by Lia Lee
“He wasn’t thinking,” Frank said, kneeling next to me, too. He studied the wound on my arm. It was bleeding and it hurt like something else. “He acted out of loyalty, and he was willing to take a bullet for me.”
Frank looked at Anna.
“It looks like I misjudged him,” he said. He looked at me. “I’m sorry. You have proven your worth to me and my daughter. Thank you.”
I nodded.
Frank stood and walked away, calling 911.
“Are you okay?” Anna said. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“It’s a graze. You knocked him off balance and saved my life.” I lifted my hand to Anna’s cheek and wiped away the tears.
“Don’t cry,” I said.
She shook her head and more tears spilled onto her cheeks.
“I’m not,” she said.
She hugged me, and I groaned through the pain, but I held her to me because it was all over. We were safe. She was alive. I was alive.
“The ambulance is on the way,” Frank said, walking back to us. “But you’ll be fine. Made of tough stuff.”
I grinned up at Frank. I had come out here to talk to Frank, to convince him I was good enough for his daughter. Nothing said loyalty and respect as much as taking a bullet for someone. Drastic times called for drastic measures.
That, and I wouldn’t have been able to let Anna and Frank lose each other.
“Honey,” Frank said to Anna, and she looked up at him. “You have it all wrong. I’m not punishing you because you’re so much like your mother. I’m not angry with you for her death. Sometimes, you look so much like her it hurts. But everything I have done was to keep you safe because I can’t lose you, too. You’re my angel.”
Anna started crying, and I had a feeling this was something that went a lot deeper than I would ever understand.
“I know you miss her,” Anna said.
Frank shook his head. “I will always miss her, but I miss you more. Come home, honey. Both of you, come home.”
Chapter 29
Anna
The cabin was warm and cozy with the only light coming from the fire that Luke had built. The fire crackled, licking at the logs and I hadn’t felt this relaxed in a very long time.
Everything was over. We were allowed to be together, and neither of us was on the run anymore, and I couldn’t believe it. My dad wasn’t hunting us anymore. He respected the hell out of Luke now that Luke had taken a bullet for my dad. I was just as unbelieving as my dad was.
“I thought you hated him,” I said to Luke when we talked about it. “I thought you would like nothing more than to see him dead.”
Luke shook his head. “He’s your dad, sweetheart. I know what family means to you. It means so much to me, too. Losing your dad over a disagreement like this would have left you with guilt for the rest of your life. Besides, I had unfinished business with him, too. It was a better way to deal with it.”
I nodded. Luke was right, but I didn’t know that I would have thought it all through like that in the moment. My dad had been right when he’d said Luke understood what loyalty meant far more than any of his men.
“How are you dealing with Sam’s death?” Luke asked me.
I sighed. I had grown up knowing Sam. I had never liked him, but we had known him and his family. I had watched him become the man he had chosen to be and to think he was gone was strange. But he had been crazy. He had pressed a gun to my head, and for that, my dad had killed him. I understood it.
“I think it’s one of those things where the chips fall as they may.”
Luke nodded. “Enough talk about all that,” he said. “I’m glad we’re here, together. And our pasts are behind us. We can look toward the future, and the only thing in my future worth thinking about right now is you.”
Luke kissed me, and I closed my eyes, losing myself in him. We were officially together, now. Nothing was stopping us. Not my dad, not a betrothal to someone else, not the baby.
Everything was perfect.
The kiss intensified, and Luke’s hands started roaming my body. I put my legs half over him, and he ran his hand up and down my legs. I wanted Luke. I didn’t just want him to fuck me but to make love to me.
Luke broke the kiss.
“Wait here,” he said. He stood up, and I folded my legs underneath me on the couch. Luke walked to the bedroom and returned a moment later with the thick blankets from the bed. He laid them open in front of the fire and held out his hand for me to join him. His right arm was bandaged, and he held it against his body. We would be careful, but I wanted him.
Luke and I lay down on the blankets, and we started undressing each other. We were warm in front of the fire, and we removed each other’s clothes in between kissing and exploring each other’s bodies. I helped Luke with my clothes when he struggled with his arm and together, we stripped each other until we were both naked.
I lay on my back with Luke kneeling between my legs. He held himself up with one arm close to my shoulder and kissed me again, his kiss deep and sensual before he moved away from my mouth and planted butterfly kisses all over my face. He followed my jawline and worked his way down my neck. The further down he moved the more sensual it became and with every kiss, I shuddered and trembled. Luke worked his way down my body, kissing every inch of me. His free hand preceded his mouth, and he kissed me and touched me as he worked his way down my body, worshiping each leg, massaging my ass and planting a kiss at the top of my slit. When he looked up at me, his eyes were filled with hunger and adoration, and the combination was beautiful.
Luke pushed his fingers into my sit and rubbed them over my clit. I shuddered as he rubbed my clit in circles, working me into a frenzy. The love between us was very quickly turning into lust.
Luke slid his fingers into me and pumped them in and out a few times before he pushed a thumb against my clit and rubbed it, pumping slowly with his fingers at the same time. I closed my eyes, moaning, focusing on the sensation. When he did this, dividing his attention between two different parts of my pussy, it was hard to focus on either of them, and it postponed my orgasm.
I was teetering on the edge when Luke lowered his head and his mouth took over from his thumb on my clit. He sucked my clit while he pushed his fingers into me, and I toppled over into an orgasm, crying out as it racked my body. Heat washed over me, and I curled and bucked my hips against Luke’s mouth. I gasped and squirmed until the orgasm subsided.
Luke lifted his head and smiled at me, satisfied. His mouth glistened with my sex, and when he moved up my body and kissed me on the mouth, I caught a whiff of my own scent. Tasting it on him, knowing where he had been and that I had left my scent behind, was a turn on. I liked the idea that he was marked in a way. It was ridiculously primal, and I couldn’t help it.
My legs were still open, and Luke moved up, taking his weight on one arm. Now that he knew I was pregnant and there was no reason to use a condom, Luke didn’t fetch one and roll it over his dick. He pushed into me and I gasped. The feel of him without a condom was so much better than it had been until now, and that was saying something. Having him inside of me, feeling every inch of him without anything in the way was incredible. I couldn’t believe what I had been missing out on. And seeing I would be pregnant for a while, I had a lot of this kind of sex to look forward to.
Luke balanced on one arm above me. His strength, his ability to do it with one arm, was hot. The muscles in his shoulders rippled under the strain, and I ran my hands over his back as Luke moved in and out of me.
His cock was hard and thick, and he filled me up. Every time he slid into me it was better than what I remembered, and I remembered it to be fucking good.
Luke pushed into me harder and faster, and I held onto him, bucking my hips slightly, moving with him. The blankets were thick and soft beneath my back despite us being on the floor, and the heat of the fire and our bodies pressed against each other kept us warm. Luke’s skin on mine was delicious. We were working up a sweat with ou
r sex, but I liked getting down and dirty with him.
Slowly, keeping his balance, Luke picked up the pace. He pumped into me faster and faster, every stroke just a little quicker than the last. Luke took care to still push as deeply into me as he could, and I moaned and cried out as he fucked me harder and harder. Luke’s body covered mine, and it didn’t take long before a second orgasm washed over me, making me moan and cry out, my body closing around Luke’s dick.
He groaned when I orgasmed, my body tightening on Luke’s cock, and he tried to kiss me, nearly collapsing on top of me.
We both laughed.
“Is your arm getting sore?” I asked.
Luke had been holding himself up with one arm all this time.
“A bit,” Luke said. “But it’s nothing compared to how amazing you feel.”
I smiled and ran my hands through his hair. I looked into his blue eyes, and it felt like he was looking into my soul.
“I’ll be on top,” I said.
Luke nodded and pulled out. He maneuvered himself so he lay on his back, and I climbed onto him, careful not to hurt his arm. The wound had been cleaned and bandaged, and the bandage was yellowish in the firelight.
I lowered myself onto Luke’s dick, and we groaned together as he slid into me. I sat down on him, my hands on his chest and moved my hips from side to side a little.
I leaned down and kissed Luke, moving my hips back and forth, riding him. I gasped and moaned, and Luke’s good hand was on my hip as I did what he always did for me—I fucked him hard.
I rocked back and forth harder and harder, pushing Luke deep into me with every stroke. My breasts swung back and forth, close to his face, and my hair hung over my shoulders like a waterfall. My hands were on Luke’s chest for balance and as I rode him my knees rubbed against the blankets, the friction generating its own heat. I cried out. My clit rubbed against Luke’s pubic bone, and I was sensitive after he had brought me to orgasm with his mouth the first time. The pleasure was so intense it was just this side of pain, and I rode him faster and faster, rubbing myself closer and closer to orgasm, Luke’s dick pushing deep inside me with every thrust.
I orgasmed, rocking back and forth to draw it out and the orgasm was amazing. My muscles contracted, my body tightened, and I cried out. Luke orgasmed just after I did, his stomach muscles tightening and curling his back off the blankets. I felt him pump into me and it was incredible, the feeling of his release inside me without a condom on was so much better than with it. Our orgasms lasted for a long time before I collapsed on Luke’s chest. He wrapped an arm around me, and we lay like that for a while, catching our breath, relishing in each other’s closeness.
Finally, when he started going soft inside me, I lifted myself off him. I reached for another blanket that Luke had put down and pulled it over us before I lay down with my head on the spot of Luke’s chest that it belonged. He wrapped his arm around me and held me against him.
“I love you,” he said.
I smiled, tipping my head up to kiss him. “I love you, too.”
“I can’t wait for the rest of our lives together. You, me and the baby, we’re going to make it through.”
And he was right. We had endless possibilities, now. We were going to make it work, and we could go anywhere in the world, even right back home if we wanted because we would be safe and welcome. I closed my eyes and listened to Luke’s heartbeat. He slowly stroked my arm, running his fingertips along my skin, and I shivered with goosebumps.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. He was referring to the pregnancy.
“Perfect,” I said. “Happy.”
Luke chuckled. “Yeah, me too,” he said.
Epilogue
Luke
One Year Later
We were back in snowy Colorado, and it was as if the weather had played along perfectly to make this day magical. The snow had fallen all week, but it hadn’t been storming. The tiny town of Dillon was transformed into a winter wonderland without any of the roads being closed, not stopping outside guests from attending our wedding.
I stood at the end of the aisle, wearing my penguin tux and fiddling with a handkerchief that my mom had pushed into my hands before I had stepped up here.
“It’s for the tears,” she had said.
“I’m a guy, mom,” I had responded. “I don’t cry at weddings.”
My dad had put his hand on my shoulder. “Son, there are two situations where it’s perfectly fine for a man to cry. At the birth of his children and at the wedding.” I could relate to that. When Nathan had been born, I hadn’t been able to keep my emotions in check at all. The miracle of birth, seeing Anna go through the pregnancy and the excruciating pain to bring my son into the world and how perfect little Nate had been had brought tears to my eyes.
“When you see her, you’ll know what we mean,” my mom had said.
I was nervous. The church was filled with people that I only knew a handful of, and I felt on display, standing in front for everyone to judge me. Soon, Anna would be here.
I wanted nothing more than to be married to the love of my life, the woman of my dreams. Anna and I had been together for about a year. It wasn’t very long but I had known that night in the cabin before we had had the standoff with Sam, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. On top of that, we had had a child together. We lived together, and we were the perfect little happy family. Who would have thought that a relationship as beautiful and strong and perfect as ours could be born from the adversity we had both faced? We had both been on the run, and somehow, we had run into each other’s arms.
Lizabeth came into the church, and she had Nate in her arms. My little boy was three months old, and he was already smiling. She brought him to me, and I took him from her, rocking him. He looked up at me with the bluest eyes and flashed me a gummy smile.
“There’s my big man,” I said and kissed his head.
“Are you ready?” Lizabeth asked.
I nodded. I was as ready as I would ever be to make Anna my wife.
Lizabeth was Anna’s best friend and I could see why. She was solid and down to earth, a woman Anna and I could both rely on. She had been nothing but a help when Anna had been stuck with me in the cabin, and now she had offered her services as a babysitter during the wedding and for the honeymoon. She walked with Nathan to the pews where she sat down next to her boyfriend, Travis.
I turned my attention back to the crowds. My parents sat close to the front and they were smiling at me. Frank sat close to them and he looked happy. In fact, everyone looked happy. And I was happy, too.
Since we had left the cabin after the shootout with Sam, everything had changed. Anna and I had gone back to New York where we had been welcomed by Frank with open arms. He had sat me down later that week, and he’d told me he was sorry for how he had misjudged me, for what he had put me through, and he had thanked me for saving his life.
“I am forever indebted to you,” he’d said. “You saved my life when I had been more than willing to take yours. Loyalty, integrity, and honor like that is hard to find, and I would be glad to call you my son.”
Having Frank’s blessing had been a wonderful feeling.
Anna had taken a job as a Criminal Psychologist, doing what she had studied. She was good at her job, fighting crime on the right side of the law. Frank was still a mafia boss, and Anna turned a blind eye to what he was doing because their relationship now was what she had always wanted it to be. We saw Frank and both my parents very often, and when Nathan had been born, they had teamed up and celebrated it with a party where so many people had been invited I had barely known anyone attending. And I hadn’t cared. I had wanted to shout to the world about my son being born.
After Anna had taken her job, I had felt lost for a while, not knowing what to do. I had dropped out of my degree. I had a criminal record and life had seemed like a dead-end regarding my career. It was Anna who had pointed out how much I loved the outdoors, and it had given me th
e idea to open my own business. I did outdoor courses and trips, and I had a little camping shop on the side. I traveled to Colorado every now and then with a group of people, teaching them how to survive, and I was happier than I had ever been. I had picked up my studies again, doing them online, and I was working on a degree in Business Management.
If it hadn’t been for Anna, I might have still been stuck in the dingy little cabin in Colorado, living an isolated life far away from the people who loved and cared for me. Finding her in the snow that night had changed my life for the better.
It felt great to be back in Colorado again. The little town of Dillon was where Anna and I had bonded so much, and it was because of our start here that we had decided to come back for the wedding.
The music started, and Anna came down the aisle. She looked like a vision in white. Her dress was form fitting, hugging her curves and flaring out at the bottom. It was so she could look this good on her wedding day that Anna and I had decided we would wait until after Nathan was born before we tied the knot. Anna had a veil over her face, and Frank walked her down the aisle toward me.
I felt a lump rise in my throat, and I realized my parents had been right. There was something about Anna walking toward me, made up especially for me, ready to commit to me forever that moved me to tears. We were taking the next step as a couple and come hell or high water, we would be together.
Frank reached me, and he put Anna’s hand in mine. He lifted her veil and kissed her on the cheek. He turned to me.
“I can’t think of a better man to take my daughter off my hands,” he said. “I nearly made a very grave mistake, a year ago. You were the one that saved me from it and that ultimately brought my daughter back to me. I do not know a happier man than I am today.”
“Daddy,” Anna said, and her eyes welled up with tears.
“Don’t cry, honey,” Frank said. “This is a glorious day. Marry your man, and then, we celebrate.”
Frank walked back to his seat and Anna looked at me. She was radiant.