I smile. So, it’s gonna be like this. “The only stupid bitch I hear is the one talking to me right now. So why don’t you stop your crying and listen carefully.” I pace my dark room, wishing like hell I could meet this cocksucker face-to-face. For now, this will have to be enough. “I know who you are, and I know what you did to Violet.”
“Wait, wait, wait. What did that bitch say? Who the fuck is this?” He tries to talk over me, but I ignore every question.
“You’re gonna wanna listen and listen good, Clive.” I stress his shitty name so he knows that I know exactly who he is. “You’re going to forget you ever knew Violet James. You’re not going to call her. You’re not going to see her. You’re not going to bother anybody who even knows that you know her. Are we clear? I really need you to tell me you’re with me on this.”
I hear Clive cursing up a blue streak, calling me a bitch-ass pussy and dropping f-bombs like they have some kind of power over me.
I laugh in his ear. “I can see you’re too stupid for subtlety, so I’m gonna make this fucking easy. Stay away from Violet. No more calls, no more nothing. Forget she ever existed. Or I’ll find you and make sure you stop breathing. Permanently. We clear, shit-for-brains?”
The line is silent for a second before I hear Clive, his voice shaking like this is his first big-boy fight. “I’ll kill you!” he screams, his voice cracking on the threat. “You’re fucking threatening me? I’ll kill you.”
“That’s right,” I say, trying to sound like I’m soothing a spoiled toddler. “We see each other, and only one of us walks away with a heartbeat. I’m betting on me, little man. So just stay the fuck away from Violet.”
I end the call before he can get in another word and toss the device down on the couch. Violet’s slept through the whole thing, but I’m wound up tight.
The woman passed out cold on my couch is sweet, smart. She’s strong enough to weather a storm with a stranger, but trusting enough to open herself to me, a man who, for all she knew, could have been as shitty and useless as her ex.
It sickens me to think that asshole ever touched Violet—that he pretended to love her, slept beside her, gave her a goddamn ring.
I’m pacing furious circles in my room when Violet moans and rolls over onto her side.
The couch did a number on my back last night. I’m not going to sleep in my bed while she jacks up her body because she passed out on me this time.
I kneel beside her on the couch and think about picking her up. But then I realize she’s wearing yoga pants, and I don’t know a woman alive who can sleep in those. I skim a hand over her belly and hook my fingers under the waistband. It takes some effort, but she seems to lift her ass a little to help me while I push the snug fabric down to her ankles. Once the yoga pants are off, I slide my hands under her knees and scoop her into my arms.
I set her down on the bed, and she rolls to her side. I reach beneath her shirt, unclasp her bra, and pull both the loose top and the bra off her. Then I tuck her in and unzip my jeans. By the time I’m stripped down to my birthday suit, I realize that I’ve fucked this woman senseless on the hood of a car. There ain’t no way she’s gonna mind sharing a bed. I blow out the candles and climb in beside her.
I stick to one side of the bed so she’s got room, and I tuck a pillow under my head. I close my eyes, but then I feel her soft body roll beside me. She plants her cheek against my chest and snakes her bare legs through mine. I’m naked, but she’s still wearing panties. My cock is not happy about the situation. He’s like a five-year-old who refuses to go to sleep. But I close my eyes and hold her close against my chest.
I breathe in the soft scent of her hair, and my breathing slows to match the steady pace of hers. Before I know it, my body wins out, and even my cock gives in to the sweetness and softness that is Violet James.
8
Violet
I wake up in the most comfortable and warm position I think I’ve ever been in in my entire life. Before my eyes even open, I register where I am—back in Shadow’s bed. Blankets and sheets around me. The room is dark, but instead of the sounds of storms and wind, I hear the gentle thud of…Shadow’s heartbeat.
We’re woven so tightly together, I don’t know how I’m going to get myself up.
I can feel the cool air on my bare toes, and I realize I’m naked except for a pair of panties. I don’t remember how my clothes came off, but after everything I do remember from yesterday, I’m pretty sure I’d remember if Shadow and I had a repeat of any of the fun we had in the garage or right here in this bed.
I wiggle my toes and press my lips to his broad, hot back. I kiss him gently and realize that once I get up…if the storm is over, it’ll be time to go. Time to end this small detour on the path to my new life, and that is not something I’m excited about doing.
I have to admit to myself that I have had fun. Shadow is a surprise… Not a serial killer, thankfully. A big, beefy, complicated man whose touch makes me feel safer and more alive than I have ever felt before.
I run my hands over the tattoos that cover his back and try to remember the stories he told me about them last night during our drinking game. I must have been really smashed, because I remember some but not all of what we talked about.
Before I untangle my limbs from his, he rolls onto his side and faces me. He looks wide awake, and he smooths the hair back from my face. We lie there facing each other, maybe both taking in the fact that, at some point, I’ll have to leave. Let him get back to his life, his work, whatever things he would do with his club and the club bunnies if I weren’t here.
The thought makes me suddenly sad.
Shadow seems to notice. He rolls me onto my stomach and kneels over me. “Storm’s passed,” he says quietly. I don’t want to read too much into the way he sounds. Is he regretting that it’s almost time for me to leave? “Power’s still out in most of the county.”
“Mmm.” I’m so lost in the feel of his hands as they explore my bare flesh, I can’t really process what he’s saying.
“Power lines are down. Roads are gonna be covered in debris, downed trees. Puddles as deep as your knees.”
His hands slip under my panties and I sigh, and it’s as if every weight, every worry, leaves my body and seeps into his mattress from his touch.
