“Barley.” She ladled a bowl for herself and sat across from him at the table. “I prefer it to rice. I used to make it for my brother this way.”
He smiled at her. “I’ll bet he loved it.” He opened the box of crackers and grabbed a handful. “I can’t believe how starving I am. Like I haven’t eaten in weeks.”
“You didn’t eat when you were sick, so you really have to make up for lost time.” She hopped up to refill his already drained glass of milk. “There you go.”
He focused on eating, and asked for seconds. She refilled his bowl again and they ate in companionable silence, which felt right. It felt real. It felt easy.
He smiled at her from across the table and took another spoonful of soup. “You really are a wonder, you know that?”
“What? Do you still have a fever? You’re talking crazy.” She flushed and looked away.
“You’re a wonder. An amazing person. You’re just so—”
She stood and opened the fridge. “More milk?”
Okay. So, if she wants it this way, I can manage that.
She was shy. He knew that. And she wasn’t comfortable with compliments.
“I’m just sayin’.” He smiled at her. “I appreciate all you did for me. It was really nice.” He drained his second glass of milk. “And yes, please.”
She poured it, refilling his glass for the third time. “You’re welcome, Cody.”
He touched her hand before she moved away. “I meant it. Nobody’s ever taken care of me like that.”
“Really?”
This time she met his gaze, and he felt a thrill tickle his spine. His heart thumped harder. And he just sat there, staring at the girl he’d never really seen before. It could be a problem, the way he was feeling about this woman. Yes. A real problem. Especially the next time Uvi commanded him to her bed.
Chapter 25
Vivian woke at midnight to the sounds of wind and rain battering the house. She tiptoed to her window—which was crisscrossed with masking tape—and peered out into the dark, where the trees bent almost to the ground. The storm was raging now, and she wondered what kinds of damage they’d find in the morning.
A distant crack and tinkle of glass came from one of the rooms in the hallway. It sounded like something had broken through a window. In slippers and bathrobe, she headed for the hall, flicking the light switch by her door.
Nothing.
“Power’s out. Ugh.” She grabbed her flashlight and turned down the corridor in the opposite direction from Uvi’s bedroom.
She figured no one else had woken up, since all the doors were still firmly shut. She thrilled a bit to think of Cody sleeping in Mr. P’s room, just a few rooms down the hall from her. He’d agreed to stay in the big house while the storm surged around them. It would be fun to take a peek at him, but she’d die of embarrassment if he caught her. Anyway, he had to be exhausted from his day’s labor, and was probably out like the proverbial light.
She opened the first door on her left, but saw nothing amiss.
Maybe the broken window was across the hall?
Turning, she investigated two more rooms, and in the third, she found the wreckage.
A thick limb from a nearby Catawba tree had broken through the window, scattering glass everywhere. She noticed with a gasp that the limb had struck and knocked over an old desk, and the poor thing was cracked right down the middle, contents spewed all over the room.
Instinctively, she bent down to clean up the mess, setting her flashlight on a chair for light. But it was hard to see with the wind and rain that lashed at her through the open window. Pulling her robe tighter against her body, she began to retrieve the papers, old checkbooks, and other articles from the mess on the floor, stuffing them into her oversized bathrobe pockets.
While rescuing the documents, she couldn’t help but notice a bundle of what seemed to be important papers, including the deed to the house, the Polansky’s marriage certificate, and a U.S. passport.
She carefully slid the papers into her pocket, but her wet fingers slipped on the passport and it fluttered to the puddle on the floor. She grabbed the flashlight to see better, and found it lying open, face down, in the glitter of glass from the window.
Flipping it open, she recognized the seductive expression from the oil painting hanging over the mantle downstairs.
Mr. P.
There he was, in all his glory, silver hair slicked straight back and even though he didn’t smile, his eyes held an invitation. If he was in Timbuktu or somewhere equally as exotic, according to his enraged wife, then this had to be his older, expired passport.
The rain gusted heavily into the room, nearly blinding her. With an exasperated sigh, she zipped the passport and the rest of the papers into her bathrobe pocket, backing out of the room.
Back in the hallway, she decided to check on Uvi. Even though it was nearing twelve-thirty, she ought to at least peek into her room. If Uvi was awake, and if she’d heard the sound of the splintering glass, she’d probably want to know what had happened.
Cody arched over Uvi, coated with perspiration from the last hour of making excruciating, labored love to his boss. He’d given in when she’d come to his adjoining room to claim him by waking him up with her mouth on his penis. He hadn’t been able to reject her this time. He hadn’t even tried.
He’d explored her body in every possible way this time, including the fifteen minutes he’d spent down under the blankets. She’d even asked him to lick honey from her belly and breasts, and had poured it on him, too. When they’d become too sticky to continue, they’d spent a while in the bathtub, soaping and rinsing each other off with slow, deliberate movements.
Now, back in the bed, he impaled her with the candles flickering in the background, driving rhythmically into her willing flesh.
Uvi grinned with unabashed lust, pulling him deeper inside her. “Oh, Cody. I could fall in love with you, baby. You are so beautiful.”
Beautiful? Well, I’ve been called worse.
He held off as long as he could, then let himself come, sending her into paroxysms of joy. She screamed with pleasure, but over her cries came the sound of something breaking at the other end of the hall.
Glass?
“Did you hear that?” he mumbled, out of breath. He slumped away from her, rolling onto his back.
“Never mind. We’ll check it out in the morning.” She cuddled toward him, running her fingers in circles on his chest. “You are so good for me. My husband never made me feel like this. You know how to make a woman happy.”
The mention of Mr. P made him uncomfortable. He didn’t like to be reminded that Uvi was married. What if the guy came home suddenly, and found them in bed together? Would her husband shoot him? Or didn’t he care what Uvi did, or rather, who she did? And where the hell was the man, anyway?
It was weird that he’d never seen Mr. P, or even answered the phone when he called. How could he stay away for so long from such a vivacious wife?
Maybe the guy didn’t like women? He’d heard of marriages for convenience. Could this be the case?
He turned his attention back to Uvi, who kissed his neck and stroked him as if she were trying to get him going again. “Hold on,” he laughed. “I’m good, but not that good. Give me a few minutes to regroup here.”
She chuckled and kept after him, leaning down to take him in her mouth.
After fifteen minutes of her services, he began to stiffen again. Uvi slid down his legs and continued to take him into her mouth, kissing and licking his skin with hunger. The woman never tired.
“Uvi?” A timid knock came at the door, and it slowly swung open to reveal Vivian, mouth agape and eyes wide with shock.
Chapter 26
Vivian froze. The candle-lit scene before her couldn’t be real. Cody and Uvi? In bed? And doing that?
Cody’s clothes were strewn about the room, and unbidden, an image came to her of him feverishly shedding his garments
while he and Uvi danced toward the bed in anticipation of a night of passion.
Cody sat up and slowly pushed Uvi away, holding one hand in the air as if to stop Vivian’s reaction, as if to erase and remake the scene… as if Vivian hadn’t seen Uvi leaning over with her mouth clamped around his most private body part.
Uvi pulled back and loosed a Cheshire Cat grin. Viv could swear her eyes glinted green in the darkened room. “Hello, darling. Want to join us?”
Vivian clenched her fists to her sides, feeling the anger surge through her body. She trembled with rage and shock. For a moment, she couldn’t speak. Her body was leaden, in spite of the hammering of her heart beneath her ribs.
How could he?
Finally, Viv’s body responded to her commands. “I hate you both!” Shaking, she turned and ran.
“Vivian, wait!” Cody hurried into his shorts and tee shirt, calling her name. “Viv? It’s not what you think.”
She twirled to meet him, pushing him back when he tried to stop her from running away. “Not what I think? That woman was… was… ARGH! I can’t believe you’d let her do that to you.” She hurried down the hall and reached the stairs, flying down to the first floor by light of her wavering flashlight.
“Stop! Please,” Cody called. “Let me explain.”
“Explain?” she cried, looking around desperately. “Explain?”
“It didn’t mean anything. Really. It was just—”
“What? Just sex?” she scoffed. “And to think I was starting to fall for you, you sorry son of a—”
“No, please. Wait.”
He followed her to the coat rack in the kitchen, where she donned a yellow slicker with shaking hands. It wasn’t hers, but she didn’t care. She reached for the doorknob, sobbing now.
Cody’s hand closed over her fingers and his worried eyes searched her face. “You can’t go out there. It’s too dangerous, Viv. Please.”
She scowled at him, shaking him off. “Leave. Me. Alone.” As if in afterthought, she turned to him. “I’d rather die in the blasted storm than stay in this house with you two for one more second.”
She wrenched open the door and nearly fell over in the gust of wind and rain that slammed into her body. I have to get out of here.
The old elm by the porch shuddered and swayed overhead, and in one magnificent burst, its roots creaked and ruptured from the earth, like a giant spider flailing upside down. The tree slammed across her path. She let out a cry, then scurried around its quivering branches, heading for the garage.
Leaves flew past her as if fall had come early, but although it was dark outside, she knew they were the verdant green of summer foliage. The whole world blurred before her in sideways motion. It was as if she’d been turned ninety degrees and watched the world from the wrong angle. Trashcans that had been lashed down tight with bungee cords by Cody the day before rolled and bounced across the driveway. One flew into the air and glanced off her arm, knocking her to the wet ground.
She shook herself and stood, leaning against the shrieking wind, trying to make her way to the garage through the darkness. The faint light from her flashlight barely illuminated the path. Overhead, the winds screamed in wayward circles, as if trying to push her back toward the house, nearly toppling her to the ground again.
Her slippers were soaked in minutes, but she kept them on to avoid stepping on broken glass or the sharp sticks that littered the yard.
A crash came from the shed where she’d been working with Cody to load the plywood the day before. The door opened, swung madly back and forth a few times, then ripped from its hinges and flew away into the black night.
Inside, she couldn’t get the image out of her head. Cody. Her beautiful, thoughtful, sweet Cody—how could he have sex with Uvi? He should have known how dangerous that would be. Their boss might toy with him one day, tire of him in weeks, and fire him on a whim. And who knows how many men she had lured to her bed when her husband was gone? What if she had a disease? How could he be so stupid? So influenced? So… hurtful?
She saw him again—arching back against the pillows, his face awash with pleasure, his chest muscles rippling in the candlelight. He’d been running his hands through Uvi’s lustrous black hair while she slid her lips up and down on him.
She shuddered. To think she’d imagined him making love to her. She’d wanted it, even. Longed for it. Dreamt about it. And had even fantasized about him in the bathtub.
Well, that was over now. She’d never let him touch her. She probably wouldn’t ever talk to him again if she could help it.
Never again. She’d quit and go away. Somewhere. Far away. She didn’t care how she did it. If she had to hitch a ride and work for food, she’d get out.
She reached the garage and tried to open the side door, but found it locked. She yanked on the knob wildly, furious that she couldn’t get inside to find shelter. Cody had nailed plywood sheets over the windows, so she couldn’t get in that way. With a howl of her own, she screamed to the sky. “Help me, God!”
As if He’d heard her, one of the plywood sheets began to flutter and rattle in the wind, whipping back and forth against the windows on the side of the building. The noise it made was ungodly, but she sighed with relief and tried to help what nature—or The Lord—had presented to her. Before she could grab the corner, the entire sheet ripped off the building and flew across the yard, tumbling end over end until she couldn’t see it in the wet darkness that stretched beyond her.
The window wasn’t locked from the inside, and she pushed it open, scrambling over the wet sill to safety. Landing on dry cement, she smelled oil and dust, then saw the shapes of the vehicles Uvi collected but rarely used.
Skirting around them, she made her way to the staircase. She just needed a few hours rest. A little sleep. Then she’d figure out what to do.
In the light of her fading flashlight, she stumbled upstairs to Cody’s apartment. The door was open, and she fell into the relative safety of the living room.
She couldn’t go into his bedroom.
No way.
With a shivery sigh, she flopped onto the lumpy couch and covered herself with a blanket he’d draped over it.
Just a few hours rest. And then she’d get the hell out of Dodge.
As she started to fall asleep, she swore she heard her name being called down in the yard.
Cody?
Well, he could just rot in hell, couldn’t he? A single tear rolled down her cheek and wet the corner of her mouth.
Damn him. Damn him to hell.
Chapter 27
Ducking into his raincoat, Cody charged into the rain behind Vivian. His heart pounded, filling him with dread.
Oh, God. She’d seen Uvi with her greedy mouth on his dick. She’d seen that. It couldn’t be any worse.
Uvi called to him from the kitchen door. “Cody. Come back!”
Her words were carried away into the windswept night and he waved her off, leaning into the strong wind.
Crap. I should have brought a flashlight.
He peered into the night, calling Vivian’s name. Rain seeped down the back of his neck, but he ignored it.
Where is she?
“Vivian!”
He skirted the huge tree that had fallen by the porch, hoping to see more on the other side. No luck. Darkness and streams of rain blinded him.
He groped his way forward, glimpsing a flash of yellow in the distance.
Viv’s raincoat? Yes! There she was. By the shed.
With all his strength, he bent into the gale and made his way toward the building. His feet squelched on wet turf, and he plodded forward.
“Viv!”
No more bits of yellow in the distance. Just black rain.
He turned to look behind him, and there was Uvi, waving her arms wildly in his direction. Had she found Viv? Or was she just claiming him, her property?
“Cody! Come back.”
He scowled and ignored her, pushing forward in the gale.
The black night grew impossibly darker. He stopped to try to get his bearings. Where was the shed? The mansion? Sheets of rain whipped around him and for a moment he felt alone in the universe, as if he were one man, standing by himself, battling the storm of the century.
Uvi’s voice tunneled through the roar of the winds again, beseeching him to come back.
The storm abated for a minute, and ahead he caught the shape of the shed, not far away. Before he could take another step, something big, black, and rectangular pinwheeled toward him. Seconds before it slammed into him, he recognized the shed door. He crumpled to the sodden grass.
Vivian woke on Cody’s couch at five A.M., feeling groggy and disoriented. Her eyes were puffy and sore from the crying she’d done in the middle of the night. Why had she wasted her tears on him? Why did she care so much? She touched the raw skin beneath her eyes and sighed. Now she’d look as bad on the outside as she felt on the inside.
The storm still roared outside, and it sounded like the rain was scratching at the windows. Could it be sand picked up from the beach? It almost glittered against the glass, and although the sun should have been up, there was just a faint yellow-ochre glow in the otherwise dark gray sky. Black clouds sailed across the horizon, and when she drew closer to the window, she saw the metal roof of someone’s building cartwheeling across the lawn.
The world had gone mad.
She watched other items tumble past her view—a huge blue and white beach umbrella, a plastic Adirondack chair, a billboard for Coppertone sunscreen, and various yard ornaments.
When the hush came, the quiet was almost nerve shattering.
She hurried down to the first floor in her still-damp bathrobe and pajamas, glancing at all of Uvi’s cars neatly sitting in a row. There, at the end, sat Cody’s beat up truck.
An insistent urge hit her. Her heart beat faster.
Mom.
I have to get to my mother.
Did she dare think the storm was over? She hadn’t listened to any newscasts, because the battery-powered radio was still in the main house, but Shady Pines was close to the shore, and if the storm surge had breeched the seawall, the place could be flooded already. Her mother’s first floor room had a great view of the sea. But it was too close to the shore.
The Seacroft: a love story (Paines Creek Beach Book 2) Page 11
