Stalked in the Night

by Carla Cassidy

They would then walk back to the bus stop to get Andy, and after that they ate dinner together. Once they finished dinner, Jake helped Andy with his homework while Eva cleaned up the kitchen. There was a lot of laughter in the house—laughter that warmed Eva’s heart and made the house feel like a real home.

  There had been no more dead cows, and nothing nefarious had occurred since Jake had moved in, and for that Eva was grateful. But she remained on guard, and she knew Jake did, too.

  A couple of days of peace certainly didn’t mean the danger had passed. Rather, it felt like a wicked countdown to something huge and awful. It was as if there was a clock ticking down to a big explosion.

  They were now in the truck and headed into town to drop Andy off for his Friday overnight with Bobby. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you tonight, Andy,” Jake said. “What happens if your mom gets mean with me and you aren’t there to protect me?”

  Andy giggled. “Mom doesn’t get mean, and even if she did, I don’t know if I could protect you. She’d probably just send me to my room.”

  Eva and Jake laughed. This was what a real family felt like, she thought as she cast her gaze out the window. Jake filled in a space that had been missing.

  It was going to be difficult when the time came for him to go home. Andy would be upset, and Eva had to admit that she would miss him, too. But this had been an arrangement built on desperate need and fear, not want, and she certainly hadn’t invited Jake into her life forever.

  When they reached town, Eva gave him directions to the Stephenson home. “I’ll walk him to the door,” Jake said when he’d parked in the driveway of the attractive, two-story home.

  “Bye, Mom. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Andy said as he and Jake got out of the truck.

  “Make sure you behave yourself, and I love you,” Eva replied.

  “Love you, too,” Andy said.

  Eva watched as the two walked up the sidewalk to the front door. She was shocked to realize father and son had the same gait. Again she thanked her lucky stars that Andy looked more like her than his father.

  Robert answered the door, and he and Jake shared a short conversation, then Andy disappeared into the house and Jake returned to the truck.

  “He asked how you were doing and if you were okay,” Jake said as he slammed the truck door.

  “That was nice of him,” Eva replied.

  “I don’t like him. He’s way too fixated on you.”

  Eva laughed. “Jake, he’s just a nice man who wanted to go out with me.”

  “I still don’t trust him.”

  “I don’t trust anyone right now except you and Wayne,” she replied.

  “And that’s the way it should be,” he said.

  As they drove home, their conversation turned to the ranch and her hope to start the barn renovations soon. “I’m planning on hiring Barney Jennings to come out and give me an estimate.”

  “Who is Barney Jennings?” Jake asked.

  “He owns a construction company and has a good reputation for being fair while doing excellent work.”

  Jake pulled up and parked in front of her house. “How about you wait on that until everything else is resolved? The last thing I want right now is a bunch of men I don’t know running around on your property.”

  “You’re right,” she replied. “The barn can wait.”

  Together they got out of the truck and headed inside. “How about some ice cream?” he asked. “I’ll fix us each a bowl.” He paused in the living room and pulled off his boots. “Ah, that’s much better,” he said.

  “You always looked forward to taking off your boots,” she said with a smile.

  “Some things never change, and barefoot is always better,” he replied with a smile of his own.

  Together they went into the kitchen, where she sank down at the table and watched as he prepared two bowls of vanilla ice cream and then covered them with chocolate syrup. He put the bowls on the table and then sat across from her.

  “There’s nothing better than ice cream on a hot summer night. Hmm, this tastes delicious,” she said and then slowly licked the chocolate off the spoon.

  She immediately realized her mistake as Jake’s gaze on her instantly heated. Suddenly there was a tension between them...a tension that had begun the moment he’d first shown up at her house, a tension that not only had to do with his obvious desire for her, but her own for him.

  Her marriage to Andrew had been a sexless one. It had been ten years since she had experienced the sweet slide of a man’s kisses against her skin. It had been since her last time with Jake that she had reached the heights of sexual pleasure, since she had felt the unity of complete and total intimacy.

  And she suddenly realized she hungered for that now, and she didn’t want it with any other man. She wanted it again with Jake.

  What harm could come from making love with Jake one more time? She was determined he would never be in her life long-term, and she’d made that very clear to him. Surely if they were both on the same page, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

  She slowly licked her spoon again, her gaze holding his. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me right now?” His voice held a deep, husky growl.

  “Yes, I think I do,” she replied.

  He placed his spoon down. “And are you doing it on purpose?”

  “Oh, definitely.” Her heart beat an unsteady, quickened rhythm as he stood. He reached out and took the spoon from her fingers. He then walked around the table, grabbed her hand in his and pulled her up and out of her chair.

  His arms encircled her and pulled her tight against him. The feel of his hard, muscled body against hers thrilled her. His lips crashed down on hers in a kiss that instantly stole her breath away and weakened her knees.

  This was what had been missing in her life, this...this passion for another person, this passion that momentarily swept all other thoughts, all other feelings from her mind.

  “Eva,” he whispered against her ear when the kiss ended. “You know I want you.”

  “And I want you,” she confessed. “But it’s just this one night...just this one time. Jake, I need to know that you understand that.”

  “I understand,” he replied, and then his lips found hers once again.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew this was probably a mistake. She was breaking her own rule that he would never be in her bed again. But a bigger part of her didn’t want to deny herself the pleasure of being with Jake just one more time.

  This time when the kiss ended, she took him by the hand and led him down the hallway and into her bedroom. The room was warm, but a nice breeze blew in from an open window that made the temperature tolerable.

  He pulled her into his arms once again, and as he kissed her, his hands caressed down her back. He cupped her buttocks and pulled her hips firmly against his. He was already aroused, and that only thrilled her more.

  She finally stepped back from him and pulled her T-shirt over her head. Neither of them spoke as they continued to undress. She finished first and then slid beneath the pink-flowered sheet on her bed.

  She watched as he pulled his T-shirt over his head, exposing his broad, muscled chest. He then quickly got out of his jeans and boxers. Dressed, Jake Albright was a handsome man, but undressed he was sinfully beautiful.

  He joined her in the bed and pulled her to him. Being in his arms again was like heaven. She’d spent so many nights over the years thinking and remembering and fantasizing about being with him once again. She’d spent the last ten years being lonely and wanting the loving caresses of a man...this particular man.

  He knew each and every place to touch and kiss to bring her the most pleasure. His lips found the area just behind her earlobe that caused small shivers to shoot through her body. “I’ve missed you so much, Eva,” he whispered.

&nbs
p; “I’ve missed you, too,” she replied. Oh, she had missed this. She had missed the passion he stirred inside her, the utter desire he evoked in her, a desire that made her remember she was young and alive.

  His mouth then slid down the length of her neck and moved from there to one of her breasts, where he sucked and licked her nipple. She softly cried his name as her fingers tangled in his hair.

  She was lost in him...in the feel of his warm skin against hers, in the scent of him that dizzied her senses. He licked first one nipple and then the other and a welcome heat formed and swirled around in the pit of her stomach.

  His hand slowly slid down her stomach and circled down across her upper thighs, where he languidly stroked.

  She raised her hips, already fully aroused and gasping with the need for him. He was also aroused, and she reached down and encircled her fingers around his hard length.

  He drew in a deep breath and gently pushed her hand away. “Eva, don’t... I won’t last if you touch me right now,” he said, his voice a husky half groan.

  His fingers then found the center of her, and as he stroked her, she arched up to meet his touch. Heat fired through her as exquisite sensations built and built.

  Her climax crashed over her, and before she could begin to recover, he moved between her thighs and entered her. Once he was inside her, he froze for a long moment, and their gazes locked.

  Jake not only made love with her with his body, but also with his eyes. His eyes burned into hers with such a wealth of desire it was as if he were making love to her on a completely different, breathtaking level. She felt as if he was seeing into her very soul and reading all her secrets and dreams.

  Still looking deep into her eyes, he began to slowly stroke in and out of her. She felt connected to him in a way that transcended just their physical act. She had missed this soul connection as much as she’d missed lovemaking.

  They moved together like old, familiar lovers and yet with the excitement of two people who couldn’t get enough of each other. When they were finished, they collapsed back and waited for their breathing to return to normal.

  She released a deep sigh into the crook of his neck, and one of his hands languidly stroked the side of her hip. “I think we just wasted two perfectly good bowls of ice cream,” she finally said.

  He laughed, and it was a deep, pleasant rumble in her ear. “This was way better than a bowl of ice cream.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

  She knew she should get up and somehow immediately distance herself from him, but she was reluctant to leave the peace and utter contentment she always found in his arms. “Tell me about your life in Italy,” she said.

  “What do you want to know?” He continued to stroke her hip in a lazy way that furthered her relaxation against him.

  “Where did you live? What was your average day like?”

  He told her about the luxury villa that he had called home and how every morning he would get up at dawn to drive to the Albright land of grapes and wine making.

  “I knew nothing about growing grapes or making good wines when I arrived there. I spent the next month being walked through the operation by the manager, Enrique Bracolla, and then at night I read every book I could find about the process.”

  “It must have been pretty overwhelming for a nineteen-year-old cowboy from Dusty Gulch,” she said.

  “Oh, trust me, it was. For the first two years, I completely immersed myself in learning everything I could. I not only wanted to prove myself to Enrique, who was a great mentor and became a good friend, but also to my father. I wanted him to be proud of the man I was becoming.”

  “I’m sure he was very proud of you, Jake,” she said softly.

  “I wish I had come back home earlier so that I could have told him goodbye and maybe hear him say that he loved me.” He released a short laugh. “But we both know my father wasn’t exactly a warm and fuzzy guy.”

  The last thing she wanted to talk about was Justin Albright. Thoughts of him still brought a bad taste to her mouth, and she certainly couldn’t share with Jake the depths of his father’s betrayal. It would absolutely break Jake’s heart to learn that his father had been such a manipulating monster.

  Thankfully the conversation turned to the food in Italy. “The bread was absolutely out of this world,” he said. “My cook joked that I was going to turn into a loaf of bread because I ate so much of it. But I also loved the lasagna and all the pastas there, too.”

  Eva laughed. “If I ate like that, I’d weigh five hundred pounds within the first couple of weeks.” She glanced toward the window, where the dark shadows of night had begun to encroach. She froze, her heart seizing in her chest. “Jake, there’s somebody at the window watching us,” she whispered.

  The man wore a ski mask, and his eyes glittered brightly, but she couldn’t tell what color they were. She’d only gotten a quick glimpse of him, and she didn’t want to look at him again and scare him off.

  “Act natural,” Jake said softly and then more loudly. “How about I bring us a couple of new bowls of ice cream?”

  “Sounds good to me,” she replied, thankful that her voice sounded normal instead of trembling with the fear that shot through her.

  As he got out of bed and pulled on his boxers, she slid back beneath the sheet. She felt sick to her stomach knowing that the peeper had seen her naked, had possibly watched as they had made love.

  “I’ll be right back.” Jake left the room, and then complete fear exploded in her chest. What was the man doing at her window? What did he want? And what would happen if Jake approached him?

  At one time she’d been in love with Jake the boy, and she suddenly realized at that moment she was in love with Jake the man. And now the man she loved was about to confront somebody evil. She could only pray he came back to her unharmed.

  * * *

  JAKE HURRIED INTO the living room, where he yanked on his cowboy boots, grabbed his gun off the coffee table and then flew out the front door. Adrenaline shot through him as he slowly crept to the corner of the house. He turned the corner and continued creeping to the next corner.

  He held his gun tightly, unsure what to expect. What was the person doing looking in Eva’s bedroom window? Was he hoping to catch her alone in the room so he could shoot her? Break through the window and strangle her?

  When he turned the next corner, he saw the man still at her window. He must have made a sound, for the man turned his head, saw Jake and then took off running.

  Jake pursued, pushing himself to run as fast as possible in an effort to catch the offender. He had to catch him. He needed to know who it was and what he was doing outside Eva’s window.

  He followed the man into the pasture, and the darkness of night slammed down all around, making it more difficult for Jake to keep the dark figure in his eyesight.

  He wanted to shoot the man, but he knew a bullet in the back of a window peeper would only get Jake a long prison sentence. It was one thing to shoot a man in self-defense, but quite another to shoot a retreating man.

  Sweat popped out on his forehead, and his muscles tried to cramp, but still he pushed forward. He had to slow down as he now had the obstacles of Eva’s cattle to contend with.

  “Dammit,” he said on a gasp as he finally stopped running. There was no way he was going to catch the man now, and in any case, he’d lost sight of him. He leaned over with his hands on his knees as he panted from his efforts.

  A wealth of frustration weighed heavily on his shoulders. He hated like hell that he hadn’t been able to catch the man. He had certainly been the person they had all been looking for...the man who wanted Eva dead. All he had was a general impression of the perp. He’d been tall and with an average build, hardly enough to specifically identify him.

  Finally catching his breath, he straightened, and a horrifying thought shot through his head. Had the
man at the window wanted to be seen, knowing that Jake would come after him?

  While Jake had been running around out in the pasture, had another man gone into the house? Had it been a scheme to get Eva all alone?

  God, he’d left the front door not only unlocked but open when he’d raced out of the house. Eva had been naked in her bed, potentially a vulnerable victim to whoever might come into the house.

  With all kinds of horrible visions of what could happen, what might have already happened, burning in his brain, he took off running toward the house in the distance.

  Was it possible it wasn’t just one person behind all the attacks? He immediately thought of Griff and his band of teenage friends. But would teenagers really set out to murder a woman because she’d objected to them partying in her barn?

  Visions of news stories concerning the terrible crimes committed by teenagers flashed in his mind. Yes, it was possible teenagers could plot and carry out a murder.

  None of that mattered right now. He just had to get to Eva. He ran all out, as if his very life depended on it. And it did, for if Eva was hurt or worse while on his watch, he’d never, ever be able to forgive himself.

  His side hitched and his breath became gasps as he raced. His heartbeat thundered not only from his exertions, but also from fear.

  As he rounded the corner to the house, he saw that the front door was shut. Was somebody right now inside there with Eva? He got to the door and found it locked. “Eva,” he shouted and banged on the door with his fist.

  The door opened, and she stood there, her eyes wide with fear, but she was unharmed. “Thank God.” He grabbed her to him, needing to feel her in his arms to ensure himself that she was really okay.

  “I was about to say the same thing,” she said. “I was so scared for you.”

  He released her and then closed and locked the door. He led her over to the sofa, where they both sank down. She was now clad in a lightweight white robe.

  “Needless to say, I didn’t catch the guy,” he said, frustration pressing tight against his chest.

  She placed a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re back here safe and sound.”