by Cali MacKay
I mulled over his request, and though I knew it was a bad idea, I agreed, nonetheless.
“A week. Though I can’t promise you anything—not even that I’ll stay the full week.” I knew this was insane, and I was asking to get caught if I stayed. But there was one more thing that would be unavoidable if I didn’t leave—and that definitely needed to be addressed, or I’d have even bigger problems to deal with, even if a part of me wanted to take the risk. “If I stay, then your choices are that we don’t have sex again, or you use a condom.”
His lips kicked up into a crooked smile filled with mischief as he gripped my hips and pulled me close, stealing a quick but passionate kiss. “Sweetness, the first option is out of the question, and though I’m happy to use a condom, I need you to know that I’ve never gone bare with anyone but you.”
“That’s all fine and dandy, but it won’t keep me from getting pregnant.” Which I could be even at that very moment. I knew better than to have unprotected sex, and yet my hormones and loneliness had overruled any logical thoughts my brain may have been shouting out.
But now, with a clear head, I knew I couldn’t go there again, even if a baby would give me something to live for. Because in the end, this would be a Blackthorn baby, and there was still a chance that they were the ones responsible for my loneliness in the first place.
“Why not take a chance? I have a job, plenty of money, and I swear I’ll take good care of you and the baby, Em. I’ve always wanted a family, but up until I met you, there was no one I’d even consider.” He cupped the back of my neck and covered my mouth with a hungry kiss that I felt all the way down to my toes, my hands fisting his shirt as I held onto him and kissed him back with complete abandon.
I somehow found the strength to break away from our kiss, knowing I’d only end up naked with his cum eventually spilling out of me if I didn’t put a stop to it, though I couldn’t even bring myself to step out of his embrace. “You’re insane, Locke. You don’t know me—and now you’re saying you’d be happy to have a baby with me? You do realize that I could be a complete psychopath, right?”
“I figure you’ve had plenty of opportunity to stick a knife in my back if you had psychotic tendencies.” He gave me another one of those smiles that made my entire body come alive, as he pulled me to him for another kiss. “Besides…I have Bear to protect me—and he’s a pretty good judge of character, so I’m going to say so far, so good.”
“Bear can be bought off with bacon.” Despite all my problems, I found a smile tugging at my lips, especially when Bear trotted over at the sound of his name and the mention of bacon.
“Bear would make an excellent big brother.” He teasingly flicked his eyebrows up at me, before pulling me to him for another kiss, his mouth trailing to that delicate spot on my neck just below my ear, and nipping at it.
I gasped at the jolt of pleasure that it sent through me, my knees nearly buckling out from under me. My body leaned into his as he tightened his arm around my waist to give me the support I needed as he continued to nip and kiss his way down my neck to my shoulder. I swore, if he kept this up, I’d let him do whatever the hell he wanted to me, condom be damned.
But then Locke was pulling away, though he didn’t let me go. “I’m going to make the most of this week, Em… And I’m going to show you that things aren’t as bad as they seem. And even if they are, I swear, we’ll find a way to make things better—together.”
It felt like he always knew the right thing to say…the right thing to do. And it only made me fall for him all the more, because I knew that they weren’t just words to him. He truly meant everything he said, and he’d do all he could to help me through this.
“I want to believe you, Locke.” Yet I knew I was doing nothing but fooling myself into thinking anything could change my reality.
Yet he was offering me a week to live another life…a life free from my broken heart and my problems, free of the person I’d become when I lost everything that mattered to me. So I decided in that moment to make the most of this week with Locke.
One week to be happy, before returning to my living hell.
Emie went up onto her toes and kissed me, her lips soft and sweet against mine—and I swore, for the first time since I’d met her, she didn’t seem haunted. “So, tell me…what do you have planned?”
I wouldn’t press her for more information on who she was—because at this point, it didn’t really matter. All I wanted was to make the most of our time together, so that once this week was over, it’d be nearly impossible for her to walk away from what was between us.
I tucked a lock of her red hair behind her ear, and resisted the insatiable need I had to get her naked. “You mean…other than making you come repeatedly?”
“You have a one-track mind.” Yet she still kissed me, trailing her kisses down my neck while she reached down between us to stroke my hard cock as I bit back a groan. “Maybe we should go for a hike…or head into town.”
“Baby…we won’t be going anywhere if you keep that up.” In the end, it quickly became clear that she’d come to the same conclusion.
My heart hammered inside my chest when she dropped to her knees before me, her fingers making quick work of the button and zipper on my jeans, my cock springing free as she pushed my jeans and boxers down past my hips.
Fucking hell…
She ran her tongue along the slit of my cock, licking up the pre-cum that glistened at the tip, while stroking me, making it nearly impossible for me not to sink my fingers into her hair and thrust my cock past her lips. Teasing me, she swirled her tongue around the head of my cock and then swallowed me down, taking more of my length with each pass and moaning against my shaft as I thrust into her sweet mouth.
“Sweetness…you’re going to make me come.” I knotted her long hair around my fist, holding her head where I needed her, forcing her to take more of my length, which she eagerly did, her pace quickening. “That’s it, baby. Take all of me…just like that.”
My orgasm was building at the base of my spine as her needy little moans vibrated against my shaft, until I could take no more. My cock pulsed streams of hot cum down her throat as she swallowed it all down before pulling free to lick me clean, all while she looked up at me with those amazing green eyes.
And I swore, in that moment, with her eyes locked on mine, she claimed my heart as hers. There was no going back for me.
I pulled her up off her knees, desperate to bury my face in her sweet cunt, but she gave me a sweet kiss and then slipped away, teasing me with a smile. “How about we go for a hike? The sun’s actually out—for now.”
“Baby…let me take care of you.” I snagged her hand and pulled her close, relieved when she didn’t fight me.
I wanted to taste her on my lips…to drink her up and have her screaming out my name as I made her come, pushing her from one orgasm to another.
“It can wait. Besides, I’ll feel guilty if you spent all that money on hiking boots and a winter jacket and I don’t ever get to use them.” Leaning into me, she gave me a playful smile, and I swore, it was like everything about her had changed once she decided to give me a week.
“I’d buy you a hundred jackets and pairs of boots if it meant you’d smile at me like that. And if going on a hike will make you happy, then that’s what we’ll do.” Besides, as remote as we were, I’d have her all to myself out in the woods, and there’d be nothing stopping us from fucking out in the fresh air.
The day turned out to be perfect for a hike, even though there was still a bit of a chill in the air, despite the sun in the sky. With Bear following behind us, pausing to sniff every few feet, we kept an easy pace as we wandered through the trees that canopied above us, and though we didn’t say a whole lot, the silence between us was comfortable.
“Do you see it?” Emie kept her voice low, despite her excitement, grabbing my hand as she tilted her head to a spot in the trees just beyond the path as we stood there, not moving.
“Yeah…I do.” The deer was beautiful, frozen in place as she watched us watching her before finally bolting in the opposite direction once she spotted Bear, who surprisingly enough was behaving himself instead of barreling through the trees for a chase.
“I’ve never seen a deer that close in the wild. She was just so pretty. And those eyes…” She jumped into my arms in her excitement, as I took the opportunity to kiss her. “I wish I could live someplace as peaceful as this.”
“You can, if you really want to.” I knew it was insane to be moving at such a breakneck pace, but I didn’t care. Blame it on the unusual circumstances of our meeting. All I knew was that I wanted her to stick around, and I’d do whatever it took to make that happen. “We can stay here as long as you’d like, baby.”
“Please, don’t. I can’t think beyond this one week, and I don’t want anything to ruin it—and thinking about my screwed-up life will do just that.” Her smile had faded, replaced by a furrowed brow as she bit her bottom lip, leaving me to regret mentioning anything that had to do with her future.
Though I didn’t want to push her or rock the boat, when things were so good between us, her reaction, once again, had me wondering just what sort of problems she was dealing with, especially now that it was clear that she had her memory back.
“I can help you, Em—you just need to let me in.” Though I wouldn’t say anything more, since I knew she didn’t want to discuss it.
I linked my hand with hers, continuing down the trail. We once again fell into silence, and I hated that there was now a tension that hung in the air between us.
The moment our trail skirted by a stream, I led the way over and found a big rocky outcrop of moss-covered rock for us to sit on. I held onto her hand as she climbed up, not wanting her to fall off or twist her ankle, and then sat down by her side as Bear wandered down by the water. “My dad used to take us camping when we’d come here for the summer. It was the perfect setup, since my mom could come out and sit by the campfire, and then head back to the house for the night and sleep in the comfort of her own bed.”
She shot me a small smile. “Can’t say that I blame her.”
“Honestly? I think it was a bit of a ploy to get some alone time with my dad, since he’d walk her back to the house. With six boys, I don’t think they got a whole lot of time to themselves.” I bumped her shoulder, glad that she seemed more relaxed again.
“Do you really think so? You know…if they ended up with six kids?” She let out a laugh that had me leaning in to steal a kiss.
“I guess you have a point there.”
Knowing time was ticking down, I held onto the way Locke made me feel. Because I knew full well that when this week was over, I’d once again be all on my own, with nothing but my past to haunt me.
Except that I’d no longer have the Blackthorns to hate—not after my time with Locke, and especially not if I couldn’t find any hard evidence to link them to my father’s harassment. What I’d found in my parents’ home had been enough to point me in the Blackthorns’ direction, but not enough to erase all my doubts that they were truly the ones responsible.
It was why I was here in the first place, though it had certainly been easy enough for me to place the blame on their shoulders when I didn’t know anything about them. Yet now? Clearly Locke wasn’t the man I’d expected him to be.
Instead, he was so much more.
Locke bumped my shoulder, and gave me one of his easy smiles. “What about you? Ever do any camping?”
“Nah… My parents weren’t really the outdoorsy type.” I supposed there was no point in continuing to pretend that my memory was still gone, when I’d more or less admitted earlier to it having returned. “But we did do all sorts of fun trips. Grand Canyon, New York, Ireland, Disney World…even went to Hong Kong.”
“My mother’s from Ireland, and one of my brothers currently lives there. I’ve toyed with the idea of moving there, but…well, you know how that goes.” He brushed the hair from my shoulder and then leaned in to kiss me, his lips lingering on mine, before pulling away just enough for his blue eyes to roam over my face as he shot me another smile.
Before he could put any distance between us, I leaned in for another kiss and then another, my body craving his touch. He made my head spin, and that definitely wasn’t the effect I thought he’d have on me when I first set out with this asinine plan. But at this point, he was the only thing distracting me from how miserable and fucked-up my life really was. Because I knew damn well that when it came time to leave him, I’d be even more miserable than I’d been when I first got here.
Needing more, I turned to face him, my tongue clashing with his as he groaned into my mouth and I crawled into his lap, straddling his muscular thighs. I loved how he gripped my hips and rocked his hard cock against me, the pressure against my aching clit leaving me desperate to have his cock filling me and stretching me tight.
Yet before I could take things any further, Locke was breaking away from our kiss, his breathing heavy. “Babe…I need to get you home so I can ravage you.”
“Or you can ravage me here.” My pussy ached to have him as my clit pounded in time to my heartbeat. With my arms wrapped around his neck, I continued rocking my hips against his hard length, as I already teetered on the edge of coming.
“You make it damn hard for me to say no, Em—but I’m going to anyway, since the sun’s slipping behind the clouds, and there’s a good chance the weather will turn.” He stole one last kiss and then picked me up off my lap as I groaned in protest, and got to his feet, offering me his hand. “I don’t want you freezing your ass off, baby. Come on. Let’s get home.”
I let him pull me up onto my feet and into his arms. “You always do the right thing, don’t you?”
He linked his hand with mine and brought it to his lips, the gesture so sweet, it made my heart hitch. “It’s not always possible, depending on the circumstances, but I try to. There’s no point in being an asshole just for the sake of it.”
His words rattled around in my head, only reinforcing that I had to abandon my original plans. “You’re like no other guy I’ve ever met, Locke.”
He was perfect—and I’d have to walk away from him. There was no other option once he knew the truth.
My eyes suddenly burned with threatening tears as I swallowed down the lump that formed in my throat—and leave it to Locke to notice every little thing.
“Hey…what’s wrong? Talk to me.”
What the hell could I tell him?
I hated the thought of walking away from him a week from now. But I had no choice. Nothing would change the reason I’d sought him out. And nothing would bring back my family.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t talk about it, Locke. And the last thing I want to do is lie to you.” I’d already done plenty of that, and I now cared about him too much to keep adding to those lies. When my tears spilled over, I was helpless to stop them.
“Emie…it’s fucking killing me to see you like this.” Cupping my face in both his hands, he brushed his thumbs over my tears, and then pulled me into the safety of his arms, holding me tightly to him. “I know you don’t really know me, and you don’t feel like you can talk to me. But I swear, there’s nothing you could say that would change the way I feel about you.”
I pulled away just enough to look up at him, taking in his rugged good looks as my heart filled with a hope that was setting me up for heartache. “And…how exactly do you feel about me, Locke? I need to know.”
“I feel like I have no right to feel the way I do, given the short time we’ve known each other.” The intensity in his voice made my pulse race and sent my heart hammering inside my chest. “But I do, Em… It’s like I wasn’t living my life before I met you…like I wasn’t whole until you walked into my life. And I hate that you’re going to try to leave in a week.”
“I swear, I wish I didn’t have to. But I have no choice.” A fresh wave of tears fell at the thought of leaving him. But what opti
on did I really have? My life wasn’t a damned fairy tale. It was a nightmare.
His brow furrowed over his blue eyes as they scanned my face, as if looking for answers there. “So…that’s it? You’re just going to walk away? Please, fucking tell me that this isn’t one-sided? Because I swear that it’s not…I swear you feel it too.”
“It’s not one-sided.” I pleaded with him to believe me. Because after all I’d done, after all the lies, I needed him to know at least one truth. “I feel it too, Locke. And I shouldn’t. I fucking shouldn’t. But…I do.”
“Then nothing else matters, Em. Because no matter what the problem is, I have your back. I just need you to trust me. And if you can do that, then I swear, we’ll find a way to get through this together.”
He spoke with such conviction, I couldn’t help but want to believe that he’d somehow forgive me if the truth came out. Yet I knew better than to think that it would all work out fine.
Locke might be a reasonable and forgiving guy, but I’d sought him and his family out to harm them, and I’d lied to him from the very start. This had all been a setup for vengeance, and I highly doubted even he’d be able to find a way to forgive me for what I had planned. I didn’t have a clue if sticking around for a week made things better or worse.
I was already falling for him, which meant walking away would be even harder a week from now. Sticking around, so that we grew more attached to each other, would only make matters worse, and if these feelings were mutual, then he’d only hate me all the more for perpetuating this lie when I knew how he felt about me.
I should walk away and cut my losses, even if I knew it would break my heart in a whole new way.
Yet I didn’t think I had the strength to walk away from him. Not when this one week might be the only thing to see me through my haunting darkness.