PREGNANT FOR A PRICE

by Kathryn Thomas

  Cara looked at me, and I could see the small spark of hope in her eyes – hope that I had a plan to get us both out of there. I tipped her a wink, more to reassure her than anything. My plan was a one in a million shot, but it was all I had at the moment. I just didn't want her to know that. I didn't want her to lose hope simply because I needed her sharp, focused, and ready to go.

  “Okay, you have me here,” I said. “Now, let her go.”

  Mendoza smiled. “Oh, I'd planned on it, holmes,” he said. “But then I got a look at her and had a better idea for ole Shelly here.”

  Shelly? She'd obviously given them a fake name to keep her real identity a secret. I was glad for that. It also showed that she was still thinking on her feet – which was a good thing.

  “Yeah?” I asked. “And what's that idea?”

  “She's hot, hermano,” he said. “I think I'm gonna make her my personal pet. But don't you worry, I'm gonna take real good care of her.”

  “We had a deal, Mendoza. You said if I turn myself over to you that you'd let Shelly go.”

  He shrugged. “What can I say? Plans change.”

  “Yeah, you do that a lot. Kind of like with that security run. We were never supposed to go to Oregon. And we never agreed to chaperone your shipment of H. You know we don't deal with that shit.”

  “That's why I couldn't tell you, holmes,” he said. “We needed the bodies, and I wasn't about to put my guys in harm's way. You and the Kings? You guys are expendable.”

  I smirked. “You're a class act, Mendoza. Last chance though. Let her walk out of here right now.”

  He laughed, but his men looked tense. I stood where I was, calm and relaxed, with my hands still locked behind my head.

  “And if I don't let her walk out of here?” he sneered.

  “Then I'm going to kill you.”

  Mendoza laughed again and shook his head. Cara looked at me, and I tried to signal her with my eyes to be ready to move. His men looked at one another and then started to laugh a little nervously. While they were busy trying to decide whether it was okay to laugh or not, I made my move.

  Slipping my hand underneath my hair, I pulled the gun from the clip-on holster I'd fastened to the collar of my jacket. They'd never seen it and never thought to look that high on me. They'd been careless and sloppy – just like I thought they might be. Mendoza's men weren't big on the little details. Which was only to my benefit.

  Moving with a speed that caught them all by surprise, I pointed the gun straight at Mendoza's face and closed the distance between us faster than any of his men. I had the barrel of my gun pressed against Mendoza's forehead before any of them even reacted. Looking straight down into his eyes, I gave him a lopsided smirk.

  “You all better put your guns down, or I'm going to put your boss down,” I said evenly.

  Mendoza's eyes widened slightly, and then a look of pure rage crossed his face. “How in the fuck did you putos miss that? How the fuck did you let him get the drop on all you fools?”

  Nobody said a word – and nobody lowered their guns either. I looked Mendoza in the eyes, not bothering to look at his flunkies and gave him a smirk.

  “Unless you want to be cleaning your boss's brains off the wall of this warehouse, I would suggest you all drop your guns. Now.”

  The look of hatred on Mendoza's face was as plain as day. When he looked into my eyes, I could see his burning with pure rage. Somebody was going to have a real bad night.

  “Put 'em down,” Mendoza ordered. “Now.”

  “And kick them over to me,” I added.

  “Do it,” Mendoza hissed.

  Behind me, I heard the guns hitting the floor. That was followed by the sound of them sliding across the concrete as Mendoza's men kicked them over. I still hadn't taken my eyes off the Fantasmas president, not trusting that if I looked away for even a second, that he wouldn't take a shot.

  “Did they all drop their guns, Shelly?” I asked.

  She looked around and nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Do you know how to remove the clip from a gun?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

  “Good,” I said. “Go collect all of their guns and take the clips out.”

  I heard her moving around behind me and listened to the familiar sound of clips being taken out of a weapon.

  “What next?” she asked.

  “Keep the clips,” I said. “And throw the guns as far as you can out into the dark part of the warehouse.”

  I heard her grunt as she threw the weapons. That was followed by the clatter and sliding of them hitting the concrete. Judging by the sound of them, she'd gotten a good toss on all of them. They sounded pretty far away.

  “We clear?” I asked.

  “Clear,” she said.

  “You're fuckin' up big time, holmes,” Mendoza hissed. “You're gonna pay for this. So fuckin' hard.”

  I laughed. “You put four bullets in me. I think you're still coming out ahead in this deal. Take the win and shut the fuck up.”

  “Damian?”

  “Get out of here, Shelly,” I said. “I'm going to hold them here until you've got away safely.”

  “No way,” she replied. “I'm not leaving you here. Not with these jackals.”

  “No choice,” I said. “Get out of here. Now.”

  “But—”

  “I said go. Get out of here!” I snapped. “Now!”

  She jumped as if I'd slapped her, but then slowly turned. With one last look at me, she ran out of the warehouse, the door slamming shut behind her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Cara

  I was halfway to my car when I suddenly pulled up and stopped. What in the hell was I doing? I couldn't leave him in there with those guys. Not after what he'd done; what he'd risked for me. And I saw the look in his eye – he intended to kill that man, Mendoza. I couldn't let that happen either.

  I opened my car door and pulled out my cell phone. After making a quick call to the police to let them know where I was and what was going on, I dropped my phone back onto the car seat. I turned and ran back to the warehouse, pulling the door open and stepping inside.

  “I told you to go.”

  Damian's voice echoed around the building. He didn't sound pleased in the least. But that wasn't my concern. I walked to the front of the warehouse, and everybody was just as I'd left them – Damian was still standing in front of Mendoza with his gun pressed to the Hispanic man's forehead.

  “I'm not leaving you like this,” I said. “I've already called the cops. They're on their way and will be here any minute.”

  Mendoza scoffed. “Yeah, sure you did and sure they will.”

  I shrugged. “I don't care if you believe me or not. But when you're being led out of here in handcuffs, don't come crying to me.”

  Damian shot me a quick look before turning his gaze back to the man in the chair.

  “What in the hell are you doing Shelly?”

  “Making sure these criminals get everything coming to them,” I said. “Kidnapping is a serious crime and these guys are looking at some real time.”

  I walked over to the table and picked up a pistol – a nine millimeter. I'd taken enough lessons that I was pretty good with guns. I'd never pointed one at a person before – the only shots I fired had been at paper targets. There was a small piece of me that was afraid of what would happen if one of the guys made a move before the police got there.

  Damian flashed me an exasperated look. Yeah, he'd told me to go. But I wasn't leaving him in harm's way, and I wasn't about to let him murder somebody on my behalf. There were sirens in the distance, and they were drawing closer.

  “Here they come,” I said.

  What happened next was a blur. Mendoza lashed out, knocking Damian's gun hand aside while launching a fist into his stomach. Damian grunted in pain and took a couple of steps back – the blow from Mendoza obviously causing him a tremendous amount of pain. How could it not? He'd been shot there only a few days ago.<
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  That one action, though, seemed to spark something in his guys because they all started moving at once. They rushed at Damian who turned and fired at them. His first shot caught one of Mendoza's men in the thigh. He screamed and clutched at his leg as he dropped to the ground. One of the guys turned in my direction, a look of malice on his face as he ran at me.

  My hands trembling and my heart racing, I squeezed off a shot. A crimson burst blossomed on the guy's stomach as the bullet tore through him. His scream was blood-curdling, and he fell to the ground, a pool of blood spreading out underneath him as he continued to wail.

  More shots were fired, more bodies hit the ground, and I was all out of sorts. My head was spinning, my heart was pounding, and my body was trembling so bad, I felt like I had palsy. But then cops came flooding into the building, guns in hand, shouting orders. I was in such a haze that I was having trouble deciphering what they were even saying.

  I dropped the gun and put my hands in the air. I got down onto my knees, Damian kneeling next to me, as the cops sorted out the situation. I looked around and saw a few of Mendoza's men on the ground, screaming in pain as blood poured from their wounds.

  But as I looked around, I realized one thing – there was no Mendoza. He was gone. He'd escaped during all of the confusion. And that fact sent a cold chill down my spine. It meant that this wasn't over.

  One of the cops came over and escorted Damian and me out of the building. They split us up for independent questioning.

  After being on the scene for a few hours, we were finally released, the cops having no other conclusion to draw than we'd been acting in self-defense.

  It was late, and I was beat – but I was alive.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Cara

  “You really need to go back to the hospital,” I said.

  Damian shook his head. “Mendoza is still out there,” he replied. “They'll be looking for me there. I can't risk it.”

  We stood on the porch of my house talking. He had insisted on escorting me home, just to make sure I got there safely. And now we stood before each other, an awkward tension filling the air between us. I felt physically and emotionally wrung out. I'd shot a man. I knew I hadn't entirely processed that fact yet because I wasn't freaking out about it. But I knew that when I finally did process it, I was going to have the inevitable meltdown. I just couldn't get over the fact that I'd shot somebody.

  “Damian,” I said. “You need medical attention.”

  “And I also need to not be where Mendoza and the Fantasmas expect to find me.”

  I hated to admit it, but he had a point. It very well might be the first place they looked for him. But that didn't change the fact that he needed medical attention.

  “Where will you go?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I'll figure something out. Always do.”

  I knew before I even said the words what I was going to do. What I was going to say. It was so against everything I stood for that I wasn't sure how to deal with that either. But Damian had saved my life. I owed him.

  “Stay here,” I said softly. “I've got supplies. I can tend to your wounds.”

  He shook his head. “I don't want to pull you in any further than you already are.”

  “They don't know who I am. My name is Shelly, remember?”

  Damian laughed softly. “They're not stupid. I'm afraid that they're eventually going to figure out who you are.”

  “You're the one they want,” I said. “Not me. They're going to be looking for you.”

  He gave me a tight smile. I was right, and he knew it. But I did appreciate the fact that he was looking out for my well-being. That he wanted to keep me out of his mess as much as possible. But I needed to take care of him. I needed to prevent his wounds from re-opening or getting infected.

  “I appreciate that, Cara.”

  I unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Get inside,” I commanded. “Now. You're going to stay here for a couple of days so I can observe and treat you.”

  He looked at me and then at the open doorway. “Are you sure?”

  Not really. But I wasn't going to tell him that. “I wouldn't have asked you to stay if I weren't.”

  He reached out and gave my arm a gentle squeeze. “Thank you.”

  I followed him inside and directed him down to my bedroom. I had the master bedroom, which meant that I had a connected bathroom. A rather large one, actually. It would be perfect to use to check on Damian's wounds.

  “Sit up on the counter and take off your shirt,” I said as I closed the bathroom door behind me.

  I set my medical kit on the counter next to him. He gave me a look of pure gratitude. I went to work on him, changing out his bandages and applying some antibiotic salves. He winced whenever I touched his wounds – although, quite a bit less than when he'd first come into the ER.

  With his wounds treated and bandages changed, I stepped back and looked at him. I could tell that he was in pain but was putting on a brave face. I kind of got the feeling that he did that a lot. That there were things below the surface – emotional wounds – that troubled him. I wasn't sure why I thought that, but it seemed like an idea that fit.

  “There we go,” I said. “All patched up again.”

  “Thank you, Cara.”

  We stared into each other's eyes for a moment, and the tension in the air got thicker. Damian reached out and took my hand, pulling me to him. As if entranced, I stood before him, looking up into his eyes. My stomach flipped, and there was a sudden heat between my thighs.

  I couldn't do this. Not with Damian. He was an anathema to my world. I'd worked so hard and so diligently to keep the trouble and drama out of my life and out of Austin's life. And yet, there I was, staring into the eyes of Damian Hawke, wishing he'd kiss me.

  And a moment later, he did.

  He kissed me with plenty of passion and heat. His tongue pushed past my lips and swirled with mine in my mouth. I hesitated for a split second, but then returned the kiss with just as much fire as he had. He ran his hands through my hair, and I dragged my nails down his back. He moaned very softly, but I'd heard it. I got the feeling he was as turned on as I was.

  I knew I shouldn't – not with a guy like him. But I was finding it incredibly difficult to listen to the reasons in my head.

  Damian slipped down from the counter, never breaking our kiss. He turned me around and pressed me up against the counter, pinning me with his body. He planted kisses down my neck, all the way down to my collar bone. I could feel his hard cock pressing against my stomach, and that only served to turn me on even more.

  I raised my arms as he lifted my shirt over my head. He tossed it to the ground behind him and then went to work on my bra. It took him all of about two seconds, and my bra joined my shirt on the bathroom floor.

  A gasp escaped my lips as he cupped my breasts, swirling his tongue around my hard nipples. He sucked on them, and I sucked air in through gritted teeth. The small fire burning between my thighs was growing into an out of control three-alarm blaze with each passing moment. Sliding my hands down, I rubbed his cock through his jeans and moaned. He was so thick and so hard. It had been so long, I wanted it inside of me. I didn't want to wait.

  I helped Damian slide my pants down my legs, stepping out of them. I stood before him, naked and dripping wet. He smiled as he picked me up and set me down on the counter he'd just vacated. Wincing and groaning, Damian got down on his knees and parted my thighs. Leaning forward, he buried his face in my hot, wet pussy. He licked my lips, running the tip of his tongue up and down before teasing my clit. Sucking on it.

  “Oh God, Damian,” I gasped.

  He slid a finger inside of me, and I moaned as he also took my clit into his mouth, sucking on it hard as he started to bang me. I was so wet that his finger was gliding in and out of me, so he slid a second one in as well, and I moaned loudly. He fucked me with his fingers hard and deep as he sucked on my clit, swirled his tongue around it.


  And it wasn't long before the pressure that had been building up inside of me finally burst and I exploded hard. My body spasm and trembled as the pleasure rolled through me with the force of a hurricane. I thrust my hips up, trying to take his tongue even deeper inside of me.

  “I'm coming, baby,” I moaned. “I'm coming so hard.”

  It seemed to take forever, but the orgasm finally subsided, and Damian got to his feet – slowly – with a wolfish smile on his face. The heat between my thighs hadn't abated – if anything, it had only grown more intense.