Paradise Found

by Sarah O'Rourke

  “Oh, God,” Sami groaned, quickly buttoning up her gaping blouse. “Sheriff, this isn’t what it looks like,” she said quickly.

  “Like hell it’s not,” Ben retorted with a sly grin.

  “Not my business,” Zeke returned with a chuckle. “Just know that we try to keep things PG rated here in the streets of Paradise, and it looked like you and Ben skipped over PG, ran straight through rated R and were rapidly heading toward triple X when I arrived. I’d hate to have to lock you two kids up for public indecency but if Old Widow Winslow catches you in the act, I won’t have any choice.”

  “That won’t be a problem, Sheriff. This was a mistake that won’t be repeated,” Sami vowed as she stepped around Ben to face Zeke. “In fact, if you could just give me a ride….”

  “You’re not going anywhere but my bed. You and I still have unfinished business,” Ben interrupted her with a hard look.

  Smiling uncomfortably at Zeke, Sami shook her head. “Ignore him,” she directed Zeke sweetly with a dismissive wave in Ben’s direction. “Like I said…”

  “Ignore me?” Ben echoed, his jaw clenching as he looked toward the heavens. “Ignore her,” he ordered Zeke firmly as Sami watched him exchange a look of understanding with the older man. “You got handcuffs with you, man?”

  “Depends,” Zeke responded with a grin. “Is this spitfire the one you were telling me about?”

  “Yep. She’s the one that got away,” Sami heard Ben answer as he shot her an openly affectionate look.

  Confused, Sami looked back and forth between the two men. Ben had openly discussed her with the

  sheriff? Feeling her stomach plummet towards her toes, she could only imagine what nastiness he’d filled the lawman’s ears with. God knows, he had enough ammunition against her.

  “Then I’d say you might need these more than I do,” Zeke replied, pulling his cuffs from his pocket and passing them over to the other man. “Although from the look in her eyes, you might wanna borrow my gun more,” he warned as Sami’s gaze narrowed dangerously.

  “Don’t worry. Her bark is worse than her bite,” Ben shared with a chuckle.

  “I’ll make sure to remind you of that when she rips your arm off to beat you with it,” Zeke laughed as he passed the keys to his handcuffs over, too.

  Sami balked as she listened to the two men converse. Surely Ben wouldn’t actually handcuff her. He wasn’t that crazy, was he? “Wait a second! You’re not actually giving your handcuffs to him, are you?” she asked the sheriff worriedly.

  “Sure am,” Zeke confirmed as Ben smoothly stepped in front of Sami and gripped one of her arms with a gentle hand, swiftly latching the metal circle around her wrist before she realized what was happening.

  Jaw dropping, Sami stared into Ben’s twinkling eyes. “You can’t be serious! Why are you doing this?” she asked tightly, trying to jerk from Ben’s hold on her.

  “Because, beautiful, I made a grave mistake and let you get away from me once before,” Ben admitted calmly. “This time, I’m gonna do everything in my power to keep from repeating history,” he explained as he quickly drew Sami’s other hand into his and smoothly shackled the other wrist, the snap of the metal echoing down the alleyway.

  “Oh, my God!” Sami shrieked as she realized that Ben really had locked the handcuffs around her wrists. “You can’t do this!”

  “I can and I have,” Ben smirked. “Get used to it, vixen.”

  “I mean it! Get these things off me this instant, Benjamin!” she demanded irately as she tried to pull against the metallic restraints. “I demand you get these things off me!” she ordered shrilly as she shook her bound wrists in front of Ben’s nose.

  “All in good time,” Ben assured her with a look of smug satisfaction. “Zeke, I owe you one, my friend. Thanks,” he stated gratefully before bending at the waist and putting a still sputtering Sami over his shoulder.

  “Put me down!” Sami raged, bucking against Ben’s shoulder as his hand connected sharply with her ass. “Don’t you spank me, you asshat! Are you just going to let him get away with this?” she barked at the amused Sheriff as he stood watching the show. “This is kidnapping!” she yelled.

  “Then you should probably call a cop,” Zeke advised easily. “Unfortunately for you,” he continued, making a production of looking down at the watch on his wrist. “I’m off-duty and have plans with my gorgeous wife. Ben, good luck, man,” he said, clapping the other man on the back. “I’ll check in with you soon,” he added with a meaningful look at a still struggling Sami. “Miss Dixon, enjoy your stay in Paradise.”

  Watching with amazed fury as the sheriff strolled away, disappearing down the street without so much as a look back at her, Sami struck her fist against Ben’s back. “Put me down,” she ordered harshly as he began to carry her back down the street. “Seriously, Ben. People are staring,” she groaned as another couple across the street pointed in their direction, their giggles audible even from her position over his shoulder.

  “Let ‘em look,” Ben declared easily as his steps quickened. “Trust me, it won’t be the first time folks have watched a man carry his woman home in this town. It’s actually more common than you might imagine.”

  Huffing out an irritated breath, Sami ground her teeth together. “It’s embarrassing,” she hissed.

  Ben chuckled. “You can just add it to the long list of sins I’ve committed against you, babe, but I’m still not putting you down until I’m standing between you and the locked door of my apartment. I’m not risking you getting away from me again. So, do us both a favor and just pipe down. I’ll have us back to my place in under five minutes if you behave,” he informed her as he patted her ass again.

  “Get your hand off my butt and quit feeling me up, you pervert!” she commanded imperiously, wriggling against his shoulder as they continued to draw stares from people on the street.

  “You didn’t seem to mind where my hands went ten minutes ago so I’m sure you’ll get used to it now, Vixen,” Ben chuckled, smacking her ass again for good measure.

  “I hope you’re on friendly terms with your neighbors, Ben,” Sami noted ominously.

  “I know I may regret asking you this, but why is that?” he inquired as they finally reached his studio and he shifted Sami on his shoulder to reach into his pocket and grab his keys.

  “You’ll want somebody to intercede when they hear your cries for help. Because make no mistake about it, Ben. I fully intend to try and murder you with my bare hands when I get out of these cuffs. That’s a promise from me to you, He-man,” she assured him as he came to a halt outside his studio and pulled his keys out of his pocket.

  “Then I guess I need to make sure that you and I have a lot of privacy for what I have in mind,” he returned thoughtfully as he turned on his heel and began walking in the opposite direction.

  Lifting her head as Sami heard the almost pensive chord in Ben’s voice, she resumed squirming against his shoulder in earnest. She could tell he had something up his sleeve… an unspoken plan that could only lead her down a road she had no business wandering down. “C’mon, Ben,” she began. “Put me down. Please? Riding over your shoulder isn’t exactly comfortable, you know? This bony shoulder is killing my belly,” she lied with a feigned sniffle, hoping her complaint would appeal to his sense of decency.

  “Sweetheart, the only part of your delectable self that I might be injuring right now is your pride,” he chuckled, lightly slapping the curve of her ass again. “That flat little belly of yours is just fine. Kinda like this lush ass here,” he added, stroking his palm over the firm swell of her butt again before playfully pinching her.

  Pressing her lips together as she growled low in her throat, Sami inwardly chided herself for wasting time on any foolish hope that her mild discomfort would sway Ben’s plans in any way. She should have known he wouldn’t fall for any of her convoluted aches or pains. She was a tough cookie and he knew her far too damn well. Plus, her ex was a stubborn asshat when h
e made up his mind about something, and it was clear he’d decided that he wasn’t ready to let her go. “When I get out of these cuffs, I swear to God that I’m gonna rip off your arm and beat you to death with it for gropin’ me.”

  “Tough talk for a woman that was nearly beggin’ me to mount her in broad daylight in the middle of town just a few minutes ago. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t buy into your feminine outrage at havin’ your man spank your sassy ass. Just simmer down and enjoy the ride,” he advised as his steps came to a halt beside a huge red truck. Hearing a high-pitched beep followed by the sound of locks disengaging, Sami grunted as Ben yanked open the door and unceremoniously dumped her into the passenger seat before quickly slamming the door closed again and reengaging the locks.

  Staring at him with a kind of horrified fascination as the infuriating man swiftly circled the truck to the driver’s side, she watched as he pulled his phone from his pocket and proceeded to make a phone call. “Are you kidding me with this shit, Ben? You wanna make phone calls now?” she screeched through the glass window at the man determined to drive her crazy. “Let me out of here, you asshole!” she demanded irately, lifting her manacled hands to knock the metal cuffs against the window. “I mean it, Benjamin! Let me out!”

  Ben, however, simply turned his back on her and took a few steps away from the truck. “You son of a bitch,” she cursed him under her breath as she leaned forward, pressing her ear to the window. Straining to hear, Sami huffed in frustration when she realized she could only make out the odd word or two of what he was saying. In the scheme of things, she knew it didn’t matter who he was talking to. It was unlikely whoever it was would be any help to her. Nope. She was on her own here. She couldn’t even count on her closest friends any longer since they’d suddenly decided to collude with the enemy.

  Christ, she had to get the hell out of this freaking town and as far away from Ben as humanly possible before she lost what was left of her mind and heart! Looking frantically around at the truck’s mostly bare interior for anything that might help her escape, it became clearer and clearer that she was truly trapped. There wasn’t a single item in the cab of the truck that would help her in a bid to escape.

  And thanks to the handcuffs locked around her wrists, there wasn’t a damned thing she could do about any of her situation.

  But Sami wasn’t a quitter and she’d never been a woman to give up because things got hard. Not even when she’d lost Ben had she given up. She’d simply changed her goals in life.

  Which was exactly what she’d do now, Samantha thought to herself as she stared out the window at the sexy-as-sin body snatcher who’d waylaid her as she slowly began to formulate a strategy for dealing with the mouthwateringly delicious man that seemed to be determined to rekindle the spark of a relationship that had already gone down in flames. And since she’d already been nearly burned alive once when their world exploded three years ago, she had to find a way to put out the fire that still appeared to be burning between them.

  Which was why if Ben thought for one single second that she would be his compliant little hostage, he was in for a very rude awakening! Samantha Dixon was one abductee who was determined to make her kidnapper’s life into a living hell – all for his own damned good! Because nothing had changed. No matter how much she wanted things to be different, she still couldn’t give him the family she knew he wanted. No matter how quickly her body still ignited for his or how bright the two of them burned for each other, their love was still doomed to go down in a blaze of horrific glory. It always would be.

  And nothing either of them did would ever change that fact.

  Chapter Six

  Ben

  Ignoring the furious looks and screams emanating from inside his truck, Ben turned so that his back was to Samantha before he allowed himself to smile.

  He couldn’t help it.

  He fucking had his girl back.

  He’d definitely earned the right to a smile.

  After three years of existing, but not really living… of inhaling without really breathing… he finally had his fiery-tempered vixen back.

  And this time, he was never letting her go again. He didn’t care what she threw at him… what lies she concocted… what obstacles she put in his path. He was never allowing her to leave him again. Nor would he ever be stupid enough to let her go. He’d learned his lesson.

  He was keeping what was his.

  And Samantha Dixon (soon-to-be-Atkins if he got his way) was most certainly meant to be HIS in every way there was. Hell, she already would have been his if he hadn’t been such a fantastic moron. Why the hell hadn’t he seen past her selfish act three years ago? Looking back on things now, his Sami hadn’t even been very convincing as a self-centered bitch. Why the fuck hadn’t he seen the truth then? Had he really been that caught up in his own misery that he hadn’t been able to see how much she was hurting the day he’d walked out on her?

  Fuck it! It didn’t matter now. Right now, he had to focus on getting them back on track.

  Which meant getting back in her life, back in her bed, and most importantly, back in her heart.

  Failure wasn’t an option. They’d already lost entirely too much time.

  Which was why he had concocted a plan.

  As far as plots go, it wasn’t exactly as solid as he’d like, and it could definitely use some tweaking, but it was still a workable plan. And necessity was the mother of all invention, right?

  All he needed was a little help pulling things together, and that was where he needed a little help from his friends, he thought as he pushed the button on his cell phone to connect him with his buddy’s office.

  “Quack and Rack Lodge and Guided Hunts. You’ve got Axton Calhoun.”

  Relieved to hear his friend’s voice instead of Ax’s automated voice mail, Ben breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe his luck was finally turning toward the better. “Hey, Ax. It’s Ben,” he greeted his friend as Sami’s muffled voice continued cursing behind him and the metal of her handcuffs impacted the passenger side window of his truck as she slammed her hands against the glass. Turning to shoot her a warning glare, he saw her eyes flash with barely restrained violence and knew he needed to hurry his phone call along before she accidentally hurt herself. “Hey, man, it’s Ben. I hate to bother you at work, but need a big favor on pretty short notice. I’m hoping like hell you can help me out,” he explained, speedily cutting past any small talk to get to the heart of the matter. Since Axton had been one of his first clients upon moving to Paradise and the two men had built a solid friendship over the last couple of years, Ben knew he could depend on his buddy to be there for him when it counted. Plus, he’d confided about his past with Samantha to Ax a little over a year ago when he’d had a particularly hard time on the anniversary of their breakup. At the time, Axton had been battling his own heartache over a woman he couldn’t have and their shared pain had bonded the two men. Ben was counting on that bond now to help him get Sami back.

  “So I heard. Sheriff Zeke came by earlier to pick up keys for a couple of my lodge rooms that were meant for your ex and some friend of hers. He said she came to town looking for that new lawyer working with Abel, but stumbled across you in the process. I remember you telling me how much y’all’s split fucked you up. Seeing her again must have been a hell of a shock. You doing okay?” he asked, concern evident in his voice. “Because if you don’t want her here, I can hand her a cardboard box and point her toward the underpass.”

  Ben snorted. He knew Axton was only joking, but it meant a lot that his friend had his back. He couldn’t let anyone continue to think of Sami as the villain in their fucked up break-up. Especially now that Ben knew the truth. Thankfully, he hadn’t said a lot about Samantha to anyone. Only Axton had ever gotten the whole story… at least the story as he’d known it then. “Listen, Ax… I’ve learned a lot of things about our breakup in the last couple of hours. Things that I wasn’t aware of when I walked out on Samantha. She isn’t the
bitch I painted her to be. In fact, if there’s an asshole in this scenario, it’s me. That new attorney that Abel Turner hired? Her name is Vivian Miller, and she’s my ex’s best friend. She found me this afternoon before Sami got into town and filled me in on a lot of shit I didn’t know about my woman. A lot of really painful things. Long story made short… Sami blew up our relationship because she thought she was protecting me. She was trying to put me first. She knew I’d never willingly leave her – no matter what the reason, so she made it so I didn’t have a choice. I can’t go into everything now, but suffice it to say that I want my vixen back. Badly. She, however, doesn’t know I know the truth about everything and doesn’t want to give me the time of day.”

  “Shit, Ben. I’m sorry,” Axton apologized softly. “As a man that knows a little something about having to be extremely cruel to the person you love in order to be kind in the long run, believe me when I tell you that this has probably fucked with her head.”

  “Yeah,” Ben agreed. “That’s why I’ve got to get shit straight between us. And because of Sami’s stubbornness, I’ve just had to go a fairly unorthodox way to do it.”

  “That sound ominous,” Ax returned warily. “What’ve you done, Ben?”

  “I’ve kidnapped her,” Ben stated without remorse. “And I’m not letting her go until she sees reason. That’s where you come in. You know that cabin on top of Harper’s Mountain? The one on the far west boundary of your property that I stayed in when I did that first photo spread for the Lodge?”

  Axton scoffed. “Cabin is a pretty loose word for that shack, Ben.”

  “Remote. Isolated. Secure. And most importantly, no cell signal. It’s perfect for what I need,” Ben insisted. “I wanna borrow it for the next 72 hours or so.”

  “It’s yours if you want it, but are you sure one of my other cabins wouldn’t be more suitable? I mean, if you’re trying to win your woman back, don’t you want her to be comfortable?” he asked curiously.