WRECKER (8 page)

“S’okay,” she murmured, but the next stroke made her take a sharp breath. She gritted her teeth and when he thrust again, she dug her fingertips into his shoulder.

Sweat dampened his shoulders. His attempt to restrain himself made his muscles feel like iron bands beneath her fingers. His massive chest pressed against her breasts. The friction made her nipples tighten and she groaned with pleasure.

“Baby?”

She was panting, unable to reply. She nodded.

A snarl threaded up his throat and for a moment she felt a wave of panic. She looked into his eyes. Dark lust mixed with need and tenderness. He pressed deeper and she bit back a cry. The stab of pain shocked her but with the next stroke it faded. His strokes were deep and even, with a rhythm that teased a response from her body. She caressed his back, tacitly encouraging him.

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he whispered.

“I want it. I wanted it all along.”

Waves of tension, excruciatingly pleasurable, built and carried her faster and faster. Small sounds came from her lips. She hardly recognized them as her own. When her climax tore a cry from her, Theo followed an instant later.

Shockwaves flowed through her. Slowly and softly she floated back to earth and the awareness of her surroundings returned to her in small pieces.

He turned to face her. “I hurt you?”

“At first, a little. But it went away.”

He got up and went to the restroom, returning a moment later with a washcloth. She tried to take it from him but he pushed her hand away. When he was done, he brought his robe out of the bathroom, motioned for her to get up and he wrapped it around her.

Cradling her face, he lowered to brush a kiss over her lips. “That was something special, Sage. I’ve wanted you for a long time.”

“Me too,” she whispered.

“We’re getting married first thing. This week.”

She smiled. “Okay.”

“Right now I want to feed you. We’ll have a nice dinner then come back to bed. That’s what I want for this Valentine’s Day. Next year you can pick what we do.”

“All right, Theo, I’ll hold you to it.”

Sage woke just before sunrise and found him watching her. He lay on his side, a scruffy, three-day beard making him look sexy and rough and maybe even a little dangerous. His eyes held none of that subtle threat. They were lit with warmth and it was a look she hadn’t ever seen before this weekend. She edged closer and he wrapped her in his arms.

“I like waking up next to you,” he said. “I like sleeping with you too.”

They lay together in silence as the dawn broke. Rose-hued light filled the room. Both dogs wandered in and stopped at edge of the bed. They rested their chins on the blanket and wagged their tails in unison.

“This is how Tango and Charlie like to annoy me,” Theo murmured. “Watch Tango. In about one minute he’s going to make his move. It’s his inch-worm strategy of getting on the bed. He thinks if he moves slowly enough I won’t notice.”

Charlie didn’t move, but his eyes flicked over to Tango and he whined softly.

“Yeah, Charlie knows better. It’s Tango who doesn’t learn.”

Tango lifted his paw and set it on the bed. He stretched forward and a moment later he lifted his other paw.

“Aaannnd now he’ll do his army crawl,” Theo said.

Tango inched forward on his stomach and then stopped.

“Very stealthy,” Theo whispered.

Sage giggled at the dog’s expression. The yearning on his face made her want to invite him the rest of the way.

“Poor guy. He wants to snuggle.” She stroked his head.

“When they first came to live with me I let them sleep in here. On dog beds, not on my bed. Charlie had bad dreams every night. I couldn’t sleep at all, so I kept an eye on him. When he cried, I talked to him and he’d go back to sleep.”

“You couldn’t sleep?” she asked. She’d never heard Theo speak about his experiences in the military. She didn’t want to pry, and yet she did.

“No. I sleep great next to you, though.” He nuzzled her neck. “I never sleep all the way through the night and I’ve done it twice with you.”

She stroked his arm. It pleased her to think she helped him with something. She slept well lying next to him too. When she stirred in the night, he would pull her closer, say a few words and she would drift back to sleep. It was so quiet here, a world apart from the apartment where the girls came home at all hours and often brought friends. She loved the peace and tranquility of Theo’s home.

Tango lifted a back paw and set it tentatively on the mattress.

“Let the poor guy come up,” Sage said. “Look at those eyes. How can you resist?”

“We’ll never get him out. Next Charlie will be giving us sad eyes too, wondering why he’s not on the bed. There’s only one thing those two want more than getting on our bed, and that’s breakfast.”

Both dogs cocked their heads at the sound of the work ‘breakfast’.

“All right boys. Let’s go.” Theo got up from the bed and put on a robe. The dogs followed him out of the bedroom, close on his heels.

Theo talked with the dogs as he took them to the back hall where he fed them. She closed her eyes and thought about dozing a little more but changed her mind when she smelled coffee. She got up and slipped on Theo’s robe.

Her phone sat on the night table, the message indicator flashing. The phone worked while plugged in. Unplugged, she had about thirty seconds of use. There was one message from Ashley. But when she read it she knew it was from Trey, not her roommate.

“U sent pic of Ash 2 Darryl? WTF?”

Theo must have forwarded the picture. It had to be him. She scoffed and set the phone aside. “Asshole. I hope you get fired.”

She went to the kitchen to get a coffee, trying to push all thoughts of Trey, Ashley and Olivia out of her mind. Theo wanted to take her out to eat. He wanted to get a newspaper too. They argued about where to have breakfast. By the time they’d showered and dressed, Theo had vetoed ten different restaurants.

“I don’t really like going to restaurants,” he confessed as they drove into town. “They’re always full of people.”

Sage smiled at him. “And you don’t really like people?”

“I like some people.” He took her hand and kissed it.

“Did you send that picture of Ashley to anyone?” she asked.

He nodded. His expression darkened. “I sent it to both owners. I’ve met with them when they were in town. Even though they own a strip club they don’t really want to be associated with shit like that.”

“I think Trey’s kind of pissed.”

Theo scoffed, slowing the truck as he turned into a convenience store parking lot. “Wait til they fire him.”

She felt her heart thud in her chest. If Trey held a grudge he could take it out on Ashley or Olivia.

“Maybe he’ll leave town,” she said.

Theo parked the truck. His eyes lit with amusement. “I can make that happen. Is that what you want?”

She picked up his phone and waved it in the air. “For someone who doesn’t like people you seem to know an awful lot of them, all different types.”

“Let’s get a paper and see what Millie wrote. Then I’ll take you anywhere you want for breakfast.”

Sage followed him into the store. “Did she leave out the part about what you wanted me to do for five thousand dollars?”

Theo shook his head and grabbed a paper from the stack. Sage got a pack of gum and set it down on the counter.

“I probably forgot that part.” He searched through his wallet and threw a few bills down.

They walked back to the truck as Theo thumbed through the pages. A breeze blew, making it difficult to see the pages. An advertisement blew across the parking lot and Sage jogged over to pick it up. It was an announcement of an opening of a brand new Mexican food restaurant.

“This is a coupon for breakfast tacos. We should go check this place out.” The pictures made her mouth water. “I’m starving.”

Theo didn’t say anything and she looked up just as he threw his arm against her chest, shoving her behind him. She stumbled back and gasped. He stepped in front of her. Two men stood side by side. They were ragged, wild-eyed. One of them held a butcher’s knife.

“We’ll take
her
wallet too.”

“You boys are fucking with the wrong person,” Theo snarled.

Sage stared at them in shock. It was early. The town seemed deserted. Where had these hoodlums come from?

“Go back into the store, Sage.”

“She stays,” the man spat.

The men were young, maybe early twenties. Both were thin, with straggly hair and dirty clothing. Sage recognized one from the Emergency Room. He’d been brought in for a broken arm, but when social services wanted to ask him about drug use, he bolted. His arm was bound with strips of torn fabric. He glared at her. She knew he recognized her but was trying to place her.

The man with the knife held out his hand and wriggled his fingers. “Your wallet. Now!”

“Let her go and then I’ll give it to you.”

The knife wielder raised his weapon. “I’ll stick you so fast you won’t know what hit you. Then I’ll go after her. Take her for a ride in my van.”

“You can have my wallet,” Sage blurted, unzipping her purse.

“Don’t fucking do it,” the second man snarled.

A police siren sounded far off. Maybe the clerk inside had called. No one moved. The sound faded and both men smiled, displaying missing and rotten teeth.

“Get her purse and don’t let her go.”

Sage threw her purse at the second man but it went past him and slid under a parked sedan.

“Fucking bitch.” He stalked across the pavement towards her.

Theo lunged, knocking him hard to the ground, his head cracking when it hit the pavement. She watched in horror as Theo kicked the man in the stomach, causing the man to curl up in a ball.

The other man darted to the sedan, dropped to a knee, grabbed her purse then took off running, dropping the knife in the process. Theo charged after him. Sage moved to pick up the knife, but the she could tell Theo had caught the man and they were fighting in the alley, so she left the knife on the ground and rushed around the corner of the building.

Rounding the corner she saw Theo standing over the man, holding the man’s collar with one hand and punching him in the face with the other. The man’s nose was bleeding and his eyes were already swelling shut.

“Theo!” she screamed. “Don’t kill him!”

From behind the man with the broken arm shoved her hard and barreled past her into Theo. Sage looked up in horror to see the man had shoved the blade of the knife into Theo’s side. Theo staggered and looked at Sage in shock. The man pulled the knife back and was just about to stab him again when Sage kicked him in the bandaged arm as hard as she could. He howled and fell to the ground, dropping the knife.

Theo stared at her and then at his blood covered hands. He then grabbed the second man by the scruff and punched him hard in the face three times.

She grabbed his phone from his pocket and dialed 911 while she tore open his shirt. Buttons popped off and fell to the ground. The wound wasn’t big, but she knew it was deep.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“An adult male with a knife wound to the abdomen.”

Her awareness narrowed, and her responses were instinctive. It helped that the flow of blood was a slow trickle.

“It’s going to be okay,” she murmured, reassuring herself as much as Theo. “It’s going to be okay.”

The line was silent for a few seconds.

Sage slipped his shirt from his shoulders and wadded it up.

The dispatcher spoke. “I have your location on Highway 2112. Is that correct?”

“That’s correct.” She pressed the shirt to the wound.

Theo stroked her hair and smiled.

Her actions were automatic. Speaking to the emergency dispatcher. Tending to Theo. Checking him for signs of shock. A siren wailed and this time it grew louder. She looked up at Theo. “It’s going to be all right,” she said. “The ambulance is coming.”

The man who’d stabbed Theo was weeping and trying to get to his feet. Without a word Sage walked over, kicked him again and he toppled over and lay still.

Theo stood up. She returned to his side and pressed the shirt to his wound.

“Are you okay? You should sit down. I don’t want you to fall.”

He ignored her. Squinting he spoke quietly but steadily. “Sage, look up Luke Caldwell on my phone. Tell him to come to the hospital.”

She nodded. The trembling was returning. She was the one freaking out. He was so calm.

“Why am I calling him?”

“He’s a judge. I want him to marry us.”

“In the hospital?”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. “That bastard stuck me pretty deep. I don’t want to die without us married.”

The ambulance roared around the corner and pulled into the parking lot. It jerked to a stop behind Theo.

He cupped her chin. “Sweetheart, the condom broke last night.”

Her stomach clenched. She bit her lip.

“I was going to tell you as soon as we were married. I’m sorry.”

“Okay, Theo. Let’s not worry about that now.”

“Promise you’ll call Luke.”

She nodded. “I promise.”