The hard battle was finally won when she drifted off into an uneasy slumber.
Her days passed in boring familiarity as she went through the next four nights. Jason acted as if nothing had happened between them, so she went along with it, not changing how she treated him, but inside, it hurt. Couldn’t he be bothered to give her a small smile? Just one?
Three in the morning and the skies opened to pour down. Lightning flashed, and the thunder rumbled every few minutes.
“Hey, Etta,” Stocky hollered. Mason Jackson was affectionately called Stocky by those who knew him and was the owner of Et Tu Fey. The name of the diner was the reason she’d stopped. Whoever named an eatery with a play on words was a place she had to visit. This was a visit that was going on a year now.
“Yes?” She paused in wiping down the booth she was at.
“You’ve not had a night off in months. We’re dead as a graveyard, head on home.”
“You sure?”
He sent her a playful scowl. “Yes. Get out of here. I’ll be getting more in a few hours for the day shift. We’ll be fine.”
Finishing her table, she headed to the back, not about to keep pushing. She could do with some extra time off her feet. “Thanks, Stocky.”
“Don’t think this is because I like you. I don’t want you getting exhausted on me and not coming in.”
She grinned and blew him a kiss. “I’d never think you actually liked me.”
A wink. “Good. Now, get out of here.”
Grabbing her purse, she stepped out into the rain. The cold water hit her, and she paused to tip her head back. She’d always loved the rain. Hurrying to her car, she slipped behind the wheel, grateful the top was up, and shut the door.
Ten minutes later, her good mood had died, right along with her car. “Come on, dang it,” she cried, smacking her hands along the wheel. “I thought you were supposed to give some warning sounds before you up and died. Not just going along fine one second, then nothing.”
She tried it once more and got nothing. Flopping her head against the headrest, she moaned in despair. “Of course not. Okay, genius, what are we going to do? A good ten miles from home, and I really don’t know who lives on this road. I’ve never had the need to stop along here before.”
Yanking the keys, she opened the door and stepped out into the deluge. Soaked in seconds, she closed, and locked her car then began walking with her purse tucked beneath one arm.
“When I recalled how much I loved the rain, just for the record, I wasn’t on foot in the middle of downpour during the middle of the night,” she tossed out to whomever may be listening.
Her toes were squishing in her shoes when, off to her left, a light clicked on as she moved by a longer drive. The only reason she noticed it was an actual light instead of lightning was it didn’t flash. She stopped and squinted through the momentary jags to see if she could read a name on the mailbox. Nothing.
“I’m fucked if it’s the Scandrick brothers.” Even so, she headed up the drive. The house was a nice two-story home with the typical large veranda going around the building as so many homes around here bore. Her breaths quickened as she stepped up onto the porch, and she stumbled a bit. “Get it together,” she muttered and knocked.
Water ran off her body as she knocked once more and waited to see whose home she’d stumbled onto in the middle of the night. I really need to find out where more people live around here, then perhaps, I wouldn’t be scared standing here.
The door opened, and she held her breath, only to promptly lose it. Crap on a cracker. She’d found her way to Jason La Rue’s residence.
He stood there on the other side of the screen door, wearing a pair of jeans that were open, allowing her to follow the trail of dark hair down below the waistband until she could see no more. Happy trail for sure… Bare feet and no shirt, the man was a walking ad for every single fantasy she’d ever had and some she’d not had.
No matter how hot he was, it was his eyes that got her. They were haunted and overflowing with pain. His features smoothed out, leaving her with a blank slate.
With a deep breath, she opened her mouth. “I’m so sorry to bother you, but my car broke down back there, and I was hoping I could use your phone to call Junior to have it towed. I saw your light was on.” She gave a small smile, which fell away when he didn’t return it. “You know what, never mind. I’ll just walk. Again, sorry to have bothered you.” Pivoting on her toes, she hurried down the steps back out into the rain. “Stupid, stupid idea.”
“Etta.”
His deep baritone easily cut through the rain to her, and she stopped. Facing him once more, she waited. He walked across his porch and continued on down to where she stood. His broad shoulders blocked out most of the light from his place so she couldn’t see him well. Feel his presence? Most definitely.
“Come inside.”
He gripped her arm and guided her back up and, this time, into the house. One lamp glowed, illuminating the shiny wood floors. She froze by the door, and he looked at her.
“I’m soaked. I don’t want to mess up your floors. Is the phone near?”
“No phone.”
“You don’t have a phone?”
He tilted his head at her. “I have one. The storm knocked them out.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. “I should go, then.”
“No.”
A simple word but one he made sound like an order, and the back of her neck prickled. “No?”
“It’s dangerous out there on nights like this. You can stay until light.” He gestured for her to follow him.
She walked up the stairs and trailed him into a bathroom where he gave her a thick towel and a large shirt. “Hope you don’t mind wearing one of mine.”
Mind? Not in the least. “Thank you.”
“Bedroom is two doors down on the right. Good night, Etta.” Then, he left her alone.
She took a hot shower and dried quickly before drawing on his shirt. His scent surrounded her, and she burrowed her nose into the material before shaking her head at her actions. She padded down the carpeted hall to the bedroom he’d mentioned to find a full-size bed in there with a dark blue bed spread. No sign that he stayed there.
“Why would he put me in his own room?” She dragged her fingers along the material and sat on the edge. Her stomach growled, and she rubbed it. “A bit longer before I take care of you.”
A crash sounded from downstairs, and she was dashing down before her action registered. Jason stood there in the kitchen by a counter, blood dripping from one hand.
“What happened?”
His gaze was vacant and unseeing as he stared off at something only he could witness. Outside, the thunder grew closer as lightning jagged across the sky. She swiped a towel then reached for his hand. “Jason?”
Chapter Two
A gentle voice wove through the memories locking him in their prison, and Jason blinked as he came back to the here and now. His body coiled tight, ready to inflict damage. Ready to kill. Yet, as he stared into soft brown eyes, he hesitated. He couldn’t hurt Etta, so he struggled to rein in the rage.
Her mouth moved, and yet, he could hear no sound. The room was hazy and disjointed, and as he sank to the floor, she came with him. She reached out and pushed some hair away from his face, and his gut tightened at her touch.
God, I should have been able to save him. Save all of them we lost that day. At the thought of the fallen men and the traitor, his anger ratcheted up another few notches. How could one of their own betray them?
Sweat beaded on his skin and rolled, his jaw clenched so tight he wondered if he wouldn’t crack it. His breaths were shaky at best, and he wanted nothing more than to drown his sorrows in the bottle.
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to get sucked back into the vortex of raging emotions. A soft caress along his cheek pushed them back further, and he lifted his lids to find her there.
Etta.
Endless
patience and caring on her face. No sympathy, just concern. The roaring in his ears faded, and her tone reached him.
“Jason? Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” he croaked out. He ran his gaze over her, realizing that she straddled him on his kitchen floor as she wore his shirt.
Shit. Had he done something to her that she needed to wear some of his clothes? Had they been in bed together? Why didn’t he remember taking this woman to bed? Surely, he couldn’t forget her.
She kept one of his hands between them and he flexed his fingers, wincing slightly at the sting. Etta shook her head.
“You cut your hand. I need to bandage it up, but when you sank to the floor, I didn’t want to leave you.”
“You’re in my shirt.”
“You gave it to me.” A shrug. “You know, after.”
“After we fucked?”
She shifted on his lap, bringing his attention to his cock, which was hard cuddled against her pussy. “No, after I came to your door soaked by rain. You offered me a room to sleep in. Would you like me to leave?”
“Hell, no,” he rasped. The words tore from him, their brutal honest nearly bleeding him.
“Tell me where your first aid kit is so I can fix your hand.”
He didn’t want to be bandaged up. He wanted to lose himself in the soft scent of her skin, which, despite having his soap on it, still smelled of her. Wanted her to skim her fingers along him, keeping the memories at bay. Wanted to sink his cock deep inside her and feel her heat around him in the most intimate of ways.
“Fuck my hand.” He sank his uninjured one in her hair and yanked her head down to where he could claim her lips.
Her gasp was swallowed up as he kissed her. He didn’t proceed gently but pushed into her mouth. She tasted of hope, of salvation. His. Tightening his hold, he thrust his tongue in and pushed it along hers.
She ground on his lap and kissed him back, her hunger matching his own. “God, I want you,” he uttered. “I want to fuck you. Lose myself in you. Know nothing but you, your touch, your scent.”
Etta attacked his waistband, lowering his zipper the final distance, and rose up so she could get his cock out. Her hand around his length was damn near nirvana. She swiped her thumb along the crown of his cock and over the head. A moan slipped from his throat, and he curved his arm around her waist.
“Put me inside your pussy.”
She lifted slightly and sank back down.
“Oh, God.” Her moan was electricity along his skin and one he concurred with. Her pussy was tight and hot, holding him like a vise.
She cupped his face and closed her eyes as she began to move. Slowly at first, like she was allowing herself to get used to his size in her. He tugged on her hair, breaking the kiss and drawing her head back. Jason nuzzled and nibbled on her exposed throat as she continued to ride him.
Her hands fell away from his face to land on his shoulders. Her nails dug into his skin as he moved down to pull a nipple in his mouth.
“Oh, shit,” she cried, back bowing, pushing more of her breast into his mouth.
With his injured hand, he shoved up her shirt and recaptured her breast. Swirling his tongue around it, he flicked and teased the tip until she squirmed more on him. Her breaths came faster as her hips picked up speed.
Opening his eyes, he gazed at the nymph on his lap. His white shirt a stark contrast against her dark skin from where it was bunched up around her throat. Full hips and neatly cropped hair over where his cock currently resided. Deep inside her.
She rotated her hips and took him in deeper, and he grunted, taking her left breast in his mouth to pay it some attention. His balls hurt with the need to release, but he kept himself in check.
Right up until she grabbed his hair and pulled. Whatever slim hold he had on his control snapped like a broken rubber band. He grasped her hair with both hands and took. Buried himself in what she was offering him at that moment—salvation.
So, he took.
αβ
Jason stirred and cracked open his eyes. Rain still pounded down on the roof, one light was on, and he pushed up slightly. He lay on the kitchen floor beside the island, and wrapped tight to him was Etta, without a stitch of clothing on. Staring down at her, his cock stirred to life, again, and he trailed a finger along the curvature of her face.
Her lips were parted as she slept, her breathing soft and slow. Quite the opposite of how it was earlier when she was screaming his name in a tone that rivaled the thunder booming around them. Her skin bore the mark of his whisker burn, a fact which pleased him greatly.
She’d taken everything, never saying he needed to go slower or be gentler. And through it all, the hunger for him had never dimmed in her eyes.
Three times and no condom. Not my smartest move. At the time, it hadn’t mattered. He’d needed to just feel, and he had. He’d experienced emotions he’d believed long dead and unimportant. She brought them all back to him with a single touch.
He flexed his hand, frowning at the sting. The gash had at least stopped bleeding. He rose and lifted her in his arms, her weight reminding him he wasn’t alone. She’d cared enough to stay with him during his dark moment. She could have run away. Could have stopped him. She hadn’t. Instead, she welcomed him on the most intimate of levels.
He climbed the stairs with her in his embrace and took her to the room he’d told her she could use. Placing her gently down, he then covered her with the solid blue comforter. After brushing a kiss along her full lips, he went to his room where he pulled on some clothing. Shoving into his boots, he met his reflection in the mirror before he departed the room. One more quick stop into the room Etta slept in and he was out in the rain.
αβ
Her body hummed with pleasure as she came awake. That was one hell of a dream. She shifted on the smooth sheets and paused. She didn’t have sheets like this on her bed. These were way softer. Which begged the question, whose bed was she in?
She froze, not wishing to make more of a fool of herself by not knowing where she was or in whose bed. Am I alone in here? Perhaps nothing happened, and I just slept somewhere. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried so hard to recall what happened.
Moving a tiny bit at a time, she shuffled until she was content she was alone in the bed. She struggled to recreate her night. Work where I left early. Shit, my car broke down, and I walked to…to…Jason’s.
She bolted upright in bed and gazed around the room. It hadn’t been a dream, after all. Or at least not all of it. Her body ached with her muscles screaming obscenities at her she’d not heard in a long time. And she was naked, her body bearing witness to how she’d earned every stiffness. Her concern segued into a smile, and she flopped back to burrow beneath the blankets. Outside, rain still fell, and quite honestly, she had no desire to move her sore body.
However, this still wasn’t her house. Where was Jason? With a final deep breath, she pushed back the blanket and swung her feet to the floor. No sound reached her. She peeked out the bedroom door and still didn’t hear anything, so she crept to the bathroom where she’d hung out her wet attire to dry.
Etta shimmied into her damp waitressing outfit, doing her best to ignore how hypersensitive her skin remained. Lord help me, I’m losing it. She made her way downstairs and chewed lightly on her lower lip as she tried to find out where he went.
“Jason?”
Silence met her cry.
“Okay, I’ll take that as my cue to leave. Now, I just need to call Junior, and I’ll be on my way.” She headed to the kitchen to use the phone, only to pause when she walked by the front door.
Past the porch, waiting for her in the rain, was her convertible. “What?” Hurrying out the door, she ignored the rain as she opened her car door and slid inside. The keys were in the ignition, and she started the engine, whooping in glee when it worked.
“Bless you, Jason La Rue.” She pounded on the wheel and saw a note tucked between the steering column and the tachometer. Etta unfolde
d the paper and read.
Fixed your car. I’m out of town for a few days.
~Jason
“So much for a declaration of love. Hell, he up and ran.” It churned her gut, but she ignored it and climbed back out of her car and closed his house up. “One hell of a one-night stand, Loretta Swann. One hell of one.”
She drove home and took a shower, indulging in the hot water until her skin began to prune. Once she’d dried off, she walked naked through the rental to her wardrobe and dug for something to wear.
He left. Didn’t say a word to me and not just vanished from his house but even left the town. Don’t that make me feel like I’ve got nothing to offer him nor a good lay? Fuck. He’d wanted to fuck her. And he had. Muttering dirty words and phrases to her all night as he’d done things to her body she never believed anyone would do to her. Took her to planes she didn’t know existed.
“Oh, grow up,” she snapped to her reflection when she finished pulling the green shirt on over her head. “It was a one-time thing.” She touched her lips, which in her estimation were still puffy from his ardent kisses. “Besides, standing here isn’t going to get my shopping completed.”
Slinging her purse over her right shoulder, she walked outside, cast a glance up to the rain-filled sky, and climbed into her car. Despite the rest of her day being mundane, she had a smile on her face when she walked into work that night.
“Evening, Etta,” Marie said as she walked by, adjusting her boobs and lowering her shirt, in hopes for more tips.
“Evening.”
“Have a good night off last night?”
Etta’s body sprang to life once more at the memories of Jason’s touch. She tried to calm her heart while she shrugged with as much nonchalance as she could muster. “It was typical but nice to leave early.”
Marie smiled and sashayed by. “I must say, I don’t typically see whisker burn on your neck, so I’m not sure that’s usual, but glad it was nice.” A wink. “From the dazed look still on your face, I’d say it was quite a bit more than ‘nice’, whatever you experienced.”
Snake's Salvation Page 2
