Bound to the Bounty Hunter

by Hayson Manning

  Fear, relief, anger, and frustration wrapped together in a complicated ball and squeezed against his skull.

  “I need to go phone Titus, Annie, and Gemma.”

  She moved out of his arms, and he missed her heat.

  “Titus doesn’t know. Too much stress after the fall. I’ll call Annie. I’ve been giving her and Gemma updates.” The text had come from Iz. An unmarked car with no plates had dropped her at the end of the driveway then sped off.

  Sophie walked toward her bedroom while he phoned Annie.

  “Tell me you have her,” Annie breathed.

  “She’s home.”

  “Tell her we’ll be around with margaritas, girly snacks, and male appendages.” Annie’s voice smiled into the phone. “You can stay if you want, Harlan, and Thor if he’s around.”

  “Not tonight, babe. She’s going to be plastered to my side. As for the other stuff, I don’t drink margaritas, I don’t know what girly snacks are but I’m thinking ‘no,’ and I won’t ever look at another dick, real or otherwise. I can’t speak for Iz but I’m guessing he’s of the same opinion.”

  “So critiquing bad porn’s out, too?”

  “Always,” he chuckled. “Sophie will phone you.”

  He turned to find Sophie staring at him. Sweatshirt hanging from her body, wearing black leggings, biting her lip, but her gaze was strong.

  She took his hand and led him to the sofa. Sophie sat, and Harlan sat beside her. She pulled her hand from his and folded both her hands in her lap. Cold fingers gripped his heart at the determination on her pale face.

  “I need to talk to you,” she said, her voice strong.

  Harlan looked down into her heartbreakingly beautiful face and braced. He didn’t know where they were headed, but he’d deal with it, and they’d move on.

  Pongo lay on his bed, one eye on her. Sophie’s eyes rested briefly on her snow globe collection, she swallowed repeatedly, then faced him.

  “I loved my daddy. Loved him so much I thought my heart would burst. I was his little girl.” Pain rippled across her face. “I thought we were doing the world a service. Helping people when they needed a prayer the most, but it turns out he wasn’t who I thought he was.” She paused. “When he died I found a journal with the names of the people who’d paid him to bring rains, cure the sick, and find love.” Her voice was whisper quiet. “And I never knew. The charismatic preacher with the plain daughter.”

  He closed his eyes briefly.

  Oh shit, I should have told her earlier.

  If he could dig up O’Connor, he’d do it so he could kill the fucker all over again.

  “Your dad wasn’t the preacher who ripped off my mom.”

  Relief briefly washed over her face.

  “That’s why we had to leave in the middle of the night.” Her teeth indented her lip. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it when I was younger, but I didn’t.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “I’ve been paying back the people he stole from. Each name gets an envelope with the amount he swindled and a card signed by one Josiah O’Connor.”

  Oh Jesus.

  She paused. He went to grab her hand, but she shook her head. It took everything in his power to keep still.

  “He also had a detailed journal on Vladimir Petrov. Newspaper articles, dates and times of where he’d gone. It goes back years. That’s why I went to the mall, alone, so no one else would get hurt. I thought my father had pulled a massive con against Petrov. The plan was to fix my father’s mess, negotiate the terms of the payback, and work out a solution.”

  O’Connor had been a total fuckup, but her determination at righting her dad’s wrongs moved him deeply. He leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. “You’re a good woman.”

  He’d do anything to take away her pain, absorb it into his body. She needed to know that this wasn’t about some con her father had pulled, but the truth would only hurt her more.

  Her forehead still rested on his. “I can’t do this on my own. It’s too big, and I realized today this is about more than just me. The man in the Jeep said another woman’s name. Sarah. Dug told me to talk to you,” she said in a quiet voice.

  Harlan’s head snapped back, breaking the connection.

  “Dug?”

  What the fuck?

  “He saw me being followed, rescued me, and took me back to his place until the tranquilizer wore off.”

  His fingers flexed.

  She stood and paced, her hands on her hips, her voice strong. “I don’t understand what’s happening or why, and I have no idea who this Sarah is.”

  His heart pounded, and a thin layer of cold sweat coated his body, but he stayed silent.

  She stared out the window, wringing her hands. The only sound in the room was the contented sound of the fridge and the sound of his heart beating out the words “tell her.”

  “I’ve had three lovers.” Her voice was strong.

  He rubbed at the permanent ache on the back of his neck. “Jesus, Sophie, I don’t care how—”

  “Please,” she whispered.

  He gave a sharp nod. If she started going into detail he’d have to walk away.

  Her eyes flickered closed. “You asked what went wrong in Vegas.”

  “Yeah.” He drew a quick breath. She’d gone from being totally into him to refusing to look at him. Her body language had screamed “stay away.”

  “The night we had. I would have done anything you’d asked me. Anything, and that scared me. A lot. Was I doing it because at a subconscious level I wanted to please you, or was I doing it because I loved it?” She turned her head away. “Then when Ms. F Cup kissed your cheek in the bar, jealousy shot through me. I wanted to walk over and sink to the ground and be your submissive. Be who you wanted me to be.”

  Harlan blinked and froze.

  “God, it’s so embarrassing.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “It’s what I do. A desperate woman wanting a connection so badly that I lose myself. I won’t do that again, get so caught up in a man, I no longer know what I want or who I am.”

  He stared at her tortured face.

  A brittle laugh escaped her. “Pathetic, right?”

  He wanted everything about her, all she had to give, but not if she wasn’t true to herself.

  “The only woman I want is the woman standing in front of me now.”

  Her breath hitched.

  He walked to where she stood, vulnerable and breathtakingly beautiful. He wrapped her hand in his. “You held the power in Vegas. Until then I thought I had the power in our relationship, but you did.” Her fingers spasmed around his. “You wanting me instead of a vibrator made this personal. Made us personal, which makes us equal.” He twisted a piece of her hair, bringing her closer until he tasted her sweet breath. Her dark eyes were hesitant and glassy.

  He smiled. “Yeah, baby, hurts me to give it up, but it’s the truth.” He leaned in and, brushing his mouth against hers, he felt her shiver. He smiled against her lips. “FYI, I love this Sophie without her guard up, but don’t change, Soph, for me or anyone. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love you doing what I tell you to do, soft and compliant, but we’re going into this without bullshit. Besides…” He brushed the hair from her forehead. “I like you fighting me at every turn.” He paused and stared her straight in the eye, meaning every word. “I’d skin myself rather than hurt you.”

  He’d do anything to keep her safe.

  Anything but tell her the truth.

  A small stab to the gut.

  He angled his head down and kissed her, tasting her sweet lips, her tongue dueling with his, her arms wrapping around his neck.

  He broke the kiss. “And I think you liked what we did in Vegas. Your scent filling the room, your skin on fire, so wet I nearly exploded looking at you.”

  He kissed her like he’d never be full of her.

  That unanswered, unstoppable thread—stronger than steel—bound them, pulled them closer.

  If he could, he’d gift wra
p the moon and hand it to her with a bow.

  He stilled.

  The moon with a bow?

  If he asked himself if he’d ever think those words, he’d have taken out his gun and shot himself. But this was Sophie, who moved him in ways he couldn’t define and didn’t know if he wanted to.

  He nuzzled her neck, the adrenaline leaking from his exhausted body. He needed sleep and Sophie next to him. He dug his hand through his hair. A lot had come out tonight. A lot he had to process, but one thing he did know, Sophie wouldn’t be going anywhere without him for a long time.

  She made him feel.

  He smiled against her neck.

  And it felt fucking awesome.

  “We’re going to bed. I can sleep now that you’re here with me.”

  “Don’t you want to debrief?”

  He stood, took her hand, and walked toward the bedroom. “There are some answers that aren’t mine to give, but I promise that tomorrow you will have them. Tonight can you promise me you’ll stay in bed?”

  Sophie nodded before stripping to her plain underwear and crawling into bed. He joined her and pulled her into his arms, waiting until her breath evened out, he then walked into her family room leaving her bedroom door open so he could see her.

  He checked his email. Petrov was back in the country. He sent an update, including the fact that O’Connor had kept detailed information about Petrov’s movements and that Sophie believed it was Petrov trying to hurt her. He hadn’t come clean about her abduction for the moment. She was safe, and he’d deliver the news to him in person.

  Meanwhile, the Jeep had been found abandoned in an alley. Only Sophie’s fingerprints were on the dashboard where she’d clutched the hard plastic. He sucked in a barbed breath, aware how close he’d come to losing her. He’d called in favors and had close to fifty people looking for her, and he hadn’t been able to find her.

  But Dug had.

  That cozy thought burrowed into his brain with all the finesse of a sledgehammer.

  Dug who’d touched his lips to her neck.

  Dug who was also out to protect Sophie.

  Dug the fucker who’d been the one to rescue her.

  Jesus.

  If he were in a furniture shop right now the chairs would be kindling. He shook his head. He hadn’t even marked Dug as an asset. So wrapped up in Sophie he was losing his perspective, just like Zeb said.

  Iz had spoken with Pipe, who had given him all he knew about Dug, which turned out to be fuck all. The man had started showing up about the same time Sophie started working there. Women couldn’t get enough of him. Men instinctively knew not to fuck with him.

  Harlan crawled back into bed behind Sophie and held her tight. During the night, he woke when Sophie left the bed.

  He was halfway out of the bed when she walked back in from the bathroom, mint trailing her, wearing the T-shirt he’d worn last night.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you.” She slid in next to him.

  “Nightmare?” He reached for her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead.

  She shook her head. “Had to say my prayers.”

  He woke again when sunlight hit his face, Sophie curled into his body.

  “You want to talk about anything?” He traced over the fading bruise with his finger.

  She turned in his arms.

  “I don’t know where this is going, but it’s going.” He touched his lips to her forehead.

  She looked up at him, her face unguarded. “No more secrets.”

  He blinked, opened his mouth, then shut it. Something clutched at his insides.

  Tell her.

  He should tell her. Tell her everything. She’d been kidnapped, and he could have lost her, completely.

  Fuck.

  He closed his eyes.

  Soon, it would all be over, and they’d talk about their future, but he had an obligation to his client. Petrov needed to meet his daughter without his interference.

  “Are we good?” Sophie asked.

  He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Yeah, we’re good.”

  “I want this,” she said, sliding her arms around his neck, kissing along his jaw. She started moving south, her mouth leaving a trail of fire. He groaned when she pulled on a nipple ring, pleasure and pain surging through his body. His cock went from asleep to throbbing. She continued working her way down his body. He lifted his hips when she pulled down his boxers. His body twitched, and he groaned when her lips wrapped around his cock, she then licked him like a summer lollipop. Her tongue flicked the underside of him, and his balls twitched. He looked down to see his fantasy come to life. Sophie with her hair a wild mess across his stomach, her lips wrapped around his cock, and her hand between her legs.

  “Jesus,” he ground out. His balls pinching deeper. He pulled her up his body, ignoring her protest. They were going to revisit her getting herself off with her hand while he watched, but right now, he had other plans.

  She yanked his T-shirt over her head, revealing her perfect naked body.

  “I want this,” she whispered, her eyes drilling into his.

  She positioned her body so her clit lined up directly with his cock.

  “You’ve got this,” he whispered.

  Without having the words to say what he didn’t know how to say, what he’d never said to another person on the planet, he told her with his body, making love to her, long, slow, and sweet. She gripped him until he came undone inside her.

  It could have been one minute, ten, or twenty, he didn’t know. Time had suspended.

  Her soft lips brushed his. She sat back and in the half-light, scanned him as if committing his face to memory, then rested her cheek on his chest, her arms around him, her hair a soft, dark blanket across his chest.

  Her head shot up. Her jaw slacked, and her face bleached of color.

  “We didn’t use a condom.”

  He blinked, reality kicking him in the balls.

  Fuck.

  Fuck.

  Every six months when he had a physical he got tested. Even though he’d never once had sex without a condom, he got tested anyway as an added precaution.

  Around Sophie he didn’t make smart choices.

  “I’m on the pill. Irregular. Before you, I haven’t had…um…sex in years. I’m, um, clean.” She fanned her face with one hand. So cute he couldn’t help but grin.

  His hand trailed from her breast to her hip. He smiled at her shiver. “Years?”

  “Yeah.” She bit her lip. “Have you, um, always used a condom?”

  He drank her in: her hair wild, her lip snagged, sexy and innocent in one giant scoop.

  “Always. You’re the first woman I’ve been naked with.”

  “Naked?” Her puzzled gaze moved over his body.

  “No condom.”

  He couldn’t describe how amazing she felt, skin on skin.

  He tucked her hair behind her ear.

  “I want something.” Her voice was strong.

  “Okay,” he said slowly, not able to get a handle on where this was going.

  “I want more of what we did in Vegas.”

  He stilled, not getting her meaning. Then he did, and his heart all but beat out of his chest.

  Owning Sophie. All of Sophie. Yeah, he wanted it, but he had to make sure this was what she wanted and not what she thought he wanted. “If you’re doing this because you know I want it, then no.”

  She stopped him by cupping his face and kissing him.

  He groaned when she pressed her breasts into his side, then gently cupped his balls. His hands in her thick, glossy hair, anchored her to him.

  She broke the kiss and looked at him. “I’m doing this because I want this. I want to feel all of you. I liked the intensity of you filling me. I want to feel more.”

  “Hard to argue when you’ve got me completely by the balls.”

  She smiled and let go of his boys. “I know what I’m saying.”

  He growled at the
thought of owning her.

  All of her.

  He shook his head with regret. “Can’t do it. I’m not going to hurt you. We’re not going into this unprepared.”

  “I, ah, um, got stuff. Lube at Spanky’s.” Her hand flicked toward the bedside drawer. “It’s there.”

  He scanned her face. Her eyes, dark, wanting, sincere, and full of need.

  “We can stop anytime.” He opened her bedside table and picked up the tube.

  “I know.”

  “Flip over.”

  Without hesitation she flipped and raised her butt.

  He’d dreamed of this image for a long time.

  Reality was way better.

  His thumb rubbed between her legs and worked her clit until her head slumped and her body pooled around him. He snapped off the cap, squirted thick gel into his fingers. He kissed her neck, branding her with his tongue. She moaned, bucking her hips, tilting them higher. His thumb circled her clit. No lube needed. Wet and ready for him.

  He angled her hips and pushed fingers into her pussy, stroking high at the spot that made her purr. She groaned when he worked a slickened finger into her butt. He stilled when his knuckle met resistance.

  He stopped all movement.

  “Don’t stop,” she moaned, her head dropping forward. “It’s so intense.” She pushed back.

  His thumb pressured her clit. Her spine softened, and she tilted her butt higher, her moans driving him to the brink.

  He worked another finger into her butt, slowing when she stilled, getting used to the sensation. His cock twitched.

  He removed his fingers and coated himself and her in lube.

  He worked himself into her, slowly, stopping when she stilled. He growled, looking down at his cock entering her.

  “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop. It’s everything…”

  “Tell me if it’s too much.” Sweat ran down his face. He inched in deeper, not wanting to hurt her. Tight, hot, everything about her overwhelming, overpowering.

  He’d spent his life waiting for this woman.

  His woman.

  Her body stiffened in climax, her muscles clenching him. He filled her completely. He stilled, letting her body adjust. She angled herself backward.

  She rocked her hips, her body building, again.

  “You have no idea what you do to me,” he grated out.