WhiskeyBottleLover

by Robin Leigh Miller

  Urgency grew by the second. There wouldn’t be any drawn-out foreplay right now. After the events of the evening, he needed to feel her gripping him tight. The need to know she was here and okay overwhelmed him. Hayes reached down, cupping her pussy, groaning at how wet and ready she was for him. Thank God, because he couldn’t wait another second.

  Using one finger, he pushed inside her, loving the silky feel of her muscles. Chance bucked her hips as those muscles rippled. She gasped, groaned, whimpered and fed his need further.

  Positioning himself between her thighs, he lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist. With one thought, he covered his hard cock with a condom and then pressed inside her hot body. Tight muscles gave way, clamping around him, bathing him in scorching heat he could feel through the latex.

  “I want what’s left of your life, Chance,” he spoke through a tight throat. “Give me those precious years and I swear you won’t be sorry.” He pulled back and then drove forward hard, shouting as her body strangled him.

  He set a fast, frantic pace. Chance kept up, working her hips. The sound of their bodies slapping together added to the rising heat. “Tell me you love me,” he growled. “Tell me you’ll do this.”

  Her muscles tightened like a vise and when she released, her walls rippling and squeezing him, she shouted, “Yes! I love you.”

  Hayes plummeted after her. Her words rang in his ears as complete and total bliss filled his chest. The utter pleasure crashed over him as his seed exploded from his body. At that moment, he knew the next fifty or sixty years would be the best anyone could ask for. They’d have their trials but they would persevere. He couldn’t remember ever being this happy.

  With the last weak pulse of his release, he fell forward, buried his face in her neck and breathed in her scent. Chance held on to him tight, her body quivering as her orgasm eased away. The feel of her against him brought utter joy. The way her breasts pillowed against his chest. The way her legs stayed locked around his waist. It made him feel as though he belonged for the first time in his existence.

  “Make the wish,” he muttered, nipping the tender flesh of her neck. “Please, Chance, make the wish.”

  Outside, the sound of sirens filled the silent house. Chance stiffened. He reluctantly tore himself away from her lush body. They both looked toward the kitchen window where red and blue lights flashed down her drive.

  “Now what?” she asked, scrambling to sit up.

  Hayes slid from the comfort of her body, pulled up his jeans and made his shirt appear. Next he dressed Chance with one simple thought. Taking her hand, he raced out the front door in time to see two large fire trucks and a police car.

  “What’s going on?” he asked as men jumped from the truck and looked around.

  “Oh I think I know.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chance watched a man all decked out in full firefighting garb come strolling toward them. She gripped Hayes’ hand tight, smiling to herself. “Is there a problem?” she asked.

  “We got a call there was a fire at this address. A barn burning,” he told her.

  “You did?” She looked up at Hayes with as much surprise as she could. Thankfully he played along. “I don’t know who would do that. As you can see we don’t have a fire.”

  “Mind if my men look around quick?”

  “Not at all.”

  The man shouted to a few men, sending them off toward the barn. “From the call it sounded like the entire side of the mountain was going to go up in flames.”

  “Well, we’ve been home about an hour and haven’t seen any fire. Trust me, I’d be the first to call if there was one.” So Bill set the fire and then ran home and called it in. He wanted her property damaged but nothing more.

  The police officer joined them and Chance smiled. “I’d do some checking on who’s making prank calls,” she said politely to the officer.

  “I’m already on that,” he informed them. “The emergency center tracks incoming calls. Nothing suspicious happened since you’ve been home?”

  “No,” she answered.

  “Well, there was that truck that ran us off the road before we pulled into your lane,” Hayes reminded her.

  “That’s right. Drove me right into the ditch. I almost had a heart attack. That guy was in a hurry for something.” Yeah, so he could go home to call the fire department.

  “What kind of truck?”

  “I’m not sure. It was dark. All I saw were headlights.”

  “It was dark-green,” Hayes added. “I saw it pass by so close I thought he would take the mirror off the side of the car.”

  Chance squeezed his hand and he returned the acknowledgement. They’d just set Bill up as a good suspect for prank calls. Two firemen returned, informing the chief they found nothing.

  “Go ahead and load back up then. Guess there isn’t anything for us to do here. Sorry for interrupting your night.”

  “That’s okay,” she told him.

  As the trucks pulled away the officer asked a few more questions. “You weren’t home all day?”

  “No. I own a shop downtown. We went in very early this morning. On Black Friday I stay open until about eight. By the time we got home it was nearly nine.”

  “I thought you looked familiar. My wife and sister go on about your place all the time. Hope you had good business today.”

  “I did. I think this will be my best holiday season yet.”

  His radio crackled to life so he stepped away to talk. She glanced up at Hayes and couldn’t keep the smirk off her face.

  “Flirt,” he whispered.

  She feigned shock but he only laughed. Hey, a girl had to make friends with the police when she had a nutcase harassing her. After tonight Bill would have more to worry about than making her life miserable.

  “Do you know anyone by the name Bill Day?”

  “Yes, I do. He’s my closest neighbor. Why?” Bingo! The dumbass didn’t even bother to call from another phone.

  “He’s the one who placed the call. Guess I better go have a chat with him. Find out what this is all about. Have a nice evening, folks.”

  They both said goodbye to the officer and headed back inside. As soon as Hayes shut the door Chance let out a whoop. Add tonight’s escapade to the file she had started on him at the station and he was in some deep shit.

  “Don’t get too excited,” Hayes told her. “This could piss him off more.”

  “Oh I’m sure it will. Imagine how bad his mind will explode when he finds out there wasn’t any fire. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall to see his face when that cop tells him he’s in trouble for making prank calls.”

  “Yeah, well, they could have come at a better time,” Hayes groused as he plopped down on the couch.

  “Agreed.” She made her way over the couch, lying down, putting her head in his lap. “I guess it’s a good thing neither of us could wait, huh?”

  “You didn’t make the wish,” he reminded her.

  “No, I didn’t.” She sat up, rubbed her shoulder and sighed. “I’m not ready to just yet. Give me another day, Hayes. Let me think this through a little more. I promise if I can’t figure out how to free you completely, then I’ll make the wish.”

  “Ya know I can make myself appear older if that’s what’s botherin’ you about all this. I’ll have enough power to do that. We won’t have to leave the area.”

  Chance sighed but gave him a small smile. He seemed to be working at finding a way for them to be together. “It’s not that. I want you to be free, don’t you understand? Completely free and able to live without having to adjust your appearance to fit in. I want you to be able to go to town on your own, or wherever, without me having to be within so many miles of you. You deserve that, Hayes. You deserve a life.”

  “But I’ll take what I can get as long as I’m with you.”

  His words were hushed, sincerity sparkled in his eyes and it meant the world to her. “What happens if in a few years you
decide you can’t stand me any longer? What if my ways drive you insane? You’re stuck. If you’re free you can leave and start over.”

  “Jesus,” he snarled, jumping to his feet. “I’m not gonna get tired of you in a few years, Chance. I’m not those people who discarded you in your youth, for Christ’s sake. Stop comparing me to them.”

  “I’m not doing that, Hayes.” He looked so run-down and exhausted she overlooked his ill temper. He needed a good night’s sleep, a decent meal and then they could discuss this rationally.

  “Yes, you are. You do it all the time. The only thing you claim to be attached to is your work and that you sell, get rid of it before it can be taken from you. I’m willin’ to bet you’d be able to clear out of this house in two days if it was necessary. There are no guarantees in life, Chance, but for the love of sanity, follow your name once and take a chance. Take a fuckin’ chance on me and I swear I won’t let you down.”

  His rant left her shocked and speechless. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly snapped it shut. What could she say? He was right about the house. She never really felt at home here or anywhere for that matter. In the back of her mind, she had to be prepared to move on. As far as her work, she adored her pieces she created, loved the odds and ends that were unique. But she quickly put them up for sale, always feeling that need to get rid of them before she could get attached.

  “I’m sorry,” Hayes whispered, sitting down next to her and taking her hand. “That was uncalled for. I guess I’m losin’ my mind with all this.”

  “No. You’re right,” she admitted. “You’re absolutely right.” How sad. She’d been living her adult life the same as she lived her childhood. No one ever kept her, why would he? Instead of finding an escape route for herself, she’d been looking for one for him.

  Hayes rubbed his face. “There’s somethin’ I need to tell you, darlin’. I don’t know if you’ll understand or think I’m insane but you have the right to know.”

  A jolt of fear hit her hard, actually making her flinch. What else could go wrong here? “What is it?”

  “Annie.”

  Her body tensed against the cushions. “Go on.”

  “Have you noticed you don’t get upset when I call you that?” Hayes rubbed his hands together over and over again.

  “Sure, I’m not dense. I’ve wondered about it.”

  He turned then, positioned himself on the couch so he could see her. “Yeah, well, my rusty brain finally put all the pieces together.” He reached out and snagged a tendril of her hair, twirling it around his finger. “I knew her.”

  “I figured as much,” she whispered.

  “She was gonna head into the mountains with me for the winter. I was going to take care of her, give her a better life and in return she was going to give me companionship.”

  Chance nodded once. “Did you love her?” Somehow she already knew the answer to that. Two lonely souls were going make a go at attempting a life together. Possibilities were endless.

  “No. I didn’t know her well enough to love her, yet. Back in that time things were different. Love wasn’t the first reason you took a partner.” The backs of his fingers smoothed down her cheek before he dropped his hand back into his lap. “The night we were to leave, she rode out to retrieve some belongings she had hidden. I offered to ride along but she wanted to go alone. While I waited, I came across this foreigner. We talked, he filled my whiskey-soaked brain with crazy talk about genies and how all it would take is for someone to wish him free and he could be happy.”

  “He tricked you.”

  “Yeah, the next thing I knew I was babblin’ a stupid wish and found myself locked inside that bottle.” He took her hand, drawing gentle circles over her knuckles. “I can only imagine how confused Annie must have been when she returned and I was nowhere to be found.”

  “Devastated,” Chance whispered. She could feel the hurt filling her chest, fear and even a sense of stupidity for trusting a man she didn’t know. “She never trusted anyone again. She died a miserable young woman.” The sadness was overwhelming, bringing tears to her eyes.

  “Do you understand how you know these feelin’s, Chance?” He gripped her chin and turned her face toward him.

  The misery she saw in his eyes reflected what she felt swirling around inside her. “No.”

  “Because you and Annie are the same person.”

  “Yeah, well, I guess the abandonment issues are pretty much the same for everyone.” Even as she spoke the words she knew that’s not what he meant.

  “No. Are you familiar with reincarnation?”

  A fat, hot tear streamed down her cheek. “You’re saying I was Annie. That you and I met and were supposed to run off to the mountains and live together happily ever after.”

  Hayes let out a rough breath. “Yeah, that’s what I’m sayin’. I know it sounds crazy.”

  “No,” she said, whisking away a tear with the back of her hand. “It actually makes a lot of sense. It explains so much. I’ve felt connected to you on some level, eager for something but I wasn’t sure what. I could see you through her eyes sometimes, ya know. A tent, a lumpy cot. I could smell things that were familiar. It didn’t last long, just a déjà vu sort of thing. I even somewhat understood you calling me Annie.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?” He helped wipe away a tear before smoothing the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip.

  “I don’t know. I had this feeling that everything would work out and the answers would come when they were supposed to, so I didn’t push it. Hell, I didn’t even give it much thought. When did you figure it out?”

  “That day in the woods, when I had you backed against the tree. It all came rolling into my brain and I knew I’d have to end up leaving you again.” He wrapped his large hand around the back of her neck. “I don’t deserve you, Chance. You should have more in your life, a man who can provide for you properly, not some shackled slave, but damn if I’m man enough to let you go. I don’t know what would have happened in the eighteen hundreds between us. Maybe we would have killed each other before the winter ended. I’m willin’ to let the past go and focus on the future. What about you?”

  Chance took a deep, jerky breath. “I don’t like it. I know I can figure this out.”

  Hayes let his gaze fall away before dropping his hand. “It’s your decision. I’m gonna go out and walk around a bit,” he said, getting to his feet. “Just run a check on the property to make sure Bill didn’t do anythin’ else that will catch us by surprise.”

  She let him go. He needed the space and she needed time to think. A few months ago if anyone told her she’d fall in love with a one-hundred-year-old genie in a matter of weeks, she would have laughed. If they had said she was his reincarnated lover she would have probably assumed they were high on something. Yet it all made perfect sense to her. Even this feeling that he’d walk away. At least she knew where that originated from now. If she was honest with herself this entire freedom thing was so he could walk away.

  “Maybe instead of giving everyone an out, I should pay more attention to giving them a reason to stay.”

  “Only if you think it’s worth fightin’ for.” His voice made her jump. He obviously didn’t use the door when he returned. “We have company comin’.”

  She heard the car then, the crunch of the gravel beneath the tires before the headlights flashed against her kitchen windows. She went to the door, opened it and frowned when she saw the officer back. He didn’t look happy either.

  “Come in out of the cold,” she told him. He stepped inside, removed his hat and gave a quick glance around her home. “What can I help you with?”

  “Well, I thought I should stop by to tell you I talked with Mr. Day.” He scratched his head and looked down at the floor.

  “And?”

  “He’s a bit of crackpot, isn’t he?”

  Chance smiled. “That doesn’t even come close to describing him.”

  “Yeah, well, he
swears your barn was on fire. I know people think they see things sometimes but he acts as though he was here on the property watching it.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” she muttered. If the officer only knew.

  “Yeah, on my way over there I ran a quick check on the guy and discovered you and he have had problems recently. Care to elaborate on that for me?”

  “A few weeks back I asked if I could drag some of the fallen trees out of the woods on his property. I needed firewood and he wasn’t planning on doing anything with them. He said yes but insisted he do all the work, for a price. I wasn’t willing to pay that kind of price. My boyfriend and I did the work together. Bill showed up a few days later, I guess thinking he’d do it and hold it over my head. When he saw it finished, he sort of snapped.”

  “He attacked her,” Hayes added in an angry tone. “That bastard hit her in the back with something and then started rippin’ at her clothes. If I hadn’t been here,” Hayes stopped short, swallowed hard and fisted his hands. “I tore him off her, drove my fist in his face and warned him to never touch her again.”

  “Yeah, he said something about a man that wasn’t a man attacking him. Green eyes, floating above the ground, smoke rolling off his body. The man has a real vivid imagination. So I’m going to assume it was you he was talking about.”

  “Do you honestly think there’s someone like he described roaming around?” Chance had to work hard at hiding her smile. Old Bill really made himself sound like a nutcase. Too bad it was all true, but she wasn’t about to say anything.

  “No. I think he’s got a problem with you and he’s a few bricks shy of a load. I’d watch myself if I were you. I still can’t understand why he called in a fire or how it all fits into his crazy thinking, but I’ve learned over the years not to dismiss these kinds of actions. It’s usually a precursor to something bigger.” The officer turned to Hayes. “Do me a favor, next time don’t hit him. Call the police and we’ll take care of it.”