Raised garden beds lined a walkway, and then beyond them a true vegetable garden was filled with the plants of summer.
I knelt on the ground next to the first raised bed, making sure my dress never touched the ground and eyed the small carrot greens that poked up from the dirt. I dug my hand into the dirt, letting it sift through my fingers as I studied it.
“Your soil is too sandy,” I said. “See how light the color is? It should be rich. Deep brown. You didn’t get this here.”
“It came from the garden center in town,” he said, leaning against a tree as he watched me. I brushed my hand on the grass to get the loose dirt off my skin before I stood.
“You bought dirt?” I asked, glancing around. “But you have healthy dirt everywhere. This mountain is lush and full of life. You just have to nurture it a bit.”
“Nurturing ain’t my strongpoint, Baby,” he responded, stepping closer to me. “Speaking of, we still need to get you fitted with that splint. Why don’t we go back inside and do that?” I eyed the gardens ruefully. The plants in his vegetable garden were packed too tightly. The roots would never have the space they needed to grow. Everything in me wanted to repay his kindness by fixing them for him, but there was little I could do with the pulsing pain that radiated up my arm every time I moved it.
I should take the splint and leave. The gardens would never be mine.
Just like the man.
But as he came closer to me, I sucked in a ragged breath, then his chest touched mine. The thin material of my dress wasn’t enough to block against the sensation of him touching me. Of him in my space and looking down at me with nothing but tenderness in his eyes. “You like to garden?” he asked, reaching up a hand and tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“It’s the only thing I enjoy,” I whispered.
“Well, Baby, we’ll have to fix that. There’s so much more to life than gardening, but it’s yours, regardless.” I was vaguely aware of his face coming closer to mine. Of the way his lips hovered only a breath from mine and how the speckles of brown throughout the green in his eyes really shone when I got close enough.
“What’s mine?” I whispered.
“Everything,” he murmured, his lips brushing against mine for the first time. Hesitantly. he tested the contact, watching me to see if I would pull back. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t bear to take my lips away from his. Not with the way the slight pressure made me weak in my knees or with the way warmth radiated through my entire body from the slight contact. Seeming to understand what I didn’t, he slid a hand into the curtain of my hair and cupped my head. Tilting it to the side and back, he closed his eyes and applied more pressure with his mouth.
The strangled groan that spilled free from my lips encouraged him until he teased the seam of my mouth with his tongue. With a gasp, I opened to him. The taste of him flooded my mouth, overrode my senses with something I didn’t understand. He coaxed me into kissing him back until my good arm wrapped around the back of his neck and held on for what I could only describe as something miraculous.
When he finally pulled back, he touched his forehead to mine and smiled down at me. “Yeah, I thought as much,” he said mysteriously.
“Huh?” I asked, my voice sounding just as dazed as I felt.
“Nothing, Baby,” he chuckled. “You’ll understand soon enough.”
“Is that how it always is? Is it normal to feel hot? To be out of breath? The Disciples don’t kiss. It’s a sin to cross the line from duty into lust.” I wanted to shut up. Wanted to stop talking about the Children of Awe, but what did I really have to talk about aside from them?
They’d made me who I was.
“No, Del. It isn’t always the way it is between us. Only the lucky ones find this.”
Five
Anderson
She tasted like pure cane sugar. Sweet. Raw.
Untouched. Untested.
She tasted like mine.
Staring down at her big grey eyes while she looked up at me, I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her. There was nothing that would stop me from making her mine and keeping her.
It didn’t matter that, in some backwards religious cult, she had a husband she didn’t want. It didn’t matter who he might be or why she’d have married him in the first place.
All that mattered was the trust in her gaze as she studied me. The innocence that was mine to claim, and called to me as the other half of my soul.
The woman I thought didn’t exist stood in my arms, and I’d burn the world to the ground before I ever let her go.
Deception wasn’t one of the traits they seemed to teach in her community, because she was total shit when it came to hiding her intentions. I may not have known Del for long, but I recognized every impulse she got and the exact moment they told her to run.
I couldn’t blame her, because I’d probably do the same thing if I thought I had a husband chasing me who would carve into my skin without hesitation. Not that she’d be his wife for long.
She’d be mine.
My phone rang in my pocket, interrupting our moment before I could try to make Del understand just how serious I was about what was happening between us. Pulling it out, I stared at the screen and loaded my security feeds from the woods. Something had tripped the motion sensor, and while it was probably just a stray deer who wandered too close, I needed to be sure. It wasn’t often that deer got that close. The wire fence I put up deterred them.
The sight of a group of men trudging through my woods made my heart clench in my chest. Nobody lived up here except for the guys and I.
Nobody except the cult.
Del stared at the phone, her face going white with horror as she brought her good hand up to cover her mouth. She looked like she might be sick, but I forced through my concern. “In the house,” I ordered, turning her to face the cabin. “I’m right behind you.”
She hurried along the path, her pace increasing to an outright run in her urgency until she reached the door and flung it open quickly. I heaved out a sigh of relief once she was safely tucked inside, turning to scan the property once before I followed her.
My rifle hung by the door, and I grabbed it before settling in the living room. Del instantly came over and sat beside me. Her body trembled with her fear as I opened my laptop and loaded the security feeds to watch them skirt around the edges of the property. They hovered in the cover of the trees, looking for any signs of Del, undoubtedly. There was nothing to find, not with my woman tucked safely next to me, but that didn’t stop me from standing to pull the curtains closed just to be safe.
We watched, my heart in my throat, as one of the men pulled a scrap of white fabric off a tree branch. “Oh God,” Del whispered, dropping her head to look at her feet. “Take me to town. That’s the only way—”
“No. This is your home now and you’re safe here.” She stilled, not voicing her opinion on my words. I knew they’d come across overly harsh, but I wouldn’t be able to be as gentle with her as I should until I knew exactly how far they would go in their hunt for her. Not until I knew she was safe.
Under any other circumstances, I’d have been quick to say that if a woman didn’t want you and she ran away in the night, you let her go. But I couldn’t say I wouldn’t follow Del if she snuck out. The difference was, I would never hurt her the way he had.
She deserved the best. She’d get me instead.
We watched until the men faded back into the woods, the fabric of Del’s dress clenched tightly in their hands. There was no doubt in my mind that they knew it was hers.
The only question was what they would do with that knowledge.
∞∞∞
Del poked at her pasta, barely touching it despite her initial excitement. It had quickly fizzled as night settled, and she couldn’t contain her disappointment that she’d spent an entire day in a place where there was no doubt the Children of Awe would find her.
“Are they violent?” I asked, watching as those
innocent eyes rounded in surprise. “Aside from hurting women who can’t defend themselves, anyway?”
“They have guns,” she murmured, glancing at my rifle slung over the back of my chair. I’d noted her lack of concern over it and surmised as much. She was far too familiar with the sight of it to have never spent a deal of time around them.
“Are they decent shots?”
“I’m not sure. Women aren’t allowed in the training grounds, but the hunters among them bring back meat every day. Jonathan says that keeping their skills sharp is an important part of protecting the community against invaders who don’t understand. People who are too blinded by the lures of the Devil that they don’t see the community serves God. I don’t think Jonathan would risk himself, so I imagine they’re decent with their guns to protect him.”
“I’m no stranger to war, Del,” I murmured, watching her eyes snap to mine. I hated the submission of her gaze on the floor, despised that it was so ingrained in her that she did it with me. I was not one of the bastards in the cult who taught her the most important thing she could be was obedient. I wanted her sweetness and her innocence, but I also wanted to watch her thrive in her newfound freedom.
I just wanted her to do it at my side.
“They have no idea what they got themselves into the moment I found you. Even if you weren’t my woman, I’d protect you just because no woman should know the fear that sent you running in the night. I have the means and the skill, and you can settle here knowing they’ll never touch you again.” I thought she might question how I had the skill to protect her, and while I didn’t want to explain the realities of war to my woman, I found I didn’t have to in that moment.
“Your woman?” she asked instead, her grey eyes sparkling with what I hoped was desire. She wanted me. There was no doubt in my mind, but I didn’t think Del understood it just yet.
“Yes, you’re my woman.”
“But I’m married,” she argued, fiddling with the tape at the edges of the wrist brace we’d finally fitted her with. She had a persistent habit of wringing her hands, picking at the callouses as if she just wasn’t used to sitting still. It was cute, except for the way her face twisted in pain each time.
“Do you want to be married to him?” She shook her head immediately. “Then we’ll take care of it. You won’t be married for long.” I held out a hand, gently grasping hers when she put it in mine hesitantly. I guided her up the stairs to the loft, knowing that I would need her to have some privacy for what came next.
“Divorce is a sin,” she sighed, her hand tightening in mine briefly, the only sign of her disappointment. I turned her so that her back was to the bed, bringing her hand up to my chest and squeezing gently until she looked at the connection.
“Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, between us could be a sin, Baby.” She squeezed my hand back, slowly bringing that silver gaze back to mine with a small smile on her face. “Sometimes, people hide behind God to force their own beliefs on you. Sometimes they take advantage of faith to further their own purposes. I don’t know what that cult taught you, but if there is a God, I can’t believe he sent me to find you without reason. This right here is the reason, Del.” I squeezed her hand for emphasis.
“You don’t believe in God?” she whispered, and the confliction written on her face nearly cracked my heart in two. To be raised to believe in something absolutely and then betrayed so thoroughly had destroyed every sense of who she was and what she knew. All of it was written on her face, plain to see. She needed something to believe in.
“I believe in us. In here and now. In not wasting a minute of something that feels like the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I don’t want to waste anything,” she whispered. “I feel more alive with you than I ever have before. It scares me, but…I think I like it.”
I moved our hands to her chest, drifting them down over her breasts and stomach as her breath caught, then rushed into her lungs. When I wrapped my fingers around the hem of her dress, she held it down tighter. “Do you trust me?” I whispered. I waited, giving her all the time she needed to make that decision for herself. I wouldn’t be like him. Nothing would happen without her permission, but I was ready to taste my woman.
It seemed unfathomable that a few days ago I hadn’t known she existed.
Slowly, she swallowed and nodded, releasing my hand. Guiding her dress up and over her head, I lifted it free from her body and tossed it onto the dresser. Del covered her breasts, and I allowed it as I sank to my knees in front of her and slid the panties down her legs. The bandage on her thigh nearly made my rage take control, but I quelled it for her sake.
Del didn’t need my vengeance at that moment. She needed my love.
As soon as she was naked, I gave her my next instruction. “Go lay on the bed for me, Baby.” She glanced over her shoulder at the soft surface, hesitating briefly before she drew in a deep breath and moved to do so. She climbed up on her knees, trying to hide her body as best she could, and then laid on her back with her legs clenched together tightly. I savored the moment, then said, “Touch yourself.”
“I don’t understand. Why would I touch myself?”
“Your body is yours, Del. Nobody can tell you what you can or cannot do with it. If you want to spread your legs and play with your pretty pussy, nobody has the right to tell you no. Take your body back.”
She bit her lip, smiling sheepishly. “I don’t know what a pussy is,” she laughed. The sight of that smile, that sweet expression of her innocence, made my hard-on rage against the zipper of my jeans, but I denied it, to return the smile. Hers widened, faltering only when I stepped up next to the bed and took her hand in mine. Laying her fingers out against the skin of her stomach, I guided her hand down until it met the apex of her thighs. Nudging her legs apart, I encouraged her finger to brush against her little clit, grinning when her hips jolted under the touch. Encouraging two of her fingers to circle it, I loved every second of the way her hips writhed against the bed. There was no controlling that first touch, that first experience with everything that sex could be. When I drew my hand away, she worked herself with tiny, inexperienced fingers. Her chest flushed, pleasure coursing through her body. But never enough.
“Anderson,” she moaned, and the sound of my name on her lips for the first time nearly snapped all my control.
“Do you want me to touch you?” I asked her.
“Please touch me,” she whimpered, but she sat up straight when I moved around to the foot of the bed. Crawling between her spread legs, I moved her fingers away, eyeing her perfect pussy. Kissing the inside of her thigh, I worked my way toward it while she whimpered beneath me. The moment my lips touched her, she jolted and only my hands on top of her hips held her still. “Anderson,” she protested, but it died off when I slid my tongue through her slit.
She gasped, her back arching on the bed as I worshiped her with my tongue. With my lips. With my teeth. She tasted like heaven, like the promise land had been delivered. Whether I deserved her or not, there was no letting her go once I’d had her taste on my tongue.
Sliding a finger through her, I placed it at her entrance and pushed inside slowly. Her walls clenched down, her gasp of surprise echoing through my head as I slowly pumped it in and out of her. Stretching her, I added a second finger, curling both to stroke her G-spot as I sucked her clit into my mouth and made her shatter beneath me with a cry. Crawling up next to her, I drew her into my arms and wrapped myself around her back.
It only took a few moments for her breathing to even out with sleep. I hated to leave her, but I knew there’d be no sleep for me for a few hours, not with the way a cold shower called my name.
Six
Deliverance
Half numb to the world, I rolled over. My hand touched the cool sheets, instantly feeling the absence of Anderson’s warmth. Peeling my eyes open, I clutched the sheet to my chest and glanced around the bedroom.
He was nowhere to be found,
and something in me wilted. Waking up alone after my first experience of being touched was something I would have expected before, with Jonathon. With Anderson, I wanted more.
I stood from the bed and showered quickly, eventually dressing in my clothes from the day before and making my way downstairs in search of the man who’d left me sleeping.
A glance through the kitchen window confirmed he was outside fiddling with one of the solar lights he’d set up around the perimeter of the yard. I heaved a sigh of relief, content knowing that he was only working and hadn’t changed his mind. It shouldn’t have mattered.
It did.
Stepping back into the living room, I contemplated what to do with myself while I glanced around. His full bookcase under the stairs called to me, and I stepped over to it. My fingers ran along the spines, staring at the letters I didn’t understand wistfully.
In another life, I would have liked to gather knowledge through the pages of a book. Maybe one day, I would.
My fingers caught on one spine in particular, the vivid green vines standing out against the white background so stunningly that I couldn’t help but pull it from the shelf. I flipped it open, staring at the pictures of plants I both knew and didn’t know, wishing I could read the names.
I jolted when the back door opened and Anderson stepped inside, turning to shove it back into its place on the shelf. He smiled at me, leaning against the wall after he turned the corner to the living room. “It’s okay. You’re welcome to read any of them. If you tell me what you like, we’ll get you some more.”
I slid the book onto the shelf but kept my fingers resting against the spine. Even though I couldn’t seem to let it go, I could not look at him as I bit my lip shyly. “I don’t know how,” I admitted reluctantly.
“To read?” he asked, and I glanced over to him. He closed the distance between us, his fingers brushing against mine briefly before he pulled the book free and set it on the coffee table by the couch. “I’ll teach you if you want. I promise.”
Deliver Me from Evil (The Men of Mount Awe Book 1) Page 3