She slapped his shoulder, and the dimness of her gaze brightened. Yet her uneasiness remained. “What makes you say a silly thing like that?”
Was she bluffing? She was much too chirpy. He decided he wanted sex first and talk later, otherwise, it would be far too painful for Amber to hear the truth.
“I’m intoxicated by you,” he said simply, appalled by the effortlessness with which he saw into her soul. Perhaps he’d been a sheriff far too long, cautiously analyzing events and people that he had to deal with.
She didn’t rebel, but then why would she if she was maintaining her SXY LXY facade? Pretension to be this other flirty woman was an act to distance her from the current object of her attention so she wouldn’t get hurt. And, he thought miserably, he might be to blame. After all, an eighteen-year-old girl could be extremely impressionable, especially if she was handed sorrow rather than joy.
He slipped his knee between her legs. His balls ached fiercely, and his cock was heavy and hard for her again. For a few more hours, he’d allow her to pretend. In the morning, very gently, he’d talk to her and perhaps she’d show herself for who she really was.
Amber spread her legs wider as Joey pressed the tip of his rigid cock to her slick entrance. Something had happened inside of his head, and she wasn’t sure what it was. Closing her eyes, she trembled ever so slightly as he slipped into her, inch by inch. He filled her to the utmost.
“I’m not hurting you, am I?” he asked tenderly.
“No.” You already did that the evening you didn’t show up.
“Open your eyes and tell me.”
She blinked and gazed at him in confusion and growing irritation. “You’re not hurting me.”
Yet, the fact remained that he had. Joey had been her first love, and her only love, and he’d thrown that away on prom night. He hadn’t called, or made an appearance the next morning to tell her what had happened.
He kissed her cheek and tweaked her nipples before he began moving inside her with deliciously powerful thrusts. I’m being done by the sheriff, she reminded herself. The sheriff of a town I grew up in and hated since the townspeople disliked my mother because she loved the mayor, even though he was married. Why did I come back? Fate, maybe?
Joey came all too quickly. She hadn’t even begun the rise toward an orgasm. He arched his neck back and cried out, “Amber!” before the intense climax ripped through him. It was so strong, he swept her up with him, and a moment later, she shut her eyes and felt the erotic fire burn through her.
She was beginning to like him. A lot. But that didn’t mean she had to stay here in Cedar Ridge. Still, the present mayor was not the man her mother had loved, and some of the folks had moved to large cities where there were more jobs. Those who remained and knew who she was didn’t seem to care. The past seemed to be buried. She’d confronted the demon of her past. She was making love to Joey, showing him the real Amber Wyeth, the one he used to know, the one she thought she’d lost long ago.
Chapter Seven
Joey had slept lightly for a couple of hours, all the time aware that he couldn’t let Amber slip away as dawn approached. She lay sleeping in his bed next to him, her eyes closed and her face relaxed and peaceful. He sighed softly, amazed that she was much like the proverbial open book to him, that he’d recognized the turbulence of her personality.
She had changed from the gentle Amber Wyeth he’d known years ago. That Amber had never have taken risks. Now, he suspected, she lived for the fast lane, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d burn herself out or get hurt big-time or both.
But he didn’t intend for those to happen. His old feeling—that love and deep caring—had never died. He fully aimed to persuade her to stay and become his wife. His heart pounded so loudly he thought he’d wake her up. He should have attempted to follow her the day after prom then asked her to be his wife. He realized he hadn’t had the guts. Marriage had been a big step, especially of a young man who’d seen nothing good in his parents’ tumultuous relationship.
His thoughts returned to that night, when his mother had been so afraid of his father, she’d begged Joey to stay with her. Tears had streaked her cheeks as she’d told him, “I know it’s one of the most important nights of your life, but I’m sure you’ll make it up to her.”
At eighteen, when every day was fresh and filled with new possibilities, he hadn’t thought so, but he didn’t argue with his mother who’d appeared frail and worn out. He’d patted her hand, taken a mystery book in hand and sat on the couch with her.
He hadn’t read a word, although he’d tried. The words had mixed with each other, making it impossible to read as his thoughts jumbled in his head. He’d really wanted to be with Amber, but he promised himself, he’d explain to her in the morning.
At first light, he’d gone to her house several blocks away in search of her. Her mother, a soft-spoken woman who didn’t look thirty, told him that Amber was already gone, and she had no idea where.
“It’s something about this town,” she mumbled, dragging a crinkled tissue from her skirt pocket. “It holds onto the elderly, but it spits out the young.”
Devastated by Mrs. Wyeth’s news, Joey had tried to get more information from her, but she didn’t know much more than she’d told him. He shook her hand, and at the last moment, had given her a quick hug. They’d lost the one person who’d meant more to them than any other in the world.
Warm in his bed and thrusting aside the memories, Joey flashed his eyes open and muttered a curse under his breath. This time he wasn’t about to let Amber get away.
She stirred. He pretended to be asleep, listening for the sounds of her quickened breathing. Very quietly, she lifted her arm from his chest, then there was no movement for a few moments. He felt the apprehensive tension emanating from her. She was probably checking to see if he was asleep. She rolled over, the mattress sagged and he heard the quiet padding of bare feet to the bathroom.
He was naked with the sheet barely skimming his hips. Quickly, he donned a pair of briefs and lay down as if he were still asleep, hoping he was wrong and Amber would come back to bed.
The bathroom door clicked open, and his ears picked up the sound of her tiptoeing toward the bedroom door. He cracked his eyes open. Sure enough, she was making her escape in a pair of his old sweats.
“Are you running away again?” he asked casually, propping himself up on his elbow.
Startled, she whirled around. “I was headed to the kitchen. To make some coffee.” She was lying. She tossed her mussed hair over her shoulder and glared.
“You wouldn’t have found any. I forgot to get some yesterday.” He gave her a wide grin. “I was busy with Sexy Lexy.”
Amber didn’t appear amused. She blinked. He could have sliced the tension in the air with a sharp knife it was so palpable.
“Where’s my car?”
“In the driveway.” He’d checked earlier after making a quick call to Bertha, who was not only the best ever dispatcher but discreet.
“Well, good. I’ve got to get back to Portland.” She flashed him a look of pure annoyance.
“What happened to the flirtatious Amber of yesterday and the day before?” He squinted as alarm rode through him. “Or were you seeking revenge? Get the sheriff all hot and bothered then ditch him for old time’s sake?” He planted his feet on the floor.
He’d scared her. She appeared coiled to run. He had to calm her down.
“I couldn’t come on prom night, but I came straight away to your house before dawn the next morning. I wanted to explain. You were already gone.”
Understanding dawned on her face, but she squelched it with an implacable expression. The light faded from her eyes, and her cheeks paled.
He stepped closer, his hand outstretched. “I understand your need to hold onto your anger. You didn’t know. That day, my heart was on my sleeve, and I would have asked you to become my wife.”
Amber snorted. “You’re telling me this so I’ll stay because w
e had sex.”
He loved her all the more. “Yes, I want you to stay, and I can make you all the promises in the world, but you won’t find out I’m telling the truth until you’ve given me a test drive and invested a little trust in me.” He began praying, and he leaped forward, pinning her arms to her body in a big hug she couldn’t possibly escape.
She didn’t struggle, simply stared up at his face, her own beginning to crumple. Tears flooded her eyes.
“Don’t cry, Amber, honey. We’ve wasted a few years apart, but we’ve also learned how much we love each other. Stop running from us, and trust me.”
“Will you be satisfied with one minute at a time?”
He nodded, his heart growing lighter for the love he felt for her. That was all she had to give, but Joey applauded her for trying. He loosened his hold around her, and she melted against him.
“I’ve been waiting so long for you to tell me you love me,” she whispered, standing on tiptoe and giving him a kiss full on the mouth. “I never stopped loving you, even when I was bitter and angry.”
“I think that’s why you wanted to take revenge on me,” he said with a crooked smile. “You thought you’d strut your stuff, then let me go.” He shook his head. “But you really wanted to come home to me because you knew this is where home really is.”
She slapped his shoulder playfully. “Are you finished analyzing me?”
Joey chuckled. “Is that something you learned in college about psychology and human behavior?”
She gave him a wry smile. “It’ll come in handy for that book I’m planning.”
“Will your book have sex in it?” he asked, twirling a silky strand of hair around his finger. He realized all he should have done in the last two days was tell Amber repeatedly that he loved her, then she wouldn’t have tried to escape back to an inhospitable, careless world.
“Lots of it,” she told him as she pushed him toward the bed. “But right now, I want more of you. Everything else can wait.”
He fell backward onto the rumpled sheets and laughed. “Including marriage and five kids?”
She rolled her eyes. “Five?”
“You want more?” he teased, as he rolled her over and straddled her thighs.
She gave him a mock grimace. “Kids can wait, too. For now…”
Her voice trailed off and she lifted her head for a breathtaking kiss.
About the Author
Aurora Rose Lynn lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and conure. She enjoys writing romance with a sensual twist, but first and foremost, her stories must be about love. When she isn’t writing romance, she writes young adult and fantasy stories under a pen name.
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