Chapter Five
Anya bounced on her toes, fizzing with excitement as the first delivery truck came up the road, followed by two more. Behind them, two construction company trucks trundled slowly toward the town. When they all stopped and parked near the tents that made up the Kents’ little village, she walked over to greet the people she’d hired.
“Thank you for coming. This is the location if you’re ready to set to work.”
The foundations of the Kents’ old church and their house still stood, solid enough to be reused. Several men jumped out of their vehicles and started unloading their tools and the lumber.
Robbie Kent ran up, shirt tails flapping. “What’s going on? Momma sent me to see.”
She turned to the child with a smile. He was tall for his age, his arms and legs appearing too long. But it was only a matter of time before he grew into them.
“We’re starting your new church started today, along with a surprise.”
He followed her stare to the place where their house had been. She’d hired two teams to work side by side, and since the one crew was formerly based out of Los Vista, they had helped in several ways.
With the assistance of old photographs of the Kents’ and the crew owner’s memories of their house, he was going to raise it from the ashes, so to speak.
More Kent children came running, and finally the pastor and his wife. “What is this?” the pastor asked.
“Hello, sir.” The quiet way the worker spoke to the clergymen told of his emotions attached to this area. Maybe, just maybe, he’d come back and help to build more of Los Vista. And if he moved back, maybe others would too.
The men shook hands. Mrs. Kent descended on Anya with tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe this! This is too much.”
“It’s an investment. And maybe someday you’ll make a donation to a charity of your choice in my name,” Anya said.
Mrs. Kent threw her arms around her, crying. Two small bodies struck Anya too, and she smoothed her hand over each child’s head before being yanked into Pastor Kent’s arms.
“Los Vista got an angel from heaven the day you drove into town. Thank you, Anya.”
She squeezed him back. When she drew back and looked around, her heart did a mad dance. Wydell leaned against his truck, watching her.
A full body flush broke over her, and a bead of perspiration slid down her nape despite the low humidity at this time of morning. But under Wydell’s gaze, she felt ten degrees hotter.
A slight smile played around the corner of his lips. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from that tipped corner. How did his lips manage to look as if they were chiseled from granite, yet be so shivery-soft against her?
Without thought, she started toward him. He pulled away from the truck with practiced slowness—shoulders, middle, hips. His legs braced wide as he watched her come, and his smile widened.
Damn, he was a gorgeous specimen of a man. At least until he got on her nerves.
“This is great,” he said as she neared.
She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Anybody would do it in my position.”
“That’s the thing—I don’t think they would.”
She shifted her feet.
“What’s wrong? You can’t take a compliment unless it’s about your hair, is that it?” He stared right into her soul, which would be nice if he didn’t make her sound like a beauty queen.
“I don’t know why I bother trying to hold a civil conversation with you.” She started to walk away.
He grabbed her arm. Heat traveled up into her shoulder. When she looked down at his long fingers wrapped around her sleeve—
And his long, grubby fingers that had left a smudge on her brand new white top.
She wrenched herself away. “Look what you’ve done!”
“Crap, I’m sorry.” She glared, and he huffed out a breath. “I guess you didn’t expect to walk to a construction site and actually get dirty.”
His sarcasm made her see red. “I didn’t expect to be pawed at.”
“Pawed at? Sweetheart, you were begging for some pawing the other night.”
“Shut up, Wydell.” She started away as fast as she could.
In a few short strides he was at her side, dirtying her other sleeve. “Doesn’t the washer at the laundromat have a silk setting?”
“Damn you, I’m not a prima donna!”
“No, you’re fucking gorgeous and smart-mouthed and I want my fingerprints over every inch of your body.” He slid his fingers under her hair to cradle her skull and dragged her mouth to his.
A groan broke from her, more longing than frustration, which only ticked her off further. She shoved him back. “You and your ego think I can’t live without your touch, but you’re wrong, Wydell.”
He stared at her mouth, which felt swollen and bruised from one small kiss. She knew how sensitive she felt after he’d touched her—all over. A shiver slinked down her spine.
His eyes hooded. Then without warning, he picked her up and carried her away from the site. She pinched his ear, pulling a grunt of amusement from him. Before she knew what he was doing, he stood at her trailer and yanked open the door. How they fit through the doorway together, she had no idea because his tongue was already in her mouth. Stealing her mind.
She cried out. He shut the door and in one yank, ripped her top right down the front. She gasped.
His eyes darkened even as she felt his cock bulge against her lower belly.
“There. Now you don’t have to wash your shirt at all.” Take off those boots and jeans.”
“Am I supposed to obey you?”
“You will if you want what I have in store for you.” His gritty tone sent a thrill through her system.
Still, she backed up a step.
He followed. Crowding her. Bending over her, his minty breath washing across her lips. “Or don’t you want me to touch you, Anya?”
God, did she. She quivered. Then in a wild flurry, she ripped off boots, socks, jeans and the remnants of her top so she stood only in her lacy bra and a thong.
“Fucking hell, that’s hot. Expecting me, were you?”
“I don’t…” her words faltered as his gaze skated over her, “…have any clean underwear.”
He hooked his finger in the thin elastic holding up her thong. He plucked it like a musical instrument, and her body sang. Reaching around her, he tugged the string between her buttocks. The fabric covering her pussy pulled taut, which applied pressure to her aching clit.
She nearly fell over, but luckily two strong arms were there to catch her.
He wrapped her in his hold and kissed her as if the world were about to end. She opened wide to accept his wild kisses, scrabbling with his shirt and knocking his hat off in the process. Shaking in his arms, about to come apart for him.
With a growl that rumbled all the way to the marrow of her bones, he tore from the kiss and dropped to his knees. His touch on her breasts and belly was too fleeting. As he opened his mouth over her pussy—panties and all—she cried out. Digging her nails into his shoulders.
He kissed her intimately, his eyes squeezed shut and a look of bliss on his rugged features.
Juices squeezed from her folds. Dark pressure built in her core.
“Sweetheart, this is gonna be hard and fast. Hold on.” He locked his hands on her hips and, using his tongue, nudged aside her panties. Warm breath brushed across her clit a split second before he sucked it into his mouth.
“Oh God,” she burst out.
He wasn’t kidding about the hard and fast. She was climbing high at the speed of light. His steady pulls on her clit and the flick of his tongue drove her wild. A syrupy sweet pleasure stole her control, and she bucked into his mouth.
When he eased his finger into her pussy and pushed deep, she came apart. Pulsating so hard that she lost her breath.
He sent her pulse racing with each suck of his mouth and lap of his tongue. Her juices coated his lips and stubbled jaw.
She floated for several minutes, so long that she didn’t realize she was clinging to air and he was standing naked before her. “Condom,” she managed to whimper.
“Way ahead of you.” His eyes flashed and his square white teeth tore into the packet. Watching him cloak his straining erection was as hot as watching a man don a tuxedo. Cufflinks and bowties had nothing on a Trojan and a long, hard rod.
“Bend over,” he ordered.
Twisting around, she shed her thong. She’d barely braced her hands on the ledge running behind the short bench sofa when he planted a big palm on her spine. Bending her to his will.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Hurry.”
“Patience, beauty queen. Have I told you how fucking beautiful your hair is today? I wanted to wrap it in my fist the minute I saw you.” He did just that, binding her long, loose strands around his fist. Tugging her head back to latch his mouth over her pulse hammering in her throat.
In one hard push, he filled her. Her nerves snapped, her inner walls clenching around his every inch. She pushed back. He pulled her into his cock. Then they were racing toward a finish.
He bit into her neck, probably leaving a mark everyone would see. Her need doubled, tripled.
“Take my cock. Come all over it.”
“Yes!”
“You’re smart. And beautiful. Sweet to a damn fault.” He probed the corner of her lips with the point of his tongue before sucking her neck again. Thrusting into her until she had to go on tiptoe to accommodate him.
He seemed to wrap around her entire body until she felt totally supported, protected. Their arguments became a distant memory as a second orgasm struck.
* * * * *
Fucking hell, she was coming again. So tight that it squeezed the breath from him. He sank deep into her quivering flesh and reveled in the sensation of her coming apart in his arms.
Her flavors danced on his tongue and her scents floated in his head. Bright stars he wanted to get closer to, to grab onto until he burned out. Gasping, she collapsed forward.
He scooped her against him, lowering her to kneel on the bench covered in a bright turquoise striped fabric. Her hair slid over one golden shoulder, inviting him to kiss and nuzzle the spot.
Strands of her bright hair clung to his five o’clock shadow, connecting them. He withdrew. Sucked in a breath as he fought for control. And plunged his cock back into her tight body. Her breasts jiggled in his palms.
A growl left him as that tingle in his spine increased. “I can’t…get enough of you.” He fucked her wildly, pistoning his hips until she cried out once more.
The first jets of his release filled her body. He crushed his chest to her damp spine and lost himself in her.
When her ticklish touch on his thigh roused him, he lifted his head.
“Wydell…”
“Sweetheart, don’t ask me to leave your body yet. You feel too damn good.”
She sighed but without a hint of exasperation. It sounded breathy with excitement. Or was it emotion? More than anything, he wanted to crawl into that tiny nook with her, risking bodily harm, and make love to her all day long.
But today they were building the roof of the tiny house, and she had construction work to oversee at the Kents’.
Very slowly, he withdrew from her. She curled onto her side on the bench while he disposed of his condom. When he turned to see her beautiful curves and the look in her bright eyes, his heart gave a jolt.
Despite their differences, he liked her. Maybe more than liked.
That’s the hormones talking.
He wasn’t a man who spilled his seed and didn’t feel a connection afterward. Especially for a woman like Anya—a strong and bold woman who drove him just crazy enough to keep him coming back for more.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked sleepily.
He sank to the small edge of space on the cushion, and she moved her thigh to give him room. As he looked down at her, seeing the red marks on her throat, an animalistic need to possess invaded him.
He stroked her hair off her forehead, and she turned into his touch like an affectionate kitten.
His chest tightened. “What you’re doing for the Kents is unheard of,” he said.
“I don’t see why you’re so surprised.”
“I’m not, really. I know you’re not a spoiled rich girl.”
Her soft smile stole his damn heart—and soul.
Crap. We can’t be together. It’d never work.
“Thank you, Wydell. You’re not so bad yourself, when you aren’t insulting me or my trailer.”
He gave a crooked smile. “I was about to ask about that cupboard there.” He pointed to a miniature door no bigger than a tablet computer high on the wall.
“Why?”
“I know a family of hamsters who need a place to store their china. If you aren’t using the space—”
“Get out!” She shoved him off the bench. Laughing, he scrambled to his feet and started dressing while she lay there, naked and sprawling.
Once he was clothed, he went to the door and looked back at her. “I’ll see you at the house later, right?”
“Nothing could keep me away.”
“That’s my girl.” Before he could examine his words or see her reaction to them, he opened the door and hopped out.
* * * * *
Before Anya was fully dressed, she heard the door of her Airstream open again. She spun, the ruined bits of her top clutched to her bare breasts.
Wydell was silhouetted in the door, blotting out the sun—and sending her senses into a free-for-all.
“Umm, did you need something?” she asked. The expression he wore now didn’t match his parting words. That’s my girl. She’d laid for long minutes considering them, trying to fit them to herself and failing. They were two different jigsaw puzzles tossed into a box together, and nobody could piece them together in any semblance of order.
Once in a while, two parts meshed together before realizing they didn’t really go.
“What I said just then…” His jaw worked but he didn’t complete his sentence.
“Yeah?” She wasn’t going to make this easy on him. Why should she?
“It was just an expression.”
“Okay, I get it.”
He scuffed his knuckles across his upper lip, creating a noise that prickled the hairs on her arms. Damn, why did her body have to sit up and beg for everything about his? In bed, they were well-matched. Outside of it, where it counted, they agreed about as much as a cat and dog.
“I mean, it just slipped out. I didn’t mean anything by it,” he said. “It was a mistake.”
She placed her hand on her hip, dropping her top. One breast slipped out, and he stared at it. Quickly, she clutched the cloth over her nakedness.
“You don’t need to explain. You’re right. It was mistake, just like all the others. Which is why I’m never going to let you near me again.” Fury hit her as though she’d slammed into a brick wall. And right now, talking to Wydell felt just as intelligent and productive.
She pushed past him at the door. He stepped aside and she descended the steps. After slamming the door, she stood there for a second, gathering her wits.
When the soft breeze caressed the side of her bare breast, she jerked back to reality. Looking around frantically and praying one of the town kids wasn’t wandering nearby to see her, she grasped the top to her chest and ripped open the trailer door again.
Wydell stood there, amusement carved across his face.
“This is my trailer. Get out.”
Without a word, he squeezed his big body out of her Airstream. For a moment she watched him cross the turf, headed toward his abandoned truck back at the Kents’. The construction zone milled with busy people, and she had no doubt that by the end of the day, they would see the bones of the home and parish.
How stupid of her to fall into Wydell’s arms again. What was the matter with her? Sure, he was a stud in bed. He’d given her more orgasms than most of the guys in her past put together. But that didn’t make up for the fact that he was an infuriating, insulting jerk.
“Beauty queen,” she huffed under her breath, slamming the door with so much force that a few pictures on her wall tilted.
She glared at them and dropped her top. Stomping bare-breasted to the back of the trailer, she rummaged around a drawer until she found a clean tank top. Not bothering with a bra, she yanked it on and then went into her small, tidy bathroom. There, she slathered her arms, neck, and face in sunscreen.
Glancing in the mirror, she saw the bite mark Wydell had left on her. Fuck, it was too hot to wear a scarf too.
She stormed out again and grabbed the new pink leather tool pouch she’d picked up in town when she’d hired the contractors. She buckled it so it rode low on her hips, the handle of her hammer dangling on her thigh.
When she returned to the tiny house project, she spotted Garrett first. He greeted her with a grin and an obvious appraisal of her figure.
Wydell came around the corner of his truck. His focus latched onto her. And then his face reddened.
Oh no.
He stuffed something in his own tool pouch and stormed toward her. She braced herself, trying to prepare some witty comebacks before he’d even taunted her. What he said, though, took her by complete surprise.
“Why the hell aren’t you wearing a bra?” His words were low and rough, both with desire and something closer to anger.
Unwilling to say she’d simply forgotten, she shimmied her shoulders, sending her full breasts swaying. “My diamond-studded bra is at the cleaners.” She gave him a sweet smile.
He grunted and spun away from her just as everybody else showed up. Brodie and Danica worked off to the side, talking quietly. Brodie kept asking his wife if she needed a drink of water, and she’d smile and refuse.
Anya found it difficult to look away from their happiness, though she felt like a voyeur. They had a magic she’d never know with Wydell. He was just a stop sign on her way through town. Too bad she couldn’t disobey her instincts and run through it.
Boyd and Garrett took turns showing her how to build certain things and each time, Wydell would glare and practically spit nails. She cheerfully ignored him.
Later she’d need to head into town and do laundry. She wasn’t even wearing panties, because the ones Wydell had sucked her clit through wouldn’t do for a day’s labor. The pleasant chafe of her jeans over her bare pussy reminded her of his touch, though.
When he caught her looking at him, a smug expression crossed his face. She whirled away and took up another task as Brodie called out to the group.
“We’re gonna break for lunch. I’m taking Danica home to eat. We’ll see you guys in an hour or so.” The way Brodie looked at his wife suggested they might be gone for more than an hour.
The pair hopped in their truck and drove out.
“I’ve got an extra sandwich if you’re interested, Anya,” Garrett said.
“I’d like that, thank you.” She followed Garrett to his truck, where he lowered the tailgate and invited her to sit and eat. Boyd drifted over with his own lunch, leaving only Wydell working.
“Hey, Hard Ass, don’t you want to break?” Garrett called.
“I’m good.”
They watched him drive a few nails into a beam with enough force to rattle the whole frame.
“Why do you call him Hard Ass?” she asked, nibbling the edge of a slightly soggy ham sandwich.
“He got the name in boot camp because he never lets up.”
“Yeah, I see that,” she commented.
Boyd looked at her closely. “Don’t mind his moods. He’s struggling, like the rest of us.”
She pressed her lips together. “Because of the friend you lost?”
Boyd nodded. “That and more. All we dreamed about for years was coming home and then when we get here, there’s nothing left. Besides, Wydell has other battles to fight.”
“Like what?” She probably shouldn’t ask, but she really wanted to know what made the man tick.
“His burn, for one. A man doesn’t get an injury like that and not have nightmares. And he was the one to see Matt go down. That haunts him.”
She lowered her sandwich to the paper wrapping, her appetite gone. She watched Wydell attack the tiny house as if he could singlehandedly rebuild the whole town.
The thought that he meant to do exactly that set off a light bulb in her brain. In battle, he had no control. Out here, he probably had less. The people of Los Vista were rolling with the punches. But he didn’t like it one bit. The only place he had control, it seemed, was in bed with her and rebuilding the town.
Something stirred deep in her belly, and it had a lot to do with her epiphany as well as her deep lust for him.
“Thanks for the sandwich.” She hopped off the tailgate and walked toward Wydell. He didn’t look up until he spotted her boots in front of his nose, and then he took his time glancing up the length of her body. Locking on her breasts a little too long. She felt she understood him better now, and that part of his grouchiness was because he wanted control over her—her body, her emotions.
“Your nipples are hard.”
“Hard for you. I’m going home to my air-conditioned trailer for a spell and drink a cold iced tea. And then I’ll be heading to the Kents’ to see how things are going.”
“Hope you put on a bra before you do. Not every man you encounter will be as mannerly as I am.”
A laugh bursting from her, carefree and filled with joy. “If you call picking me up and carrying me into my trailer and ravishing me good manners, I’d hate to see your bad ones.”
His eyes darkened with lust. “Don’t pretend you didn’t want it.”
“Oh, I did. And about the bra…” With a swish of her hips, she turned and walked off, “…we’ll see.”
* * * * *
Sitting down in the barn around the old card table felt good, especially following a back-breaking day. After making a lot of progress on the tiny house, he and the guys had driven up to the ranch. There, they’d rounded up the cattle for the night. After that, Brodie had asked them to stay for a game of cards.
The ranch had been a second home to all the boys throughout their growing years. Mrs. Bell had always had a full cookie jar and a high tolerance for mud on her floors. But Wydell was ready to move out of the barn. Brodie and Danica deserved their space. Especially now.
“So…when were you going to tell us about the baby?” Wydell didn’t look up from his hand of cards. Good cards that could win him this game.
The guys around him stilled, and Brodie pushed out a breath. “You caught on, huh?”
“After you’d asked Danica to stay hydrated for the tenth time, it became pretty apparent something was different.”
Boyd clapped Brodie on the back, and Garrett gave him a nod of congratulations. They all raised their beers and toasted to the new little Bell baby and one more number in the population of Los Vista.
“Danica figures the baby was conceived in Denton when we were away.” Brodie’s brow creased.
“Antiquing?” Wydell asked wryly.
“Yeah.” He groaned. “She said we should name it after the town.”
“For a boy or girl?” Garrett asked, swigging his beer.
“Either.” Brodie sighed.
Boyd chuckled and laid down his cards. “What a stigma for a child to bear.”
Wydell chuckled. “As if kids don’t have enough disgust when they learn their parents had sex, now you’re going to saddle the poor thing with a reminder every time it writes its name.” He was happy for his friends, though. It felt as if they were turning a corner, coming upon some bright hope after a time of darkness.
Maybe it would happen soon for him too. As the thought entered his mind, Anya’s face swam behind his eyes. What a little vixen she was, flaunting her free, ripe breasts to him. Only he knew how they tasted, how her nipples puckered on his tongue.
After the game, he didn’t know how he was going to lie on his cot in the back of the barn and get a decent night’s sleep. Not when he was as hard as steel for her.
He had a feeling that, while he’d taken charge in bed so far, she had a bunch of tricks up her silk sleeves that would blow his mind if he let her. He tried to focus on the cards but kept thinking of knocking on the door of her Airstream.
“—Anya did for the Kents.”
He jerked his head up at her name. Looking from man to man, he tried to figure out what they’d been discussing.
“Welcome back, Hard Ass.” Boyd’s amused tone brought a chuckle from the other guys.
Wydell cracked a sideways grin. “You just wish I’d leave permanently because I always win at poker.” He laid down his cards.
“Son of a bitch,” Garrett drawled and folded.
“Shhiiiit.” Boyd followed.
Brodie eyed Wydell, and for a moment he wondered if his friend just might best him this time. But then he grinned and tossed down his bad hand. “Waste of time trying to bluff you.”
“Thank you kindly, boys.” Wydell swept the peanuts in the center of the table toward him, picked one up and split the shell with a squash of his thumb. The nuts rolled out and he popped them into his mouth.
“Your turn to deal,” Brodie said to Garrett.
He gathered the cards and began to shuffle. The talk didn’t return to Anya, though. Wydell crunched a couple more nuts and asked, “What about the Kents?”
“You mean what about Anya.” Garrett gave him a knowing smile. “We all saw you kiss her. You can’t pretend nothing’s going on.”
“There’s not. We hate each other.”
“Hate’s a strong word for someone with that many curves.” Boyd hooked a boot over his knee and popped another beer.
Wydell took in the four cans scattered around Boyd. Concern tightened his lips. Maybe he wasn’t the only one having a rough time dealing with coming home. But overall, Boyd looked okay. No hollows beneath his eyes. Maybe he was just letting loose tonight. He’d be crashing at the Bells’ house, so what did it matter?
“She’s definitely got curves. A man could just…” Garrett broke off at Wydell’s growl. “Ah, so you don’t hate her.”
“No,” he said quietly, washing his peanuts down with a sip of beer.
“I never would have guessed her capable of being so generous with her money,” Garrett said. “I mean, helping the Kents that way. I figured she’d want to get one of those fluffy little dogs you put in your purse, you know? And buy it a diamond collar.”
“Anya has money and has taste, but she’s smart about spending,” Wydell defended.
“But did you see her rings? How the hell does a woman work on a construction site wearing rings like that?” Garrett dealt the cards with lightning speed.
“She wore gloves. It’s not as though she was hammering with two carats on her hands. I think one was her grandmother’s ring.”
Everyone stilled and looked at Wydell. “You seem to know loads about her,” Brodie said.
“It’s just a guess. She didn’t tell me. That ring you’re talking about is a mother’s ring. There are three stones on it. Birthstones.”
“And you don’t think it’s her mom’s?”
“Anya’s an only child. I figure her grandmother passed and left her the ring.”
“Along with everything else,” Boyd said under his breath.
“What she has isn’t our business. She’s backing the vacation homes project and helping the Kents. And she’s as sweet as pie with Mrs. Fletcher.”
They all nodded. Anybody who was kind to the oldest living resident of Los Vista was a good one in their eyes.
“She doesn’t seem to like you kissing her, Hard Ass.”
Wydell glared at Boyd.
He spread his hands. “Just an observation after she stormed away from you.”
“You don’t know all the story.”
“Why don’t you fill us in?” Garrett said.
He shook his head. Hell, Wydell didn’t even understand what was going on. How could he be expected to share with his crew? “Let’s just play cards.”
Through several hands—that he all lost—and many topic changes, Wydell couldn’t shake his thoughts of Anya. He teased her about being a princess and a rich girl, but she really did have depths that he never would have believed if he hadn’t seen them for himself.
By the time the deal came to him, he raised a hand. “I’m going to bow out for the night, guys.”
“What? It’s early, Wydell,” Garrett said.
“I’ve been busting ass since dawn, and I’ve got another long day ahead of me. We’re finishing that lot first thing, Garrett. Then work on the tiny house.” At the term, Brodie snickered. Wydell shook his head too. “Damn, I don’t know how my dream of vacation homes got downsized to building dog houses, but I’m going to see it through. Maybe Anya’s right.”
“You hope she’s right,” Brodie said, standing and stretching. “I’m out too. I’ve got a nice warm body waiting for me. Don’t forget your winnings, Hard Ass.”
He scooped a bunch of nuts into his palm and dropped them into his breast pocket. “See ya’ll tomorrow.”
Not even bothering to pretend he was going to his cot in the back of the barn, he hopped in his truck and headed toward the center of town and the silver Twinkie glinting in the moonlight.
The moon played hide and seek with some clouds, which was too bad because he wanted her spread out with the silvery blue glow highlighting her sexy body.
After parking some distance away, he walked toward her trailer, feeling some of the old anxiety he felt doing night missions. Pulse pounding, his neck tight. The hair on his nape standing straight up.
He tried to shake it off as he approached her door. The urge to hunker down and sneak in filled him, and he didn’t realize how automatic his movements were until he made a hand motion as if he were gripping his weapon.
Stopping in his tracks, he stared at his surroundings. He didn’t see a barren town and the trailer of his lover. He was back in the deep night of Iraq, the hot air drying out his throat and his buddies around him, prepared to nail another sortie.
The pop of gunfire burst in his ears. He jolted.
“Wydell! You scared the crap out of me. What are you doing just standing there?” Anya’s voice shook him out of the past. When he blinked and focused on the vision in a white silky robe, he crash-landed back in the present.
Her face was taut with worry. He’d frightened her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“You should be. I heard a truck and then footsteps, but not a peep or a hello. I’ve been lying in bed for ten minutes wondering if whoever was skulking around had intentions to slit my throat.”
Ten minutes? He’d been frozen there for ten minutes? Damn, maybe he really did need to talk to someone. That sound he’d heard hadn’t been gunfire but her trailer door slamming shut.
“Well, what did you want?” she asked. The quiver in her tone set him in motion.
Crossing the dew-wet grass, he noted the way her eyebrows furrowed and she had her arms wrapped around herself, as if trying to keep herself from trembling.
“C’mere.” He reached for her, and she tipped into his arms. As he felt her warm, soft body, all the scattered pieces of himself drew together. He held her tight, and she rested her head on his chest.
“Your heart is beating so fast.”
“It’s the memories,” Wydell said. “They get to me sometimes.” It was the closest he’d ever come to admitting he wasn’t a hundred percent all right.
She lifted her head and craned her neck to look into his eyes. “Oh Wydell, you’ve been through so much, haven’t you?” She ran her hand down his arm, over the twisted skin of his burn.
His throat worked as he saw so many emotions cross her face. He may not be able to put names to all of them, but each one made him want to get closer.
Seeming to sense this, she looped her arms around his neck. He stooped and caught her under the knees.
She stayed him with a flick of her tongue at his earlobe. “Not inside. Right here under the stars where you can stretch out.”
And I can see you under the moonlight, he thought.
Feeling less claustrophobic than he had in a long time, he sank to his knees with her still in his hold. They fell onto the damp grass, and she straddled him. When he felt the scalding heat of her pussy through his jeans, he groaned.
“Jesus, you’re naked under this robe. You were coming out to greet a killer wearing only this?”
“Shut up, Wydell. I’m still doing laundry.” She leaned over him and kissed him. Long, hungry kisses that made him instantly hard. As she took charge, he touched her all over. Shoulders, rounded breasts, splaying his hands across her belly and hips. Dipping his fingertip into the shadow of her navel and running it down to the blonde patch of hair covering the treat he wanted most.
“Bring your pussy up here. I want to taste it.”
She moaned. Without hesitation, she pushed back and scooted up his body to straddle his face.
Her honeyed scents struck him. Gripping her hips, he tugged her right where he wanted her. When his tongue met her folds, her whole body became boneless. He lapped a path from clit to opening, tasting every inch of her slick, needy pussy.
Her small sounds became more forceful. Her thigh muscles quivered around his ears, and he swirled his tongue back and forth across her straining nubbin. Her rasping breath stopped altogether, and he knew she was close. Rumbling his encouragement, he gently rubbed his stubbled chin over her pussy.
Pushing down hard on his mouth, she took what she needed. And damn, he wanted to give it to her—and more. He doubled his efforts until she writhed, gulping her noises back as if she remembered the Kents slept in tents not far off. He’d have to get her to move her trailer if they were to have more outdoor romps.
Her sweet juices flooded his tongue, and he groaned. How would he ever stop making these midnight trips to enfold her in his arms? He couldn’t.
Making love to her with his tongue, he drove her higher. Short cries burst from her. As her release hit, she sank her fingers into his hair and called his name.
Anya’s muscles shook and her insides were molten lava. She could barely hold herself up, but she didn’t need to for long. Wydell grabbed her and flipped her into the grass. The robe covering her back protected her from the dew, but she welcomed the coolness against her hot skin.
For hours she’d been lying in bed, fantasizing about Wydell. As he claimed her mouth, she tasted herself and mewled. Slowly dragging his tongue through her mouth, he shared her flavors while she removed his shirt and unbuckled his belt and jeans. When she reached inside his boxers and pulled his hard cock free, a wild noise left him.
“Hell, I need in your hot, tight body.”
She hooked her thigh around his hip and urged him closer.
“Condom,” he muttered.
For a moment she wished there were no barriers between them. She could tell him she’d been on the pill for ages to regulate her periods, but he was right. They didn’t know each other well enough. Heck, she didn’t even like him, right?
As the thought surfaced, she knew it was a lie. Wydell was a warrior who was still hurting from what he’d endured. He was a good man, a hard worker with enough brains to keep her mind hopping. And she didn’t want to admit it, but his sarcastic humor tickled her too, especially when he got started about hamster families storing their china in her trailer cabinet.
Staring into his eyes, she said breathlessly, “Hurry.”
In a flash, he stripped off his boots and clothing and had a rubber slid into place. “It’s my last one, so we gotta make this good.” His eyes burned.
“Or get creative later.”
He groaned and shoved deep in one solid thrust. “Fuck, sweetheart. I can’t get enough of you.” He kissed her while stealing her mind with every hard shove of his cock.
With him surrounding her completely and the moon riding high in the sky, she marveled at how alive she felt. How free and at home she was here in Los Vista—and how cherished she was in Wydell’s arms.
She hugged him closer to her, loving his weight crushing her.
“You’ll never get the grass stains out of that robe.”
“I don’t give a damn. Give me your mouth.”
His eyes flashed as he swooped in. Their tongues tangled and she started to come. Long, quivering pulsations she didn’t have a prayer of staying silent for. He captured her cries with his kisses as he pumped faster.
At his first grunt, she flew higher. Watching his handsome face contort in bliss. His jaw was shadowed with dark hair and his eyes burning. Waves of pleasure stole her mind, and she floated for several minutes in a sexual haze before she realized she probably was having trouble breathing with him squashing her.
She pushed against his chest, and he rolled to the side, his face burrowed against her neck.
“I don’t know what it is about you. I can’t keep my hands off you,” he said hoarsely.
“Me neither, and I’m finished trying. Why don’t we stop pretending we’re enemies and do this right?” She could have bitten off her tongue at her hasty words. For a minute, she thought she’d ruined another moment and he might never touch her again.
But he skipped his lips over her throat, up her chin to her lips. Before kissing her, he stared down into her eyes. “I was thinking the same thing. Beautiful woman.”
“Wydell…”
“Hmm?” He nuzzled the corner of her mouth.
“I think we’d better drop the tiny homes project and build a convenience store first.”
Confusion crossed his rugged features. She waited for him to catch on.
Suddenly it hit him and he convulsed in laughter. She meant to buy condoms. When she reached between his legs and stroked his balls, he sobered. “I’m willing to get creative, like you said, sweetheart. We’ve got options.”
“We do. But I want you to know I’m on the pill and I’m clean.”
With a growl, he dived for her neck, sucking a spot on the other side to match yesterday’s. “So am I. Checked out when I was discharged and haven’t had a woman until you. But you’re gonna wish you hadn’t told me this bit of information.”
She gave up resisting the pull of his mouth on her sensitive skin and angled her head to give him total access. “Why?”
“Because by the time I’m finished with you, you won’t be able to walk, sweetheart.”
“Then you can teach me to low crawl.”
They shared a laugh and didn’t go inside her trailer for a long time.