by E A Price
She wasn’t but she did want to talk to him away from prying ears.
Twenty-One
“When I was seventeen,” said Sadie hoping it didn’t sound too much like the start of a song, “I ran away with my boyfriend. We got married when I turned eighteen. He was a douche who drank too much and smoked too much weed, but I was young, and I thought I was in love and I wanted to get away from my mom.” She snorted. “As you can imagine, it didn’t end well. He robbed a liquor store and took off with another girl after we’d been married for about two months.
“He pretty much left me with nothing so I had to take any job I could get. I saw this ad for a car dealership that wanted girls to present the cars – by which I mean they wanted cute women to wear bikinis and point at the cars to make perverts want to buy them. It was stupid, but I was hungry.
“While I was there, I met the owner of the dealership – Al. He was nice and handsome, and he singled me out. I wasn’t the prettiest girl he hired, but he flattered me, and when I told him about my problems, he made sure my landlord didn’t kick me out. So, I went out with him. After being with my husband, it was nice to be with a guy who didn’t get into an argument with the waiter, or steal all the sugar packets or try to dine and dash. He was older and back then I thought he was worldly and sophisticated. Ha!”
Sadie groaned at how naïve she had been. She thought he was wonderful – her hero. But in reality, he had just been a guy in his thirties lusting after a teenage girl, and she had been too foolish to see he was an overgrown bully.
“After a few weeks of dating, he started paying my rent. Then he said it was silly to pay rent when I could live with him, so I moved in, and a couple of months later I was already pregnant with Mandy. He proposed, and I said yes. He wanted a family, and so did I. He tracked down my first husband, forced him to sign the divorce papers, and that was that.”
She looked at Lorenzo, walking quietly beside her. His face was a blank mask as he patiently listened.
“Things were fine for a while. I was so wrapped up in Mandy that I didn’t see anything was wrong, but when she started going to school, I started noticing little things that made me unhappy. Like the fact that Al didn’t like me leaving the house on my own. He insisted he come grocery shopping with me. He got angry and accused me of cheating on him if I even talked to another guy. He was so possessive. I put up with it for a long time because I cared for him, and I wanted Mandy to have both her parents. But, it got to the point where I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“A courier came to the house – he was just delivering a package for Al. He started choking on my doorstep, so I let him into the house for a glass of water. He delivered things to us regularly, so I knew him – he was a teenage boy working to put himself through college, and more harmless than a housefly. But Al came home found him there and went berserk. He broke the poor boy’s jaw.
“I left that day. That was a year ago. I took Mandy and moved in with my cousin, Gina until we could find our own place. Then I started divorce proceedings.”
Sadly she couldn’t use what he did to the courier as a reason for leaving him – Al paid off the boy and had him sign an agreement that said he could never talk about it again. No one else knew what he did.
Lorenzo stopped walking and faced her, his expression grim. “I’m guessing he didn’t take too well to you doing that.”
Sadie shook her head. “No, he did everything to try and get us back, but I refused. He’s been dragging the divorce out for a year. I’m worried he’s going to get Mandy. He has a lot of powerful friends who are all happy to say how wonderful he is, and how crazy I am for leaving him.”
He stared into the distance. “Does he still want you back?”
“Yes, he tells me all the time. He’s… very cruel. He even found a girlfriend to try and make me jealous. If I went back to him, he’d just toss her aside.”
“What do you want?”
Sadie let out a sad laugh. “I don’t want to go back to him. I want… I want a chance to be happy with someone else.”
“Someone else?”
Lorenzo looked at her. His eyes were swirls of gold, and her insides trembled. He lifted a hand and cupped her face. She sighed as she pressed her cheek into his touch.
“I wanted you the moment I saw you,” he murmured. He kissed her, just above her eyebrow. “I moment I scented you.” He kissed the end of her nose, and she giggled softly. “I knew you were special and I want you to be mine.”
He pressed his mouth to hers for an all too brief kiss. She licked her lips, savoring the taste.
“I don’t expect you to agree to stay, but can you stay until the two weeks are over?”
She looked into his eyes, and no seemed like the most impossible word in the world.
“Yes,” she agreed softly.
His lips curled into a gentle smile. “Thank you. Do you want to walk some more?”
“Goodness, no!”
Lorenzo burst into laughter.
“In fact, we’ve walked too far as it is – why did you let me yammer on for so long? Look how far we are from the compound?!”
He shook his head and smiled. “Alright, come on.” He swung her around, so she was on his back. “I’ll carry you back.”
Sadie wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. Now, this was the kind of hiking she could come to love.
Twenty-Two
Lorenzo gave his father a doubtful look. “What’s that you’re putting on the meat?”
“It’s just a mango lime glaze. I made it myself,” replied his dad proudly.
Lorenzo exchanged glances with his brother, who shrugged.
“You sure it needs it?”
Their father frowned at them. “How can my sons have so little culinary adventurism?”
His brother walked away chuckling. It had been five days since Sadie agreed to stay, and both had been more relaxed and happier in each other’s company. He was starting to think there was a good chance he could make a future with her. Sadie was calmer now that she could had a way to speak to her daughter.
He let her keep her phone – of course, he did. He wanted her to be able to contact Mandy whenever she wanted, and also so that Mandy could contact her. Maybe she could use the phone to contact others, but he wasn’t worried about that anymore. He had offered to take her home once, and she said no. She was there, if only for the two weeks and that was something. It gave him… hope and that wasn’t something he’d really had in a long time.
Over the last five days, they had eaten many meals with his family, Sadie had submitted to far too many walks for her liking – though given that they had taken to holding hands, she didn’t grumble too much, and they had even been down into town on a couple of double dates with Diego and Laurel. Not to mention the good night kisses they had started to share. They were… enjoying themselves.
His family was having a barbeque. His dad set up a small pool, and a water slide and his nephews were running around like crazy.
Sadie was sitting with his mother and the nephews too young for the pool. Sadie was currently bouncing his baby nephew on her knee and making all sorts of delighted noises as he cooed at her. She saw Lorenzo watching and smiled.
His dad nudged him excitedly. “Sadie certainly likes kids.”
Lorenzo grunted in agreement. “She should. She already has a daughter.”
His dad stared at him. “Oh, ah…”
“She’s with her dad. They’re getting a divorce.”
“I see,” said his dad slowly. “How old?”
“Twelve.”
“That rather complicates things.”
Lorenzo looked at him, and his dad gave him a pained smile. “Of course we’d welcome any child here – you wouldn’t be the first to find a mate who already had children. Look at Julio – his mate had four kids, and they’re all happy here. But they were all under five. Maybe Sadie won’t want to move her here.”
“Maybe,” admitted Lorenzo.
&
nbsp; It would mean moving schools and leaving her friends behind – moving away from the city to their mountain would be a big change for them. Plus, there was her dad. Sadie still wasn’t divorced from him, or the matter of custody settled. If Sadie did get custody, which hopefully she would, he would still have a lot of rights, and one of those may be that she does not move away from him. It was something he had been thinking about, or rather, trying not to think about.
His dad moved the meat around on the barbeque. “Course, if she couldn’t come here…”
Lorenzo stared at him. “You think I should move down there to be with her?”
It was something he hadn’t ever considered. People in the leap generally didn’t leave. They were born in the leap, they lived and worked in the leap, and then they died in the leap. It perhaps sounded boring to those outside the leap, but being a part of the leap was part of who they were. His jaguar chuffed at him. Would his jaguar cope outside of the leap? He supposed other shifters did. They survived on their own, but weren’t they lonely? It had never occurred to him to leave. It was true; others had left the leap before – but not in his lifetime. He wouldn’t say the leap was perfect, but…
His dad placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, boy, I’m not saying you should, just…” He cast his eyes over to his own mate – to Lorenzo’s mom, who was currently laughing while getting sprayed with water by her eldest grandson – he had shifted to his jaguar and was shaking the water out of his fur, much to his parents’ annoyance. “If it came a choice between the leap and my mate, I know who would have won.”
Lorenzo nodded.
“Just don’t tell your mother I said that,” he added hastily. “She looks sweet, but if she thinks I encouraged her youngest cub to move away from her – she might be a little less sweet.”
He laughed at the worried expression on his huge father’s face, but he considered what he had told him. Would he be happy living away from the leap? Would Sadie even want that?
His jaguar let out a small roar. Yeah, he wasn’t sure either.
Twenty-Three
Sadie checked her phone when she got back to her room. There were some new photos from Mandy. She was having the time of her life, though Sadie no longer felt the piercing disappointment now. Rather, she was glad that her little girl was so happy – even if she wasn’t there to share it first hand. Course, it didn’t hurt that Mandy had told her how much she missed her the previous night and told her she wished she was there too. That made her feel better, but altogether Sadie was no longer frustrated by the situation. No, she was strangely serene and even hopeful about the future. Though, she couldn’t deny just a little concern over what would happen when the two weeks were up. A worry for another day.
Her phone started ringing, and on seeing Mandy’s ID, she eagerly snapped it up, keen as always to talk to her.
“Baby, how are you?” she asked eagerly. There was silence on the other end of the phone. “Baby?”
“Who is he?” asked a cold voice.
Sadie went cold. “Al, where’s Mandy? Why are you using her phone?”
“She’s fine – she’s with Karen,” he replied curtly. “Who is he?”
“Al, you really shouldn’t…”
“Who. Is. He.” He repeated the words slowly and a frostiness that would give Mr. Freeze a run for his money.
Sadie took a deep breath. “I don’t see that…”
“Mandy said you had a new boyfriend,” he sneered.
“I never said that,” she protested.
“He better not be someone I know,” he hissed.
“Al…” she tried in a reasonable tone.
“You’ll regret this. I’ll make sure he regrets ever touching you, too.”
He hung up, and Sadie stared at her phone, shaking slightly. She supposed it was a conversation she was going to have with him eventually. No matter what, she was always going to start dating – it had just happened a lot sooner and in a much weirder way than expected.
She wasn’t surprised by the threat – not really. He’d told her she would regret a lot of things in the time she’d known him. Like the time she had determinedly gone out to see Gina without his permission to leave the house. Or the time that she served him with divorce papers. She didn’t regret either of those things yet. But, he had threatened Lorenzo…
Sadie scrolled through her contacts until she found Lorenzo – he had programmed his number into her phone, just in case. Within three minutes, she had called him, and he was knocking up a storm on her bedroom door.
She hurled it open and then hurled herself into his arms. He muttered soothing platitudes as he walked into the room, Sadie wrapped herself around him. He dropped onto her bed, with Sadie settled on his lap.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling a little foolish. She knew Al was just a bully and she was letting him bully her – she should just ignore him.
Succinctly, she told him what happened.
Lorenzo was stony-faced. “I won’t let him hurt you,” he growled.
“It’s you I’m worried about!” Lorenzo looked a little confused. “Remember the story of the courier! He broke that boy’s jaw just because I let him in the house and gave him water. Imagine what he would do to you knowing I had been holding your hand and kissing you and having sexy dreams about you!”
“You’ve been having sexy dreams about me?” he asked, frankly delighted.
“Ugh! Focus!”
Sadie pushed away from him and got to her feet. He watched her as she paced up and down.
“Aren’t you worried?”
“Not for myself – I’m pretty resilient.” He gestured to his scars, and she let out a little sound of dismay.
“Oh, Lorenzo…”
He stood and held out his hands to her. Sadie grasped them.
“I’m going to be fine,” he murmured reassuringly. “We are going to be fine.”
“What about when the two weeks is up?” she asked hesitantly.
Lorenzo smiled. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that.”
“Have you?” she whispered, fearful of what was about to come.
She found her heart twisting. The idea of never seeing Lorenzo again loomed large, and it suddenly seemed like the second worst thing that could ever happen to her. The number one spot belonged to something ever happening to Mandy.
“Yeah, I don’t know where you stand with your ex, but I was thinking that maybe, I…”
He looked uncertain, and she found herself desperately impatient to hear what he had to say.
“That I… ah…”
“What? What? What is it?!” she snapped, “Spit it out!”
“That I could come and stay with you in Los Lobos.”
Sadie gaped at him in surprise. “You would want to come to Los Lobos?”
“Well, yeah, if you, you know wanted that. I mean I’ve spent my whole life in the leap, so I might be pretty useless out there in the real world.”
“Lorenzo,” she cooed, pulling him down for a long, lingering kiss.
He chuckled as she finally let him up for air. “Do you approve of that plan?”
“Yes,” she breathed in happiness before worry took over again. “But, Al, he…”
“Shhh.” He brushed his lips over hers. “Honey, you’re meant to be mine. He’s not going to stop us being together.”
“No,” she agreed, in spite of her misgivings.
Her hands slipped from his grasp, and she ran them over his chest.
His shuddered and let out a small growl. “You are so beautiful,” he murmured, kissing her jaw.
She smoothed her hands over his shoulders. “So are you.”
He laughed, his large body vibrating against her. “Sure.”
“You are. You are so beautiful to me,” she crooned as he placed butterfly kisses on her face. “Do you think you aren’t because of your scars? You’re so wrong. I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.”
She thought about it for a moment. “Well, other than this obsession you have with hiking.”
Lorenzo shook with laughter.
“Stay with me tonight?”
He pulled back slightly to look at her, his eyes shimmering with lust. “Yes,” he murmured.
She almost shivered in delight. How long had it been since she had felt such unadulterated want? Such need for a man? She couldn’t ever remember feeling like this. This was something new, something wonderful.
Sadie unbuttoned his shirt, kissing the inches of skin she unveiled. His questing lips moved over her neck, nipping and sucking at her skin. She finally reached the last button, unveiling his firm, hard chest. She ran her fingers over his muscles, delighting in the beauty of his body. But oh, she wanted more.
Her fingers ripped at his jeans, and suddenly there wasn’t enough time, they weren’t moving quickly enough. As she pulled at his clothes, he tore at hers. They were a whirlwind of jeans, shirts, socks, and underwear until they were standing before one another stark naked. Sadie took a moment to enjoy the sight before her. The large, hard body, so taut and sleek was the most divine thing she had ever seen. But the thing that turned her on the most had to be the look on his face – the desire, the affection – it was stunning.
His member was thick and hard, and she wanted to taste him, wanted to show him how much he turned her on, how sexy she found him. Sadie dropped to the ground and engulfed him. He stiffened in surprise and let out a hearty roar. She wrapped her hands around him as she suckled at him.
She took him in her mouth as far as she could, laving him with her tongue, before releasing him to the tip and taking him again. Lorenzo’s hands balled into fists at his sides as he struggled to maintain control. He let out small groans and growls as the release mounted within him, as he desperately tried to keep still while she took him with her mouth.
Lorenzo may look at himself and see only the scars, but they were nothing to her. The first time she saw him, she knew there was something special, knew he wasn’t like other men. Her eyes flickered to his. They were swirling with gold, with unspent passion. His manhood was growing hotter and bigger in her mouth. She could feel him reaching for his release. Could feel his need to release, and she wanted that – wanted to taste him, to take him every way she could.