by LK Shaw
A scuffle next to us had me pushing Katie behind me, and I saw Tony and Ricco wrestling on the floor for control of the knife. Back and forth they went, until finally, Ricco’s scream of agony echoed in the air as Tony snapped his wrist, the knife falling uselessly to the floor. Tony kicked it across the room and out of reach before turning to face us.
“My name is Anthony Rodriguez, and I’m an undercover D.E.A. agent.”
Slowly, he reached one hand into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet before tossing it into my outstretched hand. I stared down at the picture I.D. for a moment before throwing it over to Connor.
“Tell her to contact Director Timothy Shepherd. He’ll verify everything I’m telling you. I’ve been working undercover for over three years gathering intel to bring O’Reilly’s racketeering organization down. We discovered over a year ago that he’s been dabbling in arms dealing with the Russians, and we’ve been building a case to connect him to Vladamir Dragomirov in an attempt to take Drago down.”
My gaze shot to Black and Standish at the Russian’s name. It was a name we were all highly familiar with. This case had just taken another dangerous turn.
“Josie, I need you to confirm that an Anthony Rodriguez is D.E.A. ” Connor spoke through his Bluetooth before lobbing the wallet back to Rodriguez who returned it to his pocket.
“You fucking traitor.”
My head snapped back to O’Reilly, whom I’d completely forgotten about. While our focus had been elsewhere, he’d risen from the floor and had a gun pointed at Rodriguez.
Connor and Miles quickly turned and directed their guns at the threat. “Don’t do it, O’Reilly.”
His entire focus was on the man across the room. “I trusted you, and this is how you repay me? You were part of my family. How dare you come to my house and betray us like this.”
“Put the gun down, Francis,” Rodriguez tried coaxing. “You know there’s only one way this is going to go down. You’re going to prison, O’Reilly.”
“The hell I am. I’ll die first.” His finger twitched and another round of gunshots sounded as I dragged Katie to the floor, covering her body with mine. When the smoke cleared, O’Reilly was back on the ground, but this time, I knew he wasn’t getting back up. I looked around and saw that somehow a gun had appeared in Rodriguez’s hand. I had no idea who truly fired the kill shot, but my guess was from the man in front of me.
I pulled Katie back up from the ground and pulled her to me.
“It’s over, love.”
“God, Daniel, I was so scared. But, I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”
“I love you so much, Katherine Marsh.”
“I love you too, Daniel.”
While I held her, Connor, Miles, and Rodriguez all made various phone calls. Shortly after, sirens could be heard getting closer. Soon, the house was filled with D.E.A. and paramedics who were treating Ricco. They put him on a stretcher and wheeled him out to an ambulance. An agent hopped up into the back of the vehicle and, after closing the back doors, the truck drove off. O’Reilly’s body was bagged and taken to the coroner’s office.
During the entire time, I refused to release my hold on Katie. She was in my arms, and I was never letting her go after this.
Epilogue
Katie
It was hard to believe that it had been over two months since everything went down. I still woke with the occasional nightmare, but Daniel was there to wrap me in his arms and comfort me as the tears came. I’d moved into his house, and we were both adjusting. A huge shake up happened at City Hall a couple weeks after O’Reilly’s death. Both the Mayor of Pinegrove and the Chief of Police were finally indicted on charges after Black and his team at Blacklight Securities uncovered more incriminating evidence against them during their investigation into Francis O’Reilly. I’d had no idea that they’d already been under investigation for other crimes until Daniel told me.
Because of the corruption in the system, Daniel was considering retiring from the force and actually going to work with Connor at Blacklight. I could tell it surprised both of them when Connor offered Daniel a position if he wanted it. I knew they would always butt heads, but Daniel was tired of the bureaucracy. He would also have a lot more freedom and more resources at his disposal to truly help people, which was the whole reason he’d wanted to become a police officer in the first place. We had talked about it, but he hadn’t made a final decision, although I knew he was headed that way. Regardless of what decision he made, I would fully support him. We both could tell though that his heart was no longer in it.
I’d also finally received the pay out from Emmett’s life insurance policy. It took me the longest time to figure out what I was going to do with both the money and La Scala. I knew it had been Emmett’s dream to turn the restaurant into something big. But, as I came to discover, it hadn’t been my dream. I found a buyer and ended up selling it for a small loss. It hurt for a while that I’d had to give it up, but I knew it was for the best. I used a portion of the money after deciding I wanted to go back to college for something I wanted to do.
I’d told Daniel I’d always wanted to be a social worker who helped kids like me. Kids whose parents weren’t there for them the way mine hadn’t been there for me. So, I enrolled in the local community college and started working toward my degree in social work.
The rest of the money I invested for our future. Or rather, the future of our children. Something I had never considered until a couple weeks ago when I peed on that little stick and two blue lines showed up. I hadn’t told Daniel yet, but I knew I needed to soon. Neither of us had discussed marriage or kids, and I was nervous as all get out. I wanted nothing more than to have children with Daniel, but I didn’t know how to approach it with him.
“How’s my sexy little mama doing today?” I snuggled back into a warm chest as strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me tightly against the hard body behind me. I turned my head to meet Daniel’s kiss. Then it hit me what he’d said, and I quickly turned to face him.
“How did you know?” I couldn’t hide my shock.
“Know what?”
“That I was pregnant.”
He laughed a little as his hands roamed over my body. “Sweetheart, I know your body better than I know my own. Your boobs are slightly bigger, and you’ve been eating a lot more than you usually do.” At that, I lightly smacked him on the arm. I couldn’t help it I had a healthy appetite.
“Besides,” he continued, “we’ve been having unprotected sex since the beginning, and don’t think I haven’t failed to notice that the entire time you’ve been living here, not once have you had your period. Plus, I found the pregnancy test you tried so hard to hide. I am a detective, you know.”
Sudden shyness overcame me, and I couldn’t look at him. Strong fingers hooked under my chin and lifted my head up so I was forced to meet his eyes.
“What’s wrong? Are you not happy about the baby?”
I wanted to smack myself when I heard the nervousness in his voice. It struck me that he was afraid this wasn’t what I wanted.
“Oh, Daniel. I’ve never been happier. You’re going to be an amazing father. I just wasn’t sure how you felt about it. We never really talked about long term, and we definitely didn’t talk about kids. I was worried about telling you.”
Daniel led me over the couch and dragged me onto his lap as he sat down. He caressed my face, pushing my hair out of my eyes. He stared so intently at me that I forced myself not to fidget.
“I don’t ever want you to have to worry about talking to me. About anything. I love you, Katherine. I’m in this for the long haul, whatever that entails. Marriage, kids, Little League. All of it. I want it, and I want it with you. Always.”
I sighed in contentment that I’d finally found my happy place, in Daniel’s arms.
Did you enjoy Webber and Katie’s story? If so, please keep reading for a sneak peek at the first three books in the Secrets series, where you first meet We
bber in Secrets of Submission.
You can purchase the entire series in a single box set at the link below.
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2qY1Ib0
A Note From Lk
Thank you so much for reading HIS TO PROTECT. I hope you liked Webber and Katie’s story. If you did, I would love it if you would please leave a review on Amazon. Reviews are the life blood of an author. They help by spreading word about the book and they also improve visibility of the book so others have the opportunity to read it. In this world of ever increasing self-published authors, visibility is paramount.
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Secrets of Submission
Copyright
Secrets of Submission: Secrets, Book 1 (c) 2016 by LK Shaw
Cover design (c) 2016 by Ella Dominguez
eBook ISBN: 978-1523938674
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Chapter 1
Penny
Butterflies fluttered in my belly as I wiped my sweaty palms on my pant leg. My heart beat a hundred times a minute. My mind urged me to run. I was about to step outside my comfort zone. My safe, vanilla comfort zone. A comfort zone that, to date, had brought me nothing except heartache. I sat in my car contemplating changing my life for that very reason. Would it change for the better? I didn’t know, which made it even more nerve wracking. How it changed couldn’t be any worse than the stagnant life I currently led. I was floating through life without a paddle. I needed direction. The fact that I continued to sit here contemplating this made me question my sanity. This being showing up to a vanilla potluck attended by people in the BDSM community.
Vanilla meant a non-kink, family environment. A casual get-together to laugh and have fun. I’d spent weeks researching the kink community on the internet and had waffled back and forth so much about showing up today that my head ached from all the tension. My muscles tightened with anxiety. My emotions volleyed like a ping-pong ball between excitement and nervousness. Mild panic caused my heart to flutter, my face to flush, and sweat to bead across my forehead.
So many questions rattled around in my head. What would I wear? What should I bring to eat? Who do I talk to? Most importantly, WHAT do I talk about? I imagined everyone there would know exactly what I was — a thirty-five-year-old, overweight woman, whose longest relationship had only lasted a year. A relationship so toxic I don’t even know how I managed to find myself again after I broke it off.
Throughout the entire relationship, my ex told me I was fat. That I wasn’t smart enough or good enough. He spoke of it so subtly, though, I didn’t even realize it had been happening until one night when we were out with some friends. I had come back from the bathroom when I overheard my ex talking to one of the guys about me. About how he had to turn the lights off when we had sex, because he couldn’t stand to look at me. He even joked about how I had no idea the number of women he had on the side. At that point, I realized what I’d allowed him to do to me and my self-esteem. I felt so stupid for being oblivious to how I’d allowed him to treat me. The pain radiated like a slap to the face. It spoke to how beaten down he’d made me feel that I hadn’t recognized the signs. That moment defined me and made me realize that I deserved better. Without a word, I walked out of the bar and never saw him again.
I had dated some since then, except I never let anyone get close enough emotionally to hurt me. I fiercely guarded my heart, afraid to open myself up again and be vulnerable to the kind of hurt I’d already experienced. I fought back against the insecurities that had become so engrained in me. I hadn’t fully recovered my confidence or self-esteem, but every day, I studied my reflection in the mirror and told myself, “You are beautiful, smart, and good enough for any man.” I continued to have bouts of the self-doubt bullshit to work through, but I figured that the more times I said it, soon enough I would believe it. I also worked on opening my heart to someone, which I found extremely difficult. Once trust is broken, it’s hard not to become cynical about love.
As if having low self-esteem wasn’t bad enough. My sex life turned virtually non-existent. I had never gotten any real enjoyment out of sex when I’d been with my ex or any of the guys I’d briefly dated since then. I had tried to love fucking as much as the next woman, but something always seemed to be missing. I rarely orgasmed, but I became a pro at faking one. If I did come, it usually happened because I resorted to getting myself off when my partner fell asleep.
I had reached the age where spending my weekend nights at a bar or club trying to pick up a man no longer appealed to me. The majority of my friends were already in relationships or married. I had a few single girlfriends, and a couple of them tried to set me up with one of their friends, but nothing ever worked out. So, I spent a lot of my time reading and living vicariously through the characters. I read a lot of dirty books. They were my guilty pleasure. I read books with sex scenes so hot, I practically felt the deep pounding of a man’s cock inside me. The mingled breaths, the gasps, the moans, the fingertips ghosting along my skin sending shockwaves through my body. While dating my ex, urges came over me. Urges to give up control and be dominated. In hindsight, I realized why I never expressed my wishes and fantasies to him.
I had an inkling, a feeling, a hunch, a whatever you want to call it, that I was submissive. The thought of being dominated and controlled had me throbbing deep inside. Other than the throbbing in my pussy I experienced when reading BDSM books, I didn’t really know what it meant to submit or to give up control. With not being in a relationship, and having not been in one for a long time, I wasn’t comfortable exploring or giving up that control to someone I didn’t fully know and trust. I realized now that I’d always kept a part of myself hidden from the few partners I’d been with. I wasn’t getting any younger either. I wanted to find that person I could trust with the needs I didn’t fully understand. I needed more from life than casual fucks that I only half ass enjoyed.
Which led me to my current situation. Me, sitting in my car at a local city park, store bought potato salad in hand. I’d never pictured myself as a voyeur until today. Finally, after a half an hour of watching, I worked up the nerve to open the car door and start placing one foot in front of the other. I made my way to the shelter house and sat my potato salad in the buffet line. I moved by the wall and remained there, like a wallflower, while I waited for someone to talk to me.
“Mmm, fresh meat,” a deep, gravelly voice spoke from my right. I turned in that direction. What I saw caused my breath to hitch, and I had to remind myself to keep breathing. Beside me stood the sexiest man I’d ever laid eyes on. He appeared slightly older than me and stood over six feet tall with broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. He wore blue jeans and a tight navy t-shirt that only accentuated his muscular chest and arms. The flecks of gray in his wavy, dark brown hair glinted in the sunlight. I became lost in the soul searching forest green eyes that roved over me from head to toe, pausing slightly at my
lips. Unconsciously, I licked them. As I did, his nostrils flared and a flash of arousal lit up his eyes. My face heated as a blush spread across my cheeks, and my eyes automatically dropped away from his intense stare. His full, sensuous lips were quirked up into a half smile, and I fantasized about running my tongue up his square jaw lined with the perfect amount of scruff. “What a delectable blush.”
I almost turned around to make sure no one stood behind me. I mean, completely fuckable men like him had no interest in short, overweight women like me. Don’t get me wrong; I reluctantly accepted this body with all its bumps, rolls, stretch marks, and cellulite. I even tried to actually love and completely embrace it. With my track record, though, I had yet to meet a man this irresistible who showed this much interest, a sexual interest anyway, in me. It made me wonder what thoughts were running through his head as he admired me. I had my long, wavy, slightly reddish brown hair gathered in a top ponytail, a belly, and wide hips. From the look in his eyes though, he wanted to eat me alive. My body temperature spiked, and I shivered despite the warm weather.
“I’m Marcus, by the way. Whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?”