Flint

by Fran Lee

  Unable to sleep, Flint lay back against his pillows and watched the curled-up lump of bedding that hid the bruised and hungry woman who slept like a log in the bed beside his. Who was she? Where had she come from? Who had hurt her? He didn’t believe a word of her story about almost getting mugged. She’d have called the cops in a heartbeat…unless there was some reason she was afraid to call them. Could she be running from the law? Had she stolen something?

  Could she be running from a man that had beaten her?

  Rage filled him as the thought of an abusive husband or boyfriend filled his head. She might have taken off with just the clothes on her back to escape someone like that. But why was she afraid to report him to the police? What hold could a man have on her to make it impossible to run?

  He had made a decision earlier, and he planned to stick to it. But this wasn’t some lost puppy that he’d found in the motel parking lot. This was a woman. She would have to be willing. He couldn’t just up and carry her off. So he whiled away the hours to dawn thinking up ways to make her want to stay…to get her into his truck and get her back home rather than on a bus to Fort Worth.

  Chapter Three

  He glanced at his watch and slipped off the bed at 5:30 a.m. and got fully dressed, staying quiet so he wouldn’t wake her. Then he packed all his things, and eased out the door to cross the street to the little coffee shop that was just opening. He ordered two breakfasts to go, and headed back across the street just in time to see Curley coming down the outer stairs from the top row of rooms, carrying his jeans and his shirt over his arm, clad in his skivvies and his boots.

  Looking like shit warmed over, his friend blinked blearily at him, and glanced down at the sacks of food in his hands. “Ughhh…thanks, but I think I’d puke if I tried to eat…”

  “It isn’t for you. And keep it quiet. Put your damn pants on. I have a guest, and I don’t want you scaring the shit out of her.”

  Curley ran a hand over his heavy morning beard, and lifted a brow. “Her? You caught yourself a bunny?”

  “No…go on and get a shower and I’ll explain later. Just don’t wander out of the bathroom naked, okay?”

  The lump in Curley’s bed was still there, and it rolled over with a little groan. Flint practically shoved Curley into the bathroom and set the bags of food on the night stand. He unloaded the carryout containers of scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, ham and hash browns, and when the smells of the food wafted around him, the lump under the covers shoved up and a bed-wrinkled face poked out, a hand shoving mussed hair back from it.

  “Oh, my God…that smells so damn good!”

  She shoved the covers off and crawled on all fours to the edge of the bed, sliding curvy bare legs out. The socks had sagged down to her ankles while she slept. He drew a deep breath as she leaned across him to grab one of the steaming containers. “Eggs? Oh, and ham? I think I love you…” Her face was pink as she glanced up at him. “Can I have some?”

  Unable to spit out a single word, Flint pulled a paper plate off the little stack the waitress had given him, and started shoveling hot food onto it, adding a fresh hot biscuit and a dollop of country gravy. He watched her scoot right up to the night stand and shovel a huge spoonful into her mouth, making happy, satisfied sounds that made his cock stiffen like there’d be no tomorrow.

  He barely heard the shower turn off, and he said in a choked tone, “Curley’s back. We were hoping to haul ass outta here by seven, ‘cuz we still have to pick up supplies. I was thinking…we could stop at a Laundromat and wash and dry your things. How’s that sound? They’re still pretty damp.”

  She blinked up at him as she wrapped her lips around a spoonful of scrambled egg, and his gut twisted, wondering what it would feel like to have them wrapped around his painfully stiff cock. “I’ve put you to enough trouble, haven’t I? I really don’t have enough cash to pay for the Laundromat and still buy a bus ticket. I can wear damp clothes. They’ll dry out on the way. You’ve done more to help me than you can ever imagine.”

  Curley came out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam, water from his blond hair dripping down his naked body as he padded out to grab his back pack. Blue eyes the color of a summer sky flicked over their guest, and Flint glared furiously at him as he fished out jeans and a shirt, and padded back into the bathroom, his bare ass disappearing behind the closed door.

  She sat there, chewing on a bite of food, and after a moment she said, “You guys sure as hell don’t worry much about modesty, do you?”

  She smiled, gulping down some orange juice and grabbing another biscuit.

  Flint watched the little grin curve her lips upward, and he couldn’t help chuckling. “Curly has good reason to believe he’s God’s gift to women, and he doesn’t bother to hide it. Sorry about that.”

  “Well, he might think so, but you’ve got him beat all to hell…” her voice was almost too low for him to catch her words. When he blinked at her face, she was blushing like crazy. A surge of blood enlarged his cock to beyond painful, and just when he figured he’d definitely heard her wrong, she rose to her knees on the mattress and caught his face between her hands, pulling him in for a kiss that about singed his fucking socks off.

  Soft, sweet lips brushed his, then pressed more firmly, opening as he dragged her closer and returned the kiss, his tongue parting her lips as he groaned. She sucked his tongue into her mouth gently, sending his pulses into a tailspin. For one long, heart pounding moment, he thought he was dreaming. As she drew back, breathless and pink-cheeked, she whispered huskily, “Thank you for everything, mister. You’re my knight in shining armor…you’re a very special man.”

  He was staring numbly into her amber eyes as she rose from the mattress and reached for her still damp clothes. His body was locked in disbelief. Part of him wanted to grab her and strip her…and another part of him wanted to hold her close and just feel the warmth of her quiet heart.

  He watched, numb, as she simply turned her back and tugged off her borrowed shirt and shorts, and pulled on her own things, a shiver going through her as the chill of the damp clothes hit her skin. Then she turned and neatly folded his stuff. “I hope you don’t mind if I keep the socks. They feel great, and mine are still wet.”

  He was still breathing hard from the brief flash of her pale skin bared to his wide eyes. The sweet rounded curve of buttocks. The slender dip of her waist. The delicious curve of her spine. He could see her ribs, she was so damn thin, but everything else fit beautifully. He barely managed to shut his mouth before he began to drool.

  Holy mother of God…

  He was about to say something when the bathroom door opened, and Curly sauntered out, in tight jeans and a concert T-shirt that hugged every damp inch of his chest and ripped abs. The man let his eyes slip over their guest, and let them linger over the damp shirt that didn’t conceal her stiffened nipples. “Well, hello…aren’t you goin' to introduce us, Flint?”

  Lily stared back at the handsome, blatantly sexy male whose eyes caught and held on her breasts. So, her knight’s name was Flint? It suited him. From his hard body to his hard…cock. Was the man ever soft?

  She was about to make a scathing comment, when a pair of long, warm arms slipped around her, and casually concealed her breasts from the blond’s view. She tried to remain totally calm, but felt warmth filling her cheeks. Flint’s deep voice came from next to her temple. “Curley, this is…Susan. She’ll be riding along with us for a bit. And I’d suggest you keep your eyes at a respectful level. She damn near poked mine out last night, and I can verify she means business.”

  The big man laughed shortly and lifted his gaze to hers. “Sorry, love. It’s just a bad habit.”

  Lily didn’t say a word when Flint stated she’d be riding along for a bit. Maybe he planned to drop her off at the bus station? Unable to speak at that moment, she simply leaned back into his hard chest, and wrapped her own arms over his, squeezing his strong forearms.

  When Curley’s eyes moved away from
her, Flint did the oddest thing. He pressed his lips against the side of her cheek and kissed her gently, then nipped her ear as he slowly unwound his arms. She shot a startled look up into his face and caught a half-grin that sent every damn corpuscle in her body racing on a collision course to her throbbing pussy.

  Holy shit. Was she jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire here?

  The men had everything packed up quickly, and when she snagged her wet back pack from the bushes, Flint grabbed it out of her hands and tossed it unto the back of the big crew cab pickup that Curley had just pulled up in front of the door. Lily shivered as she climbed into the front seat, and found herself being belted in by lean hands as Flint followed her, planting himself by the door.

  “Are you gonna drop me at the Greyhound station?” she asked as Curley climbed into the driver’s seat, and started the big vehicle. Blue eyes shifted from her to Flint, and he shrugged. “We can do better than that, darlin’…”

  “You’re headed North?” she asked, her brows knitting.

  “For a bit. We’ll take you as far as we go.” Flint’s deep voice murmured above her head, and she found herself leaning comfortably back against his chest, enjoying the warmth of his body.

  His arm pulled her closer, and she sighed, feeling warm, safe, and well-fed for the first time in a long while. Curley found a country station that didn’t sound too blue-grass, and before she knew it, she had dozed off, secure in Flint’s gentle embrace.

  She awoke to the sound of big tires humming on blacktop, and realized from the sun coming through the windshield that it must be close to noon. Rousing up from where her nose had been pressed into a solid shoulder, she yawned and blinked. “Wow…I must have zonked out totally.” She squinted at the passing scenery as she sat up straight and stretched a bit. “Um…isn’t this hill country? I thought you were headed north…”

  “We did go North, sweet thing…” Flint replied, watching her face. “Then we swung onto 290 going west. We should be home in just a few.”

  Lily stiffened, and she gasped, “West? I thought you were headed for Fort Worth? Take me back to Austin right now!”

  She felt panic well up inside her. She was in a truck with two men, headed for God knows where? How stupid had she been, falling asleep?

  “Easy sweet thing…” Flint’s raspy voice had a way of easing her fear, dammit!

  “There’s no “easy” about it! Take me back! I wanted to get to Fort Worth!”

  “You don’t have anyone there, do you?” His voice was calm and matter of fact.

  “No, but that isn’t the point, dammit! I could find a job there…save up enough money to get out of Texas. I really do need to get there…”

  “If it’s a job you need, I have a couple you could take on…if you aren’t afraid of hard work, that is.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she hated feeling so out of control. “You don’t understand! I have to get out of Texas. Please take me back so I can take a bus.”

  Flint frowned down at her, feeling oddly helpless as tears coursed down her pale cheeks. “You said you weren’t in trouble. You said you didn’t have anyplace to stay. Were you lyin' after all?”

  She swallowed hard and glanced from him to Curley, who was pretending to not be listening. He sighed, and caught her chin, gently turning her head toward him. “I take it you are in some kind of mess?”

  She nodded jerkily, and he waited quietly for her to elucidate. “Tell me. I might be able to help.”

  “No one can help. I have to get the hell out of Texas so they can’t haul me back to him!” His gut tightened, and Curly glanced over with a frown.

  “Haul you back to who, darlin’?” Flint asked gently.

  “Look…I did run away. I didn’t break any laws, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a long story, and all I can say is, if he finds me, he’ll probably end up really killing me this time around.”

  Flint stared down into those swimming, gold eyes, and wondered what kind of fucked up mess his little intruder was in. “Someone tried to kill you? You better tell me everything, sweetness. From the start. I have all the time in the world.”

  Chapter Three

  Lily desperately needed to tell someone …and the big guy practically wrapped around her really did seem to want to help. Flicking a self-conscious glance at the blond cowboy behind the wheel, she drew a deep breath and told them how she had ended up at the motel…all of it…from how Jake had gotten her recently widowed mom to trust him…to the questionable overdose that killed her mom, to the frantic escape from the house she’d been virtually held prisoner in for so long. And when she finished, she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her chest.

  In the tense silence that followed her explanation of the situation, she stared at the dashboard, afraid to look at either man. The foul expletive that erupted from Curley’s throat was accompanied by Flint pulling her tighter into his embrace, and lips pressed against her temple. She jerked her eyes up to his angry face, and her heart skittered in her chest.

  “So this motherfu…this bastard got away with murder? What kind of screwed up law enforcement do they have there in Garfield?”

  Flint’s eyes were filled with rage as he stopped his tirade, and he pressed her bruised cheek against his shirt front protectively. “Look, you can stay at El Diablo, and I’ll get hold of Max Daly. He’s our attorney. He’ll know how to handle this.” His voice shook with anger, and he was practically squashing her against his body with trembling arms. When she whimpered, he eased his hold and ran his hand over her mussed hair.

  Curley growled and glanced down at her tear-streaked face. “You’ll be safe at the ranch. Nobody’ll find you until you want to be found, Susan.”

  “It’s Lily.”

  “Lily what, darlin’?”

  “Lily Thomas. I was afraid to give my real name because I wasn’t sure you wouldn’t turn me over to the cops.” Her voice was weary, and Flint swallowed hard to calm his sudden burst of protectiveness. He wasn’t sure why he believed the woman who was pressed to his side. He wasn’t sure she was telling the absolute truth. But something about her made it hard not to trust her. He was pretty good at judging folks on first sight. His instincts had never failed him yet. And Lily Thomas dragged at something deep inside him every time he looked into those amber eyes of hers. He hoped like hell it wasn’t just his libido leading him around by his too-willing dick…but he was certainly going to check her story out, and if someone had truly gotten away with murder, the bastard would pay.

  The ranch road cutoff ahead signaled the beginnings of El Diablo, and the microwave tower that he’d built last summer would allow him to use his phone. Pulling it from the glove box, he hit the speed dial for Max’s number, and left a terse voice message to call him the minute he got back from lunch. When he glanced down, Lily Thomas was staring up at him like he had just opened the gates of Heaven to her, and a rush of emotion hit him like a tidal wave. Fighting the sudden urge to lower his face to hers and taste her parted lips, he turned his gaze to the lush ranchland he called home.

  He caught Curley’s questioning look, and shook his head slightly. He wouldn’t answer the obvious questions his friend had…at least, not in front of Lily. Flipping his phone open again, he called ahead to the house, and advised Dora that the guest bedroom needed to be aired and the bed needed to be made up fresh.

  A tug on the front of his shirt brought his eyes back down to her pale, worried face. “If I’m putting you out, I really want to know. If your wife isn’t expecting company, she may be pretty unhappy with you.”

  Curly’s laugh made her jump a little, and Flint’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Dora’s my housekeeper, sweet thing. There is no wife tucked away on El Diablo. Dora’s been with us since my father hired her back in 1987. Best cook in Texas, that one.”

  Lily looked almost relieved as she asked, “So your family owns the ranch?”

  Flint lifted one dark brow, looking decidedly like a satyr with hi
s wicked smile. “I own El Diablo, darlin’…and Curley here is my foreman. Lucky for you we were in Austin for a bit of R&R.”

  Lilly’s confused look brought another chuckle from Curley. “That means Rodeoin' and Refinancin'.”

  When she glanced up at him in confusion, Flint sighed. “My way of keeping up a much needed cash flow for El Diablo. I hit the big ticket rodeos and do my damnedest to win at least one big ticket event. El Diablo is a cattle business, and is primarily self-supporting, but every now and then somethin' breaks, or needs to be replaced. So unless I end up gettin' an arm or a leg broken, it’s easy money.”

  Lily stared at him before she found the words to ask, “So that’s why you are all bruised up? Isn’t there some less dangerous way to make money?”

  “I heal fast. These bruises will be history by tomorrow. Something to do with a great metabolism.”

  “Well, tell me your secret. Mine always take weeks to go away…” she muttered softly, her eyes lowering to her wrists where Jake’s fingerprints wrapped around her skin in purple and blue splendor. Her hand absently rubbed her bruised ribs as she relived the most recent beating he’d given her.

  She couldn’t go back there…not ever. If these people were forced to return her to her step-father, she would get away somehow and never stop running.

  She had made a dangerous gamble, going off with two strange men to a place she’d never heard of, but she felt safer with them than she’d felt since her dad died. Pretty pathetic, to trust total strangers who walked around buck naked. A while back, that would have sent her running for cover. But for some reason, it didn’t bother her. Much. Except that it gave her a funny twist in her belly. At least when Flint had stood up from his bed.

  Um…stop thinking about that, Lily!

  Anger trickled through his body as she bent her head and hid her expression from him. She’d just as much admitted that this kind of thing happened routinely for her. Too bad her step-father was safely at home. It would be his pleasure to plant a whole lot of bruises all over the bastard.