The Long Hot Summer

by Rosnau, Wendy

  She could hear the patter of raindrops on the windows. It was one of those lazy rainy nights, the kind that make a person restless. Anxious. Something she didn’t need more of tonight.

  She padded to the second-story window and looked out. Her bedroom window overlooked the front yard and offered an unobstructed view of the oak-lined driveway. Johnny had gone into town. Gran had said he was spending the evening with Virgil.

  He’d been gone for hours, and after what had happened a week ago, Nicole didn’t see why he didn’t just stay away from town altogether. At least until he felt a hundred percent again. What if Farrel tried something a little more creative this time? What if this time he didn’t stop at a few broken ribs?

  Nicole’s stomach knotted as she thought about the possibility of Johnny taking another brutal beating, or worse. She wrapped her arms around herself, not wanting to think about it but unable to think of anything else.

  Today had been one of the nicest days she’d had in months. The entire afternoon had been an artist’s dream come true. Johnny had taken her places she would never have seen on her own. He had explained so much, made her feel important enough to share his secret, and had completely swept her away on an amazing adventure right in her own backyard. She’d seen cypress that resembled giants, just the way he had promised, and Spanish moss so thick that it had veiled them like a live blanket.

  Even before today she had loved Belle, but now she felt oddly connected to it. And she had Johnny to thank for that.

  Gran had insisted he was special. Today he had shown Nicole not only Belle, but a side of himself she suspected only a rare few had cared enough to see.

  Trust me, cherie, he’d said. And she had; for the first time in months, she had trusted a man. Looking back, she had actually put her life in his hands at least a dozen times today, and he had not once failed her.

  She stared out the window, anxious to see lights coming up the driveway, lights that would confirm he was safe. A minute turned into two, then three.

  Desperate for a diversion, angry with herself for not being able to drive Johnny from her thoughts, Nicole stripped off her chemise and grabbed a loose cotton shift from the closet. Abandoning the idea of wearing a bra, and after retrieving a pair of blue satin panties from her drawer, she dressed quickly, then headed downstairs. After finding a flashlight in a drawer in the kitchen, she escaped outside.

  Warm raindrops greeted her as she stepped off the porch. At first she thought she would try out the swing in the backyard, but instead she found herself in Gran’s flower garden. Another half an hour passed, and soon Nicole left the garden behind and crossed the road. Once she entered the woods she turned on the flashlight and let the shining beam guide her to the swimming hole. If anyone knew what she was planning, they would surely think she had lost her mind.

  Over the past few weeks she’d gotten adept at maneuvering the wooded trails. Flashlight in hand, she easily arrived at the swimming hole unscathed. Turning out the light, she laid it down in the grass and waited a moment until her eyes adjusted to the darkness. It only took a few seconds before she could see the shadowy outline of the water lapping the grassy bank. She kicked off her wet canvas shoes, then swept her rain-soaked shift over her head and let it fall at the water’s edge. Naked except for her panties, she slipped into the water.

  An hour later, feeling less anxious and relaxed enough to maybe fall asleep once she returned to the house, Nicole waded to the bank in search of her discarded shift and shoes. Wringing out her wet hair, she glanced around the dense buttonbush.

  “Looking for this?”

  Nicole spun around, her wet panties clinging to her curvy bottom, her arms quickly covering her bare breasts. “Johnny? How long have you been standing there?” she gasped, speaking to the ghost who still hadn’t materialized, but knowing it was him by his unmistakable black-bayou drawl.

  “Long enough.” The formidable shadow shoved away from the shelter of a tall oak and stepped into the misting rain. “Kinda late for a swim. Weather’s not the best, either.”

  Nicole’s heart began to pound wildly. Her body started to tremble when she saw her dress in one of his big hands. “Toss it,” she implored.

  At the mention of her dress, he glanced down at the sodden garment as if he’d forgotten it was there. Only a few seconds lapsed, but it seemed like forever before he did as she asked and tossed her dress—to the other side of the buttonbush.

  Nicole sucked in her breath as he started to advance on her. Stunned, she took a step back and felt the water lap at her feet. “Johnny, what are you doing?”

  “What we both want me to do. What your eyes have been begging me to do to you all day.” His powerful hands locked solidly around her elbows, and he pulled her up against him. Nicole’s eyes went wide. She made a strangled little cry that could easily have been mistaken for that of a creature of the night, but he ignored it and thrust his hand into her wet hair, tipped her head back and quickly covered her trembling mouth.

  The kiss was hot. Desperate. Possessive. His tongue probed, searched, forced her mouth open to delve deeply. Not breaking the kiss, his hands slid around her and cupped her behind the knees, lifting her into his arms. Then they were moving, heading in the direction of the boathouse.

  Nicole wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed her face against his rock-hard shoulder. “Your ribs,” she whispered.

  “Shh,” he silenced.

  He smelled earthy and warm. Rain-soaked. Nicole brushed her lips against the pulse throbbing at the base of his throat, whispered more concern for his ribs. He told her again that she worried too much and wrapped his arms more securely around her nakedness, fusing her to him as if she were his most prized possession.

  Halfway to the boathouse he stopped. “We’re not going to make it, cherie. I’m not going to make it,” he amended, sliding her from him. He pulled her beneath a live oak with high branches that created a natural umbrella from the misting rain. Backing her against the tree, he sought her lips, giving her no time to think or to question the right or wrong of it. She kissed him back, her fingers sinking into his loose, wet hair. He leaned into her, rotated his pelvis urgently. The feel of his arousal through his damp jeans had Nicole moaning softly, liquid heat bubbling up inside her.

  His rapid breathing caused his chest to heave in and out like a bellows, and when his hands closed over her breasts, palming them, kneading her warm flesh, Nicole bit her lip and arched into his big hands. He dragged callous thumbs over both aroused nipples, playing with them, at the same time keeping his eyes on her face, gauging her response, her need.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he drawled, then bent his head and drew one ripe nipple into his hot mouth. Nicole again arched into him as every internal muscle responded all at once.

  His kisses trailed lower to her abdomen, licking, stroking. Then he was kneeling in front of her, his hands settling on her waist, his tongue delving into her navel. Nicole gasped and felt her knees go weak. His hands moved lower, brushing the satin wedge between her thighs. “Say yes, cherie,” he murmured. “Say you want this. That you want me as badly as I want you.”

  He was giving her a way out, she realized. Letting her escape at the last possible minute, if she needed to. He had stopped touching her, and she looked down to see he was staring up at her, waiting for her answer.

  “I want you,” he drawled softly, “but if I misread you this afternoon—”

  Nicole silenced him by brushing her fingertips over his full mouth. “You didn’t misread anything.”

  He stared at her a moment longer, then his fingers began caressing her satin mound through her panties, keeping his eyes still watchful on her face. Nicole trembled in answer to his silent request, and again felt as if she were being robbed of air.

  “Time’s up,” he drawled. He kissed her flat stomach, his fingers moving past her panties to find her sex swollen and wet with desire. He moaned against the soft flesh of her stomach and gently parted her.
/>
  Nicole made a little starved noise in the back of her throat as his fingers entered her, testing, seeking, becoming familiar with her body. He was setting her on fire with one frenzied wave of heat after another. Panting, she twisted her body in a desperate plea. “Oh, Johnny! Ohh—”

  The urgency in her voice had him withdrawing his fingers. Standing, he kissed her again, then hooked a finger in either side of her panties and snapped the elastic as if it were a single thread. Pulling the damp satin forward, he let it drop.

  “Unzip me,” he instructed, tearing his rain-soaked white T-shirt off and tossing it aside.

  Nicole ran her hands down his hard belly. With trembling fingers, she worked his zipper down. Another shudder ripped through her as she reached for his rigid shaft, her fingers closing firmly around him.

  “No, cherie,” he groaned, grabbing her wrist. “I won’t last two seconds with your hands on me.”

  He released her wrist and shoved his jeans past his buttocks, then quickly lifted her, urging her to wrap her legs around his waist. Without ceremony, he gripped her naked bottom and guided her down on his erection. Nicole’s head fell back and her body shuddered violently. His hips strained upward, eased into her farther. She closed around him, her body willingly accepting him.

  He let out a slow torturous moan of approval, and with one powerful thrust he was deeply seated inside her. But he wasn’t there long before he lifted her as if he would leave her completely, then swiftly brought her back down over him. The air in his lungs rushed out while his hips strained again, bucking upward. He penetrated her again, then again in several solid mind-numbing thrusts.

  He swore she was killing him. But it was Nicole who thought she would be the one to die as passion enveloped her and a flood of liquid heat shot past the burn of being stretched so completely. She gasped in sweet agony and clutched at him as his violent release sent her spiraling over the edge. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, closed her eyes and hung on as he carried them through the tempest, his endurance endless, his hard body controlling the tide, giving and taking at just the right moments. And when it was over, Nicole, shaken to the core, knew she would never forget this moment or the man named Johnny Bernard.

  Johnny watched her as he slowly lifted her off him and set her bare feet gently to the ground. Righting his jeans, he kept silent, letting her have time to catch her breath. Feeling shaky himself, he bent and scooped up his T-shirt, looking for a cigarette. Realizing he must have lost them in the foray, he swore and tossed the shirt back to the ground.

  He couldn’t explain why he had ended up at the swimming hole. He supposed the water had simply beckoned, and he had answered the call. The lazy rain was to blame, he decided. It had lured him, tempted him. But the moment he had laid eyes on Nicole gliding on her back in the water, he knew a higher power had brought him here.

  He glanced at her now as she reached for his T-shirt and pulled it over her head to conceal her naked body. He’d ruined her panties, but she picked them up anyway and tucked them neatly into her little fist. She didn’t look at him as she stepped from beneath the tree and tilted her face up to the night sky. It was still raining, a fine, almost invisible mist. She stood perfectly still like a fragile statue.

  Johnny waited for her to say something, anything, so he could gauge her emotional state. But after a minute passed she simply started walking toward the path.

  Surprised, he asked, “Where are you going, cherie?”

  “To find my shoes and dress.”

  “You okay?”

  She turned to face him. “I’m fine.”

  Was she really fine? He had tried to be gentle, to go slow, but he’d found out the first time he’d kissed her that slow would never come easily where Nicole was concerned. The minute he had her in his arms, all he could think about was having her as quickly and as completely as possible.

  “Look, I thought this was a mutual—”

  “It was.”

  “Then what the hell’s wrong?” Johnny hadn’t meant to sound so angry, but she was confusing him. One minute she was moaning and saying his name; the next she was acting as if they were strangers.

  “Nothing’s wrong, Johnny,” she assured. “I just don’t want to analyze what just happened. It’s obvious we both needed a feel-good session. Let’s just leave it at that.”

  Her comment was like a pail of cold water thrown in his face, and Johnny took a step back. He’d heard it called a lot of things before, but never that. Yeah, it had felt good all right, damn good. And he’d be the first one to admit that he’d had a sexual craving the size of the Gulf since he’d gotten out of prison. That, however, had had nothing to do with tonight. This hadn’t been planned—but it hadn’t just happened, either.

  Angry that she had him trying to justify it in his mind, he taunted, “Well, then, the next time you feel needy, you let me know. A ‘feel-good’ session with you beats the hell out of playing poker with Bick any day of the week. In fact, we could set up a schedule if you like. Twice a week sound good? Or do you get needy on a daily basis?”

  “Go to hell,” she spat, and spun around to head down the trail.

  With lightning speed, Johnny caught up to her, grabbed her elbow and pulled her around to face him. Quickly, he slid his free hand over her bare bottom, and when she tried to wiggle free, he squeezed, restraining her easily. “Don’t,” he grated. “Once barely took the edge off. Unless you want me inside you again right now, don’t fight me.”

  “It would be by force this time,” she snapped.

  Johnny felt her tremble. Boldly, he moved his hand over her naked buttock and watched her shudder once more. “I don’t think I’ll have to force anything, cherie. We fit better than my custom-made boots, and like it or not, when something feels that good, that right, you usually get spoiled and don’t want to settle for less.”

  “You arrogant bast—”

  He lowered his head and kissed her hard and fast. Then, releasing her, he left her standing in the sultry mist while he headed down the path to fetch her clothes. Over his shoulder, he said, “I’ll be back with your things. Don’t move. If I have to run you down, we both know who’ll win.”

  Chapter 10

  She’d known him less than three weeks, and yet she’d let him touch her and make love to her with the familiarity of a long-time lover. Nicole could feel her cheeks burn with the memory of what he had done to her and how she’d responded.

  She wanted to shift the blame, wanted Johnny’s broad shoulders to carry the weight of what had passed between them. She wanted to accuse him of using her, but she knew that wouldn’t be fair. Not when she wasn’t so sure she hadn’t used him a little herself. Exorcising the past from her mind—Chad, specifically—hadn’t been painful at all when the man she had given herself to last night had the power to consume her body, mind and soul.

  Oh, she would never forget the baby. Nothing and no one would be able to erase the memory or the loss of her innocent baby girl. But since Johnny had entered her life, the pain of Chad’s rejection had steadily diminished. And after last night, Nicole was almost feeling as if she owed Chad a debt of gratitude for walking away.

  She knew now she had never loved him.

  She wasn’t proud of the fact that she might have used Johnny, that subconsciously it might have been her intention all along. No, it wasn’t something to be proud of. But the alternative was much worse: she couldn’t possibly be falling in love with him.

  Love… No, she wasn’t about to let Johnny Bernard worm his way into her heart. Though he’d done a good job so far.

  She plopped down on her bed, determined to pull herself together. She rubbed her tired burning eyes, sleep having eluded her until only a few hours ago. After Johnny had walked her to the house last night, she had paced in earnest, until her feet hurt and the lip she kept chewing was raw.

  The thought of seeing him at the breakfast table in a few hours was suddenly giving her a stomachache. What she really wante
d to do was run off to New Orleans again. But what would that solve? When she got back she would still have to face him.

  Their fevered lovemaking flashed in her mind, and Nicole squeezed her eyes shut. Normally she didn’t like overpowering, take-charge men, but last night Johnny had controlled her every move, and she couldn’t have been happier. He’d taken her to a place she’d never been before, an erotic haven she had only fantasized about in her most private dreams. Desire—yes, she desired him in a dozen carnal ways.

  But she wouldn’t love him. She couldn’t.

  Nicole swore and headed for the closet. She was half dressed when she heard a loud rumbling noise outside. She turned to the window with her T-shirt in hand. When she drew back the curtain, she wasn’t prepared for what she saw: four huge, green tractors were being unloaded from long trailers.

  “What on earth!” She watched as one by one the tractors were backed off the trailers and outfitted with plows. Moments later they headed into the overgrown fields.

  Realization dawned as to what was happening and, just as quickly, as to who was responsible. Furious that Johnny had dared to take charge of another part of her life, Nicole finished dressing in a flurry of motion, jammed her feet into a pair of tennis shoes and raced downstairs.

  She crossed the road in a blaze of anger, her arms swinging at her sides, talking to herself as she went—giving Johnny a verbal beating with each step. If and when Oakhaven became a sugar plantation, it would be Gran’s decision, not that of some handsome ex-con. And the sooner Johnny Bernard learned his place around here, the better.

  Johnny heard footsteps on the stairs just seconds before the door flew wide and banged hard against the wall. There wasn’t time enough to pull his pants on. Hell, there wasn’t time enough to climb out of bed.

  One eye open, he saw Nicole march into the room and head straight for him. He sat up, dropped his feet to the floor. She hadn’t been too talkative last night when he’d walked her back to the house. In fact—