by Cherie Marks
Just as I was beginning to feel confident this was going to work, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough, Mr. Stalker came around the side of the house and made his way to the back door. He cupped his hands against the window and peered inside. I watched as he stepped back and stared at the door for a moment before reaching for the knob. He pushed the door inward but didn’t step inside. Instead, he called my name again, and goosebumps broke out all over my skin. It had nothing to do with the chilly rain and everything to do with how comfortably my name rolled off his tongue. He said my name like he knew me, like he had some connection to me. I didn’t like that at all.
I was surprised, though, when he closed the door without going inside. It didn’t seem in character with the criminal element by whom he’d been sent. Gambrol would’ve stormed inside and taken exactly what he wanted. If this guy was one of his goons, why hadn’t he followed protocol?
He planted his hands on his hips and began to swivel slowly, scanning the area behind the house. I ducked back behind the tree before he could catch sight of me. After a few suspenseful moments, I dared to peek around the tree hiding me and was disconcerted to find he was gone. It was what I wanted, but I couldn’t be sure he hadn’t walked toward the forest instead of leaving the property. What if he were just feet away?
My panic took over, and I began running blindly through the trees with the goal of getting as far away from the house, and from the stranger, as I possibly could. I threw quick glances over my shoulder, pushing onward, not even paying attention to where I was going exactly. I began climbing an incline, going into the hills as quickly as I could. The unfamiliar sound of the rain falling on the leaves ratcheted up my anxiety. Though it was probably just my overactive imagination, the thought that the guy was right behind me forced me deeper and deeper into the brush, higher and higher up the hillside.
I glanced over my shoulder once more and got a rain-and-tree-obstructed view of the house below. But I didn’t dare stop. With a renewed drive, I pushed on over fallen logs and through tight bushes and thick trees. I didn’t stop again until the land began to flatten, and I paused with my hands on my knees, the rain sloshed over my head, pouring off the hood of my jacket, which was completely soaked at this point. I needed to get to a place where I could wait out this storm.
I looked up and my spirits lifted slightly at the sight not fifty feet above me. A small, wooden structure stood in the near distance. It was probably a storage shed or a hunting blind. I just had to make it there and wait out the rain.
I took a step forward, and cried out as the log I stepped on rolled, taking my ankle with it. I lost control completely and went down hard as my head slammed against the ground. Everything blurred around the edges, fading to black in front of me as I lost consciousness.
* * *
Arms lifted me as I came to. My head lolled, and my body felt numb. The rain splashed my face until I couldn’t even open my eyes. Though I didn’t know who carried me, we began to move, but I couldn’t pay attention to where I was being taken. I couldn’t hold onto awareness any longer, and I drifted off again.
When I woke this time, the rain was no longer hitting me, but I shivered relentlessly. As I shook, the blankets covering me began to slide off, but hands grasped them and put them back over me. I wasn’t alone. But who was with me?
My teeth chattered, and my body ached. I felt as if I was dying.
“Can’t…get…warm.”
“You’re finally awake.”
I recognized the deep voice, and relief overcame me.
Finn. Finn had found me, and he had saved me.
“So…cold.”
The blankets lifted, and I protested with a squeak until I felt the mattress sink as a body slid in beside mine. Arms encircled my torso and pulled me tightly against a hard chest. The heat rolling off of him began to seep into my skin, and though my tremoring body continued to vibrate, moments of calm interspersed the shivering.
His hands rubbed over my back, kneading and stretching my sore muscles. I was suddenly aware of every inch of his body flush to mine. He smelled so good. I breathed in the musky fresh scent of his skin and nearly sighed in pleasure. I slipped my arms between us and rested my hands on his hard chest. It was like touching a heater directly, and I had to wonder if he might be running a temperature or something. Or maybe I was. My chills began to fade as his body heat took over and created an encompassing warmth under the blankets.
As my pain and misery began to fade, everything but the man beside me was forgotten. I was suddenly feeling better than I had in a long time. My body was coming to life, and I barely resisted the urge to throw a leg over his hip and push into him to see if he was as affected by our nearness as I was. All my aches and pains were receding as my mind focused solely on the magnetism taking over and drawing me ever closer. My right ankle still throbbed regularly, but I hardly noticed it now. Awareness of my intense attraction to Finn took over and pushed every other concern away.
I stretched, like a cat, into him and heard and felt his groan simultaneously. I was heating up in a totally different way, and my breathing sped up at the thrill that chased through me. He was clearly affected by me too.
“Cara…we need to talk.”
“But do we really?” I gave into my urge and hooked my left leg over his, pulling myself into him. I might have been slightly delirious, but I couldn’t seem to stop this natural reaction to his closeness.
The air thickened between us, and I looked up to meet his gaze. He looked as if he were in more pain than I was. We stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Then, the tension snapped like a twig, and he covered my mouth with his own. Flames licked my insides, and I sunk my hands into the cloth of his shirt, squeezing his chest, feeling like I would never get enough of his body.
We shifted on the bed until he hovered above me, our mouths still connected. I cradled his hips as I bent my knees and wrapped my good ankle around his back.
I slipped one hand up and around his neck, running my fingers through his hair. My other hand slid down until I could get beneath the hem of his shirt. I ran my hand up his muscled torso, searching his lightly furred chest until I encountered a hardened nub to play with. His kiss deepened as I rubbed my thumb over his nipple and then flicked it lightly. His tongue skimmed mine, delving inside as he pushed his hips forward. Sensation flew through my mid-section, and I felt his cloth-covered arousal pushing against my core. I met his thrust with one of my own and we moaned together, reveling in the response.
He pulled his mouth free and stared down at me, confusion marring his perfect brow.
“We shouldn’t be doing this. We need to talk.”
I lifted my hips to meet his again, trying to tempt him back to my body. His forehead wrinkled more, and for a second, I thought he would relent, but then he sat up on his knees, pulling out of my embrace. I keened in protest.
“I don’t want to talk. I want to kiss.”
“Trust me, I don’t know how I’m not fucking you right now.”
“Then, just give in to that feeling.” I sat up on my elbows. “I want you, Finn. No games. Just you and me. I’m a sure thing.”
He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his nose. When his eyes opened again, he seemed to have a grip on his control. “Why were you outside in the rain? What happened to force you out there?”
For a brief moment, I wanted to tell him everything. I wanted to confide it all, just to have someone on my side. I needed someone to help me figure all of this out, including how to handle a damn stalker. And I wanted it to be Finn. He was a protector. He was good and decent. He was loyal and hot as hell. But, as much as I wanted him to be different, I knew the truth. I knew he’d be just like all the others before him. He might say the right words and do some of the right things, but in the end, he’d never choose me. They never did. I was too damaged, too beyond repair, too…unlovable.
So, I looked him straight in the eye and kept u
p the con. “I went for a walk and got lost.”
“Lie. You’re a freaking witch. You could’ve located the house if you’d wanted to.”
“I don’t have that ability. I’m not the strongest witch there is. I’m actually pretty weak if you must know. Probably should’ve paid more attention to my lessons.”
“More bullshit, Cara. I’m tired of it.” He shifted until he lay on his side beside me. “You should trust me.”
He began to run a hand over my abdomen where my shirt slid higher and the blankets fell lower. He traced small circles with his fingers, driving me to distraction. I dropped my head to the pillow, closed my eyes, and enjoyed the feeling of his touch.
“Give me one good reason I should trust you, Finn?” And I meant it. I wanted to be able to give him everything. I wanted it to be him so badly.
He leaned down and began placing kisses along the column of my neck. I turned to give him more access. His mouth settled next to my ear, and a shiver chased through my body as he whispered, “Because I can make everything better.”
My breath caught in my lungs at his words. I didn’t know whether he meant he could make life better for me overall or simply help me lose this sexual ache he was stirring up, but whatever it was, I was on board. In that moment, he probably could’ve convinced me to do anything.
His hand began to travel lower and lower. Fingers slipped under the waistband of a pair of sweatpants I didn’t remember putting on myself. I couldn’t worry about that though when his hand was tracking toward the center of the fire stoking inside of me.
“What are your secrets, Cara? Who’re you running from?”
“Hmmm. Keep going.”
Panties weren’t a barrier at all as he slid through the side and touched me where I wanted him the most. Lust rolled like waves through my body, and a wisp of a sigh escaped my lips.
“You’re wet.”
Liquid magma pooled in my veins, and I wanted to cover his hand with mine to show him exactly how I liked to be touched, but I held back when he began to softly run his fingers along the outer lips of my pussy. My legs opened to him as he slid a finger into my slick flesh. My back arched as he brushed his thumb over my clit.
“Are you a good girl, Cara? I don’t think so. You’re wicked, aren’t you?”
I liked where this was going, but I wanted more. “Is that what you need me to be? I can show you wicked.”
His lop-sided grin melted my heart, but I forgot everything and threw my head back with a gasp as he pushed a finger inside and began to work it in and out. At the same time, he rubbed that thumb of his over the bundle of nerves hidden at the top of my folds. It was making me mindless.
“Why did you run?”
“Huh?” I should make him stop. Something wasn’t right about this whole situation. But it felt so good.
“You were hiding from someone, weren’t you? Who’s after you?”
He pushed in another finger and continued to work my flesh to a fever pitch. I tossed my head back and forth, feeling the sensations building. I was so close to the edge. Just a little more, and I’d go tumbling over.
Then, he stopped abruptly, holding still and staring down at me.
I whispered, “Don’t stop.”
“You want more, Cara?”
I nodded, holding his gaze.
“I do too.” He began moving again, this time relentless in his pursuit toward my climax. His fingers worked in and out while his thumb rubbed in faster and faster circles. My trajectory was clear now. I felt the build, like the upward flap of a bird’s wing, and I was waiting on the downward flap that would push me so high.
“Why do things keep happening to you?”
I was there. I felt the teetering moment when I was going over, and I couldn’t stop the words coming out of my mouth, even if I’d had hold of even half of my senses.
“I’m cursed!”
I fell over the edge, every muscle tensed, and wave after wave of pleasure wracked my body. The most intense sensation I’d ever felt grabbed me from the inside and worked its way out. My pulse pounded in my head, and my ears rang as I rode the peak until it ebbed, and my senses began to return.
“What do you mean, you’re cursed? Literally?”
Shit! The con-artist had been conned.
I scrambled to sit up, pulling his hand free of my pants. Like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head, my desire faded quickly.
“It makes sense. That’s why you’re always in danger. I mean, the car, the tree, the rainstorm. How have you survived this long?”
Wait! Why wasn’t he accusing me of hiding things? Why wasn’t he throwing me out now that he knew what a danger I was to myself as well as those around me?
“How long have you been cursed?”
I swallowed. This wasn’t something I talked about, especially not with tricky panthers who clearly knew how to use their bedroom skills to throw a girl off her game.
“How does it work? Tell me something.”
“You used sex against me. Did you want me at all?”
He didn’t answer with words. Instead, grabbing my hand and covering his huge…huge erection. No words necessary.
“I still fucking want you, Cara. Want to thrust inside you until you’re screaming my name and only my name. That moment when I felt you squeeze my fingers as you came, I don’t know how I didn’t replace my hand with my dick.”
He turned over to lay on his back, and my hand dropped to the bed again. “But, I researched a little recently. Not much to do at the school all day long. Turns out that strong emotion can bring back memories. I thought if I could make you mindless, something might come back to you.”
I still didn’t like his actions, but one way or another, he hadn’t gotten an orgasm out of the encounter. And he sure as hell wasn’t getting one from me now.
“I think you should leave.”
He didn’t move for a moment but then he slid off the bed and stood up, adjusting the evidence of the arousal that had yet to diminish. He didn’t look happy in the least, but he turned to go.
“For now, but we’re not finished with this conversation. You will tell me more.”
He exited, and I pulled my legs to my chest as I slid back to the mattress. I’d told him something I’d never told another living soul. But that wasn’t what scared me the most. I was afraid his final vow was going to be impossible to avoid. I would say more no matter how much I tried not to.
And though it wouldn’t be because of his magic touch—I mean, damn! No, it would be because of my stupid heart. I wanted it to be Finn for a reason. Somehow, someway, he’d found a way to reach my deadened heart, to make me feel, and that scared the shit out of me.
Chapter 11
By the weekend, I’d searched every inch of the house, including the basement and most of the outside property with nothing to show for it except for a healing ankle and edgy nerves. At least my stalker hadn’t come back. I should’ve been able to rest easy thanks to this, but I still couldn’t relax. Of course, it didn’t help that I had to look at Finn all evening, every evening.
I’d worked hard to never be alone with him, finding every excuse to spend every waking moment with Evie. Though she was probably getting sick of me, I enjoyed her company. She had a snarky humor that made me laugh to the achy depths of my belly. Turned out, we both liked to lick the chocolate icing off the top of the cupcake before eating the cake part of the treat. We also were fond of a good pair of tennis shoes over heels. She wore them to school every day, and I didn’t own another pair of shoes. Of course, that was partly because I didn’t have the resources to get another pair, but even if I did, I was a one-kind-of-shoe kind of woman.
The down side of spending so much time with Evie was that it made the idea of betraying her that much harder. Then again, at this rate, I would never find the stone anyway.
At the moment, I’d give anything just to walk away from it all, which is why I was putting together a getaway bag. It reall
y was time to think of me, myself, and I. So, I’d just thrown the few items from the hospital in a grocery bag and put on my clothes I’d arrived in before opening the bedroom door and sneaking toward the stairs. It was still dark outside, so I didn’t expect to run into anyone on my way out. I just couldn’t stay here and pretend anymore.
I wasn’t a bad person really. Yeah, I’d spent the past year as a grifter, but it’d been out of necessity, and though I wasn’t a good witch on the best of days, I had one natural ability. I could read people. I could tell their intentions before they knew them. It’s one way I’d known that Evie was a genuinely good person and Finn would give up anything to protect the ones he cared about. For my past year of wickedness, I’d always chosen marks who were out to hurt others. I figured they deserved what they got. But I couldn’t do that here.
Because they didn’t deserve this.
Wearing the stolen jacket, I slipped out the back door as silently as I could and scanned the area before crossing the yard to the tree line again. I still had a slight limp from my last encounter with nature. Part of me resisted the idea of going back into the forest, but the time to leave had to be now. Dane returned tomorrow, and I knew I’d have no way of fooling one more person in this doomed con. It was time to figure out a plan B.
I made it about ten feet before a noise above made me stop and look up.
“If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put U and I together, girl.”
I couldn’t stop the low laugh the corny line deserved. The bird was back, and the scary thing was, I wasn’t mad about it.
“How’d you stay away so long, Wentworth?”
He flew down from the branch on which he’d been perching and landed on one closer to me. The blue of his wing bright as the sky above.
