Just Jenny

by Sandra Owens

  Heaven. It was fucking heaven being inside my Jenny Girl. She lifted her hips to meet mine, matching my rhythm. With each stroke I drove deeper, and the pressure built inside me until I couldn’t hold out any longer. I found Jenny’s mouth, our tongues dancing around each other as I lapped up her moans.

  “Ahh,” I said into her mouth as I erupted, waves of pleasure, one after the other, washing over me. My heart pounded in my chest. “I’m sorry.” And I was. She hadn’t climaxed.

  “Hey, remember we have all night?”

  I smiled against her neck. “I remember.”

  “Just do better next time, cowboy. We’re trying to save a horse here.”

  The woman definitely knew how to make me laugh. “That horse has nothing to worry about.”

  When I could move again, we raided the kitchen, bringing a container of ice cream and two spoons back to the bed. Once our bellies were satisfied, I took my time exploring Jenny’s body, learning what made her shiver with pleasure. Her taste, her scent, the way her silky skin felt under my palms was intoxicating. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get enough of her.

  We dozed off sometime after midnight. I was spooned behind her, my nose buried in her hair so I could breathe her in, and as sleep took me, I wondered how I was going to let her go when it was time.

  My phone interrupted my sleep, and I rolled over, looking at the clock to see it was two in the morning. Calls that came in the middle of the night were never good. I sat up, grabbed my cell, and went into the living room to keep from waking Jenny.

  “Talk to me,” I said when I saw Kim Payton’s name come up on my screen. She and Tommy were still on night shift.

  “Chief, I’m really sorry to be calling at this hour.”

  “No problem. What’s going on?”

  “Ah, Tommy and I are at the scene of an accident involving the mayor’s daughter. Captain Moody’s here, too. Apparently Stephanie called him. We’re pretty sure she’s drunk, but Moody’s refusing to let Tommy give her a Breathalyzer.”

  And here was my first test on how I was going to treat the mayor’s daughter. The answer? Just like I would anyone else. “Tell Captain Moody I said—”

  “That’s not all. Sean Lamar was in the car with her and wasn’t wearing a seat belt. He was thrown out. He’s in pretty bad shape. They’ve called for MAMA to take him to Mission in Asheville.”

  Shit. MAMA was the hospital’s medical helicopter. Blue Ridge Valley had a small hospital, but they didn’t have a trauma center. “Tell Captain Moody I’m on the way and that I said to let you and Tommy do your job.” I’d find out who Sean Lamar was when I got there. After getting the address, I returned to my bedroom to put on some clothes.

  “Are you leaving?”

  I’d tried to be quiet, but it was better that I could tell her where I was going. “Yeah. There’s been a bad accident. Go back to sleep. I don’t know when I’ll get back.” I gave her a kiss before heading out. Until I found out more information, I chose not to tell her about Stephanie.

  When I reached the scene, Stephanie was in the back of Kim’s cruiser with Kim standing guard at the back door, and Captain Moody was in Tommy’s face.

  “I don’t care what the chief said. I’m taking her home,” Moody said.

  So intent on intimidating Tommy, he didn’t hear me walk up behind him. “Captain Moody, your presence isn’t needed here.” He spun, opened his mouth, then closed it. I could see he was making a visible effort to control his temper.

  “You need to let that girl go home,” he said after a few deep breaths. “She’s upset enough.”

  “I’m sure she is, but she’s not going anywhere until we get a blood test done on her. You, on the other hand, can go home. As for your not caring what I say, we’ll discuss this in my office Monday morning at nine.”

  “The mayor’s not going to be happy about this,” he yelled as I walked away.

  Too true. I ignored him and went to Kim. “You handcuff her?” Kim nodded, eyeing me as if she wasn’t sure she should have. “Good. Take her to the hospital. Get a blood test done and have them check her out to make sure she doesn’t have any internal injuries. After that, take her home. We’ll decide what to charge her with depending on the results.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Stephanie banged her head on the window, trying to get my attention. I ignored her, too. Moody had moved to his car, but he was sending me death glares. Like I cared. Tommy was now at Stephanie’s Mercedes, and I joined him. “Looks like she took the curve too fast.”

  Tommy nodded. “She denies it, but my guess, she was doing over sixty. The posted speed limit here is thirty-five.”

  Stupid woman. The car was wrapped around a tree on the passenger side. If her passenger had been wearing his seat belt, he would have been killed instantly. One of the rare times not wearing one might have saved a life.

  “I’d say it’s totaled. Who’s Sean Lamar and where is he?”

  “The ambulance took him to the ball field where the helicopter will land. His parents own the Apple Orchard Motel and Gift Shop.”

  “How old is Sean?”

  “Twenty-four. He’s army, stationed at Fort Bragg. He was home for the weekend. Stephanie said they’d been at Hideouts and were heading back to her place.”

  The honky-tonk bar. I glanced at my watch. The bar would be closed by now. “Tomorrow night when you go on duty, go there first. Find out how long they were there and how much they were drinking.” I hadn’t met the Lamars yet, but I could see a lawsuit against Stephanie in the making. “When you get to the station tonight, write up a report while everything’s still fresh in your mind. This could get nasty before it’s all over. I want every word she said, everything you saw here documented. That includes everything Moody said or did.”

  Tommy eyed me with approval. “Yes, sir.”

  “And Tommy, no talking to anyone about this. Not even to other cops, capisce? Tell Kim she’s under the same orders. Tomorrow morning I’ll get an accident investigator out here.”

  He nodded. I trusted Tommy and Kim to keep their mouths shut, but Moody? Doubtful. The rumors would fly, and we didn’t need to be contributing to them. I went back to my car and got the camera I kept in the glove box. After getting pictures of the Mercedes from all angles, I lowered the camera, taking one last look at the mangled car. It was hard to believe that Stephanie had walked away without an apparent scratch. The next thing I had to do was what I hated the most, but it couldn’t be put off any longer.

  “Tommy, follow me to the station so I can drop off my car. We’ll go together to notify Sean’s parents.”

  What a shitty ending to what had been one of the best nights I’d had in what felt like forever.

  23

  ~ Jenny ~

  I offered to cancel our Sunday waterfall trip thinking Dylan would prefer to get some sleep, but he refused. He didn’t return until this morning, and I could tell he was tired.

  “Thanks,” he said when I slid a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast in front of him. “This and a quick shower, I’ll be good as new.”

  “It must have been a bad one if it had you out this long.” He still hadn’t told me anything, and as small as my town was, I worried that it involved someone I knew.

  His eyes searched mine. “As I understand the bartender rules, you’re bound by oath to keep anything said to you while serving beers confidential, right?”

  Kind of a weird question, but I’d play along. “Absolutely, and I’ve never once broken a confidence.”

  “Then put yourself in bartender role and grab me a beer.”

  “Sure.” Now I was really worried. I’d already noticed that Dylan wasn’t a big drinker unless he was upset about something. One or two beers or the occasional glass of wine at most, so if he wanted a beer at nine in the morning, that didn’t bode well.

  “Breakfast of champs,” I said, sliding the bottle across the counter.

  He downed half of it in one swallow, then pushed it as
ide. “I’ve ordered the cops at the scene not to talk about it, so I shouldn’t either, but you’re going to hear about it soon enough. Whatever rumors surface, here’s what I know as of now. Stephanie Jenkins and Sean Lamar were returning to her place after spending time at Hideouts. Unfortunately she wrapped her car around a tree. She’s okay, but Sean is in critical condition at Mission Hospital in Asheville.”

  “Holy shit,” I whispered.

  “That about sums it up.” He slid his empty plate to the side and pulled his cup of coffee in front of him.

  “Sean’s a really sweet guy. God, I hope he’s going to be okay.” I noticed Dylan’s cup was empty, and I refilled it. “It’s been maybe two years since I’ve seen him. I’d heard he was back from Afghanistan. Honestly I can’t figure out why he was with Stephanie. He was never a big party person like her.”

  “His parents said he’s changed since returning from his last tour. That he seemed angry and withdrawn.”

  “You saw them?”

  “Yeah.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “The part of my job I hate the most. Take me to your waterfall, Red. Show me something beautiful today.”

  “I can do that. While you’re taking a shower, I’m going to call my parents and let them know. They’re friends with Frank and Judy and will probably want to go to the hospital to be with them. Don’t worry,” I said when he seemed about to speak. “I’ll just say he was in an accident. Frank and Judy can tell them however much they want them to know.”

  He gave me a dog-tired smile. “I trust you to know what to say.”

  Dylan’s shower done and my call made, we walked out to his car. I held out my hand. “Keys. I’m driving.” Without a word he handed them to me. The man was so different from others I’d dated. Chad would have argued, no matter he was dead tired and had drunk half a beer. He’d see it as an insult to his manhood or some crap like that.

  “Top down?” he asked.

  “Definitely.” It was another warm day, perfect for a convertible. This warm spell wasn’t going to last much longer, but I was going to enjoy while it did. I dug out a band from my purse, pulling my hair into a ponytail.

  On the way out of Blue Ridge Valley, we stopped at the grocery store and bought a small Styrofoam container, a couple of bottled waters, some presliced cheeses, crackers, strawberries, a package of blackberries, a half-dozen chocolate chip cookies, and a small bag of ice. On the way to the checkout line, I spied a rack with cheap straw hats and grabbed one. Dylan chose a ball cap with a North Carolina Panthers’ logo on it.

  As I pulled out of the store’s parking lot, I debated which waterfall to take Dylan to. I decided on one of my favorites, Soco Falls, which was actually a duel falls located between Maggie Valley and Cherokee, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

  Dylan fell asleep within minutes of our driving out of town. I couldn’t stop glancing over at him, thinking how much younger he looked when all his worries and responsibilities weren’t etched in weary lines on his face.

  My heart ached at the thought of leaving him. But traveling the world had been my dream for so long that I didn’t know how to give it up. And then there was my promise to Natalie that I had to keep. So I would go, and I seriously doubted Dylan would be waiting for me when I got back. He was simply every woman’s dream man, and he would find someone to love him the way he deserved. And I would be happy for him. I swore it.

  I turned off the ignition after parking as close as I could get to Soco Falls. I was going to let him sleep a little longer, knowing he needed it, but when the Mustang’s engine noise cut off, he jerked upright.

  “Did I drool?” were the first words out of his mouth.

  “Yes, and you snored, and then drooled some more.”

  He lowered his chin, eyeing his shirt. “Did not.” He massaged his eyes with his fingers, then scrubbed at his face.

  I knew he’d showered, but I hadn’t noticed until now that he hadn’t shaved, too intent on watching how peaceful he looked in sleep. That day-old bristle on his cheeks made me want to jump his bones, but when he’d slept, I could see the boy in him. I wish I’d known him when he mischievously drove his mother mad. I wanted him to tell me about those days, yet I didn’t because then I’d fall in love with him.

  “We’re here,” I said instead of putting my mouth on his like I wanted to. We gathered our cooler and hats, and I wished we’d taken my car because I always kept a blanket in it. I had plans for him, so we’d make do.

  It only took about five minutes to reach the observation deck, and I stepped back to let Dylan take his first look at the double waterfalls.

  He didn’t say anything at first, then he glanced at me with awe in his eyes. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

  “I know.” I loved that he saw the beauty that I did. “Come on. We have a ways to go.” The trail down was slippery, and the only way to get to the bottom safely was to hold on to the rope the park service had put up. Dylan held our cooler in one hand, white-knuckle gripping the line with his other. We laughed like silly kids as we slipped-slid our way down.

  At the bottom he dropped the cooler to the ground, snaked his arm around my waist, pulled me against him, and kissed me with the same exhilaration that strummed through my body. He’d come back to life after a horrible night, and I was glad he hadn’t taken my suggestion to stay home and get some sleep.

  “Wow,” I said when we came up for air. “If this is what going to a waterfall does for you, we’ll have to do it often. I have a whole list of them we can visit.”

  “It’s not just the waterfall, Red.”

  He didn’t have to explain. I could see the desire for me in his eyes. I took his hand, leading him to a spot I’d seen on the way down. The rock was flat and dry, perfect for a little picnic and a little loving.

  “Thank you,” Dylan said once we were seated on the rock.

  “For?”

  “For bringing me here, for being you.”

  Just go and melt my heart, Mr. Policeman. I leaned my cheek on his shoulder, and he rested his chin on my head. We sat like that for a while, listening to the crash of the water onto the rocks. I could feel the tension seeping out of his body as the sun warmed our faces. He sank down onto his back, bringing me with him and cradling my head with his arm.

  “I think I could live here if we could get pizza delivery,” he said.

  “And chocolate chip cookies. And a hamburger once in a while.”

  He laughed. “You’re complicating things, Red.”

  There was something in his tone of voice that made me think he wasn’t talking about pizza delivery. His fingers played with my hair, and I closed my eyes, sighing from the tingles he was sending around my head.

  “Mm, that feels good.”

  “This world tour of yours. How long are you planning to be gone?”

  “I don’t know. I’m leaving that open. A year. Two. Until I get tired of traveling, I guess.” But I was going to miss him. I almost wished we hadn’t met until after I came back. There was no way a man like him would sit around for a year or two, waiting for me to get the travel bug out of my system. I’d never expect him to or ask it of him.

  There was no one else at the bottom of the falls, and we were hidden from view of anyone on the observation deck. I swung a leg over Dylan’s waist, straddling him. His eyes, hooded and half-asleep, tracked my movements. I put my hands on either side of his head, bracing them on the rock, lowered my face, and brushed my lips over his. He put his hands on my hips as I played with his mouth. I loved kissing Dylan Conrad. His lips were full, soft, and delicious.

  “I wish we had a tent we could crawl into so we could strip off our clothes and make love here next to the waterfalls.” I dropped kisses to both sides of his eyes. The mountain water cooled the air around us, but my body felt like someone had turned on the furnace. Simply being near this man sent heat to every bone and nerve ending living inside my skin.

  “I’m a transplanted city boy. I’ve never be
en camping, but I think I’d like wrestling around in a tent with you.” He smiled. “We’ll have to give it a try sometime.”

  There were all kinds of things I wanted to do with him, places I wanted to take him, things I wanted to show him. When the voice in my head said that there wasn’t enough time left to check off everything on my list, I pushed it away.

  We were in the here and now, and when I left, it would be with beautiful memories of this man, whether we ever got naked together in a tent or not. He slipped a hand under my T-shirt, cupped my breast with his palm, and flicked his thumb over my nipple.

  “Copping a feel there, Chief?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  I laughed. “I love an honest cop.” His erection pressed against the vee of my shorts, and I rubbed against him, teasing him.

  “You’re treading on dangerous territory, Red. You keep that up, and I won’t care that we’re out in the open and someone could come down here any minute.” Even as he spoke the words, he arched his hips, pushing back at me.

  As if he’d conjured company by mentioning the possibility, I heard voices. Dylan put his hands on my waist and lifted me to the side of him. By the time the family of four reached the bottom of the trail, Dylan and I were innocently enjoying our picnic. But, mercy, those hot looks he was giving me were setting me on fire.

  “I think we should go back to your place and take a nap,” I said as I popped the last bit of cheese in my mouth.

  He smirked. “If you say so.”

  Yeah, we might be in his bed, but we weren’t going to be napping.

  24

  ~ Dylan ~

  Monday morning, I waited for Moody to appear. He was late, and as usual where he was concerned, I was irritated. Already on my third cup of coffee, I replayed my weekend in my head. Jenny and I had gone back to my place, made love, and then had actually napped for a few hours. When she said she should go home, I’d convinced her to stay. I could get used to having her in my bed every night.

  When I’d kissed her good-bye this morning, I’d almost asked her to come over tonight when she got off work. I liked having her with me, but I resisted asking. We’d spent the weekend together, and it was better that I give her space. Didn’t want her getting tired of my ugly face.