Scarlett Hood & the Hunter

by Pumpkin Spice

  “You’re right,” I said slowly rising, but instead of standing I knelt before him. With the pretense of zipping my jeans, I let my blouse fall forward so that it dipped and revealed my breasts without letting them show entirely. I want you as much as you want me.

  I looked up at him and started to zip up my jeans. “You know what, we should eat.” I was eye level with his bulge. “I haven’t had any protein today.” I drew a deep breath and let my breasts rise and slowly fall. “What sounds good?” I glanced down at my jeans and let my hair shield my face while I purposefully fumbled with my zipper.

  “Oh crap!” I dramatically threw my head back and closed my eyes in feigned defeat.

  “What?”

  “Ugh! I think I broke my zipper.” I shook my head and exhaled. When I opened my eyes Jack was staring at me. My blouse was falling off my shoulders, my breasts were on display, and my jeans now exposed more of my very naughty, red, lace panties that I had worn specifically in hopes that Jack would find his way into me again. The big reveal was that the panty was crotch-less. But to get to that reveal was going to take some doing.

  “Oh, well.” I exhaled and let my breasts heave. “Do you have some sweats or something I could borrow?”

  Jack nodded. “Uh, yeah.”

  “Great.” I popped up as quickly and unexpectedly as he had done to me and my breasts bounced along with me. I shimmied out of my jeans like I wasn’t trying to turn him on—again. Next, I made sure I picked up my jeans with my foot and slightly kick them away from me. My kick was deliberate so that even a blind man would know my panties were crotch-less because when I lifted my leg the sweet scent of a hot, wet, wanton woman wafted between us. There was no denying that I was turned on, and by the wide-eyed look on Jack’s face there was no way he had either.

  “So those sweats?” I looked at Jack.

  He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into him. His cock pressed hard against me. Heat coursed between us, and I could barely catch my breath.

  “I don’t think you should ever wear clothes,” he said.

  But I quickly regained my composure. With my free hand I swatted his chest. “Oh, Jack,” I said, rolling my eyes for good measure. “Come on.”

  With Jack still holding onto me, I slightly turned toward the kitchen and exposed the luscious, seductive, red satin thong that hugged my ass and screamed for his cock to ride up against it. “Let’s go eat.”

  His hold on me grew stronger. I looked back at him. “What? Aren’t we going to make something?”

  He shook his head.

  “You want to go out and grab a bite?” I glanced toward the front door. “I bet The Magic Oven’s still serving. Oh,” I said with feigned enthusiasm. “We could go pick up one of their take and bake pizzas. That Hansel knows his way around some dough. And his sister Gretel’s no slacker when it comes to desserts.”

  Jack’s eyes zoomed in on me, and it was hard to tell if he was on the verge of laughing at me or loving on me. I wasn’t sure. I just knew that I hated to see him torn between what he wanted to do and what he felt he should do. I knew he wanted to be with me, but I knew he felt a sense of duty to do what was right. Right by my Granny. Right by Blue. Right by the lumberjacks that had entrusted him and pretended to unionize. Right by Geppetto, my Godfather. Right by the SEC. And right by the town of Amāre.

  I didn’t want to be one more person placing a demand on him. Or someone he felt he had to do “right” by. Yet he still held onto my wrist. He wouldn’t let go. I don’t think he knew how. I walked back into him. No games. No teasing. No taunting. I reached up with my free hand and gently touched the side of his face.

  “Whatever you decide to do tonight. I just want to spend it beside you,” I said.

  Relief washed over him. Tension fell from his forehead, the lines around his eyes softened, and his jaw relaxed. And the way he pulled me into him was like coming home. I leaned against his chest, and he gently kissed the top of my head. I could spend forever right here.

  “I just have one question,” he said quietly in my ear.

  I looked up at him.

  “Where in Amāre do you get your panties?”

  Our laughter mixed together, and it was the sweetest sound I had heard since this whole Wolfe thing started. Jack scooped me up in his arms like he had in the Dark Forest and carried me into his bedroom. A silvery moon cast its light on his bed. He laid me down and propped me against his stack of pillows. I had a bird’s eye view of Amāre that no postcard had ever captured. It was breathtaking, but not nearly as captivating as watching Jack as he peeled away his shirt, kicked off his boots, or stepped out of his jeans to make his own reveal. Commando. I widely smiled. Nice.

  Standing in the moonlight, firm chest, muscular arms, toned legs, he looked like a Greek god, and I wanted to worship at the altar. Damn.

  I slipped off my blouse and crawled to the edge of the bed before him in my red, lacy, satin, barely-there panty and nothing else. I looked up at him, and if I could make a promise with my eyes it was that tonight would be memorable.

  He raised an eyebrow and smiled back. His cock seemed to be making the same promise. I put my hand under the ridge of his cock, just below the tip, and started to stroke it. His body responded immediately. His cock jutted toward my mouth, but I kept my lips sealed. I stroked the head without going down the full shaft of his cock, and it drove him crazy. The tip of his cock oozed with drops of cum. I looked up at him and took a long, slow lick.

  He tasted tangy and bitter. His scent was a mixture of musky and sweet, sweaty and clean. Everything about Jack was a contradiction. He was strong and yet vulnerable. He was fearless and reckless. He’d fearlessly swing in to save the day, only to recklessly miss the intended target. In public he watched his Ps and Qs, but privately his proclivities ran prolific. He was all man.

  And just as soon as I thought I was in control and had him where I wanted him, Jack flipped me on my back and ran his hands down my torso. The weight of his body pressed against me with his cock directing his every move. I reached down between his legs and cupped his balls.

  He dug his mouth into my shoulder and I arched toward him, but I knew Jack. I knew he would take his time and that I would enjoy every minute of delayed pleasure. His tongue roved my body moving from my breasts to my belly button but never settling on one place very long. His movements were quick and sporadic and drove me crazy. I raised my hips toward him, and he reached into his nightstand and pulled out a condom.

  I watched as he tore the package open with his mouth, and I practically salivated, knowing what was coming next. He slid it down over his cock. Jack entered me from the missionary position, but then he slid to his side and draped my legs over him. We were like one giant “X” on his bed.

  Suddenly I felt more of his body in motion with mine. I reached around and grabbed his ass as he thrust into me. I pulled him deeper and deeper into me. With one hand on his ass and my other hand wrapped around his shoulder, I dictated each thrust. I brought him further into me with greater impact and force. I controlled his cock.

  He reached down between my legs, which were drenched with sweat, and began to rub my wet clitoris. I thought I would stop breathing. My body was already close to orgasm, but with Jack’s hand on my clit combined with my hand on his ass, moving his rock-hard cock in and out of me, the entire thing tilted my vanilla world on its axis. My legs clamped down on him, my back arched, and for a moment I think I lost consciousness. For certain, I know I purred as my claws dug into him. Pumpkin may have her moves, but so did I.

  Chapter Twelve

  My phone buzzed with an incoming text. It was from the SEC. I quickly read the message. Wolfe had made contact with Geppetto. Now, it was my turn. I had to deal with one of Amāre’s worst villains. I slipped out of bed and into my clothes. I didn’t look back at Scarlett. I couldn’t. I grabbed what I needed and left. No note. No explanation. No loose ends.

  Before I showed up for the designated meet, I had one last stop to
make.

  It seemed like there were more shadows in the Dark Forest or maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me. I tucked my chin in the neck of my jacket and braved the cold that had woven its way into the air like an unwanted guest. Smoke rose from her chimney. I gently knocked on her door. Dawn hadn’t even broken when she opened the door.

  “Jack? Is everything okay?”

  I nodded. “May I come in?”

  She stepped aside, and I walked in.

  ****

  I left her house through the back door and glanced in either direction before heading toward a back road I didn’t even know existed. It would get me out of the Dark Forest and back into town almost undetected. I patted my jacket pocket. The most important part of my day was still safely tucked inside. It was only a matter of time before Wolfe got was coming to him and so did Scarlett.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Her tail brushed across my face and tickled my nose. I ducked under the blankets, but I knew she was as persistent as she was proud. She wouldn’t stop until she had nothing short of my complete attention.

  “Hello, Pumpkin.” I pulled back the blankets and looked at her. She turned her head as if I hadn’t spoken. As if I were a nuisance in her morning routine.

  I literally gasped. “Oh, you cheeky, little thing.” I turned on my side, yanked the comforter that the tabby was curled up on, and she tumbled to the floor with a small yelp. I looked over the side of the bed, and her green eyes looked up at me in complete disbelief. “Uh-huh. Well, I didn’t mean for you to fall off the bed.”

  I patted the pillow where Jack had slept and I had fallen to sleep on his shoulder, and in one swift motion Pumpkin was up on the bed and back beside me. I turned toward her. “So where is he?”

  Pumpkin didn’t turn away when I spoke, but she didn’t answer either.

  I exhaled. “Yeah, I’m not sure either.” I picked up my cell phone off the nightstand. No missed calls, text messages or voicemail. Hmm.

  “Maybe he’s the love ‘em and leave ‘em kind,” I said to the orange-and-white striped cat that looked like it had been tie-dyed. “Although…” I looked around his room. “Usually they don’t leave when it’s their place and I’m still wearing his clothes.”

  I sat up in bed, and Jack’s navy-colored t-shirt bunched around me. It was two-times too large and a perfect fit. It was soft, worn, and made for the best after-sex attire. I fingered my hair back into a ponytail and then twisted the ponytail until it was one long twist of hair. I wrapped the twist clockwise around my head into a messy bun that I tucked into place with a loose curl that pulled it all together.

  “Voila!” I tilted my head toward Pumpkin whose interest I had actually garnered. Go figure.

  My cell phone chimed. “Maybe that’s Jack!”

  A text message appeared across the screen from a number I didn’t recognize. “Come to the Old Lumberyard offices at 5 PM.”

  “Well, that’s interesting.” It was ten in the morning. Five seemed like a really long time to wait to find out who had asked me to a meeting at an office building that hadn’t been occupied since Paul Bunyan died.

  I looked at Pumpkin. “I think it’s time to go visit an old friend.”

  ****

  “Sometimes you ask too many questions.”

  “I’d have to agree.”

  I looked from my Granny to Blue and then back to Blue. “What?” I placed my glass of iced tea back on its coaster on the kitchen table in Blue’s house and noticed that neither Granny nor Blue were drinking tea. “Is that Maple? Are you drinking maple shots?” I glanced at my watch. “It’s barely noon.”

  Granny spoke first. “Like I’ve always said, ‘You can’t go wrong with something you get straight from the tree.’”

  I shook my head, and my bun practically fell from its perched position. “Okay, so maybe it’s the maple shots talking because I don’t think either of you heard me correctly. I got an anonymous text to meet someone at the Old Lumberyard offices.” I raised my shoulders. “It could be Bernie Wolfe for all I know. Or that little trickster Rumplestiltskin. He’s always spinning something.”

  Both women waved their hands at me as if I were a bothersome fly. “Scarlett, your imagination is wild.”

  “No,” I shook my head. “My imagination is not wild.” Well, actually since meeting Jack…I quickly regrouped. “Listen, ladies, someone is using Paul’s old office, for what, we don’t know. I think we should contact the Amāre police.”

  I held out my cell phone, and both women practically leaped across Blue’s oak table to grab it from me. And that’s when I knew something was amiss in Amāre. I tucked my cell phone into my gray hoodie, reached for my Granny’s glass, and in one swift move threw back the sweet, maple-flavored whiskey that hit the back of my throat with a hint of smokiness and a rich note of honey.

  I looked at my Granny and her oldest friend, who looked at me with wide eyes and painted on smiles. “Would you like some more, dear?” Granny asked. “Blue’s got a whole bottle of the stuff. It might settle your nerves.”

  I held up my finger. “Don’t.”

  “You do seem a bit jumpy,” Blue said.

  I wagged my finger at the seventy-year-olds who acted as though diving across tables was a common occurrence for them.

  “Nuh-uh. Not a chance,” I said. “Start talking. What gives?”

  But neither of them would spill the beans.

  I looked at them. “Is this about Jack?” There was a drop in my voice that couldn’t be masked. I knew that Jack’s next order of business was Bernie Wolfe. I didn’t know where or when or how.

  “All I’m going to say,” Granny finally said, “is that the bun on your head is not very becoming. Not at all.”

  What?

  “I’d have to agree,” Blue said. “The Hood women have beautiful red hair.”

  “Scarlett, you really should go home, take a shower, a very long shower, shave, wash your face, put on some makeup, a dress, and then go make this appointment at five,” Granny said. She pushed out her chair and walked over to me. “Sometimes,” she said softly in my ear, “happily ever after isn’t just for fairytales.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  At exactly the stroke of five, I heard her boots against the wood-planked staircase outside the office. I smiled. She’s on time.

  The door to the office was already open, but I stepped out onto the threshold to meet her.

  “Jack?” Her eyes questioned me.

  “Who were you expecting?”

  She raised her shoulders, and crimson spirals bounced against her jean jacket. “I wasn’t sure what to expect.”

  “I was trying to be mysterious,” I said.

  She slowly nodded. “Well, you were that.”

  “Are you okay?”

  It took her a moment to answer. “Why am I here?”

  I reached for her hand, but she held it at her side.

  “Scarlett, I wanted to share this with you.”

  “Share what?”

  I extended my hand toward the office. “Welcome to ‘Wood Hood Union’.”

  The name had recently been stenciled on the exterior office door. Scarlett touched the lettering as she walked inside. Her white skirt kicked up beneath her with each step.

  “This used to be Paul’s office,” she said.

  “Yes, and today it was where Mr. Wolfe met his match.” I led Scarlett into the room where an open briefcase sat on the edge of the desk.

  “Oh, my gosh!” She walked directly to it. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much money in my life!” Her green eyes were wide and suddenly filled with wonder.

  “It is a lot of money.” Beside the open briefcase, two other cases were equally as full. “And the best news?” I said.

  She continued to look at me for answers.

  “It’s all going back to every single person Bernie Wolfe ever defrauded.” A sense of pride filled me. “My Granny will no longer have to live with that lady and her kids in th
at shoe-box of a house.”

  “So Blue will get all her hard-earned money back, too?”

  “Absolutely,” I said. “Everyone who was a victim of Wolfe’s Pinocchio scheme will be given back what he took from them.”

  “So how did it all go down?” Scarlett asked. “I know that the SEC wouldn’t allow me to be part of it for safety reasons. But I didn’t know what was happening or really when. You weren’t there this morning, so I just…” Her voice trailed off, and I realized that maybe what I had set in motion wasn’t going as well as I had hoped. Or planned.

  “I wish you could have been there,” I said.

  She softly smiled. “I understand. It’s just kind of been a weird day. First the text, then my Granny and Blue, now this…” She shook her head.

  I reached into my pocket and withdrew my cell phone. “Since I couldn’t tell you what was going on and I did kind of lead you on your own wild goose chase, maybe I could make up for it now?”

  She looked at me.

  “How’d you like to watch it on video?”

  She lightly whacked me on the shoulder. “Seriously?”

  “Oh, yeah. I may have recorded the entire thing so that I could show it to you later. You know I couldn’t have done any of this without you, your Granny, Geppetto, and the lumberjacks.” I paused. “But really none of it would have happened without you, Scarlett. You set the trap, and Wolfe walked right into it.”

  When Scarlett smiled at me, the world stood still and time stopped.

  “So you want to see it?” I waved the phone toward her.

  “Yes!”

  Her mood completely changed, and I felt like I had set right any wrongs my absence and silence had created.

  “Okay, I’m not a photojournalist like you,” I said and shut the briefcase full of money and moved it to the corner of the desk. I patted the top of the desk, and Scarlett sat on it beside me. “But I couldn’t let this moment pass without you being part of it.” She leaned her head on my shoulder.

  “Ahh. So you secretly recorded it for me?”