Men of Mercy: The Complete Story

by Cross, Lindsay

  Still no response, but her teeth were chattering as loud as gunfire in the cave. “Hold on.” Jared made a fire faster than he'd ever made one in his entire life, and when he was sure the flame could hold its own, he turned to Sparrow.

  Her pale skin was laced with blue veins and chill bumps. He didn't think she was even aware of his presence. He ripped the knife from his pocket and started to cut away her wet clothes. It was obvious she was in serious trouble when she didn't even protest him cutting off her shirt.

  Next, he went to work on her boots. They were knee-high and laced up the front. Perfect to protect from snakebites but terrible when submerged in water. He quickly unlaced the left boot and yanked it off, then her damp sock. He repeated the process on her right one, and when he yanked it off, her knife clattered to the floor.

  “Smart girl. I should've checked you for weapons.” Next, he pulled at her shorts, but they were plastered to her body. He didn't want to, but he cut them off as well. She needed to get warm more than she needed to protect her modesty. He yanked his blanket from the bag, stripped off her panties, and rolled her into a cocoon next to the fire. Then he stripped and slid into the blanket with her, gasping when her skin made contact with his. She was like ice.

  His concern kicked into overdrive and Jared started rubbing brisk circles on her back, attempting to warm up her core. Her entire body shook and shivered, and Jared’s chest tightened with apprehension.

  “Foolish girl, you could've gotten yourself killed.”

  “Safer than you,” she stuttered. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

  He felt a small measure of guilt. He’d done his best to frighten her, but he’d been so angry. It was awful to see her this way.

  “C-c-clothes.”

  “They’re gone.”

  She struggled feebly against him, but he swatted her hand away like he would a fly. “You don't have anything to worry about. I just want to get you warm.”

  “Why?”

  “I just do.” He couldn't tell her that seeing her like this tore at his insides. Or that he'd seen soldiers go into hypothermia under milder conditions, with half the amount of exposure. “I can't tell you, but I need you to get better, okay?”

  What was wrong with him? Maybe he should be rejoicing at her pain. But that voice in his head—the voice insisting she couldn’t do this thing, that she was innocent—was only growing louder.

  “Jared,” Sparrow gasped.

  He loosened his arms instantly, realizing he’d been squeezing her tighter and tighter. She would flee him if she were able, and he couldn't blame her. He’d done his best to terrorize her. He wanted to hurt the person who was responsible for his brother’s pain. But was that person really her?

  He shook his head slightly. This wasn’t the time for questions. His instincts told him to take care of her, and he never ignored his instincts. “Talk to me.”

  She didn't answer except for a fierce jerk. Jared rubbed her back harder, trying to create enough friction to produce heat. He’d isolated her between his body and the fire, but she still felt like ice. If she fell asleep, she might slip into a coma. And what the hell could he do about it out here?

  “Sparrow?” Jared gentled his voice, trying to ease some of her fear. Still no answer. He leaned back and saw that her lids had slid shut, and alarm skittered through him faster than a scorpion across the hot desert sand.

  “Open your eyes, dammit.” Her lids fluttered but didn't fully open. Had he gotten so lost in his thoughts and anger and frustration that he let her slip away?

  “Sparrow. Open. Your. Eyes.” He punctuated each word, trying to somehow force his way into her consciousness. And he was rewarded by her pure gold gaze, making him feel as drunk as if they were the whiskey they resembled.

  “What?” Her question was delivered in a groggy voice.

  “I want you to talk to me.”

  “Why?”

  So that you don't slip into a coma or shock. So that you don't die. “I'm bored. It's the least you can do since I saved you.”

  She grumbled a bit as he continued to try and heat her core temperature. “Just sleep.” Her eyes slid shut again.

  “No! Wake up. Talk to me.”

  She groaned, and damn it was sexy, punctuated even more when she opened those beautiful eyes again. “Let me sleep.”

  Over his dead body. “Tell me what it was like to grow up here.”

  Jared searched his own memories for any happiness he’d experienced here, but the most he could remember was the crisp air found only in the mountains. The hazy memory of his mother’s smile. A pair of whiskey eyes piercing the darkness. But everything after that was simply darkness. He shook himself.

  “Why do you care?” she grumbled.

  “I just do. Now tell me. I won't leave you alone until you do.”

  They lay on their sides, faces only inches apart. Her body was gradually warming and he started to become aware of just how intimately they were pressed together.

  “It was hard.”

  “Wow, really? That's all you've got?”

  “You should remember what it was like. Hard work. Hard life. Hard people.”

  Yes, he remembered. He remembered every time he closed his eyes. Every time he woke up in a cold sweat and had to turn on the fucking lamp to ease the fear. “But I left, remember? Tell me something good.”

  Because he didn't want or need to hear what her life had been like after Miss Kay.

  “I guess the only really good memories I got are of Squirrel. Everything got better after he took me under his wing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He taught me how to hunt. How to fight and defend myself.” Jared had another brief image of the scrappy little girl who had rescued him and his brother from that dark closet. For the life of him he couldn't picture her fighting anything bigger than a butterfly.

  “Why did you have to defend yourself?”

  “Jimbo. I had to fight against Jimbo and his brothers.”

  The image of Sparrow standing next to her hulking older brother filled him with fury. Jimbo could kill her with one punch.

  “That bastard hurt you?” Jared was already intent on killing Kay, but Jimbo had just moved up to number one on that list. More so now, because if Sparrow was telling the truth about her involvement, Jimbo is the one responsible for what happened to his brother.

  Sparrow gave a brittle laugh, which she punctuated when her teeth cracked together with another hard tremble. Jared tried to pull her more tightly against him, but they were already melded together so close they could be one person.

  “Not after I nearly took his balls off with my knife.”

  Her knife. His brother. No—not going there. “So that's why you got the collection then? And why that Geraldine girl nearly pissed her pants when you slipped a knife around her throat?”

  She nodded against him. He tucked her head into his neck, taking pleasure in the way her hot little breasts puffed against his skin. Her tremors gentled to the occasional shake.

  “Tell me something else that you remember.” Talking about her knives wasn't safe for either of them. The doubt growing in his mind about her involvement was close to taking over.

  “I remember you. And how fierce you were that night I freed you.”

  Her whispered words shocked him. “Fierce? I don't remember that part of it.” No, he remembered the pain. And Sparrow, of course.

  “You were determined to protect your little brother. And when we escaped, you were determined to protect me too.”

  Her words tugged at his memory. Flashes of them running through the woods. Of Hoyt and Sparrow and him in the dark forest. “I wanted you to come with us.”

  She nodded against him and snuggled a little closer. Her feet wiggled between his calves, still cold, but not frozen.

  “And you wouldn't leave with us.”

  Sparrow nodded her head again and let out a yawn. An occasional tremor still shook her; her temperature had warmed eno
ugh to safely rule out shock. But that wasn’t the most pressing thought on his mind. “Why wouldn't you come?”

  He remembered now, remembered screaming her name as she disappeared into the woods after refusing to leave with them. Remembered dreaming about rescuing her from this evil mountain. But those had been the dreams of a young boy.

  Sparrow interrupted his thoughts, her voice no longer a weak whisper. “I couldn't leave my mom. She needed me to take care of her.”

  “Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?”

  Sparrow shrugged. “Maybe in other parts. But if not for me, she would have gone hungry.”

  So after rescuing him and his brother that scared little girl had returned to this piece of shit mountain to take care of her mother?

  “How old were you? What happened to your mother?”

  She got very still against him, and Jared held his breath, waiting to see if she'd fallen asleep. Her words had been getting softer toward the end of their conversation, fatigue weighing her down as heavy as a damn boulder.

  “I was eight when I found her dead,” she said softly. “She'd overdosed on pain killers.”

  Holy shit that was fucked up. How awful it must have been for her to find her momma that way. Especially after staying on that mountain only for her. “And then Miss Kay took you in?”

  “She let me live in her house. Made sure I was fed.”

  “What about protecting you from her sons?”

  “She was busy. I needed to learn how to fend for myself anyway.” In those words, Jared could hear the broken dreams of a young girl.

  Sparrow spoke, “Miss Kay controls everyone. Everyone but her sons.”

  Chapter 19

  Sparrow woke up bundled in a cocoon of incredible warmth, with Jared’s lips pressed to her neck. A chill shot down her spine, but it wasn’t from the cold. She’d never felt so hot in her entire life. She tried to remember the night before, but the only thing that stood out was the memory of feeling cold, so cold she’d feared she would die from it. Apparently, Jared had had other plans.

  Careful not to move, she studied him while he slept. Up close, his black hair appeared silky and she took the opportunity to run her fingers through it and learn its texture. They lay on their sides facing each other. She traced his arms, his thick neck and shoulders, fascinated by how soft his skin was over the hardness of his muscles.

  He shifted and she came to the dawning awareness that she was naked. And he was damn near close to naked too. Bells went off, and she jerked against him, unable to hold still. Jared awoke immediately, his dark eyes holding her immobile.

  “You made it.” His sleepy smile was so sexy and sweet. Her heart flipped over hard in her chest.

  “Apparently, I did.” She buffeted her snarky comment by soothing a thumb over his cheek.

  “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

  “It was because I was so scared of you,” she choked out.

  Instead of getting angry or even remorseful, Jared simply nodded. “I know.”

  And then he pulled her tighter against him and she became aware of every single inch of skin pressed to hers. She fought the urge to wiggle against him, but it was impossible to control her racing heart or the shallow breaths sawing in and out of her chest.

  Sparrow swallowed, for some reason feeling like she owed him some sort of further explanation. But she kept her mouth shut, unwilling to give him more ammunition to use against her later. She wanted this calm version of Jared to stay around as long as possible.

  “I know what you think I did… Why did you save me? Why didn't you just leave me there?”

  “I honestly don't know.” He pushed a stray strand of hair from her cheek, the feeling of his fingers sending delicious tingles along her jaw.

  “What do you know?” Her heart raced faster.

  “That I'm glad you're alive.”

  Her breath hitched under the intensity of his stare. There was no hatred in his gaze this time.

  “I know I want to kiss you so bad it hurts.” His roughly whispered words set her body on fire. She wanted his lips on hers too. She realized with the shock that didn't matter to her if he hated her, if he blamed her for the horrible thing she had not done, she wanted this. She wanted it right here. Right now. “What are you waiting for?”

  Before she had time to suck in a breath, he pressed his mouth to hers. The touch was different this time, and her whole being was swayed by the way his lips felt so soft and yet firm against hers. And it was over much too fast.

  “Is that it?”

  He chuckled, “Not even close.”

  And then his lips sealed over hers once more, only this time there was no quick brush. He was forceful, commanding. He tugged on her lower lip and white-hot heat shot straight through her.

  Sparrow gasped, and he took the opportunity to thrust his tongue inside her mouth, the sensation unlike anything she could have imagined. Jared's hands tangled in her hair, tilting her head and deepening the kiss. He explored her mouth and she mimicked his moves, learning the dance. Her hands found his shoulders and then his hair, yanking him to her, wanting to make this harder, bring it deeper. And he obliged. By the time they broke apart, they are both panting.

  She didn't want him to stop. Never one to sit idly by and wait, she pressed her lips to his this time. Jared wound his arms around her, smashing her body to his. He broke the kiss, trailed his lips down her neck, and nibbled her throat, sending wave after wave of sensation through her body.

  “I've been dreaming about those pretty breasts of yours. About how good they taste.” Jared rolled her over onto her back and settled between her legs. His hardness made contact with her core through the material of his briefs. It seemed as if all her desire was centered right there between her legs.

  Jared took her breasts in his hands and her body arched in response to his touch. “Your nipples are beautiful. Perfect for my mouth.” He sucked one between his lips, and Sparrow cried out at the pleasure bordering on pain.

  While he lavished attention with his lips, his fingers stroked her other nipple. The sensation was sweet torture. She tossed her head back and closed her eyes, her body overwhelmed with carnal need. “That's it, baby.” Jared moved to her other nipple, this time drawing circles and flicking her tip before sucking it into his mouth. Her entire body arched off the floor as if he had some string tied around her, and with each tug, he lifted her higher.

  His other hand trailed down her waist, skimming her hip, and then back up her thigh. She was needy and wanting.

  And then she felt his fingers moving against her most private area.

  “God, baby you're so wet.” Jared took her lips in a possessive kiss. He began rubbing circles against her sex, and she was helpless to do anything but arch into his hand. Sparrow cried out in his mouth, but instead of releasing her, he rubbed faster. The tension inside her coiled and built, climbing to unexplored heights. Until suddenly her world exploded, and her body clenched and shattered in intense pleasure. Jared swallowed her cries, but she was lost to the sensation.

  “That was it?” she said when she caught her breath a few minutes later. Jared lay atop her, kissing and licking and nibbling along her jaw and neck.

  “That was just a taste honey.”

  Her eyes widened, “It gets better?”

  “A thousand times better.”

  A thousand times better? She couldn't even imagine. Jared trailed kisses lower, moving between the valley of her breasts, circling her navel and kissing right below it. Alarm bells went off and she pushed at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Kissing you.” He grabbed her thighs and spread her legs wide. She gasped when she realized his intention and grabbed his hair, trying to pull him away. He ignored her protest. And then she felt his tongue on her, right there where his fingers had been only moments before. Her sensitive flesh screamed at the contact. “Jared!”

  He didn't answer, simply continued the sweet torture, causing the tensi
on in her belly to rise again. When she was on the verge of losing control, he stopped, and this time she tried to push him back down. “Please.”

  His chuckle was deep, dark. “Not yet.”

  She gave a frustrated sound, arching her hips up as he slid up her body. Jared took her lips in another fierce kiss and she was shocked to taste herself on him. The thought was so incredibly erotic. Before she knew it, her arms were around his neck and she was pulling him in for more.

  * * *

  Sparrow was a wildcat in his arms, just like he had known she’d be, and his cock was screaming to get inside her. But he knew he had to take his time, he had to prepare her. Because even though he couldn’t sort all the lies he’d been told from the truth, he knew without a doubt that she had never been touched like this.

  Her innocent, inexperienced kisses were making him so hurt for her, not turning him off as he might have imaged they would. Without breaking contact with her lips, he reached between them and teased her clit until he had her hips bucking to his rhythm. Then he slipped a finger inside. Sparrow dug her nails into his shoulder and cried out in his mouth and…fuck, he loved it. Loved her fierce, uninhibited response. Loved how tight and wet she was around his finger.

  He eased his finger out and pushed it back inside, slow at first, letting her body get used to the intrusion. When she was ready, he slid in another finger, trying to stretch and prepare her. As he worked her with his fingers, he circled her clit with this thumb, wanting her to be wild with need.

  He could feel her clenching around his fingers, so he knew she was close. He pulled out, yanked his briefs down, and settled between her legs before taking her mouth in another languid kiss.

  Nudging her entrance with the tip of his cock was nearly intense enough to make him come right then and there. Careful to go slow, Jared called upon every single ounce of control he possessed and eased inside her as gently as he could. He worked like that, making shallow thrusts until his head was finally all the way in. Sweat poured from his head; his teeth clenched. Her mouth was open, her eyes wide, and she gasped and arched up to take him deeper.