The contrast between the light, loving kisses and the raw almost violent sex of their lower bodies was electric, as if two different men were making love to her at the same time. For the first time in her life, Julia couldn’t talk. Even if she’d known what to say, she found her mouth gently occupied every time she thought to speak.
Her hand crept up over Cooper’s hard back muscles and she hooked her arms up over his shoulders, relishing the play of hard muscles as he worked her. He was so amazing to the touch. Like iron, only warm. Though the kisses were slow and languid, as if they had all the time in the world, as if he were a young man kissing a pretty girl for the first time in a meadow, his hips were slamming into her, faster and faster.
Cooper opened her mouth softly, gently with his. When his tongue touched hers, it was enough to set her off. With a cry lost in Cooper’s mouth, Julia climaxed again, harder than before, great waves of heat rolling through her, her vagina clenching tightly then relaxing in time with Cooper’s thrusts. It was so intense she felt like screaming, like crying. Her heart was pounding its way out of her chest. She was clinging to Cooper, tears leaking out of her eyes, running down her face on to the pillow.
Cooper was murmuring something, she didn’t know what. She couldn’t hear, couldn’t think, could only feel.
He was still hard inside her—it felt like he could stay hard inside her the rest of her life—but his movements had stilled. The sex had stopped but the lovemaking continued, soft gentle kisses over her face, along her neck. Low murmurs, more a vibration in his chest than a sound.
Julia’s arms tightened around him, and she hid her face in his neck. She had no words for him, nothing to say at all. All her defenses were down, broken through. If she opened her mouth now, all her secrets would come tumbling out.
So she clung, and burrowed, eyes tightly closed, overwhelmed with emotions, chest aching, waiting for her heart rate to slow. Her breathing calmed, heart steadied. Holding tightly onto Cooper, the only stable thing in her rocking world, Julia fell asleep.
So much blood.
The pale, skinny man lay on the tarmac, a river of blood flowing from his shattered head. It pooled thick and viscous on the ground. She backed away, horrified, slipping over the slick ground. The man with the gun turned slowly, his mouth opening into a cruel scimitar-shaped smile, his lips blood red. “Pretty lady,” he growled, the red smile widening, the gun slowly rising. “Die.”
“No!” she screamed, but no sound came out. The word echoed in her chest but the world was filled with a chill silence. She was on her knees now, scrabbling for something, anything, feeling her heart beating like a drum at the base of her throat, wondering if she would feel the moment when it stopped beating.
“Too late,” the big man growled and his finger tightened and she prepared to die, there on the gravelly ground, kneeling in another man’s blood.
Julia gasped and opened her eyes, trembling, disoriented, lost. She was paralyzed with fear, sweating with it. Where was she? What—?
A large figure stood by the bed, darker than the night. The scream never made it past her closed throat. It came out a tight choked whimper while she scrambled up against the headboard, trying to curl into a ball, hoping she wouldn’t feel the bullet—
The broad figure crouched by the bed and took her trembling hand. “Sally,” a deep voice said.
“Who?” Julia’s head whirled as she struggled to transit from nightmare to reality. “Who’s Sa—” A warning bell clanged loudly in her head. She bit her lips so hard she could taste blood. Tears sprang to her eyes.
Cooper held her hand tightly clasped between his. His hands felt warm and hard and safe. “Sally, honey, listen to me.”
Julia blinked, trying to connect her thoughts but they flew into tiny brittle shards. The only thing holding her together was Cooper’s grasp. She clung to him. Cooper leaned towards her. She could feel his body heat in the cold black night.
“I have to go, honey.” Cooper was fully dressed, down to his heavy black winter jacket. His face was mostly in shadow but she could see his jaw muscles flexing strongly as he bit his back teeth. “Me and five of my men are leaving at 4:30 this morning on horseback to check the line shacks in the hills. It’ll take us at least thirty-six hours. Maybe more. We’ll have to camp out overnight in one of the shacks. I won’t be able to call you ‘cause there’s no cell phone service up there.”
“All—all right.” Julia’s teeth were chattering. She could barely get the words out. Terrifying images from the nightmare still clung to her mind, like smoke after a fire. She hardly knew what he was talking about, had no idea what a line shack was. All she knew was that Cooper was leaving her. Was leaving her alone, in the dark, to fight her demons by herself.
He was frowning. He watched her for a moment or two. “You okay?” he asked finally, the deep voice quiet.
Julia knew what he meant. She’d felt all her muscles protest as she’d scrambled upright. Her thighs ached and she was sore and very sticky between them. The sex had been incredibly rough. Harder and deeper and longer than any sex she’d ever had before. Cooper hadn’t been able to control himself and she somehow sensed he was appalled at that.
He was asking whether he’d hurt her.
He hadn’t, not really. She was sore but most of the soreness was the burning intensity of her climaxes.
You okay?
No, actually, she wasn’t okay. She was lost and scared and lonely. She desperately wanted Cooper to stay. She wanted to hold onto him, feel his strength around her. She wanted him to keep the fear and the loneliness at bay.
“Fine,” she answered tightly. She opened her mouth in a big false smile, knowing he would be able to see only the whiteness of her teeth in the darkness, not the unnatural expression. “Just fine.”
His clasp tightened and his jaw muscles jumped again. He knew she was lying.
Cooper opened his mouth, then closed it again. What he wanted to say was clearly something he couldn’t say. “I have to go,” he repeated.
Julia nodded carefully, moving her head slowly as if underwater, holding on to her emotions by only the thinnest of threads. She clamped her jaws shut. If she opened her mouth she’d start crying and begging Cooper to stay.
He couldn’t.
Nobody could stay with her. She was completely alone.
Cooper watched her for long moments. Julia was naked and freezing cold. The only warm spot on her body, in her life, was her hand in Cooper’s clasp. When he let go, she managed to stop from shuddering only by an almost violent act of self-control. She was chilled to the bone.
He stood, looming tall and broad above her, standing about a foot from the bed. It was hard to think that a short time ago he’d been naked, and in her. For the entire time they’d had sex, Julia had thought of nothing but his body in hers and the almost frighteningly explosive pleasure he was giving her. While they’d been having sex, she’d felt as connected to him as she’d ever felt to another human being. She hadn’t felt lost or lonely at all.
Now he was separate, apart from her. Leaving her alone in the cold darkness of the night.
The small luminous display on her alarm clock showed 4 a.m. If he was to make it back to his ranch in time, he’d have to leave now.
Cooper took one step back and stopped. Julia could hear him breathing hard, could almost feel the vibrations of frustration coming off him. He shifted his weight from one booted foot to another, clearly unwilling to leave her.
“Go,” she said softly.
Cooper exhaled and nodded. After a moment, without another word, he was gone. She heard the front door open and close and, a moment later, an engine starting up.
The silence pressed in on her, as dark and cold as the night. Julia dropped her forehead to her knees and let the tears come.
Chapter Eight
The room was still reverberating with Luciano’s high C when the e-mail sign blinked.
FORTY THOUSAND US DOLLARS DEPOSITED IN SWISS ACCOUN
T. CAR ACCIDENT OKAY?
The professional checked the Geneva account, one of ten in Switzerland, blessing the Swiss banking authorities for allowing 24-hour depositing privileges. The $40,000 was there.
Mimi was putting on her muff, telling Rodolfo that it would warm her hands. She was dying. The professional’s fingers strayed from the keyboard to savor the achingly glorious moment. This part was so moving, so tragic. The professional hummed softly along as Rodolfo gathered Mimi’s lifeless form in his arms, singing his sorrow. When the music ended, it took a moment for composure to return, and then the professional posted the message to the Norwegian.
RICHARD M. ABT: RELOCATED TO ROCKVILLE, IDAHO, ADDRESS 102 CRESCENT DRIVE, UNDER ASSUMED NAME OF ROBERT LITTLEWOOD. CAR ACCIDENT FINE. GOOD LUCK.
Spurred by idle curiosity, the professional poked around a little into the purloined file, searching for Richard Abt’s middle name. It was a little like rummaging around in an old room. The process was fast. There it was. Marion. Richard Abt’s middle name was Marion. What kind of a name was that for a man?
No matter, the man was history.
The professional smiled. Richard Marion Abt. Destroyed by word of mouse.
“Whoa, there!”
Monday evening, Julia smiled and wiped soap out of her eyes. It was so good to have another human being in the house. Sunday she’d rattled around alone in the house, feeling hemmed in by the four walls, lost and lonely, talking to Fred who could only woof back. Thank God for Mondays, and a classroom full of kids.
Rafael had come over after school and they had gone over his homework, but Fred clearly trumped the Civil War and phrasal verbs as a little boy’s focus of interest.
Rafael had raced through the written work, mumbled the phrasal verbs by heart, then scampered off to tackle the fascinating task of grooming Fred.
Grooming Fred required the bathtub, half a bottle of rose-scented bubble bath and almost every towel in the house. A couple of days of food, rest and affection and Fred was already filling out. He barely had a limp now and was deep in the process of falling in love with Rafael. It was clearly mutual. Fred and Rafael had identical dopey grins on their faces.
Julia watched as Rafael dripped more bubble bath on Fred and started shampooing him.
“You still smell, buddy.” Julia told Fred as she capped her bottle of bubble bath. “But at least there’s this overlay of roses over the eau de dog.” He yipped in response.
A heavy knock sounded at the door. She stood, heart racing.
“Cooper.” His voice was muffled by the door, but was unmistakably his. She hadn’t heard from him since he’d left in the early morning darkness Sunday morning.
Wiping her hands on the last clean towel and trying to still her racing heart, Julia went to the door. There he was, tall and broad, dressed in black, holding a package wrapped in brown paper. She’d thought about him constantly yesterday and all day today. Even if she hadn’t thought of him, her body would be reminded of him, in her sore muscles, in the ache between her thighs, as if he were still inside her.
He took off his big black cowboy hat as soon as he saw her.
“Sally.”
Oh, God. That voice. He’d murmured things in her ear as he was making love to her, in that deep, deep voice. Hearing it now gave her an instant flashback to the dark bedroom and Cooper deeply inside her, moving hard and fast. Her knees trembled.
“Cooper.” Her voice sounded breathless. She clung to the edge of the door. He stepped forward, so close she could smell him. Leather, rain, man.
From behind her in the bathroom, Rafael squealed with pleasure and Fred woofed. Cooper’s head lifted a moment and when he looked back down at her she could almost read his thoughts. Rafael was busy in the bathroom with Fred. They were, for the moment, alone.
Julia had rehearsed so many different attitudes to take when she saw him again. She’d be friendly but distant. No, cool but amused. No, affectionate without being clingy. No, friendly but ironic…
There was no chance to be anything because Cooper took another step forward and kissed her. Deeply, passionately. The kiss was the equivalent of the sex they’d had, when his penis had possessed her completely.
Holding her close to him, he lifted her up and moved them, fast, into her bedroom. He closed the door and locked it, still kissing her. One big hand reached under her skirt to caress her hip. Oh, God, it felt so good to have his hands on her again. Eyes closed, on tiptoe, Julia opened her mouth more to him and caressed his tongue with hers.
Cooper shuddered. He moved his body back a moment, lifting her up against the wall, holding her with one arm, stripping her of pantyhose and panties and shoes. He pulled her legs up around his hips. His big hand brushed her sex as he unzipped himself and he shuddered again. He could feel how wet she was.
Amazing. Julia had always been so slow to warm up sexually. She liked long, languid foreplay, tender words, soft caresses. She’d had none of that and yet now she was primed for sex. Just seeing Cooper had done that, like a hamster associating pressing the bar with food pellets. Cooper equaled rough, exciting sex.
He opened his briefs and his penis sprang free. His hand guided him to her. He spread her with two fingers, worked the head in and thrust hard.
Julia was completely possessed by him. His mouth was eating at hers, his heavy weight kept her pinned against the wall, his hands held her thighs up and wide apart. The rough material of his jeans abraded her legs.
He leaned heavily into her, mouth lifting from hers. He looked down at her through half-lidded eyes. His face was so stark, so unyielding. “Been thinking about this for a day and a half,” he muttered, eyes dark glittering pools.
Just like that, Julia started climaxing, sharp pulls which made his eyes widen and nostrils flare. He sucked in a deep breath and pulled halfway out to start thrusting.
“Miss Andersen? Miss Andersen? Where are you? Fred needs a hairdryer. Miss Andersen?”
“Fuck,” Cooper whispered.
They both froze, Julia staring into Cooper’s dark eyes. She was still climaxing, her body continuing its processes even though her mind screamed—stop!
She was shaking with the intensity of the climax, her body completely out of her control. Cooper’s harsh breaths sounded loud in the room. He held himself stiff and still inside her.
“Miss Andersen?” Rafael’s voice faded. He was going into the kitchen to look for her, where of course he wouldn’t find her. There was only one other room in the house left. Sure enough, his footsteps were crossing the little living room.
The contractions were starting to fade, thank God. Shakily, Julia pushed at Cooper’s shoulders. His eyes closed as if in pain, Cooper pulled out of her. She dropped her legs, hoping they would hold her up. She was trembling.
“Miss Andersen? Hey, where’d you go?” The doorknob rattled.
“Just—” her voice was so weak it didn’t carry. Julia cleared her throat. “Just a minute. Don’t come in, Rafael. I’ll be out in a second.”
“Okay. We need a hairdryer.” Rafael whistled cheerfully as he went back to the bathroom and Fred.
Julia couldn’t help but look down. Cooper’s penis was dark, hugely swollen and slick with her juices. He was trying to fit that massive erection back into his jeans. The zipper caught. She winced as she met his gaze. “That’s got to hurt.”
“You have no idea,” he rumbled.
“And you didn’t, um—”
“Nope.” His dark eyes pinned her. “I intend to, though. After I drive Rafael home, I intend to come back and stay inside you all night and then I will. A lot.”
There was no air in her lungs, just heat. From what she’d seen—and felt—Cooper was capable of doing just that. “Oh,” she said weakly. “Oh, um, okay.”
He cupped a big hand around her neck and dropped a kiss on her lips. His thumb continued to caress her neck when he lifted his head. “Better get to Rafael. I’ll come out in a minute.”
Julia nodded and wal
ked weakly to the door.
“Honey?” She turned back and looked at him quizzically. “Might want to put on some shoes and underwear before going out?”
“Right,” Julia said, still dazed. His words barely penetrated. She was still feeling the aftereffects of her climax, the wet swollen tissues of her sex rubbing against each other as she moved. “Underwear.”
Underwear, underwear. Where—oh. Her panties, pantyhose and shoes were in the corner. By the time she was decent, Cooper looked less wild, too, though she noticed he kept his jacket on. It reached to his thighs and covered his erection.
Julia pulled her hand dryer from the drawer and was walking to the door when she felt him right behind her, felt his body heat and the large presence that was Cooper.
“Miss Andersen?” Rafael’s voice sounded faint from the bathroom.
“Coming!” Julia shouted and nearly jumped when she felt Cooper’s large rough hand on her neck. He bent and kissed her on the nape, a light kiss over almost before it began.
“Coming?” he repeated in a low rumble right next to her ear, so that she heard him more by vibration than sound waves. “That’s what I hope you’ll be doing all night.”
She stopped with her hand on the knob, a wave of heat nearly bringing her to her knees. Cooper shouldn’t say things like that. Not when she was about to face a little boy. She was sure her face was flame-red. Her thoughts were scrambled and her pulse raced. It took her two tries to turn the doorknob. She couldn’t turn around. If she did, if she saw Cooper, she’d simply lock that door, turn around and throw her arms around his neck. So she kept her eyes resolutely turned forward as she opened the door and made her shaky way to the bathroom.