by Alexa Riley
“Is he, like, going to kill us all?” Jeanette asks from behind me.
My mom tilts her head and looks at her. “No, because without you two, he wouldn’t have his daughter in the first place.”
“Is this the family I’ve heard you talk about, Mom?” I ask. I know the story of my mom and dad. It’s a story my mom loves to tell. How she knew my dad was watching her, but he’d never make a move. So she disappeared, knowing he’d come and find her. And he did with the help of a man named Saint and his friend Carter. To this day my mom still giggles about the story of giving my dad the slip. How my dad went from hard as stone to soft as cookie dough for her when he finally found her.
“What are you talking about, kitten?”
“My dad reached out to you to find me on purpose. He knows your family. I’m guessing he didn’t count on you trying to keep me.”
Samuel pulls me back into his arms, locking them around me again. “There is no trying.” His words are firm, and gone is any sign of his usual humor.
My dad stares at him, and I know Samuel is probably just staring back.
“You asked me to find her, and I did. Here she is. She’s safe and sound, and that’s how she’ll stay with me.”
My dad goes to take a step towards us, but my mom puts a hand on his arm. He stops instantly at her touch, my mom able to help him see reason.
“Don’t make us lose her. You’re pushing so hard because you think someone is going to hurt her. There isn’t anyone anymore, sweetheart. No one is after us, and if you keep pushing we’ll lose her because she’ll just keep running from us.”
“It’s hard to let go,” he says, looking down at my mom, and I know what he means. My mom said my dad spent so many years never feeling anything that when he felt for the first time with her it was like a floodgate opened. He latched onto her so tightly, and with me it was worse. He’s never loved anything before us, and he’s scared to lose it and go back to what he used to be—an unfeeling person. I just wish he’d see that if he let me go, he’d actually have me.
“I know. But it’s time. You’ve given her everything you wanted. You even turned her into a mini you. I think she’ll be okay.
The room goes eerily quiet, no one wanting to speak after that.
My dad looks over my shoulder, locking eyes with Samuel. “You’ll protect her?”
“With my very life, but to be honest she’s pretty good at protecting herself. If my busted lip isn’t a sign of that, I’m not sure what is.”
My dad looks down at me and finally smiles. He raises an eyebrow, and he looks almost proud.
Cherry pops her head out from behind Carter’s back. “Am I getting two grandbabies now?” She has such a hopeful look on her face I can’t help but laugh.
“Lays We almost just died and you’re thinking about babies.” Jeanette picks up a pen and throws it at her.
“I want more girls. You stole them all!” Cherry whines, and Carter rolls his eyes.
Jeanette walks over to the bar and grabs a drink. “Let it go, Lays. Let. It. Go. It’s been over twenty years already.” Cherry glares, but Jeanette just flips her middle finger at her.
“So who wants a drink?” Saint goes over to the bar and starts passing out glasses.
I feel the cuff around my wrist loosen, and I look down to see Samuel take it off. “Happy Thanksgiving, kitten.”
When my wrist is free I throw myself at him, climbing up his body and holding him in a tight hug. I never dreamed that I could have everything I wanted all at once. This is by far more that I could’ve wished for.
“I love you, wife,” Samuel says, holding me and kissing my lips.
“I love you, muzh,” I whisper against his mouth, and the room goes silent again.
“What did you just call him?”
The sound of my mother’s shock echoes through the warehouse. I close my eyes and bury my face in Samuels’s neck. Looks like we’ve got our own story to tell.
Chapter 8
Samuel
Six months later…
“Why do you have to do this every time we go after a bounty?” Nika says breathlessly as she bounces up and down on my cock.
“Because I just need to reassure myself that everything is going to be okay, kitten. You don’t like it?”
We’re on the stairs of our condo in Vegas. The height difference between us has almost disappeared as she’s bent over and positioned two steps up from me. We moved into this place as soon as we left home, knowing Tony and Mary would want their own space just as much as we would.
I’ve got her jeans down just enough for me to get to her pussy, and my jeans are barely off my ass. This was meant to be a quickie, but I can’t get enough of her. I try to speed it up, hurriedly fucking before we need to go. We are both fully dressed other than where my cock and her pussy are going at it. I couldn’t be bothered to remove her clothes before. My need was too strong.
I look down and watch my thickness covered in her cream as it fucks in and out of her fast. Gripping her hips tighter, I pull her to me, using her body to jerk me off. I feel her tighten and squeeze around me as more of her cream spreads between us. She may complain about this, but it’s all a front. She loves when I grab her and take her, giving us both what we want.
“That’s it, kitten. Give it over to me and make your husband happy. All I want is your sweet love dripping down my cock. I need you, Nika. Please.” She lets out a little growl at my words, trying to act like she’s mad. “I just need to feel whole, kitten. This is the only way.”
She moans at my words, leaning into me and making my slide in and out of her that much smoother. I feel her clench harder as she gives over to the feeling and cums on me. It’s exactly what I need to calm the worry in my heart, and I go over the edge with her. I pull her to me one last time, holding myself in her as I cum inside her pussy. The feeling of her warm heaven pulsing around my cock is so fucking perfect.
I always get so worked up any time we’re taking down a skip. We’ve been doing it together since we got to Vegas, and I still get nervous every time. When we first got back and I was going to go out on a bounty, she said she wanted to come with me. I put my foot down and told her over my dead body, only to have her take me down to the ground and kick my ass.
Nika is trained as well as I am, and that’s saying something. She actually knows more about weapons than I do, but I’d never admit it. She’s tough as nails, and after we trained as a team for a while and went through different scenarios, we started doing them together. I was worried about her at first, but we got into a tussle with a skip a few months ago, and I got to see her in action. It made me hard as fuck seeing her kick that guy's ass. I had to fuck her in the car out behind the police station after we dropped him off. Goddamn, my wife is sexy as hell.
Pulling out of her warmth, I turn her around on the stairs and claim her mouth. Her lips are soft and sweet and welcome my tongue. She tangles hers with mine, and I get lost in the moment. After a second she breaks the kiss, pressing her cheek to mine.
“Ya lyublyu tebya, muzh,” she whispers, and I hold her to me.
“I love you, too, wife.”
I’ve been learning some of her Russian words, and those are my favorites. I’ll never get tired of hearing she loves me, or of her calling me her husband.
“Thank you, kitten. I needed that.”
“It’s time to go, Samuel.” She kisses my cheek, and I let out another breath. She’s right. I know I’ll die before I let anything happen to her, and I know she’s a badass. I just needed some extra attention before we had to go.
We both fix our clothes and then strap in. I check over her body to make sure she’s all set, and she checks over my weapons, making sure I’m good to go. We kiss on the lips one last time before we exit the door and head out. I never thought I’d have a bounty hunter for a wife, but having her by my side is pretty fucking cool. She’s as strong as me, and honestly better than me in most ways, and I’m lucky she’s beside
me.
I don’t know how long we’ll do this together, but Nika wants to live life and see the world. I’ll give her anything and everything she wants, starting with these adventures. When she’s ready to settle down with a family, I’ll be all too eager to put a baby inside her. I can’t wait to keep her at home and under me, but until then, we’re having one hell of a ride.
Epilogue
Samuel
Five years later…
“Mudak!”
“Come on, kitten. Don’t be mad at me. You were the one who said you didn’t want any drugs.”
“You gave me a baby with a giant head and now I have to push it out!” She lays her head back on the pillow, exhausted after three hours of pushing. “I can’t do it anymore.” I see tears form at the corner of her eye, and my heart breaks.
“You’re almost there, kitten. A couple more good pushes and the baby will be here.”
The doctor is encouraging and has been an amazing coach. She’s talked Nika through the worst of the pain because she knew her plan was to tough it out. I’m thankful she’s here because I feel powerless.
I need to help Nika see through the pain and to focus. Leaning over, I get close to her face, wiping away the sweaty hair that’s stuck to her forehead. “Zhena.” She looks me in the eyes after I say the Russian word for ‘wife.’ “You can do this. You’re the strongest woman I know.”
“I’m scared, Samuel.” My heart clenches, but I have to be her rock now. I can’t let her feel afraid.
“Is my wife afraid? Because the Nika who took down those two wrestlers in Mexico by herself because she refused to wait for my backup wasn’t scared. The Nika who jumped from the top of a building to the next because her husband was ‘slowing her down’ wasn’t scared. The Nika who took a stray bullet outside a gator farm in Florida but still managed to carry that skip kicking and screaming out of a swamp wasn’t scared. And the Nika I met in the bar of the Blue Diamond casino, that Nika who stole my wallet, watch, and then my heart sure as hell wasn’t scared.” She smiles at my words, a tear falling down her cheek. I hold her face with both hands and try to give her all of my strength. “Now you tell me, kitten. You gonna toughen up and bring our baby into this world, or you gonna sit here scared?”
She grits her teeth and nods her head, letting me know she’s focused. When the pain gets to be too much, fear can take over and that’s why I’m here. To remind her that she’s a badass and can do anything she damn well feels like.
I let go of her face and she turns her attention back to the doctor. “Let’s do this.” She grips the sides of the bed and takes a few short breaths before bearing down and pushing hard.
“That’s it, Nika. Push, push, push!”
I knead her lower back with my fist, helping with the contraction and mentally cheering her on. She can do it, she’s got it.
She lets out a cry at the same time the baby does, and we all breathe a sigh of relief. Leaning down, I take her face in my hands and kiss her hard. Our tears mix together as we both hear the sound of our baby crying for the first time. Quickly, we break apart, anxious to see him or her. We didn’t find out beforehand. We wanted a surprise.
“Congratulations, Mom and Dad. It’s a boy.”
The doctor passes our baby boy over to Nika, and she wraps her arms around him, and I wrap my arms around them both.
We decided after last year when Nika got shot it was time to hang up the cuffs. Luckily for both of us, it just grazed her leg, but the thought of something worse sat hard with us. We’d been talking about wanting a baby for a long time, and this was just the sign we needed. Our families had pushed for us to stop long ago, but we wanted it to be on our own terms. After that it wasn’t a hard decision.
Nika and I moved back to my home because we wanted to be close to family when we had kids. Nika’s mom and dad followed, settling down a few hours away from us, wanting to be close to their grandkids when we got around to having them. It didn’t take me long to put my baby in her, and Nika says I’m too proud of that fact. I just keep telling her my seed is strong, and she rolls her eyes.
Now after the doctor has left and the nurses have taken care of everything, we’re left alone with our son. I’m laid on the hospital bed beside Nika, cradling her and our baby next to me. I couldn’t possibly be more happy and in love than I am right now.
“Samuel Viktor,” Nika says, gently touching his cheek.
“It’s a strong name. I think it will suit him if he’s anything like his mama.”
Nika looks at me and smiles. Seeing how happy she is makes everything worthwhile.
I kiss her forehead and tuck her under my chin, looking down on my little family. I know the rest of our families will be in here in a few minutes, so I’m just enjoying the quiet time with just us.
I couldn’t be more thankful for meeting Nika and having her as my wife and partner. She’s my rock, my world, and my reason for living. I give her another kiss on her forehead and entwine our fingers. One day I hope to find the words to tell her all of this, but until then I’ll just keep showing her.
THE END
The Final Fall
Viktor and London
The Final Fall
It's been two and half years since we released Taking the Fall and it's finally time! After all the begging and pleading... Viktor is finally getting his story.
We hope he's worth the wait!
Chapter One
London
“I thought he’d be here by now,” I mutter to myself, looking down at my paper. I stare at the sketch of the man who holds my thoughts and makes my heart flutter.
Letting out a breath, I close my pad, dropping it down onto the bed. The more days tick by, the more I think he’s not going to come. I know three days doesn’t seem like much time, but over the last year he’s watched me every day. From the moment I first noticed him, he’s never missed one.
He’s always in solid black, which includes his buzzed hair and his eyes, so brown they’re black. But I can never get close enough to be sure. Everything about him is dark and mysterious, but somehow it pulls me in. His face never shows emotion, and I have a need inside me to draw it out of him. The need grows every day and now it’s become a deep ache.
I watched him as he watched me and wondered where he was going and what he was doing. I knew it couldn’t be something good. One look at my mystery man and you’d know he was up to something dark.
The first time I saw him I thought maybe I was seeing things. Why would a man like him be following me? But he watched me constantly, and though it was strange, I grew to love it. I looked forward to spotting him each day.
Sometimes he would watch me all day. Once I even tested it by going to the park with my lunch and drawing pad. I lay out on a blanket and he stood off by a far wall, never moving. I swear he was utterly still. It should have scared me, but the more he watched me, the more I wanted him.
Maybe the old saying is true. Good girls really do want bad boys. But my mystery watcher is all man. Either way, to the people who know me I’m the “goodest” of them all. The girl who volunteers at the hospital. The girl who helps when anyone asks. The girl who works at the biggest church in town as the secretary to the preacher—my father.
I walk over to the window and look out at the lake. I’m also a little shocked my father hasn’t shown up here. He has to know I‘m here. I reach up and touch my cheek where he’d slapped me when he found out I was taking off for a little. He even called me a little whore and asked about my drawings of the man. I had no idea he’d seen them. I don’t know why I was shocked he’d done it.
My father rules with an iron fist, which I assume is why my mom ran off when I was little, too early for me to even remember her. I saw a picture of us once when I was digging in my father’s desk for a pen. She was holding me close, kissing my chubby cheeks. I was about three in the picture, if I had to guess. I look just like her. Blonde hair and bright green eyes. It’s clear as day we’re moth
er and daughter. She looked happy holding me, so I wondered why she left me behind with him.
After my mom left, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents from my father’s side. I loved it there. I would spend whole summers with them while my grandma and I cooked and Grandpa took me fishing.
As I got older my father’s church started to grow. He thought it was time I came home full time. I thought he just wanted to use me as a prop, and he did at first. Then he had me take over the church accounting.
It was bittersweet at times. I love a lot of people at the church, and getting to help those in need filled a place in my heart. But that was during the daylight. Behind closed doors, my father’s real personality came out.
He’s cold and puts me down for the smallest things. I think it’s because he’s taking more money from the church than he’s supposed to be. And he knows I know. I’d thought about saying something once, thinking maybe he’d get in trouble and I could go back to Grandma and Grandpa’s. That dream was short-lived, though, when my grandparents passed away nearly days apart. I’d been sixteen at the time.
Grandma had a heart attack one day, and Grandpa died the next. They never could ascertain the cause of his death, but I think he couldn’t live without her. They were always so in love. I looked up to that. Wanted that. I’d never felt more alone than when they passed.
What made me finally hate my father was the funeral. He spoke about how much he loved them and would miss them. He was a liar. He hated Grandpa for a reason I would never know. To me and Grandma, he was wonderful. Nothing about my father ever seemed to add up.
That’s the reason I came out here to my grandparents’ place. I needed some space. I hadn’t been here since they died and I missed it. It could be why I haven’t seen my mystery man in days. I assumed he would find his way here, just like he always finds me, but apparently, I was wrong.