Finding Love in a Dark World: A Steamy Post-Apocalyptic Romance (4 page)

Awakening with a start, Jessa realized Shane was awake as well. It had been his slight movement that woke her. She was still tired but knew it was just as well she had awakened. She knew what they had to do. She had known all along. She whispered for him to get up and grab his bag. She made the signal for silence and he complied without question. He could feel that something was disturbing his mother, so he just did as he was told in silence. The stealthy communication had become second nature in this new world of survival. It was not the first time that they had had to leave quickly and without detection.

They left the house with practiced efficiency, leaving Michael asleep in an adjacent room where he had apparently crashed to sleep off his own spent passion. Jessa was thankful that Shane had not seen him as they left. They moved north, changing course and making sure to leave no marks behind to be tracked. She settled back into the woods, moving quickly, her son walking deftly beside her. He was beginning to show signs that he would become a natural woodsman, she noted absently. She wanted to put as much distance between them and Michael as she could. She was convinced that having him in her life meant nothing but trouble. He was trouble for her at least. Her body ached with every step she took and her insides were sore and raw. It was a pleasurable pain though, and the barest hint of a smile played on her face as the pair walked into the rising sun.

***

Michael slept better than he had in years, feeling pleasurably dead to the world. His mind had stopped racing as he had just lain there, totally sated. He awoke on the short sofa, he legs sticking almost a foot off the edge. He could not help but smile at the prior night’s events. He had one of those smiles that could be felt from one side of the face all the way to the other. Stretching, Michael’s first instinct was to check on her. He just wanted to see her, maybe just to affirm that the night had really happened, but he thought against it.

He remained in bed for almost another hour and still had not heard the slightest sound from the shuttered bedroom. After he had changed his clothes, which he still wore from the day before, he washed his face and even started a small fire outside for breakfast. He found it hard to imagine, him cooking breakfast like he was the woman in the relationship. He didn’t care though. If playing the female role got him sex like that, he would do any little chore needed to make her happy. Hell, he’d put on a dress too if that’s what it took.

Unable to wait anymore, Michael nudged the bedroom door open quietly. He could not believe that the kid, at least, hadn’t gotten up yet. He fondly remembered his own always being the first one up in the house. He knew that door had not budged since he had been up because his eyes were never far from it. You always have to be ready in this world. As he opened it, he realized with a start, that they were gone. Unable to believe his eyes, he hurriedly checked the rest of the small house. He scanned the immediate perimeter as well, calling their names.

Looking around he quickly surmised that all of their stuff was gone as well. She had taken it all with her, which meant that wherever she went, she did not plan on returning. Michael cursed and smashed his fist into the wall. Here he was sleeping like a baby from the best night of his life thinking he had finally found a woman…and not just any woman, but a woman he could really have feelings for, and she had up and left him in the night. Just his luck to lose her before they even got started. He knew he shouldn’t have come on so strong, but he hadn’t been able to help himself. Fuck. He had blown it again.

After a moment of malaise, he realized she couldn’t be that far ahead, traveling with a child on foot. She couldn’t have left before the sun came up, could she? He didn’t know, but he knew that he had to find her. He had to find her again, he corrected himself with a shake of his head. He knew she liked him. It was obvious. He just had to get to see that they could be a good thing for each other.

Michael’s mind set, he packed up quickly and picked up the tortillas his domestic smitten ass had actually made for the woman and her son. He had planned on a sort of breakfast in bed, and maybe impressing her with his thoughtfulness. They were simply ground corn and water, but still. He couldn’t believe his own naivety and cursed himself for letting his guard down, as well as for being such a sucker. His agitation made his steps quicker, though it wasn’t long before he realized that there was no trail to follow. This woman had once again surprised him. Although he would have appreciated a nice clear set of tracks and signs to follow, he also had to admit that he found her growing list of survival skills to be pretty impressive.

He continued east, the way she had been going before he had pounced on her like a wild cat. He walked faster than she could, even running for short bursts, but still not a trace of her could be found with even his trained eye. If he didn’t have a few scratches on his chest, he may have thought the whole night had been just a really good dream. After a day of chasing her, he wondered if he was chasing a ghost. Maybe she was just a nymph that crossed his path one night because the Gods had smiled on him. Sometimes anything felt possible in this strange abandoned land.

***

Jessa had no misconception of what had happened between them. She blamed it on pure hormones. Michael had fit the description of her desire and he had caught her at a moment of weakness. She kept telling herself that version of the narrative as she walked, one foot in front of the other. Each step reminded her of the man with the sea-blue eyes, but she tried to push him from her mind. She couldn’t be distracted and he was most definitely a distraction with a capital D.

There was something more to her running off from him though. He had touched a part of her that she had not felt in a long time and she was not sure that she wanted to feel again. She had to keep her walls up. Every time Jessa got close to someone in the world, something bad happened. She couldn’t lose anyone else. In an effort to escape all that pain, she had convinced herself that if she just got to the coast and maybe found an island somewhere everything would be okay. That was what kept her going.

Besides, Michael had his own mission, and he had plans to go in exactly the opposite direction from where she wanted to go in order to fulfill it. While her mind hoped that she didn’t see him again, she knew that her body would ignore her if he so much as appeared around the corner. She couldn’t afford to be thinking about this now, she decided. She had to get them to safety. With that thought, she grabbed her son’s hand more tightly as they walked along yet another road. Leaning into the strengthening breeze from the coast, she quickened their pace just a little bit more. They would find their island. She was sure of it.