It was Mica herself who finally tipped the scale. She wasn’t able to get the angle she wanted where she was standing, so she wrapped one arm around the front of his hips for leverage. Reaching across his belly, she grabbed the opposite hip and tugged him in tight to her side. In this position, her arm effectively trapped the head of his cock tightly against his belly for a few seconds of sudden pressure and friction until she realized what had happened and released him, moving away. By then though, it was too late, and as he groaned her name into his arm, he felt his balls rise to his belly and the hot, heavy, throbbing feeling of his ejaculation as it hit the shower wall.
He felt her absence like a blow for a moment, and then she wrapped herself around him from behind. She pressed her thighs into his, molded her belly to his ass, circled his ribs with her arms, and laid her head along his spine. Aftershocks shuddered through him, but he tried not to move, standing as still as stone beneath the shower and her body, breathing hard, as if he had ran a race.
“Daniel, oh, that was…wonderful,” she whispered into the sound of the running water, softly kissing his back. “Please, say something,” she urged. “I didn’t mean to do that, but it was aaahh-frickin’-mazing.”
He laughed softly then, twisting and placing an arm around her to pull her around in front of him as he stood up straight. “You didn’t mean to torture me, then?” he joked with her, looking into her brilliantly green eyes. “I was trying to be so good, keeping my hands to myself, because you were a Florence Nightingale, trying to heal my hurts.”
Mica grinned spicily up at him. “Aaahh-frickin’-mazing man.” She lifted onto her toes to kiss him, once again tipping the scales.
36 -
Bedtime stories
The playful mood held through much of the next hour as they dried each other off with soft towels. Touching softly and gently, they explored with fingers, and lips, and tongues, all the most sensitive and responsive parts of each other’s body. He grabbed two clean Mallets shirts from his bag, throwing one to her. He stood and watched her with a smile as she pulled it over her head, thinking and hoping she might be on her way to being his now.
Kissing the top of her head, he grabbed his laptop and the envelope of DVDs, and settled into the bed, leaning back gingerly against the piled-up pillows. He specifically chose his bedroom to settle in, giving her free choice of where to sleep, hoping against hope she would pick with him.
“I need to watch some of this video tonight. I have an early morning wake-up call. My first conference call starts at 6:30 a.m., so if you hear the phone, and I’m not moving yet, kick me out of bed,” seeing that she leveled her gaze somberly at him, he backtracked and said, “unless you aren’t sleeping here.”
“Daniel, I…we should talk now, I think.” Looking at him steadily, she tucked her chin down and tensed her body, waiting to divulge what he didn’t know.
He leaned over and set the computer on the floor next to the bed. “Okay, come here,” he said, and opened his arms wide.
She twisted the hem of the shirt nervously between her fingers, and then turned to sit at the foot of the bed. She was as far from him as she could get and still be on the same piece of furniture, and he frowned and lowered his arms. “This is important to you, isn’t it?” he asked, and she nodded her head in agreement.
She continued to look at him for a few seconds, and he saw when she came to a decision by the way her eyes changed and her chin lifted. Pulling a hairband from her wrist, she lifted her arms, tightening the shirt across her breasts as she pulled her hair back, scraping it out of her face into a ponytail that gave her nothing to hide behind.
Taking a breath, she started with, “First, tell me what you already know from your friend. I don’t want to cover ground you’ve already turned over.”
Daniel nodded. “Steve said you had a hard life; your mother died early—too early. Your father did the unthinkable to you and your friend. You have a brother and a sister. I know a little of what happened after high school, but not a lot.”
She snorted. “Unthinkable…that’s a delicate word for it.” Frowning at him, she asked, “Is that it then?” and he nodded in response.
“Okay, I’ll keep parts of this brief, since you have the rundown, but, Daniel, you have to know what kind of damaged goods is sitting on this bed in front of you before we go any further. I’m glad you had your friend look into me; that shows smarts, and helps me somewhat with what I have to say.” Shifting her position, she sat cross-legged, pressing her thigh against his foot and ankle. He remained still, not wanting to shift from that fragile physical contact.
She looked at him, and then down into her lap, watching her fingers twist the hem of her shirt again. “Mamma died; you know that. Then, uh…Daddy molested and raped me for years. Michael, my brother, had to help pick up the pieces of me—deal with the aftermath too many times—and it changed him…well, it changed me too, of course, but it was…it was really hard on him.” She frowned. “Then, what happened to my friend, Emily…that changed us all in a really bad way. I couldn’t let it go without a fight, without trying to do what I could to make it right. I wanted the whole world to know that none of it was her fault. Small town Texas—you have no idea how those closed-minded biddies can talk…and how insignificant they can make you feel with just a look. I knew if I could prove what he had done to me for so long, it would take the focus off Em and give her time to deal.”
His heart was shattering at the matter-of-fact tone in her voice; she could’ve been talking about what to buy for breakfast, instead of horrible events that changed the course of her life forever. By finding out the reason she had testified at the trial, why she was willing to bare herself in that way…well, he had never known anyone so willing to take that level of pain and anguish on themselves for someone else.
She had paused for a breath, looking intently into his face. “Mikey and I have a hard relationship to figure out. He felt powerless when everything happened, so when Daddy was in jail, he wanted to be able to control something. He picked me, ha…” she laughed bitterly, “…which was a mistake, because I’ve never liked being told what to do. We fought a lot over those months, and he had picked up some bad habits from Daddy.”
Daniel gasped in dismay, thinking she meant her brother had raped her as well, and she read his face right and clarified, “No, not that, thank God. He used force to make me understand how things should be in his mind. Belt, fists…whatever came to hand. We’re twins, but I found that we’re nothing alike—not since those days.”
“We graduated high school, and a couple weeks later, we found out Daddy was getting out and moving home. I scooted out of there fast, and so did Mikey. Neither of us could face being there with him. I took my truck, trailer, and horses onto the circuit, turning to what I knew, had always loved, and was really good at. I had a deft hand with horses back then; I had grown up riding, and then moved to training early on.”
She took a breath and continued, “There wasn’t a lot of planning that went into what I was doing that summer. I think I wanted a chance to make some money before college started, but if I’m being totally honest, I simply wanted out of Longview for a while. It seemed like everyone in town had seen pictures of my body showing my scars. The lawyer said they were ‘tasteful’ and didn’t show anything except the back of me, but the looks I got from everyone made me believe they were disgusted by everything about me.
“I was racing barrels and poles, plus, doing a little equine therapy at nearly every event.” She smiled sadly. “I know all this doesn’t mean much to you. It’s not a sport you follow, I bet, but it was what I knew and—”
He interrupted her for a second, rubbing his foot against her thigh, “Will you teach me later, Mica?” He wanted her to know that right now, this second, he was still counting on there being a later for them.
She laid her hand on his foot, rubbing across the instep firmly. She tucked her fingertips between his toes, rubbing and separating them, tugg
ing on them lightly. “Sure, Daniel, if you want me to. It’s the sport I love, so I’d be happy to show you and talk about it.” Taking a breath, she continued to idly play with his foot as she began talking again. “In Chickasaw, there was a nice event, had a pretty good purse for winners. I showed up and pulled a pretty crappy parking spot; about the only thing going for it was that it was at least still on the fairgrounds. It was not close to the showers, and was a long way from the arena—a pretty crap spot. My trailer set-up was decent; I had a twin bunk in the front section with my stuff, and room for two horses and tack. I had my own horse, plus one I was showing for a client. Both were good’uns—decent skills and great dispositions, athletes with attitude…just like I wanted ‘em.” He realized her accent was slipping from her normally tight control, and he wondered what was coming.
“The times on my initial runs were good, the arena was packed, and it looked like easy-peasy pie for me. Riding way back over to my rig on the outskirts of the event to wait for my second runs, this nice lookin’ bull rider came up and talked to me, and he was sweet. He also did steer wrestling, and his horse had pulled up lame. He wanted me to look it over, see if I could do anything. I did a lot of equine massaging, and would show people the best way to wrap legs, rub horses down, things like that, so this was a pretty common request behind the barns. I needed the money, so I leaned down to shake his hand and introduce myself, and he said his name was Ray Nelms.” She flicked her gaze up at Daniel’s face, watching as he recognized the name.
“Yeah, same guy who visited Gentry. We have a bit of history between us—Ray and I do. He was sweet up until he wasn’t, and when he was mean…he was real mean. He started on me that first night, and there was no one parked close enough to hear me yell or cry. He was rough during sex, choking and forcing me a lot of the time. When he was angry, he liked using the clasp end of a lead rope to get his point across, or the knotted bits of his bull rope. Over the weeks, Ray added quite a few trophies to the ones already on my back—that’s what he called them, ‘trophies’. He was proud of that, knowing no matter where I went, I’d always have him on my body.” She stopped abruptly, taking a huge breath. “I need some water; you want some?” and she bolted from the room.
Daniel sat there a second in stunned silence, trying to absorb everything she had confided to him over the last few minutes. He was enraged she had encountered disaster after disaster in her young life, and in awe of how strong she had made herself, in spite of what had happened to and around her. Closing his eyes against tears, he yelled, “Yeah, Mica, water would be good.” He hoped she would come back on her own. He didn’t want to push her if she wasn’t up to facing him again tonight, but he wanted her back so he could hold her and let her know none of this made any difference to him.
He was a little surprised when she eventually came back into the room. It proved to him how strong she was, and he scolded himself for not giving her enough credit. Damn, but she was tough. She held out a water to him, and he placed his hand over hers on the bottle. He used that touch to hold her in place for a moment, and then released her to give her a choice of where to sit again. Still dressed only in his shirt, she crawled up the bed and sat near his hip this time.
Tipping her open bottle of water to her lips, she gave him a long view of her throat working and swallowing. God, that was so sexy. He groaned and cursed silently, feeling the cloth stirring over his lap. He was half-afraid she’d look down and see how hard he was, and he didn’t want her to think it was the story that affected him this way. It was simply being near her.
Plucking the continuing thread of the story from the air, she began again, “Ray wasn’t always cruel, and that’s what made it hard to figure out what to do. I know it sounds strange, but he was so sorry in-between times, and I didn’t want to disappoint him. I know now it was his way of handling me, of controlling me, but that didn’t help at the time, because I didn’t have a clue. One time, a doctor who treated me helped me see what was happening, and I tried to leave Ray then. That was early on.
“Ray found me though, and took me back, and you can’t imagine how bad that was. He told me he knew where to find my family, knew who my clients were, and I’d never be free of him. It was like he owned me; it felt like there was no way out. It’s hard to remember I was only seventeen. I still hate how I was with him, who I became.” Daniel reached out his hand, slowly stroking his fingers across the back of hers and up her arm, continuing that caress as she kept talking.
“Late in the summer, I wound up in the Wichita ER again, and that same doctor saw me and offered to help. He arranged the return of my rig, horses, and gear back home. Then, he put me on a plane to Springfield; his brother is a professor there. The UI dorms opened the next day, and he had made some calls to the college on my behalf. He saved me. I told him about the threats, and he gave me a chance to move on in anonymity by getting me to a place away from everything I’d ever known. I took that chance in both hands and ran with it. I’ve tried to never second guess it. I heard from Daddy later that Ray went to Longview looking for me. I bet it’s no surprise they got along real well.” She made a disgusted face. “Daddy wanted me to come home then. He didn’t know where I was; no one did, and I kept it that way.”
She looked at Daniel. “Until I let my brother move in up here, no one in the family knew where I was. I’ve gone thirteen years without seeing my baby sister, unless we met up in some strange city where she was competing, but never home, never back there. That’s what fear does to a person; it tears them away from everything. Emily knew; she visited me a while back, and she wanted my forgiveness for what had happened.”
A sob broke free from her throat. “Can you imagine? She wanted my forgiveness for how the biddies talked to me after I testified at Daddy’s trial. We settled on forgiving each other for everything and anything we could think of. We had a really good weekend together. It’s hard to think she’s gone now, but I know how things can keep wearing away at you from the inside. I’m not mad at her. I know those hidden, unseen scars are the foulest, wickedest things. They haul on your soul until it’s unmoored inside you, and there’s not anything you can do to draw it back down to safe anchor. It’s not that you want to die so much as…it simply becomes too painful to keep living.”
She took in a deep, quavering breath. “Everything is a mess right now, you know? After Em died, Michael came to Chicago and stayed with me for a bit. Then Jack Peters showed up in my office out of the blue, and now…Ray is here, too. After thirteen years, everything I have been afraid of seems to be happening. It feels like my life is falling to pieces around me. I don’t know what to do, and I’m afraid. I can’t do that again; I can’t become that person. I’ve given up so much already. I don’t want to lose the life I’ve built here.” Hanging her head. “I’m so tired, Daniel, so tired and scared.”
He pulled at her hand, tugging her into his side and letting her find her own place along his length. She wound herself around him with her head on his thighs facing him. Her ponytail was pulled over her shoulder, with her knees pushing into the pillows at his back as she looked up into his face. “Oh, sweetie,” he said simply, “what can I do?”
37 -
Indisposed
The next morning, Daniel finished his work obligations and left for practice before noon. He was meeting the team at the rink for lunch, and wouldn’t be back until late. The girls were all up by the time he left, and munched on the snacks in the suite. Now, several hours later, boredom had set in, and arguing wasn’t far behind.
“No. No. No. I don’t think we can discount anything right now, and that means you don’t go out. Period,” Jess was yelling, pushing her face up into Mica’s and trying to get her point across. She started counting on her fingers, “One—your brother is an ass. Two—you were nearly kidnapped the same day you happened to kick said brother out of your house. Three—someone is stalking you with a camera, showing up at all the important places in your life, which is pretty damned s
cary.” She increased in volume as she went on, “Four—your evil ex-boyfriend is in Chicago. Five—he knew enough about you to know about Gentry.” Flopping back against the kitchen cabinet and sticking her tongue out at Mica, she summarized, “I think the verdict is pretty clear; you are stuck with me and Brandy for now.”
Pushing away from the sink, where she’d been leaning during Jess’ tirade, Mica smiled tiredly at her friend. “You know I love you, but you are the biggest pain in the butt I know. I’m not going ‘out’ out, I’m going to the lounge on the bottom floor of the hotel. There’s a world of difference. Daniel will be back in a couple hours, and I will be back up here by then. I’m tied in knots and need out of these walls. I’ll be back soon; I promise.” The last was said as she walked across the room, grabbing her wallet out of her purse. She waved to Brandy sitting in front of the TV on her way out.
Pulling open the door to walk into the foyer, she ran into someone and bounced back a half-step with a grunt. “Excuse me,” she said. She looked up at the expanse of man-back in front of her, muttering, “Jeeze-oh-PETE.” She stepped around the man, who turned quickly to face her.
“Ms. Scott, where are you going?” he asked with a voice that sounded like gravel in a cement truck. He was wide, but muscular, and she noticed with some amusement that his neck was nearly too big for the shirt and tie he wore, but the jacket was very nice, tailored. She thought it would have to be tailored; surely nothing off-the-rack would fit this guy.
Stalking around him to the elevator, she slapped the call button; glad to see the car was only a couple of floors below. “Out,” she muttered, tapping her foot irritably, “I’m going out.” The mountain of a man waited beside her, still as a deep water lake. She smiled as his easy manner slowly leached over her, lapping and eating away at her impatience.
Mica (Rebel Wayfarers MC) Page 20
