Taken: Saved by the Billionaire Bad Boy

by Audrey Alexander

  Franklin listened, nodding and smiling and sipping his whiskey. He didn’t have much to say, but he paid attention to every word I said in a way that not even my own mother ever had. And with each breath, I got bolder and bolder, until I’d told him almost everything I wanted from my life.

  Too bad most of it would never happen.

  “Come on,” he said softly as my glass slipped from my fingers. “Let’s get you to bed.”

  I was feeling a little tipsy and light. More tipsy than I’d realized.

  “Sorry,” I said, shyly.

  “It’s okay.” He wrapped his arms around me and hauled me from the couch, tucking his hand behind my back to steer me down the hallway. Door after door passed until he found what looked like the master bedroom, a large king-sized bed taking up half of the large space.

  Franklin settled me onto the bed and turned to go.

  “Wait,” I said.

  Franklin stopped, but he didn’t turn to face me.

  “Why are you doing this?” My heart thumped a little harder. “Why are you helping me like this?”

  Franklin slowly turned and met my gaze. Goosebumps spread across my skin at the intensity I saw in his eyes. His pupils were dark and dangerous, and I felt as if I could get lost in them for years and never want to leave.

  “I don’t know, Rosie.” He shook his head and took a step closer. My whole body tensed, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was finally going to touch me the way I wanted, needed, him to touch me. “You came walking through that door. Hair and eyes wild, looking like a drowned dog. You needed someone to save you so I did. Any man should have. A lot of men would have. It just happened to be me.”

  “You’ve done more than that,” I whispered, slowly scooting back on the bed, hoping he’d take the hint to join me. I didn’t know if it was the wine, the fire, the food, or if it was just Franklin. But I felt bold. “You’ve brought me all the way here. You’re going to help me get Owen back. You’ve risked your own neck for mine.”

  “Don’t thank me yet.” Franklin’s voice was gruff. “I need to come up with a plan first.”

  “If anyone could come up with a plan, it’ll be you.”

  Franklin let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. His whole body looked tense and tight, and I longed to make that stress disappear, even though I was the one who had caused it.

  “I better go put the fire out,” he finally said, the total opposite of what I had hoped he would say. I wanted him to stoke the fire, not douse it. “You get some rest, and we’ll talk more about this in the morning.”

  Alarm flittered through me at the thought of being alone in this dark and strange room. “Don’t go. I don’t want to be alone.”

  Franklin moved toward the bed and squatted before me, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “You’re safe here, Rosie. You can relax. I’ll be right in the next room. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

  I nodded. I knew he was right, but that didn’t stop the panic from creeping into my heart. “I’m just…I’m still really on edge. I don’t want to be alone.”

  He reached up and wiped a tear from my cheek, one I hadn’t realized was there. “Okay. I’ll stay here with you until you fall asleep.”

  “Okay.” The panic edged away, and I couldn’t help but reach out and touch his chest. Franklin went very still, but he didn’t push my hand away. Instead, he moved closer and joined me on the bed, opening his arms so I could press myself further into his arms.

  He smelled so good. His chest was so warm, so strong, so safe. I opened my mouth to say those words, but my eyes drifted shut, and sleep dragged me away.

  For the next few days, the routine was always the same. Franklin chopped some wood for the fire. I sat on the porch and watched him work. His muscles rippled; his forehead dripped with sweat. With each day that passed, every cell in my body yearned for him more. And every time he glanced my way, I swore my desire for him was reflected in his dark and swirling eyes.

  But he never gave into it. So neither did I.

  In the evenings, I’d cook another meal, and he’d start up another fire, watching me as I darted around the stove. He’d scribble on some papers, making plans for our next move.

  We talked and ate and even laughed. He asked me about Owen, about my plans for my life. I poured myself out to him as the fire roared and the winds howled through the trees, though he rarely said a word about himself.

  And then, at night, he held me in his arms as I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Franklin

  We’d spent a week at the cabin, and it was fucking time to get a move on. Alarm bells were clanging in my head, and I felt like the world was closing in tight around me. I didn’t know how much longer I could see Rosie like this, day in and day out, before I cracked like a weak little man.

  Don’t get me wrong. I was loving every fucking minute of our pretend domestic existence in this perfect cabin in the woods, but it was a lie. It wasn’t real. And it wouldn’t fucking last.

  Rosie was anxious for me to go get Owen, and it was time, even though I didn't have a solid plan.

  Every morning, I’d tell myself that this day would be the last. But then she’d curl up on my chest, fall asleep in my arms, and I knew I was doomed to stay another day. As soon as we left this place, all of this would be over. I’d get her back her son, and then I’d never seen her again.

  And despite everything I’d gone through in my life, this felt like the worst.

  Rosie ambled into the kitchen rubbing sleep from her eyes as I glared out at the dark sky. It matched my mood.

  “Want some breakfast?” she asked in a soft voice. She’d been making me a full fucking breakfast every morning for a week, always perfect, always with that soft look in her eye.

  No wonder I’d let my stupid self get caught up in this.

  I hardened myself toward what would come next. “No, I’m heading into town. It’s about time I made my move on Scooter. I just need to grab some supplies or this is never going to work.”

  Her eyes widened, and I heard her breath get caught in her throat. “It’s time? Just give me five minutes to throw on some clothes, and I’ll be ready.”

  “No need.” I took a step toward the door. “It’s safer if you stay here.”

  “You don’t want me to come with you?” The hurt in her voice was almost too much for me to bear.

  “Not this time.” I shook my head. “We can’t risk anyone seeing us together.”

  “I don’t want you to leave me here, Franklin.” Her voice was soft as she moved across the room. She wrapped her small hands around my arm and stepped in front of me. “I only feel safe when you’re around.”

  “Rosie.” My voice came out gruff and low. I cleared my throat and pulled away. I couldn’t bear to look at her when I did. I could imagine her face, fallen and sad and hurt. God, what the hell was I fucking doing to myself?

  “Why do you do this?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “You won’t even look at me, Franklin.”

  I flinched. I hated hearing that goddamn name coming out of her perfect mouth.

  “It isn’t right.” I shook my head and stepped back.

  “I have my own damn mind,” she snapped. “I can make my own decisions, and it pisses me off to think you know better than I do what I want.”

  Taken aback by her sudden anger, I finally turned to meet her eyes. She was all fire, her face and neck red and splotchy. Something inside me stirred. A heat I kept trying to douse spread a warmth through my cock. It took all my self-control not to grab her and push her up against the wall.

  “You don’t know me.” I threw up my hands and took a step back. “I know you think you do because we’ve spent the past week together, holed up inside this cabin with no one to talk to but each other. But you don’t know me. You have no idea what kind of man I am.”

  “The hell I don’t.” She lifted her chin, and the frail and damaged girl I’d
met the week before vanished before my very eyes. Rosie was strong, stronger than she thought. And it was her strength that had been drawing me in all this time and turning me on.

  “No, Rosie, You have no idea who I am. And you never will.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rosie

  Franklin stared at me as if he wanted to rip my clothes off. And god, I hoped he would. My whole body felt alive with desire. He paced back and forth in front of me, trying to keep his distance, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that it wasn’t because he didn’t want me. He did it because he was trying to hold himself back.

  But why? He had no reason to keep pulling away from me like this.

  “I know you’re a man who helps random women on the run from their ex-husbands.” I balled my fists by my sides and took a step closer to him. He stopped pacing, sucking a sharp breath in through his flared nose. “I know you’re a man who would do whatever it took to save me. A man who would sacrifice his own safety for someone else. For me.”

  “You’re making me out to sound like some kind of hero.” He shook his head sharply. “I can assure you I’m not.”

  “If you’re not a hero, then there aren’t any heroes in this world,” I said.

  “Rosie.”

  I stepped in close, but he didn’t pull away this time. He groaned, his eyes roaming across my skin. He reached out and brushed his rough fingers against my neck, and I closed my eyes, leaning into his touch. He felt so warm and so safe and so strong. Everything about him felt good and right, like his arms were the only place in the world I should be.

  “Please kiss me,” I whispered, turning my head up toward him. My heart thumped painfully in my chest as I waited for him to make a move. If this was going to happen between us, it had to be because of he couldn’t hold back any longer. I wanted him to take me without question, the way he would take anything else in his life.

  After several agonizing moments, his lips finally pressed against mine, fast and hungry. My entire body went weak as his kiss deepened, his tongue exploring my mouth. He groaned and dug his hands into my back, pulling me close and pressing my body against his rock hard abs. I could feel the planes of his stomach through his shirt, tight and tense, and the hardness of his cock through his pants.

  My thighs grew wet as his hands roamed down my back and rubbed against my ass. I needed him. I wanted him. More than I’d ever wanted a man in my life. I didn’t know what it was about Franklin Snow, but I felt as if my whole body was drawn to him like matter was consumed into a black hole.

  His mouth moved from my lips to my ear, and he nipped my lobe with his teeth. Shivers coursed along my skin, and my body began to shake. He dipped his head to my neck and dragged his tongue across my skin, my wetness growing with each passing beat.

  “I want to fuck you, Rosie,” he said in a raspy breath before lifting me from the floor. He carried me into the kitchen and sat me on the countertop. His eyes held a heat that made my heart shake dangerously in my chest. My lungs heaved, my skin sparked. Everything inside me felt lit with flames.

  “Please,” I said in a whisper. “I want you.”

  He pulled my shirt over my head and unhooked my bra in one fluid motion. Groaning, he cupped my breasts in his hands and dropped his lips to my nipples. His tongue danced around them, sucking and teasing and making my need build to a roaring crescendo.

  Gasping, I arched my back. I didn’t know how much more I could take.

  As his wet lips continued to explore my breasts, he pulled my jeans and panties off my body. I could do nothing more than let him have his way. Whatever he wanted to do to me, he could. I was putty in his hands, my need too great for me to do anything but wriggle and moan against his electrifying touch.

  His mouth released my nipple, and my eyes flew open just as his hard cock thrusted into my wet sex. My pussy tightened around him, his length filling every inch inside of me. He groaned and grabbed my face in his hands, his mouth taking mine in such a rough and hungry way that it left my vision dotted with stars.

  He thrusted hard and fast, my cheeks sliding back and forth across the countertop. His hands found my ass and they dug in hard to keep me in place, and he shoved himself into me in such a frenzy I thought I might scream.

  He was fucking me with a fierceness I’d never known, almost as if his need was almost too much for him to control. His groans grew louder, and the sound of his pleasure sent thrills across my skin.

  “Come for me, baby,” Franklin gasped as he slid his hand up my back and dug his fingers into my hair. “I want you to come for me right now.”

  My thighs squeezed in response to his command, my whole body yearning to do whatever he said. Pleasure built up inside me, and seconds later, I was shuddering against his chest as wave after wave of my orgasm pounded through me, with Franklin grunting as he came.

  He held my body close, his mouth pressed against my cheek. I felt as if I were his, fully and completely, even though we’d only just met the week before. Somehow, I felt like I knew him even better than I’d ever known anyone else. There was something raw and vulnerable about him like this, and all I wanted was to stay as close to him as I could.

  “Oh, Franklin,” I said in a soft sigh of satisfaction.

  He stiffened, pulled away from me, and turned around, erasing whatever intimacy I’d just felt between us. After all this, and he still wouldn’t let himself get close to me. My heart squeezed tight inside my chest, and I fought the tear that threatened to drip down my cheek.

  “Franklin, come back,” I said in a sigh as he grabbed my jeans from the floor and tossed them my way without even the slightest of tenderness. His face was closed off. Hard and stony, though there was an intense fire I could see flickering at the edges of his eyes.

  “Don’t.” He pointed at me then, and I felt the urge to cringe away from him. “We shouldn’t have done that. You don’t know who the hell I am, and if you did, you wouldn’t want me to fuck you like that.”

  Something flickered in my mind. A warning. A question. There had to be a reason he was acting like this.

  There was something more going on here. He was hiding something from me.

  And I needed to know what it was.

  Chapter Twenty

  Franklin

  I was a weak man. Just as bad as the rest of them, ruled by his cock and not by his brain. I turned away from Rosie and zipped up my jeans, fire brewing in my belly. We shouldn’t have fucked. I’d seen the look in her eyes after she’d come around my cock. She was falling for me, and goddamn it, I was falling for her, too.

  “You keep saying that,” she said, jumping off the countertop and trailing after me. “That I don’t know who you are.”

  I ground my teeth together and cursed under my breath. I never should have said that. But every time she said my fake name, a river of anger rushed through me. Every touch I gave her felt like a lie.

  “You don’t know me,” I said again. “How could you? We only met a week ago.”

  “Then, why don’t you tell me who you are?” she asked, stopping in front of me with her petite little hands curled into fists.

  Her eyes danced with something fierce and strong, and her entire face was flushed from our earlier sex. She looked so beautiful standing there in front of me, begging to know me for who I really was, that it only made my heart rip in two. I could never tell Rosie the truth.

  And I was starting to realize she was the first woman I’d ever had the desire to tell.

  I turned my back to her and angled toward the door outside. “I’ll go into town now to get some supplies.”

  “You’re actually going to leave me alone?” Her voice cracked on the last word, but I steeled my resolve. She’d be fine here. I needed to get myself out of this cabin for a deep breath of fresh air, clear my mind and remind myself of who I was and what I had to do. Get the mission done and get out. Just like always.

  “This is the safest place you could be, Rosie, and you know it,” I
said without turning around. I couldn’t bear to look at her face. Her eyes were probably welling with tears, and there was no way I could fight against that right now. “You want me to get Owen? Then I need some supplies. I’ll be back in an hour.”

  My boots were heavy against the wood floor as I made my way out of the cabin. When the screen door screeched open, I took in a deep breath of fresh mountain air. The clouds overhead rumbled. Another storm was rolling in, and the heavy air accentuated the crisp leaves and dirt that surrounded the house.

  In another life, I could have lived somewhere like this. The wilderness, nature, a good woman. But this wasn’t my life, I reminded myself. I was only passing through. I’d been dealt a shit hand, and I’d never have something like this.

  Inside the cabin, I heard Rosie sniffle. My heart wrenched inside me, but I forced myself down the front steps. She would be safe here, I repeated over and over in my head. But it wasn’t her safety that was the issue. It was her fucking heart.

  Town was a tourist trap of a place, but with the skies opening up, the rain had driven everyone inside. I sloshed down a street lined with shop after shop hocking one-of-a-kind figurines and high-priced decorations. After several blocks, I found a shop selling rifles, camo gear, and tasers.

  A young woman, maybe in her early twenties, glanced up from behind the counter and widened her eyes at the sight of me. Paranoia slithered in my gut, but I tried to squelch it down. She didn’t recognize me. There was no way she could. It was just the usual reaction I got from people. I was tall, big, and covered in tattoos. And soaking wet.

  I shook my head and edged into the store, my eyes scanning the offerings on display. There wasn’t anything like what I’d had access to when I was part of the FBI, but the measly offerings would have to do. To do this right, I needed some protection.