“So you’re trying to say somebody from the New York mob came all the way to Montana to poison your friend and do God knows what with the witness and then left the body in the hotel to decay so bad, the manager came in because he was getting complaints about the smell?”
Andrew made a mental note to check in with Ray Bob, the manager/owner of the motel. Even though he’d bought Sinclair Township, Ray Bob owned the motel and could technically run it however he pleased. Still, it didn’t look good for a motel in his township to only have as-needed maid service. Andrew suspected quite a few of Buellton’s transits and meth heads were taking advantage of the motel’s low weekly rates and “no questions asked” policies.
“I’m not trying to tell you anything,” Andrew said to the sheriff. “I’m telling you exactly what happened. Were there any other numbers on the phone in the room? Ones with New York area codes?”
From the looks a few of the deputies exchanged behind the sheriff’s back, Andrew could tell he’d guessed something right.
But the sheriff stubbornly set his jaw. “So you think there’s a second dead body we haven’t found yet. You want to tell us about that one, too? Maybe you can lead us to it.”
Andrew shook his head and raised his hands. “With all due respect, sir, I’m done answering questions until you at least call Steve’s office in New York to corroborate my story.”
The sheriff didn’t move a finger to make any such call, just asked him question after increasingly insulting question, all of which Andrew answered with respectful silence.
Finally the phone rang, interrupting the one-sided interrogation. A deputy answered it and his eyes widened in surprise. “Hold on a minute,” Andrew heard the young man say.
The deputy then pulled the sheriff aside and said something to him in a low voice, something that caused an angry look come over his face. “Throw him in a cell while I take care of this,” the sheriff said.
And that’s how Andrew ended up spending most of the day in a jail cell, the nice guy slowly fuming out of him the longer he was made to wait.
By the time a deputy came to release him, it was dinner time and the sun was sitting low in the Montana sky.
“I suggest you keep your nose clean from now on, Mr. Sinclair,” the sheriff said as a deputy handed him back a bag holding his personal items. “You may own that town of yours, but remember, I’ve still got jurisdiction there, and I’ll be watching you. If you so much as speed, we’ll be hauling you into that cell again. Might put a plaque on it just like the one you have on that little ranch of yours. We’ll call it something hoity toity, like the ‘The Sinclair Cell and Resort.’”
The sheriff seemed to like the laugh that bon mot got from his deputies, because he went on. “Maybe we’ll catch that little black girl of yours up to something and have her spend a night or two with us, too. If she wants, she can wear that mini skirt we heard she was parading around in for a few days. Give the deputies something to look at it.”
Two of the deputies snickered.
Andrew didn’t allow his face to show emotion at all, but his voice became dangerous and low. “I’m a nice guy. I like to keep my business drama-free and I try to treat everybody I encounter fair and square. You’re upset because I hurt your daughter. I understand, so I’m going to let this slide. Once. But understand something, you will never bring me in here again. Even if you find me at a crime scene covered in blood, you will question me in my home and at my leisure. And if I find out one of your deputies so much as says a single wrong word to Layla, then you’re going to find yourself without a job. I don’t care how well we used to get along.”
He then pointed his first two fingers at the deputies who had snickered at the sheriff’s threat against Layla. “But you two, I don’t owe anything, so you can go ahead and pack up your personal belongings. You no longer have jobs on the Buellton police force.”
The sheriff’s face went blotchy with anger, “Where do you think you get off? You’re not in the big city anymore and you don’t have any jurisdiction over me.”
Andrew picked up his smart phone and went into his contact list. “That’s what weird about small towns. They always think they’re so different from big cities, when it fact they’re even worse.” He pushed a button on his speed dial. “For example if I were still living in a big city like Pittsburgh—which by way is only mid-sized—I might have to make two calls to get you and your whole department fired, but here, my life is much easier—“
He broke off and smiled into the phone. “Hello, sir. I hope you don’t mind me interrupting your dinner. Unfortunately, I’ve been in a jail cell at the Buellton police department since early this morning. Isn’t this department run by someone you endorsed in his last election?” He gave the sheriff a significant look. “And I believe a few of our mutual friends in the state gave him substantial campaign contributions.”
He then listened for a few moments, before saying, “Sure, I’ll put him on the phone. Nice talking to you, sir. Sorry about interrupting your dinner. No, I don’t have time to come over tonight to join you guys. I wish I did, because I’m still remembering those smothered pork chops from the last time…they were worth the three hour drive. Rain check.”
He handed the phone over to the sheriff and said sotto voce, “It’s the governor for you. Apparently, he didn’t want to hear what I was arrested for, he just wants to talk to you.”
The sheriff answered the phone with a stammering, “Y-y-yes, sir? I understand sir. No, I’ve already indentified the deputies responsible for the oversight and have given them their walking papers. Yes, sir. No, I promise you it will never happen again, sir.”
One of the deputies, who hadn’t laughed at the sheriff’s threat against Layla, ended up driving him home. But Andrew couldn’t get Steve out of his mind. The man had had been an oily prick who only cared about his career, but he had gotten a lot of bad guys off the street and he didn’t deserve to die like this.
He pulled out his phone and made a note to send his family flowers the next time he was at a computer. But before he could finish thumbing in the reminder, the phone lit up with his brother’s name.
Andrew’s heart went cold in his chest. Nathan was finally calling him back. Probably about Layla. He clicked a side button and sent the call to voicemail, then immediately deleted the message that popped up on his voicemail list soon after.
So much for Mr. Nice Guy. Layla was his now, he thought, his mind flashing back to how responsive she’d been to his every touch the night before. He wasn’t about to give her back to Nathan.
“Can you drive faster?” he asked the deputy, suddenly more anxious than ever to get back to Layla and lose himself in her sweet curves.
But when he got home, he found the house dark and empty, with Layla nowhere to be found.
CHAPTER 14
ROXXY had been all over the world, but she’d never seen anything as drop dead gorgeous as the Montana night sky. She sat in a little meadow, about a mile down the creek from Sinclair Ranch, looking up at it now, mesmerized by its beauty and wishing on its stars. As if they could make it so her most trusted friend hadn’t just been exposed as a crazed stalker, as if they could get her out of this mess with Andrew.
Then, as if summoned by her thoughts, Andrew came loping into the meadow, with the lazy grace of a tiger. But something burned in his eyes that told her he was only half-joking when he tipped his hat toward her and said, “I see you’ve found a new place to hide from me.”
She smiled, treating it like a joke, as if that hadn’t been exactly what she was doing. “But, alas, you found me.”
“After looking in the barn, and just about everywhere else. One of the hands said they’d seen you headed toward the river. Hard to keep secrets in this place.” He sat down next to her.
Not as hard as you think, she thought. But out loud she said, “I don’t get many chances to be this close to nature, and when I do, it’s usually a beach at a secluded resort.”
; He nodded. “Nathan and his beach vacations. I bet you couldn’t pay him to rough it out here.”
“I don’t think you could pay most people to come to Montana if white sandy beaches were on the table.” She looked back up at the stars. “But they don’t know what they’re missing.”
“That’s how I felt when I first came here,” he said. “But I’m surprised you feel the same way. I could barely get you to take hikes with me back when we were dating in Pittsburgh.”
“A hike in Pittsburgh and a hike out here are two different things entirely,” she said. “Montana, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Just looking at the sky for a minute or two makes me feel like everything’s going to be okay, like my problems really aren’t as big as I think they are, not as big as that sky at least.”
Andrew nodded. “I thought I came back here to get away after you married Nathan. But when I came back for good, it felt like I had finally found the place where I belonged. Now you’re back and the picture’s complete.”
A wave of guilt washed over her. “Andrew…”
“Don’t say anything,” he said, his voice taking on a certain hard edge. “We don’t have to talk about feelings yet.” He stood up and held out his hand. “Let’s go back to the house.”
So that was what they did, in silence, both seemingly lost in faraway thoughts. When they entered the house and Andrew took off his cowboy hat, she had to resist the urge to run her hand through his sun-kissed hair. He’s not yours, she reminded herself. Not really.
They walked up the stairs, and she stopped outside the door to her bedroom. “Well, thanks for coming to get me. I don’t know if I would have been able to find my way back.” She gave him what she hoped was a decent semblance of a light smile. “Good night.”
But before she could turn the doorknob, his hand was on top of hers. “I’ve had a long day, so I’m going to cut straight to the point. From now on, you’re sleeping in my bed.”
“I think it’s better if I sleep in my own,” she said. She tried to keep her voice firm as she said this, but she could hear it shaking.
“You’re pissing me off with this, Layla.”
“I’m not trying to,” she said. “It’s just, like you said, I’ve changed. A lot. I’m not the Layla you used to know, and I don’t want to disappoint you. I’ve disappointed a lot of people in my life, and I don’t want to disappoint you, too.”
“Nathan’s an asshole.”
She shook her head. “Andrew…”
“No, I’m serious, if he let you go, if he made you feel like you were a disappointment, then he’s an asshole.” He took her hand off the doorknob. “Now come to bed with me where you belong.”
Where you belong. She let him pull her along, her conscience telling her one thing, but her heart making it seem as if she really didn’t have a choice. He was the first man, the only man, she’d ever been comfortable enough to have sex with stone cold sober. That alone made him irresistible, not to mention the fact that last night’s coming together had been spectacular, better than the stars in the Montana sky even.
She wanted nothing more than to share Andrew’s bed as much as she could, as many times as she could, until the D.A.’s office came to get her. And there was no excuse she could give to Andrew that would explain not doing exactly what they both wanted, without also blowing her cover.
When they got back to his room, he didn’t waste much time. He once again pulled her t-shirt over her head and unhooked her bra. Then he pushed his face into hers, rubbing his five-o-clock shadow against her smooth cheek, which sent a weird thrill through her body, all the way down to her core.
“Pants,” he said, as if sensing the flurry of activity he was causing down there.
She quickly dispensed of her pants and hiking boots, only to have him nudge her back onto bed.
She had a slight moment of panic when she ended up splayed out in front of him on her back, but he didn’t try to lie on top of her like last time. Instead he stayed standing and oh-so-slowly pulled her cotton panties off.
For a moment he stared at her naked pussy. “I never would have expected you to keep it hairless like this. That just doesn’t say Layla to me.”
“More changes. Surprise,” she tried to joke, but it sounded weak, since she was growing increasingly self-conscious under his stare.
“I’ve been thinking about getting a good look at it all day. About tasting you like this…”
He dropped his head down and dipped his tongue in. She nearly bucked off the bed. The problem with drunken sex was it usually didn’t inspire oral on the guy’s part and when it did, it tended to be sloppy.
But the way Andrew kissed her down there, it was like his tongue had a strange electricity in it, and it shot bolts of desire down both her thighs to the point that she could feel herself creaming into his mouth.
“Yes, I love how wet you get for me, are you going to stay this wet when I have my dick all the way inside you?”
She moaned.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said. Then he moved his tongue from her clit to the entrance of her tunnel, using his nose to maintain pressure on the button he was no longer lathing. It shouldn’t have felt as good as having his cock inside her, but then he started swirling his tongue around her opening, using his thumb to rub her clit and like a tenacious explorer, he found her G-spot. She came apart and to her embarrassment, actually squirted into his mouth. But she was coming too hard to apologize. She couldn’t breath much less squeeze words out for an apology.
Andrew laughed. “If you’re going to make me swallow, you’re going to have to return the favor soon.”
But before she could answer that, he said. “Turn over. I want to get a look at the sweet ass you were barely hiding under that skirt.”
She did as he said, glad he didn’t want to go for missionary, which would have made her freak out no matter how turned on she was.
“I like this picture,” she heard him say behind her. She could practically feel his eyes devouring her. “Do me a favor and fuck my hand. My thumb’s already had it’s fun, now I want my whole hand to smell like you.”
Her breath caught as he eased his first two fingers into her then paused, honestly expecting her to do as he said.
Roxxy’s mind had reservations, but her body seemed to have no problems with the command whatsoever. She felt herself moving back and forth on his fingers, only stopping with a gasp when he added in the third.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get four fingers into you. You were tight last night. But you’re so wet right now, I think we ought to try. Open wider for me, sweetheart.”
This time there was no hesitation, like the wanton woman she’d thought she had only been pretending to be on stage, she greedily open her legs for the fourth finger, crying out with pleasure as she rocked her hips back and forth on his hand, which was now covered with her essence.
She was acting like a total slut, but she didn’t care. She was so close to coming again, all she cared about was making it over that edge. And then the fingers were gone, and she whimpered.
“Sorry,” she heard him say. And then came the sound of him unzipping his jeans. “You’re too fucking hot to toy with for too long. My cock is threatening mutiny if I don’t let it inside of you. But I need an invitation.”
“You’re invited!” she assured him. “Please put it inside of me, now. Please.”
Despite his insinuation the night before that he would make her beg the next time, he pushed inside of her without further delay and she nearly collapsed on the bed, the pleasure of having him fill her was so intense. His hand had been good, but having him come at her from behind, she’d never felt anything like it. It wasn’t long before she felt her pussy clamping down on his cock, sucking him into her own orgasm. She came first, but he toppled soon afterwards, squeezing his fingers into her hips, like vices, until his own cum was fully released inside of her.
He fell into the bed beside her, breathing hard
. They didn’t say a thing, just let the afterglow slide over them, until their breathing evened out.
Andrew wrapped his arms around her from behind, just like he had in the barn, and for a minute she thought maybe he had fallen asleep. But then he whispered into her ear, “I don’t know what was going on with you tonight, but if you go back to him, I’ll never fucking talk to you again. I won’t be able to be chivalrous next time.”
“I won’t,” she said, meaning it. Because she didn’t care who this Nathan was, she couldn’t imagine he had anything on his brother.
“But if you do…”
“I won’t,” she said again.
He seemed to accept this, because pretty soon he really did fall asleep. And she did, too.
CHAPTER 15
THIS time it wasn’t knocking that woke her from her delicious sleep but a certain grinding. More specifically, Andrew behind her, moving his hips in a circle, with his bold erection lodged against the bottom of her now panty-clad pussy.
Late last night she’d gotten up to use the bathroom and had gone back to her room to retrieve a new pair of underwear and a t-shirt. But now she was regretting her late night concession to modesty, because it was getting in the way of her morning delight.
Was he asleep? She kind of liked the idea of him losing control of himself and spilling all over her panties, the way she’d done all over him.
But soon he dashed that small hope. “You covered up,” he growled in her ear.
“I’m really wishing I hadn’t,” she confessed, pushing back against him so she could feel more of his hard length against her slit.
At the same time, his arms snaked under her top, and he took hold of her breasts, pressing the globes together in a way that made her squirm so bad against him, it felt like her pussy was on fire.
The Wild One Page 9