AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When we’d gotten out of the shower, and I’d thoroughly dried Alyssa off and brushed her hair, I carried her to the bed and set her on the mattress. I covered her with the blanket, then crawled in next to her and pulled her soft body into mine, cuddling her close.
“I love this, lying here naked with you wrapped in my arms,” I told her softly. “I love it just as much as when I’m inside you.”
“Me too.” Alyssa exhaled slowly, then raised her head and set her chin on my chest. “How are you so perfect? I feel like there is no way this can last. It’s just too…perfect.”
I tucked some wayward strands of her hair away from her face and smiled as my fingers brushed her cheek. “Get used to it, baby. I’m not going anywhere, and if you think I’m perfect, I’m not going to try to change your mind.”
She giggled, and I pulled her up for a soft kiss before settling her against me once more. “Rest, baby. I worked you hard tonight, and I already want you again.”
“Is that so?” she asked slyly as her fingers walked across my stomach and headed down my trail of hair.
I caught her hand and grumbled, “No. You need to rest.”
She sighed and laid her arm across my chest. I wasn’t surprised when her breathing deepened not even a minute later.
There was a lot of shit for us to work out once the real world intruded, but if the rest of my life was even a fraction as good as the past couple of weeks, then our future together would be amazing.
A sound woke me a few hours later, though I wasn’t sure what it was. I slipped out from under Alyssa, careful not to wake her, and sat up on the side of the bed. Silently, I opened the drawer of the nightstand and withdrew my Glock. Then I heard it again. A faint squeak.
I quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and padded across the carpet to the closed bedroom door. When I didn’t hear anything again, I opened the door and slipped into the hall without making a sound. Then locked it from the inside before closing it again. I made my way down the hall to the top of the stairs and stopped short when I spotted the source of the sound.
With the house surrounded by woods and only a sliver of a moon, the house was unusually dark, so all I could make out was a shadowy figure standing on the stairs. They were paused and twisted around as though to communicate with the other shadowy figure in the front entryway.
“I saw a light on in the master, but you check the other rooms down there,” the one on the steps whispered. He’d spoken so low, I almost hadn’t heard him, but the other figure must have because he hurried away. As he rounded the corner, I saw the small amount of light coming through the skylights glint off a gun in his hand. Rage built inside me when I realized the motherfuckers were probably here for Alyssa.
The man on the stairs began moving up again, and I moved to block the top, then racked the slide on my gun—causing the shrouded figure to freeze—and aimed it at him.
“Don’t take another fucking step,” I snarled.
9
ALYSSA
Iwasn’t sure what woke me, but I went from being deep asleep to wide awake in the blink of an eye. Rolling over, I was surprised to find the other side of the bed empty. Garrison tended to stick close to me—to the point where I always knew where he was. Even when he just needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, he woke me up with a kiss before slipping out of bed.
Cranky from having my sleep interrupted, I’d asked him about it on our second night in the house. My heart had melted at his explanation—that he wanted to make sure I always felt safe and waking up to an empty room while people were after me was bound to scare me. I’d thought he was just being sweet, but it turned out he was right…I was beyond freaked out right now. For him to have left me alone sleeping, something bad must’ve happened.
Crawling off the mattress as quietly as possible, I snagged the T-shirt he’d left on the floor and pulled it over my head. Then I tiptoed over to the dresser and held my breath as I opened one of the drawers to grab a pair of sweatpants. Being caught undressed by crooked cops wouldn’t be my fault, but I had a feeling Garrison would punish me for it anyway. And probably not the fun kind of discipline if they actually saw me naked. But first, we had to make it through whatever was happening for me to worry about that.
Some of the supplies Patch had brought us on the first day were weapons. I’d thought the guns, knives, and ammunition were a little bit of overkill, but not so much anymore.
Garrison had stashed them around the house, showing me where he’d placed each one of them. Including an extra gun in the bedroom in case I ever needed it. Rounding the bed, I opened the drawer of my nightstand and grabbed the Glock he had put in there for me. The 22 model was slightly heavier than the 45 my dad used and held different ammunition, but it hadn’t taken me long to get used to the difference. Much to Garrison’s surprise. And pleasure since seeing me handle a gun had led to some amazing sex…as pretty much everything between us did.
But I couldn’t let myself get distracted by those excellent memories. I needed to focus on finding Garrison. After taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I padded over to the door, my gun gripped tightly in my right hand. When I tried the knob, the lock made a clicking sound, and I muttered, “Crap.”
I hadn’t considered the possibility that Garrison would’ve locked me in, and I probably should have. He’d do whatever it took to keep me safe, including facing off with the bad guys while I was out of harm’s way with a locked door—and his brawny body—between me and trouble.
I knew that if I left the safety of the room, I would probably end up with a reddened butt for putting myself at risk, but I would never be able to live with myself if something happened to Garrison while I sat here twiddling my thumbs. If I was going to be his old lady—and he’d better be planning on giving me a property patch to make it official or else he might regret letting me have a gun—then I needed to have his back.
I slowly turned the knob and inched the door open, being as quiet as possible. But Garrison proved how attuned to me when he softly hissed from the top of the stairs, “Stay put, baby. There’s another guy on the first floor.”
The guy he was holding at gunpoint took a deep breath as though he was going to yell a warning to his partner, and Garrison lowered his gun to aim right at the man’s crotch. “Put your weapon on the floor near my feet. One word or false move, and you can say goodbye to your cock forever. ”
There was only the barest hint of light from the moon through the windows, but when he leaned forward to drop his gun, I recognized the intruder he’d caught. “I know him.”
Garrison kept his gaze right where it was as he asked, “He’s a cop?”
“Yeah, his name is Jack. My dad hired him six years ago. He’s partnered with a guy who’s been around since I was a little kid. Mick McCutcheon. I remember laughing about it because their names sounded funny together to me when I was twelve.”
