by Bourne, Lena
“Sit, Doc,” Cross says as I enter his office, and while I’d prefer to deliver my terms standing, I do it anyway.
“How is she?” Cross asks.
“She’ll be fine. She just needs a couple more days of rest,” I tell him. He’s not the type of guy who enjoys small talk before getting to the point, so why is he doing it now?
“She’s welcome to stay here while she heals,” Cross says.
“And after?” I snap, maybe too harshly. I’ve come to terms with my truth, but I’d still prefer it, if I didn’t have to choose between my brothers and my woman to live it. I don’t like being forced to make the choice. And it’s making me angry.
Cross chuckles. “It’s like that, is it?”
“Anne is not her husband. Her husband tried to kill her and he made her a wanted woman. She won’t betray me, or any one of us,” I say. “Especially not after we saved her life. She would have died in that basement, and she knows it.”
Cross nods thoughtfully but remains silent.
“I can’t let her go,” I add in a slightly less belligerent tone once the silence starts to drag.
Cross fixes me with that unreadable black stare of his. “I believe you, and I want to trust her. As it turns out, this whole mess ended up working in our favor. The guy was a well of information once Scar cracked him. There have been signs of the feds closing in on us for a while now, ever since that mess with Seven and his woman. This guy confirmed my suspicions and more besides. If he hadn’t fallen in our laps like he did, we’d be woken up one morning by the feds, and carted away to prison with virtually no forewarning. They have informants and shit on the inside, most of the clubs around here have been infiltrated. We got some names out of the guy, but I’m sure there are others this guy didn’t know about.”
Most of my happiness of hearing that Cross is gonna let Anne stay is now replaced by a very ominous, dark foreboding-type feeling. Even if she stays, we might not get our forever.
“You think we have a rat lurking somewhere?” I ask.
Cross shakes his head. “Hawk is a master at keeping tabs on shit like that, so I don’t believe any of our brothers have been turned. But I’m gonna have to tighten up the ship now and make sure no one slipped through. The husband has to disappear.”
This time, I’m the one nodding and not saying anything. How will Anne take that? Will she accept my way of life, or will I lose her, if I tell her?
“How much can she know?” I ask.
“As little as possible,” he says. “And only as much as she can take. What I mean is, don’t tell her about the husband yet. It could make her want to fly to his rescue.”
“She never wants to see the guy again,” I say. “I’m sure she won’t miss him.”
Cross pushes against his desk and gets up. “I’ll let you be the judge of that. It’s time to go deal with the guy now. There’s not much left of him to kill, to be honest, but we have to make it look like an accident.”
I precede him out the door, sounding more in control than I actually am, as I once again assure him he has nothing to worry about regarding Anne.
I know she loves me and I know I love her. But abused wives have their heads all screwed up by their abusers, and I know how hard it is to get your head unscrewed. I’ve been trying to get rid of my own nightmares, anger and bad memories for years, and I’ve been largely unsuccessful at it.
But my worries and black fears fade more and more with each step I take to reach my bedroom where she’s waiting for me. By the time I grip the door handle, they’re almost completely gone. She’s already done what years of trying to heal myself hadn’t. I can do the same for her and I mean to.
* * *
Anne
Matt walks in, interrupting Roxie mid-sentence. I think it’s the serious look on his face that’s preventing her from resuming her story of how she tried to get in touch with me once she got her first job as a social worker, but couldn’t find me anywhere. That was because I was a prisoner in my own home by then.
“Can you give us a minute, Roxie?” he asks her, and she nods and smiles, but her eyes are serious and tight when she tells me we’ll talk later and leaves the room.
Matt doesn’t start talking even after she’s gone, the seriousness in his eyes growing darker.
The idea of him returning and joining me in the large, four-poster bed, in this huge room—which could fit my old living room and kitchen with space to spare—has been swimming in my mind since Roxie tucked me in. But the tightness in his face now is telling me that vision is far from coming true even now that he’s back.
“You have news about Benji, right?” I ask, since he’s still not saying anything.
He nods.
“He’s dead?” I ask, surprised when my voice cracks.
“Not yet,” he answers and leaves it at that.
“But he will be soon,” I say quietly, merely voicing my thought, not asking a question. He nods anyway.
“How do you feel about that?”
I already know the answer to this question. “When we walked up the stairs, I wasn’t sure, but I am now. It’s either him or me. That’s how it’s been since the day I married him, and he almost won. He knew I’d die in that basement, and he locked me up in there, because he wanted me to die alone, afraid, and in pain. As long as he lives, he’s a threat to me and, as far as I understand it, to you and your club as well.”
“Yeah, he’s a big threat to us,” he answers the suggestion of a question in my voice.
“Your club…you don’t do legal things, do you?” I ask, my voice shaky again, because I’m still not sure how I feel about this side of things.
“I save lives,” he says, pride loud in his voice, adding, ”But yes, we don’t do legal things.”
Then we just stare at each other across the room, his eyes cloudy, but bright anyway, not stern, not angry, just questioning, and kind of sad. The room seems much bigger with him all the way on the other side of it. Too big to cross. And my heart breaks at the thought of us being separated like that.
So I know my answer now. I don’t ever want to feel this kind of distance between us again.
I get out of bed and walk over to him, take both his hands in mine. “You saved my life and my soul. That’s all I ever need to know. I’ll keep your secrets, if you’ll let me. ”
He pulls me into an embrace, the sudden fast movement waking the pain in my ribs and my back. But then he kisses me and all else disappears. All the pain, all the worry, all the distance, and all the obstacles between us.
Our love is always a physical presence embracing us when we kiss. Right now, it’s stronger and more comforting than it’s ever been, pulsing in all the colors of the rainbow, making the world bright and perfect—something straight out of the best daydream. This is the only place I ever really wanted to be. In his arms, kissing him, loving him.
“And I’d love to be your nurse,” I say as I look deep into his eyes during a pause between kisses. “We can save lives together.”
“The job’s yours,” he says and laughs. “I could use some competent help around here.”
“And I’m yours too,” he adds much more softly and tenderly.
“And I yours,” I say softly then kiss him again, because words aren’t needed between us. Our souls can talk to each other perfectly without them.
And they will, from now until forever.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Anne
I love watching him sanitize and prepare the exam room. He’s so methodical, and so professional about it that it never fails to wake every fantasy I ever had about doctors, while I was still a silly nursing student, and before the reality of the job drove them from my mind.
He’s so consumed by making sure everything is just so over there on the counter that he doesn’t even notice as I slip out of my dress and underwear, and sit down on the examination table ready for him.
“Hey, Doc, something over here requires you
r attention,” I say in my best professional voice. He looks at me in all seriousness, but that’s quickly replaced by a very lustful look.
“Is it serious?” he asks as he comes over, playing along.
“Yes, very serious,” I say, but that’s as much playing as I can stand today.
I grab the front of his shirt and pull him to me for a kiss. Before long, the kiss, along with his practiced hands caressing my bare skin, starts a wild fire inside me, fed by desire and lust, and all the love I have for him. The only cure for this fire is us joined, the bliss that is us coming at the same time. But even that can only quell it, never put it out.
I unbuckle his belt. He responds by removing his clothes and lying on top of me on the table. But he’s still just kissing me, his cock pressed against my pussy and pulsing, the fires inside me an inferno, my desire for him blinding, my skin tingling from his kisses and the heat of it all.
The gasping breath I take, as he enters me feels like the first in years, but the fresh air only stokes the flames higher. His cock does the rest, stirring the embers, causing sparkling new flames to join the ranks of the ever-burning ones, until my whole body is filled with the heat of our love, and my breaths don’t let in any fresh air at all.
He fits into me so perfectly, so seamlessly—into my body and into my mind—fulfilling every fantasy I ever had, and making all my dreams come true without even trying, just by being. I hope he’s close, because I am. And I want this fiery pleasure we’re sharing to explode at the same time for both of us.
It does, filling the room with crackling, sparkling explosions of heat and multi-colored light. For these few glorious moments, we truly are one in everything—body, soul, heart, and pleasure.
“You know, this was always one of my biggest fantasies,” I tell him later, once I get my vision and voice back. I’m snuggled up against him on the exam table, the sky outside a perfect blend of lilac and white.
“What? Doctors?” he asks, faking outrage and surprise. “So you’re one of those nurses…”
He’s playing along with what he thinks is just a part of this particular fantasy of mine, since we’ve done this a hundred times before, at least.
I turn my head to give him a chiding look. “No, not that. My biggest fantasy is making love like this with the man of my dreams. The fact that you’re a doctor is just a bonus.”
He chuckles and kisses me, softly at first, but it grows deeper and deeper, his arms tight around me, our fingers and our bodies entwined, as though we really are one.
In all ways, he is my fantasy come true. And I am his.
THE END
* * *
Want to read on? The next book in this series will be Ink’s story and it is coming soon! Sign up to receive an alert the moment it is released: http://www.lenabourne.com/devils-nightmare-series-alerts/
Also by Lena Bourne
VIPER’S BITE MC SERIES:
Outlaw’s Hope, Book 1 - A Standalone MC Romance
Outlaw’s Salvation, Book 2 - A Standalone MC Romance
Outlaw’s Redemption, Book 3 - A Standalone MC Romance
Rider’s Fall: A Viper’s Bite MC Novella - A Standalone MC Romance
DEVIL’S NIGHTMARE MC SERIES:
Cross
Tank
Rook
Scar
Ice
Hawk
HIS FOREVER - An Alpha Billionaire Romance Serial (Completed)
His Forever: The Complete Series
OF THE ARCHERS
Adam (of the Archers, Book 1) — Full-length, standalone BBW Military Romance
NOT LOOKING FOR LOVE - An NA Contemporary Romance Series (Completed)
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Episode 7: amzn.to/1IPa7hH (FINAL EPISODE)
About the Author
Lena Bourne writes steamy, suspenseful romantic stories, which include bad boy romances, MC romances, dark romances, military romances, sports romances, and many more. Hot bedroom scenes and fast-paced, action packed plots are Lena’s specialty. Her heroines are strong, sassy and independent, and her heroes are usually rough-around-the-edges alpha bad boys.
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