by Anya Summers
Jenna returned his embrace with such mind-blowing ardor, he found himself trembling against her. There was no denying their chemistry was off the charts. He wanted to maintain control and dominate her but she was flaying him alive with her moans, with the way her hands gripped his back and her nails dug in. She’d wrapped her legs around his waist and that fit his cock directly against her wet folds.
Growling into her mouth he shifted his hips and thrust inside. Her pussy clasped his cock, drawing him deeper, and he knew deep down it had never been like this with anyone else. And then he rolled his hips, pumping his shaft in her welcoming heat. The little moans she made against his lips spurred him on.
But he wanted to watch her face. He lifted his mouth from hers. Drawing her arms down from around his shoulders, he threaded their fingers together and held them close to her shoulders. Her breath became his as he shuttled his shaft and she met him thrust for thrust. Passion glazed her face. Her eyes were vibrant, the blue magnetic, sucking him in until all he could see was her.
Her hands gripped his, and he felt her breathy moans all the way to his core. Her tremors started and she stiffened.
“Carter,” she moaned. Her eyes went wide. Her pussy clamped and spasmed around his cock.
Her climax sent him over the edge. “Jenna,” he groaned as he came. Hard. His semen poured in streaming jets inside her spasming pussy.
Before he’d even had a chance to recover, his cell phone blared on the night stand. It was unusual for him to get calls of any kind. Still cradled between Jenna’s sweet thighs, he answered, staring down at her lovely face.
“Hello.”
“Carter. It’s Jared. Sorry to bother you but we have a slight situation. There’s a hurricane bearing down on the island and we are evacuating all the guests and staff. I have one of our jets standing by at the airstrip to fly you back to the mainland. It leaves in an hour. I will send one of the bellhops to your villa to get you there.”
“Okay. Anything I can do to help?” Carter asked.
“No. If Jenna’s with you, she needs to get to the dock and board one of the ferries on the double. First one is leaving in fifteen minutes.”
“It’s that serious then?”
“Yes. And I need all my people off the island and in shelters on Nassau by noon.”
“I will make sure she gets there,” he replied.
“Good deal. I’m sorry that your week is being cut short by a day,” Jared said.
“It’s out of your control, man. Look, you have a great place here that I will recommend to my club. I’m sure you will be inundated. And I appreciate you bringing me down here. It was a trip I sorely needed,” he said. His last statement was true in more ways than one.
“Glad you enjoyed it. You’re welcome back anytime. Safe travels,” Jared replied.
“You too. I hope it all works out,” Carter said and hung up. His gaze had never left Jenna’s while he’d talked to Jared. This was it.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“The island’s being evacuated. There’s a hurricane heading this way.”
“Oh my god. We need to get a move on. If Jared is evacuating the island, it’s bad,” she said. “You need to pack. I can help.”
“You’re supposed to go meet the ferry at the docks, Jenna,” Carter said, his heart aching.
“I know the protocol. I have time. Let’s get going.” She all but shoved him off her and he let her. The connection, the bubble they’d been in this week, had burst at the unforeseen intrusion that Mother Nature was presenting.
Carter rolled off the bed and sprang into action, the words he needed to say still lodged in his throat.
* * *
Jenna dressed in a hurry, wishing she had more time to tell Carter how she felt. But Mother Nature had thrown a wrench into everything. Maybe she could go with him to Wyoming. If he asked, she wanted to say yes with everything that she was.
Her phone rang while Carter was in the shower. It was her dad’s nursing home. Every time she saw the number pop up on her screen, her heart dropped into her toes, wondering if this was it, the final separation.
“Hello?” she said, her heart in her throat.
“Ms. Mallory, this is Diane Sherman with Happy Days Assisted Living.”
“Yes, what can I do for you, Diane? Is my father okay, is he—” Dead? She swallowed.
“Dale is just fine. I’m calling about this month’s bill. We haven’t received it yet…”
“I know, I’m waiting until I get paid next week. I hope that’s okay. I just had my sister’s tuition payment this past week,” she explained, feeling her hopes sink into the bottomless pit that was her reality. Jenna wasn’t leaving. She wasn’t going anywhere. Her life was one big ball of fuckery, and not the good kind.
“That’s fine. Will you be doing it via electronic transfer?” Diane asked.
“Yes. As soon as it’s in my account, I swear. I’ve never been late on it,” Jenna said, feeling like she had the weight of a two-ton gorilla on her back.
“I know, Ms. Mallory. That’s why I called. That’s fine. There will be a late fee assessed. I can’t waive that, unfortunately,” the woman explained.
Jenna squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears. No point in crying over what she couldn’t control. She replied, defeated in more ways than one, “It’s fine. You’ll have it then.”
“Fantastic. Please call me if there are any changes,” Diane said cheerfully. It made Jenna want to vomit.
“I will. Thank you,” Jenna said and hung up, sliding the phone into her back pocket.
Carter strode back into the room and shoved his toiletry bag in his suitcase. He was so gorgeous in his jeans and black fitted tee shirt and signature boots. She had to blink back the moisture from her gaze.
“Problem?” he asked.
“No. It’s nothing,” she covered and gave him a smile. She didn’t want him to remember her as being sad. Or that she was a woman whose life wasn’t her own. She wanted him to think of her fondly and perhaps with a smile over the surprising week they’d shared together.
He strode over to her with his sexy swagger. When he was a foot away from her, she handed him his cuffs. Her wrists felt barren and naked without them. She said, “You’ll be needing these back.”
“Come with me,” he demanded, closing his hands around hers, his cuffs squashed between them.
“Where?” she asked. But deep down, she knew, and she prayed for strength to do what was right by her family.
“To my ranch. Leave on the plane with me. Come spend time with me in Wyoming and we can see—”
“I can’t, Carter. I’m sorry,” she replied. Her heart ached with the weight of her responsibilities. His words that he wanted more were like an arrow piercing her chest. It should have made her happy, ecstatic even. Instead it left her feeling broken inside.
“Can’t or won’t?” he asked, his face still but his eyes blazing with fury.
“Does it really matter when the outcome is the same? I wish things were different, but they aren’t, and my world is here. I’m sorry. I know it’s not what you want to hear.” She clamped her lips shut and glanced down, hiding the moisture flooding her gaze. She blinked back her tears.
His arms slid around her, and she had to fight back the sob lodged in her throat. Then he tipped her face up to his and his eyes searched hers. And what did he see? That she loved him, and didn’t know how to say the words because it wouldn’t change the outcome and would only hurt them both? That she’d never met anyone like him and if things were different, if her stupid life were different, she could see herself building a life with him? But Jenna had learned long ago that wishes and dreams only crushed a person when there was no hope of anything more.
“We have something here, Jenna. I don’t understand why you want to throw it away,” Carter said. His knuckles traced her cheek and it rocked her to her foundation.
She didn’t want to throw it away, but her choices and her life w
ere not her own. Before she allowed the tears threatening to spill over, she leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him, pouring every ounce of her heart into the embrace. She kissed him for all the tomorrows they wouldn’t have, and with all the love she felt for him.
She kissed him knowing it was the last time. That when he left and walked out that door, he was taking a piece of her soul with him. She kissed him hoping to imprint a part of herself upon him. That he would remember this time—and her—with fondness.
Carter kissed her back with such dominant possession that when they broke apart at the knock on the door, it took everything inside Jenna not to throw herself at his feet and say she had changed her mind, to beg him to take her with him.
“Mister Jones, I’ll get your luggage for you if you’re ready. The jet is prepared to leave as soon as we get you to the airstrip,” Sean Davos said, interrupting their goodbye.
“I’ll be right out, if you want to take those.” Carter indicated his suitcase and carry-on bag.
“Certainly, sir,” Sean said and hefted Carter’s luggage into the elevator.
When they were alone once more, Carter’s gaze shifted back to Jenna’s and he said, “Are you sure I can’t change your mind?”
She had to fight back the urge to renege on her previous stance, fling her arms around his torso and beg him to take her with him. Every instinct insisted she leave with him. Yet she denied herself. She curled her fingers into her palms, digging her nails into her flesh. She used that sharp pain to focus and to keep herself from touching him again. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have the strength to let him go.
And it was for the best. He had a life and so did she, one where she was needed and counted on.
“I’m sure. I enjoyed our week together, Carter,” she said.
“Jenna, I… wish things were different.” His face was solemn as he stared at her.
“Be happy, Carter. You better go, you don’t want to miss your flight,” she said, feeling the tethers on her emotions begin to slip.
“Take care, Jenna,” he murmured and then turned away from her. Arrows pierced her chest. He strode, as sure-footed as ever, to the kitchen table, picked up his black Stetson and set it on his head.
At the elevator, he turned back to her, giving her one last look. She smiled, fighting back the moisture filling her gaze, needing to soak up every moment. And he seemed to be doing the same. The very air stilled at the wealth of emotion in that one look. Then he tipped his hat and entered the lift. The doors slid shut behind his massive form.
And Jenna wondered if it was possible to die of a broken heart. She stumbled to her knees and bowed her head as the tears started. She stayed there, on the floor, sobbing her heart out until she was wrung out. She couldn’t care less if a hurricane was bearing down on the island. She felt crippled. She only knew she was still alive because of the pain slicing her to ribbons. The only reason she stopped crying at all was because all the moisture in her body had likely been expelled through her tears.
As she picked herself up off the floor, her bones ached down to the very marrow. Jenna went into the bathroom to wash her face. On her way, she spied something black sticking out from beneath the bed. She changed course and knelt down near the bedpost. On all fours, she reached underneath. Her fingers brushed the cotton material and she withdrew it.
Carter’s scent hit her first. It was his, without a doubt. She pressed it into her face and inhaled him. He’d unknowingly left her something to remember him by. She lowered the shirt, still gripping it to her chest. She’d keep it. Forever.
Jenna washed her face in the bathroom sink and then departed his villa. She’d not be able to return to this one. Not for a long time without the memories suffocating her. She headed back to her apartment, packed a bag to take with her, and shoved Carter’s shirt in with the rest of her things.
Then she drove back across the island, taking a different route than usual and subtly ignoring the places they’d gone. If she wasn’t careful, the memories of their time together would swallow her whole.
When she arrived at the hotel, Jared was there, directing the frenzy.
“Jenna, lass, why haven’t you departed on one of the ferries? Get yourself down to the docks at once.”
“Yes, Sir. Sorry.”
“Are you all right, lass?” Jared asked.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked, bluffing. See Jenna bluff and pretend her heart wasn’t bleeding out.
“No reason,” Jared murmured, his gaze intent. “Get to the boats.”
Jenna did as he asked, not putting up a fuss or playing any pranks. She just didn’t have the heart for frivolity.
That was because her heart was airborne and headed to Wyoming. When she boarded the ferry and watched the island diminish as they sped away, she wondered for the hundredth time if she’d made the right choice.
Then she received a text message.
Meghan: the registrar received the payment for my schooling. Thanks, sis! Xoxo
Jenna replied: Good. Now get back to studying, or else…
Meghan: Yes, ma’am.
Jenna turned her gaze toward the bow; looking forward, not back. The decision she’d made was the right one, the only one she could make under the circumstances. And if her heart squeezed and ached at the thought of Carter, well, there was nothing for it. It was her new normal.
Because she knew deep down that he was it for her. That this week, she’d unwittingly given him her whole heart. And now she would love him for the rest of her days.
No regrets—save one. She’d never told him she loved him. But she liked to think that, perhaps on some level, he knew. It didn’t matter, really, the love was there regardless. And she would cherish the week she’d had, the week she’d loved, and pull it out to remember whenever the weight of her responsibilities grew to be too much.
One day, the thought of him wouldn’t slice her to the bone. One day.
Chapter 10
Carter returned to his ranch and all but buried himself in his work. He didn’t go to the club. Didn’t see anyone. He threw himself into working his ranch as if he were possessed.
And perhaps on some level he was, with memories of Jenna dogging his every step, his every waking hour, and even his dreams. They were eating him alive. Even when he thought he had expelled her from his waking life, she visited him as he slept. He reached for her in the dead of night, wishing he still had her there beside him.
Two months passed before he finally admitted to himself that there was no getting over her. One night, in the middle of the night, he sent Jared an email, asking him for a contact number for her.
Jared replied to his request the following day.
Carter,
Good to hear from you. Unfortunately, Jenna left the island last week and is no longer working here. It was her decision to leave, by the way, I didn’t fire her. She didn’t leave me with a forwarding address, but I do have a phone number for you.
Be kind to her. She’s going through something that even I am not aware of—nor have I been able to figure it out.
Best regards,
Jared McTavish
Carter stared at the screen and the phone number Jared had listed for Jenna Mallory, wondering what she was going through. Why had she left the island? She’d been super protective of her job there.
He typed the number into his phone and stared at it. His thumb hovered over the call button. And what would he say? That he missed her? That he needed her like he needed air to breathe? That he couldn’t get through a day without thinking about her?
Frustrated with himself, he saved her number into his phone and got to work. Every day, he would stare at the number, paralyzed by fear and regret. Until, after a month of staring at her number each day, he realized why he couldn’t let her go.
Fuck, he was a little slow on the uptake. Maybe because he hadn’t felt this way in, well, ever. He loved her. The unexpected nature of his love for her was swift and sudden. Considering he was a
man who didn’t do love and softer emotions, she’d been like a rocket straight into his heart.
He pressed the call button, holding his breath as it rang. And then the message that this was not a working number filtered through the receiver. He sat back in his desk chair. He’d waited too long. He stared at his phone, then chucked it against the wall and watched it explode.
Carter had loved Jenna and lost her before he’d even realized it. She’d been unexpected, and he had been a fucking moron. He never should have left the island without her.
He swore to himself that he would find her. Somehow, some way, he would track her down. And then, he was never letting her go.
* * *
To Be Continued…
* * *
Read on for a sneak preview of His Scandalous Love, the first full length novel in Anya’s new Cuffs and Spurs series!
His Scandalous Love
Cuffs and Spurs Book One
By
Anya Summers
His Scandalous Love
Chapter One
There was hot, and then there was the fourth level of hell that was the middle of July in Wyoming.
Heat rose off the distant fields in iridescent waves, turning the customarily verdant green fields of grass into pale shades tinted with brown.
They needed rain.
Carter lifted his Stetson and swiped a forearm across his brow as he stared at the bright blue, cloudless sky. Sweat slicked his form and slid down his back. It was barely noon and the temperature had already shot into triple digits. He, Herb Henderson, his cantankerous foreman, and Kyle Renner, his young, college age ranch hand, were working as fast as the heat would allow to keep the horses cool. Each day since summer had roared in with sky high heat in June, it had been a grueling race to keep Carter’s prized herd from expiring from heatstroke.