Page 71 of Theirs to Take

“You are?” she asked.

“I am,” he whispered, gently kissing her lips.

“Well, I guess that’s a good thing since I’m in love with you,” she said. “I wasn’t sure when the right time to tell you that was either.”

“I think that before dinner was the best time for both of us to spill our guts,” he teased.

“Speaking of spilling my guts, I haven’t done that in almost a week now. The doctor here was right—it just kind of stopped,” she said. They had been to the new doctor that was recommended to them, and he had to admit, he liked her. She seemed pretty easy going and Ruby liked her too, which was all that mattered.

“Well, that’s great news, right?” he asked.

“Yes—very good news. Plus, I’m hungry all the time now,” she said. “And I don’t think that whatever it is that I’ve made here is going to cut it for me.” She held up the pan and looked at the food inside of it as if it had offended her in some way.

“I guess that’s my cue to order us some dinner. How about if I call in an order to your favorite place in town, and get them to deliver while you go in and pick a movie for us to veg out in front of?”

“Deal,” she said. “Get me something spicy. I think this baby likes a little bit of a kick when it comes to his or her food.”

Luke chuckled and nodded, “Will do,” he agreed. “I just hope that he or she doesn’t have a spicy attitude to match your craving.”

They had started their movie while they waited for their food to be delivered and he had to admit that it was nice to be able to just relax and not worry about anything. It almost felt as though they were already an old married couple—but he was sure that she wasn’t ready for that step, even if she was pregnant with his baby. They had only just admitted to being in love with eachother, but he was sure that sooner or later, they’d get to that point—commitment, marriage, the whole nine yards.

The knock at the door had him pausing the movie. “Don’t move,” he ordered. “I’ll grab our dinners and we can eat in here.”

“That sounds like heaven. I don’t know that I’d be able to move from this spot, even for food. I’m exhausted,” she admitted.

Luke grabbed his wallet and opened the front door to find two men standing on his porch, holding the bag of food that he had ordered, and alarms started sounding in his head like crazy.

“Give me just one minute,” he said to them. He casually pulled his cell phone out and sent off an SOS text to Ranger. His friend would know exactly what to do once he read it.

“Sorry, guys,” he said, “had a work thing. How much do I owe you for the takeout?”

The taller of the two guys shoved the bag at him, revealing that he was holding a gun behind it, pointing right at Luke’s chest. Fuck—they had found him. They had slipped right past his security and gotten to him and Ruby.

“I take it that you’re not looking for a tip, then?” he asked.

“Is something wrong?” Ruby called from the living room.

“Not at all, honey,” he said. Luke leaned into whisper to the two guys. “You don’t need to involve her in this. Take me—I won’t put up a fight.”

“I think that it might be a lot easier to get you to talk if we keep her with us,” the shorter guy said. He wasn’t wrong, but he couldn’t let them lay one finger on Ruby. Luke would end up getting them both killed if they did.

“Back up, big shot,” the tall guy ordered, pushing his gun into Luke’s chest. He had no choice but to comply.

“Please leave her out of this,” Luke begged as Ruby stood from the sofa to investigate what was going on.

“That’s not going to happen,” the tall guy said.

“What’s going on here?” Ruby asked. “Oh, God,” she breathed when she saw the guns pointed at her and Luke.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” he breathed.

“It’s going to be okay,” Ruby insisted.

The tall guy laughed, “Into the kitchen,” he ordered. They walked back into the kitchen, and he barked out an order for them both to sit, which they obeyed. Luke wasn’t about to do anything that might jeopardize Ruby.

He watched the two men pacing in front of them and Luke worried that they were not going to just let them go. He didn’t care about himself, really, but he worried that they’d hurt Ruby, or worse. Luke couldn’t let that happen. He promised to keep her safe and now, he had their baby to worry about too. He couldn’t let anything happen to either of them.

“Let her go,” Luke begged again.

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