The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(113)

“Hey.” He braced his body on his forearms, and a lock of hair brushed his forehead. “Don’t cry. Everything is going to be okay.”

I wiped my face. “I want that to be true, but sometimes I don’t think we’ll ever find a way out of this mess.”

“We will.”

“Maybe you’re right. I’m just afraid the only way for us to be together is to give up everyone in our life. Our family. Our friends.”

He held my gaze. “Yes,” he said quietly, but he didn’t seem upset by the prospect. He stroked my lower lip, and my heart flew like a bird inside of my chest.

“And you’re okay with that?”

His eyes fell to my mouth. “Definitely. Are you?”

“I don’t know.”

He cupped my breasts as his thumb toyed with my nipples. “We have our own family now. If your family and friends don’t want to be part of your life, it’s their loss, but I think they’ll come around.”

I sucked in a sharp breath as his mouth trailed along my collarbone, and one of his hands slipped between my thighs. Stroke-by-stroke, touch-by-touch, kiss-by-kiss, my concerns dimmed until they faded away entirely.

“What are you doing to me?” I mumbled, my body humming with desire.

He rocked against me, and I circled my legs around his waist. “I’m showing you that we don’t need anyone else as long as we have each other,” he said with a lopsided grin.

I pushed his boxer briefs down his legs. “I like the sound of that.”

He didn’t waste a second before he pushed inside of me. A primitive sound vibrated deep in his throat. He twisted his hands in my hair as he captured my lips with bruising kisses that stole my heart and unshackled my soul. His hips hammered against mine in a brutal rhythm. I answered every thrust with one of my own. Clutching the sides of his face in my hands, I pulled his ear next to my mouth, and I whispered how much I loved him and that having him was enough. More than enough. Minutes later, we both cried out, climaxing in unison. It was the perfect beginning to our new life together. Just Ryker and me against the world. Always.





Chapter Twenty-Six




Ryker



“How much longer?” I asked, drumming my hands against the leather steering wheel.

“Any minute,” Rever answered without glancing at me.

“Dammit, Rever. Text her. The mass is going to end in less than twenty minutes, and then we’ll be f*cked. I’m not getting into a gunfight on the church steps. I’m not religious, but I have limits.”

He rolled down the window of the car and a wave of humid heat collided with the air-conditioned interior. “I did text her.”

“Text her again.”

“She knows we’re here. She’ll be here any second.”

“Unless she set us up and we’re about to get slaughtered.”

His head whipped around. “She wouldn’t do that.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

“Fine, but if she doesn’t walk out that door in the next ten minutes, I’m leaving. You can come with me, or you can stay. I don’t care.”

“She’ll come,” he murmured. “I’m not worried.”

Time ticked by, second-by-second. I stared at the dashboard, willing ten minutes to pass. Part of me wanted Anna to keep her ass firmly planted on that wooden pew and reject Rever forever. The other part of me prayed she’d hurry the f*ck up so I could put the final punctuation mark on this chapter of my life and move forward with Hattie and our baby.

With two minutes to spare, a petite woman with long black hair and a white full-length dress ran down the front steps, a straw tote bag clutched in her hand. She had a flawless olive complexion except the J-shaped scar near her right temple.

Rever flung the car door open. “Anna.”

She waved her hands above her head. “Go back to the car. We can’t do this today. They know something is going on.”

“No,” Rever yelled as he stalked up the steps. “You’re coming with me today.”

Anna glanced over her shoulder. A man dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt pushed open the front door of the church. “Go. Go without me,” Anna yelled, moving slowly back up the steps.

Rever charged forward, grabbing her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. She pounded her fists on his back and kicked her legs. “Suéltame. Suéltame, abusón,” she screamed, pleading for him to let her go.

“No.”

“Dammit,” I muttered.

I knew this wouldn’t work. It was too simple. Too many things could go wrong. I snagged my gun off the center console and jumped out of the car. I held the gun in front of me and used the hood to shield my body. The man in the black t-shirt lifted a gun and aimed it at Rever’s head. I didn’t stop to think. I pulled the trigger.

The shot exploded through the air, drowning out the hum of the church hymn. His gun fell out of his hand, clattering down the steps and rolling to a stop in the street. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his bicep. His face drained of color as blood poured down his arm, splattering on the pristine ivory steps.

Screams drifted from inside the church walls. Rever set Anna on her feet. He stared at the scene, frozen in the moment, not moving, not breathing. Tears poured down her face as she stuffed her fist into her mouth and bent at her waist.