The Stranger (19 page)

“I know,” I said. “The killer tried to drown you.”

“My mother,” Summer said. “He killed her.”

Was she saying what I thought she was saying? “Look, baby.” I brushed her hair away from her face. “You’ve been through a lot tonight...”

“You don’t believe me.” Her fingers clutched my sleeve. “It’s true. He killed her!”

“But why?”

“Don’t know. But I was there. I saw him!”

“Are you sure he was the same man?”

“Positive,” she said, still shivering. “Need to tell you. Everything. What I saw.”

“You’re too tired now,” I said. “How about tomorrow?”

“Now,” she insisted. “Before I forget. Don’t want to forget.”

I knew how much she hated the fact that she couldn’t remember her sleepwalking episodes. I wasn’t sure what to make of all of this, but if it was important to her, then it was important to me. Slowly, hesitantly, as she warmed up, she described everything she’d seen while that son of a bitch tried to drown her.

The details. They were incredibly vivid. Her eyes were haunted. The story filled me with rage. Her voice cracked as she spoke, but she kept going and, when she was done, I was determined to look into every aspect for clues that would help us understand her mother’s death and find her would-be killer.

“If I forget,” she said, her temperature a lot warmer than before. “Will you remind me?”

“I’ve got it all here.” I tapped my temple. “Your story is safe. Now you need to rest. Tomorrow, we’ll work on this.”

I needed to think about everything she’d said. If her dreams were right, then the likelihood of Sergio De Havilland being involved in this dropped to almost zero. He would’ve been a kid back then. But the guy was a fucking troll and every time I heard his name, my hackles bristled. On the other hand, her dreams went way back to her childhood, which meant I had to take a look at the players back then. That is, if I found a way to confirm that Summer’s dreams were more than the sum of her fears and anxieties, true recollections.

I kissed the top of her head. “Christ, Summer, you’re the toughest girl I know. You shot the bastard. Did you get him?”

“Not sure.” Fear gleamed in her eyes. “Dangerous. He could still be around.”

“Got it,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

I secured the doors and windows, including the one I found broken in the bunkroom, the killer’s point of access. I borrowed some weapons from Anya’s case and loaded them with ammunition. I set the weapons next to the couch, chambered a bullet in my gun, refilled the water bottles, and replaced them.

“Are you still cold?” I asked.

She nodded. I stripped my clothes and, inserting myself between her and the back of the couch, pressed my body to hers. She still felt cold, but not icy like before. I rubbed her arms and massaged her fingers.

Lying next to her, I took a deep breath. My lungs could benefit from a stint of oxygen therapy just about now. Or maybe it was my heart underperforming, failing to send enough blood to power my brain. Hell, I’d almost lost her. I dipped my nose in her hair and inhaled her scent. She smelled like coconut ice cream.

“S-Seth?” she mumbled. “The hearing?”

“Anya and Ally made it.” I couldn’t believe she was half-frozen and yet worrying about me. “The case against me was dismissed.”

“Are you okay?”

No, I wasn’t okay. I was raving mad and fit to howl at the moon. I had too many blips on my radar. I wanted to rip into Alex and unmask his game. I wanted to yell at Summer for defying my instructions and risking her life. I wanted to lecture her on the dangers and shake her until her brain fell into the right slot in her thick skull. At the same time, I wanted to go out there and hunt the motherfucker who’d tried to kill her. He was gonna pay. I’d be waiting for him if he made the bad decision of returning here. I took a deep breath and tried to calm the rage within.

“Sleep now.” I hugged Summer against my body. “You need to rest.”

“Stay with me,” she mumbled. “Don’t go out there. Promise me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

She closed her eyes and, for the first time ever, did exactly as I said, at least for a little while.

* * *

A few hours later, in the depth of the night, Summer came awake. I knew because I’d been watching, taking her pulse, monitoring her breathing, estimating her temperature. I’d just taken her off the IV when her gaze fell on me.

“How’re you feeling?” I said.

“I can feel every part of me.” She turned on the couch and laid her head on my shoulder. “That’s good, right?”

“Very good,” I said. “Are you still cold?”

“A little.”

“Let me get you some more tea.”

“No more tea.” She tilted up her face and kissed me. “The only thing I need is you.”

Her kiss jolted me to the core. My body stiffened beneath her touch. Every part of me relished those lips. My cock jerked with instant need.

“Wait a minute.” I broke away from her mouth. “What’s this all about?”

“You’re not going to believe me,” she said. “The bear made it clear.”

I narrowed my gaze on her. “The bear again?”

“It spoke like my mom. It spoke like my dad too. It told me not to waste this opportunity.”

“Opportunity?”

“Us.”

She kissed me again and for the first time in hours, the panic encasing my heart began to crack. She was alive. She was well. And she was in my arms. I could deal with the rest.

I had to make a huge effort to break off the kiss. “Maybe you were sleepwalking.”

“I wasn’t asleep,” she said, “but I don’t think I was awake either. I was in a state in between, a place of heightened awareness. My dad was right. For years I’ve locked my fears in and the future out. I couldn’t trust anyone. It wasn’t the life I wanted, but it was the only life I thought I could have. And then you came into my life. The bear said... Oh, my God. I sound nuts. Please, forget it.”

“I don’t want to forget it,” I said. “Explain.”

She took a deep breath. “The bear spoke like you too, and I could feel you were already with me, in here.” She tapped her chest over her heart. “Last night, I understood what I haven’t had the courage to admit.”

“What’s that?”

“That I already trust you.”

With those simple words, she blew up my world. My heart boomed in my chest. Confirmation.
She
trusted
me
.

“So,” she said, sliding her hand beneath the covers. “I’m not wasting any time, Erickson, and neither are you.”

I caught her hand in mine. “Inasmuch as I really dig your newfound philosophy, we’re not doing this right now. You’re not well and I won’t wake up tomorrow to tears. I can’t handle that, not ever again.”

“I’m fine.” She pushed herself up on her elbow and kissed me, enveloping my senses with the simple touch of her lips. The lethal combination of her desire and my need flattened my objections. Her hand brushed over my belly, sank to my groin and wrapped around my sex.

“Wait.” I stammered like a fool. “I found you half-frozen to hell not five hours ago.”

“I feel good.” She stroked me until I could barely think. “I learned on the Discovery Channel that vigorous activity helps with moderate hypothermia.”

“Not this kind of activity.”

“Precisely this sort of blood-pumping activity.”

“Summer Silva, you’re breaking your own rules.”

“Good.” She kissed my neck, my chest, my belly and pushed the blankets aside to kiss the tip of my cock. “Because I don’t need them silly rules anymore.”

She traced my cock with her tongue, unleashing chaos in me. I groaned and shuddered, raked by waves of overpowering need. Shit. I was losing this argument and I knew it, but still, I tried to hang back because I had promised myself that, the next time, it was going to be perfect.

“How about we wait till we get home tomorrow?” I said in a strangled voice.

“No more waiting,” she said in between playful licks, her voice determined, her eyes fast on my face. “I’m awake. Fully awake. That was your first condition, was it not?”

I croaked. “Yes?”

“On to your second condition.” She kept hold of my cock as she came up on her elbows. “You said you’d wait until I asked you. Right?”

“Right.”

“Well then.” She threw her leg over my thighs and straddled my hips. “Seth Erickson? I’m asking.”

She was stunning. Illuminated by the light of the fire, she rose above me, long legs bent at either side of me, back straight, proud, beautiful breasts enticing me with a succulent offer of deliciously stiff nipples. She settled over my cock and rubbed herself up and down my erection, oiling me with her need, provoking me with her passion. Her eyes were bright with desire, but not translucent or glazed. I wanted to pinch myself. Instead, I pinched her, a quick nip on her bum.

“Ouch!” She flinched and rubbed her ass. “What was that for?”

“Just making sure you’re really awake.”

“I’m awake,” she said. “I’m very awake.”

The smile wavered on her face. The light flickered in her eyes. Doubts clouded her gaze and for an instant, I glimpsed the vulnerabilities that haunted one of the strongest women I’d ever met.

Her lower lip trembled. “Do you not want me anymore?”

Had I heard right? Was she really asking me if
I
wanted
her
?

She had no clue of the effect she had on me, no idea of the power she had over me. She didn’t know that over the last few days, I’d gotten used to living in a constant state of lust. She didn’t understand that beyond wanting her, I wanted to consume her like the air I inhaled into my lungs and convert her into the oxygen that powered my life. She had no idea that she already circulated through my bloodstream and pumped through my heart, fully integrated into my biology.

I threw my head back and laughed. She looked down on me, startled, and yet I couldn’t stop laughing. The irony of my situation was almost too much to bear. I’d been craving this woman like a goddamn addict since day one. I’d flown through a superstorm to get to her. And now she wondered if I wanted her?

“Summer Silva,” I said. “I want you all right. I don’t care if you walk in your sleep. I don’t care if you have visions in your dreams. I’ve wanted you since the day I met you. But you’ve got to know that. On the other hand, you better be damn sure about this, because I don’t know what will happen if I get another taste of you.”

“I know.” Her lips shifted into a warm, caring, trusting smile. “I want you in me right now.”

It was the same thing she’d said to me that first time, only she was awake now. It was the moment I’d been dreaming about since our first night together. No more waiting.

I lifted her off my hips at the same time I got to my knees. In one swift motion, I scooted her to the end of the couch and, pressing her back against the upholstered arm, parted her legs.

She squealed. “What are you doing?”

“This time, we’re doing it
my
way.”

I perched her heel on the back of the couch and planted her other foot on the floor. She tried to press her knees together, but I rumbled.

“Don’t you dare close your legs on me.” I kissed her knee and then planted a row of little kisses along her thigh’s soft underside. I met her wide eyes and smirked. “When you wake up tomorrow, you’ll have exactly zero regrets.”

“Oh, my God!” She gasped when my lips landed on her clit and my tongue dipped between her folds. “Oh, please, God help me.”

Her nails dug on the cushions as I tasted her body’s handcrafted brew. She was almost too modest for my appetite. I bore down on her until I had her drenched and squirming on the couch, back arched, legs flexed, hip bones jutting, fingers entwined through my hair.

“Seth!” She gasped. “Stop, I’m going to come!”

“Not yet, baby,” I mumbled, mouth full of her taste. “In a moment.”

“Ooh.” She moaned when I thumbed her opening. “What are you doing?”

“I want to give you something to come on.” She was moist but she was also skittish, high-strung, and tight.

“I want you,” she rasped. “You!”

“Oh, you’re going to get a whole lot of me.” I smiled between her legs, heady with her sexual scent, drunk with her flavors. “But first, I want to watch you come.”

I stroked her while I worked my tongue over her clit. It puckered between my lips like a tiny nipple. Her breath quickened. A quiet whimper drifted out of her lips, a sound that combined agony and bliss and made me mad with want. I ached to be in her body.

“Come on, baby,” I murmured, rubbing her spot. “Come for me.”

Her entire body contracted around my finger in a convulsive fit. It was just like the first time, quiet but intense. The little vein popped up on her neck. The flush expanded from her face, blushing her skin and traveling down to her chest, where her breasts swelled with the force of her breaths and her nipples stabbed at the air. The shudders that racked her body rattled her limbs and deepened the curve of her back as her body bent backward over the arm of the couch in a sublime pose. A moan rumbled in the back of her throat and escaped her lips as I watched her, enthralled.

Her pleasure shoved me to the edge of my need. My blood roared in my ears and my cock turned granite hard. I waited until she collapsed on the couch and, keeping her legs apart, knelt in between. She moaned when I slid into her.

“I know you’re really sensitive right now.” I braced myself above her and kissed her. “I want to take advantage of that.”

My cock glided into her deliciously lathered body, widening her as it went. Fuck, she felt as good as I remembered—no, better. It was as if her pussy had been configured to my specs. She opened her mouth to my tongue and I double-dipped, enjoying her body’s silkiest surfaces and her depths’ exquisite moisture.

She wrapped her legs around me and ran her hands over my back with greed that matched mine. Her affection enveloped me like a thermal blanket. Her fingertips brushed over my scars. Her touch felt fantastic to my skin. No longer was any part of me numb or tight or prickly. On the contrary, every one of my cells was renewed with a fresh kind of thrill.

“This is just the beginning,” I murmured.