Safe From the Dark

by Lily Rede

  “No.”

  “Anything taken?”

  “No.”

  “We can’t really rule out a burglar. You may have interrupted him or her before they had a chance to break in.”

  “I keep telling you, this isn’t New York. Besides, why would someone come all the way up here when all the tourist traps in town are there for the taking?”

  Evie hesitated, and then voiced what was really on her mind.

  “It seems to be common knowledge that Ms. Small was staying here tonight. After the fire last night, it’s possible that she was the target.”

  Colin frowned.

  “I thought the fire was an accident.”

  “Signs point to arson.”

  The four looked to Deirdre, but she was out like a light, curled up in the armchair, cuddling her glass.

  “I’ll put her to bed,” said Tom, moving the glass, and then lifting her into his arms in a surprising show of lean strength.

  “Thanks, Tom,” said Colin, and Evie bit her lip, trying not to ask whose bed Tom was planning to put her in. She wasn’t used to this kind of jealousy, and didn’t like it. But the harder she tried to ignore it, the more it sank green claws into her stomach. There was something between them, whether it she acknowledged it or not.

  “Best not to mention this to anyone in town,” remarked Colin, “Candace will freak, and Dreyer will immediately make it a reason to oust me from office. Until we know what’s going on, let’s keep it between us.”

  Tom disappeared upstairs with Deirdre, and Evie turned to go.

  “I need to take a look outside,” Evie said, and Colin got up from the couch.

  “You’re not going alone.”

  “I have a gun. You have a concussion.”

  “I don’t care.”

  They glared at each other until Jocelyn breezed past them toward the door.

  “Someone can walk me to my car. Colin, I’ll stop by tomorrow.”

  Evie fumed as Colin smirked and hurried to escort the good doctor outside. She watched from the porch as Jocelyn drove away, and then flicked on the flashlight on her keychain.

  “What do you think you’re going to find out here?”

  “I don’t know. That’s why I’m looking. Quit crowding me.” Evie elbowed Colin in the ribs and he fell back a step, quiet as she examined the gravel, the driveway, and the discarded two by four near the addition to the house.

  “Think you’ll get any prints off of that?” Colin asked.

  “The wood is pretty rough, but we can try.” Evie grabbed a roll of plastic sheeting that was leaning against a wall and used her keys to cut a large swath, carefully wrapping the wood to protect any evidence. She packed it away in her trunk and resumed her exploration, all the while aware of Colin’s eyes on her.

  “How long have you been a cop?” he asked.

  “A few years.”

  “Ever deal with an arson case?”

  “Once. A drug dealer set a rival’s walk-up on fire.”

  “You don’t really think someone’s trying to kill Deirdre, do you? Who would do that?”

  Evie turned on him, shining the light into his face.

  “I don’t know, do you?”

  “What?”

  “I just got here. I don’t know anyone. You’re the town’s golden boy, so you tell me – who has it out for your girlfriend? Did she screw someone over?”

  Her voice was harsher than she meant it to be, and Colin scowled down at her. Abruptly, Evie lowered the flashlight.

  “As far as I know, Evie doesn’t have any real enemies. At least nobody that would burn down her house or try to actually harm her.”

  He paused, scanning her face in the moonlight.

  “Evie,” he said gently, “I didn’t sleep with her tonight.”

  “It’s none of my business,” Evie asserted, but swallowed the sudden lump in her throat as she hurried toward the addition to the house.

  Colin didn’t comment, but followed.

  They found the animal laid out on a workbench. Ripped to bloody shreds, it might have been a raccoon or a badger at one point, but it was impossible to tell. There was no mistaking it for an attack by another animal, because scrawled in blood next to the remains of the poor creature was a single word. Sin.

  “It’s a terrible prank,” said Colin, though he sounded unconvinced.

  “This is far beyond a prank,” said Evie, “Someone’s trying to kill your girlfriend.” And she whipped out her phone to call Tony, swiftly explaining the situation.

  Colin argued with her as she photographed the crime scene with her camera phone. He argued with her as Zeke appeared to take the night watch, and he argued with her as she climbed back into her car.

  “It just doesn’t make sense,” he insisted.

  “Crazy doesn’t have to make sense,” she retorted. “You’d better get to bed. It’s late and I’m sure Deirdre is getting cold.”

  And she shut the door.

  “Wait a minute.”

  Evie didn’t wait, but took off, arriving at the cabin a few minutes later. She didn’t want to argue anymore, she didn’t want to prove a point. All she wanted was to catch a few hours of sleep and tackle this whole mess in the morning. The parting jibe had been thoughtless, but she was cranky and annoyed, both with Colin and herself.

  A spurt of gravel and Evie looked up, surprised, as Colin’s truck skidded to a halt behind her car. He jumped out and slammed the door behind him, stalking up to the porch, where she hadn’t even had a chance to get her key in the lock.

  “You think you’ve got me all figured out,” he said, “I’m just a spoiled rich kid who grew up to be mayor of a small town where everyone kisses my ass and the women fall at my feet, is that right?”

  “I think you have no idea how dangerous the world can be, and you live in secluded little bubble.”

  Evie squeaked as Colin grabbed her and hauled her close.

  “Maybe I’ve managed to keep my nose clean, but that doesn’t mean I think the world is all sunshine and gumdrops. And yes, I’ve had a series of casual relationships, but that doesn’t mean that whatever this is between us hasn’t knocked me on my ass, same as you. And if I have to say it a thousand times, I will. I did not sleep with Deirdre tonight, and I doubt I’m going to any time in the foreseeable future.”

  Don’t ask don’t ask don’t ask.

  “Why not?”

  Evie cursed internally, but strained to read the answer in his face in the dim glow of Gram’s porch light.

  I don’t want to know.

  She really wanted to know.

  The answer was so simple, so stunning, and so utterly delicious as he lowered his mouth to hers, not in the frenzied carnal encounter from earlier, but in a kiss so sweet and seductive that Evie moaned into his mouth.

  Colin deftly unsnapped her holster and set her weapon down on the porch railing, never losing contact with her lips, his tongue stroking hers, hot and wet, demanding a response with every deft lick.

  She was barely aware of the move as he eased her down to sit on the porch swing and knelt on the porch between her legs, pulling her pussy snugly against his torso. Evie held him tight, exploring the muscles of his shoulders, pulling her mouth away to taste the hard edge of his jawline and then cruise back to find his lips. She managed to pull herself out of the sensual stupor when she felt him undoing the buttons of the shirt under her open jacket. Evie pushed on his shoulder.

  “We’re outside.”

  “Mmm-hmmm.” Colin kissed the skin he exposed at the base of her throat as he undid another button.

  “Colin, I don’t know about this.”

  “I do.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  EVIE WASN’T WEARING A bra. The discovery made Colin feel like cheering, and he wondered how he could have missed such an important piece of information when she stomped over earlier that night. It must be the blow to the head, he reasoned as he pulled the edges of her shirt back to expose the creamy mounds.
Round and plump, and crested with perfectly shaped nipples. Colin’s mouth watered.

  Evie had gone still under his hands, clearly trying to decide whether to flee or stay.

  Oh stay, baby.

  Colin leaned forward to nuzzle a path between the generous globes. He had a real thing for breasts, and while Deirdre’s were impressive in a structured, manmade way, Evie’s tits were full and soft and the very best that Mother Nature had to offer. He licked his lips, his cock already pounding behind the zipper of his jeans.

  She pushed at his shoulder again, but it was less of a push and more of a caress, and then he felt the bite of her nails as he sucked one luscious berry-shaped nipple into his mouth.

  “Colin!” she gasped.

  He didn’t answer, but words were beyond him anyway. Her nipple was velvety smooth in his mouth, swollen and sweet as he laved and suckled, plumping and kneading her other breast in his hand, his head full of the heady scent of Evie and the vanilla lotion she used.

  Her fingers threaded through his hair, rasping erotically against his scalp, careful to avoid the tender lump. Colin pulled back slightly, wishing he could make out the color of her nipples in the soft glow of the porch light, but it was too dark. He could see that they were drawn up tight, whether from the cold or his mouth he didn’t know. He licked one, nipping it lightly with his teeth, savoring the hitch in her breath.

  “So sensitive. Think I could make you come just by sucking your tits?”

  “I don’t – ” She couldn’t finish the thought, and he grinned against her breast, sliding a hand into the dip at the back of her jeans, caressing the small of her back and lower, to the very top of the sweet cleft that separated the cheeks of her ass. She shivered.

  Her pussy was pressed tightly against him, the heat of her meltingly good even through her jeans.

  With a last leisurely flick of his tongue against her nipples, Colin started kissing his way down her torso.

  “We shouldn’t be doing this out here.” She sounded nervous, as though she had just remembered that though there wasn’t anyone around for miles, she was half-naked on her front porch, letting him play with her bare breasts.

  I wonder what else you’ll let me do, thought Colin, and he murmured, “I want to taste you.”

  She tensed against him, froze as he undid the button on her jeans. For a moment he thought she might pull away, so he slowed down, nuzzling her navel and the delicate skin under the open waistband. She relaxed a fraction and he let out a breath, and then made sure she was watching as he gripped the zipper of her jeans in his teeth and slowly drew it down.

  “Seriously? That’s one of your moves?” she choked out, and her voice was amused but gratifyingly breathless, “What, do you moonlight as a gigolo in your spare time?”

  “Would you hire me?”

  She snorted in derision as he yanked her jeans to her ankles and settled between her knees again, noting that she’d switched the lacy little things for another pair of bikini panties, white in the darkness.

  “You’d make a terrible gigolo. You always have to be in charge.”

  “Says the woman who agonizes over anyone ever doing anything for her, ever.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being independent.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with letting someone take care of you once in a while, either.”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  They glared at each other.

  “Fuck it,” he snarled, and surged forward to capture her mouth in a brutal clash of teeth and lips, his tongue in her mouth, his frustration rolling over him in waves. She gasped into his mouth when he grabbed a handful of her panties and jerked, the material shredding like paper.

  She was tense and angry, and Colin wanted her soft and yielding, giving him everything he wanted. He hadn’t realized how her stubbornness would push his buttons, turning his natural urge to be in control into something hot and driving. He wanted her to surrender, to let him pile the pleasure on any way he wanted to until they were both drowning in it.

  Slow, he ordered himself.

  He kept his fingers gentle as he learned her pussy for the first time, his anger melting away, no match for the wet heat and delightful surprises he discovered with light strokes of his fingertips – the small patch of soft hair at the top of her mound, the delicate bare folds, and the sweet bud of her clit, already swollen for him.

  His cock was going to tear free of its confinement and strangle him, but he would make this good for her, he vowed. It was already spectacular for him. Colin swallowed her whimper and then tore his lips away to trace a path down her throat as he tested her opening, teasing but not entering with one slick finger, while the scent of her made his mouth water.

  “I’m going to lick you, right here. You’re going to let me, aren’t you?”

  Arousal made him hoarse, but he forced himself to wait for her response, though heat coursed through his veins like wildfire.

  Evie gave up all at once, her fingers digging into his shoulders, clinging as though she couldn’t help herself. The ghost of her lips against his temple set off a small quake in the vicinity of his heart. Evie had a sweet side, though she tried like hell to hide it.

  Colin pushed her knees wider, his hands splayed on her thighs, and used his thumbs to expose her core. Although her plump folds were in shadow, he caught the glimmer of wetness in the soft glow of the porch light.

  “Hell, yeah,” he muttered, and lowered his head for a taste.

  THIS ISN’T HAPPENING, THOUGHT Evie. There was no way she was letting Colin Daniels eat her out on the front porch of Gram’s house, bare and spread for him, the squirrels, and God knows what other woodland creatures were watching. All it took was one hot, wet lick and her rational brain went away, along with any inhibitions that would prevent her from accepting any and all sexual pleasure he wanted to give her. Evie didn’t like it, not one bit. She was independent, she was in control, she was –

  Oh God, right there.

  His tongue did something to her clit that had her crying out, arching her pussy into his mouth. Colin chuckled, infuriating man, and did it again, this time sliding two long fingers into her sheath in a move so carnal she whimpered.

  “That’s right, baby,” he crooned against the pad of her pussy, “Give me everything. Mmm…tight and wet.”

  He expertly finger-fucked her until she was writhing for him, unable to hold back the little sounds that were shocking to her ears, but that he seemed to enjoy as he nibbled gently on her engorged clit. He pulled his digits out, only to replace them with his tongue. A hot, mind-blowing lash of his tongue at her core made good on his promise, and then he closed his mouth over her, using the pad of one slick forefinger to rub diabolical circles into her hungry clit while he sucked and thrust with delicate precision.

  Evie didn’t want to think about how he got to be so good with his mouth, but all that practice paid off because one second she was straining against him, sure she couldn’t stand it one moment longer, and the next, all that lovely tension burst and she was melting over him like oozing honey, a sharp cry of surprise pulled from her throat.

  You never came like that for Jack, she noted.

  Evie was too replete to let the realization do more than drift through her consciousness, and besides, Colin was still between her thighs, gently lapping as her tremors subsided.

  “Next time, I’m going to feel this sweet pussy come apart around my cock.”

  The jolt of pleasure at the rough words had her hips jerking involuntarily. He chuckled softly and placed a gentle kiss at the very top of her cleft, and then rested his cheek against her abdomen while her racing heart finally started to calm. The rasp of stubble from his jaw on her tender flesh sent a new wave of shivers through her body.

  Evie leaned back against the porch swing and hesitantly stroked Colin’s cheek as he propped his chin on her belly, his hazel eyes nearly glowing with heat and arousal and male satisfaction at her response to him. />
  “Do you want to come in?” she whispered, knowing that despite their intensely erotic interlude out here on the porch, the invitation represented a much bigger step, and the beginnings of trust. She squashed the nerves and worries about the future and focused on what she wanted in the moment – Colin’s big naked body moving against her, driving her to peak again and again with his hands and mouth and cock. She licked her lips, waiting for his answer.

  It never came, because at that moment, the porch light exploded above them in a shower of sparks and glass.

  “Down!”

  Evie reacted without thinking, tackling Colin to the ground and dragging him under the relative cover of the swing. She yanked up her jeans and hastily buttoned her shirt.

  “Are you hurt?” she demanded, running her hands over him, checking for wounds.

  “I’m fine. Is someone shooting at us?” He sounded shocked.

  CRACK!

  Another shot rang out, and splinters of wood rained down on their heads. Evie scrambled up, fumbling for her weapon on the railing, but Colin yanked her back down.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’ve already been shot twice this year, I’m not going to let it happen again! Do something useful and call for help!”

  Ignoring his grasping hands, she pushed to her hands and knees as the gunfire continued, destroying one of Gram’s planters, followed by one of the front windows.

  CRACK! CRACK!

  The shooter had made a mistake in taking out the light, and Evie took advantage of the darkness to find her weapon, getting it out and up in a matter of seconds to return fire. For a minute they traded shots, but it was like shooting into a black hole – the night was dark as pitch, and the dense trees around her property offered too much cover. They were pinned down, and the best Evie could do was hold the shooter off until help arrived or the bastard ran out of ammo. She could hear Colin whispering urgently into his cell phone, but her senses were focused on the woods – every snap of a twig, every rustle of branches.

  Suddenly, the gunfire ceased, and Evie strained to hear the slightest sound from her position by the railing.