CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Such a pretty little mouth you have. Too bad you use it to lie and cheat, just like every other woman,” Jack snarls into my face, spittle from his curled lips hitting my face, and I flinch. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Jack, who sneers at me. “Did you think I wouldn’t find you while you were slutting it up with the first man you saw? All you women are the same, opening your legs as soon as a man comes around. You’re all filthy.”
I shake my head. I’m not filthy, I try to reply, but my throat can’t produce words. Why can’t I speak? Why can’t I scream? Tears stream down my cheeks, but I cannot cry out.
“You knew I’d find you, didn’t you?” Jack presses the blade further in, puncturing the tender skin on my belly. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you meet the same end as all the other women I’ve saved- I’ll cleanse you so you can finally find redemption.” Jack plunges the knife into my stomach. I gasp from the pain, which overwhelms me until I can’t feel anything at all. The blood flows out of me, bringing me deeper and deeper into a black abyss.
***
I woke up and stretched out on the bed with a frown. I knew I'd had a nightmare last night, but I couldn't remember the exact details again. Something involving stabbing my stomach, I think. The ghost of pain lingered on my stomach, but that may have been in my head. My dreams had been getting far too vivid lately, and it was increasing my anxiety during waking hours. I was almost glad I didn't remember last night's dream- better not to have to relive the sordid details over and over.
I gave up on trying to remember what I'd dreamt about, and I smiled as I thought about yesterday. We'd made love in the shower, then soaped each other up, shampooed each other's hair and got out of the shower. We hadn't made it very far out of the bathroom, though, since I'd taken Liam into my mouth on the bathroom counter, so we'd had to hop right back into the shower to rinse off the ensuing mess. We'd watched Jeopardy on the couch while Liam went down on me. After Liam took me from behind in the kitchen, we finally gave up on having an ordinary day and went to the bedroom for the night. Suffice to say, I was very pleasantly sore this morning.
Liam's strong arm lightly brushed my hip, and I looked up into his smiling face. I nestled back into Liam's chest, and he tightened his embrace and kissed my neck. "Good morning." Liam nibbled my ear, moving a hand down to cup me in one very sore area.
I groaned and pulled his hand away. “I won’t be able to walk today if I don’t get a break.”
“That wouldn't be so bad. It'd be a lot easier to keep track of you if I just keep you on your back for the next week. Or your stomach. Or your knees," Liam said, propping himself over me with a wicked smile as his head dipped to gently bite my neck. Liam looked up smugly. "Tell me, are you always a screamer or is that just my superior technique?" I groaned and swatted at him. "I'll never tell. I wouldn't want your head to get any bigger than it already is."
Liam waggled his eyebrows. “You’re right. You can barely handle my big head in you as it is.”
“Nerd." I reached over to the nightstand, picking up my phone to check the time. "That's weird. My phone is dead even though I plugged it in last night."
Liam grabbed his phone. “Mine is dead too.” He sat up against the headboard. “It is pretty cold in here. I’m betting the power went out last night because of the snowstorm.” He got out of bed, giving me the chance to admire his impressive backside. He strode out of the bedroom, pulling my robe on as he walked. “Yep,” he called from the living room. “Power’s out. And we’re snowed in.”
“Snowed in?" I wrapped the blanket around me as I walked to the living room. I shivered, wishing I had slippers to protect me from the frigid tile floor. There was snow packed tightly to the living room windows on the back side of the room, and in the front, there were tufts of snow piled on the porch. We were snowed in.
“I'm going to start a steaming bath for us to warm up and to get some water flowing so that the pipes don't freeze," Liam said.
“Won’t the water be cold if the power’s out?”
“Place like this most likely has a gas water heater. We'll be fine. Start a fire in here while I'm drawing the bath, would you? And make sure to shut all the doors so that the living room gets warm."
I nodded, and Liam kissed me before disappearing into the bathroom. I turned to the fireplace, immensely grateful that we'd had the foresight to bring all the firewood in yesterday. I bent down in front of the hearth and stacked two logs on the grate, lighting a long match and watching the flames dance across the wood. The sparks gradually grew bigger and bigger, until the fire was roaring and crackling. I held my hands out to soak in the warmth, rubbing them together and blowing on them. Liam crouched next to me, snaking one hand around my waist.
“Bath is ready,” he murmured against my neck, nuzzling. I nodded, standing up and holding my hand out to Liam. He took it and followed me into the bathroom.
I let out a tiny gasp when I opened the bathroom door, and Liam smiled. He'd set out dozens of tealight candles along the shelves and counters in the bathroom, giving the room a sensual golden glow that screamed romance. "Where did you get all these candles?"
"There are boxes and boxes of them in the attic, enough to last us a year," Liam said.
"This is gorgeous," I breathed.
Liam dropped his robe. “So are you.”
“Cheeseball,” I laughed, pushing him playfully. “You wanna get in first?”
Liam bent into the tub, fitting his six-foot-four frame into the clawfoot tub gracefully. I faced him on the other side of the tub and sunk into the steaming water with a groan. Hauling all that wood in yesterday had taken an unexpected toll on my muscles, and this bath was easing away all the knots that Liam's massage hadn't entirely fixed last night.
Liam grabbed one of my feet and squeezed, and I forgot all about the bath’s knot-relieving properties. Liam was weaving magic with his fingers, turning my feet to putty.
“You should do this for a living.”
Liam chuckled. "If I did this for a living, I wouldn't have met you, and then I wouldn't be here right now, massaging your feet."
“Hm. That is a paradox.” I grabbed one of Liam’s feet, returning the favor. “Okay, I have it figured out- now that you’ve met me, you can quit the Marshals and pursue a career in massage therapy.”
“Good idea. I'll call McIntyre tomorrow to tell him the good news. Although, I might need to have a little more income to catch up to you. How do you feel about being my sugar mama in the meantime?"
I grew uneasy at the mention of our income disparity. This wasn't the first time Liam had mentioned his income, and I hoped it wasn't because he felt like he was too broke for me. "So how often do you get assigned this type of mission?," I asked, steering the conversation into less dangerous territory.
“Not too often. I usually just escort witnesses back and forth or capture suspects. My job involves a lot more paperwork and a lot less excitement than it would seem. I'm more often at my desk typing up reports than holed up in cozy cabins with beautiful women. This is an adventure for me."
“That explains why you were so bad at staying professional. You’d never had temptation like me.”
Liam pulled my foot down to rest on his erection. "Are you put out by my lack of professionalism? I can stop massaging you if you want and put this away." He gestured at his cock.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “I am stoked about your lack of professionalism. I don’t think I could’ve dealt with the sexual frustration if I’d been cooped up with you here for weeks and wasn’t having sex with you. It would drive me crazy.”
“You sure know how to inflate my ego, woman,” Liam said, smiling.
“Amongst other things, I see." I ran my foot down the length of his erection, watching his face eagerly for his reaction. His jaw clenched, and he shot forward, gathering me into his arms and pulling me into his lap. I grabbed his dick and squeezed, then lowered my head to kiss his neck.
Liam wrapped his arms tightly around me and stood up, pulling me up with him. He grabbed the robe hanging on the bathroom door and enveloping the both of us. Liam stepped out of the tub and carried me into the bedroom. I laughed as he deposited me on the bed, leaning over me for a kiss as he released me and started to pull the robe off me. I swatted his hands away.
“I’m going to get dressed and check the power again,” I announced.
“Get dressed?” Liam pouted. “I thought we could just stay naked for the foreseeable future. Possibly forever.”
“Appealing as that sounds, it's going to get very cold, very quickly." I pulled on a sweater, forgoing a bra, and long fluffy socks and sweatpants. Liam gave in with a sigh and pulled on his clothes, then joined me in the living room where I was trying to turn on the television.
“No power yet," I said, tossing the remote on the couch. Liam sat next to me and pulled me to his side for a snuggle. I leaned into him, watching the flames dance in the fireplace and listening to the crackling of the logs as they shifted and fell more firmly into each other.
“Do you hear that?” Liam asked.
I nodded into his shoulder. “Yeah, I love the sound of a crackling fire.”
Liam sat up, cocking his head to listen. “No, not the fire. It sounds like meowing.”
“Meowing?" I sat up too. Sure enough, there was a faint mewling coming from the front porch, so low that I was surprised Liam had heard it.
I went to the front door with Liam close behind me and pulled it open. I scanned the front porch but didn't see any sign of a cat.
“There, in the corner under that chair," Liam said, striding forward. I looked at where he was pointing. A cat was trembling under the wicker armchair, looking at us warily through wide eyes. I walked lightly towards it, afraid that if I went too quickly, I would scare it away.
“Poor baby.” I extended a hand for the cat to sniff, making sure not to approach too aggressively. It studied me cautiously, then rubbed its face against my hand, purring. I stroked his head, marveling at how tiny he was.
I looked up at Liam. "We can't just leave him out here. He'll freeze. Do we have anything to wrap him in?" "I'll go get something," Liam said, darting back through the front door. He reappeared moments later, holding a fluffy towel.
“Ssh, it's okay," I murmured, holding my palm out so the purring cat could sniff it. I gingerly touched his stomach to see if he would let me pick him up. He leaned into my hand, and I wrapped him in the towel, cradling it against my chest.
Liam ushered me through the front door into the warmth of the living room. I sat down in front of the fire with the cat, trying to warm it up. He started nuzzling his head against me and purring. A good sign.
Liam sat down next to me with an open can of tuna fish and a bowl of water. “He’s probably pretty hungry if he’s been out there all night.” Judging by his excited sniffs, the cat was starving. It struggled to get free of the towel, finally releasing himself and darting towards the can. We sat in rapt silence as we both watched the cat devour the tuna.
“No tags. This cat might be a stray,” Liam said. “When the snow clears, we’ll take him to the vet in town and see if he’s micro-chipped.”
“In the meantime, we can call him Snowflake,” I said, stroking his soft fur.
“Don't name him, we can't keep him," Liam said. "And this cat is yellow. Snowflake isn't a great name for a yellow cat. Yellow Snow is more fitting."
“I’m not calling him Yellow Snow.”
“I am," Liam said. "At least it's not a name we can get attached to." He watched Snowflake lick every remnant of tuna from the sides of the can, then picked the tin up. "You know, I'm more of a dog person, but this cat isn't as awful as cats usually are."
“Cats aren’t awful,” I protested.
“Oh man. Are you a cat lady? What have I gotten myself into?” Liam teased. Snowflake meowed loudly, rubbing his body against Liam as if to prove to Liam that cats were friendly.
“I’m an everything lady,” I said. “I don’t discriminate between cats and dogs. Look, he’s grateful to you.”
“I guess,” Liam said, giving Snowflake a grudging pat on the side.
“I'm going to bring some blankets and pillows out here so we can stay in the warmest part of the house and keep each other from freezing." I stood up, and Snowflake meowed in protest. He followed me down the hallway into the linen closet, where I grabbed the biggest blanket I could find and a couple of pillows. I carried them back with me into the living room with Snowflake weaving between my ankles. I dumped everything in front of Liam, who pushed the coffee table to the side and spread the blankets on top of the rug. He patted the space next to him, and I laid out. Snowflake laid down between us with a loud meow and fell asleep promptly.
“What are we going to do about cat litter?” Liam asked with a frown.
“I’m sure there’s a bag around here somewhere for de-icing the sidewalk. I’ll look later. Let’s just lay here for now.”
Liam shifted closer to me so that we were face-to-face. He kissed my nose. "We're not keeping the cat."
“Ssh," I said, closing my eyes. When Liam started grumbling, I put my finger to his lips. "We'll talk about it later."
“Kelsey, we’re not keeping the cat.”
“Well, we have him at least until the snow is gone." "And as soon as that snow has melted, he's going straight to the shelter."
I covered Snowflake’s ears. “Hush! We can’t give him to a shelter, do you know what happens to shelter cats?”
“We’ll find a no-kill shelter.” I opened my mouth to argue with Liam, but he placed his finger on my lips this time. “We’ll figure it out later.”
Beat at my own game. I kept quiet, though, and resolved to find a way to keep Snowflake.