BULL: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 6) (173 page)

As she came she screamed up at the stars, savoring every second of a pleasure she had longed for and needed for so very long. As Finn felt her pussy quiver around him he too exploded and emptied his hot, thick load inside of her and collapsed down onto her chest.

She had been claimed. She was now his and she wanted to be his mate for life. She knew in that moment that she would do anything for him. She wanted to give Finn everything.

He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her lightly on the forehead. She shivered but it wasn’t because of the cold. The reality of what had happened with Damon came flooding back and the panic set in.

“My mom!” she said as she sat up and grabbed at her clothes, pulling them around her.

“It’s okay,” Finn soothed. “She’s safe.”

Chloe looked down at him as he traced his rough hands across her soft, smooth, plump skin.

“How do you know?” Chloe was so confused.

“Because…” Finn began… “I was sent here to protect you…”

She looked down at him and took his hand in hers.

“Your father sent you here like Damon said… but he’s no fool Chloe… he hired me to make sure you and your family were safe.”

“What?” she couldn’t believe it.

“My military background… special ops… He hired me to take care of any problems should they arise and keep an eye on you all… And good job, hey?” he winked.

Chloe couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He’d been hired?

“So this?” she said as she wrapped her coat around her chest… “I take it this was part of the job description?”

Finn laughed and shook his head.

“Chloe, the last thing I bargained for when I took this job was that I’d fall for the girl I’m supposed to be protecting.”

All of the anger and confusion she had started to feel quickly evaporated. Finn was falling for her. And she certainly knew that she had fallen for him.

“White bears, Polars, shifters… whatever you want to call us… we know when we find the one,” he smiled.

He took Chloe’s hand in his and kissed it softly.

She had never been so happy in her entire life.

“Come on,” he said as he helped her get dressed and then began his walk back to the woods to find his clothes. “I better get you back to the lodge, your father is on his way.”

As they left the woods and walked back across the mountain Chloe couldn’t believe how much her life had changed in the space of a few days. She had lost one boyfriend, but gained something much more… she had found her mate for life.  There were only a few days to go until the holidays and now she had Finn she knew it was going to be the most special Christmas she had ever had. What could be more incredible than spending it out at their log cabin in Colorado with her wonderful family and the man of her dreams?

They held hands and walked into the night, as the moon shone brightly above and the sky seemed to jingle with stars…

Happy Holidays
, Chloe thought.

THE END

Samantha Leal

Copyright ©2015 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Thank you so much for your interest in my work!

Table of Contents

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1.

Holly collapsed on the stool and rubbed the soles of her feet. They were red hot and tired. She had been working since eleven that morning and now as it approached 1:00 am, her whole body ached. Her shoes fell lightly to the floor, and Elle almost swept them up with the edge of her broom. The girls laughed, half with amusement and half with exhaustion.

“What a shift,” Holly sighed as she stretched and pulled a strawberry milkshake closer to her and took a long, much-needed sip.

“Tell me about it,” Elle said as she set down the broom and sat on the stool next to her.

“Pass me mine,” she smiled, motioning to the other tall glass next to Holly.

Holly slid it along the countertop, and Elle began to stir it with her straw.

“Happy Friday,” she grinned. The two girls clinked glasses.

“Yeah, who needs to go to a bar when you can serve truckers and indulge in these once a week?” Holly joked.

Elle laughed and slapped her playfully on the arm.

“We need to get lives, don’t we?” Elle scrunched up her mouth as she pouted and looked out across the parking lot. It was now deserted, but just an hour before it had been filled with trucks and cars, and the diner had been full of men and women either traveling somewhere or just looking for someone to talk to. Their small town could be a lonely one and they regularly got people in there who simply had nothing better to do.

“I’m just glad tonight is over.” Holly rubbed her eyes. “I’m so tired, I feel like I could sleep for a week.”

“Are you off tomorrow?” Elle asked as she got back to her feet and continued to sweep up the remnants of French fries and pie crusts that had made their way onto the floor.

“Yep,” Holly grinned. “And I intend to sleep all day.”

“Don’t waste it,” Elle said seriously. “Go shopping, catch a movie, or even better…come in here and see me!”

“Haha,” Holly laughed. “No chance.”

“Spoil sport,” Elle pouted.

Elle knew that even though they had the milkshake ritual every Friday night, she couldn’t stomach the thought of finishing hers. She pushed it away and got to her feet. Without her shoes, she tiptoed behind the counter and began to clean the counters before heading over to the cash register and counting the money.

“Randy would kill you if he saw you without shoes,” Elle laughed. “Fired on the spot.”

“Well, it’s a good thing he isn’t here, then,” Holly winked before arranging all of the cash into neat piles and putting it in the safe. Randy would be in at 6:00 am to collect it and no doubt check that the girls had done everything exactly how he liked it. For a boss, he could be a pain in the ass, but at least he left them alone regularly to just get on with things. Holly didn’t exactly like working as a waitress, but she was grateful to have a job that allowed her to pay her way and put a roof over her head. Since she lost her parents, she also didn’t mind not having so much time on her hands… She didn’t like being left alone to think.

“Seriously, though,” Elle said as she turned off the neon lights that lit up the windows out front. “Don’t waste your day tomorrow… I’m stuck in here until six and then back in on Sunday. What I wouldn’t give to have the weekend free.”

Holly thought about it for a moment and realized her friend was right. She should do something worthwhile rather than just lying in bed and churning everything over.

“Okay,” she smiled. “You’re right. I’ll get out and seize the day.”

“
Carpe diem
,” Elle nodded with pride.

“Indeed,” Holly laughed.

As the girls left the diner and made their way to Holly’s car, she had an overwhelming rush of affection for Elle. She really had been a great friend to her when she needed someone the most, and she was grateful to have found her. When she had taken her job at the diner, the last thing she had expected was to find a friend for life. Now the two of them were the longest serving waitresses there and well-known fixtures in their local community, as well as with the hundreds of truckers who traveled down their stretch of highway day in and day out.

As Holly pulled up outside of Elle’s small ranch house, she kissed her on the cheek.

“Have a fun day off,” Elle bounced out of the car. “I’ll see you Monday?”

“Sure,” Holly smiled. “Have a good weekend.”

Elle smiled and waved over her shoulder as she made her way to her front door. Holly looked ahead and at the dark road in front of her. She had a whole weekend with only herself for company, and it seemed to stretch out ahead like a terrifying abyss. 

“Come on,” she coached herself as she pulled away from the curb and started on her way home. “Time alone isn’t so bad.”

But she wasn’t fooling anyone.

Least of all herself.

2.

The next morning, the sunlight blazed through the curtains and illuminated Holly’s bedroom. She was flat on her back, wrapped up under the sheet, and she blinked as she came to. She sat up and stretched and rubbed her eyes. The day did look inviting. She could tell it was going to be a hot one and there would no doubt be plenty of people down by the lake waterskiing, fishing and swimming, but she couldn’t bring herself to go down there alone. With each passing week, her confidence was dwindling. It had been such a long time since she had had a boyfriend, and after the death of her parents she found herself becoming more introverted.

She felt alone in the world, and it was starting to weigh heavy on her. Elle was the only person she really had that she could rely on and trust, but they couldn’t be together all of the time, and Holly knew that she had to make herself stronger on her own.

She got out of bed and walked slowly into the kitchen. Her house was similar to Elle’s but maybe slightly smaller. It was all on one level and had two bedrooms instead of three, but the girls often marveled at how strange it was that the layouts were almost identical.

When the kettle boiled, she poured herself a huge cup of tea and made her way through to the adjoining room. She slipped down onto the couch and yawned. Even though she had slept until almost noon, she was still exhausted.

She reached down and pulled out her photo album from the bottom shelf of her coffee table. She had made a habit to look at a few photographs of her family every day because she missed them so much. She still couldn’t believe it had been two whole years that they had been gone.

As she flipped open the first page, she saw the familiar picture of her mother and father with their arms around each other, smiling down at the camera while they stood in their garden at the old house. When they died, Holly decided to put it up for sale so she could move somewhere smaller and start again, but it hadn’t been easy to leave all of their memories behind.

Her father had dropped dead one day without any warning. Her mother had found him crumpled up in the shower, and the paramedics said he was dead before he hit the floor. A massive heart attack had rocketed through him and taken him at fifty-five. Holly honestly didn’t think that life could deal her and her mother any more blows, but less than six months later her mother had passed away from what the doctors believed could have been a broken heart.

She had heard of stories like that happening but had never really believed them. But after seeing it firsthand, she knew it to be true. Her mother had loved her father so much that she couldn’t exist in the world without him.

After the passing of her mother and once the house had sold, Holly knew it was time to move on with her life. She had invested much of the money from the house, used some as a down payment on a new house and started working at the diner. The world could have been her oyster, but she couldn’t face the thought of leaving her hometown and her family behind. It was the only place she really knew, and it was the only place she really wanted to be.

Making the decision not to leave came with its bad points. She never had the chance to meet anyone new, she hadn’t had a romantic relationship pretty much since high school and she was in no way likely to meet anyone at this rate. People simply didn’t just move to Red Creek; it was more the kind of town they either passed through or had been in forever.

She closed the album and slipped it back onto the coffee table. After seeing the love her parents had shared, Holly knew that it would take a very special person to steal her heart. She wanted the kind of love you only heard about in stories. She wanted not only to be swept off her feet but to also have something completely different and unconventional. Her dad had been so dedicated and protective over her mom that she had only ever considered someone who fit the same kind of mold. She needed someone who would do anything to protect her, someone who would fight for her fiercely and someone who other men feared because of his dedication. Once she was settled down, she wanted it to be forever. She wanted children and an exceptional love that would break all kinds of boundaries and challenge her in ways she never dreamed possible.

“I’ve waited so long,” she had said to Elle one day, “that I may as well wait as long as it takes… I’m not settling.”

Elle had smiled at her and nodded her head in agreement. “You know what you want,” she’d purred, “and you’ll get it, I’m sure.”

The words echoed around her mind as she showered and got dressed. She still had no idea what she was going to do with her day, but she knew that she had to get out of the house and not just sit with her thoughts.

After she had dried her hair and put on a slick of lipstick, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. Outside, the sun beat down on her as she climbed into her hot car and opened up the windows.

“Let’s see what’s happening in the creek today,” she said to herself with amusement.

She was fully expecting there to be nothing of note, just a normal, dull day in a small town. How wrong she was…