re ready to go.” But that wasn’t the only issue.

  Josiah tangled his fingers in her hair and tugged gently, positioning her lips just under his. Then he gave her a lingering kiss, pressing himself against her as if the closer he gathered her, the more he could keep her safe and protected. It was an illusion, but he closed his eyes and melted into her warm skin, audibly drank in her exhalations. His heart torqued with fear. Goddamn it, one wrong move with this woman and everything could end in heartache.

  “I’m terrified for you, too. If something happens to them, you and your sister will own the land. Since she’s going to be in LA indefinitely, she might sell. They must know you won’t and . . .”

  Maggie closed her eyes. “They’ll come after me. I-I hadn’t really thought about it until just now. I’ve been focused on my grandparents. But I see your point. Shealyn would never sell. They don’t know that, but I do.”

  “Would you consider leaving here?”

  He’d known what her answer would be, but he was still frustrated as hell when she shook her head. “I can’t. I could never leave my grandparents alone out here.”

  “You can’t keep them safe.”

  “I can’t abandon them, either, not when the situation is so dangerous. I have to stay. And if something were to happen to them, God forbid, the day-to-day running of the ranch would fall to me. I couldn’t dishonor them and all my papa’s family by letting the ranch go to that crazy cult scum.”

  “If you fight them, I don’t think you can win,” he argued, gripping her more tightly.

  “Maybe not, but my grandparents have done everything for me from the moment they took me in. I have to try.”

  Frustration raked Josiah’s nerves. He understood and respected her decision at the same time he wanted to throttle her for it. But he couldn’t simply leave Maggie to her chosen fate. He could not abandon her. Not only would it crush her heart, she might literally die.

  Fuck.

  He needed to make more phone calls.

  “What are you going to do about Mercy and her . . . offer? I know she’s pretty.”

  “Sure. She’s pretty if you like crazy. There’s no way I’d ever touch her, much less go out of my way to plant a baby in her belly, especially for some demented doomsday scenario that, God willing, will never happen.”

  “Yeah.” Maggie relaxed a bit in his arms.

  Had she actually been worried that he desired Mercy?

  “Hey, you’re the one I want. You’re the one I love. Nothing is going to change that. Is there a chance I’ll have to go back there and play along, see what other information I can gather? Yeah. It’s my last resort. I didn’t slam shut the door on that possibility, just in case.”

  “Don’t do it.” She gripped him as if she were afraid for him.

  “I won’t . . . unless I have to.” He rolled her to her back and reached into the nightstand for a condom. “In the meantime, why don’t you be a good girl and let me do dirty, lascivious things to your luscious body.”

  When he skated his lips down her neck and circled kisses around her breasts, her breath caught. “You’re trying to distract me.”

  “I’m trying to make us both feel good.” While we still can.

  Thankfully, Maggie let him.

  After an hour and five of her loudest orgasms later, Josiah felt wrung out and limp. All he wanted to do was curl up next to her in bed, shut the world out, and spend the night beside her. He’d listen to her heartbeat, match the rhythm of her breaths, inhale the postsex scent of her he couldn’t seem to get enough of.

  Instead, he forced himself to roll away from her as she slept, grabbed his pants from the floor, and fished in his pocket for his mobile as he strode into the hall, softly snicking the bedroom door shut behind him. Pacing, he flipped through the contacts and paused over his oldest sister’s name. Since she lived outside Boston and was an hour ahead of him, Dana wa
s probably already getting ready for bed. But he needed a voice of reason. He was formulating a plan, but he needed someone to check his sanity before he pressed on.

  She answered on the third ring. “What’s up, little brother. I thought you were on assignment.”

  “I am. Um . . .” Where to start? “Things are twenty kinds of fucked up here. People are dying. Before you ask, yes. I’m okay right now.”

  Dana laughed. “When you preface the conversation like that, of course I’m going to ask, shit-for-brains.”

  “Funny you call me that . . . In the middle of danger, I did something you’ll probably think is stupid.” He sighed. “I fell in love.”

  “Seriously? For real this time?”

  He froze. “What do you mean ‘this time’?”

  “Um . . . I don’t think you want me to tell you what I really thought about Whitney or your feelings for her.”

  “Actually, I do. Whit and I had a fast courtship . . . kind of like the one I’m having with Maggie. Some of the similarities are weirding me out. I’ve been a little gun-shy anyway.”

  “Are you having another extreme case of lust? Think carefully before you answer. I couldn’t fault you for that with Whitney. She was gorgeous.”

  Outside, sure. Inside? She’d been a selfish bitch, more than happy to ditch him the day of their wedding for one of his friends with a bigger bank account and a job that kept him in town more often.

  “She was, and so is Maggie. Look, it’s my fault the relationship with Whitney went that far. I made excuses for her because I kept hoping she’d mature into someone she wasn’t. I was the dumbass who wanted to marry her thinking she’d change. She’s always going to be the sort of person who puts herself first.”

  “Yep. I heard she married some guy named Trevor a few months back.”

  Josiah had heard that gossip, too. “I hope she actually loves him and that they’re happy together.”

  “Me, too. She announced last week on Facebook that she’s pregnant.”