by M. S. Parker
“Get down on your knees,” Liam said, not bothering to respond to the man’s comment.
I saw murder in Liam’s eyes though, and I knew he would use it.
Heart hammering in my throat, I stared between the two.
The man’s hand twitched, and he lunged.
Liam lowered the weapon a fraction, then there was another one of those muffled pop sounds.
A scream tore the night, furious and filled with pain, and I yelped as the man collapsed into the water. Covering my mouth with my hands, I gaped as he lay on his back, thrashing in the water.
“You mother-fucker! You shot my knee!”
“Hands on your head or the next bullet goes into your skull. And no, I won’t miss,” Liam said calmly. “Make me nervous, and I just might shoot you in the dick before I blow your brains out.”
A split second passed, and I could see the man weighing his options. Then he heaved out a sigh. A second later, he dangled another gun in front of him, holding it between two fingers.
“Throw it away,” Liam ordered.
He threw it, and I jumped as I heard it splash into the watery sand a few feet away.
I went to grab Liam. He let me, holding me with one arm while he kept the gun up and ready.
Over his shoulder, I saw lights. When the lights revealed a rush of bodies, I sagged. “It’s the security guys,” I whispered, dazed.
Still, Liam didn’t lower the weapon, not even once we were surrounded by security guards.
He didn’t lower it until the man on the ground was flipped onto his stomach and had his hands bound behind him. He cursed and screamed the whole way through.
I buried my face against Liam’s chest.
Finally, he slid his other arm around me. I felt the chill of the weapon through my wet dress and shivered.
“Mila,” he whispered.
Closing my eyes, I clung to him even tighter.
Thirty-Seven
Liam
“Bumps, bruises, and scrapes.” That was the pronouncement of the paramedic who had just finished inspecting me.
He’d told Mila the same thing.
We sat in one of the offices tucked behind the check-in counter in the lodge’s main building.
Millie sat on Mila’s other side, clutching her granddaughter’s hand.
At the paramedic’s words, Mila slumped against me, her head lolling as if she no longer had the strength to support it.
While the paramedic stood up and started packing up the supplies he’d pulled out of his bag, I curled my free arm around Mila and buried my face against her neck.
She was here.
She was alive.
Bumped, bruised, and scraped, but alive.
She shuddered against me, and I reached up, tucked the blanket more completely around her before adding mine to it. I felt chilled to the bone myself, but it had nothing to do with my body temperature or the wet clothes, so I didn’t expect a blanket would help.
Mila started to sob quietly.
Over her head, I met Millie’s eyes for a brief moment before closing mine.
Mila squirmed closer.
I eased her into my lap, once more tucking the blankets snug around her. She twisted free of them though and tugged her hand from her grandmother’s, wrapping both of her arms around my neck.
We sat like that for what felt like a very long time, and I told myself over and over again that she was okay.
She was here.
She was alive.
She was okay.
Mila shuddered harder, and I worried she might be going into shock.
I slid a hand under her cheek and eased her head up until our eyes could meet. Her pupils were dilated, but just a little and when she saw me looking at her, she reached up, touching my cheek. “I was so scared,” she said, her voice breaking.
“Me too.” Scared didn’t quite touch what I felt when I’d seen the guy pulling her into the water.
She shuddered again.
Millie got to her feet. “Child, you’re freezing – both of you. I’m going to get you some coffee.”
“I don’t–”
I pressed my thumb to Mila’s lips. “It will help. I don’t want you going into shock.”
She slumped against me once more, and I hooked my arm around her neck. We clung to each other so tight, nothing but wet clothes and blankets separated us. And that was still too many things between us.
“Mind if I come in?”
I looked up, focusing on the tired-eyed man who’d arrived from the mainland, along with several police officers just as the security team had hauled Mila’s assailant into the lodge.
“Detective Hodge,” I said, surprised I could remember his name.
He nodded and took a seat across from us. His eyes strayed to Mila. “Mila, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
I smoothed a hand down her back, uncertain if she’d even heard the cop.
But she stirred and lifted her head. She blinked and focused in on the man in his rumpled suit.
“Are you up to this?” Millie asked from a few feet away, her hands clutched together at her waist.
“I’m okay,” Mila said, nodding. She offered her grandmother a wobbly smile then looked back at the cop. “What do you need to know?”
Mila tensed as the cop started to talk, but she answered each question in a fairly steady voice.
The cop nodded and jotted down some notes on the pad he held. He lapsed into silence then looked back at Mila, head cocked. “The man who attacked you – he’s given us a name. Do you know a Charles Gamble?”
I tensed, my gaze sliding to Millie.
She gave the cop a bewildered stare. “What does Charles have to do with this?”
The cop barely glanced from Mila’s face. “Do you know Charles Gamble, Miss Golding?” he pressed.
Before I could say that I’d only met my grandmother’s attorney once, there was a knock at the door.
I looked up, narrowing my eyes as a round man with a red face came rushing in. “Millie…Mila…I just heard…” He lapsed into silence at the sight of Mila sitting on my lap, his gaze jumping from me to the detective then back to Mila.
“Charles, this detective is asking about you,” Millie said in a stiff voice.
The cop turned then, rising from the seat he’d taken across from Mila and me.
“Asking about me…?” Charles offered a tight smile. “What can I do for you, detective?”
Blood roared in my ears as the cop calmly said, “Mila was attacked earlier. The man who attacked her said you sent him.”
Charles froze.
“He…I’m sorry, what?” He recovered quickly, but I’d seen the fear in his eyes.
Carefully, I started to ease Mila off my lap. The cop had his hand on his weapon and was looking at Charles with the same mistrust I felt.
“He said he’s an associate of yours and that you sent him after Mila.”
“That’s…” Charles forced a smile. “That’s absurd.”
“He gave us his phone – there are numerous calls to a Charles Gamble on it.”
“I’m a lawyer,” Charles sputtered. “Any number of people have my phone number.”
“You son of a bitch,” Millie said from behind Charles.
He spun around to her.
Millie threw the carafe of hot coffee she’d been brewing into his face. He screamed and jerked up his hands, but not in time to keep Millie from swinging out with the coffee pot.
It hit him square across the cheek, and he stumbled, falling to the side.
He curled up into a tight ball, but a cop from outside the room had rushed in, grabbing Millie’s arm before she could do anything else.
Well, except yell.
“You son of a bitch,” she screamed. “Did you try to hurt my Mila?”
“I had to,” Charles babbled, his hands hovering in front of his face. “You were going to give her the island, and I had to stop you!”
The detectiv
e took a slow, deep breath, then stepped forward. “Mr. Gamble, I’m going to advise you against saying anything else until you have an attorney present.”
Charles didn’t even seem to notice, his red, burned face contorted in pain.
“Get the paramedic back in here,” Detective Hodge said, sounding disgusted.
Then he looked at Millie. “I’ll have to ask you to put the coffee pot down, Ms. Thatcher.”
Millie blinked, looking down at the glass carafe she still held.
A second later, it fell down on the carpeted floor, landing with a dull thunk.
Thirty-Eight
Mila
Millie clung to me, her thin body feeling far too frail.
“If he’d hurt you…” Her voice broke.
“I’m here, Grandma,” I said, pulling back and cupping her face so that we stared at each other. “I’m right here. I’m fine.”
“But he could have…”
“Don’t do that to yourself,” I told her.
Charles had been hauled out of the office, still whimpering about his burnt face.
I was a little in awe of my grandmother, but now as she reached for me once more, I decided I’d tell her later.
She patted her hands across my head and my shoulders. I knew what she was doing. “I’m fine,” I told her again. “The paramedics have already looked me over. I’m just scraped and bruised.”
She opened her mouth, then stopped, pressing her lips together. “I know.” She pressed a kiss to my cheek, then she pulled back, pacing a few feet away before turning to look at us. The cops were still out in the main part of the lodge, making a lot of noise.
Some guests had noticed the fray.
Millie smoothed her hands down her dress, then focused her smile on me. It was a fake smile – bright and confident and fake as hell – but if she could smile, so could I. “I think I’ll go out there and talk to the guests,” she said in a firm tone. “Liam, I want you to take her back to her bungalow and see to it that she cleans up and gets some rest.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded at her.
Satisfied, Millie turned on her heel and strode out.
“I think your grandma scares me a little now,” Liam said.
I leaned against him, too tired to come up with any sort of reply. All the adrenaline had drained out, leaving me feeling like my limbs had been filled with concrete.
“Can we go back to the bungalow?” I asked, tipping my head back and looking at him.
His pale green eyes met mine, and he nodded.
We slid out the back of the lodge and sought out the path that would take us to our bungalow.
“Will the cops need to talk to me again?” I asked. My teeth kept trying to chatter, and I had to focus to keep that from happening.
“Probably,” Liam said. “But I think you’ve had enough for the night.”
I laughed weakly. “I’ve had enough for the next ten years. No. The rest of my life.”
I leaned heavily on him as we walked, my feet dragging more and more with each step.
“I think I can safely say the same.” Liam’s arm around my waist tightened as I half-stumbled again.
“I think I’ve forgotten how to walk,” I said.
“It’s a reaction. Once we get you warm, you’ll feel better.”
I laughed weakly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be warm again.” The chill I felt went down to my very bones.
“You will. I’ll make certain of it.” His lips brushed my temple.
Tears burned my eyes at the tenderness of the gesture. “I should have listened to you. You were right.”
“We don’t need to talk about this right now,” he told me as we came to a stop in front of the bungalow.
Two guards were at the door. It didn’t bother me at all either. Once we were inside, I turned to Liam. “I have to talk about this right now. I was pissed off, frustrated…I drank some wine, and I got stupid, Liam. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Stop.” He caught my face in his hands. “Somebody was hired to hurt you. That’s not your fault.”
“Me being stupid is–”
“Stop it,” he said again, sounding exasperated. He pressed his lips to mine.
Just like that, the fear inside me shifted, becoming something else. I groaned and rose up onto my toes, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Make love to me,” I demanded. “Please.”
He swept me up into his arms and carried me into the bathroom. “We need to get warm first.”
I already felt like fire was licking inside me, but the moment he wasn’t touching me, I started to shiver.
Reaction, he’d called it.
I didn’t like it.
He left me standing in the middle of the floor, and I stood there woodenly as he turned on the shower. He came back to me and gathered my wet dress in his hands, stripping it away. “Burn it,” I said as he tossed it on the ground. “I don’t ever want to see that dress again.”
“Later.” He dealt with my bra and panties, then urged me into the shower.
I gave him a desperate, needy look. “Are you coming in too?”
He was already stripping his wet clothes away, and the knots in my belly loosened just a little.
He joined me under the warm spray, pulling me into his arms.
The feel of his warm, lean body against mine had me shaking. “Make love to me,” I said again. “Please. I need to feel you–”
His mouth crushed to mine and whatever else I’d been about to say just died.
His tongue swept into my mouth, and I opened for him hungrily. He backed me up against the wall. Skimming my hands up his arms, then down his chest, I took in the feel of him.
He’s okay…he’s okay…you’re okay. We’re both okay…
I needed the heat of him against me just then, reaffirming those very things – that we were both okay, both alive.
His hand cupped my ass, and he lifted me against him, letting me feel the heavy weight of his cock against my belly.
I slid a hand between us and closed it around him, squeezing tight.
Liam grunted and thrust himself into my hand.
He slid his between my thighs, and I cried out as he thrust two fingers into me.
He was relentless, working me to the edge mercilessly. I couldn’t fight the tidal wave of want that overtook me. Impossibly fast, I was coming. I milked his cock, desperate to bring him to pleasure too.
But he caught my hands, dragged them over my head as he stared into my eyes. Water droplets clung to his lashes as he stared at me.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
“I’m right here.”
He boosted me and thrust inside, watching me all the while. He went stiff almost immediately after. “Fuck. I need a rubber.”
“No.” I curled my arms and legs around him, urging him closer. “Don’t stop. Please.”
He stared at me for a long, long moment, then he started to move.
I quivered at the sensation. I’d never gone skin to skin before, and the ridges of his cock, the swelling of his head, all of it seemed too intense.
“Don’t stop,” I said again, tugging his head down to mine.
Our mouths connected, tongues tangling in a greedy battle.
We moved together, mindless, blind to anything and everything that wasn’t each other.
I cupped the back of his neck when he broke the kiss, holding him close.
He gathered me up and thrust high, hard into me.
I cried out.
He did it again.
Again.
My skin felt too taut, too small, too tight for everything happening inside me, and I knew I was moments away from shattering for the second time in just minutes.
“Come with me,” I begged, pressing against him desperately.
He shook the water out of his eyes and slanted his mouth over mine again. I curled my tongue around his, drawing him into me. Then I bit on him g
ently and sucked.
He shuddered against me, and I felt his cock jerk.
The sensation made me moan and tighten around him.
That just made him swell even more, made his cock jerk again.
It was an endless pattern that went on and on – or so it seemed. One more pulsating thrust from him had me crying out into his mouth as I climaxed. I fought it back, desperate to have him come too. Then I felt it – felt him coming inside me, a heated wash against too sensitive tissues.
“Mila,” he muttered against my mouth.
I moaned as the climax shook me – shook us both.
And despite the exhaustion that was already washing over me, I slid my arms around him and clung tight.
We lay in bed, wrapped around each other.
I opened my mouth, words burning on the tip of my tongue.
“I love you,” Liam said abruptly. He rolled me onto my back, half covering my body with his as he stared down into my eyes. “I love you, Mila.”
My mouth fell open in shock.
He kissed me, hard and fast. “I know it’s soon. Hell, we haven’t even gone on an official date, but I know what I feel, and I know what I want.”
“You do?” I stared up at him, dazed.
“You.” He covered my cheek with his hand, his pale green eyes locked on mine. “I want you.”
He pulled me up against him, burying his face against my neck. “I know it’s too soon,” he said again. “But I know what I feel. Give us a chance, Mila.”
I swallowed, trying to find the words to respond but then he was kissing me again, whispering against my mouth. I pushed against his chest, needing room to speak.
“Liam!”
He lifted his head, eying me warily.
I shoved him back and climbed on top of him, staring down into his eyes. “I love you too,” I said, cupping his face in my hands. “Who cares if it’s too soon or if we’ve had a date? We can always go on dates.”
He closed his eyes.
“Liam?”
“Just…wow. I mean, I knew what I felt, but I didn’t…” His words trailed off, and he wrapped his arms tight around my waist, burying his face between my breasts.
