Love's Harvest (A Salmon Run Novel Book 1)

by Gwen Overland

  Diego’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fought to control himself. “Ah, Julia. You’re killing me!” he announced with laughter. “Enough! Sufficiente! You vixen, you!”

  With the strength of his intention, Diego gently pushed Julia so she lay on her back. Carefully, he pulled her toward the middle of the bed before situating himself between her legs. Once again she lifted her left leg and wrapped it around his shoulder as Diego carefully but with determination entered her. His breath hitched as he felt the tight harbor of her vagina squeezing him into the safety of her core.

  “I’ve dreamed of this moment for longer than I’m ashamed to say,” Diego whispered as he glanced down into Julia’s inviting face.

  “Then take me now, Diego. Take me with everything you have. Please!” Julia begged.

  He plunged himself within her all the way to the hilt of his shaft, paused a moment to take in the fullness of his pleasure, and then slowly retreated. Again and again he repeated the same action, each time deeper and faster than the first.

  Julia closed her eyes and with each thrust felt her body build in anticipation. Diego whispered to her in Spanish, none of which Julia knew word for word but understood the meaning all the same.

  “Open your eyes, Julia,” he finally said in English. “I want you to keep your eyes fixed on mine.”

  She did as he asked and immediately saw all the pleasure she was experiencing reflected in Diego’s eyes. With her hands gripping Diego’s muscled arms, she hung on for dear life.

  “Yes! Yes! Oh my God, Diego! Yes!” Julia repeated in response to the escalating movement of Diego’s body moving in and out of hers. As she stared into Diego’s strong yet vulnerable face, every ounce of embarrassment evaporated from her consciousness. All she wanted in this moment was to be completely open to his love.

  Diego’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest as their shared sexual intensity mounted. With each thrust he worked to convey the depth of his feelings for her—feelings which Diego hadn’t experienced to this level before in his life. My God, I’d even take a bullet for this woman.

  No longer able to hold back, Julia screamed out his name one last time as Diego filled her with his release. They pumped and pushed and thrust their bodies until they’d finally both wrung themselves completely dry.

  After several seconds, Diego made a move to lie beside her, but Julia stopped him. “Don’t leave me yet, Diego. Stay inside me for a minute or two longer.”

  Diego raised himself up onto his haunches and stared into her eyes as she lovingly rubbed her hands up and down his moist back. “I’d stay like this forever if I could. You take my breath away, Julia.”

  She smiled back up at him, allowing tears to form in her eyes. “And you take mine away as well, Diego.”

  He then lowered his head and kissed her with such feeling she thought she’d disappear into the bed. She returned his passion for passion and soon felt him grow hard within her once again. Julia loved how she could make Diego’s body respond to her deepest wish.

  Diego ended the kiss by whispering against her cheek. “You have me in your spell, Julia. I want you again, mi amor.”

  She smiled as her tears rolled down her face and onto Diego’s lips. “Already?”

  He laughed. “Sí, already. And always, my lovely Julia.”

  The two lovers gyrated slowly and gently in rhythm to the night, both hearts beating in response to the other. The softness of her body commanded the most tender of reactions from Diego, while the strength and hardness of his body begged for Julia’s repeated gifts of submission. They continued like this through the night, sleeping in each other’s embrace, waking only to make love once again.

  Julia was certain now. She was in love with this man. So deeply and thoroughly that it scared her while at the same time gave her an immense sense of comfort. Neither Diego nor Julia said the word love directly, but they both felt it as their bodies continued to move to the music of their captivated hearts.

  ~ ~ ~

  James woke up the following morning, startled to realize he was locked up in a cell at the county jail. As he lay on the lower of two bunks, he tried to recall how it was he got there. Nothing came to mind.

  Speaking of mind, his head hurt one hell of a lot more than his back, and his back was plenty sore. He tried to turn over to his side, but the stiffness of his body from sleeping on the hard surface of a two-inch thick mattress took its toll on his morning attitude.

  Ever so carefully, James managed to sit up, and when he did, his head hit the bottom edge of the bunk above his own.

  “Shit!” he said as much to himself as to whoever may be listening. His stomach lurched, forcing whatever was inside to travel up his esophagus. Quickly, he swallowed it all back down in an attempt to exercise some kind of control over himself. It didn’t take a genius to see he was at an all-time low.

  The town lawyer in jail? You’ve truly screwed yourself over this time but good, old buddy!

  When James wasn’t pointing his anger at Julia or Diego or even Gayle for that matter, he tended to dump it all on himself, and with good reason. His practice had diminished to nearly nothing. He owed thousands of dollars to the Nooksack River Casino. He was in debt up to his ears. He’d more than likely destroyed whatever was left of his marriage as a result. In the past, Robert was his punching bag, but now that he was gone, James had no one but himself to pummel.

  He was about to call out to see if anyone was in the front office when Sheriff Barbara opened up the access door and marched down the short aisle before stopping outside his jail cell door.

  “Good morning, James. Sleep well?”

  “How did I get here? You know you can’t keep me locked up like this. I haven’t broken any law,” James snarled.

  Barbara smiled. “Well, aren’t we Mister Grumpy Pants today? What’s the matter? Had too much to drink last night? Is that it?”

  James’s face turned red, partially out of anger, but also out of sheer embarrassment. “What I do is nobody’s business but my own.”

  “That’s not all together true, now is it?” The sheriff’s demeanor suddenly shifted to something much more foreboding. “According to Adriana Sabatini, you made quite a scene in her restaurant last night. That’s bad not only for her business, but for yours as well, James.”

  James felt chagrined, but he wasn’t going to let the sheriff in any way catch on what he was feeling.

  “So?” Good God, James, you sound like a petulant child!

  “So, you also have a wife and two children.” Barbara paced. “Now, I don’t think it’d be all that hot for your marriage, let alone for your standing as father-of-the-year in the eyes of your kids, if the three of them knew you were now the town drunk.”

  James let out a snide chuckle. “I’m hardly the town drunk!”

  Barbara gazed directly into James’s eyes. “How about the town ignoramus? The town loser? The town gambler?”

  James blanched as his stomach once again lurched. “What do you mean by that? You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  The sheriff stepped back and crossed her arms in front of her. “Well, as a matter of fact I do. My deputies and I have been doing a little research lately. We’ve come up with some very interesting information. Would you like to hear what we discovered?”

  “No!” James turned his face away from Barbara’s stare.

  “I think you do. After speaking with Charles Anderssohn at the bank and Robbie George at the casino, it appears you’re in some pretty desperate financial straits. Yes?”

  “Dammit, let me out of here, Barb! You’ve no right to hold me and you know it.” James was scrambling, and the knowledge of that fact made him even sicker to his stomach.

  Yet James was right and he knew Barbara knew it, as well. Barbara had every inte
ntion of letting him go, he reasoned, but not until he squirmed for a little bit longer.

  “All right, James,” she finally said. “I’ll get busy on your exit paperwork, but in the meantime, you have a visitor.”

  James’s headache was worsening by the minute. “I’m not interested in seeing anyone, thanks all the same.”

  Sheriff Barbara smiled mischievously. “Oh, I think you’ll want to see this person.” She turned and walked back toward the access door. Before she turned the knob, Barb glanced back at the miserable man sitting behind bars. “And by the way, James, good luck. You’ll need it.”

  The door slammed, and James winced. God, could this day get any worse?

  The door then opened again. Immediately, he knew. There stood the last person on earth he needed to see at this moment. “Oh shit!” he said out loud for the second time that morning.

  “Hello, James,” said the woman. “I think it’s time we had a talk.”

  James could no longer keep from throwing up. As he ran toward the hole in the floor, he felt tears come to his eyes for the first time in years. After retching twice, he grabbed the edge of the sink to steady himself. Quickly, he splashed cold water on his tear-stained face. Slowly, he raised his head to look in the mirror above the sink. Seeing the woman’s worried reflection, James finally spoke.

  “I’m sorry, Gayle. I’m truly very, very sorry.”

  “I know, James. I know.” Gayle saw a wooden stool standing against the wall several cell units down. Without saying another word, she ambled over to retrieve it and set it down in front of James’s jail cell door.

  James found his way back to his bunk, careful not to move too fast. For at least a minute or more the married couple sat in silence not knowing how to broach the subject given its depressing nature.

  Finally, Gayle took in a deep breath. “I know about the gambling debts, James. And the spent savings and lost investments.”

  Another minute passed in silence. James searched for the words to say to his wife but was at a loss to find them.

  “When were you going to tell me? Or were you?” she asked.

  James didn’t have enough energy to raise his head. His eyes fixed on the floor in front of him. “I hadn’t thought that far. I knew I was in trouble, but I thought I could somehow win the money back, given that in the past I’ve had some success at the crap tables.”

  “Spoken like a true addict, James.” Gayle took in a deep breath. “You’ve not only stolen from yourself, but from me, and what’s worse, from Jimmy and Bobbie, as well.” She wanted to read him the riot act, but at the same time she wanted to point him toward getting some help.

  “I know, Gayle. I’m a mess. I only want to come home.”

  In the fifteen years Gayle and James had been married, Gayle had never seen him cry. That was, not until now. “Look, you and I both know you need to get professional help,” she said calmly. “Nobody can do this for you but yourself. And even though I love you, I hate what you’ve become. So, I’m sorry, James. Until you straighten yourself out and prove I can trust you once again to be the kind of man you were when I married you, I’m afraid home’s still off limits.”

  “If that’s the way you feel, I understand.” James wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeves.

  “I’m not finished,” Gayle continued. “You’re going to stop pestering Julia and the employees at the winery, which now includes me, by the way. That business is hers to do with as she wants and not yours.”

  James raised his head and made eye contact with his wife.

  “You’ll apologize to your children for what you’ve done, and you’ll come back to church and sit with us as a family.”

  “You ask for a lot, Gayle,” he said sourly.

  “You’re the one who wants to come home, so I suggest you shut up and do as I ask. Otherwise, I’m this far from serving you with divorce papers.”

  She held up her thumb and forefinger to show the distance of barely an inch. “I’m also aware of what you did to doctor the deed to the Nooksack Valley Winery and Vineyard. I now have that deed in a place where you’ll never find it.”

  “So?”

  She couldn’t help but chuckle. “So, one slip up, one false move, one little lie, one sideways sneer, and I’m taking that document to the sheriff and within minutes you’ll be placed under arrest.”

  James couldn’t believe what he was hearing. To his knowledge Gayle had never before acted this forthright. He wondered if Julia had something to do with Gayle’s change of personality, for now both women were acting much differently than in the past. “You’d do that to the father of your children?” he asked.

  Gayle stood up and sauntered up to the bars of his cell. “Oh, please, James. After what you’ve done to us, you have absolutely no room to talk. I’m going to have Sheriff Barbara release you into your own custody so you’ll have time to go back to wherever it is you’re staying and get ready for church.” Gayle turned and started toward the access door.

  “But . . .”

  Gayle abruptly stopped and turned to interrupt him.

  “No ‘buts’, James or you’re toast!”

  She turned around and exited, slamming the access door behind her for effect.

  James tried to make sense of everything that’d transpired in the last half hour. He knew he was caught between a rock and a hard place, but he still didn’t believe for one minute he needed any kind of help whatsoever. He’d gambled and run into a rash of bad luck. That was all. As far as the winery was concerned, he’d let that issue lay dormant for now. Once he got things straightened out with Gayle, then he could again work at getting his hands on that property once and for all. There’d be nothing Gayle could do about it one way or another. As far as the deed was concerned? Well, he wasn’t sure what he’d do about that. But he knew Duncan would have the answer. Now his only problem was how he was going to get ready in time for church while nursing the worse hangover of his life.

  ~ ~ ~

  Diego lay awake, staring at Julia as she slept with her head in the crook of his elbow and her arm stretched over the top of his bare chest. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known, inside and out.

  When he first woke, he was torn between making love to her one more time before leaving or allowing her to sleep as long as she could while nestled in his arms. That was an hour or more ago, and he was glad he opted for the second choice. Not that he didn’t enjoy making love to the woman, but to watch Julia sleep with such a look of complete satisfaction on her face made him realize how lucky he was.

  He was in love with her. This he knew for certain. And if he wasn’t mistaken, she was falling for him as well. Yet neither of them said the word love to each other throughout the entire night, not even once.

  Diego had it on the tip of his tongue several times, but thought better of saying it since this was only the very beginning of what he hoped would turn into a very long love affair. And he didn’t want to scare her away by coming on too strong. And what about marriage?

  As he lay staring up at the ceiling, he could think of at least a dozen or more reasons to not go there. Julia was a famous concert pianist, the owner of the winery, and a recent widow. He was a displaced Mexican farm worker with nothing more to his name than an old car and a crucifix. Yet the dream of Julia cuddling a baby girl while singing in a porch rocking chair haunted him. Particularly since the little girl happened to look at a great deal like the two of them.

  He smiled at the thought of sharing the rest of his life with Julia, even though he wasn’t sure how to make that happen. For now, he’d stay content simply knowing she cared for him as much as he cared for her. Yet, if he ever had the chance to make her his wife, he’d sacrifice everything near and dear to him for her merely to be happy. “Te amo, my darling. I love you,” he whispered into her ear as he ga
thered her into his arms.

  Julia stretched her body against his and a smile soon found its way onto her face. Gradually, her eyes opened. Her face was buried into Diego’s chest, whose body hair playfully tickled her nose. She raised her head to see if he was yet awake and found him staring back at her smiling.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  “Buenos dias, mi amor. Did you sleep well?”

  Julia gave him a teasing poke in his side. “Yes, what little I did sleep, you beast!”

  Diego quickly turned her over and lay on top. He studied her face and then kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m sorry, Señora. You said you had trouble sleeping?”

  Julia began to giggle. “Not trouble sleeping, trouble getting to sleep. Someone, I won’t name who, kept wanting my attention.” She rubbed his back with her talented hands. “Diego!”

  He could feel himself grow hard again against her leg.

  My God, I am a beast!

  “Oh, sí. I apologize. Someone, I won’t name who, kept responding to my kisses.” He kissed her again, this time on her chin. “Julia!”

  Her lips parted, and Diego took that as a sign she was ready to be kissed silly, which they did as if they‘d never have the opportunity to kiss again.

  Julia moaned, as was her habit. Diego ground his manhood against her mons. He knew she was more than likely sore from their evening’s activities, but he had to be inside of her one last time.

  “I’ll take it slow this time, my darling,” he assured her.

  Diego sat up and placed Julia’s legs above his on either side of him. He then lifted her above him and gently lowered her onto himself until he was fully sheathed. She leaned forward and let him do all the work as he nuzzled her breasts in his mouth, first one and then the other. Every movement was slow and sensuous, both of them taking whatever time they needed to make sure their partner felt exactly what they did—cared for, attended to, loved.