Staring up at the picture of my sister at the top of my board, I reached out and touched it. It was the last picture I had of her – taken a little over a year ago when I'd come to visit her at school. It felt like she'd been missing for an eternity. Tears stung my eyes and rolled down my cheeks as I looked at her sweet, innocent face.
It felt like I'd been searching for her forever. Running down lead after lead that went nowhere but dead end after dead end after dead end. And now, I had the opportunity to get some real answers. To have a genuine, legitimate shot at finding my sister – or at least, what happened to her.
I hadn't lied to McCoy when I said it was all overwhelming. The emotions rising up within me like a high tide were intense. Powerful. I felt like after putting myself through hell, I was finally nearing the goal line. I was finally putting myself in a position to get what I'd been after – my sister.
I needed a drink. As I stared at the board before me and took in the enormity of not just my own undertaking, but the scope of what I'd uncovered so far, I felt like I needed a drink to settle my nerves and slow my racing mind and heart.
Grabbing a sweater and my bag, I headed out.
Chapter Ten
It was a little after nine when I walked into a bar near my apartment called Walt's. The bar was half-full when I walked in and various games were playing on the half-dozen flat screen TV's spread around the place. It was a clean and tidy place run by a former Navy man named Walt – obviously. I'd gotten to know him a little bit over the course of my time in Black Salmon Falls. He was a good guy, ran a tight ship, and was a fantastic source of information.
He gave me a nod when I walked in and headed over to the jukebox in the corner. It had become something of a ritual with me ever since I landed in town – whenever I came into Walt's, I played my sister's favorite song before I sat down at the bar and took my first drink. I dropped a quarter into the machine, selected my song, and walked back over to the bar where Walt had my beer already waiting for me.
“Thank you, Walt,” I said.
“Anytime,” he replied.
I quietly raised my glass to toast my sister as the song started playing. Taking a long pull of my drink, I set the mug back down.
“You have got to be kidding me,” a man a few stools down from me at the bar said. “Walt, I thought you were going to take this crap song out of the box?”
Walt shrugged and set a fresh beer down in front of the man before turning and walking away, clearly not wanting to be part of the great music debate. I looked over at the man, mild irritation flaring within me.
“Oh, gee, I'm sorry,” I said. “But there's only so many times I can take listening to Freebird.”
He laughed. “I wouldn't have played Freebird either.”
“And for your information, this song, happens to be sweet,” I said. “Romantic.”
The man laughed out loud and shook his head. “Have you ever listened to the lyrics?”
The truth was, I hadn't. I only played this song because it was Emily's favorite. But I would be damned if I let somebody tell me what I could and couldn't play. The man looked at me, a bemused expression on his face as he grabbed his beer and moved down, taking the stool next to me.
He took a sip of his beer and studied me. I had to admit, he was a handsome man. Around six foot three, a physique that was toned and fit. He was muscular and athletic, without being bulky. He obviously took very good care of himself. He had short dark hair and light blue eyes that gave him an All-American, boy next door sort of appeal.
“You haven't, have you?” he asked. “Listened to the lyrics?”
I shook my head and grinned sheepishly. “No, I haven't,” I admitted.
“So, you don't know what it's about?”
I shook my head again. “Apparently not,” I said, laughing. “But I have a feeling you're going to tell me what the Pina Colada song is all about.”
“The Pina Colada song, as it's commonly referred to, is actually titled Escape,” he said. “Released in 1979, sung by Rupert Holmes –”
“Are you trying to impress me with your musical knowledge?”
“Is it working?” he asked and grinned.
“No, not really.”
“Good, because that's not what I was trying to do anyway.”
I laughed despite myself and shook my head, taking a long pull of my beer. I had to admit, I hadn't laughed like that with somebody in a while. It felt – nice.
“So, enlighten me,” I said. “What is the Pina – sorry, Escape – all about?”
“It's about cheating,” he said. “Infidelity.”
I laughed out loud. “It so is not!” I said. “It's about a couple in love.”
“Says the woman who's never really listened to the lyrics.”
“I've listened to some,” I replied, racking my brain for the few words of the song I remembered. “There was a line that went something about being the love that they've looked for and they ran off together or something.”
“The actual line is, 'I'm the love that you looked for, come with me, and escape,'” he said. “But everything up to that point was about these two people in a stale relationship who take out personal ads – meaning, they're looking for somebody else to be with. They just happen to respond to each other's ads and meet up.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You're so wrong. So, so wrong.”
He took a long pull of his beer and held up a finger. Climbing down off his barstool, he fished around in his pocket and walked over the jukebox – and played the song again.
“Okay, now listen,” he said. “Really listen to the lyrics and then tell me how wrong I am.”
We sat in silence, sipping our beers and listened to the song. Walt stood behind the bar, a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he shook his head. When the song finished, the man turned and looked at me.
“See?” he said. “Infidelity.”
“Fine,” I relented. “It's about infidelity. But the couple finds their way back to each other, which makes it romantic.”
He laughed and almost spit out his beer, barely managing to keep it down. “You have a strange notion of what's romantic,” he said. “You mention infidelity to most women, and they're out the door before you can even finish saying the word.”
I shrugged. “I'm not most women.”
“Clearly.”
He extended his hand to me. “Luca,” he said. “Luca Fletcher. I figure if I'm going to disparage your musical taste, I should probably give you my name.”
“Probably a good idea,” I replied, marveling at how large his hand was and how it completely enveloped mine. “Olivia Bowden.”
“It's nice to meet you, Olivia.”
“Liv is fine,” I said.
He shrugged. “I like Olivia,” he said. “It's a beautiful name.”
“Thank you,” I said, not really knowing how to respond to that.
“Can I buy you another beer?”
I nodded. “That would be nice. Thank you.”
Walt was already en route with a pair of freshly poured mugs before Luca even raised his hand. The older man gave us a small grin as he set the frosty mugs down and then turned, walking away without a word.
“So, what do you feel like disparaging next?” I asked. “My fashion sense? Taste in beer maybe?”
He looked at my mug of beer, raising an eyebrow at it. “I wasn't going to say anything –”
“Don't. Stop right there,” I said. “Don't even talk crap about my beer or I may have to kill you.”
“I'm taller and I outweigh you by about a hundred pounds,” he said.
“I was a Marine,” I replied. “I can kill you a hundred different ways.”
He nodded, clearly impressed. “A Marine, huh?” he asked. “Well, I took about three weeks of self-defence classes at the Y, so you might not want to count me out.”
I hadn't laughed as much as I did with Luca in a long, long time. And it felt wonderful. Liberating.
I felt more like myself than I had in almost forever. Our conversation went on for hours, over many beers, and ranged from music, to our childhoods, to everything in between. And the conversation never lagged or felt forced.
For the first time in a long time, I felt – normal. I'd been so wrapped up in the hunt for Emily that I almost forgot how that felt. And didn't realize until that moment how much I missed it.
“Last call,” Walt bellowed, drawing moans of displeasure from the crowd.
If I was being honest, I was more than a little buzzed. I didn't feel outright drunk, but I knew I wasn't quite street legal – which made the fact that I walked to Walt's a very good thing.
“Listen,” he said. “I had a great time tonight and I'd love to see you again somet –”
“You want to come home with me?”
I cringed as soon as the words came out of my mouth, realizing how desperate I must have sounded. But it had been a long time since I'd been with a man and the longer I sat with Luca – as beautiful as he was to look at – the more I realized I'd neglected my own needs. He looked at me with eyes slightly widened.
I rolled my eyes. “Please, like this is the first time you've ever had a woman offer to take you home.”
“No,” he said. “But this is the first time in a long time that I've actually wanted to go home with her. Are you sure? You're not too drunk to –”
“I'm not that drunk,” I replied. “And yes, I'm sure.”
He looked at me a moment longer and then gave me a smile. Standing up, he dug some money out of his wallet and dropped it on the bar. We bid Walt a goodnight and walked out into the cool night air together.
Chapter Eleven
Luca
Trolling for women had been the furthest thing from my mind when I went into Walt's. I simply wanted to have a few quiet beers, catch some of the game on TV, and then go on home and go to bed. I certainly hadn't expected to meet somebody like Olivia. She was a knockout. Five seven, fit, an hourglass figure to die for, long red hair and eyes the color of jade. There was nothing not to like about her physically.
But when you added in her personality – that wit, intelligence, and sarcasm – she was like catnip to me.
It was true that I hadn't been with a woman in a while. Unlike some of the other clans, my father wasn't arranging a marriage for me – he was allowing me to choose my own bride. And I had no shortage of women who vied for my attention.
But I wasn't like that. It wasn't in my nature to use a woman just to satisfy my own needs – though, the gods knew it was tempting. But I didn't believe in leading a woman on. Didn't believe in leveraging my position just for sex. It wasn't fair to the woman. And frankly, it would have made me a complete and utter asshole
And besides, I'd had a few short relationships with women who wanted the crown more than me that had gone horribly sideways. I'd learned my lesson and wasn't in any rush to jump into anything again. I had a lot to do and learn before my father took the Walk – everything else could come afterward.
There was something about Olivia though that I couldn't deny. She wasn't coming on to me because she thought that by sleeping with me that she'd increase her chances of me picking her to be my bride. We'd had some sort of connection back at Walt's – a spark of electricity between us.
It was a spark that blossomed into an inferno the moment we stepped through her apartment door. Slamming the door shut behind us, Olivia pushed me up against the wall, kissing me hard and passionately. Our tongues swirled and danced in our mouths as our hands explored one another's bodies.
Grabbing her by the waist, I spun her around and pressed her up against the wall, pressing myself against her. She moaned as she kissed me and reached down, stroking my hard cock through my jeans. Feeling her squeezing and stroking me drew a gasp from my lips and the fires inside of me burned ever brighter. Hotter. I needed to be inside of her.
Putting my hands beneath her ass, I picked her up and Olivia clamped her legs around my waist, squeezing tight and grinding herself against me. Our mouths still locked together in a fiery kiss, I carried her toward the back of her apartment, to the bedrooms.
“The door on the right,” she gasped.
I carried her into the room on the right and set her down on the edge of the bed. Her hands immediately flew to my belt buckle, working quickly and having my pants down around my ankles before I'd even gotten my shirt off.
The heat and magnetic pull of need and desire between us was palpable.
“Oh Jesus,” I moaned when Olivia clamped her hand around the base of my cock, squeezing tight.
Looking me in the eye, she bit her bottom lip seductively as she started to work her hand, moving it up and down my hard, thick shaft. She leaned forward and ran the tip of her tongue around the head of my cock, teasing me. A low growl escaped my throat as she took me into her mouth, sliding her tongue all the way down to the base. Her hand and mouth working in unison, she slid up and down my shaft, making me groan wildly as I tangled my fingers in her hair and pulled it.
Olivia alternated pressure and speed and I knew if she kept that up, I wasn't going to last very long. Stepping back, I reached down and pushed her back on the bed. Kneeling down before her, I smiled as I parted her smooth, strong thighs. She moaned the moment the tip of my tongue touched the warm, wet center of her. And when I slid my tongue between her smooth lips, reveling in the taste of her, Olivia's body stiffened and she groaned, calling my name softly.
She ground herself against my mouth, keeping rhythm with me as I licked and sucked on her, and drove my tongue deeper inside of her. As I began to suck on her, I slipped a finger deep inside of her, moving it in and out fast and strong. Olivia moaned and called out my name. A moment later, her body spasmed and she cried out, her voice echoing around the room. She trembled and gasped as she came, her orgasm rocking her entire body.
When her orgasm subsided, she pulled me up to her, kissing me with a fire and intensity I'd never known before. She wrapped her legs around my waist and arched her hips upward, the head of my cock brushing against her warm center.
“I need you inside of me, Luca,” she said in a throaty little growl. “Now, Luca.”
The heat of our desire and need filled the room and sent beads of sweat rolling down my back. Olivia's fingernails dug into the flesh at the small of my back as I guided my cock to her opening and then in one strong thrust, I sheathed myself inside of her, both of us moaning with the flood of sensation that overwhelmed us.
I hissed as she raked her nails across my back when I started to pump my hips, moving myself inside of her. She was so warm and tight and it was driving me crazy. I looked into her eyes before kissing her, thrusting my hips harder and faster. We settled into a steady rhythm, the sound of our bodies slapping together filling the room and blending with our moans to create a symphony of erotic sound.
Running the tip of my tongue down her neck to her full breasts, I circled her stiff nipples before taking one into my mouth, sucking on it a bit before giving it a firm little bite. She gasped but then moaned in pleasure a moment later, grabbing the back of my head and pushing it down onto her chest, asking for more – which, I happily obliged.
She kissed me hard and then put her hands on my chest, pushing me up and off of her. Giving me a salacious little grin, she turned over and got onto all fours, giving me a view of her shapely ass. Looking back at me over her shoulder, she circled her lips with the tip of her tongue.
“I want it from behind, Luca,” she said, her voice gravely. “I want it now. Give it to me.”
She was a woman who liked to give the orders – which I found entirely arousing. I stepped forward and grabbed hold of her hips and thrust my cock forward, burying it deep within her. Olivia cried out as I plunged my stiff shaft so deep inside of her and began to pump my hips forward, hard and fast.
Reaching up, I took hold of her long, red hair and gave it a nice hard pull as I moved inside of her.
“Yes, baby, yes,”
she called out, urging me onward.
Olivia pushed herself back against me in time with my thrusting, taking me even deeper inside of her. As the pressure built up low within me and my groin tightened, I gritted my teeth and pulled her hair even harder, determined to make this last as long as possible.
Olivia looked back at me again and flashed me that lascivious little smile. “Let go, Luca,” she purred. “It's okay. Let yourself lose control.”
I growled and thrust myself even harder into her. She cried out, but then reached down between her legs and stroked my balls, squeezed them, drawing a moan of intense pleasure from me.
The pressure built and with one final, hard thrust, the dam burst. My body tightened up and I called out her name as wave after wave of the most intense pleasure I'd ever known rolled through me. I felt my cock pulsing and knew I was shooting my seed deep inside of her. The feeling of my warm seed filling her up seemed to set off an explosion within her as Olivia cried out, her body shuddering violently as another orgasm crashed down over her.
Our breathing was shallow and ragged and as I flopped down onto my back beside her, I felt lightheaded, my entire body spent. Olivia laid down beside me, her head on my chest and we both lay there, still and quiet, waiting for our breathing and heart rates to return to normal.
“That was amazing,” she said softly several minutes later.
I nodded. “Incredible,” was all I could manage.
~ooo000ooo~
I woke up a while later, not even realizing I'd drifted off to sleep. Staring up at the ceiling, I turned my head, half-expecting to find myself alone in bed, my encounter with Olivia nothing more than a dream. But she lay on her stomach, her face turned to me, breathing soft and evenly, deep in sleep. Her mass of red curls framed her face and spilled down her back, the soft glow of the moonlight slipping in through the blinds in the windows making her skin seem to glow with an ethereal light.
She was beautiful. More than beautiful. And as I looked at her sleeping, I felt that connection we shared back in the bar – but somehow, even more powerfully.
Saved by a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 2) Page 7