Before she got lost in the ecstasy, Maggie had to hear it. "Promise me..."

His reply was a breathless whisper in her ear. "Anything."

"You forgive me. You want me here. This is for real this time."

Jase's touch around her only tightened. He turned her around and looked into her eyes. "I forgive you, Maggie. I love you. I won't let anything happen to us."

"I love you," said Maggie.

Jase bent to kiss her with a forceful pa.s.sion Maggie had only dreamed about. He held her in the dark of the bedroom as he explored her mouth with his own in a gently building journey. When he moved down to the soft skin of her neck, Maggie moaned and wrapped her fingers in his hair. Jase took slow time undressing her, and it made her feel like a teenager again, having his hand secreted up her shirt to feel her soft skin. He only left her grasp when he was disarming them both, putting their guns at a safe distance. When he returned from that task, he knelt before her and began to unb.u.t.ton her jeans, planting kisses along the skin at her waistband.

Maggie dropped to the bed with a laugh when he started sliding the denim down her legs. Even this he did slowly, following them down with his face, his beard and lips tickling every inch of her skin before he tossed them to the floor. Jase stood over her for a few moments, simply staring, his gaze devouring her from head to toe. It made Maggie feel like a G.o.ddess. And when he started unbuckling his own pants while staring at her body, it set a fire in her that made her feel like something far less virtuous. She wiggled until she had pulled her own shirt off, and tossed it on the floor.

Jase stood before her in the dim light, fully exposed. With half his body in shadow, he looked like a mythic hero, cut in high contrast and larger than life. She could see now just how much he had been working on his new physique, his bare chest covered in new tattoos that danced along the hard contours of his skin. She felt weak in antic.i.p.ation of touching him again. His c.o.c.k stood, hardened and waiting for her. When she met his eyes, he had the same look of hunger she felt.

Jase made his ascent to her mouth sweetly painful. He stopped to pull off her silk panties with delicate fingers, exposing her center with its small, trimmed tuft of hair. Jase's fingers returned to that spot with a light touch, followed by his hot tongue as he bent to taste her. Maggie moaned and arched her back as she grasped at his head between her legs, unable to contain herself. Every part of her mind and body erupted with pleasure. She could feel the vibrations of Jase's moans against her most sensitive skin.

It had been so long since she had been touched with such love and skill. Soon, she was on the edge of o.r.g.a.s.m. Her fingers tightened in his hair, and his pace kept steady, reading her body signals. When her breaths started coming higher and faster, Jase pushed her wildly off the edge by pushing two fingers deeply between her hot lips without warning. He filled her up and lapped at her c.l.i.t with his tongue as she came, the ecstasy rolling over her like an ocean wave until all she could feel was light. She twisted on the bed and cried out his name as he held her still with one big hand splayed across her hips, refusing to let up on the pleasure he was giving. Maggie had another two aftershocks before he finally seemed satisfied. While she panted on the bed, he pulled his fingers out from inside her and lifted to hover over her, planting sweet kisses all over her hips and tummy. She could taste herself on his kiss when he lowered his lips to hers for a pa.s.sionate exchange.

Maggie ran her hands all over Jase's hardened body, every tensing muscle and smooth patch of skin. He skillfully removed her bra and pushed it off the bed letting his hands roam her b.r.e.a.s.t.s freely as they made out. She moaned into his mouth and pressed her hips up against his aching hardness.

Jase obliged. With one hand he reached down between them and guided his hard c.o.c.k to her swollen p.u.s.s.y. Then he curved his fingers around hers before he pushed into her completely, making them both gasp and moan. He moved smoothly inside her, her wetness inviting and enveloping his entire shaft. Jase kept a steady rhythm, a slower pace than the last time. Maggie wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him down to kiss her while they made love. Her body slid against his, warm and sweat-sheened, as he filled her up with every thrust.

She could tell by his quickening pace and the bright look in his eyes that Jase was getting close. His thrusts became harder and more desperate, hitting her spot and making Maggie cry out. She dug her nails into his back and tightened her p.u.s.s.y around him, eager to feel each ridge and curve of his c.o.c.k inside of her. Jase moaned at the sensation, grasping at her hands and hair to pull her close as he approached the edge.

Jase pushed his forehead against hers and moaned her name. Maggie cried in pleasure as he started to come, burying his c.o.c.k completely, spilling himself deeply inside of her. She moaned with every last movement of his hips. As he came down from the rush, he planted soft kisses on her lips and chest, brushing her hair away from her face.

"I love you," said Jase in a whisper against her sweaty skin.

Maggie nuzzled back against him. "I love you."

"This is for real now." His voice was tired, but determined.

"For real," she said. "Forever."

~ Fourteen ~

Jase made love to Maggie twice more before sleep finally took them both. In between, they did all the things Jase had never let himself believe he would experience again with a woman: the sweet nuzzling, the soft kisses, and the playful teasing that eventually led to one of the two s.e.x sessions. She fell asleep first. He took it as a good sign that he had done his job well. He remembered touching her curls and being amazed that she was real before he drifted off to sleep.

The familiar morning sun woke Jase up first. He realized how happy he was to have fallen asleep in his own bed. He felt weight on his outstretched arm and smiled to himself. He turned to find Maggie tucked up against him, her curls a wild mess around her pale and peaceful face. Jase wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer into him.

Maggie reacted with a soft moan, snuggling into him. She began to lift out of sleep as he held her and kissed the top of her head.

"Good... you're still here." Maggie's voice came groggy and m.u.f.fled from his chest.

Jase laughed. "That was your first thought too, huh?"

"Well, not my first," said Maggie. She pushed back enough to look at him, and he gave her lips a few full kisses. Jase laughed against her lips in surprise when he felt her hand trailing down his flat stomach towards the morning wood hiding beneath the sheets. "This was definitely my first."

Jase pulled back and shook his head at her. "There's just no romance with you, is there? Only s.e.x, that's all I'm good for."

Maggie went red. She spit out a few fl.u.s.tered noises. "Give me a break, look at you! Look how stupid hot you are! This is entrapment."

Jase chuckled. He had almost wiped clean the memories of how much Maggie made him laugh when they were together. The muscles in his face hurt from their unexpected workout. And his ego didn't mind to hear that she was aching for his body, either. He bent to kiss her and rolled onto his back, pulling her on top of him. "Take what you want, baby."

Maggie smiled, delighted at the invitation. "I thought you'd never ask." Her low voice in his ear made him shiver. Jase laid back and felt her soft hands as they worked his c.o.c.k for a few minutes-not that he needed it. He was already aching to be inside of her. When she finally lowered herself on top of him, Jase groaned like an animal at the incredible feeling of being wrapped in her heat. Maggie rode him, moaning, alternating between scratching her nails into his chest and sliding her fingers along the lines of the complex ink that stained it. He watched her writhing, sweating, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s bouncing, her fingers curling as his c.o.c.k buried inside her to the hilt. As they both climaxed, Jase grasped her hips in his big hands and helped her rhythm, pushing himself up deeper inside of her. She came hard on top of him and pulled him over the edge with her. Jase writhed beneath Maggie as he finished.

Maggie collapsed on his chest for a few moments, panting. Then she looked up at him with a wide grin. "Hi, there."

"Hey," he said.

"I still love you," she said.

He laughed. "Good, I still love you too."

Maggie rolled off his body and snuggled up next to him. He turned to face her and wrap an arm around her to hold her close. Their faces nuzzled together on the pillows, exchanging delicate, exploratory kisses.

"You know I even made myself stop dreaming about this," said Maggie, her voice a whisper. "In the moment, it made all my pain better. But after it was over, it felt like I was just skinning myself alive."

Jase's heart ached. He tightened his hold around her and gave her a more pa.s.sionate kiss. He wanted to tell her everything about the darkness he had endured after she left, but he stopped himself. Those days suddenly felt so distant, and he wanted the beautiful woman in his arms to see him as strong. He lightly rubbed his cheek against hers and said instead, "I know how you feel."

"I wish I could take every second of it back. Every bit of pain I put you through..." Two stray tears dropped from Maggie's blue eyes and ran down her face.

Jase rubbed the tears off her face with a gentle thumb. "I wish I could take a lot of things back, too. I wish I had listened to you and stood up to Henry years ago. I know you're not a heartless person, Maggie, and I know you don't believe it, but you're not a coward. I know you wouldn't have left me unless you really felt like you were backed into a corner."

"If I'm not a coward, then I'm at least an animal stupid enough to keep getting trapped in corners," said Maggie with a self-effacing smile.

"Don't beat yourself up," said Jase, running a hand through her hair. "That's not you, babe. That's just the world. But you never let them corner you, and that's why things will work out. You're a survivor. You'll burn s.h.i.t down before you get trapped."

Something sad surfaced in Maggie's eyes. He stroked her hair and waited. She said, "Henry told me my mom felt like I do. That she felt like she set things on fire, too." She looked off into the bedroom. "I know so little about her, but I like the thought that I'm not some black sheep of the Oliver family. I like thinking.... maybe I'm just her daughter, and I'm exactly the way I'm supposed to be. If she had lived, maybe I wouldn't feel this way."

Jase and Maggie had never been big on family talk. Between her lost mother, and his abusive f.u.c.k of a father, it was no sunny place to visit. But Jase could see on her face that this was different.

He held her head tight and looked in her eyes. "You're not a black sheep, Maggie. You are an incredible woman. You're unlike any woman I've ever met. I love everything about who you are. If Sara was half the woman you are... then I can understand why Henry married her. And why he still wears his ring after all these years."

Maggie's face wrinkled as she fought back tears. She threw her arm around Jase's neck and pulled him in to kiss him firmly and deeply. Jase rubbed his hands up and down the soft skin of her back and moaned softly into her kiss.

"I love you," said Maggie with a shaking voice.

"I love you," he whispered in return.

Maggie sighed against him. Jase smiled and kissed her forehead. He loved the sight of her soft skin against the pillow, her curls spilling like silk. Her warm body felt amazing against his.

After a few minutes of cuddling in silence, Maggie rolled onto her back. She wiped her eyes and made a gruff noise. "It got really mushy in here."

Jase laughed and put a hand on her tummy. "Like I said, zero romance with you, Oliver."

"That is an outrage. I'm the Frank Sinatra of this relationship," said Maggie, pounding her fist on the mattress.

"You're a crazy person," said Jase. He laughed and yanked her back against his body.

Maggie tapped her fingers up his chest. "I think we should take a shower."

"I could go for some coffee," he added. At the same time, they both finished: "And a smoke!"

"Jinx," said Maggie. She kissed his head and pulled away from his grasp to stand next to the bed.

"Man, am I going to have to start keeping track of those again?" said Jase as he threw his legs off the edge of the bed. He pulled his jeans off the floor and dug around until he found his cell phone. As expected, he already had two missed calls from Henry.

"Real life, eh?" said Maggie, looking down at him.

Jase fired off a text to Henry saying they were safe, and would be back at the clubhouse soon. He didn't wait for a reply. He put the phone face down on the nightstand. "Not right this minute."

Maggie smiled and winked at him. "Since I don't know this place, I guess you're making the coffee."

"Indeed," he said. He stood up and dropped a long, slow kiss on her lips. "Be just a minute."

Jase headed to his kitchen and immediately put the kettle on. Yawning, he dug out the coffee grounds and French press from his cupboard. Ever since Will had convinced him to try it instead of the s.h.i.tty brew from a drip maker, Jase had been hooked. He started gathering cups and additives.

"I think I'm out of smokes," said Maggie in a faraway voice from the bedroom.

"There's a pack in my right saddle bag," said Jase. He peeked into the fridge for any sort of creamer or milk to offer. Maggie never did like her coffee black.

Maggie walked out of the bedroom in some jeans and a tank top, and Jase made a disappointed noise. "Hey, what's with the clothes?"

"Your saddle bag is on your bike, and your bike is outside," she said in a mocking sing-song voice. She unlocked and pulled open the front door. "Unless you want me to put on a show for your neighbors."

"They didn't buy tickets," said Jase with a shake of his head.

Maggie laughed and blew him a kiss. From the stove, the kettle started its high-pitched song.

Jase was pouring the boiling water into the press when he heard Maggie scream, and the chilling report of two deafening gunshots. He fumbled and dropped the kettle, spilling hot water all over his bare legs and feet. He roared in pain and kicked the kettle aside as he rushed for the front door screaming Maggie's name.

From the doorway he saw two men in masks dragging Maggie's limp and unconscious body into the back of a dark black van. A third held his bleeding left arm and cursed them loudly as he scrambled around to the pa.s.senger seat.

Jase leapt off the porch and charged towards them, not giving a second thought to the fact that he was completely naked or the pain from his burning legs. The men in the back yelled at the driver until he slammed on the gas. Tires squealed in a smoking fury as the van shot away from Jase's driveway and down the street, back door still swinging on open hinges. In the driveway, tinted gla.s.s had been scattered like black candy.

For a split second Jase stared in impotent horror as he watched the van charge away. He turned back for his bike and dug out the spare ignition key he kept in a small pocket in the saddle bag. On the ground nearby, he saw Maggie's Bersa 9mm. He picked it up and kept it tucked under one of his naked legs as he started up the bike and tore after them.

I never should have let her step one f.u.c.king foot outside. Jase's mind raged as he swerved through the neighborhood at insane speeds, trying to catch up to Maggie's kidnappers. He caught sight of them heading towards the heart of LeBeau, their position given away by the shattered back window that Maggie must have hit when she tried to fire on them. She had her gun on her and she tried to use it. She'd done exactly what they had told her to do. But he had failed her.

The chase got complicated as the van swerved through streets already bustling with people up early to enjoy their summer weekend. More than once Jase had to lane-share or ride down the middle of the two-lane roads to get around cars in his way. From the sidewalks, he heard people yelling and screaming as the chase pa.s.sed by, pulling each other out of the danger zone.

Don't give up, you piece of s.h.i.t...

Up ahead, the van was about to hit a stoplight with three cars already waiting. Jase expected the driver to see he was trapped, and slow down or take a detour. He let out a curse when the van sped up, swerved into the oncoming lanes, and barreled into the intersection. Horns blared and brakes squealed as the cross-traffic swerved to miss it. One of the cars turned just at the nick of time, missing the van, and crashing instead into a post office box on the corner.

"f.u.c.k!" Jase shouted. He tried to follow the van's path, but four other cars sat stalled in the intersection, and witnesses had already started crawling out of their own cars to investigate. Several of them shouted very choice words at the naked biker trying to callously maneuver through the scene of the accident.

By the time Jase got past the intersection, he couldn't find a sightline on the van. Desperate, he followed the road without turning until it came to the mountain and merged with the highway. All manner of cars sped past his quiet little town, but none of them looked like the black van.

Maggie was gone.

~ Fifteen ~

Maggie's hands had been deep in the saddle bag of Jase's bike when the van squealed up to a haphazard stop on the sidewalk. After that, everything happened fast. The rear doors on the van flew open before it had even come to a full stop. She saw limbs come tumbling out in a rush, and suddenly men in masks were bearing down on her. She didn't remember screaming, but she did remember the feel of the Bersa in her hand when she pulled it out of her waistband. She had it c.o.c.ked by the time the first one reached her, but he couldn't stop her squeezing off two wild shots. One of them shouted over the sound of busting gla.s.s. A man's big hand twisted cruelly in her hair and Maggie's vision spun as he yanked her backwards. She heard the crisp sound of electricity buzzing. Then something painful dug itself into the flesh of her shoulder, and the world went black.

When she came to, Maggie couldn't move. They had bent her legs and arms back and zip-tied them together. She laid on her side, helpless, as they maneuvered her around the van's s.p.a.ce with little concern for her comfort. Since she couldn't see through the cloth bag on her head, every touch came as a shock.

"Is he still behind us?" one of them said, breathless.

"f.u.c.kin' dude is crazy!" said another in a much harsher voice.

Maggie groaned in pain. "You motherf.u.c.king cowards..." she spit out as she wriggled pointlessly in her binds. Her arms were already aching, pulled back in such discomfort. Despite being dressed in a tank top and jeans, she had never felt so vulnerable or exposed, and it enraged her just as much as it frightened her.

One of the men responded by pressing a monstrous hand around her neck and squeezing hard enough to cut off her air supply. Maggie choked and sputtered a few seconds until he released her. "Why don't you just keep your mouth shut, you stupid b.i.t.c.h, before I shut it for you."

"Here, use this," said one of the other men. There was faint rustling. Someone lifted the cloth over Maggie's head just a bit, and roughly stuffed a white cloth into her mouth before putting the hood back down. Maggie cried against the gag until she felt another hand around her neck.

"I mean it. Shut the f.u.c.k up. Don't make us give you something to cry about." The hand around her neck disappeared and one began groping her breast with harsh fingers. Maggie clenched up and whimpered as tears began to soak the black cloth hood over her head. After the hand lifted, she took a deep thankful breath. She tried to quiet her crying as the van jostled over rough b.u.mps and around sharp highway curves. Wherever they were taking her, it wasn't in LeBeau.

When the van finally came to a stop, rough hands yanked Maggie out onto the ground. Someone cut the ties on her legs and feet, allowing her to walk but with her arms still immobile. She bit down on the cloth gag in her mouth every time she felt her feet slip on the blind walk. A few times her captors let her fall to the asphalt before they pulled her back to her bare feet and pushed her forward. Judging by the laughter, they were clearly enjoying the entertainment. She felt clumsy gropes at her a.s.s and legs a few times when she was 'helped up'.

They entered some building big enough to produce echoes, and someone took Maggie's arm the entire walk from the front door, keeping her on what was probably a narrow path. Wherever they were must have been industrial, dangerous if she fell. The hand around her arm gripped tightly enough to hurt and cut off further circulation, but she was too scared to struggle. She let them lead her through a dark maze and into what sounded like a smaller room, where she was tied to a chair and left alone for several minutes.

The room was quiet and m.u.f.fled enough that she could hear the racing of her own heart. She couldn't believe her life could end like this, especially now. She had finally begun to heal her greatest wound, her biggest regret. Of course it would be now when the reaper decided to come calling. She felt cursed, like her father felt cursed. And as fearful as it was, her heart was equally wrenching in pain for Jase. After all of this, was he just going to have to bury her? Pick out some stupid dress for her cold corpse to wear for eternity? What had she done? Maggie started crying again, wishing she had never come back to LeBeau. I should have let Evan kill me in Eagleton. I should have run anywhere else. I destroy everything I touch.

Her thoughts cut off quickly when the big metal door into the room creaked open. She jumped at the sound. Footsteps, many footsteps, entered the room. More men than had been in the van in the first place.

"Nice work," said one of them. "And the invitation has already been sent. Shouldn't be long."

"It better f.u.c.kin' not be, after all this," said another. "Already got a guy with a bullet in his arm and this s.h.i.t ain't even finished yet."