Safe From the Dark (26 page)

Evie’s
eyes widened at the mention of Hank Daniels, but she continued, taking another
step to the left.

Just
one more.

“Did
Dreyer fuck you like that? Did Alan? What did they like to do to you? Because
Colin has this fixation with my breasts that I think is a little weird, but you
know, guys – ”

With
a screech, Candace, pushed beyond her limit, raised her hook to strike – and at
that moment, Colin
jerked
, forcing his body back, and throwing her off
balance.

BANG!
BANG! BANG!

Candace
flailed like a broken doll before she fell to the ground, her eyes cold and
dead.

Evie
and Colin just stared at each other from across the room as she lowered her
weapon.

The
sound of shouts and footsteps roused her.

Here
comes the cavalry.

She
stepped over to Colin and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her heart to
his chest to hear his heartbeat as Tony and Zeke rushed in. Zeke took one look
at Candace’s dead body and puked into the nearest plastic bin.

Poor
kid, still has a few things to learn.

“I
think my arms are dead,” murmured Colin.

A
moment later, Tony had found the controls to the hook and lowered Colin to the
ground. He sank to his knees with a groan.

Evie
couldn’t stop touching him, stroking his skin, and tucking his head under her
chin so that his breath tickled her collarbone under her shirt. After a moment,
he stirred.

“You’re
the only person I know that could stop a killer just by acting like a total,
raving bitch.”

“Well,
you use the gifts God gave you.”

Colin
chuckled and held her tight.

CANDACE’S
FUNERAL WAS A tiny affair – just Evie and Colin and the pastor reading a few
words about peace and redemption before Colin scattered her ashes at sea. The
town was still in shock, and with Alan dead, Colin had taken it upon himself to
give her a proper send off. Evie had protested, of course, insisting that she
had gotten what she deserved, but Colin reminded her that it was the right
thing to do, to bring some closure to the situation. Evie had grumbled, but in
the end had acquiesced, even going so far as to suggest setting up a
scholarship fund in Alan’s name to help out local youths.

As
Evie held Colin’s hand, watching the ashes disappear into the harbor a week
after Candace’s death, she realized that he still felt guilty – over the fact
that he couldn’t save Candace, over the fact that he didn’t see her or love
her, in the same way his own father hadn’t seen her or loved her either. His
injuries were already healing to ugly yellow bruises, but Evie worried that he
would always wonder if he could have saved her if he had realized the danger
earlier.

It
would take time.

Meanwhile,
Evie was having her own trouble adjusting to life A.C. – after Candace. She had
wondered if she’d ever be welcome in town again, and admitted that she was
going to miss Mary’s cherry shakes. As the Harvest Festival kicked in, there
was no way to avoid going into town, and Evie was stunned to find that she was
suddenly a town hero.

Everywhere
she went, people waved hello. Well, except for Dreyer Morton, but that was to
be expected.

The
kids pestered her for details on how she’d saved Colin’s life.

Little
Brian Olsen insisted on her walking him home from school whenever their paths crossed.

“Seriously,
did I step through a wormhole or something?” Evie asked Tony one afternoon,
while they were setting up a sobriety point for the night’s festivities. Tony
laughed.

“You’re
the flavor of the week, Asher. They’ll get bored soon enough and find someone
else to worship.”

“They
haven’t gotten bored of Colin.”

“True.
You may be shit out of luck.”

He
toyed with his wedding ring, and Evie almost asked about it, but held her
tongue.

She
did ask Grace over lunch the next day.

“What’s
the deal with Tony and that wedding ring? Is he married or not?”

“Oh
my God, I keep forgetting you haven’t been here forever. You wouldn’t know. About
five years ago, Tony married Nora Allen. She was a new teacher from a couple of
towns over, and he was just over-the-moon crazy about her. Two years later, she
went out sailing and a huge storm kicked up. The boat vanished, and Nora and the
crew disappeared without a trace. Tony was devastated.”

“She
drowned?”

Grace
shrugged.

“It
gets weirder. After she’d been pronounced lost at sea, all these lawyers came
out of the woodwork claiming that she was a missing heiress, worth millions,
and that she’d been married before. Her ex-husband has apparently been trying
to get Tony to turn over all of her assets, claiming they were still married,
but in the Will she left behind, she left everything to Tony. So she may have
been faithful, she may have been having an affair, she may be dead, she may
have been kidnapped, or she may have run away.

“That’s
awful.” Evie was appalled.

“I
know,” Grace said, taking advantage of Evie’s shock to steal her cherry shake.
“No matter what happened, she left behind a hell of a mess for Tony, and broke
the poor man’s heart.”

“I
wonder if there’s any way to find out what really happened?” Evie mused, “Maybe
we should – Grace?”

But
Grace wasn’t paying attention. Instead, she was dreamily stirring the milkshake
with a straw and watching Matt Harris lean on the counter to talk to Mary as
she rang up his take out order.

Evie
grinned but didn’t comment until Matt straightened and caught sight of Grace in
the corner. The spark that sizzled in the air between them was so hot, Evie was
surprised that the sprinklers didn’t go off. Then he grabbed the bag of food
from the counter and turned to walk out the door, and Grace slumped back into
her seat.

“You
can’t tell me there isn’t something between you and that firefighter, Grace
Mallow,” Evie said, fanning herself.

“It
would never work.” Grace was adamant.

“How
do you know until you try?”

But
Grace just shook her head.

Evie
wondered if she could coax Colin to take the afternoon off with her. Despite
the festival, Tony had put her back on half-duty for a couple more days. He was
worse than a mother hen, but Evie decided to let him have his way. Besides, she
wanted to rest up for the Harvest Festival Dance that night. She was so excited
about it – her first real dance.

COLIN
WAS UP FOR playing hooky, and he and Evie spent a leisurely afternoon
repainting the front of Gram’s cabin. A pleasant, early dinner of salmon and
salad ended with wine in front of the fireplace and Evie riding a deliciously
naked Colin on the couch. He leaned back against the cushions, his hands laced
behind his head, sweat sheening his body as he let her control the pace, fucking
him with slow, sensuous movements of her hips.

“You
feel so good inside me,” she moaned, her head falling back so that the silk of
her hair brushed his thighs.

She
traced his biceps, which were tight as he held himself in check.

“You’re
like a fist, baby.”

Colin
lifted his hips, pressing in a fraction further as her mouth fell open with a
sexy little whimper. The long line of her neck was irresistible, and he leaned
forward, lowering his hands to grip her hips.

“Ah
–ah,” she murmured with a grin, scraping her nails on his abdomen, “no hands.”

“Cruel,”
he retorted, but let her hips go to grip the cushions instead, and cruised his
lips along her throat, nipping at her collarbone.

“I’ll
let you touch in a minute, I promise.”

Teasingly,
she cupped her breasts and then raised her arms over her head, swaying slightly
as she swiveled her hips on the downstroke. She watched the heat in Colin’s
eyes kick up a notch as he focused on her breasts.

“You
can’t tease me with those sweet nipples and then not let me taste,” he groaned,
tortured.

Evie
arched slightly, keeping her arms raised.

“Go
crazy.”

“Already
there,” he breathed, but he pounced, the wet heat of his mouth on her breasts threatening
to unravel her in seconds.

“I’m
going to buy some clamps for these. You’ll wear them for me, won’t you?”

He
nipped one tight nipple and she gasped.

“In
your dreams.”

“And
one for this hungry clit,” he continued, stealing one naughty little stroke of
the swollen nubbin before obediently returning his hands to the cushions.

Evie
whimpered as he painted a mental picture, punctuating each image with licks and
nibbles, and the steady rhythm of his hips rocking in counterpoint to hers.

“I’ll
lay you back on the bed and you can spread your legs wide and show off that hot
little pussy. Then I’ll let you watch me jerk off while you stretch it with a
fat dildo. I’ll make sure it’s the same size as my dick, so you’ll have to work
to get it in, and by the time you’ve taken it to the hilt, your little clit
will be all swollen. You’ll be dripping wet for me, won’t you, baby? When I’m
satisfied that you’re ready for more, I’ll flip you over and stuff that pretty
little ass with cock and then fuck you until we both pass out.”

Colin
broke the rules, sliding wicked fingers over her hips to part the cheeks of her
ass and rub little circles into her puckered opening. He took over in the
thrusting department, too, jerking his hips upward as Evie’s brain struggled to
catch up to the pleasure coursing through her system.

She
was caught on the delightfully dirty image of herself spread wide, clamps on
her nipples and clit, taking Colin’s monster cock in the ass. Did she want
that? Would he even fit? He was going to make her crazy, planting increasingly
erotic images in her mind, making her wonder about sex acts she’d never attempted
or wanted before.

Evie’s
laugh was tortured.

“I
can’t tell if you’re serious, or if you just say things like that to get me
hot.”

“Oh
baby, I want to do everything with you. Whatever turns you on. You dream it up
and we’ll try it. Whipped cream and handcuffs, sex toys, costumes, or nothing
at all. As long as you’re there, I’m in.”

Feeling
the delicious tension coiling low in her abdomen, Evie leaned back, taking him
with her as she eased toward the rug. He lowered her carefully, not missing a
stroke.

“Over
me,” she murmured, “I want to feel you everywhere.”

“Yes,
ma’am,” he replied, and pinned her to the floor with delicious strength,
hooking his arms under her thighs to hold her wide for his thrusts.

“More,”
she moaned, and he gave her more, pounding into her.

The
heat and wonder in his eyes was enough to send her over the edge, and her
release triggered his own, her pussy milking every last bit of pleasure as they
both unraveled in a contented tangle of limbs on the floor.

His
breath ruffled her hair, and he lifted his head enough to catch her lips in a
sweet, thorough exploration. His eyes were warm and brimming with satisfaction,
and Evie felt her heart turn over. Colin schooled his features.

“So,
Miss Asher,” Colin said gravely, “I know it hasn’t been terribly long, but I think
it’s fair to tell you that despite our unusual courtship I’m developing some
pretty serious feelings for you at an alarming rate. As in, I don’t want to
date anyone else. I don’t want to fuck anyone else. I want you to leave your
toothbrush at my place and hold my hand in public and make out with me on the
dance floor at the Harvest Festival Dance tonight so that every man in town
knows you’re spoken for. So basically, I’m asking you to go steady, and I
thought now would be a good time to share, since I have you naked and pinned
down, and your deliciously demanding little pussy is still pulsing around my
cock. You can go ahead and panic now.”

Evie’s
first instinct was to stiffen as delight and horror swept through her, but her
body was too languidly satisfied to do anything but arch slightly, which only
drove his rapidly recovering cock a little deeper. She tried to process it as
he peppered soft kisses over her face, nipping her jawline and sucking the
sensitive curve of her neck. It was very distracting.

“What
do you think?” he murmured.

Evie
took a deep, fortifying breath.

“Okay,”
she whispered.

“Okay?”

Her
eyes suddenly brimmed with tears.

“I’m
sorry, I wish I could do better than that. Sometimes you’re a complete ass and
a total control freak, and sometimes you’re
wonderful
, but I’m scared,
Colin, and – ”

He
cut her off with his mouth on hers, giving and taking, hot and wet and perfect.
When she pulled away to breathe, his grin was like the sun.