Escaping the Past

  “Oh, my God,” she breathed.

  His eyes met hers. “That feels good?” he asked teasingly.

  “Oh, yeah,” she responded quickly.

  He moved and repeated his assault on her other breast, never trying to remove the lacy bra that covered her but coaxing her nipple to stand beneath the fabric. A shiver crawled up her spine.

  Brody heard what he thought was his heart pounding in his ears. Then he realized the sound was getting closer. He glanced over his shoulder and saw John riding up quickly. He straightened, coughed gently, and said, “We have company.”

  “What?”

  “John’s coming.”

  John yelled from a distance, “Lou!”

  She cried out weakly, “Yeah?”

  “Hey! Did you forget that today is Girl Scout day? You have twelve little girls at the house waiting for you, all dressed in Girl Scout uniforms.”

  As he came closer, Brody stepped between Lou and John, blocking John’s view. He whispered to her, “Better tuck your shirt in.”

  “Oh, God.” She frantically started pushing her shirt into her pants. Brody smirked as he watched.

  John pulled up closer on his horse and noticed her red face and agitation. “Are you okay, Lou?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine. I just got the crap scared out of me by a big old rattler.”

  “No way! Where is it?”

  “Over by the rock.”

  John dismounted and went to look at the snake. “You think the Girl Scouts might like to see this?” he asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

  “You’re not actually thinking about taking that home with you, are you?”

  “Yeah! Of course I am. I can just see them now. All of them running…screaming.” He guffawed at the thought of it.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  “Oh, I won’t scare them with it but I’m sure going to take it home with me.” He mounted and turned his horse toward home. “You coming?”

  “Yeah. We’re right behind you.”

  “Hurry up. Sadie is feeding them cookies.”

  “Fantastic. Twelve little girls, all with a sugar rush.”

  Brody held Lou’s horse as she mounted. She stopped briefly, a shy smile in the eyes that met his. He kissed her on the knee and patted her calf gently before mounting his own horse. Then the three of them headed for home.

  Chapter Eight

  Wesley’s pocket rang and he retrieved his cell phone. He flipped it open and groaned inwardly when he saw the number displayed on the caller ID. “Hey, Boss.”

  “Tell me what you know,” was barked in his ear.

  “Boss, it’s barely been twenty-four hours.”

  “You need longer than that? What the hell have you been doing? Sitting on your thumbs?” The tone wasn’t jovial.

  “No. I’ve been researching the problem.” He almost stuttered.

  “Got anything at all for me? Or do I need to get someone to come and replace you?”

  “No boss. I know she’s working at a place called Western Skies. It’s a horse-breeding farm. Tons of old money. The old lady who owns the place is sick, just got out of the hospital. There’s an old couple who takes care of the place and a couple of men who are family who live there, but that’s all I know so far. It’s not easy to get close to the place. They have farm hands all over. I’ve got some leads I’m working on, though.”

  “Stay on it. I want a full report within the week.” He mumbled under his breath. “I want what’s mine.” The call disconnected.

  Chapter Nine

  Lou avoided Brody for days. She stayed as far from him as she could and was obviously surprised when he showed up to jog with her every morning. She made a cursory attempt at small talk but he knew it was only as a courtesy. Her tone was pleasant but she avoided meeting his eyes. After the first day, Brody thought that it might be a good thing. Maybe he could get her out of his system. But when he went to bed at night, she was all he could think about.

  She continued to have nightmares, although they were not as loud as the one that occurred the first night, and they lessened in intensity as each day passed. They were quiet enough to wake no one but him, he didn’t run to her room to help now that he knew what was going on. Catching her bathed in sweat, wearing skimpy nightclothes would not be a good idea at this point.

  How Sarah slept through them all, he would never know. She must be a deep sleeper, or maybe it was because she played hard during the day. She barely ever sat still, unless she was minding her manners at the table or visiting with his mother. She visited once a day with a card or homemade gift that his mother always seemed to adore. She posted every last one on her vanity mirror so she could enjoy them all day.

  His mother sat up a few times a day now but she rarely ever felt well enough to get out of bed. He watched the life draining right out of her eyes as she became weaker and weaker. Her breathing was much shallower and her periods of alertness were fewer and farther between.

  It was just a matter of time.

  ****

  Lou was disturbed by Brody’s mere presence. She was bound and determined not to get any closer to him than she already had. She caught herself at the most inappropriate times looking for him, wondering where he was in the big old house. Then he would appear right behind her, as though he had been conjured for her discomfort.

  She had given him the wrong impression. She wasn’t like her mother and she never would be. She would never allow a man to use her for sex and then discard her like a piece of trash. She didn’t know why every time she got close to Brody, she behaved like a harlot. She let him take liberties she normally didn’t allow anyone else to take. It all felt so natural, like he’d been there forever. But he wasn’t. And he wouldn’t be.

  To avoid the pitfalls that must come with lust, Lou drowned herself in work and her daughter. She found paperwork to do and Girl Scout schedules to adjust. She helped with homework and fought about ponytails and pigtails.

  The nightmares had started to subside, although they were still troublesome. After waking in a pool of sweat, Brody’s bedroom door squeaked open. She would try not to move, hoping she hadn’t disturbed him. He would wait for a moment or two and then she would hear his bedroom door close again. Sometimes, she imagined she heard him blow in frustration.

  She regretted disturbing him at all, but it seemed to be unavoidable. Her waking moments were filled with his presence. Was it so bad his sleep was filled with hers?

  ****

  Brody woke on Sunday morning around nine, much later than normal. Lou’s clock usually woke him as it blared music from a popular rock station. It always screamed well before dawn.

  His eyes opened slowly as he glanced around and noticed that daylight had flooded the room. He squinted and rubbed his eyes, slightly disoriented. He glanced at the clock and remembered it was Sunday. He donned some lounge pants and a printed T-shirt. He then slipped his bare feet into slippers and ran a hand through his curly blond hair, all of which was standing on end.

  He padded softly down the stairs and entered the kitchen. The smell of coffee met his nose. He blindly poured a cup and turned around. There sat Lou, sitting casually at the kitchen table with the newspaper, one leg dangling on the floor and the other knee up by her nose with her arm wrapped around it. She looked just as tousled as he did in a robe and fuzzy bedroom slippers with Pooh Bear faces at the toes. She looked like she had just risen from bed, too, with hair that was askew and lines pressed across her face from her pillow.

  “Where is everyone?” Brody mumbled.

  “Church,” she replied, without looking up.

  “Everybody?”

  “Yep,” she continued to read her paper and eat her Lucky Charms from a bowl in front of her.

  “Is that marshmallow cereal you have there?” he asked, appraising the contents of her bowl.

  She slurped her milk loudly. “Yep,” she replied.

  “Got any more?” he asked quietly.

&nbs
p; “Maybe,” was her response.

  “What would I have to do to get some?”

  She held out a coffee cup in response. “Get me some coffee when you go and get a bowl.”

  “That I can do,” he said casually, as he walked to the coffeepot.“Where’s the cereal?”

  “Uh uh…coffee first,” she sang.

  “You drive a hard bargain,” he grunted.

  “Don’t ever forget it,” she mumbled.

  Brody poured her coffee and held it out to her.

  “Cream and sugar?” She raised an eyebrow.

  “Damn, you’re tough on me.” He added both and held the cup out to her.

  “Cereal is in the pantry, in the corner behind the mashed potatoes.” She pointed her finger at him. “And don’t tell anyone about my secret stash. I save it for Sundays when I’m usually alone.” Her tone let him know she did not like the interruption.

  “Where’s Sarah?”

  “Church,” she said around a mouth full of Lucky Charms.

  “She goes and you don’t?”

  “She’s been going since she could walk and talk. Jeb and Sadie love it.”

  “I bet they do. They used to take me, too. Some of my fondest memories of them. We would all go out to eat pancakes before church.” He smiled at the memory.

  “They still do. John goes because no one will cook for him here and he’s always hoping to pick up a girl.”

  Brody choked on his cereal. “At church?”

  “Yep.” She continued to read her paper.

  “Why don’t you go? Not a God-fearing Christian?”

  “My mother always said that standing in church and stating you’re a Christian is about like standing in a bank and claiming you’re rich. It’s just not the way it works. Besides, this is the one day a week I get to be all alone. Usually,” she said caustically.

  “Sorry I’m invading your space,” he muttered, as he poured another bowl of cereal.

  “Hey! Go easy on my Lucky Charms, will you?” she scolded.

  “I’ll buy you some more. Good grief. Can I have the sports section?” he asked quietly.

  “You can have it when I’m done with it.”

  “Oh, come on. You’re not even reading the sports section.”

  She growled beneath her breath. “Will you be quiet if I give it to you?”

  “Try me and see.”

  She begrudgingly handed over the sports section, and then raised the paper to block her view of him.

  They ate quietly for a few minutes and finished their coffee, newspapers and cereal. Lou folded the newspaper back up and laid it on the table in front of her.

  She filled her coffee cup back up and sat down.

  “Have you been avoiding me?” Brody asked quietly.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lou responded nervously as she rose to put her bowl in the sink.

  She walked by him, heading for the stairs. He gently grabbed her hand as she walked by. “I won’t try to scare you into kissing me today. Promise.”

  She tried to pull her hand from his grasp but he held on tightly. “Thank God,” she said sarcastically. “I have kissed you more in the past week than I have kissed anyone in years.” She pulled again. “Will you let me go?”

  “You don’t have to avoid me. I promise I’ll try to keep my hands to myself.”

  “You’re doing a great job of it right now,” she groaned, finally freeing her hand. “I haven’t been avoiding…”

  “Yes, you have. Every time I walk in a room, you leave it.”

  “That’s just a coincidence.”

  “No, it’s not. I think you’re scared of me.”

  “I’m not scared of anything,” she said flippantly as she turned and went upstairs.

  “Tell that to those nightmares you’ve been having,” he said loudly to her retreating back. His last view of her was her curvy bottom going up the stairs. How in the world could a woman look so sexy in Pooh Bear bedroom slippers?

  ****

  Lou held her breath as she marched up the stairs. She flopped on the bed gracelessly and squeezed her eyes shut.

  That man could be insufferable. He looked so sweet, so innocent, and so inherently male. He had enough confidence for ten men. He made her shake with anger, quake with fear and shiver with anticipation, yet she had been stupid enough to go downstairs in Pooh slippers and her hair all mussed. A sex-kitten, she was not.

  Lou gave up the pretense of going back to sleep and decided to shower, dress and curl up with a romance novel on the porch for a few hours.

  She put on shorts and a lightweight tank top. She left her feet bare and her hair hanging loose, and went out to porch. She sat down in the creaky rocker and pulled her knees up to her chest. She turned sideways so her feet dangled over the arm of the chair. Cradling her book in her lap, she began to read. She was quickly taken in by the romance and lost track of time.

  Brody coughed gently and caused her to jump out of her skin. “What are you doing, Lou?” he asked as he sat down beside her in the other rocker.

  “What’s it look like?” she responded absently. She tugged at the length of her shorts, afraid she was showing too much leg.

  “Looks like you are comfy with a book,” Brody stated. “What’s the name of it?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Only if you are reading a steamy novel and don’t want me to know about it,” he chided.

  Heat crept up her cheeks.

  “I knew it!” he exploded. “You’re reading a trashy novel!” He laughed uproariously.

  “Oh, good grief,” she blew. “It’s not trash. It’s romance.” She arched a brow at him. “You only read the greats?”

  “Tolstoy, Shakespeare…” he claimed.

  “ Playboy?” she goaded.

  “Playboy is not trash. It’s literature.” He grinned slowly. “Let me see what you have.” He held out his hand.

  “Never,” she swore vehemently.

  “We’ll see about that, won’t we?” he said as he grabbed her foot which was still hanging over the arm of the chair. He held it firmly with his two hands and started to tickle the bottom of her foot.

  She squirmed in her chair and slapped against his hands with her own. “That doesn’t even tickle,” she promised as she stilled, hoping to fake him out. She held her breath.

  “Then how about this?” he asked as he grabbed her big toe and pulled it. She heard it pop.

  “Oh, God! Will you stop?” she screamed. She dropped the book to grab his hands. When she did, he released her foot and bent to pick up the book.

  “I thought that would get you,” he goaded her as he opened her book.

  He began to read aloud, “Chase brushed his hand against the side of her breast, making her quiver with excitement.”

  “Would you stop!” she screamed and covered her ears.

  “It was enjoyable to you a few minutes ago.” He grinned and continued. “Her breath stilled as she saw his gaze travel from her mouth to her breast.”

  “Enough!” She got up and opened the door to her room.

  He stopped her. “Hey! Do you care if I keep this? This isn’t half bad.” He feigned genuine interest as he read more.

  She turned toward her bedroom. “Do whatever you want,” she grumbled.

  “Hey, I was just kidding. Here! You can have it back.” He closed the book and laid it on her chair. She bent to pick it up.

  “Oh, sit down, will you?” he pouted.

  “Why should I?”

  “Because I don’t have anyone else to talk to. Mom’s asleep and Lola’s watching her.”

  “So, I’m just here for your entertainment?” she asked.

  He appraised her from head-to-toe. “Yeah.” He grinned and cocked his head sideways.

  She shook her head in consternation as she flopped ungracefully in the chair. She pulled her knees up to her chest and watched him out of the corner of her eye.

  “Do you read a lot?” he asked c
almly.