Daring Summer (Colombian Cartel Book 5)

by Suzanne Steele

  “Next stop?” Tony asked even though he knew exactly where they were going.

  “Where the wild things are, my friend. Where the wild things are…”

  Candles lit up the bedroom of the home that was now as much hers as it was his. The transition to a life together felt as natural as a long-lost family member coming home. It was as if they’d known each other forever, as if time and space had never separated these two souls that were meant to be together.

  Harley could feel King’s warm presence and she sensed the pain and guilt he burdened himself with over not being there to protect her when she’d been attacked. She knew better than to blame him and she was determined to help him see that, too. She wouldn’t let him hold himself responsible for the actions of a madman.

  He was beautiful to her. The vivid blue of her lover’s eyes was somehow even brighter and more luminous in the flickering firelight. King breathed a sigh of pure male satisfaction as he ran his hands down her body. The rough feel of his hands made her skin come alive and tingle.

  Harley needed what only King could give her. She needed him closer, deeper. She yearned to take him inside her, to let his love and care fill her as only he could. She smiled softly, inviting him inside, willing him to take her and make her his once more.

  His warm hand engulfed hers, their fingers entwined as they held on tight. His hand was so warm, sending heat radiating up her arm and throughout her body, healing her and making her whole.

  “I’m here, Harley. You belong here with me. You’re the other half of me. Don’t leave me, baby. I refuse to live without you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere…I love you.” Her words were little more than silent puffs of air but she meant them with all her heart.

  “Baby, I love you so much. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me. I hate myself for it. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Please forgive me. I miss you so much. Midas misses you too, the little asshole. Nothing’s right without you. Everything’s wrong. Please wake up.”

  King watched Harley’s eyes as they rapidly moved back and forth as if she were deep in dreamland. He gently ran his thumb back and forth over her hand. Her bruises were healing and the facial swelling was down. Her color was better too; Tony thought her cheeks looked flushed for the first time since before the attack. Those were all good signs of a strong recovery, but he needed her to wake up, needed her to be present and in the moment with him.

  “Baby, you can’t die. I won’t let you, do you hear me? You may as well rip my fucking heart out of my chest right now because it won’t be good for anything if you go away.”

  “I’m not going anywhere…staying right here with you.” He watched in disbelief as Harley’s eyes fluttered open. She was a fucking miracle. His miracle.

  “Nurse!”

  His voice came out as an anguished bellow that had the gray-haired nurse supervisor all but sliding out of her crocs as she barreled into the room. One look and she was all smiles. “Well, well, well, look who’s back in the land of the living. I never doubted you, Harley Davidson. You’re too damn young to give up without a fight.”

  “Too damn stubborn, you mean.” King beamed with pride before leaning over to press a kiss to Harley’s lips.

  The nurse beamed at them. “Plus, you’ve had a good man at your bedside. I knew there was no way you could resist him. I’m going to give you a minute, then I’ll be back to check your vital signs and we’ll just go from there, okay?”

  Harley nodded her agreement, but her eyes were on King. “I could feel you here with me, King,” Harley whispered against his lips as the nurse slipped out of the room and closed the door. “I could feel you loving me.”

  He pressed his forehead against hers and smiled. “That’s exactly what I was doing, and that’s what I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing. Marry me, baby.”

  Harley smiled, somehow not at all surprised at the proposal. She couldn’t recall the details, but she was certain King had made quite a case for marriage in the hours he’d spent at her bedside. She was just glad she could finally say yes – but that didn’t mean she’d make it easy for him. “But what about my parents? You haven’t asked my dad for my hand. You haven’t even met him yet! He can be kinda traditional about those things, you know.”

  “Oh, believe me, I know. But, trust me, we’ve met. So is that a yes?” he asked quietly and even had the good grace to look a little worried.

  “Oh, it’s a yes, alright.”

  “Good, because your mom’s already planning the wedding. She loves me.”

  Sometime later King finally stopped kissing her, but he couldn’t stop touching her. He took her face in gentle hands and silently vowed that he would never question his good fortune at having this magnificent, badass woman in his life. “You beat death, baby. Hell, you kicked death’s ass.”

  Chapter Forty

  “He’s dead, bro. Dead and gone,” Tony said as they looked down at the coffin holding the remains of Bobby Brooks. “Time to deliver him into the eternal flames. You know how it goes: no body, no crime.”

  King sneered as he thought of the man who had caused such destruction and chaos for so long, even before Harley had crossed his path. “I gotta say, Tony, I enjoyed the show. Especially the first part, when he woke up and must have thought he was having the worst hangover ever.”

  “Agreed. Fully conscious and trying to claw his way out. Pitiful.”

  “Can you imagine the morning breath in there?”

  “No, sir, I cannot.” Tony was grinning from ear to ear.

  “Once he started running out of air, it started losing the entertainment value, though,” King mused. “He just got disoriented, slipped into a coma, then poof. But a coma -- how fucking fitting was that? So not as slow a death as I had hoped, but plenty slow enough for popcorn. And I didn’t want to waste any more time on his sorry ass anyway. But seriously, thanks; setting up the night vision video feed inside the coffin was an inspired idea, my friend.”

  “Aw, now, stop it.”

  King rolled his eyes. Tony never could accept a compliment. “Motherfucker.”

  “Asshole.”

  That was more like it.

  Moving the body was easy enough after they secured the tigers, who had been quite curious about the whole thing when Tony and King had lowered the coffin into the ground and covered the hole with a metal grate. The big cats had circled the hole restlessly, able to hear just enough to know that prey was nearby. Eventually, they had settled in at the edge of the hole and taken a nap. King decided he’d have to give them a special treat later for being so good about the whole thing.

  Ultimately, there had been no mercy for the man in the coffin and it showed. Blood was smeared everywhere, and his nails were in shreds from his futile efforts to claw his way to freedom. Plugs of hair were scattered on and around the body, ripped from his head during his final panic-filled moments of consciousness. With evidence like that just laying around, they thought it wise to burn the coffin along with the body. Dead men tell no tales and all that…

  In the end, no trace of Bobby Brooks remained to torment the living. In fact, it would have been hard to find any evidence that he’d ever lived. His wife didn’t have any memories that were worth holding onto, and his children didn’t miss the monster who had abused their mother. He had done nothing in service to his fellow man; had never so much as helped an old lady cross the street. Bobby Brooks died the same way he had lived: a wretched excuse for a human being, missed by no one.

  King and Tony parted company with one of those shoulder-pounding bro hugs that always made Caden roll her eyes and grin. King had pressing business across town: Harley was being released from the hospital later that day. It was time to go get his girl and bring her home where she belonged.

  “You’re being ridiculous, King.”

  “No, I’m not. You heard what the doc said.” Hanging on to his self-control was proving harder than King had expe
cted, what with Harley and his dick ganging up on him like this.

  They had gotten home from the hospital an hour ago and Harley had made it clear right away that she expected a reunion of the loud, sweaty kind. She had immediately changed into a tank top that hugged her tits like a lover’s hands and cut-off denim shorts that didn’t quite cover her ass. She’d been parading around the house, Daisy Duke-style, using increasingly distracting household tasks to torment him and get her way. Oh, look, I dropped my book. Or his personal favorite, Oh, no, I can reach it, I’ll just need to lean over you and rub my tits in your face.

  Normally, he’d be more than happy to oblige, but the doctor had warned him that Harley was to avoid any exertion that would get her heart rate up. Something about not stressing her cardiovascular system while they were still monitoring her closely.

  “He told me to ‘take it easy’, not become a nun,” she huffed impatiently. She slowly crossed her arms over her chest. King narrowed his eyes at her. Cue the spaghetti Western theme music, folks. She knew perfectly well what that particular move did for her breasts. And she also knew that he really, really liked her breasts.

  “Oh, so it’s like that, is it?” King drawled.

  “Mm-hmm. It damn sure is.” She let her arms fall to her sides and took several slow, seductive steps toward him. “What are you gonna do about it, hmm?”

  “Nothing. That’s what I’m going to do about it,” King muttered, not even bothering to hide it when he reached down to shift the position of his cock as it hardened against his thigh.

  “Everything okay down there?” she asked with a smirk, her eyes twinkling at his obvious arousal.

  “I’m fiiiine.”

  “You just look like you might need some help, that’s all.”

  She decided to step up her game and cupped his balls before sliding her hand down the outline of his impressive erection and giving it a little squeeze. “Are you still my big boy?” she purred as she caressed his shaft through his jeans.

  “Shit…” he groaned as he lifted his gaze up to the ceiling. “We can’t do this. You’re not supposed to get worked up.”

  “I can handle it, King. I just want you inside me.”

  “We both know there’s no way I can be moving inside you without you blowing sky high.”

  “Well, that’s true enough,” she sighed as she slid her hand back to his balls and began stroking them rhythmically.

  “Baby, listen, you’ve gotta stop.”

  “Stop?” she asked with a frown, sounding baffled by the word even as her hand continued its relentless torment of his balls. “Stop what? I don’t understand.”

  “Seriously, Harley…” he said, his voice growing clipped and stern as he struggled for control. He grimaced and rubbed his fingertips over his forehead as his lips tightened into a flat line.

  “Oh, I’m quite serious,” she declared before removing her hand. He huffed a sigh of relief. His relief proved to be short-lived as Harley made quick work of the button and zipper, and reached in to collect her prize.

  He was big and girthy and delicious, and she decided that even if the doctor had put her on some bizarre sexual ‘lock down’, there was no reason King had to suffer the same fate; not after everything he had done for her.

  She worked his shaft with her hands, using the long, firm strokes that she knew he wouldn’t be able to resist. Then she got down on her knees and began working him over with her hands and mouth.

  “Now, if you’re so determined to follow the doctor’s orders--” she said, and dipped the tip of her tongue into the slit on the underside of the head of his cock.

  “Well, one of us needs to be…oh shit, baby…”

  “—then you need to stop being so noble and let me get you off. You know how worked up I get when you’re in my mouth, King.” She focused her efforts on the broad mushroom head of his cock, sliding her wet lips over the bell end with quick, fervent pulls of suction.

  King stroked her hair and pressed his hand to the back of her head, then yanked his hand away like it had been burned. “Seriously, baby, just stop,” he gasped. “The doctor said--”

  “I know what the doctor said.” She laved the length of his shaft with the broad, flat surface of her tongue. “Now, if you don’t want me to orgasm, in an egregious repudiation of strict medical advice, then you’d better give me what I want – right down my tight…hot…throat.” She turned flirtatious eyes up at him as she lapped at the pre-cum trailing down his length. “Now, if you won’t help me, I guess I’ll just have to do it myself.”

  King watched as she pressed a kiss to the tip. “Seriously, baby,” she whispered. “I love you. Let me do this for you.”

  And with that, she sucked his cock deep into her mouth, pausing briefly to grip his hips before easing him all the way into the snug column of her throat and straight to Heaven.

  “What should we do? I’ve never dealt with something like this before. I’m worried that I’ll do something wrong. And what if, after all she’s gone through, Kat just gives up?” Amber worried her bottom lip, nibbling at it as she closed the door to Tony’s guestroom and settled on the sofa in the sitting area. “When will Caden and Tony be back?”

  Blue and Amber were watching over Kat while Tony and Caden checked on how Harley was settling in at King’s house. She had been discharged the previous day. Harley’s friend, Stacy, had dropped by a few times already to check Kat’s vital signs and help her bathe. She didn’t get any assistance from the patient herself, but at least Kat hadn’t resisted Stacy’s efforts.

  Kat was currently wearing one of Tony’s old flannel shirts buttoned up to the neck, and a pair of Caden’s yoga pants. Caden was curvy in all the right places so her pants hung on Kat’s spare frame, but she was covered from head to toe. When Amber had left her moments earlier, Kat had been curled up in the fetal position on the floor in the far corner of Tony’s guestroom. Her eyes had been unfocused, and she didn’t respond to questions or show any indication that she knew what was going on around her.

  “Stacy said to just let her rest. That’s all we can do,” Blue said with a sad shrug. “Long-term, I have no idea what’s going to happen to her. It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “Caden showed me more pictures of her from when they worked together at The Club. She was stunning,” Amber said wistfully. “It’s hard to believe it’s the same person; she’s so thin now and looks so haggard. She’s pitiful, Blue; it breaks my heart. She doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. It’s like she’s not there, like she’s lost. I mean, how does someone come back from something like that?”

  It was true; Kat hadn’t said a word since arriving at Tony’s house after the rescue. Tony had insisted that they were to bring her straight to his house on the Ramirez property, where she would be safe and protected from any law enforcement that might try to come sniffing around. Tony didn’t think anyone would miss Stan enough to make a fuss about his disappearance. When he didn’t report to work at the hospital, though, it would be just a matter of time before someone started asking questions.

  Caden had been waiting for them when they arrived and had immediately called Tony. He had returned home from whatever he’d been out doing with King in the middle of the night, to oversee arrangements as she settled in. He had arranged for Harley’s friend Stacy to come over and give Kat some initial medical care. He thought it would probably be better if a woman helped her, and he’d been right. The sight of a man or just the sound of a male voice was all it took to turn Kat into a banshee, fighting off unseen assailants. At one point, Stacy had to give her a sedative.

  Blue stared at the closed bedroom door and shook her head. “I don’t know what it’s going to take to reach her. She’s pretty far into her own head now. Remember that, on top of the violence and abuse she’s suffered in the last week, her addiction is kicking her ass too. She’s got a long road ahead of her, but she’s got a lot of people rallying around her to help.”

  “The most import
ant thing is that she’s out of that hellhole and her tormentor is long gone. You made sure of that, baby,” Amber purred as she rose to her feet and slid onto Blue’s lap. She was quickly becoming convinced that there was nothing Blue couldn’t do.

  Blue had gone back to the site of Kat’s torment the previous night. She found Stan in a pool of blood on the basement floor, right where they had left him. As she had suspected, her kick to Stan’s face had been a death blow, crushing his nose and jamming the bones deep into his brain.

  While she was there, she had taken a closer look at the rudimentary dungeon he had thrown together for his little side business. The dungeon was a cool temperature compared to the rest of the house, so the body hadn’t started to stink yet, but it wouldn’t be long. Rigor mortis had already come and gone, so it was easy enough to move him from where he’d landed on the floor.

  Blue was more convinced than ever that the world was a better place now that Stan had been well and truly put in his place, so to speak. His next batch of customers would be in for the shock of their lives when they showed up ready for some basement action. The last time Blue saw Stan, he was naked and strapped to his stocks/sawhorse torture device, ready for another night of fun with the guys.

  Always a stickler for details, Blue even made sure Stan had a dick in his mouth – his own. And that’s where he would rot until someone was unfortunate enough to find him.

  “Hey,” Amber said softly, getting her attention with a tender kiss. “Remember me?”

  “The love of my life?” Blue leaned back and gazed at her quizzically then smiled. “Yeah, I remember you.” She playfully swatted Amber’s ass and earned a sexy pout in return.

  “You know, all of this has me thinking about how fragile and precious life is,” Amber said. “It’s obvious how important Kat still is to everyone around here, regardless of what went down when she left before. But she’s been so traumatized; that would be bad enough for the average person, but she’s got an addiction eating away at her too. If she’s not able to connect with the world around her, is anything anyone does for her even going to matter?”