by Tess Oliver
It was hard to hear each other over the noise in the tent. Gideon leaned his head close to mine and tried to yell discretely by covering half his mouth with his hand. “What I can’t figure is how they’re planning to make any money. It’s obvious that giant bull, Hector, is going to slam all his opponents to the mat. Eventually, people will figure that out. In a week’s time, no one will be betting against him.” Fist hit bone again, and a long, low moan rolled through the crowd as if they were feeling the pain of the man getting his face pulverized.
“I think I’ve got it figured out,” I yelled back, not giving a fuck if anyone overheard our conversation. A lot of flasks had been passed around the tent, and it seemed most of the spectators were too bent to give a damn. “They build this monster up to be unbeatable, then they fix the fight. They stick in some goof and pay off their strongman to take a dive. They bet on the fake fighter and everyone else bets on Hector. They’ll sweep up.”
“Hadn’t thought of that. I guess that’s why you’re the smart one.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, little brother, but I’ve got a date with a perfectly sculpted, perfectly kissable exotic dancer.” Gideon got up and pushed his way through the crush of bodies. I glanced around at the sea of bobbing heads. I had seen a few of Griggs’s goons but not the man himself. The whiskey edge I’d walked in with had worn off. My mood had cooled some. As long as she still wanted to be with me, I was going to see Charli. There just wasn’t a damn thing Griggs could say or threaten, short of actually killing me, that was going to keep me away from her.
Buck had made an appearance early in the fight, but he’d slinked back out. According to my watch, Charli was just finishing. Watching her race around in that sphere with no protective gear was too hard. I’d gone once more to watch her and had spent the entire show gritting my teeth together so hard, I could hardly move my jaw to speak for a good hour after. For five years, I’d convinced myself that no one would ever belong with me except Ella, but Charli had worked her way into my heart. I spent half the day thinking about her and the other half figuring out when we’d have time to get together again. And, in between, I wished to hell that time would stand still. The thought of her leaving, driving off in the big parade of carnival trucks, saying good-bye forever, was too much to bear. I had to put it out of my mind.
I got up and followed my brother’s cue. I’d promise to meet Charli after her show. Besides, the fights were so one-sided, I’d lost interest. I pushed open the flaps of the tent. The temperature difference between the fresh night air and the sweaty, squalid atmosphere in the fight tent was stark. The coolness helped clear the last bit of whiskey fog from my head.
The storm clouds were close enough now that I could smell the coming rain. The carnival closed in half an hour and only a few stragglers milled around the game booths. Everyone was, no doubt, still gathered around the stunt show. I headed in that direction and met a steady stream of spectators leaving, many of them chatting excitedly about the beautiful Enchantress and her show. It was all such a contradiction, and yet, after getting to know Charli, it all seemed completely believable that she could ride a motorcycle and perform dangerous stunts. The more I thought about the stage name, the more I realized that it fit her. She’d definitely enchanted me.
The glow of lights around the risers looked like a fake sun trying to push its way up over the massive mesh sphere. The cheering had died down, and the motorcycle was no longer roaring. As I reached the show area there was a large crowd gathered around something in the center of the yard. Something had caught everyone’s interest. They seemed too quiet.
My heart banged wildly against my ribs, and painful shards of that horrible day when I’d lost Ella returned. “Charli,” I said, under my breath. I ran toward the circle and elbowed people rudely out of my way, trying to get to the center. “Charli!”
I jammed past the last layer of people. There in the center of the circle stood the beautiful, copper haired girl who had stolen my heart almost from the first moment I’d laid eyes on her. She’d pulled a coat on over her costume. She handed a man in a Georgetown University sweater a paper and pen. As she grabbed another pad of paper from another admirer, she caught my face in the crowd. She smiled brightly at first, but I hadn’t wiped the look of worry from my face yet.
She quickly signed her autograph and walked over to me. “Are you all right? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.” There was still a thick circle of fans around her. They continued to shove handbills, kewpie dolls, hats and anything else that might take pen ink at her.
“I— “ I shook my head. “I saw the circle and I thought—”
“You were worried,” she finished for me. She pressed her hand against my face and kissed me. A hurricane of cheers and whistles followed.
“Is that Jackson Jarrett?” I heard an unfamiliar male voice say from somewhere in the crowd. “It just figures that he’d be the one to get the kiss.” Laughter rumbled around the circle.
“How much longer will you be?” I asked.
“Just a few more minutes.”
“I guess I have no choice but to share you with your adoring fans, but I sure as heck don’t like it.” I kissed her nose. “I’ll meet you by your tent.” I squeezed back through the press of bodies, this time garnering angrier glares than when I’d rudely elbowed my way in.
The first sporadic drops of rain fell as I strolled across to the living tents. Most visitors had gone home. Some of the carnival workers had started preparing for the coming rainstorm. Tarps were carried out to cover the game booths, and wood panels were shut around the kiddie rides. As I walked across the midway toward Charli’s tent, a familiar voice floated out from the maze of canvas. As always, it made my jaw tighten. It was Griggs. The other voice belonged to Buck. They were standing somewhere in the center of the tents, and as hard as it was to hear them over the canvas flapping in the wind, I knew they were waiting for Charli.
I headed back across the midway. The circle of fans had dispersed, and Charli was walking toward me, swimming in an oversized coat, her muscular golden legs peeking out with each graceful stride. She smiled when she saw me and it occurred to me that there just wasn’t any damn thing better than that smile.
I glanced back toward the tents but didn’t see Griggs, or anyone else for that matter. As I turned forward again a bolt of lightning cracked the black sky. It was immediately followed by loud thunder.
Charli shrieked and ran straight into my arms. She giggled. “Jeez, I’m a ninny. I can’t believe that scared me.”
“Then my plan worked.”
She smiled up at me. “I know you’re good at making the earth move.” She winked. “But I hardly think you can take credit for the weather.”
“Maybe not. But I do find it ironic that you have no problem riding your motorcycle upside down in a metal cage or wearing a giant snake around your shoulders, but a little bad weather sends you running. Not that I’m complaining.” I put my arm around her shoulder and we walked. I steered her in the direction of the car, but her feet attempted to turn toward the tents.
“I need to get changed.”
“Not tonight,” I said. “You’ve got an unwanted visitor waiting for you outside the tent, and he makes Rusty seem like a cuddly teddy bear.”
It took her a second to catch my meaning. “Griggs?”
“Yep. So, let’s get out of here.” Heavy raindrops began to drum a beat on the ocean of canvas surrounding us. The ground beneath our feet, already soft from being trampled by hundreds of carnival attendees, began to pool into slippery puddles. We stepped around the deep ones and headed to the parking lot.
“But what about Rose?”
“Gideon and Rose are already at the car.” Raindrops had turned to sheets of cold water by the time we reached the Model T. The windows were heavily steamed, and the car was standing in one place but moving plenty.
I rapped a knuckle on the driver’s window. Rose’s muffled shriek pinged off t
he glass. Gideon smeared clear a small circle and scowled out at me. His coat was off and his shirt was open. “Go away, Jackson.”
Charli reached for the back door. It was open. She climbed in amidst protests from the front seat. I climbed in after her. “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s coming down heavy out there, and I’m in my costume.”
Gideon pulled his shirt together. Rose straightened herself out as well. My brother looked back at me. “You’re lucky there are ladies in the car. Now get your ass back out there and crank the motor.”
I climbed back out. The thunder and rain had been joined by a turbulent wind. It pushed against me as I leaned down and grabbed the lever. Wet weather always made the car motor stubborn. I was soaked through to my skin by the time the engine fired up.
I jumped back inside, and in a futile attempt to warm us up, Charli pulled off her coat and held it over both of us. The coat was just as wet as our clothes, but it was the perfect opportunity to sit close to her.
Gideon pulled out onto the road. Our old Tin Lizzy was anything but air tight. Misty rain squirted through every available opening. The large arm of the window cleaner vibrated over the windshield, providing only a small swath of clear glass. Gideon had to work the car levers and the windshield lever all while hunching his massive frame down low enough to see through the one clear spot. “Next car we buy will have one of those newfangled automatic window cleaners. Hey, Jacks, we were going to head over to Belle’s and have a piece of pie. Bodhi told me she baked a dozen peach pies today, the first of the season. I just hope she still has some left. Then we’re heading to Breakers for a few rounds.”
I looked down at Charli. With her big eyes and long wet lashes, she looked like a wet kitten who’d been left out in the rain.
A faint glimmer in her golden brown eyes told me she was thinking about the same thing as me, and it had nothing to do with pie. “I think we’ll pass, Gid. Could you just drop us off at the house?”
“A different kind of dessert for you two, eh?” Gideon said.
Rose winked back at us. “It’s a good night to get cozy.”
“Should we just go straight home too?” Gideon asked.
Rose reached over and wiped some lipstick off of Gideon’s chin. “Heck no. I want pie.”
Chapter 15
Jackson
Bodhi and Noah had decided to go with Gideon and Rose. My ‘get the hell out’ glower had probably helped with their decision. Charli and I would have the house to ourselves. We used my drenched coat to shield us as we ran for the door. The dogs were happy to plod in behind us and found a place on the kitchen rug to shake and dry themselves.
After having Charli snuggled against me in the backseat for the whole ride home, I was ready to explode.
Wet sequins shimmied along her slinky little costume as she dropped her coat on the kitchen chair. The brassiere style top moved up to just below her breasts, exposing the creamy, gold skin of her stomach, as she reached up to smooth the rain-soaked, copper strands from her face. I swallowed hard and curled my fingers into balls to keep myself from lunging at her like an animal.
“Would you like something to drink?” There was a hitch in my tone. Restraint was taking its toll on me.
“I would love a cup of tea if you have one.” She pulled out a chair. I nearly groaned in disappointment that we’d be sitting for tea.
I blinked at her for a second trying to comprehend her answer and remember how to make some damn tea. “Tea, right. I think we have a canister up in this cupboard.” I rarely got flustered, but my cock seemed to have replaced my brain and now the simplest task, like searching for the tea can, was taking all my concentration. I scooted aside a box of cookies that had to be half a year old, and the shaker of salt fell from the cupboard. “Bad luck,” I muttered absently and grabbed a few grains and threw them over my shoulder. A silver tin was pushed to the back of the top shelf, a shelf that was hard to reach. I stretched my arm and hand up as high as I could and my fingers groped for the canister.
“Jackson.” Charli’s sweet voice saying my name caused my erection to press urgently against the front of my pants.
My fingers managed to grab the top of the canister. I pulled it, and it tumbled off the shelf. I caught it and turned around holding the tea container up triumphantly on my palm.
Charli had taken off her costume. She was naked. I sucked in a sharp breath, and the tea canister clanged as it hit the floor and opened, spilling its gritty brown contents across the worn wood planks.
Charli smiled shyly as she stood up, but there was nothing shy about the woman in front of me. Her long copper waves hung around her bare shoulders. Her rose-colored nipples puckered as my gaze drifted over them and down along the slim curves of her body to the perfect mound of copper hair between her thighs.
“I’ve decided to skip the tea.”
I knocked over the kitchen chair as I pounded across the floor and pulled her into my arms. My mouth devoured hers as her arms circled my neck. My hands went beneath her naked bottom, and she wrapped her legs around me. She clung to me. My first plan of carrying her to my bedroom ended when I decided it was too damn far. I carried her to the sofa and put her down, almost roughly. I had no patience for politeness. I just wanted her.
The light from the kitchen illuminated the room with a warm, uneven glow. She peered up at me, her brown gaze glittering in the light. “Aren’t we going into your room?”
“Not yet. It’s too far. I have to have you now. And before you protest, it’s your damn fault for being so fucking— so fucking fuckable.”
She looked small and naked and vulnerable blinking up at me from the couch as I took off my wet clothes. She lowered her feet to the ground and began unbuttoning my pants. Again, with a long lashed blink, she gazed innocently up at me as she pushed my pants down. My cock sprang free like an animal that’d been sprung from its cage. Her small fingers wrapped around the base of my erection, and she pressed her beautiful lips, now pink and swollen from my kisses, against the moisture covered tip. A long shuddering breath filled my chest and then jammed tight in my lungs as she slid her tongue along the rigid shaft.
I grabbed hold of her wrist. “Not yet, Charli,” I grunted. “Having you naked here in front of me is making me crazy. I’ve been rock hard since we got into the car. Hell, since the lightning scared you into my arms. With your mouth on me, I’ll be finished before we even get started.”
I took hold of both her hands. Her tiny wrists both fit in my one hand. I lifted her hands above her head and stared down at her. She shivered.
“Are you cold?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s the way you are looking at me. The way you’re holding my hands captive. I feel . . . so exposed. Deliciously exposed,” she said quietly.
“Good, because I can’t stop looking at you. You are the sweetest confection. I’m about to spill my seed just gazing at you.”
“Don’t you dare.”
I dropped down to my knees and released her hands. She pushed her breasts forward, silently begging for me to kiss them.
I answered her plea. I held her in my grasp as I ran a trail of kisses along the curve of her breast to her taut nipple. She arched her back and pushed her nipple harder against my teasing tongue. Her palms smoothed over my shoulders and back, along the ridges of the scars left behind by Willie’s whip. They were an intimate part of me, something to remind me of that horrid day. Having her fingertips brush over them felt oddly comforting.
As I suckled on her nipples, her long lashes fluttered against her creamy cheeks, and her head lulled back on her long neck. The soft, urgent sounds rolling off her lips only made me want her more.
I rose up on my knees and leaned my mouth next to her ear. “Spread those beautiful thighs for me, baby.”
She followed my command. I drew my fingertips down over her belly to the warm mound of hair. She cried out as my fingers slid into the slick, hot moist folds of her pussy to tease the tight, swollen bud that I kne
w would make her delirious with need.
“God, baby, you’re wet.” I kissed her mouth. “Do you have any idea what this is doing to me?” I slid my fingers inside her, and she melted back against the sofa cushion. Watching her face as she grew more and more intoxicated by the motion of my fingers stroking and teasing her sex, made me even harder.
“Say something, Jackson,” she pleaded between ragged breaths. “The sound of your voice is as erotic as your touch.”
My fingers continued probing her, fucking her, bringing her to that edge of no turning back. I leaned up and kissed the skin on her thigh. “Charli, I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you. I’m going to touch you and taste you and fuck you until you scream out my name.”
Her lips parted and she mewled in pleasure as my words and my touch brought her closer to climax. Then her hands shot forward, and she clutched at my arms. “Yes, Jackson, yes,” she cried as her pussy clenched around my hand. Her body shook and a deep pink blush tinted her golden skin. She collapsed against the cushion. “Take me now, please, Jackson. I want you.”
I needed no more coaxing. I plucked the rubber from my crumpled up pants and rolled it on. My pulse throbbed through every vein in my body as I lifted myself onto the couch. Charli took my silent cue and climbed over my lap. She wrapped her arms around my head and pressed my face against her naked breasts as she dropped down over my waiting cock. Inch by inch, her pussy swallowed me. As the tight sheath hugged my cock, I gripped her hips. I wanted more of her. I pushed my pelvis up, and a gasp left her mouth as I thrust deeper inside of her.
“God, baby, you fit me perfectly,” I growled. Her thin, lithe body moved through my arms as she rose and fell over my cock until I could no longer hold back. I held her tightly over me and threw my head back, a low, guttural groan rolling up from my chest. She was heaven and I was splitting into a million pieces inside of her.
