Burning Resolution

by T. M. Cromer

  “It will kill me to think of you out there, by yourself and vulnerable. There is no guarantee this person won’t come after you even if you leave. He or she is a twisted individual. You can’t anticipate what their next move will be.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” she confessed.

  “Stay.”

  Her nod of agreement had him scooping her up and carrying her to the bed. As they lay there on their sides, he reached up to trace her lips with the pad of his thumb.

  “Thank you.”

  Erica closed her lids against the moisture building. His tenderness plucked a chord in her heart.

  “I love you, Erica. I think I always have. Can you believe I remember the first time I saw you?”

  Her brown eyes flew open to lock on the honesty in his bright blue.

  “You were such a tiny thing. Your yellow dress had a thick ribbon that tied in the back. It made you look like a little princess. Your hair was lighter then. More orange than red.” He toyed with her hair, while he recalled the past. “You stood at the front of our class being introduced by Mrs. Clark, and your shyness endeared you to me. My heart skipped a beat when you sat in front of me.”

  “You’re making that up,” she laughed.

  “No. I swear I’m not. I’ll never understand why, or even how it happened so quickly, but I think I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you.”

  “But you were mean to me! That was my favorite dress, and you hit me with a clump of mud.”

  His laughter was just a deeper, more robust echo of the first day they’d met twenty years before. “I wanted your attention.”

  “Well, you owe me a new dress. The way I remember it, my mother couldn’t get the stain out.”

  “We’ll go the first day you’re up to shopping. Scouts honor.”

  “You were never a Boy Scout,” she reminded him.

  “True.”

  They dissolved into laughter.

  “I loved you from the very first day, too. I sat down and almost cried when I realized I didn’t have a pencil in my backpack. You leaned forward and handed me yours.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. Although, I had second thoughts after you nailed my dress on the playground,” she told him. “I remember going home and crying. My mother said things would change, and you’d be nicer in another seven or eight years.”

  “And I was, wasn’t I?” he stated more than asked.

  “Not that I recall,” she said to take him down a peg.

  “I asked you to prom,” he reminded her.

  “Yeah, we both know I thought it was a joke. What does that tell you?”

  “You have a suspicious mind? Must be why you write romantic suspense.”

  “Pfft.”

  “I can tell I’m going to be making this up to you for life. Want to start with a pizza for dinner tonight?”

  “Hell, yes! Should we invite Jacob?”

  “Actually, I want to spend tonight together alone,” he said, dropping a kiss on her lips before shifting to exit the bed. “Let me go call it in.”

  Erica fluffed the pillows and sat up against the headboard. Tentatively she prodded her wound to test how the healing was coming along. Not that she was a doctor, but checking the sensitivity level of the site would give her a good indication when she could get busy seducing Zack. It seemed to her they were well past her issues with getting naked. He was right. He’d seen her naked multiple times, through no fault of her own, and he hadn’t run screaming in the other direction. For God knows what reason, he found her attractive and loved her. She wasn’t going to question it.

  Footsteps warned her he was heading back in her direction. A shiver of awareness shot through her when he stopped in the entrance to the room.

  “Why do you look guilty?” he asked, head tilted to one side, the corners of his mouth turning up, and dimples flashing.

  “Guilty? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she demurred.

  He studied her, a questioning frown tugging at his brow. “No, you are definitely up to something.”

  “How long before the pizza gets here?”

  “Why?”

  Instead of answering, Erica studied him in turn. He had such a casual grace about him. Even now, dressed in t-shirt and jeans, leaning one shoulder against the frame of the door, he exuded sex appeal. It occurred to her she had yet to see him naked.

  “Get undressed,” she ordered.

  With great care, he straightened. “What?”

  “You heard me. Get naked.”

  * * *

  Her low, throaty demand had the blood draining from Zack’s brain down to his cock. Jesus. If she could accomplish that with words, what could she do when they were both doing the horizontal mamba? Because doing the deed was out of the question due to her injury, he was curious what she had planned. And that curiosity had him peeling off his shirt, inch by inch, as he strolled closer.

  He’d reached for the button of his jeans, when she’d breathlessly ordered him to stop. Her eyes were laser focused on his abs and the happy trail below his belly button that led down to his groin.

  As his dick grew with desire, he could feel the teeth of the zipper warm against the skin there. Ignoring her command, he drew down the tab tooth by tooth, until his penis sprang free of its confinement. Her indrawn breath had it growing exponentially.

  Zack allowed his pants to slip down. He stepped free, nude and completely aroused. “What’s the plan, babe?”

  “For me to give you a blow job,” she rushed out a breath.

  Oh fuck! He’d never expected that comment. A pearly bead of semen found its way to the surface. The idea of her pouty, red mouth sucking him dry had his dick in fully engorged mode.

  Then, he didn’t have to fantasize another moment more. She was crawling forward on hands and knees to the edge of the bed. She cast him a wicked glance from under her dark lashes, and then hyper-focused on her objective.

  The first touch of her wet mouth encircling him had him moaning and entwining his fingers in her auburn hair. She reached up to cup his balls and fondle the area behind them, while encircling him with her other fist. Observing her bobbing up and down in the age old rhythm of giving head, moaning as if it turned her on also, was erotic as hell.

  In no time at all, he was ejaculating into the back of her throat.

  “Jesus, God! That was… was… fuck! Erica!”

  Okay, officially his brains went by way of his cum, as did his verbal skills.

  Her knowing smirk as she settled back on the bed pillows had him inhaling sharply. Christ, she was like Aphrodite. A gorgeous sex goddess come to life. Had she been draped in a white Grecian gown with asp bracelets encircling her upper arms, he would have believed it wholeheartedly.

  “I don’t believe I’ve ever shot off so fast in my life. Not even when I was a horny teenager.” His confession caused her to laugh with delight. He’d never seen a more beautiful sight. “Ready for me to reciprocate?”

  She sobered and gulped. Finally, she nodded.

  “Get naked, babe.”

  Her shirt flew off, much quicker than his own had. Next, she shimmied out of her shorts and panties. Zack took his time memorizing every square inch of her creamy, white skin. She was perfection. Soft, supple, and with all the proper curves.

  He hadn’t been aware of holding his breath until he could no longer go without air. “Extraordinary,” he murmured.

  Incredibly enough, he experienced a second surge of blood rushing to what he thought was his depleted member. Another one for the record books, his second erection with less than five minutes to recover. Down boy, he coached himself. She wasn’t ready for full on fucking. Driving into her the way he wanted would cause her undue pain. That was for after the stitches were out and she was one hundred percent.

  Using great care, he parted her thighs, never breaking eye contact. Trepidation was written there for him to see.

  “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever
had the good fortune to meet,” he said. “It’s taking everything I possess not to drag you down and pound into you until you scream.”

  Her sharp inhale made him happy.

  “When you’re able, I’m going to make the Karma Sutra look like foreplay.”

  “Ohdeargod!”

  “I’m going to taste every part of your body. Memorize every sigh. Every cry. You’ll be begging by the time I’m done. Then, and only then, will you understand how much I want you. How much you mean to me. Do you understand, Erica?” he asked huskily. “Do you get how much I desire you?”

  A jerky nod was all she afforded him.

  “Good.” With that, he dipped down to tug on her clit with his teeth.

  He followed up with a soft blowing of air, and a parting of her folds. Inserting a finger into her opening, he ran it along the top wall of her vagina. He pumped her three or four times before adding a second finger and pumping her more. Teasing her bud with his tongue in simultaneous movement with his hand, he brought her to orgasm. Her hips surged forward, grinding her pelvis into his face.

  The satisfaction he felt was no small thing. Raining light kisses along her inner thigh, he allowed her to calm for only a minute before he dove in to taste her for round two. The doorbell rang as the last of her cries died.

  “Damn. First time Tony’s has ever been early with a delivery,” he complained. “Be right back.”

  He whipped on his jeans, barely pausing long enough to zip them, and went to pay for their food.

  The two of them sat cross-legged in bed, eating their pizza directly from the cardboard container sitting on top of an old towel—Erica’s suggestion so the grease didn’t bleed through the box and stain his bedding. He toyed with the idea of letting her know he received a clear glimpse of her lady mound whenever she lifted the slice for a bite. Nah, he enjoyed the view too much to ruin his fun. Plus, if he said something, she might become embarrassed and cover up.

  “How many calories are burned during an orgasm?” she asked.

  Due to the fact he hadn’t expected the question, he choked on a pepperoni slice. He nearly hacked up a lung trying to dislodge it from his throat.

  “What?” she asked innocently when he was composed enough to glare at her. The twinkle in her eye belied her little act.

  “You almost killed me with that question. Have you no remorse, wench?”

  “None whatsoever,” she retorted with a smug smile. “Pass me another slice of cheese, will ya?”

  Zack was sure he’d never experienced such a perfect moment.

  Chapter Twelve

  The days and weeks that followed were golden with the exception of the texted threat hanging over their heads. In the back of Zack’s mind, he feared another attack against Erica. More than once, he’d woken up in a cold sweat, heart hammering. Every mysterious bump in the night had him on edge and rushing out to find her to make sure she was safe.

  He didn’t know how Erica could remain so calm and unruffled by comparison. More often than not he would find her absorbed in her current novel or research, oblivious to her surroundings. Unfortunately, it left him with a lot of free time on his hands, since his brothers were taking care of the excess workload associated with the gym. The inaction had him grinding his teeth in frustration.

  Bucky and the other detectives at the PD had come up with nothing. The routine patrols on the block were staggered so as not to be obvious, and the local law enforcement agency had been kind enough to increase the frequency.

  “She’s not going to do anything while you are on high-alert, Zack,” Erica’s sleepy voice called to him from the bed to where he hovered in the dark, peeking out the window to survey the street and adjoining yards.

  She was right. He knew that, and yet he found it impossible to sleep lately. A sense of urgency was taking hold, making him nuts.

  “I just wish they would figure out who is behind this.”

  Zack debated telling her about the packages that had been left on the doorstep. How, with all the police and people keeping an eye out, had it happened? Of course, there were no fingerprints or DNA to be found. The perp knew what he or she was doing.

  The contents had kept him up a few nights. One was a small animal, possibly a squirrel or rodent, which had been barbecued—innards intact. Another had been a doll which bore an uncanny likeness of Erica, mouth open in horror, legs charred and red slashes on the chest and back. He could only assume they were representing stab wounds. Whoever this fucker was, they had stepped up their game of terror.

  The latest gift of horrors had a note attached which read “SOON!” Everything within him wanted to bundle up Erica and his son to skip the country. Australia was nice this time of year. Surely that damn crackpot wouldn’t follow them halfway around the world.

  “Zack, come back to bed.”

  The closeness of Erica’s voice startled him. He’d been so lost in thought he’d failed to hear her come up behind him. Shit. He had to get his mind back in the game. If she could do that without trying, what could someone purposely trying to be stealthy do?

  “I can’t sleep, babe,” he said, gruff and unmoving.

  “Who said anything about sleep?” she laughed then kissed his bare shoulder.

  Now she had his attention. “Oh, well, in that case.” He grabbed her wrist and hauled her back to the bed. They fell hard among laughter and kisses. When he would have taken the dominant position, she shoved him flat on his back and straddled his hips.

  “Mmm, nope. I got this. You take it easy,” she purred.

  Leaning in she grazed her teeth across one of his nipples and then the other. Desire was never far from the surface when they were together. Her aggressiveness in bed tonight had him burning faster and hotter than ever.

  He hadn’t even had a chance to check her readiness before she impaled herself on his hardness.

  “Goddddd!” he groaned in pleasure. The tightness of her vag had him ready to come in next to no time. That she clenched her muscles around him to increase the pressure sent him over the brink. He held her hips as he slammed up into her, bringing her with him in a shared orgasm.

  “Where did that come from? I’m not complaining, but damn, woman!” he panted.

  She laughed between her own pants, as she collapsed next to him on the mattress. “Yeah, I don’t know. I think it was the moonlight glinting off those unreal abs of yours. I got all kinds of hot and bothered.”

  “Remind me to get some kind of moon-roof put in the bedroom soon.”

  Her giggle warmed the part of him still chilled from the danger surrounding her. God, he loved her.

  “Get some sleep, Zack. I’m going to go write for a bit. I’ll check the locks and alarm.”

  He patted her ass and rolled to do her bidding. Maybe a few hours wouldn’t hurt if she was going to be awake.

  * * *

  Erica sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Zack finally dozed off. She had no intention of letting him know how worried she was about all this or about his lack of sleep and constant vigilance in regards to her safety. Tears threatened. No one had ever loved her so much. Soon, if the police department didn’t find the person responsible for the attacks, threats, and horrifying packages, she would be forced to leave so the Sharp men could get their lives back on track.

  Mason and Dane had been taking on Zack’s share of the workload for the better part of a month now. Also, there was Jacob to think about. It wasn’t fair to the boy to be displaced for her sake.

  She was aware the various dead rodents were supposed to be kept secret from her. However, as it turned out, Bucky had a crush on her from the time they were sophomores in school. A threat to tell Zack had him regurgitating the facts of this case faster than she could process them. For reasons of his own, he held Zack in the highest esteem and had a major case of hero worship going on. Bucky didn’t want his friend to think he was poaching his girlfriend.

  Slipping on a t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants, Erica went in sear
ch of McFatty. A shaft of moonlight showed him perched on the back of an armchair staring out the main bay window. His tail was twitching and puffed to the fullest degree. Either he saw a bird, or there was someone out there who set his back up. Long ago, she learned to trust the cat’s instincts.

  Ducking down, she army crawled to the window. With great care, she rose up to peek over the rim of the sill. Across the road there appeared to be a person sitting in a vehicle toying with some type of light. It flicked on and off a few times, then stopped all together. The person marginally slunk down in the driver’s seat as a patrol car cruised by.

  When the cop car’s spotlight would have hit their window, Erica ducked down so as not to be seen. She didn’t want to make it obvious anyone was awake in the house. Waiting until the count of thirty, she peered over the ledge again. Sure enough, the nervous gesture of the person seated in the sedan on the other side of the street resumed.

  Heart thudding, Erica eased down on the floor and crawled past the front window. After she was clear, she hopped up and booked it to the bedroom to get her cell. In her nervousness, she dropped the phone on the nightstand.

  “What the fu—!” Zack started. A hand covered his heart as he rested back against the headboard. “Christ, Erica. You scared the shit out of me.”

  “Zack, I need you to listen to me very carefully,” she started.

  He came alert in an instant.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, his tone taking on a dangerous quality.

  “Don’t do anything rash. Promise me.”

  “Erica, start talking.”

  “Not before you promise,” she insisted.

  “Fine.”

  “That’s not a promise.”

  “It’s all you’re getting. Talk,” he ordered.

  She struggled with the right way to address what she’d seen. He would charge out there without any sense of self-preservation. Worry for him had seized her vocal cords.