by Rachel Lee
She had scorned him once too often, and then she hadn’t died when she should have. Defiant bitch. He needed to finish teaching her the lesson he hadn’t finished in Denver. Afterward...
Well, afterward he might find another woman to teach. He’d found his thoughts drifting that way more and more often since he’d finally worked up the nerve to take Kylie down. Had discovered he’d enjoyed the screams, enjoyed knocking her senseless, enjoyed watching the blood flow from the knife wounds. God, he’d felt so powerful, her life in his hands.
Yeah, doing it again would be fun. But first he had to take care of number one, the woman who had first gotten under his skin in high school and had ever since been like a burr under his saddle, irritating, maddening, rubbing him raw. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t given her a chance. He’d given her more than one chance over the years, including several in Denver.
But she always left him feeling as if she wished he were a thousand miles away. Nothing she exactly said or did, but something in the way she hurried away, slipped to the side to avoid even the merest of touches.
Then, in the midst of the seething cauldron of his lust for vengeance, came the idea. How to separate the herd?
Connie Parish had three children. The oldest had been taken once before, but he ruled her out mostly because she was old enough to be a problem.
But she had two younger children. The six-year-old boy would be the best. The hard part was going to be getting anywhere near that kid. He was being watched like a hawk. But he’d manage. Just make him disappear for a short while. Everyone would be looking for him, most especially his uncle Coop. Oh, yeah, with his cousin’s child missing, Coop would put the search on the front burner and Kylie on the back. He’d leave her somewhere he considered safe enough, like the house, and he’d go looking for the child.
All Todd needed to do was grab the kid and hide him somewhere, causing a panic everywhere. Hell, even Kylie might go out looking.
But first he had to watch the Parish kids and figure out when he’d have an opportunity to take the boy. The minute he saw it, he’d jump.
And then when everyone was in an uproar, he’d find an opportunity to snatch Kylie.
It wasn’t the most careful plan in the world, but he’d finally realized one thing for certain: he was going to have to take any chance that presented itself, or he was never going to get Kylie.
And if she happened to remember him first...well, he plain couldn’t take that risk.
*
Kylie and Coop stopped at the grocery after they came back from the mountains. Glenda would be starting to wake for another night at work, and they wanted to make her a dinner before she left.
Kylie found the market easier to bear this time. Either people were staring at her less, or she was getting more comfortable with it. Staring less, she decided. She was no longer the most recent event and people were probably used to her being home by now.
Given that time was relatively short, they skipped over time-consuming ideas for dinner. Coop finally settled on some steaks, a salad and baked potatoes, which sounded really good to Kylie, too. Easy to make, as well, and Glenda had a small gas grill behind the house.
When they arrived home, they found Glenda draped over the kitchen table with the local newspaper and her first cup of coffee.
“The news about the kids is getting big headlines,” she said as soon as they entered the door carrying bags. “God, I hope they catch this creep soon.”
Kylie looked down at the paper and realized she’d never seen a bigger headline on it. At least not that she could remember. With the masthead, it took up most of the top half of the page.
“It’s horrible,” she said. “Just horrible. I hate to think of how scared the children must be getting.”
“Not to mention their parents,” Glenda remarked. She shoved the paper aside. “What have you been up to?”
“Oh, we took a nice drive in the mountains, then stopped at the grocery. Coop bought us a wonderful dinner.”
“Oh?” Glenda lifted a brow.
Coop had dropped the bags on the counter, but he now pulled out the foam flat bearing three strip steaks. “Look good?”
“Like I’m in heaven,” Glenda replied, smiling at last.
“You just relax,” Kylie said. “I’m making the salad and potatoes. Coop is going to grill the steaks.”
“Grill?” Glenda perked up even more. “You have no idea how rarely I do that just for myself.”
“There’s a lot I don’t cook just for myself, either,” Kylie remarked. “It gets boring, but who wants to spend the time?”
Coop laughed. “When I’m not in the field, I’ll spend all the time it takes to cook a good meal.”
A totally different perspective, Kylie thought as she began to rinse greens for the salad. Completely.
While the greens dried on paper towels, she prepared the baking potatoes and put them in the oven. With about an hour to bake the potatoes there was no rush. But there was time to spend with her sister.
Coop was about to leave the room, apparently to give them some time alone together, but Glenda waved him back in. “You’re family now, Coop, so unless you want to be somewhere else, join us.”
He smiled and sat next to Kylie. He still carried the scent of fresh air and woods about him, a pleasantly enticing scent. Kylie felt herself stirring with the pleasant heat he awoke in her so easily. Fling? Oh, yes, she wanted the fling. Whatever the price, she was willing to pay it.
When he inadvertently brushed her arm, she tingled all the way to her center. Any minute now she’d be panting and Glenda would know exactly what was going on. Not good. She drew a steadying breath and reluctantly edged away from Coop. Just a tiny bit.
He glanced at her, and something in the way the corners of his eyes creased told her he knew why she’d done it. Oh, heavens, she hoped her face didn’t flame.
Under the table, his hand captured hers, and she had the strangest reaction. Instead of pushing her excitement to higher levels, it seemed to fill her with a soothing calm. Inside she felt everything go soft and warm. The last of the tension seeped out of her and she was able to relax.
Glenda leaned back, rolling her shoulders. “I’m really upset about this person stalking kids. But I’m even more worried about Kylie.”
“Why?” Kylie asked.
“Because so far the stalker hasn’t harmed a single child. Not even made any attempt to. But you getting a dead black rose? That makes my skin crawl.”
Everything inside Kylie clenched as her fear returned. She’d successfully avoided thinking about it all day, concentrating instead on being with Coop, but as Glenda spoke she knew it had all been just a diversion. She was still terrified of the man who had tried to kill her, a man who apparently hadn’t given up.
Coop squeezed her hand, as if to offer reassurance. But there was no real reassurance as she looked past her sister to the late-spring afternoon outside. None. Not unless she could remember who had attacked her. That was the only way she could free herself of the fear, to put that man away.
For now she just had to do her best to live with it.
She tightened her hand around Coop’s, wondering if she was hanging on to him for dear life.
“I guess I said exactly the wrong thing,” Glenda said. “Hell, I’m sorry, Kylie.”
“You didn’t say anything wrong,” Kylie reassured her, trying to feel a bravery that kept eluding her. “It’s true. That man is still out there. I can’t afford to forget that for very long.” And that was true, too. A short vacation from fear was all she could hope for at this point.
The doorbell rang and Glenda went to answer it. She spoke to someone and Kylie recognized the answering voice immediately. “Todd,” she muttered to Coop, then sighed.
“What’s wrong with him?” Coop asked.
“I couldn’t tell you. For some reason it didn’t work between us years ago. He’s only a friend. I guess I just don’t feel like seeing anyone right now.”
But that was ridiculous. She had to start picking up the reins of life again, one way or another. She drew her hand from Coop’s and pushed back from the table. It wouldn’t kill her to be pleasant for a little while.
Todd was standing inside the foyer. He smiled warmly when he saw Kylie. “You’re looking a lot better. I got back from Saint Louis today and I wanted to see how you were doing.”
“Loads better,” Kylie answered with a smile. “Except for my memory, anyway. That’s still gone.” She had no desire to tell anyone else about those brief flashes she’d had.
Todd’s smile faded. “That’s got to be awful, Kylie.”
“Maybe it’s for the best,” she answered, trying to sound bright. “I’m sure there are things I’d rather not ever remember. We’re getting close to dinner, but would you like to have some coffee with us?”
She was surprised to see that he appeared taken aback. Kind of an odd reaction to a simple gesture she’d have offered to anyone she knew.
“Uh...I really can’t. I just wanted to see how you were doing and to give you something. I don’t know if you still like this stuff, but I brought you a little statue of the arch.” He stuffed his hand into his pocket and brought out a four-inch piece of metal shaped like the Gateway Arch.
She accepted it and smiled. “What a sweet thought!”
“Maybe you don’t do it anymore, but I remember you had a collection of things like that.”
“She did,” said Glenda. “Up in the attic since she went to Denver, but maybe we’ll bring that out again. Sure you don’t want coffee, Todd?”
“Maybe another time. It’s been a long drive and I just want to get home.” He smiled at both women in turn and promised to see them in a few days. Then he was gone.
Coop spoke from the kitchen door. “Why don’t I like that guy?”
“I don’t know,” Glenda answered. “He’s all right. Not exciting, but okay.”
Kylie, however, was looking at the arch in her hand. He’d bought this for her? Something inside her squeezed. It couldn’t be new.
It was tarnished.
Chapter 12
“It’s tarnished?” Coop repeated after Glenda left for the night. Kylie hadn’t mentioned it earlier, and she felt weird for mentioning it now.
“I know,” she said. “I’m being ungrateful. Maybe he just didn’t notice.”
“Let me see,” he said, holding out his hand.
She passed him the arch, watching him carry it over to a lamp in the hallway to study it in brighter light. “Well,” he said after a bit, “it’s certainly not new. Maybe he picked it up in some antiques shop or something.”
“Maybe. It was a nice gesture. I don’t know why it bothered me.”
He looked up from the trinket that nearly vanished in his large hand. “Well, you didn’t like him very much in high school. Hardly strange that you wouldn’t want gifts from him now.” He straightened and put the arch on the table beneath the lamp. “I’ll grant you it’s odd, but no big deal. Maybe it just caught his eye and he remembered that collection he mentioned.”
“Maybe.” That was a valid point. The fist that had been gripping her began to ease.
He glanced down at it again. “And maybe he didn’t want to seem like he was overdoing it. I’ll give him credit for that much.”
“Overdoing it how?”
“Well, you barely got home before he was here with flowers. His reception was not exactly, um...”
She laughed. “Okay, I was a little cold to him. Not very nice of me, was it?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes we just don’t like people. Nothing we can help. And he was a little quick on the draw given what had happened. Why do I get the feeling that back in your school days he was the guy who always went a little too far?”
Kylie sat on the couch. “Maybe so. Tried too hard? I don’t know. He was part of our group, but it was more like he was on the fringe. It’s hard to explain, but it wasn’t that no one liked him. For a while I was interested enough that I dated him a couple of times, but then something just didn’t feel right. I don’t know what. Anyway, I dated him, so he couldn’t be all weird, right?”
Coop laughed heartily. “Goes without saying. He still likes you, however. To wit, one trinket and a mess of grocery store flowers earlier.”
She giggled. “Oh, don’t pick on him about the flowers. We don’t have a florist in town.”
“Okay, I’ll be fair.” He winked, then crossed the room to sit beside her. At once he snaked out an arm and wrapped her in it, drawing her close. Smiling, she leaned her face against his shoulder. He made it so easy to forget everything except him. And unlike Glenda, he didn’t do a thing to remind her of all that should be scaring her.
Of course, Glenda was merely expressing sisterly concern. She’d been a rock through all of this, never losing her cool. She was certainly entitled to admit how worried she was.
Feeling oddly content and happy, a rare mood for her since the attack, she didn’t want to lose a moment of the good feeling. In fact, she wanted more.
The words emerged with a boldness that surprised her. One of the changes since her brain injury. “Make love to me, Coop.”
She heard him draw a sharp breath. “I told you about marines and drawers.”
A quiet laugh escaped her. “Somehow I think you’d be able to protect me just as well stark naked. And I kind of like the image.”
His arm tightened around her, and she heard his heart accelerate beneath her ear. “I gave you the caveats.”
“Yup. You were completely honest. Leaving soon, going places no woman can follow. I didn’t miss any of it.”
He turned suddenly and took her by the shoulders. “You’ve been through a lot, Kylie,” he said, his blue eyes boring into her. “I don’t want to be something else you have to survive.”
Her mood began to sink. How many kind excuses was he going to give her? Clearly he didn’t really want her. She’d mistaken the looks, the kiss, the little gestures. “It’s okay. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” She tried to pull away, but his grip on her upper arms tightened.
“Aww, hell,” he said. Then, almost faster than she could believe, she was lying back on the couch, him half over her, his mouth taking hers in a penetrating, demanding kiss. He caught her head between his hands, giving her no opportunity to escape, making her feel instantly possessed by him.
It was like striking a match deep inside her. The simmering longings burst into full life, the entire world went away and she cared about nothing except the mouth plundering hers, the man’s weight on her torso. She reached up with both arms, hanging on to his shoulders, wanting to make sure he couldn’t escape, either.
Even as passion rose in her, something else seemed to be settling, as if somewhere deep inside she had been waiting for this man, this moment, forever.
He shifted over her, until his hips rested between her legs, and began a gentle rocking movement that lifted her even higher. Her own hips responded instinctively, moving in time to his tongue’s incursions into her mouth. She felt he had entered her from head to foot, as if he had taken possession of her entire being.
An ache blossomed between her legs, hot and heavy, and she tried to lift her legs to bring him closer to her throbbing center. The weight of him, the pressure...all of it was perfect.
He released her mouth and she gasped for air, digging her nails into his shoulders as their bodies followed the timeless rocking that carried them closer and closer to the pinnacle.
Another gasp escaped her as he pulled up her shirt and lowered his head, sucking one nipple through her lacy bra. An arc of heat shot through, so hot she was surprised she didn’t turn into a cinder. With each tug of his mouth on her nipple, another arc of fire shot through her, leaving her utterly mindless, in thrall to sensation and pleasure.
Her thighs tightened around his narrow hips, feeling his movements against her in every way possible. Wanting more, so much more.<
br />
She felt so heavy at her center, but so light everywhere else. The throbbing had spread until it became a drumbeat in her ears as well as her core. Pounding, aching, needing, hovering on the very edge of anticipation, the very edge of satisfaction. She quivered with hunger throughout every cell of her body.
“Oh, Coop,” she breathed as if the sigh could hurry him up.
*
He knew what she wanted. He wanted it, too. But he enjoyed the buildup as much as he enjoyed the climax, and he was in no rush to reach the end of this story. Her sweet scents filled his head, giving him a rush. The writhing of her body beneath his drove him to the edge of madness. His entire being seemed to be centered between his legs, except for the splinter that was nursing her lovely breasts, first one and then the other.
But as much as he wanted to delay, to hang on to each of these exquisite moments, he knew he couldn’t do it. Delaying too long might push her to a point where she started to tumble without satisfaction. He didn’t want to do that to her, stretch her so tightly only to have her snap the wrong way.
But damn, there was no finesse in this, he thought vaguely, then gave up. Later. There’d be time later.
Pumping harder, hating the material that separated them, he lifted them both to the lip of the chasm. When he heard her gasp and felt the shudder run through her, causing her to buck against him, then heard the cry, he knew she had arrived. Moments later he followed her into the abyss of perfect pleasure, each jet of his body sending a racking shudder through him.
When he collapsed on her, it was to feel her arms grab him and hold him as if she feared she might fall forever. The rictus of satisfaction eased into a soft smile as he buried his face in her hair. He felt drained to his very soul.
*
Kylie never wanted to move again. She felt as if the sun and the moon and the stars had exploded inside her, leaving her so drained and so satisfied that there was nothing left of her. She was drifting like a feather on a sense of completion she never wanted to lose.
But finally reality began to return. Coop eased off her and fell to the floor beside the couch with a groan. She turned her head as much as she could without disturbing her sense of utter relaxation. “You okay?” she whispered.