Submit (Whiskey Run Heroes 3)

It isn't long before the waiter brings back our salads, and we both start to eat. She finishes her first bite, opens her mouth to say something, and closes it again.

Finally, I can't take it any longer. “Just say it. I know you're dying to.”

She smiles sweetly, and I’m expecting something smart-alecky to come out of her pretty mouth. “No, it's not hard to imagine us together. I mean, you have to know you're like every woman's dream, Bear.”

I drop my fork, and the loud noise of it hitting my plate has the people at the next table spinning around to look at us. I smile at them while picking the fork back up, and then I look Sam square in the eye. There's no way she's serious. I’m just about to call her out when she leans forward.

“That's right, Bear. I've thought about us—about me and you together. I mean, I know we can never act on it since we work together and all, but yeah, it's not hard to imagine the two of us together.”

She pauses, and the words sink in. I swallow as my trousers get tighter. She moves in even farther, her breasts being pushed up as she leans on the table. “But obviously you can’t. You can barely look at me. I talk, and it's like you wish I’d shut up.” She lets out a disappointed sigh. “So however you feel about me, that's fine, but I'm here to do a job, and part of that is us being a happily married couple, so that's what I'm going to do.”

She forks a piece of her salmon, and I'm waiting for her to put it between her lips, but she surprises me and holds it out to me. “Here, try this.”

Now I typically don’t like salmon. I eat steak and potatoes, but I’m realizing that Sam could hold out something gross like octopus or squid or something like that, and I'd probably eat it. I lean forward and take a bite. She starts to withdraw her hand, and I grab it. With my other hand, I grab the chair she’s sitting in and pull her closer to me. It makes a loud noise, but I don’t even care. I need her closer. Her eyes widen and start to sparkle. Sam may say she’s independent, but she likes this; she likes me manhandling her like this.

I take the fork from her hand and pierce a piece of steak from my plate and hold it out to her lips. She takes a bite, and right then I swear that's what I want from now on. I want to feed her for the rest of our lives. If it was possible, I would find a way for her to be in my lap when doing so.

There's a calmness that comes over me at her admission. I never dreamt or even let myself hope that she could possibly have feelings for me too, but I know I heard her right. She admitted that she’s thought about us, and just knowing that makes it seem as if everything is going to be okay.

We continue to eat our meal, but I hold her hand the rest of the time. When she gets up to go powder her nose, I get up too.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“I'm going with you.”

She shakes her head, laughing that cute way that she does when I’m being overprotective. It’s like she doesn’t think she should like it, but obviously she does. “I can go on my own.”

I hold on to her hand tightly. She doesn't have a clue. But there's no way I'm letting her out of my sight. Knowing that the country’s most wanted human traffickers are here on this property, in this resort with their eyes most likely on us—yeah, there’s no fucking way I’m letting her go. There's no way I would ever risk anything happening to her.

I lean over and press my lips to her neck. She arches her chin as she sucks in a breath. I whisper in her ear, “I’m not letting you out of sight.”

Thank fuck, she agrees, “Okay.” I sign the ticket with our room number and then follow her out of the restaurant. Thank goodness we still have the poker game to go to and a room full of people because I don’t trust myself to be alone with her. Not right now. Fuck, probably ever.

6

SAMANTHA

We arrive at the poker tournament, and Bear is completely hovering over me. I can't even complain about it because I've already told him that he needed to show me some affection. So instead of trying to resist or guard my heart like I should be doing, I’m just going to bask in it.

We sit down at a blackjack table, and I win the first hand.