With a rough grip, he parted her cheeks to let his hand slide right down between her crevice and forcing her leg up his thigh as he opened her for the caress to come. She knew it was coming. Her heart rate slowed to the motion of his touch as it glided down through her divide and followed the trail to the heated center of her being.
She moaned out her welcome as his fingers skipped through her slick folds, parting them as he delved deeper. Reflexively her teeth came down, biting into Cody’s lower lip as his finger caught on the opening of her pussy, pausing before pushing into her heated depths.
Her muscles clamped down on his forging digit, trying to suck it in deeper with its desperate need to be filled. He answered her body’s silent call, pushing another and then another finger into her, teasing her with a sense of the fullness to come.
His thumb flicked outward to swirl over her clit and send a cluster bomb of pleasure rocketing through her body. Her head snapped back, smacking into the wall as she gasped out her need in words that could not convey the depths of her longing.
“Oh, God…Cody…please.”
“This will never change,” he whispered against her neck as his head dropped to taste the sensitive skin there. He licked, nipped and sucked his way down toward her chest as his fingers continued their slow, maddening assault between her legs.
It was too much and not enough. “Please, Cody…”
“Hmm,” Cody lifted his head, pausing for just a moment to warn her. “It might be a long time before you let me do this again, so I intend to enjoy my treat.”
“Cody, I—”
He muffled her words by pulling her nightshirt straight up. Up, but not off. With a simple twist of the fabric he locked her arms and muted her mouth within the folds of the soft fabric, leaving her bound and at his mercy.
It added the dark element to the moment, spicing the pleasure raking through her to new levels. She was naked and vulnerable to him. Amanda knew he would not show her any mercy. His words, husky and sexually threatening, did nothing to soothe and everything to inspire her overwrought need.
“How many orgasms should I give you tonight?” Cody nibbled around the edge of her breast, slowly closing in on the tender peak already puckered and aching for the feel of his mouth. “How many orgasms will it take to convince you this is where you belong?”
His tongue licked up, right over the crest of her nipple. The sudden caress had her bucking upward with the bolt of pure electricity then squirming in disappointment as his finger retreated to leave her cunt aching, gasping on nothing more than air.
“We’ll start with this one.”
The warning breathed against her nipple was all the warning Amanda got before his tongue snaked around her tight tip to twirl and roll it in an increasing caress. Further below, his thumb repeated the motions of his mouth on her clit, sending pulsing waves of rapture crashing through her, washing her into ecstasy’s embrace.
* * * *
Cody smiled as Amanda gasped, cried and bucked against him, telling him just how far he had driven her. It wasn’t enough. Not for his starved senses. It wouldn’t be enough until he was sheathed fully inside her, feeling the strength of her inner muscles clamping down around him, sucking his seed right from his balls.
His cock pulsed and thumped against the hard confines of his jeans. Cody ground his teeth together and fought against the desires of his own flesh. Tonight was not about him. It was about Amanda. He wanted to drive her insane with pleasure, weaken her every defense and leave her helpless in the face of her own desire.
He lifted his head and looked over at her other breast. Beautifully round, plush, flushed with desire and straining for his attention. He smiled. He’d like to sample that one too. As he lowered his head toward his new target, he strummed his fingers over her clit. Amanda murmured and squirmed away from his touch. Cody knew she was sensitive there, possibly almost painfully so after the climax she’d just endured.
That fact did not dissuade him from his intent and his hand followed her movements, forcing another explosion on her. It was a short trip this time. With her body already primed from her first climax, it took only minutes before she was writhing against him, the beautiful sounds of her climax cascading over him, making him groan with his own needs.
As noble as his intentions might have been, in the end he only had so much will power. All the ideas and fantasies swirling in his mind condensed into one solid statement of need. If he waited any longer, he’d run the risk of humiliating himself like some overeager teenage boy and explode in his pants.
He didn’t have the patience or the elegance left for smooth moves. Pinning Amanda to the wall with his chest, he leaned hard into her as he angled his hips backward. Stuck and still a prisoner of her own nightshirt, Amanda wiggled as he fought his own zipper. Her shirt smacked into his arm and slid with a plop onto the floor just as he managed to free his pulsing dick from its cage.
For a second their eyes met and Cody could see her need matched his own. Her honeyed eyes had darkened with desire. The flush of her arousal spread up from where her breasts heaved with every panting breath. Wild and wanton, she belonged to him.
“God, I do love you, Amanda Johnson.”
With that he covered her lips, sealing in any protest she might have made for the rough way he gripped her thighs. Jerking them up to hook over his hips, he brought his cock home.
* * * *
Amanda tore her lips free of Cody’s to gasp for air. The ragged breaths burned as he tried to pound them back out of her with a hard, deep thrust. Cody didn’t give her a chance to adjust before he was pulling out, dragging his thick, heated cock over every dancing nerve in her sheath. A painful delight, it made her whole body clench tighter around his width.
The slow withdraw made her womb burn with a need that had her hands dropping to his hips. Digging in her nails, she tried to force his return. Even as her hips lifted to emphasize her demand, he gave in, pounding her back against the wall with another brutal thrust.
From then on the hits came too fast for her to distinguish the individual blows. Sweat gathered and dripped down her spine, lending a squeak to the rhythmic slap of her back into the wall. Faster and faster the beat sped as her body began to expand and explode with the liquid heat of her release.
Cody’s twisted endearments chased her into the madness. Grunted against her neck, they filled her heart and tinged the savage release breaking over her with wisps of tenderness.
“Oh, God…so damn tight…so damn tight…heaven…oh…love you…love you…Amanda!”
His release filled her body even as reality broke apart around her. Even as Amanda gave over to the chaos, her heart closed around his pledge. She wanted to live there in the moment forever, but reality condensed all around her, becoming cold as Cody sighed and stumbled backward.
He held her tight as he weaved across the floor to take them both crashing into the mattress. Only then did Cody’s arms loosen as he slid to her side. For minutes they remained like that, half-entwined and silent until reason slowly started to reappear.
Just as Amanda’s mind began churning up reasons for why this had been wrong, Cody shifted, lifting his head slightly to pin her with the intensity of his gaze.
“Come home, Amanda.” He broke her heart with his plea. “You don’t belong here.”
Taking in a deep breath, Amanda reminded herself she had to be strong. “I can’t.”
Cody groaned at her answer and flopped completely on his back. “God! You are the most stubborn woman on this planet. You know that?”
Amanda didn’t think he really expected an answer, so she didn’t bother with one. Instead, she slid from the bed in search of clothes, something to provide any kind of barrier between her and Cody.
“I know we fucked up, Amanda. We all know it,” Cody argued from behind her. “But you can’t really be thinking to throw away our entire future over some admittedly stupid behavior. We can work this out.”
Tightening
down the belt on her robe, Amanda felt safer with the distance of the whole room between them. With a turn, she confronted him with the truth she’d been hiding from for days.
“You’re right, we probably could work this out, because I do love you.” Amanda smiled. “It kind of gives you three an unfair advantage, but eventually I’d grow to hate you. That’s what happens to love when it isn’t returned and—”
“Damnit, Amanda!”
Cody reared up to a sit, letting the sheet puddle down around his waist. The sight of him was a temptation that Amanda couldn’t resist. Averting her eyes before she made another weak decision, she barely paid any attentions to Cody’s words.
“I love you, and you damn well know it.”
“It doesn’t matter now.” That’s what made it hurt so much more. Even if they if did, it didn’t change who she was or what she was. “Knox was right. I am trouble.”
The last bit had him staring at her in confusion. Amanda knew what she had to tell him would have him coming out of the bed, so she started to make her way to the main door.
“Is this about your dad?” Cody scowled. “Because Knox and Jace knew what I did, we were in on it. We already had an investigator check him out and came to a decision on how to handle him. You don’t have to worry about your dad.”
“Is that right?” Amanda smirked. Cody didn’t even understand how insulting his words were. It would probably be a waste of breath to try and explain it. “Yeah, well. I’m not talking about Davey.”
“What is it then? Lydia?” Cody appeared even more desperate and confused. “Because you know we don’t expect you to live with her. Not that we’re going to fire her,” Cody rushed out almost immediately. “I mean we are, but we’re going to help her find a new job first. You have to understand, she’s—”
“It’s not Lydia,” Amanda cut him off. She had the doorknob in her hand and for the first time Cody appeared to become aware of where Amanda had stalled out. Rising out of the bed, he held himself tense as he slowly started toward her. The only thing Amanda had to stop Cody were words.
“It’s Will.”
Her plan worked and Cody stalled out as he scowled. “Will? Will McKinney?”
Amanda had never really gone into detail about her relationship with Will. Given his absence, it hadn’t been necessary, but she could hardly tell a story about her past without mentioning him, so Cody knew they were friends.
“It’s not like I have all the answers.” Amanda shrugged. “You know, everybody is always handling everything for me, so nobody likes to bother me with the pesky details, but I still got a good idea of what is going on.”
Cody didn’t miss the insult in her words. They straightened him up and hardened his features from confusion to annoyance. “Enlighten me.”
“Well, the short story is Will killed some drug dealers and ran off with their money. Now they want their money back and he’s nowhere to be found, so it falls on me.”
“On you?” Cody waited a second, but she didn’t offer him an answer. “Why?”
“Because he doesn’t care about anybody else, and he doesn’t have any family left.”
Again she left it there and, strangely enough, Cody accepted her answer. He’d already moved onto another thought. “Your car accident?”
“Wasn’t an accident,” Amanda sighed. “It’s not safe for anybody to be standing next to me anymore, so I can’t go back to the ranch. I won’t be the thing that gets you all killed.”
“Amanda—”
“No.” Amanda opened the door. “I’ll give you ten minutes, but then I’m sending the deputy in.”
Chapter 52
Saturday, August 2nd
Amanda showered and made herself a sandwich, choosing to sit in her room and eat quietly. It seemed the thing to do, to seek solace, even though the silence made the weight of the coming darkness all that much heavier to bear.
The fact that the Reese brothers hadn’t shown yet, should have brought her some ease. It didn’t. They’d appear soon enough. Amanda knew her men well enough to know they wouldn’t be staying a safe distance away. Not if she was in danger.
It would take a while before Cody realized she hadn’t been asking for help last night, but saying goodbye. Of course, it would take Tony and Cindy a while to accept the same message even though Amanda had taken the time to write them actual letters. They waited on the dresser for Tony to find when he came home tonight.
That’s all she’d left unpacked. Now she just had to wait for Braden to eat his chili. Guilt might still lingered over feeding the deputy chili packed full of sleeping pills, but she didn’t have a choice. God’s honest truth, Amanda didn’t want to be doping anybody.
She never would have thought the day she would do something this low. Even if she didn’t want to be this person, Amanda’s wants had ceased to matter. If they’d ever held any value at all, she’d be out at the ranch being pampered by the Reese brothers. Yeah, she was that weak.
In the end, it didn’t matter to Amanda all the wrongs they’d done. For all the pain and hurt they’d caused her, it still didn’t compare to the misery of waking up every day alone, much less going to bed the same way. She loved them and that made her weak.
It had been a long time since she let anybody in so close. Since she lost her mother and brother, Amanda had kept her heart boarded up, fearing that she was the evil one in the story. It didn’t matter if she wanted to be good. Love screwed everything up. Just look at her situation.
Amanda loved Will, but because of him, she might die. Knox, Jace and Cody each claimed a chunk of her heart, but if she went to them, they might die. If she just stayed at Tony’s, he might die. Of course if she did anything stupid, she might die. Worse, the baby inside her would leave the world with her.
So be it. Amanda sighed. From a list of all bad choices, she really only had one prayer to hope on. Escaping, fleeing for her life and just disappearing. Of course it wasn’t like she had spy connections and just how to go about disappearing presented itself as a difficult task.
It had taken her all night thinking about it and still her plan felt half-assed, but what choice did she have? It was the only option where she wouldn’t end up being the one left grieving. Cowardly and sick as it might be, Amanda couldn’t conceive of waking up everyday knowing she’d been the reason somebody she loved got hurt. It wouldn’t be her fault.
Consulting the list of actions she’d made up last night, Amanda checked off the chili. Now she’d wait a half hour for the food to do its trick. During the time she had herself scheduled for more waiting.
Itchy and nervous, she watched the clock tick around toward seven thirty. Wherever she ended up, Amanda better end up in a safe enough spot not have to do this kind of thing twice. Someplace quiet, like Alaska, where nobody would look for her. Or maybe North Dakota. They didn’t have drug wars that far north, did they?
Amanda really didn’t know. She didn’t want to have to either. It made the waiting easier if she didn’t focus on the negative, but strived for the positive. With a child on the way, she’d need to make more money. The best thing would be to go to college and get an actual career.
She’d always wanted to go to school, but for what? Maybe for something like graphic design. Amanda loved to draw, but computers always advanced so fast, she’d been left behind in the pen and paper age.
Of course the thing she loved about the idea of graphic design was the marketing. Amanda could see herself in a suit, presenting some storyboard with the next greatest gimmick since the Gieco gecko. The image faded before her eyes, and Amanda admitted she’d never be good in corporate America.
With a kid on the way, she’d love to work from home. A kid? She still didn’t feel pregnant. Amanda kept waiting for the moment when it would hit and she’d feel herself change into a mother, but all she felt was nervous and slightly sick. The nausea probably had more to do with nerves than the baby.
Actually, right now there is no baby, just a bunch of
cells multiplying. No eyes, no ears, no baby, but it would grow into one. How weird was that? Amanda had never actually figured on having children. None of her friends had them, so she honestly knew very little about pregnancy or babies, but now she found herself silently obsessed with wondering how it all worked.
Seven thirty. Letting out a deep breath, Amanda nodded to the clock. It was time and she stood up from the bed to march down the hall and find Braden passed out on the couch. Feet up on the coffee table, his bowl of chili still sat on his stomach, the spoon dangling from his hands.
For all the world he looked dead, and it jarred Amanda into rushing over to his side. Braden had a strong pulse and more obvious lift to his chest. Not dead, but definitely not waking up anytime soon. Phase one could be called a success. Time for phase two.
It started with making sure Braden didn’t wake up with a kink in his neck or chili covering his lap. Setting the bowl on the coffee table, she straightened him out over the couch. Amanda took the moment to make sure he would be comfortable before liberating the keys to his truck from his pocket.
Then came the gun. No old-school revolver like hers, Braden’s black 9 mm looked heavy and dangerous. It looked more like a weapon of death than her pearl-handled gun. Amanda’s gun was actually kind of cute. Braden’s is probably a better gun to take into battle. Amanda lifted it up, recognizing what line she was crossing taking a sheriff’s deputy’s gun—one better not debated for too long.
Grabbing her bags, she double checked her list before hustling it out the door. By seven forty she’d stopped by the drug store and bought a prepaid phone. Amanda actually didn’t know why she had this step on her list, but she’d seen every criminal in every TV show do it, so she figured it must be a kind of ‘duh’ thing.
Five minutes ahead of schedule she left her message for Will. “I’m in trouble. I’m afraid for my life, Will. I need you to call me. At this number. Within an hour.”
Kansas Heat Page 48