“What?”
“Please understand,” she went on, “I do not normally share my bed. In fact, I’ve never lived with a man.”
A rush of fire speared his gut.
She bent over the bed and pulled the sheets and blanket up over his chest. When she ran her fingers down the long scar on his forearm, her gaze shot up and locked on his.
“How did this happen?” She turned off the radio, then sat beside him, still caressing the wound.
“I chased a robbery suspect across a rooftop. The surface had turned to glass due to a recent ice storm. I took a ride down the roof and landed in a scraggly stand of trees. The trees won.” He forced a smile.
She stared, wide-eyed.
He shrugged it off, downplaying the event. Still, when he glanced at her shadowed profile, he recognized her concern in the lowering of her eyelashes and her unusual silence. Sitting up, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
She pulled away too soon. “Robbery suspect?”
“Guess I forgot to mention I used to be a cop. A lifetime ago,” he sighed.
“And now you’re a teacher? How? Why?”
“I had a bad accident while in a car chase and broke my leg. Crushed it pretty bad, actually.” Jacob rubbed his thigh through the covers, then tangled his fingers in the silken strands of her honey-gold hair. A foreign sense of peace washed over him.
“I thought I had fully healed, and then this happened.” Shifting, he laid his head back against the headboard. Regret for the past cramped his stomach.
“Do you miss being a police officer?”
“I regret having been forced out. That fateful night was a turning point in my life. A very unhappy turning point.”
“Well, you’re definitely not the geeky, stuffy teacher I expected you to be when I first saw you at the dining hall.”
“You’ve seen me before? How the Hell did I ever miss you?”
She shrugged as she wiggled out of his grasp, then sat on the edge of the bed. “Now I find out you’re a brilliant history professor, and a heroic former cop. What other wonders will I discover about you this weekend?”
“Never heroic, and I teach art history.”
“I still think you’re brilliant. Now…” She clapped her hands together. “You be a good little boy for the remainder of the morning, and I’ll make you a wonderful lunch.” She rose to leave.
“Don’t you have to work today?” He grabbed her hand. He didn’t want Destiny to leave, but he assumed she had to get back to the dining hall. The work-study money from the college must be how she paid for school. She must work part-time, since he’d never caught sight of her before.
Her mouth twitched side to side and she tilted her head again before answering. She must have seen the concerned look on his face before she walked away from the bed.
“No worries, darling. I have the whole weekend off from the dining hall, and I’m not due back in class until Tuesday morning. Professor Braun needs some help with her earth science lab, and I said I’d arrive early.”
Jacob sighed. How stupid could he be? He’d forgotten her studies. He’d crossed a line and could be in serious trouble if news of their affair leaked. He could lose his job; maybe get her kicked off campus.
“I’d better get out of here before our relationship turns serious,” he muttered.
“What did you say?”
“My Monday class doesn’t start until early afternoon and it’s near my office where my class prep notes are.” He ought to do the sensible thing and get out of here. Now.
“Great! How can I help?”
“If you give me a ride to my apartment, I’ll cope.” Had he sounded truthful? How would he manage the front steps to his apartment? At least Oak Hill Hall, where his office lay, had an elevator. He had no idea how to get to class from his home. If it wasn’t too muddy from his fall, maybe he could use his backpack as a briefcase.
She stared at him as if deliberating a serious decision.
“Stay here,” she whispered. “Stay for the rest of the weekend and I’ll drive you home for a change of clothes on Monday morning. You can grab what you need while I wait, and then I’ll drive you to class. Until then, I am all yours.”
Emotion slashed across his chest like a poison-tipped dagger. He shuddered at the thought of staying another night. This turn of events hit him with unexpected angst. Why torment his soul even another hour when he knew nothing could come of such a relationship? He answered her statement with a frown, which tugged at his mouth.
“This is going to be a problem,” he mumbled. After she chauffeured him to his apartment and his office, she might expect an invitation to come inside and look around. What if someone saw them together? It wasn’t just his job at stake. Destiny might be the one who got hurt.
“Dear God,” he sighed as he ran trembling fingers through his hair. This predicament took a back seat to another complication. His arousal throbbed. The delightful ache made Jacob abruptly comprehend that his conscience fought a losing battle. He wanted her, and here she stood, innocent and clueless, offering him a chance to stay.
“You don’t mind me sleeping here another night?” he gulped. “I had no intention of staying. You do know that.”
“Yes, Jacob.” She padded close and leaned down, nearly nose to nose.
“I love being here with you.” He stroked her cheek, which blushed a bright pink. “I consider myself lucky you came to my rescue. Being cared for is nice. I could get used to this, so I suggest you kick me out soon.”
She ought to kick me out this instant. I shouldn’t be here with her.
Destiny smiled at him, and he could swear the room brightened. His brain screamed, Save yourself and get out of here. Being here is wrong, but his stiffening cock proved he lied.
Jacob lay spellbound. Her lithe figure stood near the bed a moment before crossing the fluffy rug to stop in front of a mirror. Her fingers tangled with her hair as she braided the unruly strands into a golden braid.
“You haven’t been a problem so far, Jacob.” Her low, sultry voice mesmerized him until he cleared his throat with a dry cough. He closed his eyes, shocked when jealousy suddenly raised its ugly head. The thought of another man sharing this bed, and waking her in the middle of the night to make love to her, proved painful.
“The few men I’ve let visit me always left well before dawn. This is new for me. Can I ask you a personal question?”
Her quick change of subject brought relief. He didn’t want to think about other men in her life. For some crazy reason, the thought of her sitting on someone else’s cock made bile rise in his throat.
“You’re free to make love with whomever you chose,” he said. She had that freedom, but his fist clenched open and closed with an immediate surge of rage. “So, shoot. What’s your question?”
“How old are you?”
His eyes snapped open and he caught her reflection in the wall mirror. Her fingers persisted in weaving their way through her long hair as a braid formed, mesmerizing him to silence. Jacob smiled and thought this might be one way to get her to lose interest.
“I turned thirty-six this past summer. I have been married and divorced once, no kids, and until yesterday I loved to hike.”
She chuckled. “I hope you don’t give up hiking my mountain just because of one bad experience. Accidents happen, and it isn’t everyday you’ll find yourself running from a naked woman.”
His face must have drained of color, since he felt all the blood rush to his toes. Her stunned silence filled the room as she stared back at him. The tented sheet over his groin embarrassed him, of course, but she was so beautiful. Her brilliant smile made her eyes twinkle. Or, was that her knowledge of his reaction to her words?
Her simple act of braiding her honey-gold hair finally soothed him with its repetitive motion until the room faded out. He must have fallen asleep since he woke to a darkened room. Low light could not disguise the fact someone lay next to him in bed.
; “I’m sorry,” she purred.
He turned his head. Destiny’s slim, naked body pressed along his side. She smiled up at him. His arm somehow moved on its own, surrounding her.
Her hand latched on to the rigid flesh between his legs. Her slim fingers gently slid up and down his engorged length. He found it hard to breathe. When she stopped, he groaned at the loss of her heat-filled strokes.
“I didn’t mean to wake you, but I had this unbearable urge.”
“Quite all right, I’m sure.”
“Teach me something new?” she whispered.
He gazed at her through tiny beams of pink light that filtered through the window slats. Her feminine fragrance wafted up, and her delicate touch, as she cupped his balls, demanded an answer.
I should tell her no and leave. It’s the smart thing to do.
But, he hadn’t behaved like a smart man since the moment he’d met her on Wolf Rock Trail. From the moment he’d spied her bathing in the nude beneath the waterfall, he’d reverted to something more primitive.
With a moan, he succumbed to the pleasure of her hand. In return, he caressed a silky breast and breathed in the vanilla aroma of her braided honey-gold hair. Her own sigh of contentment broke the silence.
Without further thought, he leaned over and grabbed a condom from her nightstand. Ripping open the package with his teeth, he unrolled the protective sheath onto his pulsing erection. He shouldn’t be here with her, but he couldn’t help it.
He expelled a deep breath and relinquished control over the moment. He rolled toward her, laying on his right side, careful not to put any pressure on his bandaged left knee. He rolled her away from him, then pulled her into his chest.
“Ever hear of spooning?”
She giggled when he caressed her hip. As his tongue slid down toward her collarbone, he savored the salty tang of the skin below her ear.
“Yes, I’m familiar. I do talk with girlfriends about sex. And I read romance novels.”
“You get your information about sex from the paperbacks you pick up at a store?”
“Stop laughing at my choice of reading material,” she ordered. “Your breath is so warm on my neck. Ooh.”
When she wiggled her butt against his straining cock, he froze. “I’m sorry, Destiny. I don’t have anything against those books. My mother used to read them when we vacationed at the shore.”
“I like your mother already.”
“Thanks. I’m just nervous you’ll try to compare me to one of those heroes, with rippling muscles and hair blowing in the breeze, as he tears off his shirt, before he seduces the maiden.”
“Wow, sounds like you’ve actually read a couple,” she teased.
He coughed loudly, grabbed a breast, and changed the subject. “I won’t compete, is what I’m saying. You want me to teach you something, and it helps to know what you know, that’s all.”
Moving his hand back to her hip, his erection prodded her backside then slid along the creamy valley of her buttocks. She gasped.
“I’ve never done this, okay? You be the teacher. I’ll be your student. Just tell me what I need to do to get an ‘A’.”
He understood. She took great pleasure in teasing him. She didn’t realize her words made his confidence falter. Jacob growled as his cock softened.
Yes, he should run away. That would be the sensible thing, but when she rubbed her rear end back and forth against his crotch, all sense left his brain and traveled down between his legs.
“Raise this leg,” he demanded, and gave her thigh a quick slap. She squealed with shocked delight as she did as told. His cock hardened until thick and throbbing. His fingers slid down her thigh to the petal-soft insides of her womanly folds. When he found her wet and ready, a bestial growl erupted.
“This is wonderful,” she mewed, “being here with you is perfect, but I want you inside me.”
With a fleeting guilty thought, he slipped inside with one, pulsating push. Pumping faster and faster, his heart filled with an amazing sensation.
“Dear God, woman. You are so sweet.” Jacob couldn’t help it. He nibbled her ear as his hips thrust with a rhythmic staccato beat. This wasn’t lust or simple sexual gratification urging him on, but he forcefully pushed aside any idea this might be love.
No, this couldn’t go in that direction.
A future for them was not in the cards.
He let his fingers slide over her hip and dip between her legs, where he located the pulsing pearl at her womanly center, and rubbed. Her body trembled. Within moments, she shrieked and her inner muscles clamped around his buried cock. Desire turned to animal lust as he pumped harder and faster. Hot, salty tears from the pleasure threatened to fill his eyes. He arched his back and filled Destiny, instead.
CHAPTER 8
The weather turned cooler and more reminiscent of a New England September. When she pulled open the draperies, sunshine flooded Destiny’s living room. Jacob had dressed with her help and waited to leave her mountainside cabin. He still looked a bit pale. Before she allowed him outside, she slapped an old floppy hat on his head. A slight breeze tickled her cheeks when they walked outside.
“Here, let me help you.” With the homemade crutch under his arm, she led him off her porch to her ancient VW van.
“I can manage,” he answered.
She held his door, as he slid into the passenger seat. Destiny stored his crutch in the back. She climbed in on the driver’s side and uttered a quick prayer of thanks when the engine purred to life.
“Put on your seatbelt, please.” She backed up, and coasted down the dirt road toward Main Street.
“Where do we head first? Toward town or—”
“My apartment is on the west side.”
Her old van bumped along the woodland path. Neither noticed when a large shadow slinked behind her cabin, and out of sight.
***
A grimace spread over the shadowy figure’s face. Rage smoldered in his belly as he thought about what he had witnessed.
“How dare she have someone else in her cabin, and most likely in her bed! Who is that guy?” He’d caught only a glimpse of a teetering old man as she helped him into her rusty van.
“She’s sleeping with drunks and cripples now?” His low growl drifted across the yard. “I knew all along she was a slut, but I never figured her for giving it away to charity cases.”
He popped out of his hiding spot, as the vintage van headed down the mountain road. Her treachery made him stomp along the hidden path toward his car, while he labored to figure out what to do next.
His breathing slowed, but his heart pounded in his chest. Anger built to a boiling point, making him clench both hands into fists.
“If she thinks she’s going to continue to blow off my advances, she has another thing coming.” As he trudged along, he kicked pinecones littering the forest floor. Muscled arms shoved their way through branches covering the old trail. He thought about his love for her and his fractured mind asked the trees, “How could she do that?”
A soulful sound hung in the air.
“Was that a voice?” He knew she kept a small radio on her bedside table. He knew everything about her place. She hadn't hidden her key as well as she thought.
“It’s another damn country song.” Didn’t he prove his love to her by following her around town? Didn’t she feel safe knowing he watched over her, as she walked across campus, got into her car, shopped, or slept inside her lonely cabin? Of course, he rarely let her catch him following her because he did all this selflessly, for love.
Arriving at his hidden vehicle, he turned to face the path leading to her cabin, then leaned against the cool metal hood. One meaty hand slithered down his pants and released his erection.
His thick cock burned. Every time he got close to Destiny Blake, he ached for release. Sliding his fist up and back with a precise rhythm, he continued his mission toward self-gratification, and smiled.
Someday, I’ll stroke Destiny with these hands
, then she’ll return the favor.
His balls contracted and his brow broke out in a sweat. Perspiration dripped down his cheeks and his back arched.
“I’ll show her.” He climaxed, spewing his seed into the morning air. He vowed she’d soon get hers. Even her given name said she was destined to pay for the grief she caused.
***
Destiny helped Jacob up the steps to his apartment door, while he did his best not to think of her hand clamped around his arm, and the other around his waist. She waited quietly while he opened the door then deactivated the security system. The tap-tap-tap of his crutch echoed over the slate floor of his empty apartment’s entryway. Turning right, he headed toward his bedroom.
“Look around, if you want. I’ll only be a few minutes.” Without waiting for her response, he limped down the hall, then cursed. Why had his words come out hard and quick? She offered her help, no strings attached, but he knew the consequences of their lovemaking might raise its ugly head.
“Hell, she shouldn’t be here with me,” he muttered near his dresser, “and I shouldn’t allow her to drive me to school.” Yet his leg’s uselessness, combined with a lack of transportation, had him trapped. This town didn’t even offer taxi service.
How pitiful. I have no close friends I can call.
He paced with slow, cautious steps back to the living room. Destiny turned to look at him. He’d caught her glancing around his cozy living room at the sturdy furniture, top-rate stereo system, and gleaming wood dining room table beneath a modern light fixture made of creamy, molten glass.
“I don’t see a television.”
“I prefer to get my news and entertainment other ways.”
“Oh.”
He followed her into his kitchen. Stainless steel and chrome sparkled under the lights, softened by the barely-yellow cabinets over black granite counter tops and gray tile floors.
Destiny cooed with delight, obviously in love with the combination of colors and textures. She leaned over the double sink and gazed out the back window.
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