Antonio shakes his head and then nods once at the man standing behind me. “Make her talk,” he says.
There’s a screeching sound on the floor and I turn in time to catch them slide a rectangular table a few feet until it’s next to my chair.
Antonio smiles on the video screen and it means not good things for me.
“Give me your hand,” the chubby man says.
I clench both hands to my chest, sticking my fingers underneath my arms. “No.” Do they think I’m a moron? No one’s touching my hands. I like them and my fingers. I’m attached.
“Boys, why don’t you help our friend out,” Antonio says, and I slap myself for thinking he could almost be cute if he wasn’t a mob boss. The man has psychological problems.
The two men who rode in the car’s backseat with me each tug an arm until I’m unable to keep it tucked away. “I swear I don’t. I promise!” It doesn’t stop them.
Together they take my hand and pry my fingers apart until they’re set flat on the small table beside me. Bile curls in my stomach and threatens to come up as I gag with imagery of what they’re about to do. I like my fingers. All of them.
“Which one do you want, boss,” the driver asks.
My eyes search them out, begging and pleading for him to make a different choice. “I swear I don’t know.”
I gag again and Antonio smiles. “Start with the little one.”
“No!” I work to tuck my fingers back into a fist but he applies more pressure, leaning his entire body weight on my hand and cracking the knuckles.
20
Glass shatters and I fling my body forward out of instinct more than anything else. They pull my arm back as a large body soars through the air. It’s the limp form of one of the guys. In the commotion I pull my hand away and tuck it into myself, rolling into a small ball on the floor.
A thick head of hair — one that’s easy to make out as Nate — tackles the driver to the floor, his fist punching him in the head.
“Get Josie!” he yells. Our eyes lock in for a second and the world stops as I stare at him, hopeful he’s come to rescue me. The first sign of a tear trickles down my face as the commotion picks back up again in rapid speed. Now is not the time to cry, stupid. Why do my tears always come at the worst times?
Two hands grab me and I hit my attacker as hard as possible, doing everything I can to wiggle away as he picks me up in his arms and clutches me close to his chest.
“Shhh, Josie. I’ve got you, it’s me.” I struggle, but look up and see a pair of eyes belonging to a man I’ve met before.
My heart clutches in my chest. “Crispin?” It’s not Nate but another one of Ridge’s team.
He squeezes me tighter and carries me away from the melee happening on the floor in the warehouse. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”
I shake my head no. “I don’t feel okay.” Where’s Nate? Why isn’t he following us out?
“Are you hurt anywhere? Bleeding? Did anyone touch you?”
“No.” My injuries aren’t physical. Crispin carries me outside, and the sun hits my face, stinging my eyes and forcing me to clench them closed.
There’s yelling as more men from Ridge’s barbecue race into the warehouse. Panic and mayhem ensue everywhere.
“Put her down and step away,” a harsh voice utters.
Crispin laughs and puts me down on the ground, keeping me steady until my feet touch. “She’s all yours,” he says.
I turn and Nate stands three feet away. “Josie.”
I don’t wait for whatever else comes next. I run into his arms and throw myself into them, hopeful Nate can catch me.
He does. Our lips come together, and he wraps me up in his warmth, his arms circling my body, but his heart securing my soul.
“You saved me.” I hug him harder, the tears flowing down my face.
“I will always save you,” he says.
Ridge’s men lead three of the attackers out of the warehouse, each of their hands tied behind their backs with white zip ties. I glare at each one. From here on out, Nate will never need to do anything to save me again. I’ll live a nice quiet life where I never leave our little yellow house. Definitely no more hanging out with Katy.
Nate pulls a few strands of my hair back, tucking them behind my shoulder, and runs a thumb against the skin behind my ear. It started out cute. I thought he was caressing me in a loving way, but the way his head moves closer to one area as if he’s studying me it’s easy to figure out this is something different.
I bat his hand away. “Nate, it’s been twenty-four hours. I’m fine.” The man has hovered around me since my rescue yesterday. At first I thought it was wonderful. I loved having his attention. Now I kinda want to go back to work. He’s even checking over Emma and she wasn’t even there.
“I thought I saw a bruise forming.”
“The only thing bruised,” I say, bashing my phone as hard as possible against the granite countertops in my new kitchen, “is my phone.”
I hit it on the counter two more times before Nate carefully grabs it from my hands.
“They said this case was indestructible, but there’s something wrong with it.”
Nate inspects the case and the top of the phone for any cracks, but I told him the case is supposed to be indestructible. “It did get flung onto the road from a moving car,” he says still studying the spotless phone.
“Indestructible case.” It’s the only way I dare own a smart phone, which cost as much as an expensive laptop when you’re a parent.
He slips the phone in his back pocket. “I told you your carrier sucks. It won’t work in this part of Pelican Bay. I’ll get you a new one.”
“Everyone always says phones don’t work in Pelican Bay, but that is crazy. It doesn’t make sense. It worked before how can a cell not work here now?” Sure, I had a bad signal in the bakery, but I thought it was the brick building.
“They work. You just need the right carrier.” He shrugs, leaning across the counter and getting close again. “Forget the phone. I’ll fix the phone. Are you okay?” he asks, staring into my eyes.
“Yes.” I remind myself not to get frustrated because at one point in time I had a husband who didn’t care if I was okay. I can’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth. If Nate wants to fawn all over me, then so be it. I’ll be fawned over. It’s not a hardship.
He leans over the counter ticking one finger from his hand out. “I promise you we are going to hunt Antonio down and stop his organization. They won’t set foot within one hundred miles of Pelican Bay when I’m done with them.”
A shiver runs through my body and I flex my fingers before bringing them into a fist. My pinky throbs.
Why did he have to be named Antonio? I can never eat my favorite pizza place back in Bangor again.
“So, what’s on the agenda this week?” I ask Nate, trying to bring some normality back to our lives.
He thinks for a moment, tapping his finger on the counter. “Number one, absolutely no drama.”
I nod, on board with this plan. No more drama, ever.
“Number two, I want you and Emma to stay here and enjoy the new house while you can.”
I smile. “What are you going to do?”
Nate grabs my hand, pulling me close, and places a kiss on my lips. “I’ll go to work every day to make this town safe and spend every night making you scream my name in pleasure.”
Yes, this will be a very good life indeed.
Epilogue
Nate
A few weeks later
Sunlight shines through the thin curtains Josie picked out to go in our master bedroom. They’re a light color she calls rose and I call pink. I’m not sure what happened to my fucking manhood that I’m allowing pink curtains in my bedroom, but I plan to run with it for the time being.
Although something has to be done about keeping the light out. Hell, I’d buy pink blackout curtains if they would make her happy. We could get some blinds up in here. Anyt
hing to stop the weekend morning sun from waking me up.
Josie twitches in her sleep and I wrap my arm around her, pulling her back to my chest. She sinks into my arms and relaxes, falling back to sleep.
This is what I work so hard for. I stick my face in the back of her hair, breathing deeply with the smell of strawberries tickling my senses. It’s wonderful. I’ve never been so happy and I know the people around me are happy for me.
The rest of my life will be spent with Josie and Emma. Every day I’ll work to do a better job keeping them protected while adding a few more kids of our own. First, we need to get married and then we can have little Josies running around before we add a few boys to the mix.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand and I reach over, grabbing it so it doesn’t wake up Josie. It’s a text from Crispin.
CRISPIN: Pizza tonight Roadhouse Bar. Don’t be late.
NATE: I’m skipping this one. Next time.
CRISPIN: Really dude? Why?
NATE: One day you’ll find her and will skip out too. More important things, man.
He texts back immediately.
CRISPIN: That woman does not exist.
He is wrong. She exists, he just hasn’t found her… yet.
I can only hope he doesn’t hit her with his truck. I laugh, jiggling the bed, and Josie rolls over to put her face in my chest.
Emma whines in her crib, yelling out for her mom, and Josie sighs. She knows she has to get up, but she doesn’t want to. I kiss her on the forehead in my favorite spot with a tiny little freckle that sticks out from her hairline. “I got her. Go back to sleep.”
Her head sinks into the pillow and I give it another second, watching her fall back into a peaceful sleep before I slowly crawl out of bed and make my way to Emma’s room.
I hope the rest of my life with Josie and Emma is calm with no more interruptions, but something tells me when you live in Pelican Bay and hang around with the people we do, there’s only going to be a lot more fun to come.
Before I met Josie, I lived a nice calm and ordered life. Everything had its place, but then she walked into my world with Emma on her hip and nothing has been the same since. I love every crazy minute of it. I couldn’t ask for anything more from the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with from here until eternity.
Before I can calm down, settle into our new home life, and start a future with Josie, I need to make sure we eliminate all threats. We can’t allow Antonio Gambo to continue his operation in the area. Now more than ever it’s time to bring down the men who threaten Pelican Bay.
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Megan Matthews writes smutty romance by day and hides behind her secret identity as a responsible Pinterest mom when other parents are around. She believes morning shouldn’t start until noon and chocolate should be calorie free. Living in Michigan she prefers sun over snow, hot chocolate over coffee, and wine over beer.
Preferring books over nature, Megan once displayed the entire Goosebumps series on her bookshelf. Her taste in reading has matured. She now prefers her heroes with rippling muscles naked in bed over brace-faced nerds running from murderous dummies.
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More Books By Megan Matthews
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