Bliss Series Boxed Set: The Whole Damn Harem (54 page)

We get out, both drawing our guns from our hips as we try to clear the area of pedestrians. The guns pointed at the door of the salon seem to be a big deterrent, but there are still rubberneckers who can’t wait to see what happens, whether they get shot at or not. Fucking idiots!

“POLICE! Come out with your hands up!” Sam calls out in her biggest, loudest cop voice.

When we get no response, we know we can’t wait for backup. I push past Sam and bust through the salon door, finding a pale, emaciated man leaning over Kate’s lifeless body, and a silver 9mm handgun lying on the floor beside them. My training kicks in, and I rush over and grab the assailant—kicking the gun away and holding his hands behind his back. Sam comes up and takes over, slapping cuffs on his wrists as I pat him down. Sam reads out his Miranda rights and nods to me. I bite my tongue, trying to quell the rage coursing through me.

I fall to my knees next to Kate, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her into my lap.

“Roberts, don't move her. You don't know what kind of injuries she has,” Sam yells from behind me, but I barely hear her. My sole focus is Kate lying unconscious in my arms.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” the robber says, repeating himself over and over as he starts wigging out.

“Sam, get him out of here before I shut him up myself.”

I grab a towel from the trolley behind us and hold it against her head, turning to catch my partner as she walks the guy out the salon door. “We need an ambulance, possible head injury. She’s bleeding from a huge gash on the side of her head,” I say, squeezing Kate’s hand to try and get reaction or a sign, or anything to let me know she’s okay.

“C’mon, baby girl, I’m here now. You can’t get away from me this easily. Come back to me, baby,” I murmur into her ear as I scoop her into my arms, standing up and carrying her over to the couch in the waiting area.

I see another man standing near the back room with his hands in the air as he just stares at Kate. His whole body is shaking, and he looks as if he’s been crying.

“Who are you?” I ask, my voice low and amazingly steady.

“I’m Nathan. I work here.”

“Nathan, I’m Zander. You can put your arms down, my partner has the perp handcuffed outside. I need your help, though. Is there a blanket, or a jacket, or something warm around here? She’s getting cold.”

Nathan comes running toward us from out the back, putting a woolen blanket over Kate’s body. He’s still shaking as he rubs her arm, muttering prayers under his breath.

“She was so brave. She was out here by herself. That dirty bastard threatened her, but she just took it. I heard the whole thing. When she came back to get her keys, she made me stay out of sight and call 911.” He’s speaking a million miles an hour; not what I need right now.

“Nathan, I need you to take a breath and calm down. We’ll take your statement once we get Kate looked after, but I need to know how long she’s been out for. Do you know?”

“I heard a thud, and then I couldn’t hear Kate’s voice anymore. The 911 operator told me to stay where I was, and then you guys arrived five minutes later.” He starts sobbing uncontrollably and takes a seat beside us as he tries to compose himself.

The dirty bastard threatened her. I ball my fists, trying to quell the anger building inside of me. What’s the use of being a cop if I can’t even stop the woman I love from being attacked and hurt by some lunatic? If that fucker touched her, I’ll fucking kill him.

Career be damned.

Sam walks back in. “Ambulance is two minutes away according to dispatch.” She looks at my face and her brows furrow. “Roberts, you’ve gotta push it back. We’ve got him, and he’ll be going inside for a long time after this. Kate needs you right now. Not the cop, but the man.”

“Right,” I reply, my voice hoarse.

I feel Kate stir in my lap. Looking down, I let out a huge sigh of relief when I see two beautiful, barely open, blue eyes staring back up at me.

“Zander,” she says with a smile. Quickly followed by an, “Owww, fuck that hurts!” as she reaches a hand up to the towel I’m holding firmly against her head wound. “You’re here. You came.”

“Will always be here for you, babe. The ambulance is almost here. We’re taking you to get checked out. You’ve got a nasty cut to your head, and you were knocked out.”

“I l….l…love you...” Her voice fades away as she closes her eyes again, but fuck if it doesn’t feel fucking good to hear those words from her again.

Kate

I have the biggest headache in the history of headaches. This beats the worst hangover. Even that one from when I was fifteen, and Mac and I stole some moonshine from Mr. Johnson’s shed, then went to the park and drank half a bottle each.

I wake up in a horrible hospital gown. I can just imagine the view the doctors and nurses got in the ER when I was brought in. I was so out of it, I barely remember the ambulance ride to the hospital. I remember being wheeled in for a CAT scan to eliminate the possibility of a brain bleed, or hematoma, or something.

I also remember being asked if I wanted my parents called, and shaking my head profusely which just made the stabbing pain intensify, making me pass out yet again.

When I woke up the last time, Zander was holding my hand, his beautiful face marred with a huge frown. I remember him pulling at his hair as he ran his fingers through it, his eyes surrounded by dark circles as he continually refused to leave my bedside. I remember closing my eyes when the nurse came in asking him to leave, saying it was family only.

I open my eyes and slowly turn my head to look at him. “You said you were my fiancé.”

His eyes shine as a slow smile creeps up his face. “Babe, they said I couldn’t be here. I would’ve called the JP to marry us now if I had to.”

“Oh,” I whisper, my throat parched.

Zander stands and holds a styrofoam cup to my mouth, putting the straw against my lips as I slowly drink the cool fluid.

“Thank you.”

“Anything for you, babe.”

“How about I just have you. Can I have you?”

“You never lost me.”

“I thought I was going to. When that man had me against the wall...when he pointed his gun at me...I thought I’d never see you again.” My eyes well up with tears as the enormity of what happened hits me.

Zander leans over me and wraps his arms around my shoulders, careful not to jostle my head around. I bury my face into his chest and cling to him as I let the tears flow.

“Nobody will ever hurt you again, me included,” he murmurs in my ear. “I love you too damn much to risk losing you again.”

I pull back and look up at him, struck by the sincerity in his eyes. In that moment, I don’t care what’s happened in the past; I just care about the here and now. Too much can happen in an instant. You can overreact without waiting for an explanation, you can get knocked out by a messed up junkie, desperate for his next fix.

I don’t want to miss another moment of being with this man.

“I want go home.”

“I want to make a home with you.”

“Can we do both?” I say with a wry smile.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“Your Touch”

Zander

With my girl back in my arms, all is right again in my world. She was only admitted overnight for observation, so I brought her back home yesterday, setting her up on the couch with a pillow and comforter and watching a romantic comedy marathon with her.

Mac and Daniel came over to check on her this afternoon, so I went over to Zach’s and grabbed most of my stuff. Kate wants me moved back in as soon as possible. She keeps telling me that life is too short and that we have to live in the now.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for this new belief of hers, and I’m definitely on board with moving back in, especially since I only moved out to give her the space she asked for, but I’m waiting for the penny to drop; for the reality of what happened to her to hit. We were taught at the academy about victim support and what happens to the victims of crime. Kate isn’t showing any signs of emotional trauma or post traumatic stress as yet, but I’m going to keep a close eye on her all the same.

Now that I’ve got her back, I’m not letting her go. When I’m sure she is going to be okay, I ring her parents and speak to her mother. She seems to be more excited over the fact that Kate has a boyfriend, than the fact that Kate has been involved in an armed robbery and knocked out. I’m definitely left shaking my head after that phone call. After that, I ring my mom, and she offers to drive straight up to look after us—she really means Kate—but I assure her that we’ll be fine. The differences in our families are kind of shocking to be honest.

Kate has always said that her mother wants her to meet a man to look after her, and I’ve always thought she has meant emotionally and physically, but the way her mother was talking on the phone to me, I realize she meant financially. That’s why I take great pleasure in telling her that I’m a rookie cop. The gasp of horror over the phone is well worth the shit I know I’ll get from Kate.

Later on, when Kate is feeling a little better with the help of some pretty strong painkillers, she explains to me about her mother’s belief system that men should look after their women in every way possible. How she was raised as her daddy’s only ‘princess’, and was made to believe that she needed to find her prince charming to live a happy and fulfilled life. Instead, Kate fell for an ex stripper, now rookie cop, who treats her better than any other man she has been with.

Funny how things work out isn’t it?

Kate

We lie in bed facing each other and catching our breath, having just made love for the first time in two weeks. Two weeks without this is a hell I hope to never live through again.

I missed this, missed him. I love being held so closely in his arms again, and I’ve never felt safer than I do right now. All of my doubts, my worries, and my insecurities are gone the second he wraps himself around me. Even in our sleep we attach ourselves to each other as if we’re meant to be close, meant to be together.

“I missed you,” I say with a sigh, snuggling my head into his chest as he rolls onto his back while pulling me over with him.

“No more than me, Firebird.”

I look up at him, hoping he’ll see the regret in my eyes. I rest my head on my elbow, placing the palm of my other hand on his smooth chest. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. We’re together now, right where we’re supposed to be. Today is for us. I just want to lay here for a little while and enjoy having my girl back in my arms.”

“Your girl?”

“Hell yes, my girl. My woman!” he says with a grin, beating his chest like a caveman and making me burst out laughing. I lean forward and gently kiss his lips, pulling back as he tries to deepen it.

“I liked your notes.”

“Meant every word.”

“What were the last three words you finished them with?”

He frowns and looks at me, trying to read my face. I giggle, and he pulls me close against his body once more. I see the moment he gets what I’m talking about.

“I love you,” he murmurs against my lips.

“I love you too. Now kiss me like you mean it.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice.” His mouth slams hard against mine, rough and raw as he pours everything into the kiss, leaving me no doubt that he means what he says. Soon, we’re all over each other again. Zander’s still being gentle. A head injury doesn’t lend itself to hard, fast sex it seems.

Whatever his reasons for being nightdancer, my heart has always known that Zander is the guy I want. It has always been him. They say that sometimes the love of your life can be right in front of you, and you don’t even know it. Eight months ago, I would’ve said that anyone who believes that would need their head read.

But now, I’m a believer.

∞
∞~

One month later, 2.am.

“Zander, the phone’s ringing,” I slur, grumpy as hell that I’ve been woken up by someone probably drunk dialing and getting the wrong number.

I hear him fumble around on the top of the bedside cabinet as he tries to find the phone in the dark.

“Hello?” he mumbles against his pillow as he answers.

“Daniel … What? ... Awesome … We’ll be there soon … No, there’s no way Firebird would miss this for the world ... Firebird? Yep, the name kind of stuck ... Right, see you then. And tell Mac to stop swearing. She’ll scare the nurses. See you soon.”

I sit up excitedly in the bed, bouncing up and down. “The babies are coming!” I continue bouncing as he nods and laughs at me. “Babe, only you would bounce on the bed at 2 a.m. after being woken up.”

“But the babies are coming! Oh my god, we have to get ready and go to the hospital.” I jump out of bed and throw some clothes on, whatever I can get hold of from my closet in the dark.

Zander slowly swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands up, flexing his delicious muscles and making me momentarily lose my train of thought as my eyes travel from his calves...up his thighs...to his bitable ass with the cutest dimples...I just want to lick them! He turns his head to me as his lips curl into a sexy as hell smirk. “Like the view, Ms. McGuinness?” he says, walking toward the bathroom.

“I always like the view, Mr. Roberts. Now stop distracting me with your naked body and get dressed so we can go see the BABIES!”

“I Want Crazy”

Zander

Six months later

I never imagined that I’d find the woman who would complete me. Don’t get me wrong, I knew I’d fall in love and settle down, but I didn’t foresee my firebird invading my mind and my heart. Hell, she’s so deeply entrenched in my soul that I can’t imagine my life without her and although we’ve been together for just over eleven months, it feels as if we’ve known each other for years.

We’re very close to Mac and Daniel. Actually, Daniel and I have become great friends. Along with Zach, the three of us meet up once a month for poker and beer, away from girlfriends, fiancés, work and babies. Although, I’m quite partial to those two babies; they’re the perfect mix of Mac and Daniel. They’ve got Daniel’s easy going nature mixed with a little bit of Mac’s crazy. But I swear they’re going to send their parents gray before their time, but it’s fucking funny to watch.