by Rye Hart
Warm hands touched my shoulders. I started in surprise to see Abigail standing in front of me with a concerned frown on her face. Desire shot through me once more, but I couldn’t let it happen again. It had been a mistake the first time no matter how amazing it was.
“Abigail—” I started.
“Don’t worry so much,” she said. “I’m not going to sell you out to my Dad if you are worried about that.”
“I’m not worried about that,” I said. “I worry about other things that could be bad for the both of us here.”
“Like what exactly?”
“Like what your Dad told me this morning,” I said, seriously. “I believe him, Abi. I’ve been over there dealing with the men your Dad puts behind bars. They’ll kill you if they get a chance.”
“I understand that, but not everything in life is a mission. Is it a mission now to be here on the beach with me?”
“Of course not. I just—”
Warm lips pressed up against mine. It rendered me silent just as she knew it would. I tried desperately to fight the fire raging, but I couldn’t even if I tried. She kissed me softly for a long minute before pulling back to smile up at me.
“You need to let things go, and just relax a bit. Enjoy what you have in front of you.”
I shook my head in dismay. “That’s not what I’m here to do, Abi. I’m here to protect you.”
“From the seagulls over there?”
“That’s not what I meant,” I said in exasperation. “Plus, last night was—”
Her fingertips rested on my lips, shushing me. “Don’t say it. Don’t say it wasn’t right, and that it shouldn’t have happened. I’m a grown woman as you’ve put it before. I can make my own decisions and live with them.” She let her fingers trace down my jaw gently. “And I’m okay with what happened. In fact, I think we should do it again.”
“Right here?” I asked, shooting the tree lines another glance. It wouldn’t have been my first time to fuck in the open, but those days were supposedly past me with my tainted-ass youth. “Someone could come walking over here at any moment.”
“We better make it quick then,” Abigail said.
She stood on her tiptoes to kiss me. As much as I should have, I couldn’t find it me to resist. I wound my arms around her tightly and returned the kiss with just as much fervor I could muster. It felt so good to have her wrapped up in my arms, feeling her warm body pressed up against mine, that I was powerless to my desires rising again.
I had to have Abigail, and something told me, I wouldn’t be able to let her go even if I tried.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - ABIGAIL
Nothing would ever feel better than Harley’s warm lips against mine, or how his strong arms cradled me close. I never felt safer than I did then on the beach with him pulling me down into the hot sand below him.
The weight of Harley’s body draped over mine brought a shiver of anticipation. Our kisses quickly grew passionate while Harley’s tongue battled mine for dominance. His lips tore away from mine with a low moan to nip his way down the side of my neck. He found a particularly sensitive spot that made me squirm in pleasure, and sucked there intently until I was arching up against him in need.
Harley’s hand clasped my right hip. “How are you feeling down there?”
“A bit sore,” I said, breathlessly. “Nothing I didn’t expect.”
“Hm.” He leaned back up to kiss me hotly for a moment. “Well, I have a solution for that if you want.”
His eyes were dark and stormy as the endless sea behind him. I nodded in wordless permission of whatever solution he had. I trusted Harley’s skills when it came to a lot of things in such a short period of time.
Those wickedly talented hands tugged the skirt of my dress up before reaching under to hook his fingers on the elastic band of my bikini bottoms. The hot air caressed me below. Alarm skittered through me when Harley’s mouth started to trail kisses down my inner thigh. My eyes widened when Harley’s hot breath blew across the helpless nerves there before his tongue was there— gently swirling in a soothing rhythm.
My fingers buried themselves in the sand to keep myself grounded against the onslaught of Harley’s tongue and fingers. He kept that same rhythm until I couldn’t see straight anymore. I could feel the beginning signs of an impending release, but Harley’s mouth lifted right before it could happen. An ache filled me.
I bit back a groan of frustration when I saw that smug smirk on her face. Not willing to let him get away with anything just yet, I pushed him back onto the sand. Harley fell backward with a look of surprise before I straddled his hips. I was greeted with that familiar hardness pressing up against me.
“What are you doing?” Harley asked, giving me a wary look. “I don’t know if you could handle a top position yet. No offense.”
“A lot was taken,” I said and reached between our bodies to unzip his pants. A nervous tremble filled me again, but I quickly shoved it away. We’ve done it already once. Why am I so nervous? I rubbed at the heat and hardness that waited for me there.
Harley’s head fell back into the sand with a groan. His hips shifted up under me to grind up against my hand. Feminine smugness filled me to see the pleasure across his face. I have the ability to make a man trained in the Special Forces to writhe under me in desire and pleasure.
“Fuck,” Harley growled a minute later. “If you keep going, I’m gonna come, Abi. I am telling you.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No, because I want to be inside of you when I come. That’s why.”
He sat up suddenly, so I was cradled in his lap. His lips nipped at the column of my neck while my hips rolled against his for the friction. Carnal Instinct was all I could think. It took over everything in my mind. I wanted this man underneath me before he flipped me over onto my back with ease.
I didn’t get a chance to think of anything else besides the feel of Harley entering me with a grunt. There was nothing gentle about it this time. His hips buried into mine, and I could feel every inch of tension radiating off him. This wasn’t just about sex. I could sense it as Harley’s fingers buried into my hips to thrust hard and fast.
Hot sand ground against my back as pleasure built up in me again fast and hard with each frantic thrust. I could only hold onto Harley’s arms while I thrashed from the crushing wave of an orgasm.
“Now,” I heard him grit out and reached between our bodies to rub his thumb against me until I bucked up with a gasp.
I came hard with a scream that echoed I was sure. Harley gasped against my mouth before collapsing against me. I felt the heat of his release lingering inside of me long after he slipped out with a shake of his head. He knelt in front of me with his head bowed.
“We shouldn’t have done that,” he said through pants. “What is it about you that I can’t resist?”
“It’s not a bad thing,” I said, sitting up as well. My heart slammed against my rib cage. “Why do you make into a bad thing?”
“Because I’m way older than you, Abi,” he said. “There’s ten years between us.”
“Age doesn’t matter to me.”
I reached out to grasp his hand, but Harley pulled it away. The gesture stung, but I let my hand fall between us uselessly.
“It should because your life is ahead of you still,” Harley said. “Mine is pretty much over. My glory days are gone. I live at home with my Mom.”
“To take care of her,” I said, alarmed at the disgust in his voice. “You didn’t waste your life over in Iraq fighting for freedom.”
“And there’s that too.” Harley looked up with a haunted gaze that chilled me. “I watched one of my best friends get blown apart right before my eyes. I killed people over there. All of that weighs on me in a way that you don’t even know.”
“I don’t pretend to understand it,” I said. Tears started to fill my eyes. “What do you think that I want from you?”
Harley tucked himself back into his
pants. He felt so cold and distant when I knew there was warmth beneath his skin. I numbly reached for my bikini bottoms to tug them up my legs.
“You want a relationship,” he said. “I get why you do, but trust me. You don’t want to be in a relationship with me. I’m not the type of guy you want to commit your life too.”
“Everyone deserves to have something like that. You—”
Whizz. Sand dusted my hand. I felt a flutter of a breeze in my hair. I jerked back in surprise at the sound before I heard Harley let out a string of curse words. He reached out to grab me by the arms painfully.
“Run,” he shouted.
I stumbled on the hot sand with my bag dangling from my fingers and tangling about my legs. Sand burst next to me again followed by that whizzing sound. Fear shot through me as Harley pushed me down to the ground violently without pausing to see if I was alright.
I realized with a horrible and surreal jolt that Harley was crouched next to a boulder with a gun pointed in the direction of a tree line. His eyes were scanning the trees intently. I held my breath when something whizzed by to thud into the rock next to him.
Bullets.
Fear rendered me motionless. I couldn’t do anything even if I tried. Someone had been shooting at us. I watched as Harley aimed his gun in a certain direction, one finger reaching around to click the safety off. He fired once. I covered my ringing ears then as I watched his finger work the trigger two times, three times, and something hit the rock again next to me. I sank down to the hot sand to cover my head while bits of rock and sand covered us.
It wasn’t until Harley shook me violently that I looked up to see his lips moving.
“We have to run,” Harley said, impatiently. He helped me up to my wobbly legs and guided me forward with a steady push. “We need to find a cab to take us back to find Libby. Where is she?”
I couldn’t answer. Harley pushed me forward at such a pace that my legs burned in an effort to keep up with him. Before we reached the steps that led back up to the streets, Harley holstered his gun but kept a hand on my arm as he half-dragged me to the curbside. A cab pulled up to the curb, and Harley shoved me into the backseat without waiting for the driver to put his brakes on.
I couldn’t stop shaking. All I could hear was the sound of bullets hitting the sand next to me.
“Abi.” Harley’s warm hand fell over my trembling ones. He squeezed them when I looked up at him. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise you okay?”
All I could manage was a nod. Harley took my purse to dig through it before pulling out my phone.
“We have to find Libby,” he said. “We need to find her now, and get out of Madrid as fast as possible.”
CHAPTER FORTEEN - HARLEY
It had to be someone at the hotel. That was all I could think while the cab drove around aimlessly under my instructions.
“Pick the fucking phone up, Libby,” I snapped when it went straight to voicemail again. Roco. It had to be Roco. He was the only who knew that I would be at the beach with Abi.
I glanced over at a pale and trembling Abigail. Her eyes were wide and glossy as she watched cars and people through the passenger window. Years of instinct kept me from reaching out to assure her further that everything would be okay.
Whoever those shooters belonged to were dead on the beach. I had watched the three of them tumble out in surprise. They hadn’t expected a gun fight, but I had given them one. Neither were experienced either. They couldn’t even hit anywhere near Abigail where all those bullets had gone too.
Finally, I felt the steady buzz of Abigail’s phone to see that it was Libby’s name calling.
“Libby,” I said. “It’s Harley. Where the hell are you?”
“In a shop a few blocks away from the hotel,” Libby said, alarm filling her voice. “Harley? Why are you calling on Abi’s phone? Is everything ok—”
“No,” I said, shortly. “There was someone trying to shoot at us.”
Libby gasped into the phone.
“Listen to me. Who are you with?” I asked, keeping an eye on the driver for any movements towards his phone. He didn’t reach for it once.
“Roco,” she said. “We were having lunch together, but he said he had to make a phone call a few minutes ago.”
“Get away from Roco. Get back to the hotel, and lock yourself in the room. Don’t tell anyone where you are, and don’t answer the door until I’m there. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Libby hung up a second after that. I bounced my legs anxiously as I rattled off the address to the hotel. The driver pulled off a side street to head in the right direction.
“Is Libby going to be okay?” Abigail asked, voice a hoarse whisper. “Please tell me that she’s going to be okay, Harley.”
“She’ll be fine,” I said, one hand resting on the hilt of my .22. I didn’t look at Abigail who clung to my arm. “I told her to get to the hotel. She’ll probably be there the second we pull up.”
“I don’t understand,” Abigail said. “Who was shooting at us? I don’t even know where they were, or how they found out where I was.”
“Someone told them where you were,” I said. “I have a feeling that they knew about your trip to Madrid.”
I watched the realization spread across Abigail's face at those words. There was no doubt in my head that she posted her adventures to social media. Libby too. It was an easy target for anyone to know where they were going to be.
“I’m calling your Dad,” I said, scrolling through her contacts. “We have to get out tonight. We can find out who the people worked for that shot at us soon enough.”
Abigail swallowed thickly. “How soon?”
“Within the next hour or two. When they figure out why they aren’t answering their phones to confirm whether or not they killed you.”
She didn’t say anything to that. I waited for the secretary of Robert’s office to transfer me to his direct line.
“Robert Carter speaking,” he said, annoyance evident in his voice. “This better be an emergency whoever is calling.”
“It’s Harley Jordan,” I said.
“Harley? What is going on?”
Panic filled Robert’s voice instantly as I knew it would. The only person who had the money and connections to get us out safely and fast was Robert.
“We have to get out of Spain,” I said. “Within the next hour preferably. A hit on Abigail had been attempted just now.”
“Oh, God. Please tell me my baby girl is okay.”
“She’s going to be fine.” I glanced over at Abigail who was close to tears. “Can you get us out of Spain? I’ll explain everything once we are in the air.”
“Yes. I will call now.”
I hung up before he could ask anything else. I spotted the hotel and Libby walking up the sidewalk at a hurried pace. I opened the door quickly to pull out Abigail before throwing money at the annoyed driver. He sped off without pausing even to see if the passenger door was shut.
Libby hugged Abigail tightly as they both fell into tears. I ushered them both up the sidewalk while glancing over my shoulder. No sight of Roco, or anyone else that looked familiar to the shooters in the trees.
“What are we going to do?” Libby asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Harley. I should’ve listened to you. I just didn’t think that something like this would happen.”
“We can’t stop to apologize right now,” I said, flatly. We entered the elevators. Once the doors slid shut, I let my hand fall away from the hilt of my gun. “Get all your shit and pack it up in ten minutes. Keep that damn door between our rooms open too.”
“What happened?” Libby asked.
“I don’t know,” Abigail said, holding onto her. “I don’t know. We were down at the beach when someone came up on us shooting.”
“Tried to shoot,” I corrected. “Whoever they were, weren’t good at all. I can tell you that they had shitty aim. Someone hired amateurs to take a hit out on
you.”
Libby looked aghast at the thought. “Who though? Who would come to Madrid to kill Abigail?”
“Someone that her Dad is putting in jail,” I replied, and the elevators dinged open. I glanced out to find the hallway empty. “It’s not that difficult to figure out. Give me your room key.”
Abigail handed it over without question. I did a quick survey of the room before pulling them both in. The startled affect. I could read it on their faces as they stood there together looking about their room with wide eyes. I sucked in a deep breath to keep myself calm as I pulled the door open to my room. Gunfights never fazed me anymore. It was pure adrenaline and instinct that took over now.
“Hurry it up,” I told them. “Get your things. Whatever you leave behind, is what stays behind.”
They moved then. I gathered my things that were packed neatly in one spot out of years of habit of having to move quickly when we needed to. It only took me a few minutes before I had everything gathered.
I entered the room to find them silently throwing things into their suitcases without speaking or looking at one another. While Libby went into the bathroom to gather a few things, I stepped over to where Abigail was zipping up her suitcase with trembling fingers. I reached out to calmly grasp them in mine.
Her eyes were still wide with absolute terror. I pressed a kiss against her right temple, ignoring the fact that it was an intimate gesture. Even if I had spent the past few weeks fighting with her, fighting my desires to have her, I knew how terrified she felt. In just a matter of minutes, her world had came crashing down on her.
“I’ll get you home safely,” I said. “I promise. This is what I was paid to do.”
“I know,” she said, numbly. “You were only paid to protect me from horrible things. Go figure that it actually happened. At least I had someone in the Special Forces there to shoot back.”
I smiled thinly at the tearful compliment. “I’m just glad you didn’t get hit.” It hit me then I hadn’t even checked either one of us for wounds. I took a step back to survey Abigail’s bare legs, but there wasn’t any sign of blood on her. “You weren’t hit, right?”