The Mobster And The Cowboy (A Cowboy Romance) (30 page)

“Yes.”

“Will she be my mom too?”

“She would be your stepmom.”

“Could I call her mom?”

“I’m sure she would love it.”

“Mom wouldn’t.”

“No.”

“I’ll call her mom when my mom’s not around.”

Logan
had just realized he got his son’s blessing and was smiling from ear to ear. “Okay.”

Logan walked out of the bedroom with a grin and Richie, who was sitting on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table, did a double take and smiled.

Logan walked to the re
cliner and sat down. “So where’s the best place to view the…..?”

Early Sunday evening, Logan and Rich
ie pulled up in front of Richie’s house, after dropping Heath off by Linda’s, and after Logan reminded him not to say anything about him marrying Melanie. He got his son’s blessing, now he needed to ask Melanie. What if she said no? Things weren’t quite settled with her life yet and they didn’t know each other long. He was okay with that but what if she needed months or even years. Heck, what if she didn’t ever want to get married. Nevertheless, he was still happy that it was a possibility and his son was good with it.

The smell of nail polish was prevalent when Richie and Logan walked through the door. They found the girls with their feet up on the coffee table and toe separators between their toes, and half filled Margarita glasses in their hands. The empty blender was on the coffee table.

“Logan!” Melanie squealed.

Logan smiled as he walked to where she was sitting and looked into her eyes. They were lit like a Christmas tree.

She placed her glass down on the table and threw her arms up. He bent down and she wrapped them around his neck and kissed him.

“I missed you,” she whispered at his mouth.

“I missed you too.”

He straightened up as Kara walked into Richie
’s arms.

“You didn’t warn her about Kara’s margaritas?” Richie asked Logan.

“Oops. I forgot.”

“What are you girls up to?” Logan asked as he sat down next to Melanie.

“I was telling Kara how it feels to love a cowboy and she was telling me how it feels to love a bazillionair,” Melanie said
, giggling.

Logan just stared at her and slowly lifted the corners of his mouth.

Richie’s eyes shot to her. Logan told him that she never said she loved him but knew that she did, or at least felt that she did.

Logan then turned to Richie and they shared a look.

Melanie caught them exchanging a look. “What?” she asked.

Logan looked back to her. “Nothing, you ready to go?”

“I’m not done with my-”

“Bye
, guys.” He said as he picked her up.

“Hey, my shoes and clothes and-
” She was giggling.

“We’ll get them tomorrow.”

“My purse, I need my purse.” She was still giggling.

Kara quickly retrieved her purse from the couch and handed it to her.

“Thanks, sweetie, I love you.”

Kara laughed. “I love you too.”

Melanie snuggled up against Logan in the truck and fell asleep.  He kept looking from the road to her and smiled the whole way home. She had no idea she told him she loved him. He’d make sure he’d get it out of her one way or another.

Melanie woke up long enough for Logan to remove her clothes. He put her in bed, stripped and climbed in. He reached for her and she again snuggled up next to him
and fell asleep. It was still early but he was content to be right where he was. With her.

Logan woke up before Melanie
did the next day and after he showered he woke her up to tell her he needed to be at the stables all day. Cody and Trevor were out that day.

While he was dressing she asked about his trip. He told her they had a great time but he wished she was there with them.

She didn’t need to fill him in on anything because they spoke every day while he was away.

Melanie was elated for him, and he was happy, relating that he spoke with his lawyer over the weekend and everything was looking good with the custody case.

Just before donning his hat he walked over to the bed and smiled down at her.

She tried to pick her head up but it hurt too much.

“Sorry. I forgot to warn you abou
t Kara’s Margaritas.”

She smiled up at him. He bent down and as he kissed her
, he slowly pulled down the sheet and exposed her breasts. He broke the kiss and let his gaze linger on her nipples. They tightened under his close scrutiny. He licked his lips then brought his mouth down to close around one of them.

She let out a little moan and placed her hands around his head to hold him there.

He was able to move slightly and he removed his mouth from one nipple then sucked on her other nipple.

Sh
e gasped as she began to writhe under him.

He abruptly pulled up. She was never that strong
as to hold his head in place.

“Hey!” she said.

He chuckled. “That should keep you all hot and bothered till I get done with work. I want to spend all night in bed with you.” He planned on telling her he loved her, that night.

She pouted and stuck her tongue out at him.

He laughed, stuck out his tongue, and moved it fast, in a provocative manner.

“Oooh,” she moaned and grinned
. She threw off the rest of the sheet and spread her legs.

“Shameless,” he said chuckling.

“Yes.”

She spread her lips and that was his undoing.

“You don’t play fair.” He dove down and ate her pussy.

Melanie was wild.
It had been three days and she wanted him. She tried but couldn’t reach his crotch or the zipper on his jeans.

As her moans grew quicker and louder, he couldn’t hold off. She wasn’t sure
how he did it but without missing a beat, he unzipped, and pushed his pants down.

When she orgasmed, he climbed up her and guided his cock into her. He threw her legs ove
r his shoulders and like a jackhammer, after all it had been three days, drove in and out of her with deep thrusts while he palmed her breasts, squeezing her nipples and kissed her deeply. Before long, he felt her clamp down around him. That’s what he waited for. He came as she was coming.

They stilled a
s she felt liquid heat fill her, both breathing heavy, both gazing into each other’s eyes.

“Oh…Oh
, man, I was wrong to deny you. You feel so fucking good. So soft and all woman,” he said to her as he eased out of her and flopped down next to her, to catch a breath.

She groaned
with a smile when he removed himself. “And don’t you forget that,” she laughed.

He got up and walked into the bathroom chuckling. “Yes, ma’am.”

A
moment later, he came back to her all cleaned up. “I still want to spend all night in bed with you.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Oh, before I forget. Do you have a passport?”

“Yes. Oh, well I do but i
t’s at Michael’s,” she said disappointedly.

Logan scowled at the mention of his name. “Can you see if you can get a duplicate?”

“Okay. Why?”

“Uh-uh. You don’t get to ask questions.
Just see if it can be done in two months.”

She looked pointedly at him.

“Just trust me?”

“Ok
ay.” 

He kissed her quickly, picked up his h
at and walked out singing, Girl, you’re a song…..”

Melanie gig
gled. She’d heard him sing that song a lot.

Melanie called her sister. The one advice Ally gave her before moving in with Michael, well
, she gave her a lot of advice, but Melanie only listened to this one, was to put all important paperwork in a lock box at the bank. Her social security card and birth certificate were there. She traveled with Michael so the passport was in a metal box at his apartment.

Ally was going to overnight
the papers from the lock box to her. With that done, she needed to report her passport lost and start the reissue process.

It was unusual, but Melanie skipped the gym
that day.  Her head was still a little achy from the Margaritas but she did have some errands to do. She saw Logan in the big corral amongst a group of riders heading out. She had offered to help out earlier but because she wasn’t on the payroll and not documented, if anything happened on her watch, he’d be liable.

She waved as she drove by and he tipped his hat to her.

First stop was the
nail salon. Next was the post office. She had two manuscripts that she needed to mail. The last place she needed to go to was Charlie’s house. She needed to check up on it, and she wanted to talk to him. He would be home soon and it looked like she was going to be hanging around there longer. She was thrilled that Logan indicated they would be together longer than the time frame she originally started out with, but she didn’t want to take him for granted. She needed to see about an apartment or maybe buy a condo somewhere nearby.

She grew to love it
there. Yes, a certain sexy cowboy was a major part, but she genuinely loved being there. She even learned to slow down. Something, Logan, in the beginning of their relationship, kept pointing out to her. ‘You’re on country time, not city time baby’, he’d say.

She pulled up in front of the house. She was going to stop in to see Gabe first, then thought she’d stop in after she called Charlie.

She walked in and closed the door as she questioned to herself why the light in the kitchen was on. It was day time but the shades were drawn.

She casually walked into the kitchen thinking about how long it’s been on. The last time she was there was last week.

She froze when she saw Michael sitting at the table
, and a little mirror with white lines was on it, in front of him.

He had just picked his head up and was wiping his nose with one hand and his other hand held a rolled up bill.

He looked like the quintessential gangster with a white on white button down shirt, unbuttoned halfway down his chest, and a huge gold rope chain around his neck with a large cross dangling from it. He wore black pinstripe pants and his black pinstripe suit jacket was neatly folded on one of the kitchen chairs. He had a presidential diamond Rolex on his wrist and a diamond pinky ring on his right hand. His hair was slicked back and not a strand out of place and he smelled like he took a bath in an expensive cologne.

Her instincts told her to flee, run for the door.
And that’s just what she did or rather tried to do. She turned and ran but an arm came out and grabbed her around the waist a few feet shy of the front door. She saw Ralphie, briefly, from the corner of her eye as she was being brought back to the kitchen.

“Let
….go….of….me!” she struggled to say as she elbowed the guy holding her at her stomach.

He momentarily let her go and she got a good look at him. It was
Vinnie, Michael’s driver.

She almost made it to the front door
again when she felt pain in her head.

Vinnie
caught up to her and yanked her hair.

She saw Ralphie. He didn’t do anything to help her
, but he looked like he wanted to….rip someone to shreds.

She also saw another man there, not doing anything. She tried to remember his name. Frankie something
.

Once again
, Vinnie dragged her toward the kitchen.

Michael was by the doorway of the kitchen and watched as
Vinnie yanked Melanie’s hair. Something snapped in him. No one hurts his Melanie. He took out his gun and fired off a round.

Vinnie
let go of Melanie and he went down. Melanie turned to see Vinnie on the floor with his eyes open but vacant and she screamed. She saw blood dripping from the bullet hole in his head. She was so close to Vinnie that she thought if Michael missed, she could have been the one with the bullet hole through the head.

She looked back to Michael in shock.

He just smiled at her.

“Melanie, baby,
I missed you so much,” he said as he put his gun away, at the back of his waist. He came toward her with outstretched arms and a smile on his face. He didn’t look like a man who had just shot his friend.

Melanie was taken aback.
What the fuck just happened here?
She thought to herself. She’d just witnessed murder. His right-hand man, no less. She looked to Ralphie but he gave nothing away.

She struggled to get away from Michael when he threw his arms around her but he didn’t even notice. He just held her tight. She began to panic. He was too strong for her. She stilled.

She caught sight of Ralphie once more. He had this deadly air about him going on. Not directed at her, but….at Michael, she was sure.

“Oh, Melanie, I missed
you so much, baby. Did you miss me?” Michael asked as he nuzzled his face against the side of her head, breathing her in.

She didn’t answer him. She just stayed still
, thinking about how she was going to get out of this. He moved his mouth to hers and kissed her.

Melanie pulled away.

“Michael, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to take you home
, baby. Pack your things, let’s go,” he said as he turned her around toward the bedroom.

She spun around. “No. I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here. You need to go.
You just shot a man.” Maybe, just maybe, Gabe or another neighbor heard the shot and already called the police.

“
Baby, I’m not leaving here without you. Now go get packed. We have a-” he paused to look at his watch, “-6:15 flight to catch.”

“Michael, it’s over. I moved on. You need to move on too.”

“Is it that cowboy you’re seeing?”

Melanie didn’t answer him.

“I know all about him Melanie. Ralphie, go stick a bullet in him,” he said matter-of-factly.

Ralphie paused then headed for the door.

“Noooo!” She screamed, tearing away from Michael. But Ralphie just looked at her and walked out before she could catch up to him.

Michael was right on her heels and put his arm on the door, making it impossible for her to open it.

“Michael. Stop him. Please, stop him.” She spun around to him. “I’ll go pack. I’ll come back. Please, don’t hurt Logan. Please.”

Michael slapped Melanie. Her head turned
by the force.

She put
a hand up to her stinging cheek as she looked up to him and saw that crazed look in his eyes that she had seen on the TV.

He grabbed her wrist and brought her to the kitchen and placed her in a chair.

He sat down opposite her and picked up the rolled up bill and snorted a line in each nostril. He held the rolled up bill out to her which was unusual, he didn’t share his blow with anyone.

She shook her head no. She now knew what was up with Michael. He was a coke addict. He was irrati
onal. Tears came down her face.

Michael looked at her.
“What’s wrong, baby?”

She didn’t know how to get through to him. “Michael, please call Ralphie back. Don’t let him kill Logan. Please. He has a son who needs him.”

“Yeah, cute kid. What’s his name? Heath? Right?”

Melanie froze.

“Yeah, I know all about him too.”

“Did you touch him
? Did you hurt him?” she yelled as she moved her chair back and got up. She walked over to him and smacked his face. “I’ll kill you if you hurt him.”

Michael grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Melanie winced in pain.

“Stop being a bitch. The kid is fine,” he said right before he smacked her face again.

She faltered and kept her head down, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Now, go get packed. Don’t let me say it again.”

****

Logan was in the tack room of the barn, straightening up. None of his men were around, the stables were closed.

He glanc
ed at his watch and wondered where Melanie was. She called him about an hour and a half before saying she was going to stop at Charlie’s, say hi to Gabe then grab take out at the Italian restaurant.

He was putting reins on a hook when he felt someone behind him. He turned around and saw a man with a gun and a silencer attached to it
, in his hand, and pointed at him.

“Michael has Melanie.”

“What?” His heart dropped. “Who the fuck are you?”

Ralphie averted his eyes to his holster as he went
to put his gun away. “I’m Ralph-”

Logan quickly rammed into him and took him down. His Stetson got crush
ed in the process.

They wrestled each other and
Logan had the upper hand, than Ralphie had it. He punched Logan in the side of the head but Logan was so pumped up on adrenaline that he didn’t even feel it.

He swiftly recovered the upper hand and punched Ralphie in the mouth
, splitting his lip.

Ralphie felt the blood run down his chin.

“Stop! If you want to help her, get the fuck off of me. We’re wasting time.”

Logan stopped his assault and still straddling him
, breathed heavy. He flung his leg over and rose. He walked to his hat and picked it up. He straightened it out and put it on his head.

Ralphie picked himself up and placed a finger on his split lip and winced. He removed it to look at it
. He was still bleeding. If that were anyone else he would have pumped a bullet in him already. But he’d been studying Logan and Melanie for a while now and he knew two things. One being, this guy always protected her and two, she loved him. He knew this because he saw the look in her eyes every time she looked at him. It was a look that Ralphie wished she had for him.

“Where is she?”

“She’s at the house next door to your grandfather. He won’t hurt her but we have to get there-”

Logan’s eyes went wid
e. “How the fuck do you know where my grandfather lives?”

“We’ve been watching you for a while. We know a lot. I’ll explain on the way.” He started to turn then turned back to face Logan. “You got a gun?”

Logan nodded.

“Bring it.”

Logan walked to a door that led to his office. He walked over to his desk and pulled out a key from the little front pocket of his jeans and bent down to unlock and open the bottom desk drawer. He pulled out his gun and spun the cylinder, checking it, and thinking, this is fucking crazy.

“Let’s go.”

He turned around to see Ralphie watching him.

In the car, Logan assessed his options. He quickly deduced Ralphie was not a threat. The guy was driving. Logan could have easily overtaken him and he knew it. He also remembered Melanie speak of him as a friend. He wasn’t sure he could trust him but he knew he wasn’t a threat.

“Michael has been obsessed with finding Melanie since she walked out on him three and half months ago. He’s a fucking nightm
are to be around,” Ralphie said as he looked from the road to the phone on his belt then back up to the road.

“You said he won’t hurt her. Can you be sure?”

Ralphie hesitated. “Yeah. She is all he lives for. But…”

Logan’s eyes shot from the road in front of him to Ralphie. “But what?”

“Lately, he’s been snorting coke at an alarming rate.”

“And you fucking left her alone with him.” Logan wanted to choke him.

“No, I have a man on him….with orders to take him down if he hurts her.”

Logan was confused. “So if you can take him out just like that, why didn’t you? Why waste time getting to me?
Why even put Melanie in this mess.”

“Because,
up till now he had his men all over this place and I didn’t expect Melanie to walk in. I also didn’t expect Michael to act so quickly. And, he’s a made man. You don’t just whack a made man. Unless…..there are no witnesses and that text that just came in tells me the last witness was taken out by one of my men, or you get the approval from someone higher than him.” The last part he said with a smug smile on his face. “I’m gonna pull over and drop you off,” he said as he slowed by the shoulder of the road. “Go home-”

“Are you out of your fucking mind? I’m not going anywhere but to Melanie.”