Read Safe in His Arms Online

Authors: Billi Jean

Safe in His Arms

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

Safe in His Arms

ISBN # 978-1-78184-332-1

©Copyright Billi Jean 2013

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright May 2013

Edited by Sue Meadows

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2013 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Total-e-burning
and a
sexometer
of
2.

This story contains 239 pages, additionally there is also a
free excerpt
at the end of the book containing 7 pages.

Love’s Command

SAFE IN HIS ARMS

Billi Jean

Book two in the Love’s Command Series

Can a woman learn to trust her heart enough to give her dream another chance? Can a man reveal all, in order to keep his love safe in his arms?

Mandy would do almost anything for Mac, anything except give him her heart—again. She has spent five long years trying to get over him. Now, forced back into his arms, will she finally have the courage to reach for her dream? Or will she lose him before she has even got a chance to be in his arms?

Mac has never been able to shake his need for Mandy—not even after five long years without her. Now she is back but, instead of the young, sweet girl who gave him her innocence, she is a fierce, courageous woman—so sexy he can barely keep his eye on the prize—her in his arms for the rest of their lives.

Dedication

To my friends and family: Thank you for all your support!

Elizabeth: You rock!

Sue: What can I say? I’ll work on the reps…
J

Nancy: You’re always my best reader!

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Chevy Malibu: General Motors Corporation

Honda: Honda Motor Company, Limited

Zingers: Hostess Brands, Inc.

Victoria’s Secret: Limited Brands

Corona: Grupo Modelo

Dos Equis: Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma Brewery, Heineken International

Glock: Glock Ges.m.b.H.

Black Hawk: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

Ziploc: S. C. Johnson & Son

Jaws
: Universal Pictures

Jell-O: Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc.

M & Ms: Mars Incorporated

Jacuzzi: Jacuzzi Hot Tubs, Inc.

Wolf: Wolf Range Corporation

Rambo
: Nu Image/Millenium Films

The Brady Bunch
: CBS Television Distribution

The Ritz: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

The Last of the Mohicans
: 20
th
Century Fox

The Hulk: Marvel Comics

Doctor Death: DC Comics

Superman: DC Comics

                                                                                        

Prologue

Mandy stared at the empty playground, surprised by all the changes. The big slide, its deep curve and metal slope providing hours of fun, no longer dominated the place. The swings weren’t even present. Instead a wooden structure—or maybe plastic-looking wooden structure—stood in the centre atop cedar shavings all corralled by a low yellow plastic kerb. Maybe the odd yellow plastic kept in all the wood from littering the grass, but it looked too confining as if it were stopping the play from spilling over outside its measured barrier.

Whatever,
she thought with a sigh. Everything changed, most not for the better. She’d driven over nineteen hours to reach this spot. She stood there, staring out over the Texas evening and felt…void. Empty.

She walked to where the slide would have been and perched on the steps leading to a round yellow tunnel connecting one part of the design to another. All of it was plastic. Rubbing her bare palm over the plastic step, she shook her head at the absurdity of it all. Someone had probably thought that old slide would hurt a kid, maybe it even had, but without those life lessons, how could people learn how strong they were?

Kids needed to trip and fall, or how could they ever learn to get back up when life threw some real punches?

Stupid whore. Did you think a woman like you was good enough for a man like Wolf? Bitch, he’s a hero, he deserves more than some slut’s daughter.

Mandy shivered. Under her jacket and sweater, a chill brushed her flesh. Her attacker reminded her of her stepdad Sarge, but with the added dose of evil her stepdad had always been too drunk to use. He’d always used his fists, not words to hurt her. Until her brother and Mac had put a stop to him.
Mac.
Just thinking his name brought a fresh rush of painful tears to her eyes. She blinked them back and refused to let them past the emptiness filling her.

She stared out beyond the deserted playground and dusk lining the trees to a memory from her past. Thunderstorms flashed through her mind, and the image of Mac as a rag-tag teenage boy offering to take her nightmares away.

Only he gave you a completely new set, didn’t he?

Frowning at the thought, she hugged her arms over her chest and rocked a bit on the step. Mac hadn’t meant to hurt her. He’d been trying to comfort her after her brother’s death. Mac was a hero. Her attacker had been right about that, he was a hero. He’d also been all she’d ever wanted but could never have. He liked brunettes, tall, leggy, dark-haired women. She knew that now. She’d watched him letting one go down on him in a bar instead of coming back to her as he’d promised.

‘Fuck, this was a mistake, Mandy.’

His husky words, so full of regret, still brought a sting of shame to her cheeks. She’d pushed him, hadn’t she? Pushed for more until he’d given it to her, then made promises she didn’t give him time to fulfil.

‘I have to go, but we’ll discuss this when I get back. I promise I’ll explain it all then, okay?’

She cut off the painful memories, forcing herself to think of something else, but still her mind swirled with the feel of him, the sight and sound, and oh, God, the taste of him. She’d had him, in her arms, so warm and real, so right.

In the end, he hadn’t needed to explain anything, had he? None of that mattered now. She’d never see him again, never stare into his handsome face, never stand by and watch him while he kept her at a distance. She should have known when Rob died that Mac had simply wanted to comfort her, not start a relationship with her. Sex did not equal a relationship. She knew that. But Mac…

Yeah, but with Mac she couldn’t remember a time since she’d met him right here, in this playground, that she’d not loved him.

She stood quickly, hearing something behind her, and spun to confront two little kids, a boy and a younger girl, both staring at her with big, startled eyes. Heck, she probably was staring at them the same way.

“Sorry, you startled me.” Her muscles screamed out in protest at the quick move. The bruises and torn skin burned but she sucked down the pain and tried to smile and not frighten the kids.

The girl grinned back and giggled. “We did? You sure move fast,” she said.

“You’re not from here, huh?” the boy asked, frowning up at her past his dark, thick bangs.

“No, I’m just visiting. I used to live here, though,” she offered, gesturing carefully off to the right where she’d lived with her brother Rob and Sarge. And Mac. He’d moved in after that first night. He’d even moved with them to Florida. But then he’d enlisted and left.

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