by Rye Hart
“Yes,” I managed to choke out.
Then, I collapsed once the weight of my orgasm released my helpless body.
Andrew pulled back and licked his lips, humming at my taste. I felt weightless, even though I sank deeper into the couch. Sounds were dulled and colors exploded. Silver streaks tore across my vision as I felt a pair of arms peel me away from the soft material. I clung to him, my limbs quaking as he carried me down the hallway.
It wasn’t until my back hit something soft that I understood he’d taken me to his bedroom. He was going to fuck me in his own bed.
“I told you I would repay you,” he said as he began removing his clothes.
I propped myself up and watched his beautiful body come into view. Those rock-hard abs and his rippling chest. His chiseled arms and pulsing thighs. His cock dripped with want, swollen with an intent I couldn’t wait to explore. He knelt on the bed, and I gladly parted for him, welcoming him against my body as I slid my shirt over my head.
He rid me of everything else between us until nothing but our bodies sat against one another.
In a flash, he turned me over. My hips rose into the air as his cock pulsed against my ass cheeks. He massaged me. Felt me. Coated me in his dripping pre-cum before sliding into my pussy. My body stretched for him and molded to him as he filled my tight embrace. I gasped into the bed, fisting the sheets as electricity blinded my vision.
He felt glorious and so right, like home.
He set a relentless pace, his balls smacking against my clit. The bed rocked with his every thrust as my fingernails dug into his mattress. I pressed my face into his sheets to let his comforter swallow my moans. With each tap of his balls, my legs grew weaker until Andrew’s grasp was the only thing keeping me upright. I bucked back into him using my arms for leverage and meeting him thrust for thrust. His cock pulsed against my walls, and I felt that telltale build in the pit of my gut.
“I feel you. I feel it. Do it, Heather. Come on my cock.”
“Andrew! Yes. Oh god, yes.”
My pussy clamped down around him, and he stilled his movements. I drew him closer. Pulled him into my grasp as I collapsed to the bed. I panted for air as he slid from between my legs and rolled me back over. I was his to enjoy. His to play with for the night. His lips fell to my neck, and he kissed me softly. Deftly. With purpose and intent. The warmth trickled through my limbs as his lips wrapped around my nipples, coaxing them to engorged peaks that made me want him closer, deeper, harder.
I wrapped my legs around him and guided his cock to my entrance. I reached down and slid him in, feeling him groan into my skin. His eyes came up to meet mine as I shivered against his body. I slid my hands up his arms. His shoulders. His neck. Until I was cupping his cheeks and bringing his lips to mine.
I tasted myself on the tip of his tongue as he slid out.
He slammed back in, and his throat swallowed my moans. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling his chest into mine. He blanketed me as his hips rolled, pushing deeper as my pussy relaxed around him. My heels dug into the mattress. We found our rhythm in the darkness of his room in the woods, and everything else faded away. His hands found mine and threaded our fingers together. He pinned them above my head and opened me up completely to him.
My mind swirled. I gazed into his eyes and never once let him go.
“Heather. You have no idea what you do to me.”
“I do,” I whispered. I lifted my lips up to kiss his as his body settled against mine. “I really, really do.”
We lost ourselves in one another as the tension built. My muscles squeezed and released, and his cock grew thicker between my thighs. The bed jolted. Rocked. Scraped against the wooden floors of his room as his rolls became thrusts. I leaned up and nibbled on his neck. Bit into his shoulder. Tasted his sweat against my lips as he worked for my pleasure. His grunts and his groans filled my mind with a spiraling passion unlike any other. I reveled in the sounds I pulled from him. His hips stuttered as he sank into me, and I felt myself losing control again.
I felt my body giving itself over to this man again.
“Andrew. Fuck. I’m so close.”
“Come with me, Heather. I need to feel you.”
“Keep going. Right there. Almost. Yes. Yes. I feel it. Andrew. I feel it!”
My back arched, my jaw widened, and his face fell to my tits. He buried himself into my curves as he released my hands. My nails curled into his skin. His hands gripped my hips, angling them upward, and he pushed in deeper. His cum filled me as my pussy milked his dick. I choked on a gasp, heaved for air as my eyes rolled hard to the back of my head. He grunted into my skin.
We both collapsed to the bed, a pile of throbbing skin and sweat as the darkness of his room blanketed us.
As much as I wanted to stay, I knew I couldn't. I didn’t want to confuse Rebecca until Andrew had a chance to talk to her, and it had been obvious at the bakery that morning that she didn’t know yet.
So I took in the moment as much as I could and committed as much of it to memory as I could because I wasn’t sure when it would happen again.
CHAPTER 15
CAMERON
“Luke, no!”
I shot up in bed as beads of sweat poured down my brow. I looked around the pitch-black room as I turned my body toward the bathroom. My feet planted onto the floor, and I pulled myself up, desperate to splash some water in my face.
Fuck. The nightmares were getting worse.
I leaned against the sink as the water ran. I filled it up and stuck my face into it, blowing out air and allowing it to bubble around my ears. Sometimes, submerging myself in cold water and changing the temperature of my body was the only thing that brought me back from all those images. Guilt filled my gut and trickled to my toes and then anger folded my fingers into fists.
I came up for air and looked at the man staring back at me in the mirror as water dripped down my neck.
What the fuck was I doing with Heather? Had I lost my damn mind? It had been three days since our pizza date, and I couldn't get her off my mind. But when I fell asleep at night, my brain always reminded me of the reality of my life. It made me second-guess everything. The Mafia was still after me. I’d nearly killed one of their own to avenge the death of my brother. In the back of my mind, I knew they would come after me. Men like them didn’t stop until retribution had been served. It was a matter of honor to them.
I had a daughter to protect, and Audrey had to come first.
Yet, I also had another child on the way, another child with another woman who took up every free space in my mind. Audrey needed a parent looking out for her, and the only parent she currently had was being hunted down by a group of hardened criminals, people who killed for money and pleasure and personal gain. Dragging Heather into this world was reckless. A mistake. I was lying to her. Every time she said my daughter’s ‘name’ or moaned my ‘name’ in bed, it reinforced the lie I was spewing to her.
“Fuck.” I dipped my face back into the water. “Fuck!” Bubbles wafted against my ears as I yelled.
I had broken the one rule I’d made for myself. Above all else, don’t get attached to anyone because, at any moment, Audrey and I could be forced to pack up and leave. I’d gone and done just that. I’d gotten attached to this sweet woman with exotic features and a lilting voice I couldn't ignore. A woman whose body called to me in ways I’d never felt before. A woman whose presence and scent and laughter were high-inducing.
I yelled into the water until I had no breath left and then came back up and looked at myself in the mirror again.
“You fucked up,” I said as I pointed at myself. “You broke that one rule, and now you’ve got two people in this fucked up web with you.”
The only thing Heather was supposed to be was a vehicle for another child, which was reckless in and of itself. I knew it. Hudson knew it. But every single time I took my daughter out to eat or chanced taking her into town to go to the park, I saw how she looked. I saw how lo
nely she felt. Her eyes lingered on brothers and sisters who ran hand-in-hand around the swing sets, and it broke my heart, shattered my world. I was torn between my guilt at throwing her into this situation, my anger toward my brother for his gambling debts, and my need to give Audrey the closest thing to the kind of life she wanted and deserved.
Why the fuck did everything in my life have to clash?
“She was only supposed to give you a child,” I said to myself in the mirror. “Damn it, Cameron. What the fuck were you thinking?”
I stuck my head back into the water and screamed until I felt better.
After yelling into the watery void until my throat was hoarse, I drained the sink and wiped my face off. I didn’t hear my daughter moving around in her room yet, so I sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed my phone. Feeling conflicted about Heather and angry at my circumstance didn’t change the fact that she was pregnant, and I needed to uphold my end of the bargain. I was first and foremost a man, a grown man who had fathered that child.
At the very least, I had to take responsibility for my actions, no matter the cost. But when I called the bakery to talk with Heather, all I got was her voice message.
So I hung up and promptly called her cell phone.
“Hello?”
“Morning,” I said. “Are you okay?”
“Andrew?” she asked. “What time is it?”
I cringed at the name falling from her lips.
“It’s nine thirty. Are you feeling okay? You’re not at the bakery.”
“Mmm, I had to shut down today. Not really feeling well.”
“Are you sick?” I asked.
“Nauseous.”
“How long have you been feeling this way?”
“Woke up around four, I think, and decided to take the day off,” she said.
“Do you need anything? I could bring you some soup. Maybe some Gatorade from the store.”
“That’s very kind of you, but all I need right now is sleep. I promise I’m okay. Nothing I can’t handle. Though I do have an appointment this afternoon to have some levels checked.”
“I want to be at that appointment,” I said.
“It’s not an ultrasound or anything. Just some blood tests. The doctor wants to check all of my vitamin levels to make sure I’m not deficient in anything.”
“Why? What’s going on? Talk to me, Heather.”
“It’s just normal testing. Nothing’s going on that shouldn't be, just doing what I need to be doing for our child,” she said.
Our child. I sighed as the words left her lips.
“Well, I want you to call me the second you have those results. Okay?” I asked.
“I will. I promise.”
“Rebecca will be upset that she won’t be getting a cookie today.”
“Tell her I’ll make her a special one for the next time she comes in.”
“I’ll relay the message. You get some sleep, okay? And I’m serious, Heather. Call me if you need anything.”
“I know. I will.”
“What time is your appointment?” I asked.
“Two. I have an alarm set in case I sleep the morning away.”
“I’ll call you around one just to make sure you’re stirring.”
“I appreciate that. Thank you, Andrew.”
I raked my hand down my face and swallowed my groan of frustration. “You take care of yourself. And I’ll see you soon, all right?”
“Sounds good to me. I’m going to go back to sleep,” she said.
Audrey and I spent the day together. She didn’t have school, and I didn’t have training, so we spent the day walking trails through the woods and tossing rocks into the river that ran down the mountainside. I never would’ve willingly chosen to live in the woods. I was a city guy at heart. I loved the hustle and bustle and all the shops and eateries, but there wasn’t the kind of peace and tranquility and natural beauty in the city like there was in the mountains. There were moments, like the ones I shared with my daughter, where I saw myself living here forever, raising a family in my lonely cabin on the mountaintop and descending into town whenever we needed supplies.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket while Audrey ate lunch. It was a few minutes past one o’clock, and I’d promised Heather a phone call. It took me three different tries before she picked up, and I could tell she’d been sleeping hard by the sound of her voice.
“I slept right through my damn alarm,” she said breathlessly.
“Good thing I kept calling then. It’s one fifteen.”
“Okay. I’m up,” she said with a groan.
“I want you to talk to me all the way into the bathroom and turn on the shower. I want you on your feet before I let you go.”
“So demanding,” she said.
“You know you like it,” I said with a grin.
I heard her grunting and groaning like she hadn’t gotten on her feet in years. A few seconds later, I heard the shower running, and the sigh that left her lips shot shivers down my spine. The sound of the water grew and her moans became positively lewd, and I furrowed my brow as I leaned against the kitchen table.
“Are you showering?” I asked.
“Waterproof phone,” Heather said. “Oh, this feels fantastic.”
“Okay. I’m going to tell Rebecca, who’s sitting in front of me, that you said hello.”
She giggled, and the sound made my heart stop. “Give her my love,” she said.
The phone call went silent as my eyes widened.
“I mean, just … tell her hi. That’s good,” Heather said.
“Sure. Will do.”
“And thanks for, you know, for calling until I woke up.”
“Anything you need, Heather. You know this.”
“Okay. Talk to you later!”
Then, she quickly hung up the phone call.
“Who was that?” Audrey asked.
“Miss Heather,” I said.
“Oh! Can we go see her today?”
“She’s not feeling well. She’s sick.”
“Oh. Why?”
“Because sometimes people get—”
I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and I leaped to my feet. My kitchen window crashed, glass flying everywhere, and the sound of my daughter’s screams filled my ears. I scooped her up from the table and ran down the hallway, holding her close to me as she clung to my back.
“Daddy!”
“Hold on,” I said. “Just hold on a second.”
I ran to the end of the hallway and threw the door open. I raced us down into the basement of my cabin and pressed my hand against the scanning mechanism. The panic room opened, and I put my daughter down, but she wouldn't let go of me.
“I’ll be right back,” I said.
“Daddy, no. Stay with me.”
“I’ll be right back, sweet girl.”
I heard tires peeling off and fear rushed through my veins.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I pulled her hands away from me.
“Daddy, no! Don’t!”
Then I closed the panic room door and sealed it before I raced to the closet.
I pulled out my hunting rifle and grabbed fistfuls of ammunition. I stuffed my pockets with them and slowly made my way back up the steps. My gun settled against my shoulder as I breached the hallway, my ears trained for any sound that could indicate someone had been left behind.
My heart jumped into my throat with every creak the cabin made.
I steadied my breathing and bent my knees. I crept, like Brad taught me, without a sound through the halls of my home. I cleared the corners of the rooms and kept my eyes trained ahead of me while my ears listened for any sort of sound. Footsteps. Whispering. Breathing. Anything to alert me to the presence of another human being.
I turned to make my way into the kitchen and finally got a good look at what happened. There was a brick lying on the tile floor with glass shimmering everywhere. It had string tied around it, and something small and white po
ked out from underneath the bottom of it. Throwing bricks through people’s windows wasn’t the Mafia’s style.
They would’ve busted down my door and not thought twice about putting bullets in both myself and Audrey.
I looked around the expanse of the open space before I put my gun down. I laid it on the table and picked up the brick, taking in the note attached to it. I peered out the window as I fisted the brick, anger rising in my veins.
Then, I ripped the note from the underside of the red brick and began to read it.
Stay away from Heather. You’re no good for her. And if you don’t, I’ll make sure you do.
CHAPTER 16
HEATHER
“So, I have good news,” I said.
“Then, I would love to hear your good news,” Andrew said.
“I got a call back about my lab results. Everything looks great. I’m a little anemic but nothing a basic iron supplement can’t handle.”
“Are you eating enough red meat?”
“I’m not eating enough of anything right now, but that's the other piece of good news. I’ve found these ginger candies that help with my nausea, so I expect my appetite to slowly return.”
“That’s great news,” he said, but the sound of his voice didn’t match his sentiment.
“Andrew are you okay?”
He drew in a deep breath and worry clenched my gut.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said. “Just thinking.”
“About?”
“You.”
His voice dropped into that ethereal void, and my toes curled in my tennis shoes. I closed my eyes and conjured his presence, feeling the ghostly path of his hands traveling up my bare arms. I loved that voice. Those low notes of his that rumbled throughout my body.
“Are you opening the bakery today?”
My eyes snapped open at the tension clouding his voice. “Are you sure you’re okay? You sound tense.”
“Just a bit of a headache. Rebecca had a rough night last night.”
“Oh, no. Is everything okay? What happened?”
