by Mia Carson
Harley spit in his face as he reached for the pistol. She scrambled with his hands, struggling with everything she had to get the gun from him. It came free of the holster as more shouts sounded closer to the room. Several gunshots resounded through the club, and Brianna screamed, tears streaming down her face as the man holding her tossed her aside and tried to make a run for it. Harley aimed the gun towards the floor as Ricky’s grip slipped right when he pulled the trigger. The shot deafened her and he screamed in pain, falling backwards. Harley kicked the gun as far away from him as she could and ducked out of the way as men in tactical gear charged into the room. They surrounded Ricky and the few men left, who quickly gave up their guns and fell to their faces on the floor.
Ricky spat curses as the men rolled him over, and one knelt on his back to handcuff him. “She shot me! Get the fuck off me!” Blood seeped from the wound in his foot as they turned him back over and hauled him to his feet. “You bitch! You fucking bitch! You think this is over?”
Harley glanced towards the door when she heard more steps and saw Agent Higgins with Sam right behind him. Ricky was still cursing when Sam reached him, grabbed him by the shirtfront, and head-butted the man. He sagged in the arms of the other agents.
“That’s for pulling a gun on Harley, you fucking coward,” he snarled.
“Sam,” Harley whispered, and he rushed to her side. He hugged her close, kissing her as he asked over and over if she was all right. “I’m fine, I’m okay. Bri…where’s Bri?”
“Right here,” Higgins said, escorting Brianna to her sister.
Harley took her in her arms and checked her over to make sure she was all right.
“You ladies have my deepest gratitude,” Higgins told them and held out his hand. Both sisters shook it, but Brianna dropped his hand and hugged him instead.
“Thank you. You’re going to help save a lot of people like me,” she told him earnestly.
Higgins’ face softened to that of a proud dad as he hugged her back. “You’re welcome. Simmons? Escort the ladies and Mr. Benson out, please, and get the rest of the crew in here. It’s time to tear this place apart.”
“You can’t do that,” Ricky grunted as he was dragged from the room. “You can’t touch my club!”
“You’ll find that I can,” Higgins growled. “Get him out of here!”
Sam walked with Harley and Brianna, one arm wrapped protectively around Harley’s waist and his other over Brianna’s shoulders in comfort. They exited the club to find the street cordoned off by cop cars and black SUVs. Devois yelled from somewhere, but Harley didn’t want to see his face again.
“Higgins said to take them to the techs first so they can get the button cams,” Simmons said and guided them towards a van parked along the curb.
Harley and Brianna sat down on the back bumper as the cams were detached. Sam watched her the whole time, his face a blank mask she couldn’t read. Once the cams were free of their dresses, Simmons informed them they needed to give a rundown of the past events and then they would be free to go for the night. As Harley answered questions, the reality of what could have happened passed through her mind and she quickly shut off her emotions so she could get through it without falling apart. Brianna couldn’t and lost it halfway through, sinking against the side of the van as an agent held out tissues for her to mop her face.
“We’ll be in touch,” Simmons informed them afterwards. “I’ll have an agent drive you home.”
“Thank you,” Sam told him and shook the man’s hand.
The three of them loaded into the back of another SUV and rode in silence back to Sam’s penthouse. They trudged to the elevator, Harley clinging to Sam’s hand as the doors opened and they reached the door to the penthouse. He knocked once and the door swung inwards. Karen rushed out with a cry and embraced Brianna and Harley, crying and muttering words they didn’t need to hear to understand. Sam motioned them all inside and found Marcus was there, too. It was the first time Harley ever saw the man look so uncertain.
Harley barely waved at him before he hugged her and kissed her cheek. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
“I know,” Harley said quietly, worry niggling in her gut that Sam still hadn’t said a word. “Marcus, this is my baby sister, Brianna.” She stepped back and watched as Marcus’s eyes widened and he slowly held out a hand to Brianna.
“Hi,” he whispered.
“Hey,” she replied and took his hand, a strange look passing over her face.
“You look like you could use a drink.”
“Help yourselves to whatever,” Sam informed them and held out his hand to Harley. “Why don’t we get you cleaned up?”
She didn’t argue as she slipped her hand in his and he pulled her down the hallway. Once inside the bedroom, he closed the door and leaned his palms against it, a shudder coursing over his body as she watched.
“Sam?”
“Do you have any idea how terrifying that was?” he muttered harshly. “All I could do was stand there and watch as you…and he…then the gunshot…” When he faced her again, tears of rage and pain glistened in his eyes. “I thought that was it.”
She rushed to him and kissed him fiercely, showing him she was very much alive and unhurt.
“They touched you,” he spat. “They wanted to take you.”
“But they didn’t,” she told him firmly. “Sam, I’m yours, you hear me? I’ll always be yours.”
“I need you,” he whispered as he kissed her neck.
“I need you more.”
Tears slipped from her eyes as they clutched each other’s bodies, tearing their clothes off in a rush to feel the other. She wanted him to fill her, to possess her, and from the way his hands demanded everything from her, he needed to burn the other men’s touches from her body. Harley gasped as he ripped her panties free and tossed them aside. She shoved his leather pants down, and as soon as he was free, he pressed her against the wall, facing away from him, and kissed a fiery trail down her back, his hands gripping her hips hard. When he straightened, he spun her around again and lifted her up.
Her legs wrapped securely around his waist, and he spread her lips with his cock and filled her with one hard thrust. “You are mine,” he grunted with each drive up. “You will always be mine.”
“Sam,” she moaned, her face scrunched as the urgency in her body consumed her and love for Sam poured out. “And you…you will always be mine.”
He carried her away from the wall, and they tumbled down to the bed, where she straddled him. She rode him hard, shoving his shoulders into the bed as he held her hips. They came apart in the darkness, and as the climax built within her body, she knew Sam was always there to put her back together as she had done with him their first time together.
He rolled them over, and as he thrust hard and fast, his mouth captured hers in a fury. His tongue warred with hers, and she lifted her hips to meet every thrust of his body. She cried out as the orgasm tore through her, digging her nails into Sam’s back. His yell of release joined her cry, and they stiffened in each other’s arms before falling limp against the mattress, their skin damp from their exertion, gasping for air.
His hand fumbled for hers across the sheets and they entwined their fingers. “Promise me, as long as we’re together, I won’t have to watch that again?”
“Don’t plan on it,” she said and giggled despite the horrible night. The laughter didn’t stop, and soon Sam’s joined hers as he rolled over and held her against his warm body. They spent the rest of the night showing each other just how much their love meant to the other and not worrying, for once, about what tomorrow would bring.
Chapter 14
Six Months Later
Sam rolled over in bed and stared around the large master bedroom of their new house. Boxes were stacked along the far wall with all the things they had yet to unpack. They moved around a lot after the incident, staying out of the city in case there was any retribution from either man, before finally settli
ng down for good in Montana. The open land was a nice break from the clustered city and Sam was able to run his business from there with Marcus taking his place in Vegas. This past week had been busy and Harley wasn’t allowed to lift anything over ten pounds anyway. Not that Sam minded. His hand rested on her side of the bed—still warm—and grinned. He was two months away from meeting his son, and he couldn’t be happier. Harley was happy until she caught her reflection in a mirror and complained that she looked like a whale.
She smacked him every time he responded with the line, “But at least you’re my whale.”
He lay in bed and let his eyes drift closed for a moment until music blared through the large atrium ranch house. Harley’s voice joined in with the song and lured Sam from another few hours of sleep. Her snoring, lately, kept him up at night, though she denied it every chance she got.
He was simply happy she was able to sleep so soundly. For the first few weeks after the incident at the club, she woke up covered in a cold sweat, screaming from the nightmares plaguing her. He comforted her the best he could, but the real comfort didn’t come until they received a call from Higgins saying Devois and Delugio would not be out on the streets anytime soon, though it was still best they stayed as far from the city as possible. Harley and her sister would still have to testify if the case went to trial, but that was a long way off. For now, Harley was happy that she and her sister had managed to turn a shitty situation into something good. Devois and Delugio were two of the largest drug distributors in the city, and with them behind bars, the feds had a chance to get a handle on their enterprises stretching out of Vegas and shut them down.
Harley’s voice serenaded Sam as he reached for his jeans and slipped them on before leaving the bedroom. He walked around more boxes and random bits of furniture as he made his way to the kitchen. The wonderful aroma of bacon reached his nose, followed closely by ham and sausage. One thing this pregnancy had done for them both was give her a healthy appetite for meat. Sam had never had so much bacon in his life, and as Marcus told him constantly, he wished he could be so lucky as to find a woman so into pork as she was.
When he leaned on the island counter, he watched Harley’s hips move as she swayed to the music and fried the meats on the stovetop. Unable to keep his hands off her for long, he hurried to her and wrapped his arms under her pregnant belly as he kissed her neck.
“Morning,” he murmured, and she reached for the volume on the Bluetooth speakers.
“Morning,” she replied and tilted her head to the side so she could kiss him properly. “Sleep okay?”
“If I said yes, would it make you feel better?” he asked.
She sagged in his arms. “Sorry. I can only sleep in one position.” She rubbed her hands over her large, pregnant belly. “Hence the breakfast to make up for it. I know it’s been rough.”
“It’s fine. I tell you this every morning. Quit worrying so much.”
“I can’t help it. I’m making you miserable, and I couldn’t help you guys move anything in here,” she complained, and he turned her around in his arms. “I’m trying not to make things more difficult.”
He hugged her, and the feel of their baby cradled safely between their bodies warmed him. “You could never make things more difficult. We’ve been through so much together. Do you really think me having to move extra boxes is going to drive me away?”
“You never know,” she muttered. “Oh! Here.” She took his hand and slid it around to the side of her belly, grinning in awe. “Right there.”
He waited, and when he felt the hard kick, he bent down so he was level with her belly. “Damn, he’s got one hell of a foot. I’m calling it right now, kicker.”
“You think so, huh?” She massaged Sam’s scalp as she beamed down at him. “We made a human. I’m still trying to get over that. We made a human and helped take down a major drug dealer in the city. What a pair we make.”
“We’ve done quite a bit besides that,” he reminded her as he straightened.
The fundraiser she started in Lillian’s name had grown over the past few months. Three shelters were opening in the next week, and they had another two being renovated. The money raised would help get children and their parents what they needed to ensure they still had a chance at a bright future despite what they’d been through. He only wished they could be in the city to see them open, but being here with Harley was good enough. Her sister and Karen lived in the next town over in a cute little house he’d helped them purchase. Sam wasn’t going to take any chances of Ricky’s guys going after them so he moved them all out of Vegas, though at the moment, Bri was out of town, as was Marcus.
Sam couldn’t be happier with this new life. He was so proud to call Harley his girlfriend, but he wanted her to be so much more than that. “Is that the mail from yesterday?” he asked as an excuse to walk to the entry hall table and pull a small black box from the drawer.
“Yeah, there’s a postcard on top from Bri and Marcus. You know, I still can’t believe those two hit it off so fast.”
Sam smirked, thinking of Marcus and her sister Brianna. She’d turned twenty-one a few months ago, and Marcus whisked her away for a week on a beach in Miami. He hadn’t expected his friend to fall for her so fast either, but the night of the set-up with Devois and Delugio, he was there to comfort her when she needed it. They had been inseparable ever since. Harley was hesitant, at first, since Marcus was seven years older than her baby sister, but he treated her with so much love it was hard not to approve. Harley warmed up to the idea after a few weeks. It also helped that she threatened to beat the crap out of him with her fists of fury if he hurt Brianna.
“It looks like they’re having a good time,” he called as he read the short letter on the back of the postcard. “Do you think they’ll ever come home?”
“I’m not sure. Bri talked about going to school there in the fall,” Harley replied. “I think I’d be okay with visiting her there, just feel bad about the house you just bought.”
“It’s just a house. And what about your plans?” he asked as he clutched the box behind his back and returned to her side. “Have you decided what you want to do with your future yet?”
She picked the bacon out of the skillet and set it on a plate to drain. “Besides figuring out what to do with all the money we raised? You know, I actually considered hiring some full-time teachers and doing some sort of home school program. Do you think that’d work?”
“I meant your future, Harley, with me and the baby.”
She faced him and frowned. “I enjoy decorating our house,” she said slowly. “What else would I be—oh!” she exclaimed and covered her mouth with her hands when Sam showed her the box. “Sam.”
“Harley Smith,” he said as he lowered himself to one knee and opened the box to show off the beautiful white band encrusted with dark blue sapphires and diamonds, “we’ve been through hell apart and together, and now I’m ready to start the next chapter of my life with you. Marry me? Be my wife? Help me grow a family that will do some good for this world?”
Harley nodded as she held out her left hand. “Yes! Yes, Sam!”
He slipped the ring onto her finger and hugged her as they kissed through her tears of happiness. “Are you up for planning a wedding on top of everything else?’
She smiled mischievously down at her left hand, wiggling her finger so the stones glittered under the lights. “You know, Sam, we might not live in Vegas anymore, but…”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Would you be opposed to a Vegas-style wedding here in Montana?”
He blinked a few times, wondering if he heard her right. “You’re telling me you want to get married soon?” She bobbed her head. “How soon?”
“I was thinking after breakfast. There’s that cute chapel in town and I’m sure if you made a nice donation, they’d be more than willing to accommodate us.”
He pressed his hand to her forehead. “You sure you’re feeling oka
y?” he asked as he felt the rest of her face and shook his head. “You want to give up the chance to have a huge wedding with everyone we know there for a quick afternoon shindig?”
“Is that crazy? Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s the hormones talking,” she mumbled.
“Something tells me it’s not. Is this really what you want? Just the two of us?”
“Why not?” she asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “You know, I think it is.” She kissed him on the cheek and waddled as fast as she could back to the bedroom.
Sam walked behind her and watched as she tore through the closet, looking for a dress to wear and muttering about whether anything actually still fit or not. He stopped her after she tore through half the closet and handed her a pair of maternity jeans and a t-shirt.
“How about we get something to wear on the way?” he suggested.
“We’ll have to. I’m too big to fit into anything I have.”
He finished dressing as she changed and they left the house, stopping on the way to the old chapel in Billings. She disappeared to her side of the only clothing boutique in town as he was led away by another woman gabbing excitedly about the wedding about to happen. Sam only half listened, trying to catch a glimpse of Harley from across the store, but he couldn’t see her. The woman with him dressed him in a snazzy grey suit with a black shirt and a shining silver tie and found him a white cloth rose to stick in the lapel.
“There. Now you’re ready for a wedding,” the woman said and clapped her hands.
“Grace! The bride’s ready,” one of the other women called out, and the woman named Grace gasped.
“Oh, honey, you are one lucky man.”
Sam opened his mouth to agree with her, but the sight of Harley striding towards him left him speechless. The ivory dress flowed over her body, making her a stunning vision of black-haired beauty. The soft fabric clung to her heavy breasts and hugged her pregnant belly. Even the lacy flats helped complete the outfit. Two sapphire studs were in her ears and a sapphire hung around her neck.
