Slow Ride (Riding with Honor) (8 page)

“Miss Atkinson is sick and went home early Daddy.  I don’t understand
. She wasn’t sick at my party.  Can you call her Daddy?” Gretchen said.

“Mr. McMurray, can I speak to you in the hall for a moment
,” Mrs. Hargrove asked.

“Sure
,” he said.

Bending down he said to Gretchen
, “Miss Lilly is going to pick you up after school today and take you to Gran’s house.  You are going to spend the night with Gran and I will see you in the morning when I come to decorate for your party.”

The child’s face lit up and she hugged his neck
, “Ok Daddy…love you.”

Anita instructed the students to continue coloring and then followed him out into the hall leaving the door open so she could peer in at the students.

“Mr. McMurray…I’m sure you are aware why Miss Atkinson isn’t here,” she said.

“Actually
, I guess that she probably knows that the baby is mine, but that doesn’t explain why she isn’t here,” he said.

“She was devastated.  I was almost too concerned to let her drive home
,” Anita said.

“Why?  I don’t get it…am I missing something here?”
he asked confused.

“That baby was her first foster placement and she was originally told that the child stood a good chance of becoming adoptable
,” Anita said. “So you can imagine how devastated she was.”

“Why would she want to adopt a child?”
he asked incredulously.

Anita’s face looked guilty for a brief moment.  “Look I… I can’t tell you that, it’s personal.  However, in light of everything it may be best if we move Gretchen out of her class…at least for a while.”

“No!” he said.  “Just hold that thought…let me call her.”

“Mr. McMurray please…” Anita said
, glancing in the room.

He dialed Dana’s phone but she didn’t answer.  He hung up and dialed her phone again and still got no answer.

“Where does she live?” he said. “I’ll go talk to her…explain things.”

“I can’t give you that information
, Mr. McMurray you know that…” Anita said.  “Go home…go visit your baby…but don’t bother Ms. Atkinson…she’s having a hard time with this and seeing you won’t help.”

“Please, can you call her or something…maybe she’ll answer for you
,” He said desperately.

“Go
home, Mr. McMurray,” Anita said sternly and then walked back into the classroom and closed the door.

He ran his hand through his hair and turned to head down the hall when he noticed one of the teachers who gawked at him every morning standing only a few feet away.  Unlike her normal bold stare and assessment of his…assets…she looked…sympathetic.

“Please…you are a friend of Dana’s, right?” he asked.

“Yes…but I can’t give you that information either
,” she said with a look that told him she would cave with a little coaxing.

“Please…can you just point me in the right direction?”
he asked, stepping up close to her.

“Umm…well I know she just moved into the
new apartments across town but I don’t know which one,” she said.

He tore out of the building and away from the school.  There was something more here Dana hadn’t told him, but she was damn well going to tell him now.  He had a hard time fathoming that she could just walk away from Melody…and Gretchen…from him…after everything this week.  It seemed like a lifetime before he made it across town.  Did she think he wouldn’t let her see Melody anymore?

He drove around the parking lot until he spotted Dana’s car. 
God he was being such a stalker…he should leave...but not yet.
After parking his bike he debated which apartment was actually hers.  Taking a page from Chuck’s shady past he opened up the mailbox hanging next to the door of the first apartment closest to her car and pulled out an envelope.

Ms. D. Atkinson

Bingo.
  He knocked on the door and waited.  After several long seconds he knocked again.  He heard the chain on the door and the deadbolt give and the door opened slightly.  Dana peered out at him with red rimmed eyes.

“Invite me in if you don’t want the neighbors to see
,” he said.

“What?
  What are you doing here, Tommy?” she asked.

“Invite me in
, Dana,” he ordered as a yearning blaze seemed to consume him from the inside out.

“No…why?”
she said indignantly, pulling open the door a little further.

He grabbed her around the waist
pulling her outside and into his embrace, claiming her mouth with his own.  He’d thought about doing this again since the first time he’d done it.  By God she tasted good to him.

This kiss wasn’t slow and soft like the last time he’d kissed her.  It was almost brutal in its intensity
as if he was trying to devour her whole.  She was unprepared for the fire and passion that his mouth forced out of her.

“Open up for me Dana…let me in…I want to taste you
,” he said after releasing her lips briefly.

Capturing her mouth again with his own he backed her up against the door of her apartment and reaching behind her he opened the door
further and pushed her inside, never releasing her mouth.  Once inside he kicked the door closed behind them and wrapped his hands around her neck and continued his assault on her mouth.

He slid his hands to the sides of her blouse and pulled on it to un-tuck it from her pants.  She gasped against his mouth and his tongue invaded the opening that the sound
produced.  Sparks of heat spread to her belly and created an ache in her that was slowly growing into a fire.

“I want you…”
he said against her mouth.

Only one other guy had ever said those words to her…Jason Hemming...the night of her senior prom in high school.  She had been prepared to give him what he’d wanted that night.  He was the quarterback for the football team and she was…nobody. 

Unable to comprehend why he’d suddenly went from making fun of her for being too tall…too skinny…and too ugly, she’d fell for his kisses and hands on her body.  He would have gained from her what he wanted if she hadn’t heard the laughs from his teammates behind her and the click of a camera.

She’d known in her heart that Jason didn’t really like her but the cruelty of
the group of teens that night as they had taunted her while she ran from the hotel party, still haunted her some ten years later. 

Tommy was one of the cool guys too…the one the other girls wanted and who could have his pick from any of them. 
Why her?
  There had to be something else…he didn’t really want her either…
not like that.

“Stop it!”
she cried, pushing away from him and turning her back to him.

Only the sounds of their heavy breathing were heard for a long moment.  Then she heard him laugh and whirled around to him.  This time the joke would be on someone else…not her.

“You need to leave…now!” she ordered.

“Why?  I don’t get you… you act like you want me one minute and the next you’re shoving me away…why?”
he asked as the laugh faded on his lips.

“I know your type Tommy!  You use women to get what you want.  I’ve seen how other women look at you…the other teachers at work…the nurses at the hospital.  You are a playboy and I…you are not going to play me.  Now get out!”
she said heatedly.

“This is what he meant…” Tommy laughed in disbelief as he ran
a hand through his windblown hair and then down his face. 
God he looked good
…with his sandy blonde hair and brown eyes… the way he stood looking at her.

“What
?” she asked confused.

“Dickie…he told me once that messing around with all those women would come back to haunt me someday.  I hate it when that fucker’s right.  I had it coming and now here I am staring at the one thing I want more than anything else…
ever
…and can’t have,” he said.

“You don’t want me…not like
that.
  I’m not stupid Tommy… I know what I look like.  I have a mirror…and besides I don’t want you,” she lied as tears sprang to her eyes.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”
he asked, staring at her in disbelief. “I don’t want you…?”

With that he stalked towards her with
flames of desire burning in his eyes.  Stopping way too close to her he grabbed her hand and placed it against the bulge in his jeans and forced her fingers to feel the length of him through his clothes.

“Some things a man can’t fake.  Does that feel like I’m faking Dana?”
he asked angrily.

“You’re a man…”
she began.

Yanking her hand away from his pants he pulled her down the short hallway looking in doors as he went.  Finding what he was looking for he pulled her into
a bedroom and then dragged her over to the dresser and stood her in front of the mirror.

“You think you’re ugl
y Dana?” he asked between angry, heated breaths.

Dana refused to meet his eyes in the mirror as he stood directly behind her.

“Do you?” he asked again.

“Stop it Tommy…leave.”
she choked out.

“Let me show you one thing firs
t and then I will leave…I swear,” he said against the side of her neck as he stepped up so close to her that she could feel him along the entire length of her.

Taking her silence for consent
, he reached around her from behind and began slowly unbuttoning her blouse.  She could see him staring at her in the mirror even though she would not meet his gaze.  When he finished unbuttoning the shirt, he slowly slid it off her shoulders and down her arms and then tossed it to the side.

He spread his hands and fingers across her belly and slowly slid them up
until they cupped her breasts.  His touch was like a brand on her skin and sent shivers racing through her body and she closed her eyes, unable to control a breathless moan that escaped.

“Open your eyes Dana
,” he ordered.

He waited
until she again opened her eyes and then releasing one of her breasts, he reached around behind her and unfastened her bra with one hand gazing at her face in the mirror the whole time.  As the bra released he grabbed the middle front of it in his fist and pulled gently until it began to slide down her arms.  Pulling it away from her body he tossed it on top of the blouse that lay on the floor.

“Look at them
,” he ordered. “Beautiful…”

Again he slid his hands up her stomach to cover her breasts where he pulled at her nipples
while slowly scraping his teeth along her skin from the side of her neck to the tip of her shoulder where he placed an open mouthed kiss.  Dana’s knees felt like they would not hold her up much longer as the pull of his fingers on her taunt nipples created a throbbing sensation at the juncture of her thighs.

Glancing quickly at him
, she met his fiery gaze in the mirror.  He was watching her every expression and seemed to read her body’s needs as his hands left her breasts and trailed down her stomach to her pants.  He unsnapped and slowly unzipped her khakis as he ran his tongue from the tip of her shoulder back along the path his teeth had taken earlier. 

At her gasp he ran his hands along her ribs down into her pants and catching her panties with this thumbs
, he pushed down, forcing them over her hips and down her thighs.  He kept pushing her clothing until both pants and panties were around her knees.   She could see her exposed sex in the mirror.

“Tommy…” s
he moaned out hesitantly.

“Shh…”
he said against the skin of her shoulder blade.

Grasping her hips in his hands to hold her still, he ran his lips slowly down the middle of her back in one long open mouthed kiss until he reached the rounded curve of her bottom.  His hands released her hips and slid down the outside of her legs until he grasped hold of her clothing and pushed them down even more until they were around her ankles.

“Step out,” he ordered against the cheek of her bottom where he placed another hot, open mouthed kiss.

Pulling his hair with one of her hands in a feeble attempt to stop the torrent of sensations his heated breath on her naked skin
caused, she lifted one leg and he pushed the clothing off and then forced the other leg to step out as well.

He slowly slid his hands back up the outside of her legs until they again found her hips.  Grasping them tightly he stood back up and stared at her in the mirror…his gaze slowly sliding down the length of her body and stopping at the juncture of her thighs.

Dana moved her hands over the area to shield herself from the intensity of his gaze there.  He gathered a large mass of her hair in one of his hands and pushed it around to place it over one shoulder.  Grabbing the ends of a small section of hair, he brought it up and using it like a feather he ran it over her nipples, watching himself torment her in the mirror.