Black Listed (21 page)

“I can't. The timer is running through an Internet app. If anyone tries to disarm it, it'll go off. The only way to halt it is by stopping the timer from counting down.”

“So do that!”

“Need a computer for that,” he said, regret in his voice, as if he would've stopped the timer if he could. “It's our time to go, honey. Just accept it.”

Her brothers' blood stained her knees as she crept between them and snatched the gun from Asa's hand. She angled her body toward her father and rose from the floor. “I can't. I'm sorry.” She released the safety and pressed the trigger.

The gun went off, jerking in her hands and knocking her backward.

She did it again.

And again.

And again.

Until there were no bullets left to shoot.

At least two of the bullets hit him, blood splattering on her desk as he fell to the floor. She tossed her gun aside and calmly walked over to him, first kicking him with her foot to test his reaction and then removing his gun from his hand in case he wasn't dead.

Her clothes and hands were covered in blood. Her family's blood.

She shook her head.

No, these men weren't her family.

She would never think of them as her family again.

Pounding shook the door. “Annaliese! What's going on in there? I heard gunshots.”

Sawyer.

The pounding got louder. “Why is the door locked? Open it right now!”

She ran over to the door. “Sawyer! Stop! It's wired to a bomb that will go off if the door opens.”

“Thank God you're alive,” he said. “When I heard the gunshots I thought . . . I'll call the bomb squad.”

“They won't get here in time.” She caressed the door with her fingertips as if it were Sawyer. “I only have five minutes, and they can't get in here anyway.”

“Then they can tell you what to do to disarm it.”

She sighed. “My father already told me. There's nothing I can do. But there is something you can do.”

“Anything,” he said, his voice cracking. “I'll do anything.”

“Leave.”

There was a long silence. “I'm not going anywhere.”

Stubborn man. She knew he'd say that.

“I'm going to die, but you don't have to,” she said.

“I'm not leaving you alone.”

“I'm not alone.” Her gaze flew to the bloody mess lying around her. “My father and my brothers are here.”

“Let her go, you assholes,” he said in a snarl.

She sunk to the floor. “They can't hear you. They're all dead. My whole family is dead. Not that they were my real family.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Never mind. It's not important.” She sighed. “But I'll tell you what is. I love you, Sawyer. I always have, and I always will. I didn't want to leave you, but I had to in order to keep you safe. But now my father and brothers are dead, and they can't hurt you anymore. I've spent the last four years defending your life. Don't make me die in vain. Leave. Now.”

His voice came sure and strong from the other side of the door. “I love you, Annaliese. I never stopped. And if you go, I go. You won't be dying in vain, because all I ever wanted was to be with you. A life without you is no life at all, so please, don't ask me to leave you. Because that's the one thing I'll never do.”

She started to cry. “Sawyer . . . I wish I could see you.”

“Got your phone? We could Facetime.”

She laughed through the tears. Only her husband could make her laugh when they were about to die. “No, it's in Asa's car. But maybe one of my brothers does.” She got up and went over to her brothers, rifling through Mitch's pocket until her hand bumped into a cell. “Found one. What's your number?”

She dialed as he recited it to her. Then she returned to her spot on the floor, sitting with her back up against the door. He answered, his handsome face coming in so clear, she could see the dark circles under his eyes. “Hi.”

“You're beautiful,” he said softly. “Hey, there's one thing more I want to know before we die.”

“Anything.”

“What's your natural hair color?”

She laughed again. “Blonde. I'm a natural blonde.”

He smiled sadly. “I'm glad when I die, I get to do it while looking at you. Thank God for technology, right?”

“Normally, I'd agree, but it's technology that's killing us.” How was that for irony? Technology would kill her techie husband. “The bomb can only be disarmed through shutting down the timer, and my father used some kind of app—”

“Let me see it,” he ordered.

“What?”

“Let me see the bomb. Now.”

“Okay.” She scurried over to the briefcase, holding her breath as she released the latch and opened it. She turned her phone around, giving him a good view of the bomb.

“I'm hanging up,” he said.

“So much for dying while looking at me,” she said to herself.

“I can hack into the timer through my phone,” he announced from outside. “Well, through the Internet.”

Hope burst through her. “Hurry, we only have one minute left.”

Her heart was about to fly out of her chest as she waited to see if her brilliant husband could save their lives.

“I picked up the signal,” he said. “Now, I . . . damn it.”

“What?”

“Firewall.” He cursed loudly. “Let me try this.”

She watched as the timer counted down. “Thirty seconds!”

“There. It's working. I'm in.”

“Ten seconds!” she shouted.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

The bomb's clock went black, and the numbers disappeared.

“Did the timer turn off?” Sawyer asked.

She inhaled a shaky breath. “Yes.”

“Then I'm coming in.”

She quickly unlocked the door and then threw it open. Sawyer swooped in, and she jumped into his arms. His lips slanted over hers, desperate and hot. She held onto him, her fingers in that hair she loved so much.

It was finally over.

She was free.

O
UT OF BREATH
, Lisa flew down the hallway, her heels clacking on the hospital floor. She still hated hospitals—nothing would ever change that—but now she had some happy memories to replace the others. As she turned the corner, smashing the box in her hand on the wall, she heard a cry.

A baby's cry.

Her own eyes filled with tears when she walked into the private room and saw Danielle in bed, resting comfortably while nursing her baby. Cole sat in a chair at her bedside, joy and love shining in his eyes, eyes that would go completely blind in the next couple of years. Lisa was grateful he had the chance to witness the beauty of his wife and baby girl before that happened.

She and Sawyer owed their friends so much. After all, it wasn't as if she could explain away three dead bodies in her office. Logan and Cole had both called in favors from the FBI, and Kate had represented her in a plea deal. With full monetary restitution given by Sawyer to all her victims and the black list in the government's hands, Lisa had avoided prison time.

She no longer had to look over her shoulder.

“She's gorgeous,” Lisa said, smiling down at Danielle.

“She is,” Danielle agreed. With the baby asleep, she tucked her breast into her nightgown. “Would you like to hold her?”

“I'd love to.” She set the gift down on the foot of the bed and accepted the tiny bundle from her friend.

“Rosa Grace, meet your Aunt Lisa.”

Although she now went by the name Annaliese Hayes, everyone other than Sawyer and the guys in Vegas called her Lisa.

The baby's eyes were closed, her face pinched and her pink lips pursed as if sucking even in her sleep. Wisps of dark hair covered her head. “Beautiful name.”

“We named her after Roman and Gracie,” Danielle said weepily. “If they hadn't been there, I don't know what . . . ”

“What happened?”

“Cole was downtown at a meeting when I went into labor. It all happened so fast. One minute my water broke, and the next the baby was coming.”

“There wasn't time to get her to the hospital,” Cole added, dabbing at his wife's tears with a tissue. “Gracie and Roman worked together to deliver the baby.”

“Oh wow. When she called me, she didn't say a thing.” Which was very strange for a woman who never stopped talking. “Where is she now?”

“I'm not sure,” Cole said. “She and Roman followed the ambulance to the hospital, but I haven't seen them.”

Kate walked in with Jaxon by her side and a present in her hands. “Hmm. Maybe they've finally pulled their heads out of their asses.” She laughed as she came over to see the baby. “She's so small. And she looks just like Cole.”

Jaxon swept his thumb down Kate's cheek. “Someday.”

Kate nodded, a small grin on her face. “Someday.”

Jaxon crossed the room and thumped Cole on the back. “Congratulations, Cole. You've got yourself a beautiful family.”

“That I do,” Cole said, shaking Jaxon's hand.

“Rachel and Logan are on their way up,” Kate said. “She panicked because she hadn't gotten you a gift yet, so they stopped in the gift shop.”

“That's ridiculous,” Danielle said. “I don't need anything other than my family and friends. That's all I ever wanted.”

Kate's eyes widened as she looked at the door. “That is the biggest teddy bear I've ever seen.”

Lisa turned her head to see Logan march in holding a four-foot brown teddy bear. Rachel was by his side.

“Cute, right?” Rachel said. She took a step to the right. “And look who we ran into on the elevator.”

Sawyer.

In a business suit, her husband strode straight for her and hauled her into his arms.

She buried her nose in the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent. He'd only been gone a week, but she'd missed every moment they were apart. “I thought you weren't flying home until the weekend.”

He kissed her soundly on the lips. “I finished signing all the paperwork this morning and thought I'd surprise you.”

“So it's official?” Rachel asked.

He took Lisa's hand and faced their friends. “I'm no longer CEO of Hayes Industries. I'll still remain on the board, but I think our new CEO will do better in the role than I ever could, because unlike me, he wanted the job. And I turned over Paradise Lost, including the club, to the guys.”

Hunter, Oz, and Rowan had all moved into the hotel that housed Paradise Found. From what they'd told her, they had plans to make the club's focus on ménage, rather than BDSM. But not one of the guys had any business experience. “Do you really think they'll be able to handle running a sex club?”

“I'm going to send two of my slaves to help them,” Cole volunteered, sharing a secret look with his wife.

They were up to something.

“Does this mean we're getting a nursery at Benediction?” Logan asked, pointing at the baby.

“No,” Danielle said. “Cole's hired a nanny to stay with Rosa at the new house whenever Mommy and Daddy need some playtime. Which I'm sorry to say won't be for at least six weeks.”

Her friends continued talking about Benediction as Sawyer bent to whisper in her ear. “You look incredible with a baby in your arms. We haven't been careful lately, but are you ready to start trying?”

She turned to him. “I can't think of anything I'd like more than a mini Sawyer running around.”

“Good. Because I want at least three.”

“Three?” She smiled up at him. “That's doable.”

“Good. How about we get working on that right now?”

“Now?” she asked as he took Rosa from her arms and handed her to Rachel.

He took her hand and yanked her toward the door while all her friends laughed knowingly. “We'll be back,” he said to them with a wave over his shoulder.

They sped past the nurse's station and down the hall until they came to a door marked
Custodial
. He turned the handle and tugged her inside, pulling a string to turn on the dim lightbulb. His lips crashed into hers, the force of it slamming her backward into shelves of supplies.

A week without him had seemed like a lifetime. The damned sadist had made her promise not to make herself climax while he was gone, and then he tormented her by sending a video of him masturbating, his big hand wrapped around that gorgeous cock of his and her name falling from his lips as rope after rope of come spurted from the tip onto his stomach.

Right now she was so horny that if he didn't fuck her soon, she would likely go off without him even touching her pussy.

“Sawyer, we can't have sex in here,” she said, giving a weak protest, although at that point she didn't really care about propriety. “Anyone could walk in on us.”

He smiled wickedly. “Exactly.”

She laughed. “You're such a kinky Master.”

He stalked to her. “I have to be when I've got such a kinky girl. I bet you're already wet for me, aren't you?”

“I was wet for you about two seconds after you walked through Danielle's hospital door.”

He motioned with his hand. “Let me see. Show me. Lift that skirt of yours.”

Looking at the door, she paused only for a second before deciding the risk was worth it for the reward. She hiked her skirt up to her waist.

Sawyer's eyes went liquid. “No panties? You dirty girl.”

“I'm not dirty yet, but hopefully I will be soon.”

Sawyer braced his arms above her head, trapping her against the shelves. “What are you thinking about, I wonder? Maybe my come dripping out of you, running down the inside of your thigh while you pretend to your friends that we weren't just in the closet fucking?”

Her pussy clenched from his filthy words. “Sawyer, our friends are almost as kinky as we are. They're going to know what we were doing. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if they came in here to do the exact same thing.”

He took a step back and folded his arms across his chest. “Well, then we better get to it so they have something exciting to walk in on.”

“What do you want me to do, Master?”

He held out his hand. “Fuck yourself on my fingers.”

That was a new one.

Her pussy dripped as she took his hand and pushed down both his thumb and pinkie, bringing the other three inside her pussy. A loud moan passed her lips. Anyone walking by the supply closet would know exactly what was going on inside. The fact that they could get discovered at any time only made it that much more exciting.

She moved them in and out, faster and faster, her hips punching in time to greet each thrust. Heat banded around her core, pulling tighter and tighter until she hovered on the precipice of climax.

“That's right,” he crooned. “Take what you need from me. I can feel your hungry cunt sucking them in.”

“Oh God.” She jerked forward into Sawyer as the orgasm crashed into her. Aftershocks shaking her body, she tilted up her chin. “Fuck me.”

“Such a greedy girl.” He took his fingers from her pussy and sucked them clean. “Good thing for you I happen to want the same thing.” He quickly unzipped his pants and twirled her around, his cock inside her before she could take her next breath.

He pistoned in and out of her pussy, his hand on her spine. “The guys invited us out for the grand reopening. Think you might want to go out there with me?”

She peered over her shoulder. “I don't know. Are you asking if I want to fly out to Vegas to have an orgy with your friends? Hmm. Hard decision.” She laughed when he smacked her ass. “Uh, yeah.”

He pulled her hair, its color now back to her original blonde. “I fucking love you.”

“You'd better.” She arched a brow at her husband. “Because I am the mother of your future children.”

“You're more than that,” he told her. “You're my life.”

Five minutes and two orgasms later, they returned to Danielle's room. The baby was back in Danielle's arms, a nurse by their side giving Danielle a little cup with pills in it. Roman and Gracie were now there, standing on opposite sides of the bed from one another.

“Oh good, they're here,” Danielle said to the nurse. Then she waved her hand at Lisa and Sawyer. “Get over here. The nurse is going to take a group shot of all of us with Cole's camera.”

Lisa was sweaty and sticky, but how could she refuse her friend? She and Sawyer joined the others by Danielle's bedside and smiled as the nurse snapped a photograph.

She held onto Sawyer's hand as she watched Danielle open her gifts. Cole took picture after picture, Lisa in several of them. She no longer had to worry about keeping her face out of the press or avoiding photographers.

The people in this room were her family. Someday when she was ready, she would contact her birth parents' relatives, but for now, she had all the family she needed.

She looked up at her husband and placed a hand on her soon-to-be growing belly.

Well, maybe not
all
the family.

 

Have you read all of Shelly's sexy and suspenseful novels set around Benediction?

If not, you must be dying to find out how the other couples met in . . .

WHITE COLLARED

(Kate and Jaxon)

RED HANDED

(Danielle and Cole)

BLUE BLOODED

(Rachel and Logan)

Available now in print and e-book from Avon Red Impulse!