Witness (3 page)

“Fuck his brains out, then leave before he can kick you out,” she said as if it was no big deal.

“Not my style. You do it.”

“Oh, no, he asked me to help get you to his table so he could talk to you. He isn’t interested in me,” she said, then let out a wistful sigh. “If he was, we’d already have plans for tonight. Like right after I got off, I’d be getting off.”

I laughed. “Gross.”

“You just haven’t gotten laid in so long, you’ve forgotten how good it feels,” she announced a little too loud for my comfort, and I glanced around to see who might have overheard. To my complete mortification, Eric was silently laughing. Even if his eyes were on the plate of food in front of him, I knew he’d heard.

“Whatever. Get back to work,” I groaned and went to check on one of my tables in order to escape. Would this day never end?

I was way too excited by the time the night shift showed up. The day had seemed to drag, especially when Eric had left without another word to me, but he had left Demara all over my ass about trying to hook up with him the next time he came in.

“Thank you for staying even though you weren’t happy about it. I appreciate it,” Mark told me before I walked out the back door with my bag.

Once in my car, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. Time to make a choice.

Had I overreacted when I first saw Eric? After seeing him again and speaking to him, I really thought that perhaps I had. Part of me was glad that Aaron had inadvertently kept me from leaving. Part of me still thought that I should go anyway. I had been in the same place for a while, and maybe it would be safer if I moved about a bit. There was a number programmed into my cell phone that I could call if I needed to talk to someone from the FBI, but I was afraid it’d only draw attention from Michele and his cronies. Then again, they had gotten me out in the first place. I hadn’t had contact since I’d testified against Michele, and I really didn’t want to risk it.

There was a tiny chance he’d forgotten about me and wasn’t looking for me anymore. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Men like him didn’t just forget, not when it was their wife. Not when it had been the woman who’d been in their life for seven years that testified about a murder they’d witnessed them commit, which ended up in them getting a life sentence. He’d never be getting out of jail, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t still have contacts on the outside that would seek out his revenge.

I shivered at the thought and decided that I was too tired to make such an important decision. After pulling out, I drove to my apartment. The laundry and grocery shopping I normally got done would just have to wait. After a little nap, I could tackle those tasks and think things through some more.

I parked in my normal spot, retrieved my bag from the backseat and slid my gun into the back of my pants. As I climbed out, I was surprised to see Sheriff Aaron slowly driving by.

“Hi there,” he said with a wave.

I nodded at him and turned away; I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. After locking the front door and putting the quilt and chair in place, I dropped the bag and kicked off my shoes. All I wanted was to get to my bed and pass out for a few hours.

However, all thoughts of sleep fled my brain when I noticed the window in my room was open and the curtain was blowing in the slight breeze.

“Don’t scream,” Eric’s deep voice spoke softly right next to my ear as a thick arm wrapped around my waist and a hand slid over my mouth.

Chapter Two

Every muscle in my body painfully tensed. My heart hammered. Air froze in my lungs. I couldn’t make myself move for a long moment, until time seemed to unpause and everything came whirling back in real time.

I sucked in a breath around his hand and blinked rapidly to moisten my eyes that’d dried from being open for too long. Slowly, I managed to ease my body back into a relaxed state, even if I was still mentally ready to pounce. All I needed was a chance. A single second that I’d been waiting years for.

“If I move my hand, are you going to stay quiet? Or do I need to gag you?” Eric whispered.  I nodded my head to the former and shook it to the latter. The last thing I wanted to deal with was something shoved in my mouth. Heaven knew what he’d use, anyway.

Cautiously, his hand slid off my mouth bit by bit. As soon as the arm around my waist started to loosen, I spun around and kneed him right in the balls before jumping back. He managed to grab onto the bottom of my shirt to keep me from going far while he grunted and glared at me, his free hand holding his groin.

I pulled the gun from the back of my jeans and pointed it right at his head in a steady grip.

“Let me go,” I demanded, jamming the muzzle against his forehead.

“No,” he said, even though he barely had a grip on my shirt.

“What are you, suicidal?” I jabbed him again, harder than before. “I will shoot you, motherfucker.”

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, letting go of my shirt and dropping to his knees as if to display he wasn’t going to launch himself at me. I didn’t trust him, no matter what stance he was in.

“Then why are you here?” I asked, stepping back farther from him, but staying close enough to keep the gun pressed to his skin.

“To warn you.” He held up both his hands to show he was unarmed. Again, it did nothing to placate me.

“About what? You are the only stranger in this town. The only one I need to be wary of.”

“You are mistaken, and I’d really appreciate it if you’d take that gun away from my head.” He emphasized his point by pushing at the barrel with his head. “If I wanted to harm you, I would’ve already done so.”

“I surprised you. That is why you haven’t touched me,” I said, not lowering the gun an inch.

“You certainly surprised me, but that is
not
why.” He lowered his hands to rest at his side. “I could take you down in a second.”

I wanted to challenge his cockiness, but I also didn’t want him to prove me wrong. However, having a gun on him did give me the advantage, no matter what he said.

Faster than I could follow, Eric moved and had me on my back with my gun in his hand, pointed at my head, and his body pressing mine to the ground. His knees trapped my arms to my side, effectively holding me captive.

“What was that, princess?” He smirked at me. “Never underestimate hired gunmen.”

I swallowed hard.

“So you admit it. You are here to kill me,” I said in a hoarse whisper. I knew it. I should’ve run when I’d had the chance.

“I may or may not have been hired to take care of a pesky problem from a few years ago. That doesn’t mean I will fulfill my contract. I’m more interested in finding out who ratted you out than I am in taking your life.” He straightened and handed me back the gun, butt first.

I reached a shaking hand out and took it then set it down on the nightstand.

“Why?” I asked, frowning. None of it made sense.

“Because while I might be neck deep in an undercover operation with the mob, I am still an FBI agent. Someone in this little town reached out to your ex and let him know where you could be found. They even offered to do the job for a price, but Michele didn’t trust anyone but one of his men to do it right. Now the FBI wants to find out who in this little town wants to get in cahoots with the mafia.” Eric brushed off and readjusted his shirt so he looked perfect again, as if he hadn’t just had his life threatened or held a gun to someone’s head. “This is supposed to be a safe place, and if this person went to the mob letting them know about you, who knows what else they are willing to do?”

“And you are telling me this, why? Why wasn’t I just contacted and moved again? I don’t care who it is; I want to get as far away from here as possible if someone is telling Michele where I am. It’s the only way I’ll survive,” I spouted off the things I’d been told by my FBI handler after I testified.

“Because until we find out who this person is, we don’t know what they know or if they will follow you if you leave. There are a lot of variables, and it’s safer to keep you where we know we can keep you safe than drag you off somewhere where there will be a whole bunch of new threats to deal with.” He moved to the curtains still blowing in the breeze and closed the window. “You will now have a shadow twenty-four-seven. You may not see me, but I’ll be there until we figure out who else seems to have an unhealthy interest in you. This won’t be over until we know who is behind this.”

“No one is after me here! Trust me. I’ve kept an eye out. There is no one here who even cares where I am.” I sighed as I tried to run through my average day. Sitting on the edge of my bed, I recounted everyone for him. “Mark, my boss, but that's only because he makes my schedule and needs me to cover for other girls sometimes. Sheriff Aaron, but that’s sort of his job, right? You know, know what everyone is up to and what they are doing. The girls at the dinner. Those are the only people I see on a normal basis. I suppose if you include the patrons of the diner… hell, but then that’d be the whole town.”

“Exactly,” he said with a tight smile.

“Shit,” I breathed the word out, barely audible. I jumped up off the mattress. “Wait, where will you be staying? What if they send someone else? How long did they give you to off me? What if this unknown person has also been given the green light? Explain to me again why I shouldn’t be packing my shit and disappearing in the middle of the night.”

I was pacing and frantically running my hands over my head. A new thought occurred to me.

“How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you won’t kill me the first time I turn my back on you?” This was such a fucking mess. I should’ve shot him when I had my gun on him and ran right then. Instead, I fell for his explanation, and now I was more paranoid than ever.

Eric was there, wrapping his arms around me, drawing me close until we were chest to chest, or face to chest, since he was so much taller than me.

“Breathe. Take a couple of deep breaths,” he suggested, running a hand up and down my back. Once I released air slowly through my nose, he smiled softly at me. “There you go.”

Suddenly, my heart was racing for a totally different reason. All the adrenaline rushing through my body was looking for a release, and being wrapped in a strong, capable man’s arms had my body tuning into things I hadn’t noticed before.

How comforting it was to be wrapped in such a large, hard body that could easily hurt, yet was tenderly rubbing my back. Hard, deadly eyes that had become clear and soothing. A tender smile that only enhanced how handsome he was. Suddenly, I wasn’t panicking at all, but was focused entirely on the man comforting me.

Something about how he was holding me, looking at me, made me lean in and seal my lips over his. It was a bad idea. A very bad idea, but I couldn’t seem to make myself stop. If he was going to kill me, he might as well get it over with.

However, instead of pulling back or pushing me away, he groaned softly and yanked me flush against him as his hands held firmly onto my hips.

What started as a soft press of lips became a long, chaste kiss. I could feel how tense he was, but I could also feel the hard, swollen flesh in his pants nudging my abdomen through his jeans.

Eric pulled back and looked right into my eyes for a drawn-out moment before kissing me again. This time, his hand slipped into my hair, holding my head to his as he devoured me. His tongue demanded entry by gliding across my lips, and I granted it. Our tongues clashed as his hips ground into mine.

His free hand slipped under my shirt to slide up my bare back until he found my bra strap, which he unclasped easily, then followed it around until he could push the cup out of the way. His fingertips teased my distended nipples, causing me to moan and arch into him.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the warmth building between my thighs. It’d been so long since anyone had touched me in such a way. So long since I’d let my walls down for even a fraction of a second. I didn’t completely believe what he’d told me; however, I found that I simply didn’t care. I’d been struggling with my life and was so tired of having to be
on
all the time. All I wanted was to be able to hand over the responsibility of looking over my shoulder for just a few moments while I relieved some stress.

My hands dropped to Eric’s waist, and I traced the top of his jeans until I found the button. Flicking it open, I started to drop to my knees, but Eric used his grip on my breast to keep me from going anywhere.

“No.” The single word came out as a rough growl.

Before I could question him, his hands were on my ass, lifting me off the floor. My legs wound around his narrow hips as he carried me to the bed. None too gently, he dropped me on the mattress before quickly yanking his shirt over his head, and then finished releasing his engorged cock.

I licked my lips, zeroing in on the beautiful specimen in front of me. I wanted to feel all of that in my mouth, sliding all the way to the back of my throat so I could gag on it, while his hands held me still so he could fuck it even deeper.

“What are you thinking about, beautiful?” Eric asked as his hand roamed up and down his shaft slowly.

“How much I want to suck on your dick,” I answered without thinking to filter or hold back. It was past the time to play coy and shy. I was turned on and didn’t want to play any stupid games.

“What’s stopping you?” He smirked at me, still stroking himself.

I moved to kneel on the bed, then bent forward to take him between my lips as I pushed my ass out behind me, curving my back and using one hand for support against the mattress.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” he groaned, running a hand down my back as far as he could reach before moving it back up to fist in my hair.

I sucked him down as deep as I could and then slid off him to look up at him.

“Fuck my mouth,” I said before flicking my tongue over the tip of his cock.

His other hand joined the first one in my hair, and then he held me in place, using his hips to thrust into my mouth.

Hearing his groans and feeling the strength he was withholding had me getting wet and moving side to side on my knees, trying to find a way to get some friction against my aching clit.

“Stop wiggling,” he demanded, and I stopped my desperate movements.  His palm came down on my ass, making sure I knew he was serious, or that’s what I assumed it meant. I wasn’t into being slapped, so I would try to avoid more.

His hands started pulling my head forward as his hips thrust, shoving his dick deeper than he’d been going before, and I gagged around him, but he didn’t stop. He pulled back then slammed back in, and I gagged again.

“Every time you gag, it makes it get so fucking tight around the head,” he said, letting me know why he kept doing it when obviously it wasn’t comfortable for him to be doing it. I wanted his whole length in my mouth, every inch, but he was so long, I couldn’t do it without gagging, so I didn’t mind at all.

Just when he started getting a little rougher than I was comfortable with, he roughly jerked from my mouth and shoved me back on the bed. His hands clawed at my pants until they were finally gone, and he immediately dove for my pussy, not bothering to take my panties off, but simply pushing them aside.

“Oh!” I nearly screamed when his tongue rapidly flicked against my clit over and over. Two fingers were shoved into me, and I arched up off the bed as pleasure sparked through every inch of my body. I felt like I was on fire. My orgasm ran full speed toward the edge, and I needed it to arrive before he decided to stop his delectable torture. Then his fingers curled upward and bumped against my g-spot, and I was gone.