Chapter Eleven
J.T. picked up some potato salad and sandwich fixings for dinner. He wasn’t much of a cook, but any idiot could put a ham sandwich together. Nadya hadn’t said much after she’d given her statement at the station. He’d made Parker take it so there wouldn’t be any conflict of interest.
At least that’s what he told her. It was all he could do to hold back the rage that stormed through him, and he didn’t think he could maintain any professionalism if he had to focus on her as the victim. She was so certain it was someone from town who did this to her, and the thought she could be right made his blood boil.
Goddamn, but he was pissed. To serve and protect was more than just a catch phrase to him. He’d spent the last five years of his life protecting the citizens of this town. All of them. He thought he knew just about everyone in Dale. How could he be so wrong? His gut screamed that this wasn’t anyone he knew, but what if that was his pride talking? Could he just not admit he didn’t have his finger on the pulse of the town?
“How old is Officer Parker?” Nadya asked.
“Jim? I don’t know. Twenty-one, twenty-two? Old enough to have gone through the police academy. Why?”
“I was trying to place him and couldn’t. I don’t remember too many redheads from school. But if he’s that young I probably wouldn’t have run into him much. He’d have been in the elementary school still when we graduated.”
“He’s the oldest of five. He’s got four sisters and they’re all redheads. They have a farm out off Henderson Street. I only saw the whole family at church.”
“That might explain why I didn’t run into him much.”
“Yeah, you and your mama didn’t attend many church socials.”
“Try none. Mary Ellen took me to one, and it was a painful experience for all of us. I thought Mrs. Farley was going to hit someone with her pan of lemon squares.”
“That would have been a waste. She makes a mean lemon square.” J.T. slowed the truck as he pulled up the drive. It was still light enough that he could see Nadya’s polite smile. He heaved a sigh. “Look, I know you think this whole town had it out for you, and maybe with good reason, but it just isn’t like that anymore.”
“Tell that to the Campbells.”
“Okay, there might be a few narrow-minded individuals still, but things are better than they were.”
“Right.”
Her attitude was pissing him off. “You know, your mom could have made things a little easier on herself. She didn’t have to flaunt her differences in everyone’s face.”
“Excuse me?” Her tone dropped the temperature in the cab of the truck to freezing.
“I’m not saying she was the whore everyone accused her of being, but she didn’t have to wear those gypsy skirts and stuff.” He was digging himself a hole and didn’t know how to get out of it. “I mean, maybe if she dressed like the other mothers and, I don’t know, went to church, maybe they would’ve cut her a little more slack,” he ended lamely.
“So let me get this straight. You think if my mama wore jeans and a sweater set, the fine ladies like Orleane Campbell would forget that she showed up in Dale sixteen years old and pregnant, living in some rich man’s cabin? I’m sure they would have just welcomed her with open arms.” She crossed her arms over her chest, every muscle of her body tense.
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t know what I meant. Just she could have made more of an effort to fit in.”
“She sacrificed just about everything else—her sense of self was all she had left—and you wanted her to give that up too? Not likely.”
J.T. ran his hand across his chin and tried to figure out how to dislodge the foot from his mouth. By the time they reached the driveway to the cabin, he still hadn’t worked it out.
“Do you know my mother was barely literate when she came to Dale? Apparently, her father didn’t think women needed to be educated. They moved around so much, no one caught on. She would borrow my school books and I would tutor her. After we left Dale she took the GED test and passed it on the first try. With high honors.”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
But Nadya wasn’t done eviscerating him yet. “Her father felt daughters were only good for cleaning the trailer and taking care of the younger kids. She didn’t even have a driver’s license, even though she’d been driving RVs for years. She got that when we left Dale too.”
“I—”
“She lost her virginity to a forty-five-year-old man who then dumped her in a cabin with no phone, no car, no family and no way to put food on the table. If it wasn’t for Mr. Farley, who found her walking in the August heat nine months pregnant, I might have been born on Deer Creek Road. My mama worked her ass off to put food in my mouth, doing all the jobs those precious ladies in sweater sets didn’t want to dirty their hands doing. And instead of doing their Christian duty and offering her a hand, they called her a whore. All the while their husbands would come around, trying to get into her pants. Do you have any idea how I learned to shoot? There was a shotgun hung over the mantel, and Mama and I practiced until our shoulders about came out of their sockets so we could fire warning shots at anyone who tried to force his way into the cabin. Don’t tell me what my mama could have done to fit in. She did everything she could just to survive.”
J.T. sat in the truck a good long while after Nadya jumped out and slammed the door. What a condescending idiot he was. He pounded his head against the steering wheel and wished he could knock himself unconscious. Maybe he could spend the night out here?
Man up, McBride. You fucked up and now you have to fix it. Stop being a baby and get it over with. He climbed out of the truck and crossed to where Nadya stood on the porch steps vibrating with fury.
“I’m an ass. The world’s biggest ass.” He held out his service revolver and knelt in front of her. “Please just shoot me now and put me out of my misery.”
“You are an ass.” She tapped her foot but made no move to take his weapon. The tension stretched uncomfortably, the only sound that of her foot against the boards for what felt like an eternity. “But a good-looking one. I guess I’ll let you live. For now.”
Her face softened so he put his gun away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand.”
“I know. You didn’t come to Dale until high school, and most folks were on their best behavior around you and your dad. You had no idea how ugly this town could get.”
“Bill told me about Mr. Taylor. I’d appreciate it if you’d let me practice a little police brutality on him.” Right about now he’d love to beat the fat son-of-a-bitch into a bloody pulp.
“He’s not worth it. Really.” She put her hand on his face. “Mama told him if he came near me again she’d put a curse on him that would shrivel his penis.”
J.T. resisted the urge to check his dick. “Your mama had a way of making you believe her too. I guess she wouldn’t have had that if she’d worn, what did you call them, sweater sets? Why do you need more than one sweater at a time anyway?”
“Never mind, it’s a girl thing. Come on, let’s get the groceries out of the truck. If I’m missing one of Mary Ellen’s meals, the least you can do is make sure I don’t get food poisoning.”
“She sent me home with a plate of brownies. At least we’ll have dessert.” He stood and gave her a quick kiss before jogging back to the truck to get the sack of food he’d left there.
“She is bound and determined to make me buy all new clothes when I go back. I swear, my butt has doubled in size in the week I’ve been here.”
J.T. made a show of inspecting how her ass filled out her shorts as he held the front door open for her. “Looks just about perfect to me,” he said as he followed her to the kitchen.
He put the packages from the store in the fridge, then wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her backside against his growing erection. With his lips inches from her ear, he licked the shell before whispering, “The only way it could get better would be if it was sticking up in the air in front of me. Have I mentioned this recurring fantasy I have about you naked in my bed?”
“We’ve had sex in your bed and in your shower and on your kitchen table. I believe we were naked every time.” Her voice was breathy and her nipples poked out from under her thin shirt.
“But this involves me licking chocolate sauce off every luscious inch of your beautiful rear end.” He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard her whimper. She definitely moaned when he bit the cord that ran down below her ear lobe.
“How hungry are you?” she asked.
“Starved. But not for ham sandwiches and potato salad. Let’s start with dessert.” He grabbed the bottle of chocolate sauce before leading her to the bedroom.
The fading light lent a sepia tint to the room. Nadya looked soft and golden in the last rays of the setting sun, and his breath caught as she unclipped her hair and it tumbled down her back.
“Why are you just standing there?” she asked. “You had some mighty big talk in the kitchen. Afraid you can’t back it up?” She pulled her T-shirt over her head, unbuttoned her shorts and let them fall to the floor.
“No, I just thought I’d enjoy the view.”
Her lush breasts were pushed high and tight by the lacy cups of her black bra. Her hips flared out with a curve that just begged for a man’s touch. The scrap of lace that served as her panties was practically transparent and so much more enticing than naked skin.
She ran her hand across the crest of her breast, then trailed a finger under the band. With her hair curling riotously over her shoulders and the glint in her sexy, slanted eyes, he could easily believe she was a gypsy temptress out to ensnare him. And he was more than willing to get trapped.
Sweat sprung up along his brow as he watched her hand lightly circle her stomach. It was all he could do to hold his position when her fingers glided down to the wicked delight of her lace-covered mound. His control snapped when she turned and he saw she wore a thong. The perfect globes of her ass were separated by a thin strip of black that teased him with its narrowness.
With a growl, he tossed the bottle of chocolate sauce aside and stripped off his clothes in record time. Nadya knelt on the bed, watching him walk toward her. Her eyes lit hungrily on his cock, and when she finally met his gaze, she licked her lips.
“I guess you weren’t all talk, after all.” Her voice was husky with promise. He reached for her, but she eluded his grasp. “Let me touch you first. Once you get your hands on me I can’t think straight, and I want to explore a bit first.”
Was she fucking kidding? His heart was beating out of his chest and she wanted to tease him? He’d never survive it.
“Please?” Her dark brown eyes melted his resistance.
“I don’t know how much I can take,” he warned.
“I’ll be gentle. Just lie back. And don’t touch me yet.”
Her eyes glittered down on him as he complied with her wishes. He grasped the rails on the headboard and held on for dear life. She looked at the floor where his uniform—and his handcuffs—lay in a heap.
“Don’t even think about it.”
“I trust you to control yourself.”
He wasn’t so sure about that, but he tried to relax as she straddled his waist. Her hair curtained them as she leaned down to capture his lips with hers. She teased and tormented, never letting him have a full taste of her mouth.
With little flicks of her tongue, she made her way down his throat to his shoulder.
“I love your muscles. I know that sounds shallow, but when they stretch your shirt it gets me all shivery.” She traced the hills and valleys of his biceps. “What does Semper Fi mean?”
He glanced down at the tattoo he’d gotten when he’d finished boot camp. “It’s the motto of the Marines. It means Always Loyal or Always Faithful, depending on who you ask.”
“It fits you.” She scooted onto his thighs, carefully avoiding his dick. “How did you get this scar?” She traced the raised flesh that ran from his navel practically to his hip bone with her tongue. Her hair teased his cock, and he gasped with the pleasure of a thousand tiny caresses.
“Skirmish in Fallujah. Knife wound.” The headboard creaked as he clenched it in his white-knuckled grasp.
“You’re lucky to be alive.” She continued to lick and kiss his stomach, moving closer and closer to his cock but not touching it.
“Trust me, I’m feeling very lively right now.”
“I can see that.” She wrapped her hand around his length and squeezed. The pleasure of her touch rocked him straight to the base of his shaft. Heat pulsed through him and sweat made his hands slippery, but he didn’t break.
As if sensing his weakening will, she unclasped her bra and threw it to the side. Her breasts bounced free, and she cupped them in her palms as if offering them to him. When he let go of the bed, she raised one coal-black eyebrow, mocking him silently.
J.T. clenched his teeth and put his hands back behind his head.
“Impressive.”
He wasn’t sure if she meant his control or his cock, but he didn’t care because she pressed her deliciously full breasts against his length, and he lost any further power of thought. The sight of her between his legs about did him in. But when she wrapped her red lips around the head of his dick and sucked, he crashed and burned.
“Time’s up,” he growled and pulled her up onto his chest.
He captured her lips and drove his tongue into her mouth the way he wanted to drive his length into her softness. Her wanton panties were history with one quick snap, and she was gloriously naked for his pleasure. He slid a finger inside her slick warmth and she clenched it with a cry. She was tight and wet and pulsing around his hand.
Nadya squirmed on top of him until she straddled his hips. Rising up, she fitted him to her entrance and sank down, taking his entire length in one long slide.
“Oh God!” She threw her head back and ground against him.
Watching the ecstasy on her face as she rode him pushed him to his limits. He wanted nothing more than to grab her rounded hips and slam into her hard and fast. But he fought for the last ounce of his control and let her take her pleasure, one slow fucking stroke at a time.
Her eyes blazed as she stared down at him, her tempo growing faster and faster. “Please, J.T., finish it.”
That was all he needed to hear. He clasped her ass in his hands and rolled them over until he could hammer into her. With each thrust, the pleasure built at the base of his cock, coiling tighter and tighter. He could feel his heart beating like a snare drum, or maybe that was hers. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was reaching that elusive peak just out of reach.
Nadya dug her nails into his arms as she let out a cry of completion. Just in time, as he couldn’t hold back the storm any longer. He flowed into her until he felt empty and boneless. With the last of his energy, he rolled to the side so he wouldn’t crush her, but he continued to hold her in his arms.
When he had the ability to think again, he knew he never wanted to let her go.