Peppermint Creek Inn (16 page)

The excruciating vise grip around her belly tightened. She bit down on her lower lip to prevent from screaming. She tasted blood. Blinding hot tears washed away the slicing cold numbness on her cheeks.

“I miscarried,” Sara didn’t even recognize her own voice. It sounded dead. Devoid of any emotion…

She shivered.

Tom’s warm hands clamped reassuringly around hers.

“I don’t know how long I laid on the freezing ground. But sometime later through the haze of pain, I heard a gunshot. I knew—I knew he was dead. Everything around that time and after is foggy. Jumbled. My mother-in-law—she died of a massive stroke that night when they told her the news. The murderer finished my husband by shooting him point-blank in the forehead. And to make matters worse that final bullet was never found.”

Tom shuddered violently, but she continued. “If I hadn’t left him…hadn’t tried to move him…”

“Don’t ever think that way. You had no other choice but to move him. You had to stop the bleeding and you had to leave him to get help. Don’t you see that?”

Gently he tilted her chin, forcing her to look into his emerald green eyes. “Don’t blame yourself. The killer is to blame. That’s why we have to find him.”

His voice suddenly took on a professional-like tone. “What do you mean by ‘the bullet was missing’?”

“They couldn’t find a bullet. It went clean…”

Shit!

She couldn’t go on. She couldn’t say out loud that the second bullet had gone clean through Jack’s head, killing him instantly.

“It’s okay. I think I get the picture,” he said soothingly. “I know it’s difficult. You don’t have to answer any more questions.”

“Please, I want to. I need to talk about it.”

He inhaled deeply, slowly, and then nodded in agreement.

“Okay. You said the lights went out at the same time as the phone?”

“That’s right.”

“And you saw something at the window.”

Sara shook her head. “I saw something move and a glint. I can’t be sure it was even a person. It was too tall. Maybe it was a weird reflection of lightning against the glass.”

“Which window?”

“The west side, it’s the only one on that side of the building.”

“How about the cigarette smoke? Did you tell the police about the cigarette smoke?”

“Yes, but they couldn’t find any evidence of anyone smoking. No cigarette butt, no matches or anything to prove any intruders had even been there. That’s when the rumors started flying. People said I made up the cigarette smoke and the glint in the window to throw suspicion off myself.”

“People say crazy things when they’re scared, Sara. But first thing in the morning, I’m going to take a look through that cabin and the ruins of Peppermint Creek Inn to see if I can’t find something the cops missed. In the meantime, I want you to take your room tonight. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No, please, stay in my room. I’ve already got a nice toasty fire going in there for you and some clean sheets. Besides, I’ve still got some things that I need to do before turning in. I’d only keep you up and you look like you can barely keep your eyes open.”

“It’s still lightning out. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for caring.”

It seemed as if he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.

“Good night, then.” He smiled and headed down the hallway to her room.

“Good night,” she whispered as she heard the door quietly click closed.

Sometime around two in the morning, the storm finally hit. Thunder cracked intensely overhead rousing Tom from a deep sleep. The mattress shuddered under the brutal force of nature, and in a split second, he jumped out of bed. With her fear of storms, Sara would be frightened. He needed to check on her, reassure her everything was going to be okay.

Quickly he donned his underwear and made his way into the living room.

Silvery streaks of rain pounded against the glass panes and white lightning flickered constantly at the windows giving him a good view of the room.

To his surprise, she wasn’t awake as he’d expected.

She was fast asleep.

And totally naked.

Tom blew out a ragged breath.

Was he having a sex dream? He almost pinched himself to make sure, but decided against it. This was one sex dream he wanted to keep going.

Allowing his hungry gaze to wander over every seductive curve of her gorgeous body, he found himself trembling with lust. Found himself wanting to smooth his hands over her silky plump breasts again, to caress her flat stomach, kiss her slightly rounded abdomen…

He swore softly.

The sheets and comforters were tangled in her feet, but her long legs were spread wide enough to give him an awesome view of her welcoming bare pussy. Fire zipped a scorching blaze through the thick length of his steel-hard cock and he shifted uncomfortably.

This wasn’t right watching her while she was asleep.

For all he knew, he was married and this was wrong. But deep down in his gut he sensed Sara was the only woman he was interested in, the only woman he wanted.

Despite his feelings, he should leave.

His legs didn’t budge.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her as desire raged to new heights.

Oh, man, there were so many things he wanted to do to her lithe body, things that would have her screaming with joy, things that would chase away the sadness haunting her eyes.

And he wanted to lose himself in her warm beauty. Needed to forget his troubles. Forget everything except just the two of them.

He kept watching her, his breath escaping his lungs in harsh blasts. His balls were stretched tight and so full of his sperm he had to bite down on his bottom lip just to stop himself from climbing onto the bed, lowering himself between her legs and plunging his rigid cock deep into her succulent pussy.

He found himself wondering how she would react if she woke up to him fucking her? Would she scream and cry rape? Or would she smile and cry out her pleasures as she’d done while he mouth-fucked her during their picnic?

Slowly he moved forward, stalked toward her, watching her for any sign of movement. Waiting for her to awaken so she could see how stiff his cock was pressed against the prison restraint of his briefs.

Would she be scared at how aroused he was? Or would she eagerly accept his length deep inside her, clasping her long legs around his hips as he thrust madly into her?

Without thinking, he reached out and twirled her dark hair around his wounded fingers, sighing as the luscious silky strands soothed the rawness in his palms that had developed from breaking the branches of the romance tree with his bare hands. He’d been pissed off she hadn’t wanted to open her heart to him about her troubles. Had ignored the pain in his back as he’d chain sawed like a madman then piled the logs in the parking lot near the truck. Thankfully, she’d confided in him later over a cup of hot peppermint tea.

The pain shining in her eyes as she’d talked about what had happened to her husband had just about killed him. He’d wanted to comfort her. To take her in his arms, make love to her. Make her forget her husband.

Show her how much sexual joy he could bring to her. Show her how much he needed her.

How he craved her in a way that made him wonder if it was normal to want to fuck a woman every time he looked at her. The desire for her had only increased when she’d so willingly allowed him to suckle her breasts this afternoon during the picnic and how eagerly she’d spread her legs allowing him to feast upon her delicious pussy.

She was hot. Hot and horny.

And so was he.

But he had no right taking advantage of her the way he’d done during the picnic. She’d been vulnerable. The quilt had been some sort of family heirloom. That much he’d figured out. He’d been a fool to drag it out of the closet where it had been hidden beneath the picnic basket. But he’d had no idea it would hurt her.

He seemed to be doing a lot of that. Hurting her. Pointing a gun at her—then a knife in the loft—and then enjoying her succulent body. He had no business sniffing around her. He had no future to offer her. He was a criminal. A man wanted by the cops who in turn wanted him dead.

Even as he thought those things, he knew he was lying to himself. Despite his troubles, instincts told him he needed her in his life. There was something about her. Something that told him she held the key to his identity. Even though she denied she knew him, there was a strange uneasiness floating at the back of his mind. He’d felt it when he’d seen her wildlife paintings in the loft. It was something he wasn’t sure he wanted to explore.

Her sexy peppermint scent sifted deep into his lungs encouraging him to untwirl her hair and delicately caress her high cheekbone, trace a perfectly arched eyebrow and with the barest whisper of a touch, run a delicate finger over her long, thick eyelashes.

He came dangerously close to leaning over and kissing her slightly parted, pouting, ruby red lips when a thunderous crash shook the house.

Her eyes popped open. Fear flashed across her face when she spotted him.

“Easy. I just wanted to see how you were handling the storm,” he explained, backing away and giving her space, although that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Obviously, he’d frightened her by coming so close.

The fear in her eyes only intensified.

“I better go,” he said and twisted around to leave.

“Don’t.” Her silky whisper trailed through the darkness and stopped him cold.

Turning around he found her looking toward the windows. The fear was still there, accompanied by a worry wrinkle that burrowed across her forehead. His heart twisted for her. He knew she was thinking about the stormy night she’d found her husband in the cabin with a bullet hole in his back. The night she’d lost her babies.

“It’s a bad one,” she stated. He detected the shiver of fear in her voice—saw the trembling of her body.

“Bad enough to wake me up and I was sleeping like a dog.” He couldn’t stop his gaze from trailing over her nakedness again. Couldn’t stop the ragged breaths from ripping out of his mouth or stop the blood from pounding into his heavily rigid cock.

At that moment, she looked away from the window and caught him ogling her. Her eyes widened as she realized her covers weren’t on her and that familiar flush swept across her cheeks. Quickly she grabbed the closest comforter and pulled it over her.

Too late, sweetness. Your gorgeous nakedness has already been etched forever in my brain.

She smiled nervously, her gaze darting everywhere except on him.

“Thanks for coming in to check on me. I would have been scared if you weren’t here.”

“No problem,” his voice cracked.

Another round of lightning flashed at the windows and he saw her shiver again.

“I’ll set one of the oil lamps on for you and get the fire going again. It’ll cheer you up.”

“You mean help me forget…” she said softly.

He nodded.

“Thanks,” she whispered shyly and seemed to sink deeper under the comforter as another roar of thunder shook the windowpanes.

He headed toward the fireplace where he spotted the items. Within a moment, a buttery glow shot from the oil lamp. He left it on the mantel and threw some pinecones he found in a bucket onto the glowing embers. A sharp crackling noise shot through the air and the cones quickly caught fire, fanning a burst of heat against his face. Then he followed up by tossing on some dry kindling and a couple of pieces of firewood.

“I guess it is kind of stupid of me to be so scared of storms, especially since I used to love them so much,” she said a moment later when the fire crackled loudly in the hearth.

“When you’re ready to enjoy the storms again, you will. It just takes a little time to work through things in life. They say time always heals wounds.”

She shook her head and frowned. “But the scar always remains. It’s always there to remind you of what happened.”

Tom nodded. “True. The scar is always there. But the enjoyment you had before is also there, buried inside your heart. If you can find a way to dig it up…”

He let his words trail off as she smiled warmly.

“You sure you aren’t a writer or a poet or something? You have a nice way with words.”

Tom shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe in another life.”

His breath caught at the way her heated gaze suddenly strayed to where his erection painfully strained against his underwear. He watched her eyes darken with carnal lust in the orange cast from the flickering flames. Darken with a scorching need. Noticed the way she licked her full lips.

Blades of lightning raced through his long shaft, pumping more pressure into his already swollen testicles. He groaned and found himself stalking toward her as if she was his sexual prey.

She didn’t move as she watched him draw closer. Her hungry gaze riveted to his captive erection. He noticed she’d let the comforter loosen—it dropped just below her beaded nipples giving him an awesome view of her luscious globes.

He sucked in an aroused breath.

His balls tightened, became taut and sore. His erection demanded satisfaction, craved to sink into her mouth.

“Sara?” His voice sounded strangled and urgent as it tangled with the rain crashing against the windows.

She said nothing. Simply stared at his huge bulge as if she was mesmerized.

Man! The intense way she looked at him had his heart crashing madly against his chest. It seemed as if she wanted to devour him whole. It made the blood in his veins thicken and a roar of erotic sensations flooded his scrotum and cock.

“It’s been so long since…” she whispered.

More than two years since she’d had a cock in her mouth? Is that what she meant?

Her eyes were so wide and eager and glittering with need that his knees weakened and he almost collapsed. And her mouth… Oh, man, her beautiful plump lips were parted and waiting for his thick flesh to slip inside.

He didn’t know how she got there, but she was suddenly at the edge of her bed, on her hands and knees, her plump breasts dripping from her gorgeous body, her curvy ass in the air and her hot sensual breath splashing against his hard erection.