Fallen-Angels (6 page)

           
He gave a
loud whoop and grabbed her off her bench, swinging her around.
 
She pushed him away and raised her chin to
look him in the eye.

           
“Can I
really trust you not to leave me on that train to be arrested, or worse, let me
hit the ground when I jump?”
  

           
“You have
my word, Justice.
 
I promise not to let
you get hurt.”

           
Justice wasn’t
convinced, but the look on his face made her want to trust him.

           
“What about
my bike, could you ride that?”

           
“Oh, hell
no, I’m not crazy enough to get on one of those things.
 
You can leave it hidden right here and we’ll
come back for it.”

           
She hated
the thought of leaving her bike here, vulnerable, but the money was
irresistible.

           
“So how do
you know about these men and their money?”

           
“I have my
sources.
 
Got some friends in high places,
just like I’ve got ‘em in low places.
 
Don’t worry.
 
The money will be
there.
 
And if it ain’t, you just leave
your bags packed up and get off the train, casual as can be, and I’ll pick you
up in Dallas.
 
Worst that can happen, you
get a nice little train ride.”

           
He was
right, the plan had many advantages, and if she pulled it off, they’d both be
filthy rich by this time tomorrow.

           
He rolled
her bedroll out next to his. She raised her eyebrow and set her hands at her
hips.
 

           
“Warmth and
safety, nothing more. Just go to bed, woman,” he responded gruffly.

           
Satisfied
that he didn’t have an ulterior motive, Justice turned, took off her trench
coat and hat, and took the pins out of her hair. She let it tumble down around
her shoulders and took her small silver brush out of her pack.
 
Slowly, she began to brush the tangles out of
her hair.
 
She turned back to Steel when
she had finished and blushed at his intense gaze on her.
 
She quickly put the brush away and braided
her hair into two plaits. Justice didn’t look at him as she lay down on her
bedroll.
  
Even with her back to him she
could hear his breathing and smell the masculine musk that was all Steel.
 
Justice fell into a restless sleep.

****

           
Something
was moving on her as she slept. Her hand moved unconsciously to brush it aside
but before she could move far, she felt an arm clamp around her.
 
Someone was holding her down.
 
Panic made her eyes shoot open, and even in
the darkness, she could see Steel’s face looking down at her.
 
She was about to demand he tell her what the hell
he was doing when he sprang so suddenly at her belly she issued a startled
shriek.
 
He jumped up, stomping furiously
at the ground.
 
Justice pulled herself up
to sitting and realized what Steel had just done.
 
He had saved her life.
 
He kicked at the very mashed scorpion.
 

           
Shaking
from the reality that she might have died a painful death, she rubbed her bare
arms for warmth.
 
Never in her life had
she been so glad to know someone slept with his boots on.
 
Steel, chest heaving, settled himself back
down onto the floor next to her and took her into his arms.

           
 
She allowed it, feeling the rush of security.
 
It seemed an impossibly long time since she
had last felt secure.
 
He held her for a
timeless moment, then pulled back, but Justice leaned into him and pressed her
lips lightly to his.

           
She had
never kissed a man before, but the moment felt right.
 
Steel was still and she wondered for a moment
if she was doing it wrong, but suddenly, he seemed to catch fire.
 
He wrapped his large hand around her neck and
his lips moved over hers, leaving her panting and wanting.
 
When he finally pulled back, his voice was
hoarse.

           
“I’d be
keeping those lips to yourself unless you want this to go farther than a simple
kiss, Beauty.”

           
Justice
wasn’t sure what she wanted, but suddenly her long held pride of her virginity
seemed pointless.
 
She wanted something
that she couldn’t name or understand, and she wanted it from him.

           
Softly, she
put her hand on his shoulders and leaned in again, consenting to taking the
intimacy farther.
 
He groaned and she
felt his nimble fingers begin working the stays on her corset with
difficulty.
 
     
She felt his breath on her neck as he worked the unforgiving
garment from her body. His soft cursing made her chuckle—clearly he didn’t
undress women every day.
 
Justice was
pleased.
 
Steel was adorable when he was
sexually frustrated.
 

           
Justice
gasped when he took his knife out of his boot and cut the knots he’d made in
the bottom strings.
 
Obviously, he wanted
her naked.
 
His large hands played over
the angry red skin as the impossibly tight garment fell away from her body.
 
Cool air touched her and for a moment she
couldn’t hold back her doubts and fears.
Maybe
I should stop this.
 
But her worry
quieted as her corset fell open to the cool night air and she felt his
calloused fingers on her nipples, pinching them into peaks of pure pleasure.
 
He seemed to instinctively know how to drive
her crazy.
 
No one had ever touched her
like that before and it made her cry out in delight.
 
He captured her cry in his mouth, a deep low
groan indicating that her innocent response enticed him.
 

           
His firm
lips found the curve of her neck and she shuddered at the sensation.
 
Justice began to awkwardly release the
buttons of his shirt. She let her fingers dance across his bare chest, feeling
the firmness of his hard-earned muscles.
 
There was something heady and surreal about touching him. She slid her
hands up to his shoulders, and pushed his shirt off over his arms, letting it fall
to the floor.
 

           
He wrapped
his arms around her and pressed her body to his, deepening the kiss.
 
She felt her breasts flatten against the wall
of his body and her arms began, unconsciously, to tangle around his neck.
 
Her fingers slid into the silk of his dark
hair and she let the taste and texture of him infuse her with a passion she hadn’t
known she was capable of feeling.
 
Steel
pushed her back against the bedrolls and she heard the jingling of his belt as
he deftly undid the buckle.
 
Then the
swish of the canvas coming off his legs.
 
She wondered if he still had his boots on, and bit back her sudden urge
to giggle. He grasped the leather waistband of her tight, black pants and began
to pull them down over her hips and buttocks, and then off her thighs until
finally she was as naked as Eve.
 

           
Steel
ducked his face to her chest, and with a sudden flush, she felt an urge to
cover her bosom. At least until his warm mouth found one of her nipples.
 
He sucked at it, a quick bite causing her to
arch her back and cry out.
 
She didn’t
know what she was supposed to be doing, and so just let him take the lead, an
arrangement Steel seemed perfectly content with.
 
His mouth traveled to her other breast and she
felt his large hand sliding down her body and over her flat stomach.
 
      
Sucking
in a desperate breath, she felt his hand travel between her legs, where his large
thumb discovered her clit.
 
He moistened
the digit with her essence and began to make languid circles around that
nub.
 
An electricity that she hadn’t
known spread through her body.
 
Before
she realized what was happening, her hips bucked uncontrollably.
 
She arched her back and cried out, clinging
to Steel in helpless desperation as she rode the wave of pleasure.
 
No
wonder sex is so damn popular,
she thought mindlessly.

           
Steel
paused and Justice tried to sit up.
 
He
glanced up at her, surprised, before dropping his mouth down to her stomach
where he began to trail hisses across her skin, toward where his fingers had
been.
 
Justice felt the sense of invasion
all the way to her toes and for a moment tried to move his head away.
 
He glanced up and smiled his perfect smile
before his lips began to lick and suck at the spot once more.
 
She felt that amazing sensation building
inside of her again and she whispered his name, his real name, in a soft plea. He
hauled himself up to his knees and she felt the head of his very hard and large
cock pressed against her, invading her body.
 
He pushed gently into her tightness and suddenly she felt him go very
still.

           
“Jesus, woman,
you should have told me. I thought—” He sucked in a breath. “Oh, hell I thought
you’d done this before.”

           
Hurt
smothered the earlier feelings of amazement and, to her embarrassment, Justice felt
her eyes fill with tears.
 
She had
finally decided to let a man have her body, and now he didn’t want her.
 
She was mortified.
 
He growled a very masculine growl and kissed
her again, lips crushing to hers, cock still precariously lodged in the tight
warmth of her body.
  

           
“Justice,”
he finally whispered brokenly. “I’m so damn sorry.
 
I’m not the kind of man who can make you
sweet promises, or give you anything.
 
I’m a drifter, not good enough for a woman like you.
 
I shouldn’t be your first.”

           
Understanding
came into her mind and she rubbed her hand against the stubble of his strong
jaw. “I don’t need sweet promises.
 
Please, Jeremiah, I want this. You. Make me feel like that again.”

           
He let go
of his pent up breath and with a pure, primitive sound in the back of his
throat, he began to kiss her again.
 
He
skillfully worked his fingers between their bodies and the motion of his nimble
actions caused the need to build in her again.
 
When she cried out he thrust into her body.
 
A sharp pain caused her to push at him, she
wanted to get away.
 

           
“Shh, let
me make it better, let me give you pleasure again.
 
This is the only time it will feel like this
for you, I promise.”

           
Justice
relaxed slightly.
 
He was still inside of
her, letting her body adjust to his invasion.
 
He began to massage the sweet spot again and soon her pain faded to
nothing.
 
Unable to stop, she began to
move her hips against him and he groaned.
 
When the perfect pleasure began to shake her again he began to slowly
move inside of her, his fingers never stopping what they had begun. She shuddered
against him, screaming his name.
 
An
animalistic sound rumbled in her ears and to her embarrassment, she realized
the long, low cry had come from her own throat.
 
It was too late, she let herself cry out again and his thrusts became
faster and harder, the movement inside her smoother and faster, drawing her
climax out further until she felt him stiffen for a moment.

           
“Justice,”
he panted.
 
The emotion in his voice made
her shiver, and then his deep masculine exclamation filled her ears as he came
inside of her.
 
He lay down next to her,
breathing hard as took her into his arms.
 
Enveloped in his embrace, with her cheek pressed to his warm sweaty chest,
Justice began to drift off to sleep.
 
She
suddenly gasped as she remembered the scorpion, and began to sit up.
 
Jeremiah wrapped his arms around her and
pulled her back.
 
His words rumbled out
of his chest and she felt them as he spoke.

           
“You sleep
now, Justice.
 
I’ll stay awake, and see
that no harm comes to you.”

           
Feeling the
security of his promise, her eyes fluttered and she felt sleep drag her down as
his arms tightened protectively around her.

****

           
It was
almost dawn.
 
Justice awoke, feeling
mystified at the soreness in her body.
 
Then
the events of the previous night came flooding back to her, and her cheeks
heated with a blush.
 
Looking up, her
eyes immediately caught and held Steel’s handsome gaze.
 
When he spoke, his voice was soft and warm.