Leather and Lace (Tempered Steel Book 2)

by Adams, Maggie

  Sam cautiously pushed into her softness, and withdrew slightly, but his Angel was having none of that. She brought her hips forward and wrapped her legs around him again, sending him deeper within her as razor-sharp desire pulsed throughout his body. Her tightness and moist heat soon drove all thought of discipline and reservation completely out of his head.

  Angel matched him thrust for thrust until they were mindless to everything but the sensual release within their grasp. Hushed words of love and fantasies come to life only added fuel to the fire. Sam felt her body tighten and renewed his efforts with his fingers as well as his pulsing manhood. The first tremors of release shuddered through her body and Sam stiffened in anticipation.

  “Sam, I love you!” Angel screamed. Her nails scraped along his back.

  Her shout triggered his own climax. He drove into her softness one last time, exploding in an inferno of loving completion. He had never known such intense gratification. He had taken her virginity with a loving embrace, but it had been tempered with pain. Tonight, he had loved her as a man loves his woman. They had waited fifteen years, but they had finally made love as man and wife.

  Sam carefully rolled off Angel, but pulled her close to his body, wrapping them in a quilt. She grabbed his hand as she had in the past and snuggled it between her breasts. She was snoring softly in less than a minute. He grinned. His last thought before drifting off to a dreamless sleep was of his beautiful wife. And how she shouted her love for him as she came apart in his arms. His ears still ringing from the power of her release, he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

  Chapter Eleven

  Angel awoke at daybreak and turned to look at Sam sleeping next to her. Images of the night before flashed in her mind. She gathered him close, saying a prayer that God keep him safe. His eyes fluttered open, their blue depths piercing her.

  “Good morning,” Angel whispered shyly as she came awake. She winced at the stiffness in her muscles and the soreness between her legs.

  Noticing her discomfort, Sam frowned. “You need to soak in a nice warm bath.” The image conjured up all kinds of erotic thoughts, but he banished them as he kissed her tenderly.

  “I thought we might spend the day in bed.” She stretched and the sheet pulled down to reveal her body.

  Sam noticed the slight bruises along her neck, collarbone and breasts. He frowned. “You need to recover. I was too hard on you last night.”

  Angel blushed and tried to get out of bed. She must look a mess. She felt embarrassed. Why was this so hard? Because I’ve never had a lover in my bed. At least not one that actually made love to me. Curling up with Sam the past few days didn’t count to her way of thinking.

  Sam caught her arm and pulled her back. Wrapping both arms around her, he held her to his chest. “Hey, baby. I love you.” He kissed her neck. “You were so tight, love. Did I hurt you?” He touched the bruises. “I did. Let me run you a bath. Has it been awhile?”

  Angel didn’t pretend not to know what he was referring to. “About fifteen years.”

  At his shocked look, she began to babble. “I was going to tell you, but you started doing such wonderful things to me that I sort of forgot to mention it. No big deal.”

  She made a little speech to his chest not daring to look at his face. “I think I’d like that bath,” she stated quietly as she adjusted the bed covers. Her face was shielded by her long hair but the blush was evident by the heat flooding her cheeks.

  “Hey, look at me.” Tilting her chin up with his large hand, Sam gazed into her eyes “Don’t be embarrassed, baby. You have given me more than any man has a right to expect - your love, devotion, trust, and faithfulness. I don’t deserve you, but I’ve got you now, and I’m damn sure never letting you go.”

  He squeezed her tight and took a deep breath, praying she’d understand what he was about to tell her. “I’ve done some things that I’m not proud of Angel, and some of the things I’ve done were deliberate to hurt you because I was hurt. I tried to banish you, but I couldn’t. After a while, I just didn’t want to try. You were as much a part of me as my heart. Hell, you are my heart and my soul. You are the very best part of me. You just kept giving. I’m so sorry.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “God baby, I don’t know how to ever make it up to you.”

  Angel new Sam wasn’t only talking about their wasted years. She understood what he was trying to tell her, but it didn’t really matter. Whatever he had done in the past couldn’t compare to what they had experienced in each other’s arms. She knew that. Only true love could bring them to that kind of ecstasy. Sam may have had other women, but he had never stopped loving her and her alone.

  “Do you really want to try and make it up to me?” she whispered.

  “I’ll do anything sweetheart. You name it.”

  “Do you think we can get married again? This time in a church, with our family and friends, like Mac and Dixie’s wedding?” she said in a whisper. Sam crushed her to him so forcefully that she thought he might have broken her ribs, but she didn’t mind because he was whispering how much he loved her and how he would marry her tomorrow if that was what she wanted. Her tears fell, but they were tears of joy - loving tears of joy.

  Sam kissed her with all the love and tenderness he was capable of. When she made to straddle him, he pulled her back to his side. “No, Angel. You’re too sore. We have a lifetime now. I don’t want to hurt you again. Never again, baby.” He kissed her forehead as he grappled to get his passion under control.

  Angel raised up from his chest. “Not every part of me is sore,” she replied with a sexy grin and she began to slide down the bed. She reached for his cock. “And it looks like something is in perfect working order.”

  Before he could take a breath, she took him in her mouth, surrounding him with her warmth. He fell back against the pillows, and watched his sweet wife give him the best blowjob of his life.

  Sam was drifting once again back to sleep when a ray of early morning sunlight illuminated a corner of the room. Sitting on the floor was the cowboy hat Angel had donned to help save him last night. Staring at it, he thought of her onstage, fully expecting to feel the anger take hold once again. But instead all he could think about was how beautifully she had moved, her body swaying seductively to the music.

  “Angel?”

  “Hmm?” she murmured against his chest.

  “Would you dance for me sometime?”

  Angel lifted her head and glanced at him. He pointed to the hat and grinned. Smiling seductively she whispered, “Anytime, cowboy.”

  *****

  Precisely at ten o’clock in the morning, the phone on the nightstand began to ring. Groggily, Sam picked it up. After a few grunts, he placed it back on the receiver.

  “Who was that?” Angel asked.

  Sam snuggled closer and idly began drawing circles on her stomach. “It was just my family. They’re coming over in about fifteen minutes. They want an explanation.” He nibbled on her ear.

  “They want talk about your kidnapping?” she murmured.

  Sam smiled. “Nope. Apparently that’s old news compared to the little announcement that we’re already married.” He laughed at the look of horror that crossed Angel’s face.

  In a flash, she was out of the bed and headed toward the shower. She yelled over her shoulder, “Well don’t just lie there, get up! What if your parents found us in bed?”

  “They’d say it was about damn time!” Sam yelled back with a wicked grin on his face. Angel slammed the bathroom door as he chuckled.

  Exactly fifteen minutes later, Angel answered the door to the entire Coalson clan and ushered them into her living room. She tried to play hostess, but no one wanted anything but an explanation, so she sat down next to Sam and let him tell their story. “I guess we should go back about fifteen years,” Sam began, only to be interrupted by a shriek from his mother.

  “Fifteen years!? Are you telling me the two of you have been married for fifteen years!?” Ginny scree
ched.

  Angel nodded rather shamefully. “Please let him explain, Ginny.”

  Sam’s mother sat back against the cushions with a snort and nodded for her son to continue “This had better be good.”

  Sam hid his grin and started by explaining what happened at the homecoming so long ago and how they decided to be together. “After that night, we knew we would do anything to stay together. I didn’t want to sneak around, but her father was never going to let us date. So against my better judgment, but unable to tell Angel, no,” Sam smiled at her, “we started meeting in secret.”

  “It wasn’t too hard, really. As a cheerleader, she went to all the games. I would meet her there, and we would take off after the game, making sure she got home before curfew. I had to keep a low profile while I was in town, but Trevor hardly came to town anyway, so keeping out of his sight wasn’t a big problem.”

  Sam clasped Angel’s hand. “We were so naïve back then. We thought no one would catch us. All her friends and their parents knew what a jerk her father was, so they wouldn’t tell them we were dating.” He lifted his eyes to his family. “I was a bit surprised that no one asked where I would take off to when I would come home on leave.”

  Chance blushed a bit. “I followed you one night soon after homecoming. When I saw Angel, I knew what the two of you were doing. Her old man was wrong, so I didn’t say anything. I told the rest of the family. We agreed unless you wanted to tell us, we’d keep quiet.”

  Angel felt tears well up. “You knew the whole time?” she asked Chance.

  “Yeah. I saw the way you two were together back then. It was like the two of you were destined to be together. That’s why I wouldn’t let you give up on him even when he acted like a horse’s ass.”

  Angel jumped up and hugged Chance. “Thank you for believing in us.”

  She sat back down, wiping her tears as Sam continued. “We made plans to elope after Angel’s graduation. We figured he couldn’t hurt us if the deed was done. Making plans to marry her was what kept me going in the Navy. When I couldn’t get leave, I’d call Angel at Frankie’s house. Frankie would send Angel’s letters to me. We thought everything was taking care of. Nothing was left to chance. Or so we thought.”

  Sam kissed Angel’s hands clasped in his. This was the tough part. “The day after Angel graduated, she told her mom that she was going to sleep over at Frankie’s and the two of them were going on a big shopping trip in St. Louis the next day. Obviously that was a lie. Frankie covered for us while we headed out of state to find a judge to marry us. We found one on the border of Arkansas. We were married in his home, witnessed by his wife and son.”

  “It was perfectly legal. Angel was my wife, but for some reason, I mailed the certificate to a friend of mine in the Navy for safekeeping. I was glad I did. I don’t know what her father would’ve done if he had discovered the truth that day.”

  Angel hugged Sam. “We were just inside the city limits when the police pulled us over. It wasn’t Ben, but two of the men I recognized as deputies in his office. You wrote to me later that they been fired for their part in the drug bust. Anyway, I was scared to death for Angel, but funny enough, I wasn’t scared for myself at all. I didn’t understand what Trevor was truly capable of when he pulled up and ordered the cops to search our car. I thought he found out about our marriage.”

  Angel continued the story. “He didn’t know anything about that. He’d stop by the Cavanaugh’s early that morning to see if I needed any extra money for our shopping trip. When they questioned Frankie, she told them I was with you, but she didn’t tell him what we were doing. He thought we were together, intimately, but not marriage.” She trembled as she remembered her father’s wrath. He had said awful things to her, calling her a whore and a slut.

  Sam soothed her with a kiss. “Well that explains that, I guess. When they began to search me, I looked over at Trevor. He had a smug expression on his face. I knew he was up to something, but until I felt that cop reach in my pocket, I really didn’t know what he was doing. Seconds later, he pulls out the cocaine.” Sam shook his head. “I knew her father was a real bastard, but this I never expected.”

  Angel interrupted. “I started screaming and yelling, trying to break free of my father’s hold and go to Sam. He was resisting arrest. I saw the officer raise his club and bring it down on Sam’s head. I heard the sickening thud, and I fainted, I guess. When I woke up, I was home in my bed. Sam was in jail on charges of possession.” She went on to tell about her mother’s ultimatum and her father’s demented rage. She was shaking from head to toe as she recalled the horrible events.

  Ginny gathered her close, laying Angel’s head on her shoulder. “You poor child! What you have been through! To find out your father’s true nature, then be rejected by the man you love.” Ginny glared at her son and demanded “Why on earth did you wait fifteen years to claim this sweet woman?”

  Sam hid his grin as his mother defended Angel. “If you’ll recall, Mom, I didn’t know all the facts. I saw Angel standing next to her father, holding his hand and avoiding my gaze, as I came out of the courthouse. I thought her actions were pretty telling.” Sam shook his head. “I still don’t know how the charges were dropped. Lack of evidence? They had the drugs they planted in my pocket. Your mom, maybe?” Sam looked at Angel. She shook her head.

  “Trevor Devereaux isn’t the only man who has friends in high places.” Ginny grinned.

  Hank raised an eyebrow. “I have some friends from my war days who were more than happy to help. Let’s leave it at that. More importantly, you should’ve known she’d never betray you.” Hank Coalson’s frown belied the twinkle in his eye. “Why didn’t you divorce him? He deserted you.”

  “Oh, no. Sam never deserted me,” Angel hastened to reassure them. “He was in the Navy. That was his job. After he left, I received a notice from a lawyer that funds were being set up for me at a local bank. I didn’t need the money. I just needed Sam.”

  “And you, if you thought Angel had betrayed you so mercilessly, why didn’t you divorce her?” Ginny asked with a smirk.

  Sam shrugged. “I never felt the need. She had my heart so I couldn’t give it to another woman, and unless she wanted to remarry, I was fine. I guess I felt someday things might actually work for us.” Sam reached for his wife. “Let her go, mom. It’s my turn to hold her.”

  Ginny released Angel who went willingly into Sam’s arms. The rest of the family sat in silence for a few minutes to digest all that they’d heard. The story was now complete. Sam and Angel were together.

  With a grin, Chance threw two small objects at Angel. They landed on her lap. “In your haste to leave the party last night, you forgot those.”

  Sparkling up at her were the two star pasties she’d worn as part of her costume. Sam stared at them for moment and looked up at his brother with a stern visage. “Now I think someone else has some explaining to do.”

  Chance went on to tell how Angel acted as decoy while the brothers rescued him. “Unfortunately, what we didn’t know was the guy the fat man left to guard you was Jax. We’d never met him. Ben had asked him to get you out of there any way possible. He was untying Sam as we got there.” Chance looked at Sam, then away. “There was a bit of confusion at first, but I guess everything worked out in the end.”

  “A little confusion?” Sam stated incredulously. “You knocked the poor bastard out cold. If Brandon hadn’t taken the gag out of my mouth, you probably would have left him to the goons we heard coming down the hall. He’s family, man. Blood or no blood.”

  He turned to Angel, “See? I told you I had everything under control.” She laughed and reached over to kiss him.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Angel, honey, I don’t mean to tell you ‘bout your business, but this place needs some pumpkins or ghosts, or something. It is Halloween.”

  Angel shared a grin with Georgia, who had stopped by for lunch. Miss Maisy had taken to coming over every day to check on Angel and make
sure the place was secure. She told Angel it was her civic duty. Angel personally thought it was so she could have an excuse to check out the store and still hold her head up at the Baptist Church.

  “Well, Miss Maisy, if you’d like to go out to the back cellar and grab some decorations, that’s where I keep them,” Angel politely returned.

  “I can’t go down there! My knees are bad, you know. You there,” she pointed to Georgia. “You’re a strong girl. You go on down and grab me some props.” She patted Angel’s arm. “Now don’t you worry. We’ll have this place looking Halloween festive in no time.” She herded Georgia down the hall to the back door, mumbling about lace looking like cobwebs.

  Angel sighed and exchanged a grin with Adam. “If you need a break, I don’t think anyone is going to mess with me while Miss Maisy’s here. There’s sandwiches in the kitchen and Frankie left some banana bread, if you’d like.”

  The security guard nodded and headed back to the kitchen. “You know I’m going to miss the good food when I leave.”

  Angel thought he’d miss Frankie too. She hadn’t missed their whispered conversation or the way Frankie was spruced up when she came into work. Adam better watch out if Frankie set her sights on him. He’d be a goner for sure. She laughed as she heard Miss Maisy giving Adam instructions on how to make his sandwich.

  Georgia passed down the hall and stopped as she reached Angel’s office. “I need a key.”

  “What key?”

  “The key to the lock on the cellar.”

  “Oh! It’s sitting under the gnome next to it,” Angel replied.

  “No, it isn’t and didn’t you know that’s the first place burglars look. It’s like putting up a big arrow saying, ‘Look here! I placed the ornament close so you wouldn’t have any trouble finding the key under it’.”

  Angel huffed. “Well, I never go down there except to bring up decorations. I started storing them in one of the spare rooms this year so the only stuff left down there is for Halloween thru Christmas.” She looked around her office. “Where did I put that key?”