WindSwept Narrows: #18 Paige Andrews

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “Interesting assessment, Miss Andrews,” he tipped his glass to her. “Chase has a higher tolerance level for chit-chat than I do. There’s a place for fun, personal chatter. Exchanges that entertain and amuse…”

  “I’m not big on clothing or hair discussions,” Paige said with a bubble of laughter. “You’re safe, Sebastian.”

  “I like this kind of date better than the fancy ones,” he said after a quiet minute. “But I know how to dress and have some smooth dance moves, should the situation arise.”

  “That’s always a relief to know,” but the smile on her face said it really didn’t matter. “I seriously doubt you could have accomplished all you’ve done without that kind of polish. People are just…collections…memories and events and behaviors. Given the right situation, everyone either collapses or finds new behaviors that help them survive, including fancy dress and tolerance. Pepper and I’ve talked about it…we figure the first step is to make sure the person you want to hit isn’t important to something in your guys business dealings,” she watched him laughing as he drained the ale and began folding lids on containers.

  “I think I got a little carried away,” he admitted, carrying things into the kitchen, following her. He collected and cleaned while she transferred things to plastic containers.

  “Guess you have a ready lunch for tomorrow,” she said with a shrug.

  He leaned against the counter, hands on the edge as she worked.

  “Why do you carry a gun, Paige?”

  Paige heard the question with the potency of a single gunshot in the center of a silent forest. Her hands moved over the snapping containers, pouring and locking them before dropping the empty cardboard into the trash.

  “I didn’t always. I didn’t like them at all when I was growing up. I hated seeing what they did to…to animals around the ranch. Hated it,” she whispered vehemently. “I’m logical enough to know there’s a reason for them, even then. Most of the time, I’m logical enough to know all humans aren’t the same. I think I switched to hating alcohol for a time after…”

  “Paige,” Sebastian felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.

  “One thing…one key thing, Sebastian…is communication,” she carried the containers to the fridge and set them inside. “I won’t be lied to or talked around and I won’t keep secrets. A couple drunk boys were pissed off at a dance one spring. I dated…” She shrugged absently. “But I preferred brains to brawn and that wasn’t acceptable to some. One of my few missteps…believing when one of them asked me outside to talk about school. I was fifteen…getting the best of brothers is easy compared to a couple hormone driven, alcohol high kids.”

  She closed the fridge and put her palm on his chest with a gentle pat.

  “It’s okay…I have brothers that watched out for me,” she said with a crooked grin. “They tried, but I know how to fight. Then, I had nails and teeth and feet…” She wandered the living area, closing up the table and sliding it beneath the sofa before sinking down into the corner. “I was scared. I was a kid. Torn clothes…some people blamed me. Two really messed up boys were dragged into the dance by my brothers and dropped at the feet of the football coach. I didn’t go back to that school. I thought about shooting them…a lot. I finished in a private school in another town and one of my electives was target shooting. I thought about it a long time and it might be another reason I went into the police academy. Just another one of those things that would never have happened if you weren’t a girl,” she finished, letting her head fall back to the cushion. “The problem with learning about people…is generally…learning about people,” she said with a little grin when she lifted her head.

  “Your brothers allowed them to live?” Sebastian took the opposite corner, watching as she rose and turned the fireplace on, red-gold flames bouncing to life. She shivered and tapped the light switch down a few notches.

  “You’d like them…” She said with a laugh, her head shaking. “Might be hard to believe but I’m not big on violence, inordinate violence,” she corrected. “They had a heated debate about the two guys. It ended up a tie…Pete and Frank are the two oldest and stated the obvious…the damage done to them by me was far more demoralizing than anything they could do to them after the fact. I was the decider, hitched up the shoulder of my dress, kicked each one of them one more time and told them to drag them into the center of the school dance for me. They did. I stood over them announcing that I did that because they tried to rape me in the parking lot. It was good bravado…I didn’t crack until they got me home,” she said softly.

  He didn’t ask permission or wait for a different kind of opening.

  Paige relaxed when he moved closer and turned her back to him, pulling her into his arms and resting his chin on her shoulder.

  “They were right,” Sebastian said reluctantly. “It would have been worse on them knowing you’d been the one to beat them down. But it doesn’t make it easier to accept, from a brother stand point.”

  “I think I worried them on the ride home. No noise. No talking…and they were afraid to say anything, I think,” she shrugged and snuggled back with a sigh. “I was a girl but not to them…it’s hard to explain…I grew up one of them but now…this girl stuff is thrown into a mix that doesn’t come with instructions. Fortunately mom handled the hysterical me and dad took the boys off for a while and just let us be.”

  “You’d definitely worry me if you were silent,” Sebastian saw her nose wrinkle and laughed. “How’s the headache?”

  Paige twisted and turned. “Actually…pretty much gone. I think it’s those medicinal herbs in Chinese food…or the charming company.”

  “You find me charming?” Just a hint of hopeful edged his voice.

  “Why were you at the granary site that night, Sebastian?” Paige turned her back to the outside, her knees drawn up on the wide sofa. She watched his head go against the high backed cushions.

  “I saw the lights of the boat,” he said honestly. “The house I bought is a bit higher on the hill above the granary and to the southwest. I was headed there to check things out when I saw them. I knew no one was supposed to be on the property, so I went in to check.”

  “They’re searching for stuff…something someone left…” Paige stared at the edge of his jaw, vaguely aware of his palm on her waist, fingers gently massaging. “But the one who hit me…I don’t know he or she was after…I didn’t see…” she dropped her head and closed her eyes. “I didn’t see anything…or hear anything…” she lifted her head and leaned over, put her nose close to his throat and inhaled. “But I remember…”

  “Paige…” He felt the tightening, inhaled the scents around her and held his breath.

  “You smell like leather…and whatever stuff you use…I smelled her…it was a her that hit me in the warehouse,” anger flared into her eyes, her face inches from his and breath catching and sticking deep in her chest. “What would a woman be doing climbing around in that rubble?”

  “You…climb around in that rubble,” he reminded her, becoming distracted and aroused.

  She didn’t move away, he noted, his palm sliding up her arm and over her shoulder, onto the slender throat. It was as if she’d frozen in place, the tantalizing full bow of her lips open a little but he was pretty sure neither of them were breathing at the moment.

  Sebastian tipped her chin back, just a little, just enough of a touch that brought her mouth closer, his lips brushing hers. Lightly. Teasing. The she brought her hands up and framed his face her mouth settling hungrily over his at the same time she let her fingers spear into the hair at the sides of his head. There wasn’t pain in her head but it suddenly felt like it was filled to capacity and threatening. Heat, pressure, need…she didn’t know where all of them were coming from at once.

  Her tongue cruised alongside his, teasing, tasting and inviting. In an instant she knew what sensory overload meant. She wrapped her fingers around and through his hair, letting the thick softness tickle her
palms even as she felt the fullness of his mouth. She broke the kiss only to nip at his lip and sink down again with a low groan. She traced her tongue over his lower lip, trailing it along his jaw and finding a soft spot just below his ear to nip and taste. And she’d been right about his scent. The mixtures of leather and cologne and shower stuff raced through her with all the other senses at once.

  Sebastian knew he hadn’t been stable since first hitting the wall that was Paige Andrews. Some long buried instinct had flared to life when he turned around and met her eyes in that dark warehouse. His body moved forward and hers unfolded as he stretched them out on the sofa. He pinned her against the back, her arms raised and around his neck and mouth eagerly leading him from one kiss to another. He pulled his mouth from hers, trailing hot kisses over her jaw and onto her throat, his lips brushing the edge of her shirt, nudging it lower and trailing his tongue along the top of her breast.

  Paige felt his hand stroking along her spine, onto her behind and her hip, pulling her hard against him. Their groans mingled in the heat of the fire in the room and the searing touch of one to the other. She liked the way his hand was heavy, confident as he pressed along her side, those teasing fingers just barely brushing the underside of her breast, just enough to make her move closer.

  Paige took a firm hold on his head and pulled his mouth back to hers, whispering hotly over his lips.

  “You’re a tease…” she murmured, gasping loudly when his palm completely captured her breast.

  “Better?” He asked gruffly, fingers circling where the nipple would be, stroking heavily, back and forth until it crinkled beneath his attention. She felt good in his hand, small and full and perfect for him, her response eating away the little control he thought he still owned.

  “Yes…oh, yes…” she shivered in his hand and felt a course stream of lightening begin sending out tingling strands to other parts of her. She brought one hand from his face, felt the buttons of his shirt and pulled them quickly aside, her palm gliding inside, caressing the heat, taking the warmth and raising the temperature considerably.

  “Paige…” Her named was pulled from someplace deep, his body shifting her over him, giving both his hands free reign. He pulled her hard against him, a move that made them both groan aloud. “I haven’t been able to think sane in days…” he felt the ripple of laughter against his throat, her kiss ranging down to his chest. He wasn’t sure how she got all the buttons open, but she pushed the sides apart.

  Paige wasn’t interested in sane. She liked the smell of him. She wanted the taste of him beneath her tongue. She let her mouth trail kisses and bites over his chest, onto his shoulder and throat until his body released a shudder that sent the girl in her melting into a long slow kiss.

  Slightly glazed over eyes blinked when she suddenly felt herself lifted by her shoulders and held out at arm’s length.

  “Sebastian?”

  “Paige…I know it’s cliché…but if you want this stopped, you better say something now…I’m only human and you’re…” he stopped, blinking when she split her legs and sat astride him, her hands up and pulling her tee shirt over her head and dropping it to the floor. His gaze went from the soft smile to the gentle rise and fall of a wisp of lace and nylon that was definitely straining.

  “But there is one thing…” Paige leaned over and whispered in his ear, blinking wildly when she suddenly found herself on the floor, on her feet, her shirt shoved back into her hands.

  Chapter Eight

  She watched him stride from the room and heard the bathroom door slam. She shimmied into her shirt and sunk back to the corner of the sofa, knees drawn up and arms around them.

  Paige pulled her lips between her teeth. She could see water on his face and hair and she would bet anything it was frigid. Her eyes widened when he came forward, leaned in and kissed her hard.

  “Where is the nearest store?”

  “Let me get my shoes…” Paige slipped to the side and raced for a pair of slip-ons, grabbed her keys and pack and took his hand.

  “Leave the pack, Paige, I need the air,” Sebastian, put his jacket on and opened a closet, pulling a heavier jacket from inside and handing it to her.

  “I…air…on the…really, Sebastian…I can understand how it’s a very big part of you, but I’m just not all that…oh, god…you’re not listening…” She left the pack, stuffed keys into her jeans and was breathing jaggedly as he pulled her toward the motorcycle. She stood stock still as he put the helmet on her, buckled it and reached for his own. He slid the key into place and mounted the bike. “Oh god…”

  “Remember the steps, Paige?” He straightened the bike, slipped the stand up and braced it, offering her his hand. He heard a weak little something that sounded like a prayer before she put her hand in his. He watched her foot go to the peg, long leg balancing herself before she swung the other over the seat. She wiggled a little, pushing hard up against him and wrapping her hands around his waist, sliding beneath the jacket for warmth. “Directions, Paige.”

  “Oh…yeah…um…end of the street…to the right…main street…second light right again…stretch of shops,” Paige closed her mouth, forced herself to breathe through her nose. “How…how long have you been riding?”

  “All my life. Started on dirt bikes as a kid…been hooked ever since,” he told her. “I need to get you a pair of gloves.”

  “I don’t have to get a tattoo, do I?”

  “Not unless you want one,” he said with a laugh. He parked outside the brightly lit chain pharmacy. “Dismount like you get on…store the helmet in the case behind you.”

  “You carry yours with you,” she said, doing as he said and watching him lock a stand in place before swinging one long leg over the side. Hands pulled the thick gloves free and stuffed them in the helmet before he took her hand and walked with her.

  “Habit. It’s too big for the case and I don’t want it stolen,” he explained, hesitating a little, uncertain on who takes the lead with this project. He stopped in the entrance, meeting her eyes. “I don’t know what to buy, Paige.” He watched her close one eye. “I…that’s coming out all wrong…and I must have it damn bad because I can see the questions in your eyes. I’ve used them, yes.”

  “Not sure if this is news or not, but it’s not usually the girl who buys them,” she said softly, shrugging and dragging in a long breath. “Live and learn, I always say,” taking a firm grip on his palm and striding confidently into the store, reading signs hanging over the tops of the aisles until she found the right one. “Alrighty then…”

  Pale lashes widened and widened a little more. She bent forward, hands on her knees, reading labels from brightly colored box to box. She straightened, cleared her throat and rubbed a pair of damp palms over her behind.

  “I had no idea…I should have listened to some of those father son chats my dad had with my brothers,” Paige murmured, shaking her head and taking four boxes from the hanging displays and thrust them at him. “Here. Get those. I need air,” she declared, striding out of the store without a glance back. She knew her cheeks were bright red because she could feel the heat down to her toes.

  Paige went straight to the bike and lifted the smaller helmet from inside. Heavy piece of plastic, she thought as she slipped it over her head, fingers fiddling with the strap. She saw him coming toward her and held up one finger.

  Sebastian heard her voice through the microphone and shook his head, handing her the small bag and dropping his helmet over his head.

  “Can’t hear you if it’s not on my head, Paige,” he said, adjusting the gloves and mounting the bike. “Let’s go.”

  “How come I get a choice of condoms and I don’t about riding this…this…thing?” She asked testily, hands quickly circling him and holding on when he turned the key and swiftly guided them back to the road.

  “Ask me later,” he said simply, deliberately sending them shooting around traffic so her mind was on a lot of other things when they pulled before the a
partment again. She was off, stumbling only a little as she stored the helmet and ran up the stairs, key out and opening the door.

  “I swear it’s turning back to winter out there…crazy assed people ride without roofs over them,” she mumbled darkly, striding to the bedroom and kicking her shoes at the closet.

  “It won’t be so bad once you get a decent fitting jacket and gloves,” he said, dropping the helmet to the chair and making sure the locks were in place before heading toward her voice.

  “It’s freezing out there and you’re zipping around in traffic like some kind of crazy bird who still has feet on the ground…” Paige lost the words and desire to breathe when his palms came up, framed her face and his mouth took hers in a long, hot kiss. “Oh god…I think you melted my knees…”

  “Ride the bike with me and I promise to melt your knees on a regular basis,” Sebastian whispered against her mouth, groaning when her hands came between them to open the buttons on his shirt and push it wide for her palms.

  Smokey brown eyes peered up at him when she leaned back only far enough to pull the t-shirt over her head again, pressing forward to feel him against her. She stepped forward, forcing him to back against the bed, his hands out to grip her shoulders.

  “Paige…I need to get my boots off…” he laughed, dropped the bag to the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed, his mouth losing its moisture when she opened the front of her jeans and wiggled until they were at her feet. She stepped forward again, his face level with the flat of her stomach. He tugged on the tiny ring and offered a crooked grin when she put her hands on his shoulders seconds before letting her fingers get tangled in his hair and her mouth sinking to his with a soft, needy moan.

  Sebastian fell back gently to the surface, his hands beginning at the middle and spreading hungrily, wanting to go in all directions at once over the woman in his arms. He rolled her to the side, opening his belt and blinking at her when her hand came over his. His head fell hard to the bed, eyes closed as she continued what he’d begun. Just a touch. Just a trace of her fingers made his body harden more, made breathing difficult and moisture scarce. He heard the zipper move, felt her hand pressing over the front of his jeans before both hands separated the sides. Her fingers slid inside, fine edges of her nails trailing along the band of his boxers.