by Elle James
Rebecca ducked her head. “At best, they’ll confiscate it.”
“At worst?”
She shrugged and looked away. “I’ve seen them publicly whip people who break the rules.”
Jenna’s fists tightened. “Children, too?”
She shook her head. “Maybe not the little ones, but definitely kids my age.”
“Oh, honey.” Jenna pulled Rebecca into her arms. “Let me take you home with me. Don’t go back. We’ll figure out some way to get your mother out of there.”
Rebecca hugged her tight, sniffling. “I can’t leave her, and she’s so brainwashed, she’ll do anything they tell her to.”
“You’ve been there a year, so why are you not marching to their tune?”
The color in her cheeks darkened. “I met a boy I like. I don’t want to marry the elder.”
So Rebecca had a reason other than her mother holding her at the compound.
“Does he want to leave, too?” Jenna asked.
Her cheeks bloomed with color. “He sounded like he’d be willing to go, if I go.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Just don’t take it to the news. Because we’re related, they’ll know it was me.”
“I’ll keep it on the down low,” Jenna assured her, not certain what she could do to help the girl. “Now, you better get back. I think the women were packing up their goods. Go first. I’ll wait a minute or two and leave after that.”
“Thanks, Jenna. I didn’t know who else to call.”
“Hang onto that phone, sweetie. Use it if you have to.”
“I will.” She lifted her dress and apron and tucked the phone into the waistband of her underwear. When she smoothed the dress down over her hips and straightened her apron, the bulge of the phone was impossible to discern. Rebecca peeked out of the portable potty, dragged in a breath and stepped out, closing the door behind her.
Jenna gave her a full two minutes before she ventured out.
A woman in a gingham dress stood nearby, as if waiting her turn to use the facilities.
With a friendly smile, Jenna stepped past her and turned away from the booths where the Sweet Salvation women were almost finished dismantling the wooden counter and shelves. Out of the corner of her eye, Jenna picked out Rebecca, her head down, working quietly alongside the other women. An older female glanced up, her gaze following Jenna as she stopped at a booth selling eggplants.
Jenna fished a five out of her purse and paid for two of the dark purple vegetables. The farmer offered to wrap them in a recycled plastic bag, but Jenna thanked him and slid them into her large purse.
By the time she’d completed her purchase, the group from Sweet Salvation had loaded their belongings into the old pickup trucks, and Rebecca was seated in the front of one between two older women. She didn’t glance toward Jenna, and Jenna didn’t expect her to. The whole situation reeked of creepy. Somehow, she had to get inside that compound and find out what was going on. In the meantime, she needed to get to the station and see if she had any assignments from her boss.
She sighed, wondering what social event was taking place that day or what new business was cutting its ribbon in the Waco area. She enjoyed working as a reporter, meeting new people and sharing local events, but sometimes, it seemed so meaningless when there were real issues and problems out there that should be on the news.
After covering a world trade organization afternoon meeting with the trade minister from the Netherlands and a new brewery ribbon-cutting ceremony in downtown Waco, the sun was on its way down, and she still hadn’t heard anything from Dustin, which was just as well. She didn’t have time to waste on a relationship doomed to failure. Dustin was a Navy SEAL stationed out of Virginia. Jenna was a small city news reporter, her roots firmly planted in her hometown.
Dustin was following his dream and she was following hers. Their lives were pretty much mutually exclusive. She shoved her hair off her forehead, glad the brutal sun was setting. It had been in the hundreds every afternoon for the past week, and it wasn’t getting any cooler. If they didn’t get rain soon, the lakes and rivers would dry up. Already the city water department had instituted water rationing to conserve what little they had in the aquifers and reservoirs.
Jenna stepped out of her SUV, climbed the steps to her apartment and let herself in, not really looking forward to a lonely night eating leftover pizza. She remembered the eggplants in her purse and snorted. She didn’t have ingredients to make stuffed eggplant. Tomorrow, she’d invite Toby over and cook for him. The two of them ate entirely too many meals from fast-food restaurants on the run between news events.
Setting her purse on the counter in the kitchen, Jenna cocked her head at the sound of running water. She turned toward the wall connecting her apartment to the next. But no, the water sound was coming from the other side of her bedroom door, which was closed.
The only time she closed her bedroom door was when her mother dropped by unexpectedly and she hadn’t made her bed.
Her pulse quickened, and she edged toward her bedroom. Her first thought was that an intruder had entered her home. She quickly nixed that conclusion. What intruder would take the time to shower?
The next thought sent butterflies fluttering through her belly. Had one of the Ford men taken her up on her offer to stay the night? If so, which one?
Please let it be Dustin.
Her heart lodged firmly in her throat, Jenna twisted the doorknob and entered the darkened bedroom. A light shined beneath the door of the bathroom. The water shut off.
Sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, Jenna closed the distance between her and the bathroom door, raising her hand to knock. She hesitated. What if it wasn’t Dustin? What if Adam or Houston had accepted her offer? They were equally handsome men, but neither of the two were the one Jenna hadn’t forgotten over the past ten years.
With her hand poised to knock, she froze. Maybe she shouldn’t appear too eager. Men didn’t like to be chased. They liked to do the chasing. Before she could turn and run back into the living room, the door opened and Dustin’s broad shoulders filled the gap.
The air seized in Jenna’s lungs, and she stood with her hand still raised, her fist clenched to rap on the door.
Dustin’s lips quirked upward on the corners. “I hope you don’t mind. I waited for an hour, but couldn’t stand it any longer. I hadn’t had a shower since I left Virginia and, since there wasn’t soap or shampoo in the guest shower, I used yours.”
Her gaze drifted downward over his bare chest and lower still to the towel he had loosely wrapped, riding low on his hips. One yank and it would fall, exposing him.
Jenna clenched her fingers tightly to keep from reaching out. Hell, she wasn’t a girl playing silly games with a boy. She was a grown woman with raging physical needs, and Dustin was just the man to satisfy her every desire.
He’d been pretty amazing as a teen, making love to her as though he worshiped her. Everywhere he’d touched her with his fingers or lips had sizzled. Her memories were so clear, she could almost feel the warmth of his hand sliding down her back, cupping her naked ass and lifting her onto the tailgate of his pickup as he stepped between her legs and made sweet love to her.
Focus, Turner, she reminded herself. Just because Dustin wore only a towel around his waist, didn’t mean he was coming on to her. He’d taken a shower because he wanted to feel clean after traveling halfway around the world.
As her gaze rested on the towel around his waist, it tented.
Holy hell, he wasn’t immune to her after all.
Chapter Five
‡
STANDING NAKED IN front of a beautiful woman would have made any man hard—especially if that woman was staring with as much longing in her eyes as Jenna was. His jaw clenched and he fought for control, but his cock had a will of its own and it was getting harder by the second.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get dressed,” he started to step around her, but she didn’t
move. Short of pushing her out of the way, he couldn’t reach the clean clothing he’d left in his duffle bag. Which meant he was stuck in a tenting towel that barely covered his hips and would soon expose a whole lot more as he jutted out under her fixed stare.
Fine. If she wasn’t moving, he’d move her himself. He released the corners of the towel and let it drop to the floor, then gripped Jenna’s arms, lifted her firmly and set her to the side. “Thank you.” His shoulders back, head held high and back ramrod straight, he strode naked through her bedroom to the living room where he’d left his bag.
If he wasn’t mistaken, that tiny whoosh of air behind him was her gasp. Of surprise, anger or desire, he wasn’t sure, but he’d sure as hell given her something to think about by strutting through her home in nothing but his birthday suit.
Grabbing a pair of running shorts, he stepped into them and pulled them up around his hips before he turned to face her.
She stood in the doorway to her bedroom, having followed him out to the living room. Twin pink flags flew high in her cheeks. Slowly, she leaned against the doorjamb, her lips curving into a smile that was a little too strained to be natural.
“Glad you made yourself at home. Don’t feel like you have to dress on my account. It’s not as if I haven’t seen you naked before.”
“If it’s all the same to you, it’s been a long time.” Her blatant stare made his cock even harder. Perhaps he’d have been better off in a pair of jeans that would smash his jutting erection against his belly instead of allowing it to poke out at an embarrassing angle.
Her lips twitched and she stared for a moment longer before she straightened. “I’m going to get a shower.” Jenna turned away and slid her jacket off her shoulders, revealing a spaghetti strap camisole beneath.
The pencil skirt and camisole did almost as much to him as if she’d been standing there naked. Her clothing emphasized her curves and made him long to strip her of them, one piece at time.
“If you want to order pizza, the number is on the fridge,” she called out over her shoulder, her fingers on the zipper at her side. She dragged the tab down and shimmied out of the skirt, letting it fall to the floor. Standing in the black camisole and minuscule underwear, she faced him, still wearing the silver stilettos. “I like pepperoni on my pizza.”
He stood staring as, once again, she turned away, dragged the camisole over her head and tossed it onto the bed. The black, lace panties and a matching bra with silver stilettos should have been outlawed on her body.
Dustin swallowed hard on the groan rising up his throat. As casually as he could, he answered, “Pepperoni it is.” Dustin cursed the way his voice caught, tight in his throat. He coughed and said. “I’ll order.”
As Jenna neared the bathroom door, she reached behind her and unclipped her bra. “Thanks.” She tossed the garment onto the bed and entered the bathroom, turning to close the door, offering him a view of her full, rounded breasts.
Sweet heaven. Dustin spun and raked his hand through his hair, wishing he’d had time to get it cut. Ah hell, it didn’t matter. If he had a lick of sense, he’d leave. Now. Before Jenna came out of the shower, smelling like honeysuckle shampoo. He’d be putty in her hands, willing to do anything she wanted as long as it included getting naked with her and making love until dawn.
All vestiges of exhaustion flew out the window as his blood raced through his veins and downward to fill his hardening shaft.
If he’d had any doubts about the reason she’d invited him to her apartment, she’d erased them in the flick of her zipper sliding down her hip.
Dustin paced the length of the tiny living room, forcing himself to think, to breathe, and get his shit together. For the first time in ten years, he felt like that kid he’d been when he’d given his virginity to the girl he’d thought was his one and only true love, sweet Jenna Turner. His childish brain had been convinced she’d felt the same, harbored the same depth of love and devotion for him as he had for her.
That’s right, remember who did the dumping.
If she wanted to get it on again, then okay. He didn’t have to confuse desire with love this time. Neither had to be tied down with the crippling effects of love and the co-dependency of the emotion. Especially when one of them wasn’t that into the other.
The water switched on in the bathroom, setting Dustin’s imagination on fire with images of Jenna standing naked beneath the spray, water running through her glorious hair, down her back and sweeping off the curve of her ass. She’d turn and let the water run down her front, dripping off the tips of her rosy nipples.
Dustin would lean forward and lick the moisture off her breasts and suck one into his mouth, pulling just hard enough.
Jenna would wrap her arms around the back of his head and drag him closer, like she had when they’d made love in their favorite swimming hole, that magical place where a sharp bend in the creek made a natural pool.
The water switched off, and Dustin remembered he was supposed to call in an order for pizza. He dragged his gaze away from the bathroom door and dove for his cell phone. In less than three minutes he placed the order for a large pepperoni pizza. When he hung up, he shot a glance through her bedroom to the bathroom door.
At that moment, Jenna emerged, wearing a wrap of sheer black fabric that did little to hide her curves. Her gaze captured his, and her eyelids lowered.
Damn. Hunger burned through his veins that had nothing to do with cheesy pepperoni pizza and everything to do with the woman flaunting her perfect body.
Sucking in an unsteady breath, Dustin strode forward, determined to get to the bottom of her game. “Jenna.” He came to a stop in front of her, his breathing ragged as if he’d been running through a swamp in full gear.
“Yes, Dustin?” she gazed up at him through her eyelashes, raised her hand to sweep the wet hair back behind her ear. Her wrap drifted open, revealing a perky breast and the shadowy tuft of hair cloaking her sex.
He gripped her arms, the electricity that shot through him scrambling his brain cells. Instead of shaking her and holding her at arm’s length, he gathered her close and buried his face in the long column of her neck. “What are you doing?”
“What do you want me to do?” she asked, her voice breathy, her fingers curling around the back of his neck, urging him closer.
“I want you to stay out of my life.”
“Really?” She leaned her head to the side, giving him better access to the pulse beating at the base of her throat. “You have a funny way of showing it.” Her hands slipped over his shoulders and down his arms, finding their way around his waist. “If you wanted me to leave you alone, you wouldn’t have come here tonight.”
God, he hated when she was right. He didn’t want to leave her alone, nor did he want her to leave him alone. From the moment he’d fallen over her in the hospital, he’d imagined holding her in his arms, brushing his lips across her naked skin, making sweet love to her through the night.
Dustin pulled away from that frantically fluttering pulse and leaned his cheek against her temple. “Why now?”
“I guess you could say I wanted to see if what we’d felt for each other when we were teens was still there.”
He didn’t say anything, afraid that if he did, he’d admit that old flame was blazing, every time he touched her. Hell, he didn’t even have to touch her to get excited by her. But that didn’t mean anything. At least not to her. “As I recall, you gave me the heave-ho. You were very clearly done with me back then.”
She lifted her shoulders and let them fall. “Would you have stayed had we married?”
His fingers tightened on her arms. “Hell, yes.”
She smiled up at him and cupped his chin. “Maybe I wasn’t ready to be tied down.” Jenna leaned up on her toes. “We were young, and thought we knew everything.” Her lips brushed across his.
He wanted to ignore how soft they were, to hang on tight to his anger at being dumped, but he couldn’t. Not when she was warm an
d willing in his arms.
Dustin dragged her body against his. “If we do this tonight, it doesn’t change anything.”
She blinked and then nodded. “Okay.”
“Don’t expect that we’ll pick up where we left off.”
“I won’t.” She pressed her fingers into the back of his neck, angling his head downward as she rose on her toes, her lips hovering close to his. “Now, are you going to kiss me, or do I have to beg?”
The thought of her begging made his cock rock hard, and he couldn’t think past the way her breasts pressed against his naked chest.
Dustin bent, grabbed the backs of her thighs and lifted her.
Gripping his shoulders, Jenna wrapped her legs around his waist and lowered herself until his shaft nudged her entrance, through the fabric of his shorts.
Dustin grimaced and then lifted her swiftly up and away, though his instinct was to drive into her hard and fast. “Protection,” he gritted out.
“In my nightstand.” She tightened her legs around him and leaned forward, her breasts bobbing in his face.
Dustin captured a nipple between his teeth through the sheer garment and tapped it with the tip of his tongue.
Jenna’s back arched. She reached between them and shifted the robe to the side so that he had unencumbered access, and he latched on, pulling hard.
“Hey! Nibble, don’t bite.” Though her words were warning, she urged his mouth across her chest, giving him the other nipple to chew on.
A man could only hold out so long before he had to be inside a women. Dustin strode toward her bedroom and laid her out on the comforter, shucked his shorts and then crawled between her legs.
“In the top drawer,” she gasped. “Hurry.”
He shook his head. “Uh-uh.”
“What?” She stared up at him as if he’d lost his mind. “I need you. In me. Now.”
“Not until you’re right where I want you.” He cupped her sex with his hand and slid a finger inside her. “You’re not nearly ready.”
She planted her heels in the mattress and lifted her hips, angling to force that finger deeper. He pulled out and slid another in. “No, you’re not ready.” He bent over her and claimed her lips in a long, slow kiss, then dragged his mouth across hers, his tongue lashing out, skimming the seam until she opened to him.