Sinner-Saint Box Set (Sinner-Saint Series)

by Roxie Odell

  “Did you make that fried chicken?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I’m pretty good with breasts and thighs.”

  “I see.” She smiled. “Well, Mr. Foreman, I guess you’ve got yourself a deal. You give me shelter during a hurricane, and I’ll be your laborer.” Cheri stuck out her hand to shake on it, then rolled to her side and back into him.

  Exhausted from hammering out their passion, they let the rain drum them back to sleep, and her dreams were quickly occupied by images of Thomas in nothing but those cowboy boots and a tool belt.

  Chapter 6

  It wasn’t that farfetched that Cheri struck up a friendship with the man who had saved her. Given the fact that he didn’t want to tell her his name at first, standing where she was at this very moment, it didn’t seem in the realm of possibility. Never in her wildest dreams could nearly being robbed at gunpoint land her in coveralls, helping to restore her rescuer’s antiquated home. She would never have made such a prediction for herself. The sex was definitely part of her fantasies, though. In all honesty, as soon as she walked away from that fateful scene, after that handsome devil of a stranger gave her the kiss she didn’t ask for, sex with him was the very next thought on her mind. She wasn’t going to lie. She’d thought about it, dreamt about it, wished about it.

  Then after their wakeful night filled with athletic sex, a couple of English muffins, a little yogurt, and some really good coffee, they suited up for construction work. The first job was a room in the turret of the house, a sweeping, romantic space, almost round, with windows on every wall. Cheri couldn’t help but feel a little envious of his lovely home. She was grateful for her place, but his was a true work of art, and it was going to be spectacular once he was finished. Unfortunately, the presence of so many windows made her nervous. The storm was fierce on the other side of the glass, and the half-remembered warnings about windows and hurricanes swam through her head.

  “Are you sure it’s safe?” she asked timidly. “The storm’s pretty bad out yonder,” she said, instantly realizing she sounded like a hick, with that Southern accent seeping through quite strongly.

  “Out yonder?” He smiled. “You sound like you oughtta be asking me to sit a spell for a bit of peach pie,” he teased.

  Cheri squirmed with embarrassment, vulnerability, or a little of both. She was beginning to believe Thomas could read her mind, but she didn’t know if he was smiling at her question or just the way she’d said it.

  “I wouldn’t let either of us be here if we weren’t safe,” he said.

  “Okay,” she answered, not quite believing him.

  “Is there some Virginia wisdom I should be privy to?” he asked, his voice flirtations.

  “Yes.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “It’s not easy to get a lot of work done when the laborer can’t keep her eyes or hands off the foreman,” she bravely and honestly observed.

  “Well, we have to, Miss Sheets on Fire. I’ve got an inspector coming Monday.”

  The room was empty, except for a ladder and a few tools. Beneath the lowered ceilings Thomas looked tall, literally larger than life, and Cheri felt a rush of desire for him. The chemistry flowed through her like a current, and their passion inflamed her. Sex was all she could think about. Having his total attention, experiencing the feel of his magnificent body loomed in the center of her brain, rendering her useless to do anything productive.

  “Ya know, I think you’re right,” he rasped, staring at her. “I think today’s work is a scratch.” He spun her around and pressed her palms against the unfinished dry wall. He stripped her out of her coveralls in one quick flourish, then braced her at the waist with his powerful arm. Cheri cried out as he entered her, quickly and roughly. He responded by clamping down on the base of her neck, aggravating her arousal till she was bucking wildly against him. The way he held her, Thomas could control her rhythm and pace. His strong hands commanded her hips and swiveled her around masterfully.

  It was pure sugar for her mind and body. It turned her on to be slightly dominated, and she eagerly gave herself over to him. Cheri released herself to his command, willing to see how far he could take her. He was the quintessential figure for fantasy, a perfect physical specimen, with intense sexual allure. He was also right. There was something very naughty about having sex amidst a mess of construction tools, in paint-splattered work clothes.

  He pulled out of her and turned her to face him. “I need to kiss you,” he said huskily.

  Before she could offer consent or protest, he took her mouth and forced her legs wider apart with a blunt sweep of his feet. The move released a shot of adrenaline through Cheri, sending her sexual sensation to the edge. She couldn’t have been more turned on, so sexually drugged that she could barely maintain any presence of mind.

  He entered her again, and she drew her knee up so she was standing one leg. The tension she created from that position gave pleasure to them both. Thomas growled as the wind whipped the rain against the window adjacent them. Cheri cried out with a start as her body surged with their shared excitement. She reached between them to touch herself, but he moved her hand away.

  “No,” he said, “not yet.”

  She rolled her eyes, not sure if she would be able to hold off. Everything in her screamed with the need of release. She rocked her pelvis up toward him, fiercely exorcising her urge while Thomas’s thrusts were a merciless, steady rhythm. She was sure he would hold out forever, but she simply couldn’t. His focus, unlike hers, was unswerving. He kissed her, taking ownership of her mouth with dominating strides of his tongue.

  Cheri responded in kind, seeking, searching, exploring, and tasting while he drove into her. She cupped her breast and kneaded it. Through heavy, drooped lids, she spied his hazel eyes, like glowing amber, glued to the sight of her, just watching as she pleasured herself. That was all he needed to send him into a crazed chase for climax.

  He roughly took her hand and placed it back between them. It only took a little effort to make her body lock on to the sweet path to ecstasy. She felt her breath climb, and the cries built in her chest until she thought she would explode in an ocean of noise and breathing.

  Thomas’s body stiffened, and his strokes became more labored as he struggled to move in and out of her body. It seemed they were struck simultaneously, both exploding, writhing, and pulsing as the storm surged outside.

  It was hard to separate the racket of the hurricane from the noise of their rapture. At once the room was very, very loud, but it was also magical and sweet. Somewhere in her mind, Cheri found clarity while her body pulsed around Thomas’s luscious length. In the archives of her memory, she logged that moment as one of the most romantic, most passionate she had ever known.

  Soon enough, their bodies wilted as their passion took its course. Once they could move normally again, Thomas impulsively grabbed her hand and led the two of them, completely naked, to his back door, out to his fenced-in patio. The rain beat down on the earth, and the wind forced Cheri to focus on balance, but it was clear that Thomas wanted the two of them to step outside in the dangerous weather, a strange urge. As strange as it was, though, Cheri was willing to comply.

  The rain washed the sweat and passion from their bodies as they kissed with all the intensity and power of Mother Nature’s raging weather around them. It was a scary moment for Cheri, but she wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

  Despite the cooling rain, their passion sparked again. They were engulfed and quickly joined, their hips hammering into each other in ancient rhythm, making that ancient climb. It was erotic, making love to Thomas in the rain and, prior to that natural rendezvous, Cheri had no idea she could be so limber and nimble. She had managed to unearth many of her unknown talents since taking refuge in Thomas’s house and in his arms.

  A rumble of thunder was their cue to break and, giggling, they quickly retreated into the kitchen, their bodies slick with water. Thomas grabbed a kitchen towel to mop them off temp
orarily, then led her to a half-completed bathroom with a sunken tub.

  “Claw-foot?” she remarked. “Nice.”

  “Yeah, a true luxury,” he said, still chuckling.

  “Isn’t it dangerous to take a bath during lightning?” she asked, pulling back from him a bit.

  He studied her with amusement. “I can see we’re gonna have to work on this,” he said, “but, yes, the one about taking baths during a storm happens to be true.”

  He placed a hand towel under the faucet and ran it all over her skin. It was lusciously warm. He opened a closet stocked with towels and toiletries and wrapped her in a giant terrycloth sheet.

  She returned the favor by standing courageously on a little three-legged stepstool and washing the rain off his broad, strong back. She smiled as he fastened a towel around his hips; somehow, even in a towel, nothing about him was remotely feminine.

  Chapter 7

  Once the storm died down and the mayor publicly announced that road travel was safe again, Thomas drove Cheri home. It was perfect timing, because she sensed they’d somehow had their fill of each other—for now. After two nights, a day, and one morning with the practical stranger, she returned home feeling as if she’d known Thomas for her entire lifetime.

  She watched out the window as he drove her home and realized she lived less than a mile from him. “I probably could have walked to save you this headache,” she remarked, noticing that navigating through all the street closures was tricky.

  “Walked?” he said, arching an eyebrow at her.

  “Yeah, you know, putting one foot in front of the other, till you’re moving forward. You learned that as a toddler, right?” she joked.

  “I’d never let you walk in this mess. It wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me for one thing, and for another, it’s not safe to hoof it through this neighborhood alone,” he said, shaking his head.

  “It’s not that bad. I even jog here sometimes. It really is a beautiful city, Thomas. Once the storm passes, the temperature will be perfect out here,” she argued. “In fact, I may go for a jog when I get home.”

  Thomas eyeballed her skeptically. “You’re going out for a run? Not enough exercise this past weekend?” he asked, arching an eyebrow again.

  Cheri could only blush in response, then let herself lean into his hard, warm frame for a cuddle. “Maybe a jog to loosen the muscles.”

  “You need a big dog,” he continued. “I mean it, broad daylight or not.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. He was quite protective, wasn’t he?

  “May I remind you of how we met?” he asked. “Also, you said yourself that there are new robberies every day.”

  “Touché,” she replied.

  “Just speakin’ the truth,” he said. “Honesty’s the best policy, as we’ve already established.

  “Yeah,” she said. As she continued lounging against him, Cheri studied the dashboard of Thomas’s big, black, shiny truck, full of high-tech add-ons and buttons. It was way too clean and pristine to be a work truck, and he barely used it, since she always saw him taking public transportation. Once again, she wondered what he did for a living, but she didn’t feel entitled to ask. Back at his house, she had thumbed through his mail while he was in the bathroom; she told herself it wasn’t snooping since he’d knowingly left it out in the open for wandering eyes to see. She learned that his last name was Graham, but that was all the investigating she did; she didn’t want to get caught, and she did feel a bit guilty for digging into his personal business.

  “This thing is like a jet plane with all these knobs and gauges,” she remarked. “It’s so clean, too, like it just came out of a showroom,” she fished.

  “I just had it detailed. I drive it mostly on weekends.”

  “Not to work?” she asked, more clandestine prying.

  “No,” he answered with a laugh, as if she had to be joking. “They don’t allow trucks on the metro tracks.”

  “What do you do for a living?” she finally blurted, tired of the cat-and-mouse games.

  After two incredible days of intimacy, she was sure they were far past the none-of-your-business stage, but she quickly realized she was wrong about that. The elusive Mr. Graham cut his eyes at her. He didn’t want to play twenty questions with her.

  His silence was a loud and clear announcement that their weekend wasn’t the start of anything, and that was like a punch in Cheri’s gut. I was just a hookup to him, a fucking booty call, like whoever owns that damn mascara in his bathroom drawer. After all the amazing good feelings he’d helped her to feel, Cheri now ached. Hadn’t I been asking him for the same thing, though? Every muscle in her body tensed, and she wanted to open his truck door and jump out. Thankfully, they were almost to her place, and the rest of the route was free of roadblocks and detours. It would be a clear shot to her door, and it would all be over.

  He pulled up in front of her row-house, parked, and pulled out his phone. “May I have your number?” he asked politely.

  “Sure,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. As she programmed his digits into her phone, it occurred to her to ask his last name, just to cover her tracks. The fact that he so willingly gave it to her made her feel better, and she hoped she’d just gotten herself all worked up over nothing, which was something she tended to do.

  He got out of the truck, walked around the side, and opened the door for her. “Here ya go,” he said. “Home sweet home.”

  She slid down the side of the seat in an effort to jump down from the tall vehicle, but he hoisted her in his powerful hands and lowered her to the asphalt.

  “Probably should get some pull-down stairs, huh?” he said with a wink. “For you folks who are… vertically challenged.”

  She laughed. “Thanks, Thomas. This was, uh, nice,” She had no idea what to say after a weekend of what they’d just done.

  “It was,” he said softly, then walked her to the front door where he lowered his mouth to kiss her goodbye.

  Cheri thought their magical chance weekend couldn’t have ended more perfectly, but she was wrong. The flicker of fear she had felt a moment prior was about to prove itself true.

  Thomas lingered for a moment after their kiss broke, as if searching for the right words. “So, listen…” he began tensely.

  A knot formed in Cheri’s stomach as she noticed the shift in his tone and an odd look in his eyes.

  “I had a remarkable weekend with you,” he said. “You’re an amazing woman.”

  “Thank you,” she replied with some trepidation.

  “I’m not much on relationships or dating or any of that stuff,” he confessed. “I mean, it was awesome, but…”

  “You already said that,” Cheri reminded him bitingly.

  “I know. I just wanna be clear. I’m not sure if there can be anything more, Cheri.”

  “Thomas,” she said, putting her best face on, “you took the words right out of my mouth.”

  He stared at her, his face twisted in confusion. “I did?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Well, okay then,” he said and hesitated, as if not sure he should leave now or wait.

  “Let me ask you something, Thomas,” she continued, unable to contain her anger. “Why did you just ask me for my number?”

  He hesitated, then offered, “Because we never know when it might rain again.” He then took a couple steps back toward his truck and turned to look over his shoulder. “Text me and let me know how court goes, would ya?” he asked.

  Only if you go fuck yourself, she wanted to say, but instead she stood stoically at the door, crossing her arms and holding her spiteful tongue. She’d asked for this as much as he had. Him burning her was as much her fault as his. The realization didn’t make the hurt any less sharp.

  “Bye now,” he said, getting the message of her silent treatment loud and clear, then hurrying down the sidewalk as she walked inside and slammed the door.

  Chapter 8

  For days before her court appear
ance, Cheri felt as if she’d been slammed against a brick wall. It wasn’t because of the wild sex-capades she’d had with Thomas but from the horrible torture of his dismissive, callous goodbye.

  Things had escalated so quickly; she had felt a literal high with him, only to come crashing back to Earth when he dumped her. Not that he’d officially dumped her. He’d just left her… with a maybe-see-you-around-again-when-it-rains.

  It really hurt, even if she wasn’t sure she wanted a relationship with him or anyone else. He could’ve let her down easily, without being so blunt and cutting her off at the knees, but as she thought about it over and over, he’d chosen to be a colossal asshole instead.

  Her mind bounced around to all the details of their sexy weekend and to all that had happened before it. So many details darted through her head, tormenting and exhausting her. The frozen image of the mascara in that orange container haunted her. It was her one clue that he was a ladies’ man; either that, or his wife or girlfriend was just away for their torrid weekend. She had to admit that she’d spent the last few days sleeping with a cold-blooded bastard. He wasn’t worth the time and energy she had spent on him, and she had more important things to deal with and take care of, like that lawsuit looming over her.

  ***

  When the day of the court appearance arrived, Cheri met her lawyer in the courtroom. As a paralegal, she hated that she was nervous about the proceedings. She had experience. She’d worked for a law firm and was well versed in trial preparation, but reviewing the complaint and the asking price made her sick to her stomach. She’d just never stood on this side of the table before. On top of not sleeping well and being lovesick, it was not a good morning, and no amount of caffeine was going to remedy that.

  Sitting in the client’s chair was hard, especially since the whole thing was so very sudden and unexpected. She and her lawyer were in a hearing on a motion to dismiss, something that might only take fifteen minutes, but her attorney insisted that she be present. “It’s a 50/50 shot,” he explained. “Hopefully, the judge will look at the plaintiff, look at you, and drop the whole thing.”