Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

39. Tessa

THIRTY-NINE

TESSA

Milo spun me around and pressed me to the door of my car. His hands came to frame my face, and his big body covered mine.

A burly blanket of protection.

A giddy sound rippled up my throat, and my lips were dancing all over the place, anticipating one of those kisses I’d come to crave.

The man chaos on my tongue.

Morning light warmed the new day, and he stared down at me as he traced the pad of his thumb along the line of my jaw. It was wild how the man could look at me with such tenderness while I could physically feel the well of violence that steamed beneath the surface.

Every glorious muscle in his body was tense.

Ready to strike.

“You sure you need to go into work today?”

It’d been four days since Milo had found someone lurking on his property.

Since he’d confessed what had happened to Autumn.

To the lengths he’d gone to try to avenge her death.

Ever since, he’d been completely on edge.

Watching out the windows. Pacing the floors at night.

Following me to work.

It was honestly still hard to grasp. That life. What he’d done and what he’d gotten involved in. To fully understand the severity of what he’d warned me about.

Over the past few days, he’d opened up a little more, talking about how he’d been sucked into a life he never should have stepped into. The way he’d tripped into making the same mistakes and it’d cost him his wife.

I’d seen the fear in his eyes. The truth that he believed himself wicked and weak. That he was terrified that he could trip again.

My heart panged as I thought of the way he’d stalled out, unable to speak the full horrors of what had actually happened to Autumn that night.

Or maybe he’d just been trying to protect me, keep me from the sordid details.

He’d expected that I’d run when I found out.

And yeah, I was freaked out. Saddened that he’d done what he’d done, that he’d lived the life that he had.

He was true in saying his past had been dark and ugly.

But I also believed in forgiveness if we’d moved beyond that person. If we’d sought to make a real change.

I knew he had.

I believed in who he was today.

I’d promised him I could handle all that he was, and I’d meant it because the man standing in front of me right then was good and right.

I pressed his palm closer to my cheek as I gazed up at those honey-dipped eyes that roiled with so many things.

Possession.

Protection.

Ferocity.

Desperation.

The culmination of them love.

The kind of love that made my chest feel achy and full and like it still wasn’t enough.

He was what I never could have anticipated.

My wild card.

My Ace.

“You know you’ve asked me that same thing every day this week?” I sent him a sultry smile.

A small grunt rumbled from his chest. The sound trembled through me like a caress. “I’ve had to since you’re so stinkin’ stubborn.”

“Stubborn? Who, me?” I let the tease wind from my mouth, loving the way his expression darkened as he curled a hand around my hip.

Tingles raced through my body.

I was hooked.

Craving him, and I didn’t hesitate to indulge.

Cake.

So much cake.

I’d been glutting myself on it every day.

Morning.

Night.

Noon a bunch of times, too.

It was a yummy, lovely bonus of the fact that Milo would hardly let me out of his sight.

Although I hated the circumstances.

Hated the terror that ridged his brow.

Hated the panic in the tremor of his fingers as they held on to me, like he couldn’t stomach the idea of letting me go.

I knew he was worried that his children were with their grandparents and there was nothing he could do about it, all while wondering if they were safer there.

Dread filled my soul because honestly, I didn’t know what to anticipate.

Milo had warned me again and again that the man was evil. Sick. Twisted in a way that wasn’t right.

Because of it, we were being as careful as we could.

Trying to ease some of his worry, I let my fingertip drag down over his beard until I was fluttering my fingers over his heart, my head tipped to the side as I whispered, “Like you aren’t just going to follow me, anyway.”

Another grunt.

I was growing addicted to that sound.

“Don’t want to let you out of my sight, Tessa. Told you I would do everything and anything to protect you.”

“You already are,” I promised him.

He slipped his palm around to the back of my neck. “I can’t take the risk of something happening to you.”

Desperation filled his voice.

“We won’t let it.” My words were short and heavy with the belief.

Adoration moved through his expression, his voice gruff when he murmured, “Never thought I’d be given a chance like this, Tessa. The chance to love again. The chance to feel what I feel for you.”

He picked me up off my feet and kissed me. Kissed me sweetly, though with Milo, it was always underscored with passion. With this need that torched me through.

He had it all wrong.

He was the heat and the fire and the flame.

The one that would forever burn inside me.

He pulled back. “You’d better get that adorable ass in your car so I can follow you to work before I carry you back inside instead.”

“Don’t tease me.”

“Oh, it’s not me who’s doing the teasin’, Little Dove. Think we know that honor belongs to you.”

Lightness played across his features.

I hiked up onto my toes and pecked a quick kiss to his sexy mouth. “Fine. I’ll see you tonight at the club.”

He had to work…and, well, like we’d established, he didn’t want me out of his sight. He certainly wasn’t going to leave me at the cabin alone until three in the morning.

I wasn’t exactly complaining.

“I’ll be waiting.” He opened my car door for me, standing there like a giant gentleman as he helped me inside.

“Liar…you’ll be sitting outside the school, keeping watch, just like a good fiancé would do,” I teased.

Need rumbled through him, head to toe.

My spirit shivered with the impact.

With the truth of how desperately I loved him.

“Plan to be the best, Tessa. Best I can be for the rest of my life.”

“I cannot believe I let you drag me to the club on a Thursday night.” Eden climbed the three stairs that led to the employee side door at Absolution.

“Oh, please, your husband is inside. This is not clubbing, Eden, it’s family time. You’re welcome.”

She tossed me a grin from over her shoulder, and her blonde curls swished around her face. “You’re dead set on taking credit for everything related to my family, aren’t you?”

I gave her a nonchalant shrug. “I mean, I won’t brag about it or anything since humility is kind of my thing, but you know, if the shoe fits and all.”

She laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You know you love me.”

Eden grinned, though it was soft. “Mad love.”

“It’s the only way I’ll take it,” I told her as I swung open the door.

I was so ready for a good time. Karl had texted me earlier, saying he was back in town and wanted to talk.

Revulsion had crawled through me, and I hadn’t even graced him with a response.

Because the only thing that mattered was the man who filled my sight the second we stepped inside.

Talk about mad love.

My stomach bottomed out as Milo came our direction. He looked like a legitimate goliath as he stalked down the hall, wearing all black and ferocity on his face. His shoulders were so wide I thought they might rub against each side of the wall, his head nearly touching the ceiling, his powerful presence erupting from him and pounding through the air with each step he took.

Milo had just texted for an ETA, but since I drove my Corolla like it actually was a Porsche, we’d made it a few minutes early.

He looked annoyed by that fact, all while his gaze was licking over the red dress I’d worn just for him like he was wondering how fast he could get me out of it.

“Told you I’d meet you outside,” he grumbled.

“Sorry, we got here, and Oz was out there talking to one of the employees, so we didn’t see any harm in it. You know that guy would go GI Joe on that jerk’s ass if he dared to show up here, so we were completely fine.”

A grunt got free of Milo, the man hesitant to give, though I could see a little of the edge slide from his being.

I slipped my palm up his chest, tipping my head back to take all of him in. Every cell in my body pounded. Lit in recognition.

His arm curved around my waist and yanked me against all that knotted muscle.

Yummy.

“Told you to be careful,” he warned low.

“I am,” I promised, then I let a flirty grin take to one side of my mouth. “Miss me?”

“If you’re not with me, that means I’m missing you, Tessa.”

His words were so hard that I gasped a little at the weight of them.

Tingles raced over my flesh.

Giddiness creeping up to take me over.

All mixed up with this heady desire that spun through me like a storm.

Disordered and unruly.

Yup.

Addicted.

And I did not want help.

Eden laughed from the side of us, breaking through the intensity.

“Um, hello, hi, remember me, your BFF?” She lifted her hand in a tiny wave.

I’d given Eden the rundown on the way over.

The fact that Milo and I were now together together . That what we had was no longer a sham.

It was real and true.

Along with the rest of the terrifying things that went along with it.

An exaggerated frown puckered my face. “I’m sorry, no, who are you? It seems someone has turned my mind to mush.”

“That sounds like a horrible state of affairs.” She mocked a gasp as she touched her chest.

“No, it’s really not. Believe me, life is much easier this way.”

“Where’s Salem? She needs to be here so she can see what a goober you really are,” Eden said.

I pouted. “I miss her. That damn baby is stealing all my Salem time.”

“How dare he.” Playfulness danced on her face.

“I know.” My head shook with mock sadness.

A chuckle rumbled from Milo. “All right, you two. I should get you to the table.”

“Oh, no, Milo, we are dancing tonight.”

His brow lifted. “You trying to make my night harder?”

I hiked up on my toes so I could whisper in his ear. “I plan to make it much, much better.”

He groaned. “Tiny Tease.”

“Only for my beast.”

Then I patted his chest and strode around him, snagging Eden’s hand as I went so I could strut in front of him.

“You are going to make that poor man lose his mind,” Eden whispered so only I could hear.

“It’s only fair since that mountain man has stolen my heart.”

And I was never getting it back.

I could feel his watchful gaze rushing over me as Eden and I danced. We were on the edge of the dance floor, and I was letting loose because hello, it was me, and I was not the kind of girl who turned down the opportunity for a good time.

Bonus?

I really was going to make Milo lose his mind. The man was positively vibrating with want.

Want for me.

Those eyes continually swept over my body before his jaw would clench in restraint and he’d tear his attention away.

Lights strobed over the crowd that writhed and throbbed in a mass.

Tonight, there was a DJ, the house packed, the vibe different than when a band was playing.

On nights like these, it felt more entrancing.

Hypnotic.

Lust permeating the air and inhibitions crushed.

But my only desire was for Milo, who stalked the side of the dance floor like he was hunting prey.

He was what was mesmerizing.

Magnetic.

He made my thighs throb and my insides quake.

Leann, my favorite cocktail server, came waltzing by, lifting two glasses filled with yummy, sugary, tequila-laden goodness in the air.

“Margarita time!” I squealed over the music. Grabbing Eden’s hand, I hauled her off the dance floor to the small round table where Leann was setting our drinks.

“Two margaritas, on the house.” She winked and gestured to Trent who stood guard at the edge of the bar, watching over us almost as closely as Milo.

Giggling, Eden took a sip. “Well, I guess I’d better be getting something out of this.”

“I’m sure you’re getting plenty,” Leann told her in her southern accent.

I cracked up. “Oh, she is. I accidentally walked in on that biz one time, and hot damn...”

Trent was packing almost as large as Milo.

Almost.

Eden swatted at me from over the top of the table. “You have no filter.”

“There’s no filtering that, Eden.”

Leann howled. “You’re a terrible person, making my mind go there.”

“You’re welcome.” I grinned.

Eden shook her head as Leann walked away and disappeared into the fray. “You are so much, Tessa McDaniels.”

“Just the right amount, wouldn’t you say?”

“I would have to agree.” She clinked my glass.

Emotion rushed me out of nowhere. “Will you be my maid of honor? For real?”

The softest smile edged her mouth, and she reached over the table and squeezed my hand. “Of course, I will be. I am your ride or die, aren’t I?”

“Until the end.”

There was no erasing the smile from my face. Well, not until I saw Milo pull his phone from his back pocket and freeze. The man just stood there in the middle of the chaos looking at the screen.

Dread slithered down my spine, or maybe I was feeling the wash of his. The ice that seeped from his pores and frosted the air in a cold mist.

“I think I’m going to go check to see how Milo is doing.”

“Trent has been eyeing me for some alone time for about the last thirty minutes, anyway.”

Light laughter filtered from me, though it trembled with my worry. I forced an easy grin. “Go get yourself some of that cake.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

She grabbed her margarita and headed to Trent while I worked to gather myself. Praying, praying, praying that it wasn’t bad news about our kids.

I nearly toppled over when I realized what I’d thought.

At the claim my heart had made.

Ours.

I meant it to my soul.

And crap, I’d never been in so deep, and there was absolutely no climbing out. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to bask in all his glory for my entire life. Wander around in his darkness if it was required, but truthfully, I believed the two of us made each other better.

Held each other’s goodness like a treasure.

I’d hold all his bad places, too.

I moved that way just as he was shoving his phone into his back pocket. He felt me coming, and that severity flash-fired across the space when he shifted to find me heading his way.

The world moved on around us while our spirits slowed.

Winding and wrapping and binding.

My hand was extending for him right as he snatched my wrist. He pitched a sigh of relief at the contact.

“Little Dove.” His voice was rough.

“What happened?”

“Come with me.”

He hauled me through the roiling crowd toward the left side of the expansive building.

Kult was walking toward us.

“Cover for me,” Milo told him as he passed.

Kult just nodded, the two of them clearly in sync and used to tossing orders at the other.

I could barely keep up with Milo as he led me down a hall toward the private party rooms, and he tossed open the door to one that wasn’t being used.

Inside, it was dark, and he reached over and flipped on a switch that tossed the luxury suite in blue-tinged neon that barely cut through the shadows.

Shivers raced. Both in terror and desire.

“What happened?” I demanded that time when Milo lumbered out into the middle of the room, standing away from me and roughing both hands over the top of his head.

“Got a text.”

It wasn’t too much of a stretch to guess who it was from.

“What did it say?”

Milo whirled around, fury on his face. “It was an address plus a time and date.”

So much hatred rolled out with the response that it nearly swept me from my feet.

“To where?” The question trembled from my mouth.

“A vacant building that’s only inhabited by devils and fiends.”

A lump obstructed my airflow as awareness hit. “He wants you to fight?”

He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing beneath his beard as he gritted out the words, “It seems so.”

“Why?”

“I’m guessing he has a ton of money on me. Or maybe he just wants to prove that he still owns me. That he can push me. Manipulate me. Remind me what he did to Autumn and dare me to defy him again.”

“What are you going to do?” The question convulsed through the dense air.

“I’m going to find him and end him before it happens.”

“Milo.” Fear spun around his name. Fear that he might be hurt. That I might lose him. That he might lose himself if he didn’t stop this monster.

Because I could see the darkness there, lurking in the depths of his eyes.

The golden yellow tinged in aggression and violence.

“Warned you that it might get ugly.”

“This is more than ugly, Milo. This is?—”

My words clipped off when he suddenly stormed my way, erasing the space. Without warning, he lifted me from the ground and crushed me against him.

Energy crashed.

A thunderclap.

A strike of lightning.

He held me against him with one arm while his other hand twisted in my hair. “It’s disgusting, Tessa, but men like him are vile, wicked to the bone, and the only thing that can be done to stop them from destroying everything that is good and pure is to wipe their existence from the earth.”

Tremors rolled through my body, a rush of alarm.

“You see it now, what I’m capable of?” It was a challenge.

“You’re a good man,” I mumbled, our lips so close, our breaths panting into the other.

Severity curled through the room.

Flickers of light at the edges of my blurred sight.

“I’m not. But I will be everything I can be. For you. For my kids.”

“Then you do what’s right. Whatever it takes to protect that.”

He dove for my mouth, devouring the words on my tongue.

“Don’t deserve you,” he rumbled at my lips as he was grabbing a handful of my bottom. A moan got free, mixed with the wisps of words that I breathed back into him. “Everyone deserves forgiveness, Milo. Redemption for what they’ve done. I think you’ve paid your penance, suffered enough.”

“I could never gain atonement for what I did. And somehow, I got you. You, who’s pure fuckin’ bliss. How’d I get so fuckin’ lucky?”

“I am kinda amazing.” I forced some lightness into the madness, but he just swallowed it down with a growl, turned, and carried me to the grand piano on the left side of the room.

The heavy beat of the music filtered through the walls, though it was subdued, and our breaths heaved in a frantic melody.

The keys clanked when he propped me against them, and he took a seat at the bench while he was shoving my dress up my thighs. “Need to taste you, Little Dove.”

“Okay, yes, I’m good and fine with that,” I whimpered as he ripped my underwear down my legs.

I shucked the little wristlet from my hand, and it clattered against the keys before it dropped to the floor.

A low chuckle reverberated through the desire-drenched room. “Always so eager, aren’t you, Tiny Tease?”

He spread me by the knees, exposing me, and my hands were trying to find purchase on the keys, the clanging notes going off as I struggled to find balance.

But with Milo, there was no footing.

No grip.

I was just in a freefall.

Falling forever.

“Such a good girl, dripping for me.”

He looked so savagely gorgeous there, sitting between my legs that he held open. He was so wide and rough and rippling with a strength and brutality that attested to the man who he could be.

Grabbing me by the back of one thigh, he pushed one big finger into me to the knuckle.

A gasp jolted from my lungs, and I shifted on the keys.

“Look at your pussy, throbbing and needy.” He drove his finger in and out.

Tingles raced, a shimmery pleasure streaking across my flesh, lifting goose bumps along my arms.

“Milo.”

“Told you once I had you, that was it. You belong to me now. This sweet, delicious cunt. Is it mine, Little Dove?”

“I’m yours. All of me. Take it and hurry up while you’re at it.” It rushed from my lips.

“So eager,” he rumbled as he was letting go of a dark, delicious chuckle before his tongue was swirling around my clit.

He licked and lapped while he added another finger.

“Oh, crap, yes, Milo.”

He flattened his tongue, stroking me just right, his fingers shifting to rub at that spot inside me that had me seeing stars.

He thought I was the sun, but when he was touching me, I was a supernova.

Nothing but a fiery fever that rushed through my body.

And I was whimpering and trying to hold on as he drove me higher, as all the elements came together, earth and water and sun and sky, and I was flying.

Soaring through his darkness.

This man my perfect eclipse.

I pulsed and shook as the pleasure blistered through my being, and Milo was on his feet and yanking open his fly and pulling out his enormous erection.

I didn’t even have time to appreciate it before he stuffed me full, then I was totally, completely appreciating it in a different way.

Aftershocks still rolled through my body while fresh sparks of bliss lit up my insides.

“Milo.” I clawed at his shoulders like I could keep up with the force of him.

Impossible.

His thrusts were ruthless.

Possessive and deep and hard.

“Milo,” I begged again.

“Whatever you need, Little Dove, I’m going to give it to you. All of it. Always.”

“Always,” I whispered back, and he was yanking me up higher, holding me upright as he drove me up and down his shaft.

Our bodies pulsing and writhing as he slammed into me.

Taking me.

Owning me.

Ruining me.

And I was coming apart in his massive arms.

His.

And he was shouting as he throbbed and poured into me.

And he was mine.

And I believed in him with every part of my being.

My Beautiful Beast.

Sweat drenched our skin and heat covered the air, our breaths harsh and haggard as we clung to each other for the longest time.

Finally, Milo pulled back, though he kept me there, held in his arms, warm eyes flaring with intensity as he murmured, “I love you, Tessa. So fuckin’ much. And I hope you know that means I’ll do whatever it takes to give you a good life.”

“I know, my sweet man. I know.”

He squeezed me once before he set me back on my unstable feet, and a giggle was getting free as I searched around for my underwear. “Um, I feel like we sullied that poor piano. I think that was the best action it’s seen in years. Probably ever.”

Low laughter rolled from him. “Maybe don’t tell Eden what went down in here, yeah? Trent might not approve.”

“Pssh…keep this from Eden? I’m pretty sure you’re written all over me right about now, Milo Hendricks. I’m glowing with the good D. No wiping the evidence away.”

He grabbed me by the hip and jerked me against him, his voice rough at my ear. “Exactly the way I want it, to be written all over you. Inside and out.”

My tummy tipped.

“Signed and sealed, baby.” I did my best to pin on a grin when I was totally serious.

The man had branded my vagina.

Milo’s.

I slinked back into my underwear and straightened my hair, and my phone started to ring from my bag.

“That’s probably Eden wondering where I got off to, which I’m not quite sure why she’d be concerned since she was off taking a bite of her tasty husband.”

Unzipping my bag, I pulled out my phone.

The smile slid off my face, and my heart plummeted to the floor.

“What is it, Little Dove?”

“Bobby’s care center.”

My hands were shaking out of control as I answered, trying to keep the room from spinning because it was freaking midnight on a Thursday. Maybe he was unsettled, having a bad night, and they thought it was good for him to hear my voice.

That was it.

It had to be.

“Ms. McDaniels?” the woman asked on the other end of the line.

“Yes, this is she.”

“This is Pamela at St. John’s Meadows. I’m really sorry to call you like this, but we need you to come down.”

And I couldn’t breathe.

Couldn’t see.

Couldn’t do anything but drop to my knees.