Stay (8 page)

He pulled her in close and held on tight, wishing in that instant that their bodies could be fused together. He poured all that he was feeling into their kiss, not knowing exactly how to express himself with words. But he would touch her, cherish her body with his hands and mouth, he’d pleasure her until she was spent on the bed. He wanted her pussy soaking wet, her taste on his mouth and her juice damp on the sheets. Oh, he’d take her hard and show her that she was his. She offered herself up to him willingly with a soft moan, scraping her nails against his back causing him to shudder.

She pulled the T-shirt he was wearing over his head and he helped her before tossing it aside. He pulled the dress she was wearing over her head. She was so damn soft in all the right places. She made him hard just touching her skin and tasting her lips. He always had the best intentions of making slow love to her but by the time she started those sexy little noises, Hart was lost.

Their touches and kisses became more heated, but he continued to take his time even though his blood was boiling to take her. He kissed and nibbled down her body until his lips reached the moistness of her pussy. He found her already slick with arousal. He gave the velvety soft lips a long, slow lick before sucking on the tender bud of her clit. He loved it when her body bowed up off the bed. A little cry escaped her lips and he groaned in delight as a gush of feminine juice escaped her sex.

Hart sunk his tongue into her pussy tasting her essence greedily. She writhed and whimpered under his touch. Making her come had become a pleasurable addiction. Hart took his time, slowly tasting her sex. He drove her to the brink and then cooled her ardor with soft kisses only to bring her back to the brink again. He continued in this way until even he couldn’t stop the release that erupted from her. She turned her face into the pillow to stifle her cries. Hart moved to lie next to her and took the soft noises she made into his mouth as he kissed her.

“I love your taste,” he whispered.

“Oh, God, Lieutenant, yes. I forget everything, including my name, when you do that,” she said breathlessly.

“Damn, that sounded so good on your lips,” Hart muttered.

His long fingers took over where his mouth left off. Hart slowly circled her wet flesh with his thumb and smiled in anticipation as she moved against his hand, seeking more. He gave her what she wanted and slid them deep inside her, suddenly wrenching his name from her lips. He was rocked by arousal watching her clutch the sheets as he fucked her hard with his fingers. She called his name urgently as she came and he felt her release on his hand. He couldn’t stand it any longer; he needed to feel her from the inside. He groaned as he eased into her and felt the walls of her pussy clutch his cock. Ah, fuck, the world could crack in half and he wouldn’t care right now.

“From behind, remember?” she moaned.

“God, yes.”

Hart moved and watched as she got on her hands and knees on the bed. Her ass was high in the air and her swollen, wet lips were exposed to him. Heat washed over him and he couldn’t take it slow any longer. Hart positioned himself behind her and thrust his hard cock into the warm confines of her pussy.

“Oh, fuck,” he couldn’t help the words that escaped from behind his gritted teeth.

She arched sensuously and pushed back against his cock and moaned as she repeated the movement over and over again. Hart grabbed her hips and began to pound himself inside her, letting primal need overtake and consume him. He growled deep in his chest and his control snapped. He unleashed the hold he put on himself and drove himself deep into her over and over again. She pushed back to meet his every thrust, and to Hart it felt like the bliss of heaven and the heat of hell all at once. She screamed into the pillow as she climaxed over and over again. As her pussy milked his cock, he felt his balls tighten as his release beckoned.

“God, Crystal, yes,” Hart moaned. His body tensed as he pumped into her, his release was intense and he emptied himself inside her.

Hart didn’t want him to move, still buried inside her and feeling her pussy tremble around him. He heard her sigh in disappointment when he finally moved to lie beside her. But he never wanted to be far from Crystal. Hart wanted to smell her skin and listen to her breathe as she slept so he gathered her close to him. They laid facing each other, lips almost touching, and the rhythm of their breathing almost in unison. Crystal reached up and caressed his face and Hart opened his eyes to look at her. He saw so much in those beautiful chocolate eyes that he committed this moment to memory. Wrapped in her arms, he wanted time to stand still. If this was a dream and all he was experiencing was a figment of his imagination, he’d have to face the disappointment of waking up.

“Stay,” she whispered, looking at him.

The word that could change everything that he knew, his entire world. Was he ready? Hart was not a man who ran away from anything hard. His entire life from childhood to present day had been nothing but rocky road and thorn bushes. Being with Crystal could only enhance his life. He wanted to stay but unable to say the words quite yet, Hart only nodded and pulled her into his arms. She whispered his name and kissed his shoulder. God, he wanted to be the one, the man of her dreams, the one both she and her daughter needed. He was in turmoil over his feelings. The bike rider who loved the open road, the ass kicker, the loner wanted a family. But the cynic in him said that these kinds of relationships very rarely worked out. Did he dare try?

Finally there was some resolution to the situation, or so Crystal thought. One night Jim came home with some federal agents who took their statements and the final piece of the puzzle would be in place. She told them exactly what had been going on for months, what happened at her motel and all she had to deal with. Kaydee chimed in and Hart told his story as well, including the fights. He sat next to her and their fingers were laced while they spoke to the agents. It was a nice feeling to have someone to lean on and to offer their support. She noticed the part for his motorcycle arrived a few days before and it still sat in the box. Nearly a week after all accounts were taken in from then and residents in Honeywell and paperwork written up, a clean sweep of Honeywell had begun. All the information Jim had compiled held locations of where the Deuces’ biker gang liked to frequent, from bars to local sordid places.

They were raided and taken in, including the crooks in the sheriff’s office. Jim was there to tell them how it all went down when the federal agents walked in. Men he worked with were taken out in cuffs. He was the one with seniority so the town government put him on as interim sheriff. The only problem is that there was one loose end. Sheriff Layton was not among the men arrested. Hart feared that he was probably well out of town by now, heading as far away from Honeywell as he could get. But both he and Jim thought that Layton would be caught eventually.

And for the first time in the long time, Crystal didn’t feel the gut-wrenching fear that came with living in Honeywell. The arrests were on everyone’s tongue in the small town, but another thing happened. People felt free to live their lives again. She saw faces that had become drawn and guarded share a rare smile. Crystal realized that they had all been held hostage for too long.

Now the matter at hand was her and Hart’s relationship. Would he stay or would he leave? She didn’t know and while she didn’t want to push him, she had a life to live for herself and her daughter. There was no holding pattern for her when it came to love. Yes, she loved him, but could she live a life without a semblance of a permanent relationship? No, she could not. She had been there, done that.

Kaydee was inside coloring and Lyn was watching her in the kitchen. Crystal took that time to go find Hart so they could talk. While she didn’t want to have the conversation, it had to be done. She found him in front of the garage working on his bike. He was wearing a tank shirt and those faded well-worn jeans he loved. She stopped to memorize his face for a minute, in case this was the last time she saw him.

He looked up with a smile when she stepped closer. “Hey, babe, how are you?”

“I’m good.” She gave a small laugh. “I actually feel normal and happy for a change. It’s been a long time since any of us felt normal.”

“That’s great. Where’s Sparkles?” Hart asked. She smiled at his use of the nickname he’d given Kaydee.

“She’s coloring with Lyn.” Crystal hesitated before speaking again. “I took the free time to come out and talk to you.”

“About?”

He said the word carefully, not meeting her eyes. He knew what she wanted to talk about, but his evasiveness didn’t give her hope.

“The solar eclipse,” she snapped and then sighed. “Us.”

“Us as in?”

“Don’t be a jerk. I asked you to stay and you nodded but that was it. It’s all over now—the danger, the stress, and, hell, your bike part doohickey is here. Where are we going? What is our plan? What’s your plan? The list could go on.”

“I’m still working it out,” he admitted. “I’m putting the doohickey in as we speak.”

“Really? So what does that mean for us exactly?” Crystal asked. “I got the loan for the house and I plan to buy one of the ones I looked at soon. Kaydee will be in school and I plan to renovate the motel. With everything that has happened, I have decided to set firm decisions in my life from now on.”

“Well, in my life I never had to think about anyone but myself,” he retorted. “So now I have to go by your rules and you get to push me toward choices I may not be ready to make?”

“I have responsibilities.” She pointed to the door. “The main one is in there.”

Hart stood and ran his hand over his head and rubbed the back of his neck before meeting her gaze.

“You need to give me time, Crystal. This is all new to me.”

“Is it? Because your family is all put together and happy you said and it’s not like you were raised by wolves.” She retorted and sighed suddenly feeling very defeated. “This isn’t new to me. I’ve lived this before. Do what you have to do, Hart. I’m going to the motel. I want to start getting things set in motion for the renovation. Kaydee and I deserve the best and by the time you realize that it may be too late.”

“I’ll go with you,” Hart said.

“The town is clear now, I’ll be fine.” Crystal refused to let tears fall. “I’m accustomed to taking care of me and mine. This is nothing new.”

She turned away and walked back toward the house. Lyn looked up, saw her face and frowned.

“Mommy, look, I drew a monkey in the yard of our new house,” Kaydee said excitedly. “I’m hoping we can get a pet monkey.”

“I don’t think so.” Crystal pasted a smile on her face even though she felt like crying on the inside. For her daughter, she’d take any kind of pain and do anything to see her happy.

“Maybe Hart can help me train it,” Kaydee went on as if Crystal hadn’t said no.

“We’ll see, baby. Maybe a puppy instead,” Crystal offered and said quickly, “A small one.”

Kaydee squealed and started to dance around.

“Can you watch her for me? I need to go to the motel,” Crystal asked Lyn over her daughter’s happy dance.

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing important to work on today,” Lyn answered. “Honey, are you okay?”

“I’ll learn to be. I’m good at that.” Crystal smiled and bent to kiss her daughter’s head. “I’ll be back in a bit, and then we can pick names for the puppy. You make a list.”

Kaydee wrapped her arms around Crystal’s legs and squeezed. “I’ll pick good names, I promise, Mommy. I love you so much!”

“I love you too.” Crystal kissed the top of her daughter’s curls. “You girls don’t have too much fun without me.”

She took up her purse and keys and walked out into the sunshine. This time she didn’t see Hart in the driveway and was very glad for that. Crystal got into her car and drove toward the place she built from scratch. She would focus on the renovations, moving into a home with Kaydee, and the new paths her life would take. But each time Hart entered her mind, she wanted to cry because she had fooled herself into thinking he was good for her.
You knew the first time you fell into his bed that happily ever after wasn’t guaranteed,
she chided herself. But she wanted to believe in him and in love so badly that she looked past the obvious flaws in her plan. She wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings so when she walked into the motel and was grabbed around the neck she was caught by surprise.

“Stop struggling. I have a knife at your throat.”

It was Sheriff Layton’s voice and his breath against her face stank of old whiskey. The bastard never left town, instead hiding out in the place they’d least expect.

“This is all your fault, you know.” He talked as he dragged her back to the room he had been hiding in “You and that dick soldier and Jim…oh, that one is going to feel my anger.” He pushed her into the room and locked the door. “Sit down and don’t try nothing.”

Crystal was thinking frantically. No one would miss her for hours and by that time he could have her out of Honeywell or worse dead. Hell, she wouldn’t let him touch her in any way, that was for sure. She’d fight him to the death.

“I can help you escape. I can get you money,” Crystal said.

“I’ve got enough of that. You think the Deuces didn’t pay me well?” Sheriff Layton yelled.

“Listen, I forgot to tell Lyn Kaydee’s medicine dosage. If I don’t call and she can’t get a hold of me, she will call in the cavalry,” Crystal said. “She’s sick.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said.

“If you don’t let me call she’ll call Jim and the Feds and they will raid this place,” Crystal explained. “I don’t want to see you shot.”

“You know none of this would have happened if you’d have just taken my protection,” Sheriff Layton practically whined. He waved his hand with the knife in it. “Go ahead, call Lyn and the kid.”

She pulled her phone from the bag. If she called the police he’d have her throat slit before they even got there. So she derived a plan quickly and hoped it worked.

Lyn answered. “Hey, lady. You’re calling a bit quick aren’t you? I haven’t even got to the point where I spoil her dinner yet.”