by Cyndi Raye
Then her back hit a mattress. He pulled his lips away slowly.
“You make me feel so much, Vanessa. I am losing control with you and I am helpless to stop it,” he confessed and rested his forehead on her chest, right above her racing heart. He placed a kiss there before looking up at her again.
“I feel the same way,” she said. “Like I’m caught up in a whirlwind. It should be scary but it's okay because you’re there with me.”
“I want you, Vanessa.”
“I’m all yours.”
No more words were needed. Their bodies said all there was to say from then on.
He undressed her and she undressed him. They writhed on the bed, hands and mouths giving pleasure. Their love making started slow but soon the inferno was too much to contain. The intensity had gasps, moans and groans filling the room.
When Luke joined their bodies, tears spilled from Vanessa's eyes. Not because it hurt - although Luke was quite a bit of man to take - but because the sensation of him filling her made her feel like she had finally come home. Like she had finally found the place where she belonged.
He held himself still above her, holding his weight above her with shaking arms. His chest bellowed with his restraint and sweat glistened off his skin.
“Tell me you’re okay,” he whispered.
“Never better,” she said, kissing his neck and biceps to reassure him.
He started to move then, slow and tentative at first until she urged him to a faster pitch.
They rocked together, tension building and building to ignite into sweet release.
Vanessa cried out, her body shuddering with the powerful orgasm. She latched onto Luke, the only solid thing in her imploding world.
He went rigid and with one final thrust, he shouted her name and bathed her insides with his pleasure.
Minutes or days could have passed as they lay in the aftermath.
An odd mix of blissfully sated yet wanting more, Vanessa pulled Luke in for another kiss when she could move her noodle-like limbs.
“Let’s do that again,” she murmured against his lips.
“Oh, definitely,” was his response.
***
Vanessa watched Luke sleep.
It was late in the afternoon. Dusk colors bathed the bedroom and brought out the highlights in his hair. The white sheet wrapped around his hips, off-setting the light tan of his skin and the ink decorating it. At this angle, the tilt of his nose and his kissable soft lower lip were more pronounced.
He was absolutely gorgeous.
She sighed, high from tons of orgasm and being in... love?
Vanessa had never been in love before. Had never even been in a serious relationship. All she knew of love was what she read in books and saw in chick flicks.
She felt the cliché stuff- like her heart running off like a freight train every time she looked at him, and wanting to tear his clothes off every other second.
Yet there was other stuff, too.
Like how she knew his soul like he knew hers. They had an intangible connection strong enough to make all the other things just details. With Luke she was comfortable enough to just be. He made her feel safe and understood so that she felt she could tell him anything. In between bouts of hot loving, they talked and shared Greyson’s secret and her part in keeping it.
She was scared, yet thrilled by the feelings he invoked in her.
Was this what being in love felt like?
She was glad Luke was giving her the chance to find out.
She ran her fingers through his beard. She shivered as tingles shot from the digits at the spiky yet soft feel.
He did not stir and a soft puff of air escaped him.
She had tuckered him out.
She giggled like a school girl, unable to contain her happiness. She hushed the sound against the pillow but couldn’t get rid of the smile. Vanessa was wearing one of his shirts - a soft, white cotton piece that wrapped her in his scent. She brought the cloth up to her nose and took a deep whiff. Her lady parts stirred, wanting more.
Her stomach was not having any of it though. It grumbled, reminding her that it had been several hours since she and Luke ate. They had cleaned out the few items in his refrigerator then made love on the island many hours ago.
Still wearing his shirt, she pulled on her leggings and sneakers. She noticed a café just around the corner on her way over. She would get them a bite to eat while he rested. She had plans to keep him up for the rest of the night. He would need all the sleep he could get.
She placed a note next to the bed in case he woke up while she was gone. She did not want him to think she pulled another runner.
Her days of running were over. She would be back.
She stepped out the door and closed it softly behind her.
She did not take two steps before she was shoved against the wall. Her head smacked the bricks audibly and she saw stars.
“It’s time for you to die, bitch!”
Chapter Six
Vanessa blinked, trying to clear the black dots swimming in her vision. She fought to get her bearings as her head began to throb.
The features of the woman before her came through a haze. Brown hair cut into a bob. Brown eyes behind large vintage glasses. Dressed in high-waisted trousers, she looked like a librarian. Like someone who helped little old ladies across the street and never raised her voice a day in her life.
“Sally?”
The woman who had her pinned to the wall was the stewardess employed on Greyson’s yacht. Vanessa was not very familiar with the woman, who mostly kept to herself but Sally always came across as a very put together individual with a level head on her shoulders.
Not so much right now. Her eyes were wild with a murderous glint in them.
Vanessa tried to push the crazed woman off but despite being smaller Sally was a great deal stronger.
“What are you doing? Let me go.”
It was like Sally did not even hear her because she began railing. “Why couldn’t you just die? All you had to do was stay on the yacht, burn in a fiery death and everyone would be happy. Although, the bomb did go off a lot later than I expected.”
Sally added that last part musingly, like she was talking to herself.
“You set the bomb?”
Her eyes refocused on Vanessa. “Of course. You were supposed to be on board alone. No one else would have gotten hurt. It was the perfect plan but you had to mess it up.”
Well, excuse me for not dying according to your schedule came the sarcastic thought. Vanessa did not voice it though. Saying something to set this woman off would not be wise. Especially considering she was wielding a deadly-looking gun. Sally had tucked the weapon into her waistband and seemed comfortable with it at her side.
“Why are you doing this?” Vanessa asked, her body betraying her as she trembled in fear.
“Isn't it obvious? I want Greyson. I love him. I have ever since we met a year ago and I know he loves me, too. He just keeps on getting distracted by the way you hang off his arms every two seconds.”
Again, Vanessa did not think it was a good idea to mention Sally hardly seemed like Greyson’s type even if he was not into women. Instead, she tried to reason with the mad female. “Look, it is not like that between Greyson and I. We are friends. That’s all.”
Sally went on like Vanessa had not spoken. “And you could not even be satisfied with just Greyson panting after your heels, could you? I find you here shacking up with some has-been solider. How can you betray Greyson like that?”
She wrapped her hands around Vanessa’s throat and squeezed. Vanessa could not find the air to scream and suddenly wished she hadn’t convinced Greyson to call the bodyguard away. Sally would have known the bodyguard was no longer with her. A stark fear encased her.
Vanessa pushed at the woman’s chest again and this time she went flying. Vanessa looked up to see Luke had peeled Sally off her.
In some fancy maneuver he had disarmed th
e woman and used the cardigan to secure her hands behind her back. When Sally tried to kick at him, her feet suffered the same fate.
She was screaming profanities and more death threats as he came over to where Vanessa had slumped against the floor.
“Are you okay? Are you alright?”
He was frantically checking her over, growling at the marks that were surely already forming around her neck. She stilled his hands and he looked into her eyes. There was something she had to say and it had to be said this very instant.
“I love you, Luke.”
Those feelings churning her chest would not be anything but love. And with death knocking at her door twice in as many days she was making sure every second counted.
He smiled and she felt the warmth of it like the sun breaking through the clouds.
“I love you, Vanessa.”
He kissed her forehead then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
Soon the sounds of sirens were heard.
Luke held her hand as she was check over by paramedics and even though she was sore, she couldnn’t help but think she would not write a better love story.
***
"Do you, Byron James, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I do."
"Do you, Greyson London, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I do."
Seconds later the two men sealed their vows with a kiss that gave the congregation something to cheer about.
Luke was not focused on the love between the newly wedded couple though. From his place in the gathering, he only had eyes for the maid of honor. She was dressed in a pink dress that hugged her curves and brought out the color of her eyes.
She smiled at him when she caught him staring and his heart did that dance it did only for her.
Four months had passed since the last attempt on her life.
Investigations had found that her attacker had been obsessed with Greyson, to the point of stealing a few articles of his clothing and creating a scrapbook of pictures of him. The crazy woman had carried the book with her everywhere she went for almost twelve months.
She had built a fantasy life around her fixation with the man and saw Vanessa as a threat to that. Mentally unbalanced, she had tried to eliminate that threat.
Luckily, Sally Morton was now confined in a psychiatric facility and getting the help she needed.
Luke and Vanessa’s relationship was thriving. She had moved into his loft and added all the little touches that turned a house into a home that he was glad to come home to every day.
He was ready to take the next step.
Two hours later, surrounded by the wedding party, he got down on one knee and proposed to the love of his life, the woman who banished the nightmares and the future mother of his children.
“Yes!” Vanessa screamed and jumped into his arms.
And just like that, another Bad Boy was permanently taken off the shelf.
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Keep reading for the elusive Jacob’s story.....
Jacob
Chapter One
The night was young and Jacob Holinseed already had a busty, bottled blonde on his arm.
He and the woman had met minutes ago but they both knew where their association for the night was leading - with them in a bed, or any other convenient surface for a few hours of good old fashion dirty, adult fun.
He leaned over to whisper in her ear, an effortless line falling from his practiced lips.
She giggled and touched his arm. “Oh Jake, you’re so naughty! We’re going to have so much fun together.”
His thoughts exactly.
He smiled, a sexy turn of his mouth, not telling her how much he hated having his name shortened to Jake. It would definitely be bad form to mention his preferences about his name especially since he had already forgotten hers. It was Karen or Kim or Kara. Something beginning with a K.
He had no qualms about his memory lapse. They would not be knowing each other long enough for it to be of consequence.
His date did not appear to notice his slip. He had taken to calling her babe and she seemed to like that.
He did remember the only part of their brief conversation that truly mattered. She was a tourist to the Boot Key Harbor area, was leaving in two days and was looking to have some fun before she left.
Women were Jacob’s vice.
He loved everything about them. The way they smelled and looked and thought. They were forever a mystery and no two were the same, which was perfect since he often found himself bored when left in the company of the same one for more than a few days.
He could not claim to look for intellectual stimulation when in their midst but he enjoyed the temporary companionship none the same.
Commitment did not appeal to this former armed forces soldier and he made sure the women he approached understood that before things progressed passed friendship.
Karen-Kim had already agreed to his terms - one night of no-strings attached play, no headache when it came time to say good-bye.
He looked over at the table a few meters away where his friends and co-workers laughed and joked. Just like most weekends, they gathered together to hang out after a hard day of work. Their usual meet up spot was Lenny’s Bar and Grill, Boot Key Harbor’s most popular watering hole.
Jacob was a team member of the BKH Bad Boys, a company specializing in securing water property from explosives. Only a few years old, the company was founded by Ben Trooper and already thriving with several successfully completed projects and the word of their professionalism and achievements spreading fast.
Ben was Jacob’s former commander in the military. When he offered Jacob a spot in his business, Jacob jumped at the chance at re-entering civilian life while still being close to the action.
Ben currently had his arm around his best friend turned girlfriend turned fiancé, Angela Dalton. They were interacting with the rest of the group, the other three men on the Bad Boy team, along with their better halves, but still managed to have their own little private communication going - small touches, heated looks, a whisper in the ear every now and then…
The other men - Luke, Zach and Cole - all had the same obvious loving connection with their women. Two had already bitten the bullet and had rings on their fingers. One of the women was sporting a new baby bump. Her name was Callie and her husband, Cole Brown (a normally stoic SOB) was fretting over her like a mother hen.
Jacob was the only single one left in the group of five.
Love was in the air at Boot Key Harbor and Jacob hoped it was not catching.
The thought ran through Jacob’s mind yet he felt an odd ache in his chest. If he did not know better he would think it was envy.
But it could not be.
Jacob was happy with his life exactly as it was. He was not accountable to anyone and free to do as he pleased. He loved being unattached.
He opened his mouth to suggest to Blondie that they take this party for two some place more private when she walked in.
He saw her - watched the swagger of her hips that drew the attention of more than one male, the intelligent glint of her eyes as they scanned the room, the way she seemed to shine from the inside out - and knew she would be trouble.
As a carefree, confirmed bachelor, if there was one thing Jacob avoided was women with the label trouble.
Still, his attention remained riveted on her.
Her dark hair was collected into a messy bun. Tendrils had escaped and curls caressed her chin and neck. Her skin was flawless, tanned from the sun’s rays, similar to his favorite caramel snack. Her clothes were unassuming - a pair of simple dark jeans and a graphic tee embellished with a gaming controller plugged into a heart design. A pair of large glasses were perched on her nose and she gave off a nerdy chic vibe he did not think he appreciated until that moment.
His type she was not. He preferred flash and pop on a woman, like the one hanging onto his arm, who fit t
hat bill to a T with a dress that could double as a disco ball and enough make-up that would make her unrecognisable when it came off.
Flash and pop did not apply to the newly arrived female. Going to the bar, a long, scarred roughened surface that took up at least a quarter of the large room, she moved with the fluidity and grace of an athlete. There, she spoke to the owner and main bartender here, Lenny - a muscled, tattooed, fifty-something biker who was a cream puff under his rough exterior.
The older man said something to make her smile and put a beer in front of her.
“I need another drink, babe. Be right back,” Jacob said.
It was a jerk move, he knew - abandoning one woman to go talk to another - but there was no way Jacob could ignore the compulsion to be near the other woman.
Cinnamon and apples.
That was what she smelled of.
The scent left him craving pie… Preferably he would like to eat it off her skin.
He got close, intending to deliver one of his signature lines but the generic words stuck in his throat when she looked over her shoulder at him as Lenny acknowledged his presence.
“Hey, Jacob. How’s it hangin’?”
Those green-brown eyes completely threw him off his game and after a moment of awkward silence where he tried to find his tongue, all he came up with was, “Hi.”
Crickets.
Lenny saved the day after covering up a laugh at Jacob’s expense.
“Jacob meet my new tenant, Jennifer Jameson. Jennifer, meet our resident bad boy, Jacob Holinseed. Have fun, kids.”
Lenny owned a small property off the harbor. He used to live there until he remodeled the space above the bar. He had moved in there and now rented out the small house.
With introductions made, Lenny moved on to help a customer. Jacob would worry about the calculating look in his eyes another time. Now, he was sweating bullets trying to find his normal charm instead of fumbling like a high school virgin.
Jennifer did not give him a chance to regain his equilibrium.
“Let me guess, you’re going to lay some slick line on me - something about how beautiful I am and how we’ve just got to get to know each other better - and hope we end up in bed together at some point in the near future. I’m sure those lines usually work for you, too - you’ve got the Rico Suave vibe about you. So I’m going to save us both time and skip right over all that BS. I’m not interested.”