“It’s okay,” Sam said, smiling at her. “This is my driver, John. He’s been with my family for years.”
John shook Sam’s left hand, making no comment about the gun Sam held in his right, then nodded politely at Kat. He grabbed the duffels and set off for the car.
“John’s not a big talker,” Sam whispered to her with a wry smile as they walked to the car together, “but I trust him with our lives.”
John wove expertly through traffic. Soon they were on the highway. After several miles, Sam finally stopped looking behind the car; nobody was following them. He gave a sigh of relief and squeezed Kat’s hand.She’d pushed herself into a corner of the car and was staring blankly out of the window, but she squeezed his hand back.
Within an hour, they pulled into the parking lot of a nondescript apartment building in the suburbs. Kat moved toward the trunk to grab the duffel bags, but John put his hand up.
“No ma’am. Let me.” His mouth turned up slightly in what appeared to be John’s equivalent of a smile. Sam watched, amused. John wasn’t exactly a people person, but even he wasn’t immune to Kat’s charm. And, Sam thought to himself, Kat was probably the only person John had driven in years that actually attempted to carry her own bag out of the car.
Sam nodded gratefully at John and pulled Kat close. The three walked into the building and up to an elevator, where Sam pulled out a card and slid it into a machine mounted on the wall. The elevators opened immediately. They got onto the elevator and rode to the top floor, where another access machine, this one more elaborate, was built into the door.
Sam inserted a second card, and typed in a code. The door swung open to reveal a set of sliding metal doors, which then opened to reveal a large, well-appointed apartment with million-dollar views of the Potomac river.
John deposited the bags on the floor, shook Sam’s hand and tipped his hat gallantly at Kat, then left.
“I don’t own this place, it’s part of the family holdings. It’s the most secure place I know, though,” Sam told Kat, again sensing her unspoken question. He was becoming pretty good at reading her mind.
Once he and Kat got settled, Sam walked over to a liquor cabinet and pulled down a bottle of bourbon and two glasses.
“Want one?” he asked Kat.
“Make it a double,” she said with a laugh.
They sat in the kitchen - away from the scenic windows - and sipped the excellent bourbon. Sam sighed with pleasure as the fiery liquor made its way through his system.
“There are some people coming over,” he said. “Some guys I know, who can help me defend you.”
“Oh?” she said, looking curious.
“Yeah.” He took another sip of the whiskey, sighing.
The corners of his mouth tugged upward as he watched her admire the backyard, which looked like a fairytale with the coat of fresh snow.
There was a knock at the door, and he rose.
“The guys are here,” he announced. He walked over to the apartment’s entrance and typed in a code again. The door opened and a group of men walked in. Kat’s chin dropped as she took in the scene.
All of the men were armed. All of them were conspicuously muscular and beefy. All of them had ‘don’t fuck with me’ practically written across their foreheads. Even in street clothes, they seemed to be wearing uniforms.
“Jesus Christ,” Kat exclaimed to Sam, “you brought a fucking army!”
A tall, powerfully-built black man stepped forward with a grin.
“Even better, ma’am.” Hakim said to her, “He brought the fucking Army Rangers!” All of the men laughed at this.
Sam smiled back at his old friend before turning to Kat. “This is Hakim, an old friend, and some of his... friends. They’re going to help us get out of here and to a safe house.”
Hakim chuckled again. “And God help anyone who tries to get into my mama’s house! Between us and her, they won’t know what hit them!”
Chapter 8
“Where are we going?” Kat asked Sam. They were in the back seat of a strange SUV, Hakim at the wheel. She sat close to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, his arm around her waist.
The other Army Rangers were in a second SUV that followed theirs closely.
“We’re going somewhere safe for the night,” Sam said. “It’s better if you don’t know exactly where, but we’ll stay with Hakim’s mother tonight.”
“Oh?” she said, sneaking a curious glance at Hakim.
“My mom is real cool,” Hakim affirmed. “You’ll like her, Kat.”
Kat’s lips twisted in half a smile. Hakim barely knew her, definitely not well enough to know whether or not she’d like someone. Still, it made her happy that anyone would think of her at all. Unlike most people, who she imagined would just blow her off or ignore her, Hakim was making an effort.
“It’s important that no one knows we’re with Mrs. Amari. A big part of that is not telling anyone anything. Loose lips sink ships,” Sam said, pulling back to look at Kat meaningfully.
“Who would I tell? You’re literally the only people I know in the whole world. Anyway, I don’t know if you noticed this, but I didn’t exactly escape Ted with a cell phone on me.”
Sam grazed Kat’s temple with his lips, making her heart flutter. She wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not, but it was awfully close to a kiss.
“I know,” he rumbled, “but just the same.”
She wished she could press her ear to his chest to fully appreciate the sound of his voice, but she realized that it would be inappropriate. Sam hadn’t crossed the lines of friendship yet, and Kat was too scared to do it herself.
Hakim turned off the highway into a subdivision. After a few miles, he slowed, pulling into the driveway of a two-story house with painted white brick and a gray shingled roof. They all got out, Hakim leading the way up the tidy footpath to the house. A garden was buried under the snow, humped shapes of bushes hidden beneath.
Kat looked back, spotting the lookalike SUV parked across the street. She guessed that the other guys wanted to stay outside, in case something went down and they needed to act.
Hakim knocked on the front door. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a tiny woman with an elegant green headscarf, a white silk top, and full-length black skirt. Though much shorter, she was clearly related to Hakim. She beamed at them.
“Hello,” Mrs. Amari said.
“Hello, Mama,” Hakim said warmly, bending to kiss her cheek.
“Hakim! It’s been too long,” she said, giving him a loving hug.
“It’s been two weeks, Mama. You know Sam, of course. And this is my new friend, Kat.”
“Ah, yes. Of course! You must call me Amal. Come in, come in.”
She stepped back, letting them in. Kat grabbed Sam’s hand, her uncertainty getting the best of her. As she walked through, Amal reached out and took Kat’s free hand. Amal didn’t say anything, but she looked Kat in the eye. Something about the way she looked at Kat, compassionate yet unflinching, said she had some idea what Kat had been through.
Even Sam couldn’t give Kat that. He looked at her with concern, even tenderness, but there was always a shadow of the unknown there. Kat dipped her chin in acknowledgment, hoping that Amal would understand. It was all she could do.
Amal moved past Kat, heading for the living room.
“Hakim, will you stay tonight?” Amal asked, back to business.
“Yes, Mama.”
“Good. Show your guests around.” Amal’s eyes flickered past them to the window, out of which the Ranger-filled SUV was visible, and then back to Kat. The woman didn’t miss much, Kat guessed.
While the men walked through the house, Kat stood in the living room with Amal.
“You are shivering,” Amal noted with a frown. “We must get you some clean clothes. Come.”
Kat followed Amal through the house to Amal’s office. Her eyes widened as she entered the room. There was a desk and a chair, but they were hard to s
ee beneath the piles and piles of books.
In fact everywhere she looked, floor to ceiling, there were stacks of books in English, Farsi, and Arabic. The room was a colorful jumble, but it made Kat feel comforted.
“I like to read,” Amal said, heading across the room to a closet. “The books keep me warm at night.”
“I’m sure,” Kat said, biting her lip as she looked around.
“You need warm clothes,” Amal said, pulling a sweater, a long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of pants from the closet. “You are almost the same size as me, maybe a little taller. Much more blonde, though.”
Amal’s eyes twinkled as she handed the clothes to Kat.
“Thank you so much,” Kat said, accepting them. “I’m going to pay you back for them, I promise.”
Amal looked at her frankly, then came to stand beside Kat. She was surprised when Amal hugged her, long and hard. At first Kat was aware of the clothes between them, worried about wrinkling Amal's fine garb.
“You are not alone,” Amal said. “Many others have been enslaved, made to do things we did not want to do. The men that do these things, they are dangerous like scorpions. They keep you small, because to occupy less space is to give them less area to strike you. You must not fault yourself for not running sooner, my dear.”
Kat’s eyes welled up with tears. She wasn’t sure how Amal knew what had been lurking in the back of her mind, but she was grateful that Amal had said something. She hugged Amal back.
“Thank you,” Kat whispered.
“It is unfortunate that such men can still take advantage of the weakest among us. All we can do is try to show the men around us to be different, to be kinder.”
Amal released her, stepping back. “You can take those things with you. If you must pay me back, do something nice for someone else down the road.”
Kat smiled softly. “Okay.”
Amal led her back out of the office. Sam was waiting for her in the hallway.
“There you are,” he said to Kat. “Your bedroom is this way.”
He took her to a room at the end of the hall. There was a full bed with a fluffy comforter, an antique chair in the corner, a few nice pieces of art framed on the walls, and some extra blankets at the end of the bed. Sam tossed the duffels next to the chair in the corner.
Suddenly, Kat was exhausted. All she wanted was to crawl under the goose down comforter and sleep for a day.
“I’m staying with her tonight,” Sam said to Hakim, who was hovering in the doorway.
“Okay. The guys will guard outside, and I’ll watch the house tonight. You two get some rest, okay?” Hakim patted Kat gently on the shoulder, nodded at Sam, and walked back to the front of the house.
Kat barely caught the end of the conversation. She was swaying on her feet, too fatigued to figure out her next move. She grabbed Sam’s hand again.
“Don’t go,” she said to him.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m so tired.”
“I know you are, Kat. Come on, let’s get you into bed.” Sam pulled back the covers, lifted her into his arms effortlessly, then put her down gently on the bed. He pulled off her shoes, got her to wiggle out of her coat, but paused at the problem of her pants.
“Um…”
Kat was beyond caring. She wriggled out of her jeans, revealing a pair of black lace panties, then reached under her blouse and undid her bra, also black lace, and tossed it into a corner.
“I can’t sleep in my bra, ever,” she said sleepily.
“Um…” Sam said again.
Kat’s eyes were heavy-lidded, but her hand shot up to grab Sam’s wrist. She tugged at him. “You’re not going, right?”
“No, I’m staying here. I was just gonna sleep in that chair tonight…” Sam looked over at the chair in the corner as he tugged off his sneakers and pullover.
“No, don’t sleep in the chair,” she said, feeling shy. She gathered her strength to say the next part. “Stay here with me, in the bed.”
He frowned, looking conflicted. The shadows on his face made him look even more tired than she’d realized.
“I can’t,” he said, shaking his head.
She was determined to make him lie down. If he was going to guard her so closely, he might as well be comfortable as he did it.
Part of Kat wanted to feel Sam’s hard body against her own, as she had back at the cabin.
“I insist.”
Kat pulled him down next to her on the bed and fitted her body against his, sighing happily. She felt warm and protected now. Sam seemed to hesitate, then pulled her close to him as they drifted off to sleep together.
Chapter 9
Sleeping next to Kat, Sam Montrose had confusing, lustful dreams all night. In the morning, still dreaming, he flung his arm over Kat as he’d done so many times before with Lauren, and drew her close.
She gave a sleepy sigh of pleasure and nestled her body closer to his. Sam, still certain that he was in bed with Lauren, felt his cock stiffen.
“Shame to waste it,” he muttered sleepily.
His free hand slowly made its way downward, lazily tracing her curves. He felt her nipples harden as he caressed her breasts. Slipping his hand under the waistband of her panties, Sam stroked her velvet folds. He was in a daze at the pleasure he felt just touching her.
She was responsive, wet and eager, pushing herself against his hands as he caressed her body. Caught in a dreamlike haze, Sam felt his cock harden even further as she grinded against his pelvis. His responding thrusts were at once so pleasurable and insufficient. He ached to be inside her. He knew exactly how it would feel. She moaned softly and called out Sam’s name.
Sam jerked awake. That wasn’t Lauren’s voice. This wasn’t Lauren.
The events of the past few days came rushing back to him. Kat. The shootout. Coming to Hakim’s mother’s house.
They’d fallen asleep together last night in Mrs. Amari’s guest room, and now his hands were on her body and Kat was moaning for him in her sleep.
Sam was filled with a sudden sense of shame, not because of what he’d done when he was asleep, but because he didn’t want to stop doing it now that he was awake. It was Kat he wanted now, Sam admitted to himself, even in his dreams. The way she smelled, how she moved, the feel of her in his hands - everything about this woman just drove him crazy.
Kat had woken up too now. She rolled over and looked at Sam, who pulled away from her, moving his body to the edge of the bed to remove temptation.
“What’s wrong?” she said, her delicate eyebrows furrowing in sleepy confusion.
“Nothing. I’m sorry. I was asleep. I didn’t mean to...” Sam felt disgusted with himself. This woman was under his protection. She’d been through hell. She didn’t need one more person pawing at her. God knows what she thought of him now.
She surprised him then.
“Don’t be sorry,” she said, reaching out for him. “I want you, too.”
Sam tried to shift even further away, but Kat had already wrapped her hand around the shaft of his hard cock. Despite his intentions, he responded eagerly to her touch and he groaned. His dreams were coming vividly back to him; one of them had started just like this. It would be so easy to let her keep touching him.
He had to admit, now that he was being honest with himself, that he’d been thinking about it for a while now. And, Kat was willing, smiling at him now as she stroked his cock over and over.
Christ. Sam felt the last bit of blood in his brain rush down to his groin at the sight of her hand wrapped around him. It had been so long since he’d been with anyone, much less felt this kind of connection. Sam allowed his eyes to close halfway and let the pleasure wash over him. She seemed to know instinctively what he wanted, what he needed.
“Consider it a thank you,” Kat said, her green eyes bright, “for all you’ve done for me.”
That broke the spell.
Sam mustered his self-discipline and gently removed her hands from
his body.
“You don’t owe me sex just because I’ve been nice to you,” he said.
His words sounded harsher than he intended, but it stung his pride to learn that Kat was touching him as a thank-you, not because she actually wanted him. God knows I want her enough, he thought ruefully, looking at himself.
“That’s not why I did it. I -” Kat started to say, but Sam cut her off.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say it like that. I only meant that you’ve been through so much, and it wouldn’t be right for me to take advantage of that. I wasn’t trying to come onto you. I just didn’t know where I was for a minute there, and I thought that you were... um, I’m sorry, again.”
Kat caught the implication of that sentence, and covered her face with her hands. Her face flushed pink.
“I’m so embarrassed. God, I feel like such an idiot! You didn’t even know who I was, did you?”
Sam resisted the urge to pull her into his arms and tell her the truth. Instead he got out of bed and began pulling on clothes.
“No, no, don’t feel like that. You didn’t do anything wrong or to be ashamed of. I’m the one who acted like a horny teenager! You know how, sometimes in dreams, things are just so... vivid?” He smiled at her.
She smiled back. Damn, but she had a beautiful smile. Beautiful lips.
Sam was already regretting his decision. He shifted toward her just a millimeter, staring into her deep, green eyes. She was looking back now, in a way that made every thought in his head tumble around uselessly.
A knock came from the door. They both jumped like guilty children, then laughed at each other. Hakim’s voice came from the other side.
“Y’all hungry? Mama’s cooking up some breakfast, unless you’re too busy sleeping, in which case I’ll eat it all myself!”
Sam grinned.
“I’ll go guard your breakfast while you dress,” he said to Kat, then slipped out of the room.
Hakim was waiting in the hallway. He examined Sam closely as he came out of the guest room.
“What?” Sam asked, irritated by his friend’s stare.
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