Chapter Six
Stone spotted Jack two booths back. Mindful of not acknowledging the other man, he skimmed his gaze straight past. Their plan relied on Hagar not discovering their relationship—or anyone else, for that matter. As far as anyone knew, Stone and Soph were a normal couple out enjoying the gorgeous summer day.
They’d arrived at the festival about thirty minutes ago. Wandering from booth to booth, they’d admired crafts, eaten local food and even partaken in a local beverage known as Booze. The last had been an under-the-table transaction that had him raising his eyebrows but sampling anyway. He’d barely had a sip but the alcohol content was so potent, he’d taken a punch to the gut as though he’d slung back a keg of the stuff. He could imagine the locals—and presumably a good number of out-of-towners—getting well and truly hammered on the town’s brand of moonshine.
Not that anyone needed to get drunk for Sapphire Falls’ annual festival to be a hit. The town square was wall-to-wall people. Locals and visitors laughed and ate, drank and had a great time. Kids ran here and there, parents trailing behind. It was a kaleidoscope of faces and so far neither he, nor Soph, nor Jack had seen the one visitor they sought. Hagar. Not that any of them had a clear idea of what the man looked like.
Chip had managed to get a copy of the image taken by Customs when Hagar exited Australia, but once again his features were indistinguishable due to the full beard he wore. How Landlocked’s resident computer geek got into the government system to obtain the picture, Stone didn’t know, and was safer not knowing. Although he had to admit having a computer genius at their disposal worked in their favor, regardless of his possibly illegal methods.
After studying the image Chip had acquired, the entire Landlocked team came to the same conclusion. Hagar’s beard was fake. Unfortunately, the computer-altered image of Hagar minus facial hair wasn’t a good one. A five-year-old could do better with a crayon and paper. Okay, not really, but the frustration of not knowing exactly who they were looking for was getting to Stone.
He liked to know his enemy. Looks, behavior, location. Currently he knew none of those things about Soph’s stalker, and to say he was edgy was an understatement.
“Here. Try this.” Soph shoved a corncob in front of his face.
His stomach cramped in protest. She’d been buying every food item on offer since they’d gotten here. He took the latest offering with a forced smile. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me until you eat it.”
Stone arched an eyebrow as he brought the sweet-smelling cob to his mouth.
“It might taste like crap.” She smirked at him.
Ready to take a bite, he said, “I find that hard to believe. It’s a corncob. How can you screw that up? And isn’t corn the primary crop in this area?”
She shrugged a bare shoulder. “How would I know? Do I look like a farmer to you?”
He sank his teeth into hot, juicy corn and glanced down her body. Starting with her smooth shoulders, exposed by her sleeveless dress, he moved down her chest to the lush curves of her breasts, where they peaked out of her low-cut neckline, and felt himself harden at the thought of having those beauties in his mouth again.
In fear of developing a hard-on he couldn’t hide in public, he reversed his gaze and met her stare head-on. “No. Nothing farmer about you.”
She laughed. A rich, deep, joy-soaked sound that rang around them, drawing gazes and making Stone want to hear it all the time.
Smiling, he placed a hand on her lower back and urged her forward. “C’mon, let’s walk over to the petting zoo. See if we can’t find your inner farmer.”
Soph’s nose scrunched up. “It’ll smell over there, and I’d better not get anything other than a little dirt on these shoes.”
He looked at her shoes. Definitely not footwear for farming country but she’d insisted on wearing them and the sexy dress when they’d gotten ready earlier. “I’m more worried about you breaking an ankle than getting them dirty.”
“Said like a typical man.”
“In case you missed the memo, I am a man.”
She shot him a sultry smile. “Oh, don’t worry. I got that memo. I got it gooood,” she sang with a flutter of her lashes.
Stone laughed, slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. “I’ll resend it after we deal with Hagar.”
Pouting up at him, Soph grumbled, “I was hoping you’d resend it when we got back to the room.”
He couldn’t think of anything better except he’d decided not to cross that line again. Not until she was safe and the threat to her no longer in play. He’d even made the decision not to purchase any more condoms. They’d used his one and only last night so they’d have to abstain until he could cover that threat too.
“I’m going to assume your silence means we won’t be re-examining your man card this evening.”
The excited chatter of children gave him the perfect opportunity to ignore her remark. He steered Soph around the group and off to the side where they could see what was going on. Peering into the pen area, Stone saw a bunch of fluff balls racing around on the grass.
“Bunnies!” Soph squealed beside him. “Oh my god, they’re so cute. I want one.”
“Um… Not a farmer, remember?” He moved her in front of him so she could see better.
“Don’t need to be to have a rabbit.”
“I guess not but I believe customs and quarantine might have a problem with you taking one of those home.”
“Bloody hell. I didn’t even think about that.” She leaned over the small fence and dangled her hand in, trying to pat one of the blurs of fur as it zipped past. “Wow, they’re fast.”
He couldn’t believe he was going to say it, but… “You could get one when you get back to Australia.”
“Oh. I could.” She looked over her shoulder at him, her bright smile flashing for a second before it faded. “But I’m not home a lot of the time. It’s why I don’t have a cat or a dog. I’ve never had a pet, actually. Not even a goldfish.”
Stone wanted to kiss that frown right off her face and get her any damn pet she wanted. Wanted to tell her he’d take care of them when she wasn’t home, but then he realized if he was home and she wasn’t, they wouldn’t be together, and that wasn’t what he wanted.
He hated the idea of not being able to make her happy.
His whole thought process struck him as bizarre. He wanted to be her savior, and not just because it was his job. Things between him and Soph were complicated and tangled beyond his understanding. Figuring it all out would have to wait. Before anything else, they had to remove the threat Hagar represented. Then he had to make sure she was safe from any other nutjob who fixated on her.
Stone cupped her elbow. “C’mon. Finish up your corn so we can take a ride on the Ferris wheel.”
“You heard what Karen said happens up there, right?”
He grinned at her and moved his hand to hers, lacing their fingers. “Sure did.”
“I might not want to ride the wheel with you,” she said as he pulled her along beside him.
“Yes you do.” Stone was confident of that. Besides, if she didn’t want to ride with him now, he knew how to convince her she didn’t want to get off by the time they reached the top.
“Cocky.”
“Not yet but I will be when we get off.” He emphasized the last two words and added an eyebrow waggle for good measure.
Soph’s laughter floated behind them as they meandered through the crowd.
They reached the ticket booth and Stone got in line while Soph disposed of their finished corncob in a trashcan two feet away. It was the most distance he’d allow between them.
When it was his turn, he handed over a few bills and received a bunch of tickets in return. Pulling Soph away from the booth, he waved the tickets in her face and said, “Ready to take a ride?”
“I’m ready to ride you anytime, anywhere,” she whispered while gazing at him through lowered lashes.
He sucked in a breath as fire licked at his balls. “Fuck woman, you keep that up and you’ll be getting more than a kiss up there.”
“Promises, promises.” She sashayed off towards the entry gate, her ass swaying nicely under the flirty skirt of her dress, her legs looking killer in those sky-high shoes.
Damn. He was in trouble. It didn’t matter what he’d decided. He was stopping at the store and buying a box of condoms. There was no way they were staying in the same room tonight without him getting her naked under him again.
***
Sophie slid to the far side of the seat and laughed at the look on Stone’s face.
“You think being all the way over there is going to stop me?” he asked.
“Can’t make it too easy for you.” She tipped her head down to hide a smile and peered at him though her lashes. Their seat rocked and rose a few feet before stopping.
Curling his hand around her thigh, he tugged her toward him as he moved closer and whispered, “Nothing easy about you.”
When it came to Stone, she was pretty sure the best description for her was easy-peasy. For heaven’s sake, she’d had sex with him within two days of laying eyes on the man. Not that she regretted it, nothing to regret about the passion she’d experienced under his focused attention, but it doesn’t get much easier than that.
“Don’t say it.” Two fingers covered her mouth. “Sleeping with me so soon after we met doesn’t make you easy.”
That he was in sync with her thoughts brought her up short. She knew it was his job to read situations—people—but he seemed to read her with far too little difficulty. “I’m not sure I like you being in my head.”
“You have an expressive face.” He trailed a fingertip along her temple. “And your eyes are like windows to every thought that flashes through that pretty head of yours.”
“See…” A shiver tiptoed down her spine. “Easy,” she murmured as that teasing finger drifted down her cheek then trailed across her lips.
“I don’t like the way your lips are turned down. We should fix that.” He leaned in and Sophie pulled back to keep their mouths from connecting.
“I could be frowning because I’m scared of heights and you’ve dragged me on this thing.” She waved her hand around them then crossed her arms and distanced herself farther. She wasn’t afraid of heights exactly but she was definitely grateful this Ferris wheel was on with closed in seating no those stupid hang-in-the-air chairs. “Or maybe I have indigestion.”
Stone laughed, the deep male rumble sending a flutter through her belly. “Indigestion is definitely in the cards with the food we’ve eaten in the last hour. And I won’t mention how much you packed away…” He glanced down her torso, skimming his gaze to her toes and back again, his eyes alight with lust when they locked on hers once more. “I don’t know where you put it all. There isn’t a spare ounce on you.”
Another shiver stole through her. It had nothing to do with being cold. On the contrary. Right now, Sophie was experiencing what she’d heard older women refer to as a hot flash, except her personal heat wave wasn’t brought on by menopause. Men no pause necessary here. Or in this case, man no pause needed.
Shaking her head at the ease with which he aroused her, she laughed. “I’m sorry. You’re wrong. I’m so easy when it comes to you.”
He leaned closer. “How easy?” he murmured against her cheek.
“Put your hand up my skirt and find out.” She couldn’t believe how daring she was with Stone. He made her think and feel and want on a level no one else had.
His gaze fastened on hers as their cage jerked and started to rise again. Her breathing grew shallower with every inch the ground dropped away beneath them, but it was the look in Stone’s eyes that had her heart racing, her nipples puckering and her sex clenching.
“Stone.”
“A couple more seconds…”
Halfway to the top, he dove in. His mouth slanted over hers and his hand swept up her thigh, his fingertips finding the damp strip of cloth between her legs and stroking in a frustratingly light caress. Shifting in the seat, she moved against his touch in an attempt to increase the pressure—to take the pleasure deeper.
He pulled his hand away and spoke against her mouth. “Not so fast.”
“Stone.” Sophie didn’t care that she was begging. She’d get on her knees if it would make him press a little harder. A little faster.
“I like it when you beg in that sexy silk voice. Especially when my fingers are wet and buried between your legs.” He nipped her bottom lip.
She gasped with the sharp jolt of pleasure-pain. “They’re not buried anywhere.”
He laughed and slipped two fingers beneath the side of her undies near her hip. Sliding them slowly down and over the throbbing flesh of her sex, he asked, “Better?”
“More.” She rocked her hips. “Inside.”
His lips trailed along her jawline toward her ear. “You want more? Here?”
“Yes…” she hissed as he drove his finger into her clenching channel.
“How close are you?” Stone licked her ear. “Can you get off in the next few seconds?”
Sophie couldn’t comprehend his words. Every functioning brain cell was awash with sensation, with an urgent need her body was desperate to sate. “Please.”
Stone’s finger plunged in and out and his thumb found her clit, circled, pressed and flicked. “C’mon, Soph, I know it’s there.”
He strummed and stroked and pushed and took her to the edge with astonishing speed. Her body tightened, clamped down and froze for a split second before it seemed to burst wide open and shatter into a million trillion pieces. She buried her face in Stone’s neck, her cry of passion muffled against his skin.
“God, you’re fucking perfect.” His fingers slowed, the friction and pressure less and less with each slide of his skin on hers. “Snuggle in close. We’re near the ground again.”
Near the ground? Bloody hell. They were still on the Ferris wheel. The man had skills. And she was way easier than easy-peasy.
Shuddering with aftershocks, Sophie kept her face tucked into his neck and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“We’re going up again,” Stone murmured into her hair, his lips pressing down quickly before he shifted her in his arms and sat her on his lap.
She couldn’t miss the erection bulging beneath his fly, it pressed into the side of her thigh in a hot brand of temptation that her recent orgasm did nothing to weaken. “Stone?”
“I’m good.”
Rolling her head on his shoulder, Sophie searched his gaze. “But—”
“I’m good.” He smiled. “Better than good. Just need you to ride a little longer with me.”
“I can do that.” She wanted to argue but the noise of the festival had finally infiltrated the passion fog in her head and Sophie smiled even as her cheeks heated with a combination of embarrassment and arousal when she remembered where they were. What she’d let him do to her. In public. She hoped the enclosure hid them from view.
“We’re going to stop soon. We were the second-to-last ones on so it’ll be a few stops before we get to the ground.”
As he said the words, the cage jerked beneath them, rocked to a standstill a few meters off the ground, the riders two seats below them being let off.
Turning her head, Sophie’s gaze moved over the people milling around in front of the Ferris wheel—and locked on the creepy blue gaze of her worst nightmare.
Recoiling, she sucked in a breath and choked on a scream as she scrambled away from the man who’d taken away her sense of safety and replaced it with fear.
“Soph?” Stone grabbed her shoulders and kept her from climbing off his lap. “Soph, what’s wrong?”
“Him.” Air wheezed through her constricted throat, tangled in her vocal cords. “Him. I-it’s him.”
Stone’s head spun around and he moved his torso to hide her behind him. “Where?”
“Right there. In front of us.” The seat jerked and they began the upward climb again.
“I don’t see him.” He leaned to the side and peered through the bars, his gaze scanning the crowd walking around beneath the Ferris wheel. Sitting back, he dug his phone from his pocket and quickly made a call. “Jack. Soph just spotted Hagar at the base of the Ferris wheel. To the north. I didn’t set eyes on him though.”
Sophie couldn’t hear what Jack said and Stone’s side of the conversation buzzed in her ears like the drone of a thousand bees.
He was here.
And he’d found her just as Stone told her he would.