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  “Shut up, you stupid fuck,” Jake screamed, raising the gun and arming it again. Summer fumbled with the second snap.

  “Go ahead, shoot me, won’t make you any less of a fag. Or you could untie me and we could settle this like real men. Or don’t you have it in you to fight fair?”

  “I’d pound your face into the ground, homo. I’d—”

  “Then go ahead, untie me. Let’s settle this, Jake, let’s see if you’re half the man you like to imagine you are when you’re raping women with you little pencil dick.”

  “How about we see what your dick looks like in a million pieces instead.” Jake aimed the gun at Aidan’s groin just as Summer pulled the gun free from its holster.

  “No!” she screamed, releasing the safety and firing in the general direction of Jake’s chest. She didn’t take time to aim, but figured even she couldn’t miss from a distance of five feet.

  She was right.

  “Fuck,” he grunted, looking down at his chest where a small hole began to leak red on his white wife-beater seconds later. “You bitch.”

  He lifted his gun in her direction, but Summer fired again, this time hitting his gun arm. Jake winced, but didn’t drop the weapon. Summer had just enough time to realize that she was about to be shot in the chest at close range when Jake’s knees suddenly buckled. The shot went wild, pinging off something behind her.

  “Summer, get his gun,” Aidan said. He was on his knees next to Jake. He’d knocked the other man to the floor with a sweep of his legs and then rolled over and was struggling to his feet. Jake tried to get up, but Aidan managed to stand first and deliver a swift kick to the other man’s stomach that made him fall to the ground and lie still, panting for breath.

  Summer ran for the gun and plucked it from the floor just as sirens began to sound in the distance. Giving Jake a wide berth, she ran to Aidan and began pulling at the ropes that held him.

  “You were almost loose,” she said, shocked to find one of his hands already free.

  “Yeah, if old Jake here hadn’t had such an itchy trigger finger, I would have been out in time to take care of him myself,” he said, helping her unwind the ropes from around his chest. When he was free, he pulled her into him with his bad arm and took his gun from her with the other. He kissed her forehead and squeezed her tight, just once, letting her know even with that brief contact how thankful he was for her safety.

  “Are you okay? You’re still bleeding, should I get—”

  “You should get some clothes on. I’m betting those sirens are for us. Someone probably heard the gunshot. I’m going to secure this creep and then go check on the princess in the other room. I don’t want her running this time.”

  “But Aidan, your arm,” Summer said, pulling on her kimono and fetching Aidan’s clothes form the pile at the end of the bed. If he was going to go tracking down suspects, it might help for him to have some clothes on, as well.

  “It’s fine, it only grazed the skin. We’ll get it patched up at the ER and I’ll be fine to go home tonight,” Aidan said. He finished tying Jake’s hands behind his back and moved down to his feet.

  “Is that necessary? He doesn’t even seem to be moving,” Summer said, trying not think about the fact that Jake might be dead already, that she might have really killed another human being. No matter what a monster he’d been, she didn’t know how well she would sleep at night if she’d really murdered him.

  “He’s still breathing. Whether he’s faking it or really unconscious, I’m not taking a chance with you here alone with him.”

  “Fuck you, asshole.” Jake grunted and started kicking as Aidan tried to tie his boots together. Summer jumped at the sudden movement and had to swallow the scream that rose in her throat.

  “See there? Old Jake is going to live to stand trial after all,” Aidan said, smiling as he tightened the rope around Jake’s legs and then stood up to survey his handiwork.

  “How can you smile? I mean…shit, Aidan,” Summer said, those tears she’d been trying for a few minutes ago flowing down her cheeks now that she didn’t want to look like she was falling to pieces. Traitorous emotions.

  “Baby, don’t cry.” Aidan pulled her close and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’m so glad you’re okay. You were so brave. I’m so proud of you.”

  “I should have just gotten the gun in the first place,” she said, returning his kisses even as she pressed his boxer briefs into his hand. Those sirens were getting closer and far too many strangers had already seen Aidan naked tonight, no need to add half the LVMPD to the list.

  “No, I should have gone after that bitch and made sure she was taken into custody.” Aidan quickly slid into his boxers and jeans, only wincing the slightest bit as he pulled his black t-shirt over his head. “You stay here and wait for me. I’m going to go out there and see if I can get Kelly to see sense and turn herself in.”

  “No, I want to go with you,” Summer said, feeling ridiculously clingy. She just wasn’t ready to let Aidan out of her sight, not when she’d spent the past twenty minutes certain that she was going to lose him forever.

  “I don’t think she’s armed, but she might still be dangerous so stay behind me and run back in here if there’s any trouble, okay?” He kissed her temple softly again before stepping into his boots and moving toward the door the studio.

  Summer cast one last look over at Jake, who lay struggling on the ground, before she followed Aidan with a shudder. She was glad he hadn’t made a fuss about her tagging along. No matter that the man was tied up, she still didn’t want to be in the same room alone with Jake. He was too creepy and had come far too close to making this the last anniversary she and Aidan would ever celebrate.

  * * * * *

  “Are you sure you don’t want a prescription for some painkillers?” The doctor washed her hands at a basin near the entrance to the room while the nurse attendant finished bandaging Aidan’s shoulder. She was already halfway out the door by the time he responded.

  “No thanks,” he told her swiftly retreating back.

  ER doctors, they were always on the move, but Aidan wasn’t going to complain. He’d been admitted, tended to and was getting ready to be released in less than an hour and a half. It was a new emergency room record and he was appropriately grateful.

  “You’re all set, I’ll put your chart at the front desk,” the nurse said with a friendly smile before following the doctor out the door.

  It was nearly two in the morning on a Friday night in Vegas, prime time for the shit to hit the fan and the drunks and crazies to hit the ER. The hallway outside was as loud as any casino and the waiting room packed to capacity. Luckily, the doctors in the ER did their best to take special care of the officers of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The fact that Aidan wasn’t technically still a member of the force hadn’t been mentioned, but he didn’t feel bad for the small deception. After the night he’d had, he was just grateful to finally be able to head for home with Summer by his side.

  “Aidan, you should have gotten one just in case. What if you wake up tomorrow and feel like crap?” Summer ran her long red nails through her hair, giving him a look that clearly said she thought he was taking the tough guy act a little too far. He just grinned back at her.

  She still looked psychotically hot, even though the nails and loose hair were all that remained of Lady Tigerlily since she’d changed into her work jeans and a t-shirt before driving him to the hospital. They’d made it there in record time thanks to the police escort and Officer Chavez’ decision that their official statements could wait until tomorrow. The police already had a full confession from Kelly and the paramedic’s assurance that old Jake was going to survive his chest wound so Aidan and Summer’s testimony wasn’t as necessary as it could have been.

  “You ready to go, babe?”

  “Yeah, but let’s head out through the front. I think I heard you-know-who screaming in agony from the other direction and it would be cool with me if I never sa
w her face again,” Summer said, helping him back into his shirt.

  “She never would have made it through her whole tattoo, probably would have wimped out before you finished ‘property’,” Aidan teased, trying not to wince as Summer helped guide his bum arm through the appropriate hole in his t-shirt.

  He was getting stiff and sore, but not sore enough for painkillers. Those things never did anything for him that a handful of Motrin couldn’t accomplish and they wreaked havoc with his right mind. After the night they’d had already, he knew Summer didn’t need to spend the next several hours convincing him that there weren’t really spiders crawling up the walls of their bedroom.

  “I don’t know, I think she would have suffered anything for her true love.” Summer rolled her eyes. “But good for her she wasn’t as completely stupid as she looked. At least she’ll have both thumbs when she gets sent to jail.”

  In a surprising turn of events, Kelly had been the one to call the police from Ink Me to turn herself, and Jake, in to the authorities. Evidently she’d been rather attached to the rest of her thumb, not to mention jealous of Jake’s attention to Summer. She’d told the arresting officers that she would rather they both go to jail than have to watch him fuck any more women in front of her. Thanks to her confession, Jake was now a suspect in four unsolved rape cases, one count of homicide and they were both going to be tried for a string of robberies in Reno.

  Aidan felt the smile drop from his face as he thought about that bastard and what he’d planned to do to Summer. Thank god they’d been able to stop him, and that she’d shot the man in the chest. If she hadn’t gone for the weapon, if he’d stayed tied and helpless and been forced to watch someone rape the woman he loved more than—

  “Aidan, you’ve got that look on your face again,” Summer said, picking up her purse and looping her hand through the elbow of his good arm as they headed out to the cashier’s desk.

  “I can’t help it, I can’t stop thinking about that son of a bitch. I felt so fucking helpless.”

  “But that’s my fault, Aidan.”

  “Your fault? Are you insane?”

  “No, it is my fault. If I hadn’t wanted to tie you up, to play that stupid—”

  “I’m glad you wanted to play and it wasn’t stupid. I loved it. I’ll admit I was a little hesitant at first because of what happened when I was working Vice, but—”

  “Oh my god.” Summer stopped dead in the middle of the hall and clasped a hand over her open mouth. Aidan pulled her to the side as a gurney rushed past. “I didn’t even think of that. Shit. I’m such an asshole. I mean, how could I forget something like—”

  “Because I don’t mention it that often. It’s not a big deal. I promise. I would have asked you to let me go if I hadn’t been able to handle it.”

  “Shit, babe, I’m so sorry. I’m such a stupid—”

  “Stop it,” Aidan said, bringing the pad of his thumb to her lips to stop her before she could beat herself up any further. “Tonight would have been nothing but pleasurable memories if those two hadn’t broken in. The next time, we’ll just make sure we play in the privacy of our own home with the burglar alarm armed.”

  “You’re kidding me,” she said, looking up to catch his eye. “You’d really want to do something like that again?”

  “Sure, as long as I get to learn a few of your tricks,” he said with a smile that he hoped left nothing to her imagination. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on those ropes, to see what her breasts would look like bound on either side by the thick hemp. It might take a little time for him to be comfortable being restrained again, but he knew he would have no trouble getting into tying up Summer and pleasuring her until she couldn’t remember her own name. “Once your mom’s not sleeping right next door, of course.”

  “Oh god, my mom. She’s probably flipping out wondering where we are,” Summer said with a sigh as she began to forage in her purse, presumably looking for her checkbook.

  They had insurance, but it didn’t cover emergency room charges, a fact that suddenly made Aidan even more frustrated. If Kelly and Jake hadn’t shown up, they wouldn’t be getting ready to plop down all the money he would have spent on a fabulous steak dinner on a bill for a gunshot wound. And they most certainly wouldn’t be arguing over whether or not he’d enjoyed Summer taking the lead in the bedroom. She would have remembered nothing except how passionately they’d loved each other, how they’d both come more times in a few hours than they had in an entire month in recent years.

  Aidan felt something clench in his chest as he realized that last thought might not be entirely true. When they’d first started making love tonight, he’d sensed how hurt Summer was by what she saw as his growing lack of interest in her sexually. He’d really fucked up. Sure, they’d both been really busy lately, but that was no excuse for not making it a priority to show his wife how deeply he desired her, how she could still make him hard with just the touch of her hand.

  “Wakayama-Tate?” the woman at the reception asked as they approached the desk.

  They’d hyphenated their names when they got married five years ago from this very night. Aidan wondered what old Jake would have thought about that? Not only was he faggot enough to let his wife tie him up, but he’d taken her name as well.

  “Let me get it, Summer.”

  “Don’t be silly. Your arm’s all messed up, I’ll write the check,” Summer said, already half way through signing her name. “Besides, it’s all our money anyway. We’ll just have to put off getting a new mattress for the futon, which I’m sure is going to make my mom really happy.”

  Talking about futons, writing out five hundred dollar checks for gunshot wounds and watching Summer get that weary, pinched look on her face. Damn. This was not the way he’d expected their evening to end.

  But then, maybe it didn’t have to end, not just yet…

  “Your mom wasn’t expecting us home until late, right?”

  “No, I told her not to wait up, but you know how she is. She says that she won’t wait up, but she’s probably on her fifth pot of green tea, sitting watch at the kitchen table with the—”

  “So we’ll tell her to sleep in tomorrow, that we’re both staying home from work so she doesn’t have to get crazy about getting up and making breakfast.”

  “Geez, I don’t know why she does that anyway. Does she think we don’t know how to make our own breakfast? I mean, we did eat before she came to visit and— Wait a minute. You don’t mean that you want to stay out, do you?”

  Damn, she was giving him that look, the one that made him feel like the out of control little brother she never had. How someone three years younger and over a foot shorter could make him feel like a delinquent teen he would never know, but he had learned how to deal with that look over the years. Quickly, he changed tactics.

  “No way. I’m exhausted. But we never did get to eat anything. I think we deserve a little treat after the night we’ve had.”

  “I don’t know, babe. I really feel like getting home, I just want to—”

  “I know. We won’t go anywhere big. How about a drive-in for some burgers and shakes?”

  “Chocolate shakes?” she asked, the small smile on her face letting him know he’d captured her interest.

  “Of course, what else?” he said with an answering grin. The woman had two weaknesses, one was chocolate, the other one he’d already exploited two or three times tonight.

  Damn. Just the thought of eating her pussy, of the way she’d tasted after he’d worked the strawberry from her cunt with his tongue was enough to make him hard. As they walked out the automatic doors and into the balmy night, he dropped a casual arm in front of his cock, hoping Summer wouldn’t notice the raging erection straining the front of his jeans. He was going to make sure she knew, once and for all, how much he desired her, but he wasn’t a fool.

  He’d get the chocolate shake in her first, then let her know he was up for one last round before calling it quits. If there’s
one thing he’d learned in five years of marriage, it was not to come between Summer and anything containing cocoa.

  “Do you want to drive?” she asked, half-heartedly holding out the keys.

  Scratch that, make it two things he’d learned. Don’t touch her chocolate and pretend he was fine with the maniacal way she drove.

  “No, I’m fine with you driving,” he said, smiling innocently as she shot a slightly suspicious look his way. “Maybe I’ll drive after we get the food so you can eat. If my arm isn’t too stiff.”

  That seemed to appease her and in seconds they were in the car and headed toward the nearest Sonic. Then they would find a nice out of the way spot to have a little talk, a talk that would hopefully end up with his cock buried in her pussy and his wife knowing she was the sexiest woman in the world. At least to one man.

  Chapter Seven

  Chocolate malted ice-cream blended with milk, topped with whipped cream and three cherries. God. Damn. Who knew something so simple could taste so amazing, especially after the night they’d had?

  “You’re moaning again,” Aidan said from the driver’s seat.

  “I’m having an M.O.”

  “A mouth orgasm? It’s really that good?”

  “Oh yeah, it’s really that good.”

  “Are you going to save me a bite?”

  “No way. If you’d wanted chocolate, you should have ordered your own.”

  “Fine, but you’re not getting a drink of my cherry slush.”

  “Fine, I don’t want a drink of your cherry slush.”

  “What a selfish bitch you are.”

  Summer laughed, took another slurp of her shake and wiggled the bare toes she’d hung out the window. Aidan had wanted to take the long way home, which was fine with her. For some reason, she wasn’t as tired anymore. Whether it was the caffeine in the chocolate, or just the knowledge that she and Aidan were really safe and on their way home she couldn’t say. But she was glad he’d suggested the food and the drive. It was nice to have a few more peaceful moments together.