When he captured her breast with his teeth, she was lost to all reason. Sam sated her passion in wave after wave of pleasure until the sky turned purple, heavy with morning. Then, and only then, did he allow her to fall asleep tucked in his arms. Safe.
Megan woke to the sensation that someone was watching her. Her hand went to the watch but it was back in place. Her eyes took a second to focus.
Sam snored lightly next to her with his arm tossed above his head. Movement outside grabbed her attention. Megan gasped and grabbed her clothes to make sure she was covered. Argyle peered in the tinted window, using his hands as goggles to see inside.
Sam sat bolt upright at her distress.
“It’s okay. It’s just Argyle. I think he’s looking for you. I also think he got an eye full.” Megan placed a hand on his chest, thankful he’d had the foresight to cover their nakedness with the sheet at some point in the night.
Sam leaned back down on one elbow and wiped the sleep from his eyes with his other hand.
“Can you blame him? You are a sight to behold.” He finished his sentence with a yawn.
Megan slapped at his shoulder. “Yeah, especially in the morning.”
Sam leaned over and kissed her neck.
“Stop that. He’s right there.”
Sam lifted his head and hollered loud enough to be heard outside the vehicle. “Hey Argyle, can you give us a half hour or so?”
Mortified Megan pulled the sheet over her head.
“Sure thing. See you at breakfast?”
“Yep.” Sam lifted the sheet and pulled it over his own head then attacked Megan. She couldn’t stop the childish giggle that bubbled out of her.
An hour later when they were pulling their clothes back on, Sam turned to her and asked what she’d been worried about since they left Vegas.
“Do you want to stay here or go to my cabin up North?”
“Wow. You’re giving me a choice?”
Coward.
She snorted. Both of them were giant cowards. A match made in heaven. Too bad he was too blind to see it.
“I guess I’ll stay long enough to have the baby, then move on.” The thought of living on her own with a child was overwhelming, but she would make it work. She’d been able to trek across four states for Pete’s sakes, she could do this on her own too. She tugged her shoelace a little harder than she meant to and cut off the circulation to her toes.
“You’ll stay? What do you mean you’ll stay?” The storm brewing in Sam’s eyes should have warned her off, but she was in the mood to live dangerously.
Chapter Sixteen
“I don’t expect anything from you Sam. It wasn’t either of our plans to have a baby in this messed up world.”
She pushed open the car door and crawled out to escape his scrutiny, but he caught her by the waist and pulled her back.
“Oh no you don’t.”
“Let me go.” She didn’t want to hash this out. The people that built this camp had built a life worth living. A hard life, but she could attempt to raise a baby here.
“Why? So you can storm off angry again. No way. We’re going to settle this here and now. What is your problem?”
“My problem?” He had some nerve.
“Yeah. Your problem. I am letting you choose where we spend the rest of our lives, and you’re still pissed? Women.” Sam threw his arms up in the air and unintentionally smacked the roof of the car.
“Our lives?” Megan shook her head. He made absolutely no sense.
“Yes our lives. What did you think? I was just going to dump you here?”
Megan turned away from the indignant look on his face.
“You did, didn’t you? Is that what you think of me?” His voice thundered in the small vehicle.
“I…” The words died in her throat. Megan knew darn well he wouldn’t dump her off by choice, but nor did she want to spend the rest of her life with a man who didn’t love her.
“Be very careful of what you say next, Megan. You owe me the truth.”
Megan winced at his cheap shot and anger seared her heart. “Fine you want the truth. I am not spending five more minutes with a man that can’t see any further than his own nose.”
She scooted out the back of the rig.
He came right out behind her, and caught her by the wrist.
“Stop running away from me.” He spun her around and captured her with both his hands planted on the car behind her.
“Tell me,” he bellowed in her face.
“Fine, you want the truth?” She planted her hands on the side of the car behind her, grasping for something solid, and yelled right back at him. “The truth is I love you, and you are too stupid to see it. And I am not stupid enough to spend the rest of my life with a man who doesn’t love me back.”
She gasped at her own admission. Darn her tongue. This was exactly why she didn’t swear. Once the words were out there you couldn’t take them back. Her arms slumped to her sides in defeat.
Sam’s jaw twitched, and Megan waited for the storm to hit, but his words were calm when they finally came. “What makes you think I don’t love you?”
“You never said so, and don’t say so now just to make me feel better. I…we will be just fine without you…eventually.” She really needed to stop talking before she made any more of a fool of herself in front of him.
His hands slid down to her shoulders.
“You know, I’ve been calling you my wife for days now and nothing ever felt so natural.”
Megan swallowed the lump in her throat. “It didn’t mean anything.”
“If you need someone to say the words over us, I’ll ask Allan to do it.” He rubbed her collarbone with the pad of his thumb while he spoke and the sensation made her head swim.
“Why would I want to do that?” He just didn’t get it.
“Because I do love you.”
Megan shook her head in denial, but he stopped her protests on her lips with the gentle touch of his finger and continued.
“I love the way you won’t swear, even when the situation most definitely calls for it. And I love the way you don’t look at me any different after I get pissed off and use every swear word I know. I love the way you blushed after our first encounter at the river. Hell, I even love the way you go toe to toe with me and won’t back down until I prove I’m right.”
A sob escaped Megan. Her very soul ached for his touch.
“I love you.” He dipped low and brushed her lips with his own. “You are my wife, not because some minister says so, or even because we say so. You are my wife because deep down in our hearts it’s true.”
Megan looked up into his face and knew it was true, all of it, and her heart soared on joyous wings. “I love you, too.”
He kissed her, and Megan answered the call of his heart with all the love she held. When he pulled away from the kiss, it left Megan breathless.
“I have something for you.” Sam leaned in the Suburban. He grunted and caught himself on the doorjamb of the car when he stumbled on his hurt leg a bit. He regained his balance and rummaged around in the back.
“Here it is.” He pulled out a small box.
“That looks like a jewelry box.” Megan stated the obvious as he handed it to her.
“Open it.” He looked like a mischievous cat. All that was missing were bright yellow feathers sticking out of his mouth.
Megan flipped the box open. Two diamond stud earrings sparkled in the sunlight. “Oh Sam. How?”
“My voucher at the hotel.” He took the box from her and held it up so she could pull the earrings off their perch and put them on.
“I haven’t had earrings on since…well, a long time.” Her hands shook while she slid the studs in.
His fingers grazed her ear when he pushed her hair back to examine the gift. “It’s not exactly an engagement ring, but you said your thing was earrings.”
“Oh, they’re perfect.” Megan wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
“I would if it were possible.” Megan wished more than anything it were possible.
“You’re missing the point. We make the rules now. Let’s have Allan do it. Tonight at the bonfire.”
“Yeah?” Megan couldn’t imagine being happier.
“Why not?” He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground in a bear hug.
“Okay, put me down before you pop a stitch. I’ve got to go find a dress.”
He laughed and set her on her feet.
Megan reached in the back of the rig and grabbed her pack. When she turned to go find Allan’s wife for help, Sam grabbed her wrist again and stopped her.
“Wait. I want to hear the word.” His expression was sweet, like a child asking for permission to go downstairs on Christmas morning.
At a loss Megan asked, “What word?”
“I asked you to marry me and you said…” He let his words trail off intentionally.
Oh. Megan smiled sheepishly and sauntered back up to him. She got as close as she could without touching him and crooked her finger at him so he would close the distance. When he bent his head low Megan whispered in his ear. “Yes.”
****
Sam’s chest grew tight as he watched Megan walk toward the bonfire. She glowed like a Greek goddess. The toga she’d fashioned out of her white sheet and a piece of string hugged all her curves and left one shoulder bare. Her hair was pushed back to show off the earrings that sparkled in the firelight. Wild flowers peeked out of her hair and she carried a bouquet of those same flowers in her hand. Allan’s wife and Summer walked along side of her, and they might have been carrying flowers as well, but Sam couldn’t tear his eyes from Megan to confirm or deny that suspicion. The ever-present watch made him smile.
Sam reached out and took Megan’s small hand in his, then turned to face Allan while everyone in camp circled around them.
Allan cleared his throat.
“Folks, we’re here tonight to join Sam Woods and Megan Fletcher in marriage. As you all know, the world has changed.” Murmurs of agreement washed through the crowd before he continued.
“But some things have not.” He inclined his head first at Sam then at Megan. “Two people can still find one another, fall in love and create a life together. Sam, do you promise to love, protect and share all that you have with Megan?”
Sam squeezed her hand. “I do.”
“Megan?” She nodded in response but kept her gaze locked with Sam’s. “Do you promise to love, protect and share all that you have with Sam?”
“I do.” It was a hushed whisper as if meant only for Sam’s ears, and the sweet tone made his heart surge.
“A little louder, Sweetheart, so everyone can hear,” Allan encouraged.
“I do.” She turned and called over her shoulder at the encampment, which earned her a round of hushed laughter.
“Then, in front of all these witnesses, my authority being the trust of these good people, I pronounce you husband and wife. May you find happiness together.”
Sam didn’t wait for Allan to finish speaking before he tugged Megan into his embrace and bent her back in a kiss meant to brand her soul. The raucous laughter and howls of encouragement from the crowd registered somewhere in the back of his brain, but then the world melted away and he became aware of only her. The way she tasted. The way she shivered in his arms. And the little sigh that only he could hear.
When Sam reluctantly released Megan, she lifted her bouquet in the air and everyone shouted. Sam stepped back and Megan turned her back to the crowd before she tossed it over her shoulder at them. The crowd broke out in cheers when his sister caught the bouquet. Laughter took over when out of instinct, she threw it away like a hot potato, and Argyle caught it.
Argyle had come to him earlier that day and asked to leave Allan’s camp with Sam and his family. Citing a dislike for the heat and with no ties to the camp, he proposed that traveling with another man, even an older man, would be useful. Sam explained that he would welcome the company, if Megan chose to go North. But it would be her choice. Speaking of which…
He slid up behind his wife, wrapped his arms around her and covered her belly with a splayed hand. Time to let someone else drive the ship. He would deal with any icebergs as they came along. That was love. That was trust.
“So, Wife, have you decided where we should raise our family?”
She placed her hand over his and leaned back against his shoulder. Megan turned her face to look up into his. “Take us home.”
A word about the author...
Author Renee Charles believes all love is legendary. Being the only female in a house full of giant men, she tends to lean toward the macabre, but inevitably the romantic side shines through.
Her own romance began in an insane asylum. Luckily, both she and her husband only worked there. But it makes sense her romance novels have strange beginnings that lead to passionate endings. Romance with a dark twist.
In the face of zombies, werewolves, and Big Foot, she always seems to find a happily-ever-after to leave you with a sigh at the end.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Only Love Survives (Love and Zombies) Page 17