by Reina Torres
Her fingers flexed as her breath hitched in her throat. “Jesse?”
He shifted his hand and instead of sliding through her sex, his fingers were inside her. Etta knew she was talking, but she had no idea what words fell from her lips. Something inside of her drew on him, closed around his fingers, trying to hold him inside of her body. It didn’t stop his momentary retreat, but she saw his eyes close for a minute and the line of his jaw tightened. “So damn tight.”
When his eyes opened again another shift of his hand pressed his thumb against her and the sudden sensation of his touch sent her flying.
Etta had no idea how long she’d been lost in the rolling blissful sensations that he’d wrought with just his hand, but when she relaxed back against the bedding, her hips settled heavily on the soft padded surface. While she didn’t think she could move, she looked at Jesse and watched him as his fingers neatly tore open a small package.
She’d never seen one before, but she knew what it was. With one hand at its base, Jesse rolled the condom down over his length until his hands met. Etta did not want to wait. If she did, she’d likely let fear take over and the last thing she wanted to do was to wait another day. Now that she knew what it felt like to feel that kind of release, she wanted more.
She drew up one knee and then stopped, looking at his face for a reaction.
He was smiling at her. “That’s my girl.” He reached down and lifted her other leg, setting her foot down on the bedding. “Hold still…”
Etta nodded, more than happy to listen and follow. Slipping a knee under her backside he leaned over, braced a hand beside her shoulder. Jesse touched a quick kiss to her lips and then another and before she realized what was happening, she felt him slip between her folds.
“Breathe,” he murmured the word against her cheek, “relax. Or I can stop.”
“No.” She shook her head in a quick denial. “Keep going.”
The sensation of Jesse inside of her was nothing like she’d imagined. She felt full and heavy, her thighs falling open farther against the bedding, her breaths shallow and eager.
More and more. Deeper he sank into her and she wondered if it would ever stop or if he’d just keep going until she faded into him, making one person where there had been two.
A soft grunt came from his lips as he set his other hand down near her hip. “You feel so good.”
Etta smiled. She wanted this. Wanted him. “I feel so… different. Like I’ll never be the same ever again.
Jesse leaned forward, bending at his elbows to press a kiss to her lips. When he did it, he bumped into her and swallowed her gasp. “Sore?”
“No, no…” she could barely speak, “I remember what it felt like when you… when you used-”
“When I touched you with my fingers.”
Her face flushed hot. “Yes.”
“Good. I want you to feel like that over and over again.”
“Oh goodness,” she wiggled against him, “I might just die.”
“No, you won’t, Etta. We’ve got years ahead of us. This is just the beginning.”
And with that, his mouth descended on hers, slanting across her lips as he withdrew from her body. Her hands grabbed at his shoulders and this time he didn’t stop her, but he also pushed back into her heat.
Oh. Yes.
Again and again, Jesse slid into her body, teasing soft moans and sighs from her lips.
And Etta felt like she was someone else entirely. Someone free and magnificent with the power to have a man like Jesse want to take her to these heights.
And they went higher.
There, under the stars, Etta found herself coming apart and falling into the safe embrace of his arms. Nothing could compete with the rush of feeling her body cradle his as he found his release.
He pulled her close into his embrace and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight against her frantically beating heart.
Jesse pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. “I never want to let you go…”
And she hoped he never would.
Chapter Twelve
ETTA
If anyone noticed a difference in her the next day, they kept it to themselves. Etta and Alice had been drafted into catering preparations in one of the auxiliary buildings on the main street that looked like a restaurant. Nearly everything in the building was able to move on casters and hide in the back or side ‘rooms’ if they needed to dress the building for a film.
Looking at it that day, Etta wasn’t sure how that would all work. Sawhorses and double-wide planks made large utility tables where the women were laying out the stores of durable foodstuffs that had been purchased for the first few weeks of filming. The fresh produce and meat would arrive from time to time, but anything in sacks or tins had been delivered from a large delivery company.
Alice looked up and gave Etta a quick smile. “Help me carry this to the shelf against the back wall?”
Etta grimaced at the huge crate of spaghetti packages, but gamely lifted her end, side-stepping with Alice around the tables.
As soon as they hefted the crate onto a waist high shelf, Etta wanted to groan over the ache in her muscles, but she didn’t want to give Alice a chance to ask her about the night before.
“The costs keep going up.”
The two younger women looked at Caroline, but it was Etta who spoke. “Something wrong?”
Caroline’s expression brightened in a heartbeat and she fanned the papers in her hand before her face. “Nothing. Everything’s great.” She set down the papers on one of the make-shift tables and gave the girls a big toothy grin. “What can I help with?”
Etta shared a look with Alice and then darted around Caroline, snatching up the papers.
Looking down at the four pages of the invoice, Etta blew out a low-pitched whistle. “Wow.”
“Wow… what?” Alice was suddenly at her side.
Drawing her finger down the column on the first sheet she grimaced and then glanced up at the logo on top of the page. “Cortland Distributors.” Etta shook her head. “I hate to say it, but my dad runs Cortland.” She looked up at Caroline and shrugged. “Cortland was my mother’s maiden name.”
Alice chuckled. “A merger and a marriage in one.”
“That’s what it was,” Etta sighed, “but these prices are a bit high.”
Caroline moved closer. And found a way to scoot in so the three of them could look at the papers shoulder to shoulder. “Really? They’re less than market.”
Etta tried not to let her voice show all her displeasure. “Sure, less than market, but I’ve seen the contracts in my father’s offices. He’s not giving you the same deal he makes for other businesses.”
Reaching her hand into her hair, Etta pulled out a pencil she’d slipped through her hair earlier.
“Give me a second.”
Setting the papers down on the nearest flat surface, she made a score of notes before she came up for air. The frown she’d had a few moments before was a sly grin. “I’d need some time to go through the list,” she explained, “and if I can remember the number to the supermarket distributor desk, I can probably find out the companies that furnish a majority of your list.”
“Okay?” Caroline looked a little confused. “What would that do?”
Alice wrapped an arm around Caroline’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “I think Etta’s going to get you some really good deals.”
Jesse’s mother looked as though she really could be knocked over with a feather. “You can?”
Wincing, just a little, Etta nodded too. “I think so. I’ve watched Mr. Nicholas whittle these very companies down to further than they were prepared to go. I could probably fake it until I figure it out and put some of those thousands of hours I spent reading or doing my homework in my father’s offices worth it.”
A moment later she was smushed in between Jesse’s mother and Alice as the women hugged her super tight. Alice was the first to stop, probably when she saw t
he tears on Etta’s cheek. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Etta waved away her concern. “I’m fine.”
Caroline tucked Etta against her side and used her free hand to dry the tears from Etta’s face. “Don’t try to hide from us, dear. Alice and I have seen our share of tears. What’s going on in your head?”
Etta tried to swallow down the ache in her throat and almost succeeded. “It just struck me,” she blew out a shallow breath, “that my mom would have loved both of you so much. She’d be so grateful that you’ve both been so kind to me.”
Caroline turned, wrapping Etta tightly in her embrace. “You dear girl! It’s not about being kind. You’re one of us, Etta. You have been from the moment I saw that lightness in his smile and the glint in his eyes. You’re part of the family, sweetheart.”
She heard Alice echoing the sentiment and it should have felt like a dream.
Instead it felt like the beginning of a nightmare.
As much as she was trying to help the Suttons, not just because they had been kind to her, but also because she really did love them like family.
The problem was, there was a storm cloud on the horizon and she was the only one who knew it was coming.
She had to tell Jesse what had happened with Randy. And what Randy had told her.
What he was demanding from her.
But maybe, she tried to reason with herself, maybe Randy had forgotten his ultimatum.
The knot that formed in her stomach told her that wasn’t the case.
“Okay,” placing a big smile on her face, Etta looked at the other women, “we need to get going. I’m going to try to negotiate things soon, but I think we have what looks like almost a thousand pounds of dry goods and tinned meats.”
Caroline gave her a wink. “You sound like one of the characters on ‘The Marshal.’”
“I’ve seen a few episodes.” Etta managed a laugh. “Now, let’s get stacking.”
JESSE
The sun had long since set in the west when Jesse finally sat down on the porch of his little home. Knowing how bone-tired he was, he’d gone inside first and dragged the phone out to the porch, thankful that he’d purchased a thirty-foot-long cord during the last heat wave.
Lifting the handset off the cradle he dialed the number to the Sagebrush Motel, smiling with every button he pushed.
He didn’t dial the office number, using the direct number for Etta’s room.
She picked up on the third ring.
“Hello?”
She sounded breathless.
“You’re out of breath.”
Her laughter was pure music. “I ran for the phone.”
He laughed in reply. “How far away were you?”
She groaned and the sound did considerably more than tickle his funny bone. He tipped his chair back and set his booted feet on the railing, crossing one over the other.
“I was just getting out of the shower when the phone started ringing and I had a feeling it was you, so I ran out to get the phone.”
“Ran out?” He shook his head. “Are you getting water all over the carpet?”
“Ha!” she groaned at him again, but he heard the humor in her voice. “Not much. I have a lovely plastic cap on my hair and a towel wrapped around me, so-”
“Stop. Right there.” He sighed and let her hear the rough scratch of his voice. “Just let me imagine what you look like.”
“Jesse! The air conditioning is on. If I have to stand here for much longer, I’m going to be a popsicle.”
“I guess that means I have to let you go… for now.” He dropped one foot to the floor. “But… maybe I’ll go get my truck and come over to see you.”
She groaned again, but he could hear the ‘no’ in her tone. “My arms are aching. I want to get back in the shower and let the hot water work its wonders. We hefted and shifted and stacked thousands of pounds of food. I’m going to go and eat some of Betty’s noodles with her and then I plan to fall asleep, face first in the pillow and not crawl out of bed until tomorrow morning.”
He shook his head. He could hear how tired she was.
“Sorry, Etta. You sound exhausted.”
He heard her sigh. “That obvious, hmm?”
“You worked hard. I was missing you and wanted to hold you.”
Her laughter sputtered through the phone. “If you were here, holding me, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t get much sleep until we were exhausted.”
He wanted to try one more time. He wanted to be considerate, but he really loved holding her in his arms the night before.
“What if I promised to just hold you?”
“Hmm…”
Jesse heard her indecision but he promised himself that no matter what she said, he’d take that answer as gospel.
“Jess- I’m exhausted. I might not even eat anything. The longer I stand here, the more this bed looks too good not to crawl into right now.”
“Okay. Okay. I hear you. Etta?”
“Hmm?”
Her voice was so slow and soft he knew she was almost dead on her feet.
“I’m going to think about you when I go to bed tonight.”
“Good.” Etta’s laugh was filled with joy. “Then we’ll be even!”
ETTA
After she hung up the phone, ending her call with Jesse, Etta just didn’t have to energy to go back to the bathroom and wait for the water to heat up. Instead, she picked up her nightshirt and her long, knit pants and pulled them on. She had one knee on the bed when she remembered that she was supposed to go eat with Betty.
She loved Mrs. Nakata like the aunt she’d always wanted, but she was afraid she’d fall asleep face first in the bowl of noodles. Still, she owed it to Betty to walk over and at least explain it to her.
Slipping on her sandals, Etta didn’t bother to buckle the straps at her ankles and grabbed up her key from the bedside table.
“I better get moving before I fall asleep right here,” but just saying the words made her feel like she was already halfway there.
A knock at the door made her jump.
The knock sounded again and she looked up at the clock. Had that much time passed since she’d talked to Jesse?
Laughing at herself, she dropped the key at the foot of her bed and moved toward the door, calling out to him, “Jesse, I told you I was going to bed!”
When she opened the door, the color drained from her face.
Randy Calhoun was standing there, a hand on each side of the door, his eyes narrowed at her. “Sounds like you’ve been busy while I’ve been gone.”
Panic filled her senses. She fought the frantic beating of her heart because it filled her ears. Rang in her head like a warning bell.
The breeze pushed through the open door and she could smell the alcohol on his breath.
“I came here first thing because I was missing you.”
She smiled and shook her head. “I wasn’t expecting you to do anything of the kind. We’re not exactly friends-”
“Who cares about friends?” His smile tilted up at one corner. “I told you before I left that there was going to be a price. That is… if you want things to keep going the way they’ve been going for your friends.”
He tried to walk through the door but she put a hand in the center of his chest to hold him back.
“Randy, this is crazy. I know how much you want this movie. You wouldn’t endanger it for someone like me.” Bluster. A fake smile. Fighting down the panic like she’d done with stage fright every time her dad put her in a pageant. “You should see all the work they’ve done. They’re building a whole new street in the town. The stunt men have been practicing. They’re just waiting for you.”
One look told her that he wasn’t evening listening.
“When I knocked on the door,” a muscle ticked in his jaw and a bulb above his head flickered, “you thought I was Jesse.”
Her stomach twisted in her belly. “He’s a good friend. He called earlier and said he might
stop by to say hello.”
Randy shifted in the doorway and when she didn’t move to let him in, he stepped close enough that his chest trapped her hand between them, pillowing her breasts against him. His cheek rubbed against hers like sandpaper. With this blond hair she hadn’t see the scratchy stubble that acted like needles instead of hair. “You know why I wanted you so much?”
“No.”
Swallowing hard, she stepped back and put distance between them.
But she made the mistake of putting both hands on his chest and as soon as that happened, he wrapped both arms around her, trapping her arms against him.
Dropping his head down, he pressed his face against the side of her neck and took a long indrawn breath. “You almost smell like him.”
She wanted to tell him he was crazy but when he closed his teeth over the tender skin at the base of her neck she kept silent.
“I knew it when I saw you, you know.” He moved his mouth another inch and bit down again. “So damn innocent. Clean. Untouched. You have no idea how much I wanted to feel that again. Bury myself in that kind of sweetness.
“But you acted like I was going to hurt you.”
“You did hurt me, Randy.” She couldn’t seem to stop the words now. It felt like he was lying to himself and she had to at least try to talk him out of whatever was going on in his head. “You hurt me and I walked away.”
He walked them both deeper into the room and kicked the door shut.
She wanted to scream but she knew the people down the rest of the row were all still at the ranch. If she got him angry, who was going to come to her rescue?
“I hurt you, because you didn’t relax and let me show you how good it could be between us.”
His ‘logic’ was dizzying and given how she could almost smell the alcohol wafting up from his skin, it wasn’t going to get better. She had to figure out her own way out of this.