Virgin Bride(121)

“Ready?”

A group of men in black come trotting over from a distance as Logan squares up toward them. He raises his gun.

And suddenly the group is lit up by rifle fire. A group of compound guards comes bursting from a side building and attacks the group, which scatters and finds cover. A gun battle erupts right in front of us and Logan whirls, grabbing me by the hand, and runs.

We make it to the gap in the wall and he pushes me through first before following. We run as fast as I can toward the beach. I nearly trip over some rocks but Logan is there, steadying my body against his.

We run for a long time. When we can’t run anymore, we walk until finally we find the cave. We climb down together without another word.

Once inside, I collapse onto the ground and start panting, trying to catch my breath. He leans against the wall, breathing deep, but still steady.

There’s still some scattered gunfire, but it’s distant and sporadic. He watches me for a couple of minutes until my breathing finally calms down.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I nod. “I think so.”

“Not hurt?”

“No.”

Good.” He crouches down in front of me. “This is the hard part.”

“The hard part?”

He nods slowly and takes my hand. “You know how I feel about you. I don’t have to explain that.”

“I know,” I whisper.

“WE have to make a choice now.”

“What is it?”

He frowns and looks into my eyes. I reach out and touch his face, his handsome, gorgeous face and I want to laugh and cry and scream all at once. I don’t know what to feel. I’m free and I’m not free, but I’m with Logan and that’s all that matters.

“We can go back and face the consequences. Or we can start walking and never return.”

“Never return?”

“Home,” he says. “We can’t go back to the States. We’ll have to go on the run. Your father will be looking for you and my people will want me back for what happened in there. It might be a hard life, Riley.” He looks down at his feet. “I can’t ask you to do it. But I want to offer the option. I’ll do whatever you want to do, Riley.”

I stare at him and sigh. If we go back, we can go home, but I’ll be given to my father and he’ll likely get thrown out of his unit, maybe even jailed. If we run, we’ll have to go into hiding, maybe change our names.

But we’ll be together. I smile and then I laugh, because the answer is obvious, so obvious. There’s really no question of what I want.

“I don’t even like America that much,” I say.

He grins. “How dare you. America is the best country on earth.”

“Yeah, well. What’s second best?”

He shrugs. “Want to find out?”

“I do,” I say softly.

“I love you, Riley.”

“I love you too.”

We kiss and I know this is the right thing to do. I don’t care where I am or who I am, so long as I’m with Logan. He’s the only man I can love, the only person I can trust. He’ll take care of me, even if it’s hard at first. He’ll give me pleasure even when there’s no pleasure anywhere to be seen, because that’s the kind of person he is.

I’ll give up my old life willingly. I won’t go back to my father and my comforts. That was just a gilded cage, anyway.

Now, I’ll be free. Because I’m with Logan, I can be free.

We stand, climb out of the small cave, and we start walking, hand in hand.





30





Logan





Two Years Later



I look out across the field and lean up against the old wooden fence as the sun slowly crests above the mountains in the east. I breathe in the hard, cool air and let it out slowly, getting myself ready for the day.

I glance back at the house. A thin trail of smoke climbs up from the chimney and I smile to myself. Riley is up, which I didn’t expect. I head slowly back to the house and open the front door, knocking my boots on the frame.

Riley looks up at me from the kitchen. The smell of cooking bacon and eggs wafts into my nose and I grin huge.

“Morning,” I say. “This is unusual.”

She smiles back at me. “What? Me cooking or me being awake before sunrise?”

“The sun just rose, so the cooking.”

She makes a face and motions for me to come inside. “It’s cold out there,” she says.

I take off my boots and shut the door. I walk into the kitchen and come up behind her, kissing her neck.

She smiles and turns around. “Morning, asshole.”

I kiss her mouth slowly. “I love it when you talk dirty.”

“Cut it out. Breakfast is almost ready.”