by Jayne Blue
When Sly did kiss me, it was slow and tender. Not filled with the all-consuming passion I knew simmered below the surface for both of us. This was different. Somehow, it was an acknowledgement of the pain he must have seen in my eyes. He gathered me in his arms, letting me feel the solid weight of him as he pulled me into his lap.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “Whatever it is. I can make it okay.”
“Don’t,” I said. “Please don’t ask me any questions. And don’t make me any promises like that.”
He shook his head. “Not right now. But I won’t let anyone hurt you. I won’t hurt you. Okay?”
I kissed him back. My movements were rushed and urgent, like I was drowning and I was about to pull him under with me. I hurt. I ached. I wanted to be here in his arms but at the same time, anywhere else. It confused me. Made me feel like the world had turned upside down and somehow he had become the center of it. I wanted to scream. I don’t need rescuing. You do.
Instead, I let him envelop me with soft, perfect kisses. Lights flickered ahead of us as the movie screen flared to life. Blue shadows bounced off his skin and mine, making me feel like none of this was real.
It was real though. Sly was very real and my heart seemed to beat in sync with his from the moment I first let him touch me. I didn’t know what this was. I could say I was starting to lose my soul in him, but I’d lost that a long time ago. In that moment, with the blare of the giant movie screen flickering in front of us, a cold reality settled inside of me, then shifted and started to burn.
Sly Cullinan wasn’t the man I thought he was. He was flawed and beautiful. Dangerous and courageous. Kind and cruel. He was supposed to mean nothing to me. He was starting to mean everything. I’d broken every rule the moment I let him touch me and now there was no going back and that was the truth. But there was one more truth that tore me to shreds.
For everything that he was, I had fallen in love with him. And there was no way this could end without one of us destroying the other. Because darkness always chases away the light.
Chapter Twelve
Sly
I can’t explain what happened in that car. I don’t know what I said or did, but something shifted in Scarlett. I could see it in her eyes. She clung to me with a desperate need that was so much more than lust. She confounded me and had me spinning. She was no damsel in distress but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try to save her.
She held so much inside. She was tough as steel but there was something so fragile about her too. She begged me not to ask her questions as I held her against me. Then something broke within her and she yielded to me in a way I knew cost her, even if I didn’t understand yet why. But I would. No matter what else happened, I meant to have Scarlett bare her secrets to me as much as she had her body. I craved it as I held her close to me and kissed her.
We stayed wrapped in each other’s arms as the movie played. If we talked I don’t remember what we said. But she let me pull her against me and rested her head in the crook of my arm. Halfway through the movie she got restless and we went for a walk. I held her hand as she hopped up on the cement ledge separating the gravel lot from the grass. Then she went ahead, balancing on her tiptoes as she made her way toward Gus and the concession stand. She leapt and twirled on the strong muscles of her calves. She moved like a dancer with long lines but delicate hands. As we reached the end of the ledge, she hopped down and held her hands out just like a gymnast dismounting.
Gus sold two things. Popcorn and Dr. Pepper. He said they were the only things worth consuming during a movie and anyone who thought different could go stuff themselves. When Scarlett looked at the menu she told him it was perfect. Gus made a gun with his fingers, pointed it at her and winked. She let out a lilting laugh that warmed me from the inside out.
Gus used stock footage and doo-wop songs to play through his ten-minute intermission. As there were only four other cars in the whole lot, Scarlett asked him to come out and join us.
“I don’t know, darlin’, I might miss the rush.”
“Live a little,” she called out. She’d taken a seat at the nearest picnic table. When she flashed that killer smile back at Gus, I knew he’d be just as smitten as I was. He came around the concession booth and stood next to her.
She looked from me to Gus, cocked her head to the side and flashed a mischievous smile.
“Let’s have that dance,” she said to Gus.
Gus placed his hand flat against his heart, stood and gave her a courtly bow. Some sappy big-band song came on as if Gus had planned the whole thing. Scarlett giggled again and I took a seat on the top of the picnic table to watch and wonder.
“Don’t you try to steal my girl, Gus,” I shouted.
“Eat your heart out, pecker head,” he called back and Scarlett laughed again.
Gus’s hands were gnarled with arthritis, his legs permanently bowed from a back injury that had plagued him since the war. But when he twirled Scarlett during the slow parts, he looked about twenty-five again. She was a full head taller than him, but somehow, she made him stand straight and tall like a king.
“Don’t go too fast,” she said. “I might step on your toes.”
“Better watch that,” I called to them. “She’s got some damn big feet for a girl.”
“Shut up, pecker head!” they yelled back to me in unison.
The music died down and the movie came back on, but Gus and Scarlett kept on dancing.
“Big finish, baby,” he said.
Scarlett looked back at me, arching a brow. I shrugged. “You got yourself into this one.”
She threw her head back and laughed. Gus wagged his eyebrows at me. “Watch this. You might learn something.”
I crossed my hands in front of me. Gus swung Scarlett fast enough she let out a yelp. Then he leaned forward and dipped her low so her hair brushed the ground. Ninety-five and half crippled, old Gus still had a few moves left. Bowed as he was, he was still solid as a tank. He brought Scarlett back up with agile grace and gave her another deep bow, holding his hand out to the side. She clasped her hands together. He took one of them and kissed her knuckles.
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll partner with you anytime.”
“Hear that?” Gus yelled to me. “She’s into me. I told ya, they’re all into me.”
I nodded and clapped my hands. “You’re a heartbreaker, my friend. I’ve never doubted it. Now let my girl go or are you going to make me fight you for her?”
Gus waved me off and reached up to plant a smacking kiss on Scarlett’s cheek. “I’ll take it easy on you, tonight. This one’s a keeper though. Treat her right or I know where you live.”
“That’s the plan,” I said, throwing a wink to Scarlett. She came back into my arms and I felt her pulse beating fast and strong as I nuzzled her neck. Her face was flushed and she was a little breathless. She’d let go of something tonight. I didn’t know what it meant, except that it was something special, like I’d peeled away a layer of her armor. I had the sense I’d just seen a side of her she showed to no one. And I knew there was so, so much more.
“You ready to head out?” I took her hand as we walked back to my car.
“Thank you,” she said. “I haven’t been on a date since ... I don’t even know. And this one’s been pretty special.”
“Good.” I held the door for her as she climbed into the passenger seat. I got in the other side. We waved to Gus and Scarlett blew him a kiss as we pulled out of the drive-in.
I made the turn toward town. In just another moment, we’d hit a fork in the road. One direction led back to her hotel, the other led back to my place. “I’d like to take you home. My home. It’s okay if you’re not ready for that.”
She let out a little laugh. “Aren’t we a little bit getting things backward?”
“Scarlett.” I turned toward her and coasted the car to a stop. It was past midnight and there was no one else on the road this late. “I’m asking you to come home with me, because r
ight now I can’t stand the thought of not having you next to me when I wake up tomorrow morning. I don't know what this is. This is moving a hell of a lot faster than anything I’m used to. But I’m not looking for a quick lay and then you blasting out of town. So, knowing all of that, I’m asking you. I’d like to take you home.”
She cocked her head to the side and flashed those beautiful hazel eyes. “You talk a lot.” Then she leaned across the seat and kissed me. “Take me home, Sly.”
I smiled and pressed the gas. “Glad we got that cleared up.” I made the turn toward my house. “Though, that doesn’t mean I’m not also up for that quick lay.”
She laughed again. “Well, I was kind of in the mood for a slow one, pecker head.”
I threw her side eye. “That right there is a hell of an idea.”
Chapter Thirteen
The moon bathed Scarlett in silhouette as she stood at the window. I’d built the entire north side of my house with floor-to-ceiling glass so you could always look out at Mount Shasta looming in the hazy distance. It was a gorgeous view, but before today, it was nothing. Today, Scarlett stood in profile and I drank in the sight of her. From the slope of her full breasts, to the way her hair fell down past her perfect, round ass. She held a glass of red wine in her hand and pressed her cheek against the cool glass. I didn’t want to break the spell, but I couldn’t handle not touching her for one more second.
“Come here,” I said. I stretched out on the bed and patted the space next to me. Scarlett’s mouth lifted into a slow smile and she crossed the room with feline grace. Setting her wine glass on the bedside table, she crawled toward me, leaned in and kissed me. Her lips tasted like honey and wine. I smoothed my hand over her shoulder, letting my fingers play against her supple flesh. She shuddered and gooseflesh covered her.
“It’s cold against that window. Let me warm you up.” I gently grasped one of her nipples between my fingers. She shivered again and smiled. Then she cuddled up against me, fitting her body into the empty space beside me like we were puzzle pieces. I positioned her so the back of her head rested against my chest and I threaded my fingers between hers, marveling at their delicate strength. She had long, tapered fingers and I’d found a ticklish spot at the center of each of her palms.
“So you never really answered me. What do you do when you’re not making my life a hell of a lot more interesting, Scarlett Shaw?”
She took a breath and pulled her arms against her chest, allowing me to wrap mine around her.
“I work for myself,” she said and it felt like a step back. This was one of her non-answers. “I have my own business. I’m kind of a private investigator of sorts. I find people other people want found.”
“Ah. Cheating spouses, political scandals. That kind of thing?”
She hugged my arms around her. “You’d be surprised how lucrative that can be.”
“Nope. I wouldn’t be surprised by that at all. How’d you get into it?”
Scarlett took another breath. I recognized that now as a sign she would answer me while holding something back. “It was a family business. I kind of inherited it. But now I’m all that’s left.”
“Your whole family? No parents. No siblings?”
She shook her head. “Just me.”
I nodded. “Well, you already know that’s my story too. But I was lucky. By the time I was twelve, I went to live with Dex and his parents. They saved me. Gave me stability.”
“Dex,” she said. “I haven’t met him.”
“No. He’s my V.P. He’s away for a little while. But I’d like you to meet him. He’s the closest thing to a brother I have.”
“I’d like that.” Her voice grew heavier, with a sleepy quality. I nudged her awake, not wanting to let her off that easily. “And you made yourself a new family, didn’t you? With the club?”
I rested my chin against the top of her head. “Yes.”
“You’d kill for them, wouldn’t you?”
I stiffened a little under her then took a breath. She might ask me things I couldn’t answer but I decided in that moment I wouldn’t lie. “My club is everything,” I said. “And I’m responsible for it. Sometimes, that means I have to make tough choices for the good of everyone. But, yes, we protect each other, no matter what.”
“I forgot what that’s like,” she said; her voice had that dreamy quality again. “I’ve been on my own for so long. And I think I love it. A lot of it anyway. I’m not responsible for anyone. I don’t answer to anyone.”
I smoothed the hair back from her forehead and kissed the top of her head. “Sounds awful lonely.”
She kissed the back of my hand and tucked my arm around her again.
“Scarlett,” I said. I shifted and slid out from behind her, stretching my body out alongside hers. I hovered over her, smoothing a stray hair from her eyes. “So tell me who you’re out here to find?”
She moaned in protest when I shook her gently, not allowing her to sleep.
“I told you, this was supposed to be a vacation up the coast. See, I’ve got a nasty habit of picking the wrong guys and the last one bailed on me as soon as we hit Sacramento.”
“Am I one of the wrong guys?”
She smiled and stretched her arm, laying her hand above her head. It drew her nipples high and it took everything in me not to suck them. But she was sharing more with me than I’d been able to get her to so I didn’t want to break the spell.
“You, Sly Cullinan, you might just be the worst of all.” She ran a hand through my hair, trying to smooth a cowlick toward the front. It was no use, many women before her had tried and failed since I was a toddler. I leaned down and placed a kiss between her breasts.
“When do you have to get back?”
Her hand stilled and she rested it along my cheek. “I’m already way past due now. There’s a good chance I won’t have any clients left after this little detour.”
“Ah. Now that might be interesting. Maybe then you can come work for me?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Doing what, pray tell?”
I circled her breasts with my fingers and watch her nipples peak. They were high and pink and I wanted to taste them. “I have an opening for a sex slave. But you’d have to turn in a resume. It’s a very selective process. High demand.”
She laughed. “I’ll bet. I’ve seen the way those hangers-on look at you at the Wolf Den. You’re like some sort of vampire king over there, lording over your subjects.”
“Doesn’t interest me. Hasn’t for a long time.”
“Hmm.”
“How old are you?” I blurted the question. I don’t know why it mattered all of a sudden. She had the kind of face that could pass for young or old. Not a line or wrinkle anywhere, her skin was porcelain smooth. But she had wisdom in her eyes that I suspected came from seeing dark things.
I thought she would evade the question again. She took a breath, as though steeling herself for what she would say next. Like even a simple answer would cost her something. Then her directness surprised me. “I turned thirty last week,” she said.
I nodded and kissed her again. “Happy birthday.”
She squirmed beneath me and it became harder and harder to focus on the conversation. “I wasn’t kidding though. Why don’t you stick around? If you don’t have anything to get back to. Stay in Green Bluff.”
She focused her gaze over my head. I didn’t like the shadows that crossed her face. The last few days we’d been in a cocoon of bliss. Each of us avoiding the hard realities of our lives. I knew the wisest course was to let her go on her way. I knew nothing about her. Not really. We’d achieved a shaky peace, and now wasn’t the best time to bring anyone new around the club. Colt hadn’t come out and said anything about Scarlett directly, but I knew he was thinking it. A few of the others too.
But as I looked at Scarlett stretched out before me, I just wanted to explore the mysteries of her body and soul. I’d never felt like this before with any other women. The rest
of them were mostly like she’d described. Hangers-on who got their kicks boning club members. For most of my life, that had suited me just fine. Now though? This girl stirred something in me and I couldn’t imagine going back to that.
“I want you to stay.” I said it flat out.
She smiled, leaned up and kissed me. I recognized it for what it was: a blow off. I kissed her back harder. “I’m not messing around. I want you to stay.” Her eyes grew dark and she turned her head, breaking eye contact.
I wasn’t going to let her get away with evading me. I was dead serious. As soon as I said the words, I knew how badly I wanted it. Wanted her. Screw the consequences. Unless she was married, I couldn’t think of a single obstacle we couldn’t work around.
“Is there some other guy?” I asked her. “Other than this asshat who left you? You have a husband? A kid somewhere? Just tell me now.”
Her eyes flashed to mine. She flared her nostrils and arched her back. It only added fuel to the fire of desire that started to rage within me.
“No.” Her tone was low and studied. “No husband. No kid. It’s just me. I’d never lie about that.”
“Good. So stay then.”
“Is that an order?”
She bit her lip and her hips swayed under me. It was a challenge and an invitation. I accepted it; pressing my advantage I straddled her. I gathered her wrists in my hands and pinned them over her head. She squirmed beneath me. Blood raced from my heart straight down to my cock. Her eyes met mine and flashed with understanding. She set her mouth in a hard line and met the unspoken challenge I had set down.
She pulled against my hands, trying to free her wrists. I held fast and leaned down to kiss her. She put up a weak struggle, trying to shift her hips under the weight of mine but she had no leverage. At the same time, she returned my kiss, opening her soft mouth wide then nipping my bottom lip.
