by Tawny Taylor
She walked down a winding dirt drive that meandered along a line of trees. At the end of a long driveway sat a beautiful farmhouse, nestled in a clearing circled by tall oaks. She’d always loved that house. It was set far back from the road. There was a barn. Fields. A pond with ducks.
And a For Sale sign.
It was for sale.
If only she had enough to buy that place. It was perfect. She hurried her pace, tromping down the road. Gravel crunched under her feet.
Gravel crunched behind her. Was it a car? A child on a bike? She glanced over her shoulder.
Her heart jerked.
“Michelle.”
Talen. He had found her. Her gaze snapped to his eyes. What was he doing here? Her heart literally stalled for one, two, three seconds.
“Talen.” She glanced left, right. They were alone . . . she thought. “Is it safe?”
“Probably not. But I had to come find you.” Moving swiftly, he grabbed her wrist and tugged her into the deep shadows along the tree line. Once they were obscured, he set both hands on her shoulders and held her in place. “Did you get my package?”
Was that why he’d come? Just to make sure she had the money? Or had he come for something else? “I did,” she whispered. “Thank you. I have no idea how much is there, but anything will be a help. I may not be able to work.”
“There’s enough for you to quit working. Permanently. And . . . I can send more from time to time.”
So, it was the money. “That’s very generous. Thank you.”
“You’re carrying my child. I want to help. I’d rather be a part of his life, but . . . if that isn’t possible . . .” He stared into her eyes. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Me, either.”
His hand cupped her cheek, and she tilted her head, resting it against his palm. Her eyelids lowered as she focused on that small touch, the heat, the soft caress, the ache of wanting more.
Why couldn’t things be simple? Why did loving this man have to be so painful and complicated?
“When you aren’t near, all I can think about is you,” he said. “Where you are. Whether you’re safe.”
She placed her hand over his. “Talen.” She could hear the turmoil in her own voice.
“I want you to be happy,” he told her.
“I know.”
His gaze dragged across her face. His eyes were so dark, so full of confusion and turmoil. “Tell me what to do.”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
“I haven’t married anyone yet. My brother is putting pressure on me to find someone.”
“You didn’t marry Angela?” Just imagining him married to another woman made her insides feel like they were being thrashed.
“No. She’s . . . she is working for them.”
“You know about her?”
He nodded.
“I wish I knew what to do,” she whispered.
“Being with me . . . it isn’t easy. We have to move often, take new identities. We have to stay to ourselves, can’t trust people.”
She pressed against his hand, holding it to her cheek. “It must be a very lonely life.”
“It is if you don’t have someone . . . you love.”
“I think any life is a lonely life if you don’t have someone you love,” she confessed.
“I’ve never loved anyone like I love you.” His thumb grazed her lip.
“Me, either,” she whispered, blinking. Her eyes were burning again. Her nose, too. Dammit, she was going to cry. “If only things could be simple. Normal.”
“I wish that could be, too. You have no idea how much I wish for that. But it can’t ever be. Not for me or my brothers. Not for anyone who is in our lives.” He tugged on his hand.
She let it go. “Have you moved already?”
“My brothers and their wives are on their way to our next home.”
“Is it far?”
“Yes. I won’t ever see you again.”
She blinked a few times. Never was a long time. Never was a lifetime.
She glanced around. This was home. A place that made her feel safe. At peace.
But it wasn’t enough. Not even having that house, the perfect house with the pond and the ducks and the barn, would be enough if she had to live in it without Talen.
“If I knew my mother was safe . . .” she thought aloud, not really knowing where it might lead.
“If we took her with us, she’d have to understand she can’t contact anyone from her past,” he warned.
“She doesn’t have anyone but me.” Michelle’s heart started thumping fast, hard.
“And she’d have to leave everything behind. Her home. Her possessions. Everything.”
“My mother has never been fond of things. Could she really go with us? Would my mother be safe?”
“As safe as the rest of us. There would always be a risk. For all of us.”
“But at least we would be together.”
“Yes.” He leaned closer, until his mouth was hovering over hers. “I want you, Michelle. More than I want to take my next breath. But not if you’ll be unhappy. It’ll kill me if you come and then regret it.”
She closed the distance between them, sealing her mouth to his and letting her kiss tell him everything her heart was feeling. Would she regret this decision? She hoped not. All she knew was that the world was too empty without him. She had to take the risk.
His tongue stroked the seam of her mouth and she opened to him, welcoming his intimate caress. Her mouth filled with his sweet flavor, and her body filled with pounding heat. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back until her legs were so wobbly they could barely hold her weight.
When the kiss ended, she was dizzy and breathless and shaky. She inhaled, pulling in a lung full of air, then let it out in a long sigh.
He rested his forehead against hers. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure. I want to be with you, Talen. No matter what.”
The craziest impulse flashed through her head. Acting upon it, she reached for his hands and placed them on her breasts. “I need you.”
A low growl vibrated in the air between them. His eyes turned dark. “Now?” His hands slid down her stomach.
Her breath caught in her throat. “Yes. Please.”
“Michelle.” He pushed her top up, exposing her bra.
Her heart rate kicked up to double-time. “Take me.”
His fingers hooked over the top of her bra cup. His gaze raked over her body, making her skin sizzle.
God, this man could make her melt with just a look. Her empty pussy clenched. Reaching around her back, she unclasped her bra.
He pushed the cups up, exposing her breasts. Her nipples were already hard, tight little peaks. “Beautiful,” he uttered as he lowered his head. His tongue flicked over one aching bud, and her back arched. More, she needed more. “Say it again,” he whispered. Then he pulled her nipple into his warm mouth and suckled hard.
Little blades of pleasure pierced her insides. Her knees wobbled. “Take me, Talen. I’m yours,” she muttered as she slowly sank. Strong arms cradled her, eased her to the ground. She lay on a blanket of earth and cool grass, the brilliant blue sky poking through a thick woven blanket of tree branches overhead.
Heaven.
He kissed his way down her body, stopping at the waist of her pants. Within seconds, he had them off. Her panties, too. He knelt above her, gazing down at her as if she were something priceless, precious.
“Talen.” She lifted her arms to him.
He unzipped his pants, pulled his thick rod out, and settled between her thighs. “You’re mine, Michelle. I won’t ever take another woman again.” His rod plunged deep inside her, filling her completely.
Immediately lost in the ecstasy of his claiming, she wrapped her legs around his waist. Deep. Deeper. She wanted him to take her hard and fast, then slowly, sweetly. She rocked her hips, meeting each of his hard thrusts. With each stroke, her body bur
ned hotter, her senses grew sharper. The sounds of their lovemaking filled her ears and heightened her pleasure. The husk of their hard breaths. The crackle of twigs snapping beneath her. The scent of earth and man filled her nose, blending into a perfect perfume. She closed her eyes and moistened her lips, tasting his kiss still lingering on them.
This was where she belonged. In this man’s arms. In his bed. She relinquished her body to him, eagerly welcoming him to take his pleasure. But instead of taking, he eased back on his knees and pressed a moistened thumb to her clit. With his cock buried deep inside, he started stroking her sensitive pearl.
Ah, it was glorious.
“You crave domination,” he uttered as he stroked her to paradise. “You long to learn how to serve your master.”
Her body’s temperature spiked. “Yes,” she said, writhing beneath him. “Oh yes.”
“I will teach you. I’ll teach you the joy of submission.”
“Please.”
That thumb moved faster, drawing swift circles. She was so hot, so tight. Everywhere. On the verge. Oh, almost there.
Her chest constricted. A flare of heat blazed deep in her center.
“Come for me. Now,” he demanded.
It felt like a white-hot ball of fire exploded inside her. She was overpowered. Lost in pleasure so intense she thought she might die from it.
He angled over her and slammed his cock into her spasming center.
“Yes,” he said, pressing his lips to her neck. His cock rammed in and out, in and out, drawing out her pleasure, making it last and last. Oh, she hoped it would never end. The wave of a second climax rolled over her, and she cried out. His joined hers as he orgasmed deep inside her, filling her.
Then, with their bodies still joined, he rolled onto his side, taking her with him, cradling her in his arms.
She smiled into his dark eyes.
He smiled back, and she knew without any doubts that she had made the right choice. She would rather give up everything she had than let this man walk out of her life.
Tipping his head, he kissed her forehead. “As much as I’d love to stay here and do that again, we need to move quickly. The sooner we get your mother safe, the better.”
“Okay.” Reluctantly, she pulled out of his hold. It was hard. It was painful. With gentle hands, he helped her dress. Together they walked to a black vehicle she hadn’t seen before, parked on the road. Within minutes, they were bouncing down the potholed street toward her mother’s house, talking about what needed to happen as they drove. The second Talen had the vehicle parked in her mom’s driveway, she scrambled out of the car and hurried up to the door. She let herself in, shouting, “Mom?” as she rushed toward the kitchen where she suspected her mother would be.
She found her there.
But she wasn’t alone.
27
Surprised there was a visitor standing in her mother’s kitchen, Michelle clamped her lips shut.
What was she doing here? Had she followed Talen?
“Hi, Michelle. Talen,” Angela said, smiling. “Susan made us tuna salad sandwiches and homemade soup for lunch. Doesn’t that sound delicious?”
Michelle’s gaze jerked from Angela to her mother, who was busy at the stove. Her mom glanced over her shoulder. “Honey, I wish you’d told me you were bringing friends for lunch. I would have made more sandwiches.”
“I . . . didn’t know they were coming,” she said, her gaze jumping back and forth between Angela and Talen. Angela looked extremely pleased. Talen, tense.
Cranking up her smile to full wattage, Angela said, “Talen, it’s so good seeing you again. When I heard you had moved without saying good-bye, I was disappointed.”
“It wasn’t an intentional slight,” he said, voice cold.
“Honey, why don’t you set the table for lunch?” Susan asked as she stirred the soup.
“Um . . .” Michelle stole a glance at Talen. He nodded. “Okay.” Extremely nervous, she went to the cupboard and pulled out plates, bowls, and cups. If Angela was here, then she had to assume Angela’s cousin was skulking around somewhere close by.
Talen wandered toward the front of the house. Angela hopped up from her seat at the kitchen table and followed him.
“Isn’t it a total surprise, seeing you here?” she said, trailing behind him.
“I suppose it is.”
While keeping an eye on the quiet exchange between her coworker and Talen, Michelle set the plates, bowls, and cups on the table, then went to the drawer for silverware.
“Angela told me you work together,” Michelle’s mother said, still stirring soup at the stove. “I’m so proud of you. You’ve done so well.”
“Mom,” she whispered. “We need to talk.”
“Okay. What is it, honey?” she asked, much too loudly.
Michelle pressed an index finger to her lips and flicked a glance at Talen and Angela. “In private.”
“Now?”
“Yes.” Reaching past her mother, Michelle clicked off the stove’s burner. Her heart was racing so fast, Michelle felt a little light-headed. She grabbed her mother’s hand and dragged her out onto the back porch. “Mom, we have to leave here. Now.”
“Leave? Why? Where are we going?”
“I want you to go grab anything important, pictures, keepsakes, anything you can’t live without.”
“I don’t understand—”
“I’ll explain later. Just please, go now.” Adrenaline pounding through her system as her fear escalated, Michelle gave her confused mother a gentle shove toward the door. “Hurry. Or you’ll have to leave everything behind.”
Her mom stared at her for several seconds, as if she were frozen. Desperate to wake her up, Michelle shook her softly by the shoulders until she seemed a little more with it. “Mom?”
“We’re leaving?” She wandered back into the kitchen, just as a loud bang blasted through the living room.
Michelle whirled around and sprinted toward the front of the house.
Angela was standing in the middle of the room, a gun gripped in her hands. That gun, the weapon that could end all of their lives at any moment, was shaking. A lot.
Talen was sitting on the floor, his head hanging low.
Was he hurt? Shot?
Ohmygod! Panic blasted through her like an electric current. She dashed toward him.
“Stop!” Angela yelled.
She didn’t stop. She couldn’t. She ran to him, colliding with a rocking chair on the way. She staggered, stumbled. He caught her as she was falling. They landed together on the floor, his body cushioning her.
“Don’t move!” Angela shouted.
“Are you hurt?” Michelle wheezed. She couldn’t breathe. She was dizzy. Where had all the freaking air gone? Her gaze jerked from one part of his body to another. Head. Looked okay. No blood. Neck, okay. Chest, okay. Thank God it was okay. Stomach, no blood.
“I’m fine.” He reached for her face.
Red.
She saw red.
Blood. Blood!
She started clawing at his sleeve, trying to see the wound. “You’ve been shot.” She blinked as little patches of black started obscuring her vision.
“Michelle.”
She had to see the wound. She had to help him.
“Michelle.” He caught her chin in his hand and lifted. Her gaze snapped to his eyes. “I’m fine. It’s nothing. A scratch. It doesn’t even hurt.”
“You’re shot,” she yelled.
“I’m fine.”
She felt a nudge and looked. Her mother was sitting next to her now, her eyes wide with terror. “Mom, are you okay?”
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“What’s happening is you’re going for a little ride, Susan,” Angela said, still holding the gun, which was now pointed at Talen’s head. She held a cell phone with the other hand.
“Me?”
“Harboring a fugitive is a crime.” Angela poked at the phone buttons with her thumb.<
br />
Susan looked at Michelle and then Talen. “Who is the fugitive?”
“She doesn’t know anything,” Talen said calmly. “Let her go.”
“I’m not letting anyone go until backup is here. And that should be any minute now.”
“Why are you doing this?” Michelle glared at her ex-coworker. She was so enraged, she could barely put two words together.
“Why? I have my reasons. But there’s really no point in explaining them to you. You’ve been brainwashed by that man.” Angela flicked the gun.
“I haven’t been brainwashed by anyone.”
Looking at her with pity, Angela merely shook her head and poked at her phone with her thumb some more. “It’s sad. I do feel a little bad for you. A little.” She lifted her phone to her ear and said, “I have them.” Then she focused on her phone as she ended the call.
Talen didn’t give a single warning. The second Angela looked away, he lunged toward her, slamming her off her feet. She sailed backward. The gun flew from her hand. He scrambled to grab it as it landed with a thud. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
Michelle sat there in shock and tried to comprehend what was happening. Her mind couldn’t quite keep up with events as they were unfolding. Talen was on top of Angela now. He had her pinned to the floor, but she was kicking, screaming.
“Go get in the car,” he shouted. “Move! Now!”
Suddenly, as if jarred from a dream, Michelle could react. She grabbed her mom’s hand and jumped to her feet. “Come on!” She pulled. Slowly her mother stood. She raced toward the door, remembering she needed her purse, her keys. They were in her room. Leaving Mom at the door, she veered off, down the hallway. She ran as hard as she could, bouncing off walls and door frames and furniture. Purse. On the dresser. She snatched it, turned around, and slammed into Talen.
“They’re out front,” he said. “Is there a back exit?”
“Yes. This way.” She ran past him, sprinted toward the front of the house where she’d left Mom, and then, catching her hand again, led all three to the patio door. They slid it open just as the first few armed agents came around the corner of the house.
She hesitated.
Talen pushed on her back and yelled, “Run!”
Refusing to release her mother’s hand, Michelle ran as fast and as hard as she could. Mom kept up with her as their feet pounded over grass. They made it to the small creek at the back of the property. Without slowing, she leapt over it. Mom’s hand slipped from hers as she sailed through the air. On the other side, she turned back to see where her mom was.
