by Mia Madison
The man lifts me into a vehicle and climbs in beside me. The car takes off, and then my rescuer’s hands are working on the blindfold. When it’s gone, I blink my eyes several times to help the dryness.
It’s dark outside, which means it’s only been a few hours since I was abducted from the SUV. I turn my head to see an enormous man sitting next to me. He’s holding a knife.
I flinch before I can stop myself. “Sorry,” he says. “I was gonna cut your ropes, if that’s okay.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.” Steeling my nerves, I turn slightly away from him, and the ropes fall away as if they’ve dissolved. That knife must be really sharp.
When I turn back, the knife has disappeared somewhere. “Can I ask your name?” I say.
“I’m Carlo.”
“Thank you, Carlo,” I say. “For saving me.”
“You’re welcome. Your man is gonna be glad to see you.”
My eyes get big. “Cam hired you?”
“Not exactly. He had his own rescue planned, but we horned in and took it over. We practically had to hold a gun to his head to keep him from coming with us, mind you. But this operation was too dangerous for anyone but a military strike team.”
The SUV — because that’s what we’re riding in — pulls up outside a ranch house in what, in the dark, looks like a normal neighborhood. Carlo helps me out and escorts me inside.
A handful of men are in the living room, including Cam. It’s a shock to see him; his face is lined, and the flecks of gray in his hair seem to have multiplied in the last few hours.
He starts toward me, then stops, clearly registering my body language and the fact that I’m not exactly rushing to be in his arms. The other men catch the mood. “We’ll give you some privacy,” Carlo says, and they all go off to another part of the house.
Cameron takes another step forward, his eyes scanning me. When they land on my arm, his face goes hard. I look down to see multiple sets of bruises and red marks where I was manhandled. As soon as I register their existence, they start to ache.
“I’m taking you to a doctor.” He says it with barely contained fury, and I don’t react at all. A few hours ago I would have been moved that he cared so much.
Crossing my arms carefully, I say, “I’m not leaving with you.”
“You’re — what?” He tilts his head, his eyes narrowing like he can x-ray me and figure out what’s wrong. “Haley, what happened?”
I’m so cold inside, it feels like I’ll never be warm. “Is my father dead? My mother?”
“No. They’re safe. As soon as we get you patched up, you can talk to them.”
The hurt, paranoid part of my brain says he’s just using that to lure me away. I didn’t really want to have this out here, with all these other people around, but I guess we have to. “I heard you, Cameron.”
“Heard me what?” Then he runs back the tape in his head to what happened just before I disappeared, and awareness flickers through his eyes. “Haley—”
“You bought me? Like I’m some kind of whore? Not a cheap one, at least, for fifty million dollars, but fuck, Cam!”
He scrubs his hands over his face. “You didn’t hear what you think you heard.”
“I heard enough. You hate my father!”
“I don’t have a lot of respect for him right now. There are reasons for that.”
“Which you didn’t tell me.”
“He’s your father!” Cam snaps. “I wasn’t going to trash the man to you.”
Part of my brain keeps pointing out that he’s making a lot of sense. Is one of the rules ‘Cameron is always right?’ I say stiffly, “Maybe you’d better explain your version of things.”
“Yes, and I will. I promise. But not here. You need to see a doctor for that arm.”
I don’t move. “Haley,” he says. “I’m the same person I’ve been since you came to my home. I’m not some Jekyll and Hyde.”
There he goes, reading my mind again. “Give me the short version now.”
Cameron sighs. “All right. Your father owed money to the mob.” He ignores my gasp and keeps going. “They threatened you, and he sent you to me for safekeeping. After that night I locked you in the study — which, by the way, was a team of mercenaries hired by the mob to come in and kidnap you — I made your father tell me everything, and I promised to help him.”
“The mob? The freaking mob?”
“Yes.”
“I’m gonna kill him.”
His mouth curls up a little. “I think you’ll have to get in line for that.”
“So you were helping … that’s what the money was about.”
“Yes. And I was yelling at him, which you apparently also overheard, because he decided not to stay in the safe house where I’d stashed him and your mother. He had this clever idea that they’d make their getaway to Europe and be safe.”
“Because … the mob is afraid to fly? It doesn’t know people in Europe?” I can see, albeit reluctantly, why Cameron was so frustrated with my father.
“Exactly. I got them new burner phones, and they were supposed to call you and give you the new numbers, with a cover story about why they’d changed. But they didn’t. Your dad thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know where they were or how to reach them.”
“Still gonna kill him,” I mutter. “Making me worry like that for nothing.” Then I remember. “You said you wouldn’t let him talk to me.”
“He changed his mind about avoiding contact with you after I told him you were mine. That didn’t sit too well with him. He accused me of betraying his trust and taking advantage of you, among other things.”
It’s my turn to sigh. “He didn’t treat you very well, for someone who was trying to save his life.”
“And if he’d come to me in the first place, none of this had to happen.” He comes a step closer. “The thing I was really angry about, Haley — the thing I couldn’t forgive — is that he put you in danger.”
The ice in my soul is rapidly thawing. Still, I can’t help pointing out, “If he hadn’t, you never would have met me.”
“That’s the hell of it. So I guess I have to forgive him for that too.” Another step, and he’s right next to me. “Haley. I love you.”
My heart stops, then does the jitterbug in my chest. “You do?”
“I do. It’s one of the things I was waiting to tell you. But after tonight, fuck waiting.”
“Cam.”
He holds out his arms, and I go into them, where I’m safe and warm, and breathe in his Cameron scent. “No one else smells right,” I murmur.
“Pardon?”
“When they carried me out of there tonight, I was still blindfolded. I knew you weren’t there because none of them smelled like you. Pine woods and crackling fires.”
“I smell like fire?”
“It’s what your scent makes me think of.” I lift my head to see he’s looking at me like I’m a little bit crazy. “It’s poetic license. Go with it.”
He gives me a half-grin. “Okay. Can we go now?”
As if on cue, Carlo and his men rematerialize in the living room. “We’ll give you an escort,” Carlo says. “Just to be on the safe side.”
“Appreciate it.” Cam holds out a hand, and they shake. “Anything I can do for you, Mr. Adamo, anytime. You have a marker for life.”
Carlo nods. “You ever get tired of hedge funds, I could use a man with your tech skills.” He looks at me, then back at Cameron. “Take care of her.”
“I intend to.”
For the first time, I notice Carlo’s wearing a wedding ring. As we go toward the door, I say, “Your wife’s a lucky woman.”
He smiles. “I’m a lucky man. But I’ll tell her you said so.”
The sky is lightening toward dawn when we emerge into the yard. Cam’s holding my hand, and everyone I love is alive and well. I’m feeling pretty fortunate myself.
Epilogue
Two Years Later
“Breathe,” Cam or
ders.
“I am breathing, dammit!”
Another contraction hits me and I squeeze his hand so hard I’m sure I’ll crush the bones into dust. It finally passes, and he sponges away my sweat.
“You’re amazing, Haley Thorne. You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Cracking one eye open, I send him a slantwise glance. He smiles. “I’ll fight anyone who says different.”
“I love you, Cameron.”
“I know you do, babe. I love you too. And I’m so sorry that biology hasn’t evolved a better way of doing this baby thing.”
“Mother Nature oughta get on that.”
“I’ll send her a memo.”
My snort turns into a wail as another, longer contraction strikes. “Babe,” Cameron says. “Have the epidural.”
“Cam …”
“Please, Haley. I don’t want nature, red in tooth and claw, messing with my beautiful bride or our little miracle.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” the nurse puts in. “Most women have one.”
If I’m less stressed, the baby will be less stressed. That’s what finally decides me. “Do it.”
I’ve never been more in awe of my wife, and never more in love with her, than when she pushes our daughter into the world. She gets to hold the baby skin-to-skin, and then I get to bathe our little one. And holding her, my heart cracks right open.
Later, when we’re alone in our room, and Haley’s dozed a little, and Ava has nursed and is sleeping, I slip into bed with both of them so we can cuddle. “Isn’t she gorgeous?” Haley murmurs, smiling at our baby.
“She’s stunning. Like you.” I stroke a fingertip along her soft newborn hair. “You know, before we got married, we talked about having a lot of kids.”
“I remember.”
“After seeing you go through this — my god, Haley, it’s heroic. Men should be thanking women every day of their lives.”
She smiles at me. “I don’t know if I’d call it heroic.”
“I would. And, babe … I don’t ever want to put you through this again.”
“My protector. You’re going to be such a good daddy.”
“I’m serious, Hales.”
“I know you are. And I love you for it.” She lays a hand against my cheek. “Right at this moment I have no interest in ever doing it again, but the body heals. Let’s not decide anything right now. I’m fine, the baby’s fine; everything else we can figure out later.”
“My wife speaks words of wisdom.”
Her tender smile is one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given. “There’s this guy. He’s really smart and pays attention to everything. I’ve learned a lot from him.”
I rub my nose against my wife’s. “She’s long, our Ava. Future basketball player.”
“Or baseball.”
“No, I think hoops.”
“She’ll defy us both and play hockey. Or field hockey. Or chess.”
If there’s a heaven, the soundtrack just might be the soft, joyful laughter of brand-new parents.
Also by Mia Madison
Adamo Family series
Tempting Tonio, Kissing Kosta, Craving Carlo, Vexing Victor, Reaching Rico, Lone Wolf, Dreaming Dante, Baring Brando, Risking Romero
Naughty Boss stories
Forbidden Intern, My Dad’s Boss, Bossy Christmas Party, My Boss’s Boss, Business with Pleasure, Bossy Valentine, Bossy Billionaire, Dangerous Curves Ahead, Bossy Daddy, The One and Only, Bossed by the Single Dad
Fireman series
My Filthy Fireman, Playing With Fire, Burning For You, On Fire, Babysitter Wanted, Caught by the Fireman, My First Time Fireman, Light My Fire
Love At First Sight series
Touch & Taste, Work & Play, Protect & Serve, Wants & Needs, Bend & Break, Past & Present
Dad's Best Friend stories
Marcus Mine, Latin Spice, Forever My Lady, Zayum Zaddy, Dad’s Billionaire Buddy, A Day and Forever, Falling for the Star, His Shy Librarian, My Secret Crush, Dad’s Royal Buddy, Hot Single Dad, Major Dad, The Man Next Door, Hot Cop Next Door
Sexy Professor stories
What Happens In Vegas, Late Night Confessions
Other Older Man / Younger Woman stories
Bossy Billionaire, Weekend in Paradise, Head Over Heels, Temptation Next Door
Let Me Love You series
Let Me Love You, Let Me Taste You, Let Me Keep You, Let Me Kiss You
Foxworth Stud Ranch series
My Cocky Cowboy, The Blacksmith, The Cowboy’s Virgin Princess, The Polo Prince
About the Author
In the mood for something decadent, delicious, and provocative? Meet Mia Madison, purveyor of Forbidden Fantasies Romance. Come in, sit back, and relax. The candles are lit, and the dancing shadows on the wall promise sexy, seductive tales of spine-tingling love, leading to a pleasure-drenched happy-ever-after.
You'll discover young women eager for experience, who have scorching encounters with older men who know exactly what they're doing between the sheets. In Mia Madison's world, anything can—and does—happen. So leave your inhibitions at the door and come along for the ride.
To get more delicious details on Mia, sign up for the mailing list by clicking here.
Keep in touch
authormiamadison.com
[email protected]
