by Kathy Love
“I told myself all night this wouldn’t happen.”
“What?” she breathed, tilting her head to give his roaming mouth better access.
“That I wouldn’t touch you.”
She laughed with disbelief. “Why ever not?”
“I don’t know.” And at this moment, it was true. Why did he think he could walk away from her? He couldn’t. God help him, he just couldn’t. He’d pay for his sins later, he promised, but not yet. Not now.
He slipped his hands under her arms to her stomach. Her rounded bottom fit perfectly against his groin. She wiggled slightly, working even closer to him.
He groaned against the fragile skin of her neck. She wiggled again, and he nipped her.
“Are you teasing me?” he muttered roughly against her ear.
She released a hitched breath, then asked, “Is it still teasing if I fully intend to give you whatever you want?”
He moaned deep in his throat. “I didn’t do anything to deserve you. I wasn’t a good person before I met you.” His hands nudged up her shirt, finding the warm satiny skin of her stomach. His fingers skimmed upward to her breasts, cupping them.
“I’m no better than any of the men you’ve dated before,” he told her, nipping her earlobe. His fingers found the front clasp of her bra, unfastening it. Her breasts spilled free, her hard little nipples prodding his palms. He squeezed them, plucking them until she cried out and wriggled more.
“I’m actually far worse,” he admitted in a low, feral tone, one of his hands leaving her breasts to inch beneath her skirt until he found her panties. He stroked her through the cotton, her lips down there already damp and slick.
“I’m selfish and greedy, and I can’t bring myself to leave you. Or this.” He slid his hand under the waistband of her panties, parting her, plunging his finger inside her tight passage. Wet fire stroked him in return.
She braced her hands on the bar’s nicked top to steady herself as he entered her over and over, experiencing the textures of her flesh, the tightness of her muscles.
Her head fell back against his chest, locks of her hair tickling his chin. She panted as he stroked, his thumb swirling around her clitoris as his finger filled her over and over.
“Can you be happy with me, knowing that I’ve done awful things?”
She nodded, an almost mindless bob of her head as she strained toward release. Did she even know what she was agreeing to? Was that why he was asking her now? To assure the answer he wanted?
His hand stilled, his thumb pressed firmly to the tiny bud at the top of her sex, his finger deep inside her pulsing fire.
“How can you want me?” he asked, aching to be worthy of her passionate response, of her love.
“You only did what Lilah wanted you to do,” she whispered, her eyes closed, her head still heavy against his chest. But she didn’t move under his pinning touch. “You did it because you thought she loved you— and you loved her. And you aren’t that person anymore. You have real love now. My love.”
His chest tightened, and he couldn’t force a breath into his seized lungs. He sensed she loved him— he’d felt the emotion in the air around her as they’d made love. He saw it in her eyes when she looked at him, but he hadn’t let himself believe it. But now she’d told him. She loved him. She wanted nothing more than to make him feel whole again.
He had to be inside her, to be one with her. To feel her heartbeat as his, to feel her breath and her life. To be whole like she promised.
She whimpered as he removed the pressure of his fingers, but he didn’t pause. He hooked his finger over the waistband of her panties and pushed them down. She didn’t stop him; in fact, she wiggled to make it easier to get them down. They fell to the floor and she readily kicked the small white scrap aside.
He returned his hand to her, this time shaping the rounded swell of her bottom, teasing a finger down the enticing crevice until she parted her legs and allowed him to enter her tight vagina from behind. She fell forward again, supporting herself on the bar. Her breathing was loud and ragged in the silent bar.
“I want to take you now,” he told her, entering her again with his long finger, the other fingers cupping her plump mound.
She nodded, whimpering. “Yes.”
He leaned over her, caging her body against the bar, his chest to her back.
“A good man, a decent man wouldn’t take you like this. Especially after you’ve admitted that you love him.”
She gasped, his finger stroking deep. “I— oh— I think you are good. God, so good.”
He smiled at that, even though that wasn’t exactly the good he was talking about. He kissed the back of her neck, nipping her skin.
“Damn, I want to just bury myself deep inside you right now.” He nipped her again.
“Yes. Oh God, yes.” She lifted her hips, nudging her bottom against him, urging him to do just that.
He groaned. With an invitation like that he didn’t know how he was going to stop. But he would. This couldn’t continue— not here.
“Jolee, love?” He stilled his hand to gain her attention. She whimpered.
“I don’t have a condom.”
“In my bag,” she murmured breathlessly. She lifted a hand from the bar to gesture vaguely at the floor.
He glanced down at the tote from which she’d gotten his snack earlier.
“Snacks and condoms. Is there nothing you don’t have in there?”
“What can I say? I’m a regular Mary Poppins.”
Christian didn’t get the reference, but it didn’t really matter to him. All that mattered was Jolee and the desire snapping in the air around them. Desire made more powerful with love.
He released her to kneel down and dig through the bag. Sure enough, she’d packed a strip of four condoms.
“How did you know we’d need these?”
“I didn’t. I just hoped. Now get back here.” She glanced down at him, need clear in her dark eyes.
“Impatient little thing, aren’t you?”
She nodded. “Just trying to show you that I can be selfish and greedy, too. Now, drop trou…»
He frowned, not understanding what she wanted.
“Pants. Off. Now.”
“Ah.” He nodded with understanding. He stood and came back behind her, but he didn’t undress right away. First he lifted her skirt, admiring her raised bottom. He slowly stroked her again.
She moaned, lifting herself even higher. “Please, Christian.”
He quickly undid his pants and donned the condom. Positioning himself, he entered her, his cock filling her in one smooth stroke.
She cried out, gripping the counter. “Yes!” She bucked back against him.
Her wanton movements, the silent demands of her body urged him on as he filled her over and over. With each thrust, he felt their oneness. His arousal rocketed with hers, rising higher and higher. Even penetration pushing both of them farther until nothing existed but them. Their bodies, their desire, their love.
Jolee screamed, the sound muffled against her arm as she burst around him in an explosion of white hot flames. He followed her orgasm, his own as violent, as all-consuming.
They fell forward on the bar, his body creating a cover over her, his arms wrapped tight around her waist, his cock still deep inside her.
“God, I love you,” he muttered against her ear. “I don’t deserve you, but I love you.”
She turned her head, and kissed the corner of his mouth, his cheek, his jaw. “That’s all that matters to me.”
*
Jolee slipped out of bed. Even after very little sleep— she and Christian had both been insatiable— she still felt light and giddy, as though she was moving with no gravity to hold her down. Christian loved her! The idea was still so unbelievable. So amazing that she could hardly believe it.
She turned back to look at him, sprawled on her bed, unconscious and unaware of the thrilling sight he made, naked and utterly beautiful. She hummed low in her
throat. The things that body could do to her.
She lingered just a moment longer, then forced herself to leave him. She knew there was no point trying to wake him. After he’d made love to her for the third time last night, slow and leisurely sex that still made her melt and her toes curl, just in memory, he’d fallen into a deep sleep. A well deserved sleep.
She headed to the kitchen, ravenous. She’d eat and then head to the bar. Again, she’d managed to sleep most of the day away. Although her sleep was well deserved, too. A girl had to have stamina to keep up with Christian.
She leaned against the kitchen counter, eating a yogurt and then a cereal bar. She finished a second cereal bar, then headed to the bathroom, humming. Her life was really changing. Her bar was definitely doing well. She’d found an amazing guy. Things were just getting better and better.
She turned on the shower, then stripped off her T-shirt and undies. The water felt lovely on her tired muscles. Muscles that were tired from something wonderful, rather than hard, fruitless work.
And all this had happened because he’d nearly hit her with his car. Wasn’t fate crazy? It was as crazy as lucky, but good luck had finally found her, and she was absolutely euphoric with her changed life. Finally she was really leaving the old Jolee Dugan behind.
CHAPTER 26
“I’m sorry, Jolee.” Jed shook his head, looking around the ransacked bar just two hours later. “I didn’t even hear a thing. Damned ears. Playing out on me.”
Jolee shook her head. “Don’t apologize. I’m glad you didn’t hear anything. Knowing you, you would have come up here and gotten hurt— or killed.”
She stepped gingerly into the center of the barroom. Glasses and bottles of liquor were broken everywhere. The ancient jukebox had been hit with something, likely one of the overturned chairs scattering the floor. The glass was cracked, but the old machine still remained lit up. She couldn’t say the same for her karaoke sound system. It was destroyed.
She wandered over to the booth and stared at the smashed CD players and CDs. Then she simply turned away, going outside to wait for the police to arrive. She collapsed onto the low concrete step, staring blankly at the road. The sun was starting to sink down in the sky, brushing the tops of the trees in a warm yellow glow. It had to be long past five. Time to open the bar. But she wouldn’t open tonight.
Jed’s scuffed boots appeared beside her as he leaned against the post that supported the overhang. She smelled the acrid scent of smoke as he lit a cigarette.
“We’ll get it cleaned up,” he said, his voice gruff and determined.
She nodded. Rage choked her and she couldn’t speak. Tears choked her, too, but again, she didn’t allow herself to succumb to them. She wouldn’t cry. Tears never, never did any good.
She gritted her teeth, determination starting to replace her anger and grief. She hated to think it, but she had no doubt who did this. Vance. He’d ruined her bar, stolen her money, she knew it.
She didn’t have any proof, but she didn’t doubt it was him. The timing was a little too convenient and the look in his eyes… She should have guessed he’d do something. It hurt her. Hurt her that her own brother would do such a thing. But she had no doubt. And she would tell the police to investigate him. She was done trying to give him a chance. He’d messed with her future. With her chance at success. And she wasn’t going to be dragged back down by her family.
She’d get Leo’s cleaned up and opened again. This wouldn’t destroy her dream.
As Christian pulled up to the bar, his first indication that things were not right was the lack of cars in the parking lot. He pulled his car to a stop near the back door, but walked around to the front entrance. A hand-written paper sign taped to the door read, “Closed temporarily for renovations.”
He frowned. Renovations?
He reached for the doorknob, but the door was locked. He could hear the strains of music through the open window, and a clinking like someone was picking up glass. He peeked in the window but didn’t see anyone. He thought to simply turn to shadow and enter. But he couldn’t if he wanted to. The hospital showed him that power was iffy at best. If it wasn’t totally gone now.
“Jolee?” he called, suddenly more worried about her than his disappearing abilities. What was going on?
The clinking stopped, and she appeared from behind the bar. She looked around until she located him in the window, then she walked carefully over to the door, unlocking it.
“What’s going on,” he asked as he stepped inside. His concern didn’t lessen as he took in her drawn features and her disheveled hair. He could feel her despair swirling around them. Then he smelled the intense scent of alcohol.
“What happened?”
She sighed, looking down at her hands, damp with liquor. She wiped them on her apron. “The bar was broken into last night.”
He glanced at the bar, realizing that most of the bottles were gone from the back shelves. Broken, obviously, from the smell of liquor and the clinks he’d heard.
“Are you all right?” he asked, knowing she couldn’t be. Jolee had worked too hard to have a devastating setback like this.
But she nodded. “The police just left a little while ago, and I was beginning to clean up.” She glanced down at her hands again. Her shoulders sagged. This was the first time he’d seen her look like everything, her hard work, her struggles, were just too much for her.
He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight.
“It was Vance.”
Her words took a second to penetrate. Then he realized she was referring to who’d done this. And she was right. He could smell his scent, smarminess in the air.
He moved away from her. “Did you tell the police?”
She nodded. “They said they’d question him. But they probably won’t find him. I’m sure he went back to Sawyersville or wherever.”
“He did it.” Of course, he couldn’t help her with the police. He doubted an officer would accept his verification that it was Vance just because he could smell him.
Just then Jed came out of the bathroom, carrying his mop and bucket. Christian left Jolee’s side to take the cleaning paraphernalia from the old man.
“I’ll help her.”
Jed started to argue like he had the night before, when he’d stepped in to help him with the mopping.
“Just have a seat.”
But instead of following Christian’s order, Jed began to pick up the overturned chairs, muttering about Christian thinking he could tell him what to do just because he was dating the boss lady.
“Damned right,” Christian informed him. Then he turned back to Jolee. “Okay, boss lady, let’s get this place renovated.”
Jolee glanced over at Christian as he mopped the floor. She’d felt a thousand times better after he arrived. He was a steady strength beside her, just as he’d been that night Vance had broken into her trailer. He worked efficiently, helping her clean up all the glass and debris. Then he swept up all the tiny shards of glass and now he mopped. She stood at the karaoke booth, sorting through the CDs, trying to salvage what she could. The rest she tossed in the trash can.
All of this was going to cost her a ton of money. Replacing the liquor and the barware. But the karaoke was going to be impossible to replace for a while. That made her heartsick. Not to mention all the money from her great night was gone. The safe had been cracked open, the ancient hinges proving too little for Vance’s purpose.
She sighed. She wouldn’t give up. Then she glanced at Christian. She wasn’t alone anymore. Christian was here to stand by her. Then she looked at Jed, frowning at another cracked ashtray, which he then tossed in the trash. She wasn’t alone.
The front door opened and Jolee started toward it.
“Sorry,” she called. “The bar is closed.”
A petite woman with short-cropped, messily styled hair stepped into the room. She glanced around, her gaze stopping on Christian. Jolee frowned, her own eyes going to him. Did this woman
know him?
Christian stood stock-still, the mop stopped in midswish. His usually golden skin was as pale as paste, his eyes wide as if he were staring at a ghost.
Jolee frowned back at the woman. Was this Lilah? But she immediately disregarded the idea. While this woman was petite as Christian had described, he’d also said Lilah was beautiful, with long blond hair and pale eyes. This woman was more adorable than beautiful. She looked like a pixie with wide eyes and a pert nose. There was an almost otherworldly look to her elfin features.
“Holy shit! I never thought I’d see the day when Christian Young was pushing a mop. This is brilliant.”
Jolee’s eyes moved from the small woman to the two men now standing behind her. The one who’d spoken grinned widely in Christian’s direction. The other man didn’t smile. Instead he watched Christian with a concerned, almost grim expression on his handsome face.
For a moment, no one spoke. Then the grinning man broke the silence. He came forward to extend his hand toward her.
“Hi. I’m Chris’s baby brother, Sebastian.”
Shocked, she accepted his handshake. She didn’t know why she was so shocked; he looked like Christian with the same full, sculpted lips and tousled dark blond hair, although there was an openness to this man that Christian didn’t show as readily.
“I’m Jolee.”
Sebastian nodded as though he’d already deduced that. He left her to go over to Christian. He pulled him into an embrace, clapping a hand on the middle of Christian’s back. Christian remained stiff, mop still in one hand, his gaze still on the tiny brunette and the other man who Jolee assumed was Rhys.
Sebastian released him, then stepped back to follow his gaze. Christian absently handed the mop to Sebastian and then took a step toward the woman.
“Jane?” Christian shook his head as though he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
A swell of jealousy pooled in Jolee’s stomach. Who was she? Why was Christian so stunned to see her?
The brunette nodded. “Yes, Christian. I’m fine.” She then grinned up at the tall man behind her.