by Ward, Kira
My heart was thumping out of my chest.
Chapter 29
Amanda
I knocked on the door of room D, straightened my shoulders and put on my best smile. “It’s Amanda for the photoshoot,” I said through the door.
The door jerked open quickly, and as soon as I saw who was standing behind it, I screamed.
Rick grabbed me by the front of my shirt and pulled me in, then placed his hand over my mouth while he held me down. “Shhhhhh,” he whispered. “Just be quiet, baby. I’m not going to hurt you.”
I was in shock, and I could barely breath, I was in such a panic. Why was Rick in Miami? Why was he at my photoshoot? What the hell was going on?
He held me down for a good couple minutes, whispering and promising me that he had no plans of hurting me, until my hard breathing and struggle to pull away stopped.
“I’m going to take my hand off your mouth but don’t scream, ok? I just want to talk.”
I nodded.
Rick released my mouth and led me to a couch on the far side of the room where he sat me down. “Okay, now we’re calm.” He wiped his brow with the back of his hand.
“What are you doing here, Rick? What is going on?”
“You haven’t been answering my calls or my text. I needed to see you, so I came here.”
“So you’re Conrad Modelling?”
“Something I made up.” He smirked. “I thought it’d be easier to bring you to me than pop up out of nowhere.”
“This is really fucked up, Rick. What do you want from me?”
Rick leaned over and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to his face. “I’m sorry about the wedding babe. I want things to go back to the way they used to be.” Rick grabbed my chin and tried to force me into a kiss, but I put my hands up and pushed him away violently.
“No Rick! Just leave me alone,” I whined. “I don’t want this anymore…”
“What’s wrong baby? We can go back home and things will be how they used to be. Your Mercedes is still there, and I’ll buy you anything you want.”
The sound of wood splintering echoed through the room, and the door to the apartment came crashing down. Rick jumped up, and I shrieked back in my chair, having no idea what was going on.
Caleb appeared through the doorway and stepped on the fallen door, wincing and holding his shoulder. “What the fuck?!” he asked as soon as he saw Rick and I there. He started rushing forward, but Rick reached for his waistband, and from under his shirt he pulled a tiny, black handgun.
“Don’t fucking move,” Rick ordered.
Caleb stopped and put his hands up.
“Oh Christ, Rick,” I cried. “You brought a fucking gun?”
“I needed a backup plan in case something went wrong. And it looks like my plan B has already come in handy.”
“Just relax man,” Caleb said. “Let’s figure this out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out that involves you. Get the fuck out of here before you get hurt.”
“I’m not leaving without Amanda,” Caleb said.
“Rick…” I pleaded. “Stop.”
“I can’t stop because I love you, Amanda. And I know you love me too.” Rick turned his head towards me and looked down. “Let’s forget about what happened and just go back to The OC together. I’ll give you everything you ever wanted.”
“Rick… no…” I stressed. “We’re finished.”
“You don’t mean that, Amanda. I know you loved me the way that I loved you.”
“Loved you, yes. But not anymore. It’s time for us to move on.”
“Listen to her, man,” Caleb said. “She—”
“Shut up!” Rick interrupted and shook his gun at Caleb. He started shaking his head while he looked at me. “Is it because I didn’t want any more children? Is that what it is? Fine.” He slammed his foot down. “Let’s have a baby. We can have as many as you want as long as we’re together.”
“No, Rick,” I moaned. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t? You think just because I’m older that I can’t have kids? I’m still young enough to have another baby. Let’s do it, sweetheart.”
I shook my head and looked at the ground. “I can’t have a baby with you Rick… I can’t because…” I was struggling to find the words. “I can’t have a baby with you because I’m already pregnant.”
“What?” Caleb gasped and his mouth dropped open.
“Huh?” Rick huffed, equally confused.
“I’m pregnant with Caleb’s baby.”
Caleb’s face turned to stone, and Rick spun his arm around and pointed his gun at me. “You lying fucking cunt!” he yelled.
I jerked back and could feel myself about to pee my pants right before I saw Caleb move in a blur of motion, knocking Rick’s hand up and toppling him over on the ground. The gun shot off somewhere and then fell near my feet. I kicked it, and it slid across the room.
Caleb slammed a fist down into Rick’s face, and fought to hold him down while Rick did his best to push and pull under the weight of a much stronger man, desperate to get hold of the stitches on Caleb’s face.
“Call the police, Amanda!”
“Fuck you!” Rick spat.
I reached for my purse, fumbled with my phone and dialed 911 as quickly as could. “Hello, we need help as soon as possible. Please send officers to….”
Chapter 30
Amanda
The police were stuffing a handcuffed Rick inside of their squad car and Caleb was sitting on the front stairs of the building getting checked out by medics. Blood was dripping down his face where Rick had made contact with his stitches a couple times and reopened his wound.
“Just a couple threads got yanked out,” the medic said. “If you keep it bandaged for a couple days, you probably won’t need to have the stitches redone.”
I turned to Layla and Mason who was holding on to a confused Travis. They had rushed to the scene as soon as they heard what happened. “I feel so bad, like this is all my fault.”
“Rick did this, not you,” Layla said.
“Good thing Caleb brought you... Who knows what would have happened if you came alone,” Mason said.
Caleb stood from the steps and thanked the medics before he joined back up with us. “Prodded twice in two days,” he said. “I’m getting a little tired of people poking around at my body.”
“I’m so sorry, Caleb,” I said.
“Don’t worry, babe. Now you won’t have to worry about that fucker for a long time.” He turned to Mason. “You guys should head back home. Everything’s cool now.”
“You sure?” Mason asked.
Caleb nodded.
Mason raised his eyebrows to Layla and she gave me a quick hug before they both turned and started walking off. “Call me if you need anything, Amanda.”
“You too!” I said. As if anyone ever needed help from my unlucky ass.
When the three were out of earshot, Caleb turned and faced me. “How are you?” he asked.
“I’m okay,” I said. “How are you?”
“I’ve been better.”
There was a brief moment of silence as we both looked each up and down.
Caleb huffed. “So um… What you said in there… Was it true?”
“It’s true.”
“You’re pregnant with my baby? You’re sure?”
I nodded and looked away, bracing myself for a negative response.
Caleb smirked wide, and then he chuckled a little bit. “Wow…” He blinked and then opened his eyes wide. “I can’t believe it.”
“I wasn’t sure if I would tell you. I didn’t think we’d ever be back together.”
“Well, we are now,” he said. He reached out and took both of my hands in his and pulled me closer, looking down into my eyes. “And I’m just so damn happy.”
“Happy about us or happy about…?”
“Happy about us and happy about this.” He reached his hand out and li
ghtly scratched my tummy with a couple fingers.
“So you want me to keep the baby?” I bit my bottom lip and threw him a sideways glance.
Caleb laughed. “Of course I want you to keep the baby.” He looked at me like he didn’t understand any alternative. He looked up to the sky and thought for a moment. “I guess Travis will be closing in on 10 when our little one is 5. They can still play together.”
I laughed. The vision of mine and my best friend’s children playing together touched me to the core.
He gave my body a soft yank, bringing my attention back to him. “Let’s get a place together. You and me. Together here in Miami.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah… Some place near The Mod Shop. I think I’m going to start working with my brother.”
Tingles ran up and down my spine as I stared into his beautiful, blue eyes. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have finally found love with such a handsome, caring man who complemented me like no other ever had. I didn’t even have to ask him how two inexperienced goofballs would manage to raise a baby on our own. I just knew that everything would work out okay so long as we were together.
He leaned down, kissed me, and I exhaled hard as he squeezed me into his arms. It was a passionate, dizzying kiss that I could have sat in forever.
He pulled away and grabbed my hand as he casually started strolling to the rental car. “So we need to start thinking of baby names, huh? What do you think about Conner?”
“Mmm… Not bad. What about Chris?”
“Too common.”
“Gregory?”
Caleb pulled me towards him until my hip bumped into his. “Could be a girl, you know?”
“Could be.” I smiled and bit my bottom lip. I loved the idea of having a little girl.
Caleb opened the passenger side of the Prius, and I slid in. He leaned over the door and the frame of the car. “Hey, so I won the race, I got the girl, and now I’m going to have a baby. I guess there’s only one thing left for me to do, right?”
“What’s that?”
Caleb comically raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Get hitched.”
My jaw fell wide.
“What do you think?”
I scanned him up and down and pursed my lips together. “You’re going to have to get me a nice ring and drop to your knees, big boy. But… I think you might be on to something.”
Caleb chuckled and shut the door.
He rounded the car, hopped in the driver’s side and started adjusting the back of his seat.
“Hey does this thing have any Wham in it?” I asked.
Caleb sighed and shook his head as he started up the car. “Fuck me. You’re never going to let me live it down, are you?”
I shook my head. “Never.”
Caleb leaned over the console and I met him halfway. “I love you way too much,” he said.
“I love you too, baby.”
And then, I kissed the most perfect lips in the world.
Thank You For Reading
Kira Ward and Aubrey Sage are steamy, contemporary romance authors. To receive our free unreleased books and new release updates, join our mailing lists here:
http://www.kiraward.com
http://www.aubreysage.com
contact us at:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Check out our other titles!
Arrogant Neighbor: A Navy Seal Romance
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EEM02P2
The first night in my new apartment, I wanted to kill him. The laughter in the halls, the banging against the walls, the sound of that girl screaming in ecstasy. It was so loud that I had to call our building manager about him twice.
My new neighbor was a rude, arrogant asshole.
I can't blame the girl though. His dazzling blue eyes, that body, those tattoos. I had never met a guy quite like him.
But then he keyed my car, and I needed to get the police involved. That was the beginning of our heated feud.
Little did I know, things were about to get a lot more heated. The cocky bastard was holding onto a lot of big secrets, one of them being that he was an ex-Navy Seal. And when the Navy Seal came to the rescue, I ended up rescuing him from himself in the process.
Beautiful Illusion: A Bad Boy Romance
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FZJWDXC
I thought I had it all figured out... a successful business, good friends, and a new guy I was sure I'd fall in love with.
Then I met Enigma—nothing but a smooth, arrogant playboy.
Hot as hell, but totally not my type.
Little did I know, Enigma was magical in more ways than one, and whatever he did to my heart was more than just one of his illusions.
Defender: A Stepbrother Romance
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017V91XAS
I'm a beast in the courtroom and an animal in bed.
I spend all day telling my clients to keep their mouth shut so I can get them off whatever ******* charge they've managed themselves caught up into. I'm one of the meanest attorneys in NYC, and women can smell money and confidence from a mile away. I win cases, and I can get any girl. Except for one... and she's making my life a living hell.
My stepbrother hates me.
I've screwed up again, and here he comes to bail me out. Crawford. Sexy, powerful Crawford. He's barely acknowledged my existence since what happened between us years ago. Hell, the only reason he's coming to help me now is because Mom begged him to. I know I shouldn't have drank that night. I shouldn't have got into that car. My life is in Crawford's hands, but I'd love nothing more than my body to be in those hands as well.
Devil: A Stepbrother Romance
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0150BBYXU
Mitch:
They call me "The Wrecker". And not just for the bodies that I'm wrecking on the football field, but for p***y that I wreck in the bedroom.
It wasn't always this way. A little more than 2 years ago, I was just your average guy but then I got into fatal car accident with a drunk driver. The doctors had pronounced me dead, but just as I was walking towards the white light, I was offered a deal by The Devil himself. He'd let me live and make all my wildest dreams come true.
The one caveat? I could never love again. I'd have to break the heart of every single girl that would ever fall for me.
It sounded easy enough at the time. But then Annie grew up, and damn... she's perfect.
Annie:
My stepbrother has changed.
When he got out of the hospital, he got ripped–I mean really ripped. Now he's grown cocky, arrogant, and he has all these new tattoos. I never noticed him before, but he's shaped into the hottest guy I've ever seen. It's too bad he treats every woman like they're just a piece of meat.
He's the star running back at UCLA, and he'll probably make it to to the NFL next year. He's that good.
I hate that he's my stepbrother, but worst of all... I think I'm falling for him.
He Wants It, He Gets It
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0111CSUL6
Emma Allred is usually polite and well-mannered, but when the rudest customer she's ever met walks into her diner, she can't help but lose her temper. A heated encounter turns into her worst nightmare when she finds out the jerk who she's thrown coffee on is none other than billionaire CEO, Dante Caito.
Hot, sexy, and demanding, Dante gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and he's not about to let little Emma get away without a lesson. Even if it means purchasing the diner so that she loses her job or buying out her apartment complex to demolish her home. He'll stop at nothing to get her revenge–simply because he can.
But Emma isn't about to back down without a fight. Just because Dante is worth billions, doesn't mean that he can ruin her life. Dante just might have met his match. There's something about Emma's fiery nature that draws him in... He finds himself determined to have his way with Emma, inside and outside of the bedroom.
Marry Me: A Billionaire Bachelor Romance
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N2MMFN1
One billionaire bachelor. Six beautiful women... and a quirky misfit.
After hitting rock bottom, Mia Price gets an unexpected opportunity to star on the new, hit reality show, Marry Me. Thrown into a mansion together and cut off from the outside world, Mia competes with six other singles for the affection of the rich, strikingly handsome heartthrob, Gunnar Lowe.
The catch?
Gunnar and the winner have to get hitched at the end of the show.
She's in it for the prize money. He's in it for the fun. Neither expect that they can really fall for someone and get married on a crazy show filled with with drama, jealousy, and almost zero privacy.
But sometimes people find love in the most unexpected of places...
This is a full, standalone romance with no cliffhanger and a happy ending!
