Sinful Suspense Box Set

  I blinked at her for a second trying to comprehend her answer and remember how to make some damn tea. “Tea, right. I think we have a canister up in this cupboard.” I rarely got flustered, but my cock seemed to have replaced my brain and now the simplest task, like searching for the tea can, was taking all my concentration. I scooted aside a box of cookies that had to be half a year old, and the shaker of salt fell from the cupboard. “Bad luck,” I muttered absently and grabbed a few grains and threw them over my shoulder. A silver tin was pushed to the back of the top shelf, a shelf that was hard to reach. I stretched my arm and hand up as high as I could and my fingers groped for the canister.

  “Jackson.” Charli’s sweet voice saying my name caused my erection to press urgently against the front of my pants.

  My fingers managed to grab the top of the canister. I pulled it, and it tumbled off the shelf. I caught it and turned around holding the tea container up triumphantly on my palm.

  Charli had taken off her costume. She was naked. I sucked in a sharp breath, and the tea canister clanged as it hit the floor and opened, spilling its gritty brown contents across the worn wood planks.

  Charli smiled shyly as she stood up, but there was nothing shy about the woman in front of me. Her long copper waves hung around her bare shoulders. Her rose-colored nipples puckered as my gaze drifted over them and down along the slim curves of her body to the perfect mound of copper hair between her thighs.

  “I’ve decided to skip the tea.”

  I knocked over the kitchen chair as I pounded across the floor and pulled her into my arms. My mouth devoured hers as her arms circled my neck. My hands went beneath her naked bottom, and she wrapped her legs around me. She clung to me. My first plan of carrying her to my bedroom ended when I decided it was too damn far. I carried her to the sofa and put her down, almost roughly. I had no patience for politeness. I just wanted her.

  The light from the kitchen illuminated the room with a warm, uneven glow. She peered up at me, her brown gaze glittering in the light. “Aren’t we going into your room?”

  “Not yet. It’s too far. I have to have you now. And before you protest, it’s your damn fault for being so fucking— so fucking fuckable.”

  She looked small and naked and vulnerable blinking up at me from the couch as I took off my wet clothes. She lowered her feet to the ground and began unbuttoning my pants. Again, with a long lashed blink, she gazed innocently up at me as she pushed my pants down. My cock sprang free like an animal that’d been sprung from its cage. Her small fingers wrapped around the base of my erection, and she pressed her beautiful lips, now pink and swollen from my kisses, against the moisture covered tip. A long shuddering breath filled my chest and then jammed tight in my lungs as she slid her tongue along the rigid shaft.

  I grabbed hold of her wrist. “Not yet, Charli,” I grunted. “Having you naked here in front of me is making me crazy. I’ve been rock hard since we got into the car. Hell, since the lightning scared you into my arms. With your mouth on me, I’ll be finished before we even get started.”

  I took hold of both her hands. Her tiny wrists both fit in my one hand. I lifted her hands above her head and stared down at her. She shivered.

  “Are you cold?”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s the way you are looking at me. The way you’re holding my hands captive. I feel . . . so exposed. Deliciously exposed,” she said quietly.

  “Good, because I can’t stop looking at you. You are the sweetest confection. I’m about to spill my seed just gazing at you.”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  I dropped down to my knees and released her hands. She pushed her breasts forward, silently begging for me to kiss them.

  I answered her plea. I held her in my grasp as I ran a trail of kisses along the curve of her breast to her taut nipple. She arched her back and pushed her nipple harder against my teasing tongue. Her palms smoothed over my shoulders and back, along the ridges of the scars left behind by Willie’s whip. They were an intimate part of me, something to remind me of that horrid day. Having her fingertips brush over them felt oddly comforting.

  As I suckled on her nipples, her long lashes fluttered against her creamy cheeks, and her head lulled back on her long neck. The soft, urgent sounds rolling off her lips only made me want her more.

  I rose up on my knees and leaned my mouth next to her ear. “Spread those beautiful thighs for me, baby.”

  She followed my command. I drew my fingertips down over her belly to the warm mound of hair. She cried out as my fingers slid into the slick, hot moist folds of her pussy to tease the tight, swollen bud that I knew would make her delirious with need.

  “God, baby, you’re wet.” I kissed her mouth. “Do you have any idea what this is doing to me?” I slid my fingers inside her, and she melted back against the sofa cushion. Watching her face as she grew more and more intoxicated by the motion of my fingers stroking and teasing her sex, made me even harder.

  “Say something, Jackson,” she pleaded between ragged breaths. “The sound of your voice is as erotic as your touch.”

  My fingers continued probing her, fucking her, bringing her to that edge of no turning back. I leaned up and kissed the skin on her thigh. “Charli, I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you. I’m going to touch you and taste you and fuck you until you scream out my name.”

  Her lips parted and she mewled in pleasure as my words and my touch brought her closer to climax. Then her hands shot forward, and she clutched at my arms. “Yes, Jackson, yes,” she cried as her pussy clenched around my hand. Her body shook and a deep pink blush tinted her golden skin. She collapsed against the cushion. “Take me now, please, Jackson. I want you.”

  I needed no more coaxing. I plucked the rubber from my crumpled up pants and rolled it on. My pulse throbbed through every vein in my body as I lifted myself onto the couch. Charli took my silent cue and climbed over my lap. She wrapped her arms around my head and pressed my face against her naked breasts as she dropped down over my waiting cock. Inch by inch, her pussy swallowed me. As the tight sheath hugged my cock, I gripped her hips. I wanted more of her. I pushed my pelvis up, and a gasp left her mouth as I thrust deeper inside of her.

  “God, baby, you fit me perfectly,” I growled. Her thin, lithe body moved through my arms as she rose and fell over my cock until I could no longer hold back. I held her tightly over me and threw my head back, a low, guttural groan rolling up from my chest. She was heaven and I was splitting into a million pieces inside of her.

  Once the waves of pleasure subsided, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her against me. She rested her face on my shoulder, still holding my spent cock snugly inside of her.

  The thunder had quieted, but raindrops still drummed a steady beat on the roof. Occasionally, a howl of wind would start up, circle the house close enough to rattle the windows and then swirl away. The sheen of sweat on our bodies and the cool air in the room sent us to my bedroom and beneath the quilt.

  Charli had her face tucked against my chest. “I dread to think what this storm has done to the carnival. I’m sure we’ll be closed tomorrow for clean-up.” She sighed. “With the exception of our new star attraction, the fight ring. Something tells me that tent will be repaired first.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it? Then the carnival can still make money even if it’s closed? Gideon and I watched a few fights. That Hector has certainly earned his strongman title.”

  She rolled her head back on the pillow but reached for my hand. When we were together, it seemed impossible for us not to be touching each other in some capacity. I squeezed her fingers in mine.

  “I suppose it is a good thing,” she sighed. “I can’t help being worried though. Buck has aligned himself with a devious partner, and my stepfather doesn’t always make the best decisions when he has dollar signs in his eyes. Sometim
es it’s profit over common sense.” Her voice trailed off, and I sensed that she was thinking about her mother’s death.

  I lifted her hand to my mouth and kissed her knuckles.

  “It had been Buck’s idea, adding fire to my mother’s show.” Her voice sounded small and tight as if she was somewhere far away and not lying right next to me. She gazed up at the ceiling. “And she never said no to Buck. In her own way, I guess she really loved him.” She grew quiet. The rain outside had slowed to a mild hissing sound as the mist tapped the windows. “It happened so fast. She rode through the first circle of fire, and by the time she’d emerged on the other side, her shoulders and back were covered in angry flames.” She blinked into the dimly lit room. “She hadn’t realized it.” A stifled sob followed. “She rode right on through the next burning hoop. By that time, Buck and I and dozens of people were racing toward her. The bike burst through the second hoop. The figure on top was completely engulfed. At the time, I’d convinced myself it wasn’t my mother on the bike. It was some other person being swallowed by the bright yellow and red flames. She fell off and the bike kept going, eventually crashing into some of the spectators. I just remember the deafening screams around me. But I couldn’t scream or breathe or think. By the time Buck had managed to throw a tarp over her to put out the flames, she was gone. I felt so helpless and stunned. I remember thinking, someone please turn back the clock. Let this day start again.” Her voice trailed off, and she wiggled back into my arms.

  “I know that feeling, that helpless, this can’t be happening feeling.” I never talked about that day. Never. And something told me that Charli had never talked about her day either, the day when one short moment of time had changed her life forever. I wanted to tell her. There was something about Charli that made me want to bare my soul to her. She was someone who I could tell everything to, and she’d listen and take it in and maybe even tell me her blunt opinion. I hadn’t had someone like her in my life . . . since Ella. The words just started rolling off my tongue and I didn’t stop them. “We’d been up at the river, at Harper Falls. Ella’s pa hated my guts, and my house was always crowded with people, neighbors, friends. My parents were well-liked. So, whenever we got a chance, Ella and I would sneak off to our favorite shady spot by the river.” I pulled in a long, slow breath wondering if I could continue. Ella’s death and the war were memories I kept locked up way back in my mind. When I’d gotten back from France, everyone had told me I needed to talk about it, get things off my chest, but I’d always found that keeping hard to understand shit buried helped ease the pain. “She wanted those damn wild flowers, a clump of wild geraniums. She said they were the last of the spring and that they’d bring good luck. Ella was like that. Always looking for the storybook ending, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. She insisted on climbing up there. Just seconds after she climbed the rocks, she disappeared into the churning water rushing over the falls. I dove under again and again, but I couldn’t find her.” My throat clamped around the invisible lump that had formed. The story had brought it. It was always there when I thought of Ella, but tonight, it was bigger and harder than ever.

  The storm had quieted to nothing more than an occasional wisp of wind through the trees. It had left behind a quiet chill, and I pulled the quilt tighter around us. Charli hadn’t said a word. Her cheek was warm and soft against my chest. I was sure I felt the moisture of a tear against my skin.

  “I wanted to follow her to the bottom. I wanted to die with her.”

  Charli tried indiscreetly to wipe her eyes. I held her tighter. How the hell was I going to let her just drive off and leave me forever?

  Car lights flashed in through the bedroom window, and the car motor followed. Doors slammed and Gideon’s loud voice rumbled across the yard. He was pumped up about something. “Well, that’s the end of our quiet evening.” I kissed her forehead.

  Charli sat up clutching the quilt to her.

  “Don’t worry, he wouldn’t dare bust in here,” I said.

  She lowered her feet to the floor. “I should get dressed and head back to the carnival. I have a feeling we’ll be woken at dawn for clean-up.” She got up, and I watched her walk naked across my floor. Her movements were more like a ballerina than a motorcycle stunt rider. In fact, nothing about her said stunt rider. She lifted up her costume from the dresser where she’d draped it to dry. Her button nose crinkled. “It’s still wet.”

  Gideon and the others had walked into the house. Their booming voices and laughter vibrated the bedroom door. I climbed out of bed. “I’ll get you one of my shirts. It’ll probably hang to your knees like a dress.”

  Charli smiled. “It sounds as if Rose has had a little too much to drink. I need to get her home to her cot.”

  She called it home. It was four panels of canvas with a few buckles to seal it shut, and she called it home. Something about that made my chest feel heavy.

  I went to my dresser and pulled out a shirt. Charli pushed her arms through the sleeves. My dress length assessment had been right. She was swimming in the shirt.

  I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. “Seeing my shirt on you is making me want to climb back into that bed.”

  A loud scraping sound came from the kitchen. Someone was breaking a piece of ice from the ice box.

  “Something tells me the mood might be spoiled by the roomful of obviously drunk people just past this door.” She rolled up the cuffs. A loud knock startled her.

  “What do you want, Gid?” I called.

  “Get out here, Jacks. You need to hear what happened tonight.”

  “Shit. That doesn’t sound good.” I pulled on my pants as Charli buttoned the shirt.

  Gideon had lit the lamp over the sofa. Bodhi was sprawled on the cushions holding what I could only guess were the ice pieces in a kitchen towel. I could see a bruise forming on the side of his face.

  Gideon was straddling a kitchen chair. Rose was wiping blood from his chin.

  “What the hell happened?” I asked.

  Charli hurried over to the sofa and knelt down to help Bodhi hold the ice on his face.

  “This cut is pretty deep,” Rose said as she patted Gideon’s face with the cloth. “I could sew it up for you. I’m real good with a needle and thread.”

  “That’s all right. Must have been the man’s ring.” Gideon took the cloth from her hand and held it against his chin to staunch the flow of blood. His white shirt was splattered red, and the knuckles of his hand were swollen.

  “Who were you fighting? Christ, Gid, tell me you weren’t fighting with the Griggs crew.”

  “Nah, it wasn’t them, but they were watching. We were at Breakers, the four of us.”

  I glanced around suddenly realizing they were a man short. “Where’s Noah?”

  “We dropped him at home,” Bodhi muttered from under the towel. “He was fine.”

  “Anyhow, like I was saying—” Gideon winced as he moved his shoulders. His earlier charged-up mood had darkened. As the excitement of the fight wore off, the physical pain, no doubt, became too real. “These three bellbottoms walked in. I think their ship was docked in the Chesapeake or something like that. Anyhow, they came into the joint like they owned the place. Must have been on shore leave for a day or two cuz they were already pretty lit as if they’d been drinking for awhile. They were big mouths, but everyone pretty much just ignored them. You know, servicemen blowing off some steam. Most of us in Breakers had been in France, so we’d all done the same at one time or another. But then they started ribbing Noah and Bodhi, calling them sissies and kittens and all kinds of shit.”

  “So I belted one of them in the mouth,” Bodhi said proudly.

  I walked over and motioned for Charli to lift the cloth. “Then he belted you back, apparently. That’s going to be black and blue for awhile.”

  “How is your head fee
ling? Any blurry vision or dizziness?” Charli asked. “I’ve had more than one good bump to the head that left me out of sorts for a day or two.”

  Bodhi reached up and lightly touched the bruised area under his eye. “Except for feeling like someone took a hammer to my face, I feel pretty good.” He stared at the red knuckles on the back of his hand. “You should have seen it, Jacks. That bellbottom flew right back into the barstool.”

  “Then his two pals went after Bodhi and Noah,” Gideon said. “But I took care of them.”

  “I’ll say you did.” Rose was holding back a proud grin. She picked up his hand and kissed the swollen knuckles. “Those sailor boys will be regretting it for a week.”

  “Where the hell were Griggs’s boys when all this was going on?” I asked.

  “That’s just it,” Gideon said. “They were standing right there, even Griggs himself. They were watching it almost as if it was entertaining. And the place had some damage by the time I was through wiping up the floor with them. Lots of broken glasses.”

  “Fucking hell, Gideon. That’s not good. After my last meeting with Griggs when he threatened me—” I stopped, but even though I cut the words short, I had everyone’s rapt attention, especially Charli’s.

  “Ah ha, I knew you came out of there with your fists in a curl,” Gideon said. “What did Griggs say at your last meeting?”

  “Nothing. It was about that tail he put on us, remember?” I switched the topic quickly. “I guess I should drive you girls home.”

  Charli stood up, and everyone in the room finally noticed that she was clad in nothing but one of my shirts.

  “That’s a nice look,” Gideon said. Rose thumped him on the arm. He winced and grabbed it. “Shit, I think I threw out my shoulder on that giant sailor. He was as solid as he was big.”

  Rose got up. “I’ll get you some ice.”

  “No, don’t bother. It isn’t anything that a few shots of whiskey can’t cure.” Gideon pointed to his lips. “Give me some sugar, my peach. That’ll take away the pain real fast.”