“I’m willing to beg, if that’s what it takes. I’ve never wanted anything more.”
He turned just as she dropped her shirt on the chair arm with her jeans. There she stood in a peach colored lace bra and panty set. She was tall, strong, and proud. Her thick copper braid hung over her shoulder to the bottom of one beautiful breast. A moan escaped his throat. He crossed to her in two long strides. His kiss was more urgent and passionate. His hands skimmed down the sides of her back to her hips. Her hands slid under his T-shirt pushing it past his chest. She pulled back long enough to draw the shirt over his head. Her skin against his felt like silk. While he was with her, she’d never have to beg for anything.
Jordan backed him to the edge of the bed. He unfastened her bra and let it fall to the floor. He lowered her panties slowly, amazed at the length of her smooth, shapely legs. A tiny shiver ran through her as his lips and tongue tasted every inch of her body. Her scent was like freshly washed sheets and sweet honeysuckle.
Jordan pushed against his shoulders until he lay on his back. Leaning over, she kissed him with all the passion he had imagined she’d have. Her kisses made a path down his neck and chest to his stomach. His muscles contracted when she ran her tongue across the scars there. She tugged the snap at the top of his jeans and the zipper slid open. She eased them over his legs as she continued her exploration.
He sat up to look her in the eyes. “You can change your mind anytime you want. I wouldn’t blame you.”
“I need you. Please don’t pull back from me now.” Desperation clouded her expression as she looked down over his naked body. “It occurs to me that maybe this isn’t what you want. I didn’t really give you a choice. That was selfish of me, I’m sorry.”
Connor got up to kneel on the bed facing her. “I can’t put into words how much I want you. I’ve wanted you since that first morning we met. You’re so beautiful and vibrant. You make my blood race and my heart pound. You drive me crazy. I just don’t understand why you want me.”
“You take my craziness away.” She shrugged. “You make me feel calm and safe. You seriously listen to me and value my opinions. You appreciate the things I do. You make me feel normal.” She giggled as he leaned over to kiss her again. “Besides that, you’re absolutely hot. The scars make you look incredibly rugged.”
He reached up to pull the band from the end of her braid. He gathered his own hair into a low ponytail and used the band to hold it back.
“Enough talk,” he growled. “You’ve convinced me.”
As he leaned over her, she wrapped her legs around him, welcoming him into her body, into heaven. He’d always loved the warm silky feel of a woman, but Jordan was like no other he’d ever known. Her liquid movements, soft sounds, and exquisite expression of desire nearly undid him, but his need to please her was stronger. The long awaited sensations were so intense that neither lasted. She shuddered to an orgasm and he quickly followed, thankful that the night had just begun.
Connor woke the next morning with Jordan flicking the tip of her tongue behind his left ear. He rolled onto his back, groaned and stretched. It felt good to lay naked in a real bed, a warm woman’s body pressed against him. She quickly sat up tucking her legs under her and laughed.
“It’s time to get up, Romeo. Lizzy could be home any minute. It’s almost eight o’clock.”
He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands before opening them on her. She sat in the middle of the bed totally naked and unashamed. This was his first clear look at her in the light of day. Her braid had come loose and left her hair falling in tangles down her back. You could clearly see where a bikini had shielded her most tender areas. Her breasts were large and round with high pink nipples. Her bellybutton was small in her soft flat stomach. No one would guess that she was the mother of a five-year-old. The triangle below was the same dark auburn as the rest of her hair. She had legs that went on forever. If he didn’t get out of the bed, they’d be there when Lizzy came home.
“Is the coffee ready, boss?”
“It will be by the time you get the newspaper.”
Connor grabbed a clean pair of shorts off the dryer and stepped into them. He pulled his T-shirt over his head as he walked out to the mailbox for the Sunday paper. As he was reading the front-page a car pulled into the driveway beside him. It had barely come to a stop when Lizzy leaped out of the back seat and into his arms.
“I had the best time ever! Look at my fingernails!” She held them up for him to admire. “They’re pink now.”
A short shapely woman with a friendly smile stepped out of the passenger seat and held out her hand to him. “Hi! I’m Holly Douglas, Jordan’s friend. You must be the Connor I’ve heard so much about.”
Connor was speechless as he shook her hand. She looked him straight in the eye without flinching.
“Holly!” Jordan stepped out on the porch wrapped in her bathrobe. “You brought Charlie and the boys with you! Come on in for some coffee.”
“Just one cup, sweetie. We only stopped by to let Lizzy get dressed. She wants to go to church with us. We had a blast last night with her. I hate to give her back.” Holly grinned. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
A man came from the other side of car. “I could sure use another cup of coffee. Maybe it’ll help keep me awake during the service.” He held his hand out to Connor. His left arm was missing. “Nice to meet you Connor, I’m Holly’s slave, Charlie.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
Lizzy looked from Connor to her mother and back again. “Did you two accidentally fall asleep in the same place again?”
Even though Holly and Charlie found her question amusing, Jordan and Connor were mortified.
Chapter Seven
“What’cha got there?”
Bobby Ray looked up to see Bennett’s friend, Doris Pritchett, approaching. He folded the small notebook closed and placed it, and his new pencil in the pocket of his shirt. She was the last person he’d share his art with. He suspiciously surveyed the visiting area for anyone listening.
“Has Bennett found out anything yet?”
The middle-aged, bleached blonde sat on the opposite side of the picnic table. She lit a cigarette. He could tell by the heavy mascara flaking under her eyes that she had been working all night on a street corner downtown. Her hands shook from the need for her current drug of choice.
“She’s in a small town down south called Mayville,” Doris informed him. “She works at the Mayville Merchants Bank as a teller.
“Word is, she just inherited a house and a sizeable bank account from her granny.” Doris took another long draw from her cigarette and coughed. “We’re lucky she was named in her granny’s obituary or Bennett never would have found her. All he had to do was put her name on the internet thingy.
A waitress at the diner there was a big help too. The people in that place love flapping their gums about other people’s business.
“Bennett said he’s been following her all over town and she’s never caught on. What an idiot. She thinks she’s all safe and cozy there. Or at least she did before he made a couple of anonymous calls to her house. Hell, he even knows where the kid stays during the day.”
“Is he having any trouble with the paperwork we talked about?”
“He says it’s been a piece of cake. She should be getting it soon.” She threw the cigarette butt on the ground and twisted her dirty sandal over it. “I’ll be here on Wednesday to pick you up. It’ll take at least a week to get this thing going. You’re welcome to stay at my place if you want.”
“Thanks, Doris. I’ll think it over.” He suppressed a cringe. God only knew how many diseases she carried. She probably lived in a crack house. He wouldn’t need her after Wednesday afternoon.
****
Jordan sat with Connor on the porch while Lizzy took her afternoon nap. They were silent for a long time, lost in their own thoughts until it became awkward.
“I really liked your friends,” Co
nnor blurted. “How did you meet Holly? She seems so much different than you.”
“We were a couple of misfits in school.” Jordan looked out over her freshly cut lawn and reminisced. “I guess that’s what brought us together. We were in second grade when I moved here. Holly has always been a little overweight. You know how kids are. They teased her something awful. I was the new kid. They just didn’t have much to do with me. Later on, we hung out when the other kids were having parties and dates. You know how it is.”
“You must have gotten to know the other kids after a while. Why weren’t you out on dates too?”
“I didn’t usually get asked.” She smiled. “I was a whole head taller than most of the boys and had a face full of freckles. My nickname in school was Spot.”
“If they could only see you now.” Connor cupped her chin and brought her face to meet his. “You sure outgrew your awkwardness.”
“Are you kidding? It’s even worse now.” Jordan pulled away. “I’m taller than most of the men I know. My hair is a mass of curls and I still have the freckles. Everything on my body is starting to slide south. I have a huge butt and stretch marks. Everything a man looks for in a woman, right?”
“I didn’t notice any of those things.” He frowned as he tugged her face back around. “Well, I did see the freckles and they’re absolutely fantastic. And, if you’re really worried about your hair, I met someone the other day that can help you out. But please don’t cut it all off. I think you’re beautiful. I have since the minute I first saw you. I just can’t believe you’d ever have anything to do with somebody like me.”
“Connor, there’s something I think we need to talk about.” Jordan looked down to avoid his gaze. “Now that Lizzy is home, well, I don’t want her to get confused or get the wrong idea about things. She seems to be more observant than I expected. Or, maybe we’re just too obvious.”
“You don’t have to say it. I understand. I don’t know if it’s such a good idea either. I’ll be leaving in a few weeks and it’s not going to be easy for me as it is. I’ve gotten pretty attached to both of you. But you came here to start a new life. I know I’m not part of those plans. There’s no need for me to make your life any more complicated than it is already.”
Jordan couldn’t look at him. She was overcome by sadness. “You’re a truly wonderful person.” The statement didn’t seem like enough. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him he was the most amazing man she’d ever met. She wanted to tell him that last night had been the most fantastic night of her life. But she couldn’t. He was right. It would only complicate things.
“You know it’s Sunday and I don’t have a single thing to do,” Connor declared. “We haven’t really taken advantage of this beautiful weather, or this new landscaping. Why don’t you put together something simple for dinner and we can have a picnic right out here on the lawn.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Lizzy would love it.” She sprang from her chair, and then paused. “You know, I’ve been meaning to get my old bike out of the barn. It’s just Lizzy’s size and it’s in pretty good shape. A little oil and air in the tires and I bet she could learn to ride it.”
“I’ll get right on it, boss.”
They spent the rest of the evening playing with Lizzy. They ate fried chicken and potato salad on a blanket in the back yard. Music played from Connor’s van, parked a few yards away. Lizzy wobbled up and down the driveway on the old bicycle with Connor holding on to the back of the seat. They’d found an old basketball that he taught Lizzy to toss into an empty box while her kitten, Tom, chased grasshoppers.
“If Lizzy grows up to be like her mother, she may have a future with the NBA,” he teased.
She and Connor didn’t speak on a personal level, but they stole glances at each other all evening.
“I’d better get these dishes and leftovers inside while there’s still enough light to find them.” Inside Jordan put away the food and ran dishwater. She was washing dishes at the sink when a pretty song drifted through the window. It was a lullaby that played on and on. She had never heard it before, and it was lovely. Jordan wiped her hands and went back out.
There was enough twilight to see Connor sitting in the middle of the blanket with Lizzy in his lap, a guitar lying across their legs. The song abruptly stopped.
“You have a beautiful voice.”
“I do okay.” He laid the guitar aside and picked up Lizzy. She had almost fallen asleep.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that song before.”
“It’s a song my mother always sang to us.” His smile seemed sad. “I think she always wished she’d had a little girl. She used to sing it to my brother and me sometimes, though, and I guess it just stuck.”
“Do you ever see your family?”
“No.” His smile faded.
“I can tell you miss them.”
“Every day.” He carried Lizzy inside without another word.
After Lizzy had been bathed and put to bed, Jordan went back to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Connor’s song was still playing in her head. Looking out the window, she saw the bicycle lying by the driveway. She thought about how nice the evening had been. She decided to take the bike back to the barn in case it rained during the night. A light sprinkle tapped her head on the way.
Jordan had walked halfway through the barn when something shuffled to her right. She suddenly realized she was alone in the dark. An image of Bobby Ray flashed through her mind. She screamed and jumped to her left, falling over a sawhorse.
“I’m sorry I scared you. Are you okay? I should have said something. I’m so sorry.” Connor helped her back to her feet.
Jordan stood for a moment catching her breath. Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer. Her hands braced against his chest. “Oh God, I can’t believe how stupid I am. I thought you were him. You scared me to death.”
“You see why I worry about you? You’re not prepared. You should be in the house with that damn alarm on.” He was clearly annoyed.
“Don’t you think I know what an idiot I am? I married that monster. I deserve what I get, but where does that leave Lizzy? I’m not saying you’re wrong. I just don’t know what to do about it. I can’t live like this for the rest of my life, not knowing when he’s going to show up, or what he’s going to do. I feel like I’m losing my mind. The last thing I need is you reminding me. What are you doing out here anyway?”
“I was just wandering around thinking,” he said more quietly. “There’s something I want to tell you. I want you to know that last night meant a lot to me. I had forgotten what it felt like to be that close to someone. There have been other women since…my divorce. But, it was just sex. You were so much more than that. I just wanted you to know. I wanted to say thank you for making me feel normal again.”
“You are normal. After last night, I can’t say you’re average. That would be a huge understatement. But there isn’t anything wrong with you. As I see it, you’re pretty awesome. You took me, a neurotic Amazon woman, and made me feel desirable. That’s what I call a miracle.”
“You are desirable. You are downright amazing. And you are not an idiot. You don’t deserve any of this. You deserve a man who can love and protect you from that psycho. For now, you’ll have to settle for me. Even if I do have to stay away from you, I intend to see you and Lizzy through this.” He ran a finger through a lock of hair that had escaped her braid and then held her hand as he led her back to the house. He lifted her fingers to his lips before he left her at the door.
Jordan watched him walk back to his van. She was fascinated by the way he moved. He seemed half man, half panther. All his sleek muscles moved in a graceful rhythm. He had been hers for one night. If she had known the effect that one night would have on her, she probably wouldn’t have done it. She didn’t regret it though. And, she would never forget it.
Chapter Eight
For the next week, Connor made their routine appear as normal as possible. Jordan didn
’t need to know that he was taking small steps back into his old life.
Every evening, she came home to a clean house and a home cooked meal. He had used the accounts she had opened in town to continue the redecorating. On Monday, the upstairs bathroom had been painted pale yellow. The silk floral arrangement on the white counter matched the red and blue towels. A painting of a mother and daughter walking through a brightly colored garden dominated the room. On Tuesday, Lizzy’s bedroom was the same pale yellow with new white furniture and brightly colored accents. He had used an old quilt Jordan had as a child to cover the bed. The flowers stenciled at the tops of the walls had ladybugs, butterflies, dragonflies and fairies. In the corner was a small table and chairs. Her books had been neatly lined on shelves. Lizzy swore she would keep her new room neat as she hugged and kissed every inch of Connor’s face.
On Wednesday, Jordan’s room became a pale, sage green. The four-poster bed and heavy oak furniture remained, but a bistro table and two chairs had been added in front of the window. The comforter and drapes were dark gold satin with tiny red flowers embroidered around the edges. The chairs and bed were accented with red and green satin throw pillows. Candles had been placed in clusters throughout the room. It was a romantic setting for two. Connor stayed in the doorway to watch her reaction.
“This is magnificent. I don’t feel like it’s mine.”
“You’re magnificent,” he replied. “This was the hardest room for me to decorate. Nothing seemed to match your beauty. That’s why I saved it for last. I’m glad you like it. It took me so long I didn’t have time to finish. Close your eyes and count to fifty. Then, the inside of the house will be done.”
As she counted, Connor slid the picture out from under her bed. He hit the nail on the hallway wall twice to place it in the perfect spot, and then returned to tap her shoulder.
“I’d better get downstairs before my roast burns.” He waited at the bottom of the stairs for a moment to, once again, see her reaction. As she walked out of her room she found the picture of her grandparents, restored, enlarged, and framed. He could tell by her gasp that she loved it.
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