“No.” Shutting the door, Stump strode into the hallway as Kristen was telling Zoey he would see her next week.
Unmoved by Zoey’s glare, he put a proprietary arm around her shoulders. “We’ll be here.”
Stump could feel Zoey trembling in anger against him. Unfazed, he remained unmoving, despite Zoey trying to tug him inside her office until Kristen got on the elevator.
“What was that about?” she hissed as he finally let her succeed in getting him inside.
“Just wanted to get my message across.”
“Which message was that? That you’re a jerk, or that you left your caveman club at home?”
“The one that says you’re off the market.”
“I wasn’t on the market, you big ape. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life! Did you see the way he looked at me?”
“Yes, I did. That’s why I gave him mine.”
“He wasn’t interested in me! Kristen is very shy—”
“Shy, my ass.” He snorted, unperturbed by her anger.
“Stump, if you ever do that again, I’ll… I’ll….”
“You’ll do what? Stop letting me touch you? That won’t work. You pretend not to know me whenever you go out, and you’ve been working every night for Mrs. Combs, even though you know I’m there. How long do you think you can go without any sleep and only to your house to shower and change?”
Zoey’s shoulders slumped. “I’ve been getting plenty of sleep. Mrs. Combs isn’t doing well. I’m just in her room while Patrick works and gets sleep.”
“That’s not why you’ve been spending so much time there, and we both know it. You’re afraid of me getting hurt.”
“It’s working, isn’t it? Nothing has happened in the last three weeks. Whoever is watching knows I’m not here with you. You can’t hide forever, Zoey. I won’t let you.”
“Fortunately, it’s not your decision. It’s mine.”
He trailed a lone finger down her cheek. “Don’t you miss me? I miss you.”
“No.”
He curved his hand around the back of her neck as he steadily maneuvered her toward the couch.
“Stump, behave. Another client will be here in ten minutes.”
“I only need five.” Giving her a gentle shove, she fell backward onto the couch. Following her down, he groaned when his body came into contact with her soft one.
“Get off! I’m not going to make-out with you on the couch!”
“Have you ever made out with anyone on this couch before?”
“Of course not!”
Stump sucked an earlobe into his mouth, his body hardening over hers. “Are you sure you don’t miss this?”
He grinned when he heard her clear her throat.
“You’ve never done that before.”
“You know something else I haven’t done before?” He lazily bit down on ear before releasing it to lick her parted lips.
“What?” she squeaked out.
“This.”
Stump rose off her, and then he reached down to pull her up. Taking her hand, he led her out of her office.
“Penni, tell Zoey’s next client she’s going out to get a tea.”
“Bring me one back!” Penni waved as he gave Zoey a mischievous grin while taking her inside the elevator.
“Stump, you hate tea.”
“We aren’t going to the tea shop.” Pressing the top floor button, he kissed her, enjoying that, while she didn’t respond passionately, she didn’t pull away either. “I miss the old Zoey.”
“The old Zoey?” she whispered.
Hearing the elevator door open, he took her hand and led her from the elevator and through another door.
“Where are you taking me?” she panted out as he started up the steps.
“To the roof. Have you been up there before?” Going up the steps, he didn’t release her hand, giving her no choice but to follow behind.
“No, of course not.”
Keying in the code, he opened the door that led them into the sunshine.
“How did you get the code? I don’t even have it, and I rent an office here.”
“I guess the owner didn’t think access to the roof was part of the bargain he had with you to be his life coach.”
Stump watched in amusement as she wandered out into the sun-drenched rooftop deck.
“I had no idea it was like this, or I would have included it. This is fantastic.” Zoey gaped as she walked farther out.
The owner had potted plants and a table that only had two chairs. Stump watched as she walked to the waist-high concrete wall to look down.
“It’s beautiful.” She raised her arms to the sky, taking a deep breath.
“There’s the Zoey I love,” he said, coming up behind her to place his arms around her waist.
“I have been a little distracted lately,” she admitted.
He gently massaged her waist through the thin material of her dress as a breeze sent tendrils of her hair flying. “What’s been keeping you from giving me that smile I loved seeing every morning?” Incrementally, he moved his massaging hand lower as he started gathering the bottom of her dress with his other one.
“I don’t want anyone watching us together.”
“What else?” Thinking he was being sly, he smiled when she caught his hand as he tried to slide it under her panties, pressing on it to slow his ascent.
“Mrs. Combs. She’s very ill, and I wish I could do more to help her.”
Bringing her hand to his lips, he pressed a kiss to it before placing it on the wall. Then he went back to massaging her waist. “Zoey, you can’t keep separating yourself from me and your friends to protect them. The only one you’re keeping happy is the stalker.”
“What if he hurts you, or Penni, or Grace? I couldn’t bear anyone getting hurt again because of me.”
“Do you think your father killed your sister and stepmother because of you?”
“He wouldn’t leave without me. If I had just packed faster, or if I hadn’t argued back that I didn’t want to go with him, maybe he wouldn’t have killed them.”
“Zoey, your father didn’t care about anyone but himself.”
“He loved me… He used to say he loved me to death. It’s what killed him.”
She gave a strangled cry when he successfully found the goal he had been searching for, rubbing the sweet flesh between her thighs.
Stump stared down at her beautiful profile as he stroked her clit. “He died because he was a son of a bitch. I had a friend check your father out, Zoey. He was one step away from being wanted in each state. There was nowhere else he could hide. The Internet was making it impossible for him to hide his victims. Some of them had set up websites exposing him and how he had cheated them. He used you to lure his victims. Then, once he had their money, he would leave them desolate.”
“I tried to warn them. They thought I was just being rebellious because they were with him. One even said that I just wanted to keep him to myself.” She wiggled her hips when his finger reached her opening. “We need to stop! Someone will see!”
“I’ll stop.” Removing his finger, he turned her to face him.
She gave a cry of fear when he then lifted her onto the smooth surface of the concrete wall, sitting her on top with her back to the city below. “Stump….”
“Hang on with both hands.” Grinning wickedly, he went to his knees, setting her thighs on his shoulders.
“Someone could come out and see!”
“No one else is going to come out that door. The owner uses it to impress his dates.”
He licked the length of her thigh, feeling her silky skin tremble underneath his touch. He then moved the crotch of her panties aside, exposing the beauty within, before he delved between her pussy lips, teasing the swollen nub before sucking it into his mouth.
“This is too dangerous. I could fall.”
“You’re not going to fall. I won’t let you. Trust me.”
“But….”
br /> “Trust me, Zoey.”
He watched her clutch the wall with a death grip as he released her clit, stroking the ribbon of flesh toward her opening. Driving his tongue inward, he heard her whimper of fear before she gasped in pleasure.
He flicked his tongue in and out of her as he used his thumb to rub her clit, alternating speeds to build her desire. He made sure to keep her weight balanced on his shoulders so she had no chance of tumbling over as he worked her pussy with a rhythm that a more experienced woman wouldn’t be able to resist, much less one as innocent as Zoey.
She was like a flower that, every time he touched her, budded.
She trembled, unable to resist his strokes. Then he felt her climaxing on his tongue.
Standing in one swift motion, he lowered her legs to wrap them around his waist as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. With one hand, he flipped it open to remove a condom while using his other hand to unzip his jeans.
“Hang on to me,” he managed to grunt out.
She clasped his shoulders in tight fists as he slid the condom on then deftly immersed his cock in her wet warmth. He moved his hands to her twisting locks that were held back by the leather ties in her hair. Plunging deeply, he gently removed the leather headband.
“Can I have it?”
“Yes.” Whimpering, she reached out to pull his lips down to hers.
He plundered her pussy with no regard that it was only the second time he had fucked her. He was determined to send the small flame that had almost been put out to flicker back to life again.
Zoey arched like the dove he likened her to when her spasms of another climax struck her. He sped up, not about to be left behind.
“Can I have it?” he asked huskily. “You already have mine.”
“Have what?” Zoey brushed a lock of hair from her face.
“Your heart.”
“You already have it.”
“Then trust that I can take care of us both. Let go.”
She looked over her shoulder at the height that they stood dangerously close to. Fear came to her frightened gaze as she gripped him harder before releasing him suddenly and placing her trust completely in his hands.
He kept his hands firm and steady on her hips as he stroked them both into a climax that let her fly free and as high as she wanted to go, keeping her safe and secure until she was ready to come back to him.
He raised a gentle hand, stroking her cheek. Her expression was open and filled with a surrender that no woman who lived through what she had due to her father’s cruelty should be capable of showing. Her fragile spirit should have been damaged beyond repair, yet she looked at him with such a wealth of love that no money on earth could buy. It was priceless. Her father had had her love, yet he’d been so busy chasing the next big score that he destroyed Zoey’s love for him until there was nothing left. He had the greatest treasure within his reach all along. Zoey.
“What?” She placed her hand over his on her cheek.
“Nothing.”
“I thought I heard you say my name.”
He gently straightened her, placing her feet back on firm ground. “Your mother was wrong. You are the most precious thing on earth.”
Flushing, she hugged him, but he could see she didn’t believe him.
“I need to get back to my office. I’m late for my appoint—”
“Just one more minute. There’s something I want you to see first.” He turned her around so she could see the church on the corner of the street. “Watch,” Stump said as he moved to the side so he could look at her reaction.
“Stump, I really—”
When the church bells started ringing, her mouth dropped open in awe at the sight that followed it.
“Are those doves?”
“Yes, they had a wedding today.”
“They’re beautiful.”
“That’s how you look to me.”
Her gaze dropped from the sky to his. Her eyes filled with tears as she stepped back into his arms.
“Stump, before I found you, I never realized how lost I was. When I bought the map to choose what city to move to, I didn’t know it was leading me to you.”
His throat tightened at how close he had come to never knowing her.
“Do you still have it?”
“I think I do.”
“Then I want it. You’re never going to need it again.”
24
Zoey opened her eyes to pitch-blackness. She had dozed off after checking on Mrs. Combs.
She tensed in fear when she realized the dim light that she kept on in the kitchenette was off and inwardly sensed someone was in the room with her and Mrs. Comb. That must have been what had awakened her.
She was used to the nursing staff coming in to check on her patient. That wouldn’t have disturbed her into waking. It was the light going off in the kitchen.
Making sure she kept her breathing light and even, she let her eyes adjust to the darkness as she listened to any sound in the room.
“I know you’re awake, bitch.”
The gravelly voice had terror spiking, sending her jumping up and running, not to the door, but to Mrs. Combs’ bedside so she could press the emergency button on the railing of her bed. The red light went on over her bed. However, her relief that the staff would come running from the nurses’ station downstairs was short-lived when a mocking laugh rang out just a few inches away from her.
“You don’t think I’m that stupid, do you? I took care of the two nurses and the aid before I came in here.”
“The guard—”
“He won’t be coming either. He can’t, you stupid cunt.”
Zoey tried to circle around the bed. She almost made it when a vicious shove sent her to the floor. Then a kick to her ribs had her huddling into a ball to protect herself.
“Who are you?”
Another kick had her wheezing to get her lungs working again.
“Shut the fuck up! I told you to stay away from her!”
Shock had her holding the pain at bay as she crawled under the hospital bed to avoid getting kicked again.
“From whom?” She tried to keep him talking so she could distract him long enough to make a run for the door. She waited with bated breath for him to speak again.
“From Ginny.”
When she heard his voice by her head, she realized he had lowered himself to the ground next to her. The revelation sent her mind into turmoil at the reason she had drawn the attention of a madman. It had nothing to do with her or her posts. It had been about Ginny all along.
Scooting backward, she kicked and clawed at the hands that reached for her. Then she jumped to her feet as soon as she was out from under the bed, darting toward the door and praying that she was heading in the right direction
She sobbed when she felt the wooden door under her fingertips. Scrambling for the handle, she heard him cursing when he ran into the chair she had been sitting on.
“She doesn’t need your help! You ruined it for the last time…”
Zoey screamed, flinging the door wide and running out into the dark hallway. Whoever was chasing her must have turned the main breaker off.
As her screams filled the hallway, she heard startled yells from others, calling out to ask what was wrong. Red lights over the doors started blinking as the other patients pressed their emergency buttons.
As she continued to run down the hallway, she chanced a look over her shoulder, seeing a large shadow running after her. If she kept running, he would catch her.
Gathering every ounce of courage she had, she stopped and turned to face her attacker, positioning herself the way she had been taught and practiced.
The red glow highlighted a face she had never seen before. His rank breath was so powerful that it took everything she had not to turn her face away.
He ran at her so fast she knew he intended to knock her to the ground again, so when he was within arm’s reach, she grabbed his shirt as she swung her leg forwa
rd, nailing him in the stomach, using all her strength. She then sent him flying over her shoulder and was running again before he hit the floor.
Pressing the metal door bar, she pushed the door to the stairs open and went down the steps as fast as she could. She was one step away from the bottom when the bottom floor’s door opened and a dark silhouette filled the doorway.
Screaming, she started to run back up the steps, but was caught before she could.
“Zoey, it’s me!”
Sobbing, Zoey turned, flinging herself into Stump’s arms. “He’s here!” she cried into his chest. “Mrs. Combs… I had to leave her to get help—”
“Ice and Max are going up the other side. Creed, get her out of here.”
“No, I have to make sure—”
She was handed over to hard arms as Stump ran up the steps, other booted feet following after him. She tried to break free so she could go check on Mrs. Combs.
“Zoey, you can’t help anyone in the dark! Help me find the breaker box! The police are on their way. Do you want them shooting Stump by mistake?”
“I think it’s in the back room in the basement.” She stopped fighting when a light flashed from Kent’s phone, showing the door.
Pointing at the flight of steps leading downward, Kent took her hand as they descended.
“Which way?” he asked when they came out the door.
“To the left.”
Hurrying, they passed the laundry room and the equipment room, coming to a small room that was standing wide open.
Kent lifted his phone higher so they could see better. It only took a second for him to begin switching levers, flooding the basement with light.
“I think I got them all.”
Kent then ushered her out of the basement and up the steps, into a sea of police officers who had them retreating to the side of the wall to keep from getting mowed down. They found themselves frisked, being asked who they were and why they were inside the building.
Zoey haltingly explained that she was a private sitter and what happened when she’d woken.
“I’m a friend of Ms. Mathers,” Kent told the officers. “I was the one who called in that someone had broken into her house three weeks ago. I was sitting in my car, waiting for her to get off, when I saw the lights go off. I called a police officer and then a client of mine who has a security team. He lives closer, and I knew they would get here quicker to aid Zoey.”