I pulled her close, unable to keep my hands off of her any longer.
“I’m already vibrating,” I growled, bending my head and kissing her deeply. She moaned into my mouth, pressing her chest against mine, her nipples poking hard against me, as she wrapped her arms around my waist. The heat ignited between us instantly and I reached down, cupping her ass and pulling her into my throbbing hardness.
She pulled away, a slow, sexy smile spreading across her face.
The faint lights from the streetlamp below cast a soft light across her face, lighting up her beauty, taking my breath away. I reached up, caressing her cheek as I gazed down at her.
“You’re incredibly beautiful, Jackie,” I whispered. She smiled wider, her sparkling blue eyes lighting up.
“Thank you,” she whispered, pulling her hand from my back and sliding it down to grasp my hardness. I groaned and she bit her lip, sinking to her knees.
I looked down at her in disbelief as she began to unbuckle my belt, and then I quickly glanced out of the open-air windows of the clock tower. Nobody could see us and of the few people milling around down there, not a one of them was looking up at us. Her hand wrapped around my hardness as I gasped in pleasure.
“Jackie,” I moaned, as her lips engulfed the head of my cock. I reached down, my hand sinking into her soft hair, my entire being melting as she twirled her tongue around my shaft. She slid along the length of it, up and down, back and forth, until I felt my knees start to buckle, my body exploding over the edge of pleasure just as the bell started to move, the rhythmic ringing drowning out the sound of my groans as the clock struck eight o’clock.
I sank to my knees, pushing her back onto the floor gently, my knees pushing her thighs open and my hands wrestling with her jeans and pulling them down, my still throbbing cock desperate to sink into her warmth.
I found her center, welcoming, inviting, joyfully ready for me to fill it up with everything I had inside of me. I wrapped my arms around her, rocking against her writhing body, her moans and cries soaking into my soul just as she had.
I held her close as the bell rang out for the last time, never wanting any of this to end, begging that our clock would never strike midnight, that it would never be over.
CHAPTER 26
JACKIE
The alarm clock tore me out of bed in a flash. I’d placed it across the room from my bed to ensure that I would actually remove myself from the warmth of my bed, since most days it was enough to lure me back to sleep after hitting the snooze button. I turned it off and turned back, watching Fury sleep like a sleeping giant in my bed.
Every bone in my body wanted to crawl back in with him, but I couldn’t. As I’d done every single day for as long as I could remember, I had a diner to get to, doors to unlock, lights to turn on, chairs to be put back down onto dry floors, and mouths to feed.
I laughed when I thought about what might happen if I didn’t show up to do all that. The hangry townsfolk would probably don pitchforks and march to my house demanding my presence. And Fury was sleeping so peacefully, the last thing I wanted to do was disturb him.
I took a good long look, though, in awe that this amazingly gentle and sexy man was actually in my bed.
I don’t know how I got so lucky, after all these years of bullshit I’d endured with Hank, but I’ll take it. Fury had made love to me all night after we’d left the church, his hands working against my body like they were expertly playing an instrument.
I moaned and cried and shuddered and I’m pretty sure I’d even mewed a few times, purring like a happy cat against his sweet assault all night long.
We’d barely slept, finally falling asleep as the first rooster in my neighbor’s yard crowed this morning. I’d sleepwalk through my day, but each step would be worth it.
Fury made me feel like I’d never felt before. He damn near worshipped my body, making sure that I was beyond satisfied before he took his own pleasure, kissing me like a starving man, devouring my body with each mighty thrust of his powerful cock. How he stayed hard all night long, I’ll never know. Even after several rounds, he was still rearing to go.
I hated the fact that I had to shower. I didn’t want to wash him off of me. I wanted to smell him all day, but I was sure nobody else did, so I dutifully followed my morning routine. Showered, brushed my teeth, made a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal and then I was out the door, leaving him to continue snoring softly, wrapped in my grandma’s pink floral sheets, a tangled mass of tattoos and muscles.
Grandma would be proud, I couldn’t help but think, as I locked up and headed to the diner, with a huge smile on my face.
I pretty much skipped the entire way, to tell you the truth. I hadn’t felt this giddy in — well, never.
I’d never felt this way.
So confident, so satisfied, so damned womanly.
Tara was already there when I arrived and as soon as she saw my face, she burst out laughing.
“What?”
“Girl, he has turned you out!”
“Oh, shut up!” I said, rushing into the back, suddenly annoyed. I didn’t want to make light of what I felt with Fury. I didn’t want to be teased about the way he made me glow. In fact, I didn’t want to talk about it at all, in fear of somehow tainting it, or making it disappear.
Fury was real.
And for the first time, in a long, long time, he was something — someone — I really, truly wanted for myself.
It’d been a long time since I felt desire like this and I didn’t want to do anything to fuck it up.
Quickly, way too quickly, his presence in my life was becoming very important and that scared me, I realized.
Because it’s the important things that it hurts to lose.
CHAPTER 27
FURY
“This is my brother, Ryder,” I said, introducing him to Bodhi. “Ryder, this is Mr. Green.”
“Call me Bodhi,” he said, shaking Ryder’s hand.
“Nice to meet you, Bodhi,” Ryder said.
“Fury tells me you’re here to install the cameras.”
“That’s correct. Shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”
“Thanks,” Bodhi said. “I have a few meetings this afternoon. So take whatever time you need. Fury, I’d like to have you look over the footage each day, and report back to me if you see anything.”
“Will do,” I said.
“I’ll get started and leave you two alone,” Ryder said, nodding at us and walking out of Bodhi’s office. I turned to Bodhi and tried to smile.
“Anything else I can do for you today, sir?”
“I’d like you to head over to Will’s estate and check it out, if you haven’t already.”
“I can do that,” I nodded. “You said he had a break-in there as well?”
“Yes, apparently so.”
“Alright. Anything else?”
“Not right now, I’ll let you know. I’m still waiting for my attorneys in New York to get back to me. This thing is taking way too long. And time is money, you know?”
“Certainly.”
“I’m tempted to just call the entire project off. If I change the agreements I have with the businesses in town here, I might be able to make up the difference.”
“What agreements are those?”
“Kick-backs, to put it bluntly. Each business pays me a percentage of their earnings each month.”
I didn’t say anything, but that sounded a hell of a lot like extortion to me. I merely nodded, my belief in Green’s corruption growing. From what I could tell, none of these individual business owners were getting wealthy from this small-town’s patronage, and Green wanted to squeeze them even tighter to make up for his bad business dealings. What a fucking guy.
“And they all pay?”
“They do.”
“Has anyone ever pushed back about it?” I wondered aloud.
“A few. But they learn how big a mistake that is pretty quickly.”
“How so?”
“Because I make sure nobody frequents their place of business. Kind of hard to push back against the status-quo if nobody is giving you their money.”
I nodded slowly, taking it all in.
“Do you think anyone here in town might be disgruntled enough to be breaking into your office and home? Any beefs with anyone here?”
“Not that I know of, but I’m sure I’ve made a few enemies along the way. Things are pretty smooth here, though, nobody’s come up against me in years.”
“Sometimes people hold grudges for a long time.”
“I suppose.”
“You said that you think the people from New York might be breaking in to dig up dirt. Is there any dirt to dig up?”
His laughter boomed through the room.
“Not too much. But doesn’t everyone have a little dirt hiding away?”
“Not everyone. What’s yours?”
He paused before answering, staring me down for a minute, or sizing me up, I’m not sure which.
“Well, digging up dirt on me isn’t your job, Fury. Just find out who’s breaking in and let me know. I can deal with them myself.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on it. With those cameras in place, it should be pretty easy.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“In the meantime, I’ll head over to Will’s place. Is he expecting me?”
“I’ll call him and let him know. His wife should be home.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said, standing to walk out.
“Fury?”
I turned back, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes?”
“I’m glad you’re here. You’re young and strong and smart. I always wanted a son, but I ended up with a useless daughter. You’re the kind of guy I’d want my son to grow up to be.”
“That’s quite a compliment, sir, thank you.”
“Thanks for your help.”
“See you soon, sir,” I said, walking back outside to where Ryder was busy at work.
“How’s it going?”
“Shouldn’t take too long. I put these up at the clubhouse a few years ago. Really simple job.”
“Good.”
“Ain’t it funny, though?”
“What?” I asked.
“How Green can seem like such a nice, stand-up guy. It was real difficult for me not to punch his perfect teeth out of his head, knowing what I know.”
“Welcome to my world, brother.”
“Keep cool. We’ll get there.”
“I gotta trust that fact. Otherwise, he’d be dead by now. Ain’t no excuse for hurting a child. I met her last night, actually. Super sweet girl. Such sad eyes, though.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, shaking his head. “We’re going to need a lot of restraint for this one.”
“So far, so good.”
“Yeah, brother, I guess. Keep your chin up. Everything will work out.”
“Any news from Riot?”
“Right now, he’s trying to untangle the blood lines in this town. Seems like everyone’s somehow related to everyone else.”
“Lot of loyalty to this fucker.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, hopefully we can shine some light on the true state of affairs before it gets worse. I’m headed over to Will’s house right now. Let me know when you’re done here, and I’ll meet you at Green’s house to finish the job.”
“Will do, brother.”
I jumped on my bike and headed across town, ignoring all the looks that I was still receiving every time I showed my face on the streets. For such a curious lot, not a one of these people seemed to question why poor little Molly was in a fucking cast and constantly being injured.
“Just a bunch of fucking sheep,” I muttered, as I wound my way up Will’s driveway. “Following Green right off the cliff.”
CHAPTER 28
JACKIE
The afternoon lunch rush was kicking my ass. My hair was escaping from my ponytail in wayward tendrils and I felt like there was an inch-thick layer of grease on my face. My uniform was stained with strawberry jelly and pancake syrup and the faint whiff of sweat and fry-oil kept rolling off me every time I moved.
And still, Fury came in and looked at me like I was the most beautiful woman in the world. I don’t know how, or why, or what I ever did to deserve his affection, but I was appreciating it like nobody’s business.
Tara winked at me from behind his back when he walked past her, then she started making lewd gestures with her hips. It took everything I had not to laugh out loud.
As if we were the only ones in the place, he wrapped his thick arms around me in a huge bear hug and then laid a big kiss on me. Mrs. Arnold, the eighty-nine year old owner of the fabric shop down the street almost keeled over in shock as she watched from her usual perch at the end of the counter. I ignored her and leaned into his warm, inviting embrace.
“Hey babe,” he whispered in my ear. “How’s your day going?”
I gestured to my stained uniform and shrugged.
“Just about like every other day,” I said.
“You look beautiful.”
“You’re blind,” I laughed. “What are you doing here?”
“I had a few minutes before heading over to Will’s house.”
“Will? Why?”
“He had a break-in at his house, too.”
“That’s so weird. Nobody burglarizes homes here. I can’t believe that’s happening.”
“Well, they aren’t taking anything. It appears they’re just nosing around.”
“I see. Well I’m glad you’re here. Can I get you some lunch?”
“Nope, I just wanted to pop in and ask you out again. Wanna do something tonight?”
I couldn’t help but smile. He wasn’t done with me yet and that was a good thing, because I knew I wasn’t going to be finished with him for quite a long time.
“I’d love that,” I said, beaming up at him.
He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine again and I heard a tsk-tsk escape from Mrs. Arnold’s lips.
“I’ll pick you up at your place later? Eight sound okay?”
“That’s perfect. I’ll be all locked up here by then.”
“Wonderful,” he said, winking at me, those little creases that I was quickly falling in love with popping up again. “See you soon.”
He sauntered out like a cowboy riding off into the sunset and I couldn’t help the glazed over look in my eyes as I watched.
“Somebody’s smitten,” Tara said, popping up behind me.
“I sure am,” I said.
“Not you. Him. Girl, what I would give for a man like him to look at me like that. Ain’t that right, Mrs. Arnold?” Tara turned, staring the old woman down.
“He’s very scary,” she said, shaking her head. “All those tattoos…”
“That’s just ink,” Tara said. “Don’t you think he’s hot?”
“Oh, he’s hotter than a plate of biscuits right out of the oven, that’s for sure.”
Tara and I cracked up.
“He’s a nice guy,” I said.
“I bet he’s a tiger in bed,” Mrs. Arnold said, causing Tara to cackle like a hen.
“That he is,” I muttered, watching him through the window as he roared off on his motorcycle. “That he is…”
CHAPTER 29
FURY
Will’s wife was nice, but seemed like a nervous wreck. She was home alone when I stopped by and was reluctant to let me in at first. She took one look at me and her eyes grew wide with fear as she kept one trembling hand on the door as she sized me up.
“Did Mr. Green let you know I was stopping by?” I asked, used to the effect I had on women. Mostly, I scared them, but there were a few brave ones that were intrigued, but Katie wasn’t one of them. She was one of the scared ones, absolutely.
“He did,” she said, finally opening the door to let me in.
“I’ll just be a quick minute. Can you show me where the burglars came
in?”
“The back door,” she said, leading me through the house. It was more like a mansion, though, but a welcoming change from the dark energy at Green’s place. Their home was cozy and homey, warm and inviting. A television murmured from the den in the back, and the soft grey leather couch was covered in fuzzy blankets and pillows. Family portraits lined the walls and I took a minute to pause and look at them.
“You have a lovely family,” I said.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“It’s just your husband and your son and you?”
“That’s right.”
“Any help? Nannies? Maids?”
“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “We don’t really have a need for that. Will works most of the time and I stay home and mind the house.”
“Does that get boring?”
She looked at me like I’d just slapped her or something.
“Of course not!” she exclaimed. “I love my family!”
“I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. I just meant, most women have dreams of their own, right?”
“Right now, my dream is to get the hell out of here.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m just tired of this town.”
“I’d imagine the break-ins have you worried,” I nodded. “I can have someone install cameras, if you’d like. Mr. Green is having them placed at his house and his office.”
“That’s not necessary,” she said. “I don’t think so anyway…”
“Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”
“I’ll leave you to your work. I’ll be in the den if you need me.”
She left me near the back door and I walked outside, surveying the property surrounding their home. A rolling meadow consisted of their back yard, backing up to a thick patch of white oak and pine trees that I knew led over to Green’s estate.
I checked out the door and saw no damage at all, which made sense if these people really didn’t lock their doors. They might as well put out a sign inviting the burglars inside. Leave some cookies and milk out for them.
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