Roundabout Road (Saving the Sinners of Preacher's Bend Book 2)

by Willow, Jevenna

  Liddy held back the tears. Speaking would only spoil the moment, and she didn’t want that.

  As her insides fisted him hard, and springing forth unicorn laced butterflies to the forefront of their lovemaking, her throat constricted into painful. This was love. No doubt about it. Jake could never hide his heart if ever she looked at him. And she knew she’d always be unable to hide the inside of her soul from him.

  Liddy’s eyes wouldn’t leave his face as his hips pumped. She arched her back the moment those oddly mocking unicorns took to wing, and her climax so overpowering, she couldn’t help but scream out his name.

  At any given moment Debra could’ve come waltzing through the door. She could have found the both of them stark naked. They could be caught at any given moment by Chief Berken.

  This was what made it so exciting . . . and dangerous.

  Liddy had always loved danger, and so had Jake. One could say they’d spent most of their adult life doing dangerous things.

  His hands slid to her face. Hers found his back. She then lowered her palms to his bared buttocks, holding him inside until he found completion, draining himself.

  Not once did her head go to the fact Mack refused her such an exquisite pleasure—touching a man’s firm ass with both hands while coupling sex with love. Not once did her heart allow the pain of the past to seep inside her body and gain a foothold.

  Jake’s capable hands slid down her sides until his fingers reached her hips. His smile was contagious as he slid one finger across her belly, then another to follow. He was purposely trying to make her squirm.

  Liddy’s hips rose to send out another invitation and the man was only too willing to oblige. They’d done this before. Both knew how. They knew each other, inside out. But there was something so new, so real, and so vitally important. Them doing it on a cold floor, the danger of being caught made it real.

  Liddy raised her hips as Jake penetrated deeper. Another, harder climax moaned out while in pure ecstasy, he caught the moan with his mouth as their tongues battled. They couldn’t seem to stop what their lower halves demanded from the other. As his mouth found her right breast, her teeth bit into his shoulder. The second she wrapped her legs around his waist and Jake went as far as he could inside of her, was the very second the past became the present and future all rolled into one.

  This time, they exploded as one. They became one.

  And not just once, twice, but three times . . . just for good measure . . . they eventually killed twelve hours, ten minutes, and thirty-two seconds of their shared incarceration. So no one would ever be able to say she’d chickened out at the last minute, as she’d wanted to.

  He had a very large snake tattoo on his arm, with her name on it! What more could be asked of her? She loved that tattoo.

  She loves . . .

  God, help her! She was still in love with Jake!

  But she couldn’t tell him this. Not until she could sort through why she still loved him, and how it was even possible after all these years.

  Somehow, after the floor, they made it to the bench. Sex on a metal bench was . . .awesome!

  Against the wall became even better.

  From the bars was unfortunately a little awkward but doable.

  They ended up on the floor covered in sweat. It might have had something to do with his being such a great lover, and her climaxing at least six times and so incredible, she was still smiling.

  As they snuggled up to each other’s sweaty frames, Jake ran his hands through her tussled hair and smiled down at her. “There. Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  She could barely think straight. Let alone, answer the man. Instead, she put her mouth to his and kissed him with everything she felt inside her. That should be answer enough. For now.

  “Dare I ask if you’re ready for another round?”

  She wasn’t. But if this was what it would take to gain freedom from the past, then by all means . . . bring it on!

  “I’d kill for a glass of water right now.” It was a futile request on her part. Not until Debra came back to the station to actually satisfy the thirst. Lord knew Jake had tried, but not with water.

  “No prob.” He raised his naked body off the floor, smiling down at her.

  Her eyes took in every inch of him in an appreciative stare. He then moved to the corner of the cell, reached behind the metal bench they’d coupled on, and produced a key. He grabbed his suit pants off the floor, donned them quickly, and foregoing anything else, unlocked their cell door.

  All she could do was physically staring at him: at his physique, at the man’s bared flesh, at the glisten of perspiration lingering on a chest of steel, and . . . at the audacity of the man!

  The sonofabitch had a key?

  She jumped to her feet and Jake proceeded to move directly to the water cooler behind Debra’s desk, fill a paper cup, walk back to the cell, and hand her the cup.

  “Will this do?”

  She tossed the cup of water right in his face. “Will that do, you sonofabitch?”

  He let her anger subside, the cold water trickling down his bare chest, before putting thought to saying another word to her.

  “You had a fucking key? And you did not think to tell me this before now?” Liddy stood before him as naked as the day of her birth; and now, totally humiliated by this man.

  “What good would my telling you I had a key done us? You would’ve demanded I used it. Ran away, never looked back . . . because you’re so damn good at running away, Liddy. And this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “There is a damn good reason this wouldn’t have happened!”

  She tried making a move to grab her clothing off the floor, but Jake put his bare foot directly on the pile and held her from accomplishing this easy endeavor.

  “Get your goddamn foot off my goddamn clothes, Jake!”

  “No.”

  “What do you mean . . . No?”

  Liddy was so ready to kill this man. Debra could just clean up the mess whether she wanted to, or not. Liddy really didn’t give a rat’s ass, as pissed as she was.

  “I mean . . . God, Liddy! Think about it. Letting you out of here would have been incredibly stupid on my part.” Jake ran a hand through his tussled hair, hiding his emotions well.

  “Stupid?” Liddy’s eyes widened to huge saucers, her sight impeccable due to size of dilated pupils.

  “Yeah? Stupid. You’re supposed to be locked up in here because you stole a man’s car. I couldn’t just let you walk out on that. What would it have said to my reputable character? What would this town have thought of me? Giving you the key would have been stupid. Debra would have skinned me alive.”

  “I don’t give a flaming bag of shit what this town thinks of you right now. Or, what Debra might have done to you. But I can tell you exactly what it says to your character . . . and what I’d like to do to you this very minute!”

  She crossed her arms over her bared chest, waiting for the wretched bastard to remove his blasted foot from the pile of discarded clothing so she could redress. Never mind the remainder of her body was still visible, and he’d seen all of her, six ways to Sunday. And she did mean . . . all of her. Jake Giotti was a very careful, skilled lover. He always gave more than he took.

  Believe her; he gave Liddy more than she could have ever asked for. Her innards were still throbbing.

  But he kept the key to the cell door hidden, the key to letting her out of this wretched place.

  He turned kind all of a sudden, removing his foot to allow her access to her scattered clothes, of which she donned in rapid haste.

  Her movements jerky; she would have called them rather pathetic, under the circumstances.

  She had to sit down to put on her shoes. But once her butt hit the metal of the bench, the stinging tears came at full tilt. There was nothing she could do to prevent them. Nothing at all. She’d just made love to a man who couldn’t trust her to do the right thing.

  “I’m sorry. But it was t
he only way I could think of to get you to admit you don’t want a divorce.”

  “That’s right, you idiot. I want an annulment!” Her hackles rose, prickling her senses to overload.

  “No you don’t,” he promised.

  “Yes. I do.” Her guts were turning mutinous.

  At least she had hoped they were mutinous, because the rest of her body was gaining a foothold toward murdering this man.

  “I’m telling you . . . you don’t.” Jake crossed his arms over his chest, trying to prove his point.

  “Why, Jake? So you can have the very last word in this?”

  “No.”

  “Then why?”

  “Because you still love me.”

  The man actually gloated about this?

  Liddy shook her head. “No I don’t.”

  “Yes. You do.” Again, a rather infuriating smile came her way.

  This smile caused a turn of her head and an averted gaze as she responded, “Drop it, Jake.”

  Liddy had to look away. She knew he could tell the truth by sight alone, and that was the worst of it. She could never lie to this man. Nor hide a lie, when it was everything she could do in her power not to say one.

  “No. I won’t just drop it. Admit it, Liddy. Admit you still love me.”

  His words made her very angry. “Never!” One of her high heeled shoes was then tossed at his head, but missed.

  “Not even if I do this?” he asked, moving ever so slowly toward her.

  Liddy was pinned in a corner, a caged tiger. She had nowhere to escape. He physically picked her up from the bench with his hands put to her shoulders, and pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her hard. The kiss was passionate, melting her into a puddle of pure forgetful insanity.

  “You still love me, Liddy,” he added, once pulling his talented mouth from her lips.

  “I can’t.” Her tears fell unchecked. “I can’t possibly still love you!”

  “Oh, but you do,” he warned.

  She shook her head. Seconds later, she completely fell apart. “Yes. I do. Are you satisfied, you sonofabitch? I still love you. I will always love you. But I can’t love you. I’m not allowed to have the pleasure of loving you. Besides, you don’t want to be loved, Jake. You never wanted it.”

  He seemed stunned by this news. But his being stunned passed rather quickly. “Says who?”

  “Says . . . just about everybody living in Preacher’s Bend. That’s who.”

  “But I’m still living in Preacher’s Bend,” he admitted. “And believe me when I say being loved was not something I didn’t want, Liddy.”

  “You just want the sex, Jake. You don’t want the love. There’s a big difference between the two.”

  “I know the difference.”

  “How?”

  “How?” he demanded, adding his own answer. “I haven’t had sex in ten years. This was the first time since our last time. Did I, at any time, say something I should not have said to you, while making love to you?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  No. He’d said everything a girl could ever want to hear while in deep passionate throes of some pretty incredible coupling.

  “Did I, at all, do something to you I should not have done?” he questioned.

  Again, “No,” slipped out of her mouth.

  Good God, No! Jake Giotti was very good at making love to a woman.

  He then turned angry. “Then where the hell do you get off telling me I don’t want to be loved?”

  She never got the chance to answer him. The door opened, and in walked Debra Wesley . . . with a very angry Mack Wells at Debra’s side.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Well that’s a shame,” Debra announced, moving to her desk; just barely gave them the time of day as she began sorting through papers.

  “What’s a shame?” Mack asked, leaving Debra to come straight for Liddy.

  He placed both hands on the bars and looked in, as if he was looking at the newest zoo exhibit out on display and truly fascinated by the fact nothing inside the cage could get out. A half-dressed man and a very quilt-ridden woman stuck in a holding cell was a science experiment to him. Friggin’ Adam and Eve!

  Liddy could feel the color draining from her face. And Jake? Dear Lord, the man looked momentarily speechless. Most of their clothes were still on the floor in a great big heap. Most of his, that was. Hers were very nicely on her body . . . Thank you very much!

  Truly, she should be thanking God. Otherwise they would’ve been caught in little more than their birthday suits with huge smiles on their faces. Worst, caught in the middle of round five—or was it six?—and try explaining that to Mack Wants-no-sex-until-married Wells.

  “They haven’t killed each other. It would’ve saved me a whole lot of paperwork if they’d just gone and done each other in,” Debra declared.

  “T—they . . . haven’t . . . ” Mack faltered upon.

  A powerful, influential, seen-it-all man looked flabbergasted Deputy Wesley’s way of thinking murder would be less paperwork for her as being just.

  City folk. They just didn’t understand country folk. Did they? City folk liked their messes taken care of before nightfall. And if not, then there should be a damn good explanation as to why it wasn’t cleaned up. County folk took their time making messes.

  Another of those unspoken rules seeming to follow in the wake of all those others in a town of this size, messes that lasted only one day, no more, weren’t actual issues.

  “Why would you think Liddy would try killing someone in a holding cell, especially this particular individual?” He eyed Jake up and down with slight disgust, even sneered at him.

  Jake, at the moment, wasn’t talking to her; oddly enough he wasn’t putting on the rest of his clothe, either. She supposed just to piss off Mack all the more.

  “Mack.” Liddy whispered; her throat closed to any sort of speech that was actually audible.

  “Debra,” Jake said.

  “Yes, Jake?” His half-sister eyed him from across the room.

  “Here.”

  Debra moved toward her half-brother. “Here, what?”

  “Take the key.”

  Jake held the piece of created metal out to Debra.

  “The . . . what?”

  “You heard me. Just take it.” He stepped closer toward the cell bars to hand it over to a truly stunned deputy. She pocketed the key while shaking her head in absolute disbelief he even had possession of it in the first place. It would seem she didn’t know what to say to him.

  No one seemed to be able to speak. But there was plenty of stuff running around in all the heads, and none of it good.

  Except in Mack’s case. Mr. Attorney, Mr. Perfectionist, Mr. All-around Surprise. He couldn’t articulate his thoughts, though on most days he was paid enormous fees for his gift of speech. Usually nothing could rattle his cage or faze such a powerful man. He was always in control. Always smooth under pressure, the man always prepared.

  “Liddy Humphrey? What on God’s Green Earth possessed you to take my car without permission? Did you somehow think permission had been granted you? Do you know how much that car cost me? How much I adored that car? How much I will miss . . . my car? And yet, this very kind woman has informed me it is now totaled?” His eyelids slammed shut as his lips pinched together. When they re-opened, Liddy took a step back.

  “I called in the theft to stop you from doing something stupid. And you went and fucking totaled it?”

  He looked her over, head and toe. As if he couldn’t dare himself to believe she’d be so incredibly insane, or he’d fallen for someone with so little brains inside her head.

  “It is Lidia Humphrey-Giotti, pal,” Jake muttered under his breath. “And she’s not the one who smashed your expensive toy against a tree . . .”

  Mack had perfect hearing. Though Jake had said this as a snide remark, the man heard every word, loud and clear, and took it completely out of context.

  “I thought this m
inor problem of yours’ would’ve been taken care of long before now, Liddy.” He openly barred his teeth to Jake.

  However, the words were meant for her.

  Mack did not say ‘little problem of ours’. He’d said little problem of ‘hers’. That made this only her fault and Liddy very angry.

  Guilty feelings aside, Mack was pissing her off. If it was her problem, it should’ve been his problem too. They’re betrothed! He’s the big shot lawyer. Jesus! Couldn’t he have pulled a few strings? Looked the other way until she could settle her affairs?

  Jake squared his shoulders. His bared shoulders, mind you. Shoulders she’d kissed tenderly, touched with great passion, caressed with her nails, and even bit into with her teeth.

  Good God! The telltale bite marks are still there!

  “You thought wrong . . . pal,” Jake sneered.

  Her furious husband looked as though having enough of Mack and his uptight arrogance. He moved to the other side of the cell to drop his muscular frame onto the bench. He then placed his head against the wall, closing his eyes to the sight of one very stubborn man standing outside their cell.

  “Liddy?” Mack asked quickly.

  A man who was not speaking to her had somehow found his voice.

  Liddy moved ever so slowly toward the cell bars. She couldn’t say a single word to him. Not yet, anyway. Her eyes could barely look at him, either.

  GUILT.

  All in capital letters in neon flashing clarity.

  She needed to think; roll with the punches. Duck if she had to. But with Jake right behind her, Mack right in front of her . . . each placing a world of guilt upon her shoulders . . . she couldn’t think at all.

  Nor could she move. Not one single reaction was made to any of this.

  “Would you kindly tell me why it is you are in this two-bit town’s holding cell with your, um . . . with him? And it is him, isn’t it?” he rushed her way, sending a daggered glare at Jake a half-second later.

  “Him has a name. It’s called a husband,” Jake supplied, looking so damn smug.

  Smug, and angry.

  “Yes . . . um, Liddy?” Mack turned his eyes her way again.

  Wow.

  Mack did not know how to answer this? Did this mean he also knew what actually happened in here? Could he tell?