Chapter 14
Morgan
I’d never been more grateful for how soundly Angelica slept than when my cell vibrated against the nightstand in the middle of the night. I slid my arm out from underneath her head and rolled off the mattress, grabbing my phone and quietly exiting the room before answering the call without bothering to see who it was. Considering the time, I already knew it wasn’t going to be anything good. “Cadwell.”
“Is that any way to greet your best friend when he busted ass to fly halfway across the country to come to your girl’s rescue?”
I chose to ignore any reference to him saving my Angel because it would only result in me wanting to punch him in the face. “You’re here?”
“Brought a team with me, too.”
“Hold on a second,” I instructed him, slipping back into the bedroom to grab some clothes from the closet. I didn’t want to meet his guys naked as the day I was born. After checking on Angelica to make sure she was still sleeping, I left the room and softly shut the door behind me. “How far out are you?”
“We’ll be at your house in five minutes.”
If his middle of the night flight with a team of his employees didn’t clue me in on the seriousness of the situation, then the fact that he’d have had to use the private airstrip down the street from my home would have. “Use the back door. I’ll have coffee waiting.”
I grabbed my gun from the safe in my office and tucked it into the waistband of my jeans before heading into the kitchen. True to his word, Brecken walked in five minutes later, followed by two burly men and a tall, athletic looking woman.
“It’s good to see you, man.” I pulled him in for a quick hug before stepping back and scanning the faces of his team. “I just wish it was under better circumstances or at least with a little more warning.”
“No time to waste,” he muttered, gesturing for his team to take a seat on the stools at the granite counter while he pulled me to the side. “I got confirmation they’re planning to move in on her in the next twenty-four hours. We need to take care of this now, before they send a team of their own after her.”
“What’s the plan?” I asked, holding onto my temper by the barest thread, knowing it wouldn’t serve a purpose to lose it. The only reasons I was able to keep it together were knowing my Angel was safely upstairs in my bed and that I could always count on my best friend to have a plan.
“How much money do you have laying around?”
I did a quick tally in my head. “About a quarter of a mil if it has to be cash, closer to two if they’ll take diamonds and bearer bonds.”
He whistled softly. “I should have hit you up for more money when I started the business.”
“You help me get my Angel out of this mess and you can ask for whatever you want.”
“You may not be my brother in blood, but you’re my brother where it counts.” He thumped his chest, over his heart. “There’s no fucking way I’m taking payment from you to save your girl.”
“I think Boss man’s gone loco,” one of his guys muttered from behind us. “You don’t ever look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“Shut the fuck up,” the female operative countered. “You damn well know his loyalty is the reason we signed on with him in the first place.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the other guy grumbled. “But the promise of earning a shit ton more than we did in the military certainly didn’t hurt.”
“Enough,” Brecken barked at them before turning his attention back to me. “The plan is to leave Sera behind to watch over your girl while we head out to pay off the Chechens. And we’d better hope they’ll take diamonds because the cash alone isn’t going to cut it.”
“Her father’s that deep into them?”
“Deeper,” he murmured. “The money and diamonds will get your girl out of this mess, but the Chechens still want his ass once they manage to locate him.”
“They can have him,” I growled. “As long as he stays away from Angelica, I don’t give a damn what happens to that piece of shit.”
“Then let’s grab what we need and head out,” Brecken replied, looking down at his watch. “Because we’re meeting with them in less than an hour.”
He followed me into my office. I unlocked the safe again, this time pulling out all the cash I had on hand and a couple black velvet drawstring bags filled with diamonds. My parent’s wealth had done a lot for me in my life, but I was never more grateful for it than today, knowing the money they’d given me was going to save Angelica’s life.
While Brecken packed the duffel bag, I crept back upstairs and watched her sleep. I didn’t allow myself much time to savor the sight, just a moment. Then I pulled a pair of fur-lined handcuffs from the nightstand and slipped them around her wrist. My hope was she’d never know they were there, but I didn’t trust her not to convince Brecken’s employee that they needed to come after us. Girl power and all that.
I wanted her safe and sound in my home while I cleaned up the mess her father left behind. If the way I handled it pissed her off, so be it. I’d figure out a way to make it up to her later.
***
Getting to the meet was easy enough. They’d agreed to see me in the back room of a low-class strip club that was worlds apart from the places I owned. One of Brecken’s guys stayed with the car while the three of us went inside. The old guy sitting behind the desk wasn’t too intimidating, but the four guys surrounding us with their hands on the guns in their holsters sure as shit were. It was a good thing Brecken was standing behind me because I knew he had my back, literally and figuratively. I also knew he was the best shot in the room because he’d already been better than anyone else before the military got their hands on him.
“You’re here to pay off Mr. Rose’s debt?” the man asked, drawing my attention away from his goons and back to him.
“No, I’m here to make sure you stay the fuck away from my woman,” I corrected. “I could care less about her father’s debt to you.”
His eyes fell on the duffel bag in my hand. I stepped forward and tossed it onto the desk. He stared at me, presumably assessing my strengths and weaknesses, before unzipping the bag and looking inside. He pulled the stacks of cash out first, his thumb fanning the edges of the bills out on each stack before he placed it on the desk. He moved to the bags of diamonds next. Opening one and dumping the contents in his hand and then pouring it back inside to move onto the other.
“I can’t help but wonder about the girl,” he uttered, a calculated gleam in his eye. “That her father would so callously toss her to the likes of me, but a man such as yourself would pay handsomely to keep her from my clutches.”
“There’s enough money there for you to forget you ever heard her name.”
He cocked his head to one side. “I can’t help but be intrigued. Who’s to say she wouldn’t be worth more to me than what you’ve brought today?”
“If so much as a hair on her head is hurt, she’ll cost you a hell of a lot more than what was in that bag,” I warned.
He leaned back in his chair, a slight smirk tilted the side of his mouth. “I’d choose your words more wisely, Mr. Cadwell. You may be wealthy, but you’re too soft to take me on.”
I felt more than heard Brecken step forward, moving to my side. “He isn’t soft, and he wouldn’t be alone.”
“Ah yes, I’d heard you’re more than paid muscle to Mr. Cadwell.” He studied Brecken, nodding his head after a while as though he’d come to a decision. “Fine, consider the deal done. I’ll accept the money and the diamonds in exchange for the girl who I could have taken as my marker from her father.”
“You’ll spread the word that she’s not connected to him in any way going forward,” Brecken pushed.
“Yes, yes,” he replied, waving us off. “The last thing I need is the authorities breathing down my neck because the girl stubbed her toe or some such nonsense. I’ll make sure her father cannot use her as collateral again.”
“Thank you,�
�� I forced the words past my lips, relieved to know Angelica would be safe but pissed at the thought of what this man would have done to her if she hadn’t been mine.
My beautiful angel—who I’d left shackled to my bed.
Chapter 15
Angelica
I turned over part way, still mostly asleep, and felt a tug on my wrist. “Lemme roll over,” I murmured into my pillow, trying to jerk my wrist out of Morgan’s grasp. Only there wasn’t any give. None at all. I lifted my head, and blearily looked up at my hand.
What the heck?
I rubbed my free hand over my eyes and then opened them wider. I had to be seeing things. I jiggled my wrist and felt the soft slide of furry material on my skin. I looked at the headboard, and as sure as the sun rises every morning, the other end of a set of handcuffs was wrapped around the nearest bedpost.
“This cannot be happening to me,” I growled.
“Shit,” Morgan muttered from the other side of the room. “I was hoping to make it back before you woke up.”
“Back from where and why am I handcuffed to the bed in the first place?”
“I went with Brecken and a couple of his guys to take care of the situation,” he explained, moving around the bed to kneel on the mattress next to me. I watched dumbly as he pulled a key from his pocket and released my wrist, rubbing it lightly with his thumb.
“You thought it was a good idea to not wake me up and tell me what was going on but instead to leave me sleeping in our bed with my wrist latched to the bedpost?” I yelled.
“I had to make sure you stayed put. These were dangerous men and I didn’t want them to lay eyes on you. Ever.”
I took several deep breaths, trying to focus on what was most important first. “How did the meeting go?”
“Good,” he grunted. “You won’t need to worry about them or your father again.”
I probably should have felt guilty about the fact that Morgan had gotten me out of the mess my father was still in, but I didn’t. He’d brought this onto himself and was no longer a part of my life by his choice. Not mine. I focused all my frustration on the man in front of me instead.
“You’re controlling and demanding and possessive and pretty much everything my mom warned me to stay away from with men!” I yelled, the emotional roller coaster I’d found myself on with him finally getting the better of me.
“Angel,” he whispered, an apology flashing in his eyes as he looked at me.
He didn’t stop me from lashing out and it just made me even angrier because I didn’t want his understanding. I wanted a fight—to yell and scream and rage at the world. As much as I knew what had happened with my father wasn’t Morgan’s fault, I wanted to lay all the blame at his feet. It hurt so damn much to know the man who’d raised me, who I had adored even after he abandoned my mom and me, had seen me as nothing more than a piece of collateral to use when he got into trouble. My screams eventually shifted to sobs and Morgan held me through it all.
When I began to settle down, he kissed my throat and worked his way across my chin and around to my ear. “I was never any of those things until you came into my life, my Angel.”
“But why?” I whispered back, unsure what he could possibly see in me that my own father couldn’t.
“Let me show you.”
Gripping my neck to pull me closer into his body, he wrapped his other arm around my lower back so he could lower me onto the bed. As soon as my back hit the mattress, his tongue slid into my mouth and caressed mine slowly. His kiss was soft and thorough—a leisurely exploration that he prolonged by gently nibbling at my lips before breaking away.
His dark eyes lit with appreciation as he gazed down at me sprawled beneath him. My nipples hardened as he stared at me before pushing back onto the mattress. Resting on one arm, one of his fingers blazed a trail of goosebumps along my skin as he traced a path from my breasts to my hip bone and back again. My breath caught in my throat when he lightly traced my nipple and it peaked under his touch.
I couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped my lips when his stubble scraped against my sensitive skin as he nibbled his way down my body, his palm cupping my pussy. “This is mine,” he murmured. “All of you, every inch, is mine to cherish. To protect.”
The promise in his tone scared me because it made me feel safe and protected. I was overwhelmed by the intensity of my feelings for Morgan and had been since the day we met. Every day since then, he had done everything in his power to give me anything I could ever want. Not just things, though. He gave himself to me too, and that’s what I was afraid of the most because he’d managed to make me need him like I’d never needed anyone else in my life.
Lifting himself up, he swiftly ripped his pants down his legs and moved until he was cradled between my thighs. His cock pushed against me, but he didn’t move to take me like he normally would. Instead he held himself still and stared into my eyes with a look of such longing that my hands lifted to cradle his face in reassurance before I even realized what I was doing. I was flooded with emotion as this amazing man, who could have any woman he wanted, gazed down at me like I was the only thing that existed in the entire world.
“I love you,” he whispered right before lifting his hips and slowly sliding inside me.
I gasped at his admission, the words I’d wanted to hear from him since the day I gave him my body. Tears swam in my eyes as I shook my head, sure that I must have heard him wrong. My emotions spiraled out of control, and I closed my eyes in an effort to gain control over them.
“Angel, look at me,” he demanded and my eyes popped back open. “You’re mine and I love you.”
“Are you sure?” I whispered hesitantly, scared to believe what I was hearing him say and what I could see shining from his eyes.
Instead of answering right away, he circled his hips before he withdrew from my body only to plunge back in. “I’m sure,” he promised. “I’ve never felt like this before, but I have no doubt that you were made for me, my Angel. Mine and mine alone.”
“Yours,” I gasped as he pulled out and rammed back in.
“I love you,” he repeated.
“You really do,” I breathed out, finally willing to accept it as the truth.
“Just like you love me,” he rasped, grinding his pelvis against me as his cock bumped my cervix.
“Says who?” I groaned, my legs tensing as my body tightened in pleasure.
“Me!” His eyes burned with an intensity I’d never seen before as he stared down at me while fucking me slow and hard. “And you because you’re damn well going to admit it right now or I won’t let you come.”
He stopped moving, his cock buried deep inside me. I began to squirm and tried to rotate my hips because my orgasm was just a hairsbreadth away but he continued to hold still above me. One of my hands snaked down towards my clit as I was desperate to climax, but he grabbed it and held tightly. My breathing was uneven, sweat dripped down his forehead and I was shocked to see tears in his eyes.
“If anything ever happened to you, I don’t know what I would do. I love you so fucking much.”
There was no denying our feelings anymore and the words spilled out of my mouth. “I love you too.”
His eyes light with joy and his lips twisted into a satisfied smirk. “My Angel,” he breathed out. “I’m your first, last, forever and always.”
His hips swiveled again and a moan bubbled up my throat as he rocked gently back into me. The sex between us had always been incredible, but knowing he loved me added an intensity to our joining that had my heart pounding and the blood pulsing harder through my veins. The climax which had been so close before was held at bay as he leisurely plunged in and out of me. Our eyes were locked, faces mere inches from each other as he thrust deeply and I began to shudder underneath him. My hands were clenched on the damp skin of his back, drawing his body as close to me as I could get him.
“Come for me,” he urged.
“Together,” I gasped back.
/> “Yes,” he hissed out as I tilted my hips up on his next thrust and moaned when he filled me completely, and my pussy fluttered around his cock. His body went rigid, and I finally tumbled headlong over the edge he’d held me suspended over for so long. My body trembled beneath his while he pushed inside one last time, holding himself deep and filling me with his come.
We lay there, wrapped together and silent for the longest time. I was filled with contentment as I traced my fingers along his taut skin and rested my head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.
“I love you so much,” I sighed.
“I know you do, Angel. I never doubted it for a moment.”
“Not even when I wore my shortest skirt to the campus bookstore and you caught that boy flirting with me?” I teased.
“I didn’t doubt what you felt for me, only whether you’d ever get around to admitting it,” he replied. “And I sure as hell didn’t trust that boy around you.”
“You don’t trust anyone around me,” I pointed out.
“Don’t expect that to ever change,” he warned. “It’s part of being mine and of me protecting what belongs to me.”
“I wouldn’t change a thing about you. I love you just the way you are.”
“Damn straight you do,” he said smugly.
Epilogue
Morgan
Looking at my Angel’s belly swollen with our child was something I would never get tired of. Especially when I got to watch it bounce while she rode me to an orgasm. Her pregnancy made her incredibly horny, and she wanted to climb on my cock at all times of the day.
I kept my hand on her belly as she moved up and down on my cock. It didn’t take much to get her off nowadays, which was a good thing considering my dick usually ended up sore by the time I fell asleep at night. She really was insatiable.
“Angel,” I groaned as she swiveled her hips on a downslide. I watched as my whole cock disappeared into her pussy. She was fucking soaked and my dick was glistening with her juices.
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