Текст книги "Physical Distraction"

Автор книги: Tess Oliver

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Her feet slid apart. She reached up and wrapped her hands around my arms for support. It was a gesture that made my chest tighten. I realized right then that I was never going to let anything happen to her. I was going to tear apart anyone who tried to hurt her. Anyone.

Her hands gripped me tighter as I pushed my fingers down between the hot folds of her pussy. As the slick cream covered my fingers, my cock strained against my fly. “God, Tash, you’re so hot and wet. Tell me you want this. I want to hear you say it.”

“Yes, please, Jem.” She spread her thighs a little wider.

I pushed my finger inside of her. Her cry shot out and evaporated into the huge canyon below. I pushed in a second finger. I wanted to fill her completely, until she was trembling in my arms. I pressed my hand tight against her clit as my finger probed deeper.

I lowered my mouth to her ear, and she moaned with pleasure.

“I knew you’d feel this good, baby. Your pussy is pure fucking heartbreak, just like the rest of you.”

She rolled her hips to take in more of my fingers and grind her clit against my hand. “Jem, please—” My name rolled off her pink lips so erotically, it was all I could do to keep from taking her completely.

“I’m here, baby.” My voice sounded short and raspy, as I worked to keep control. “Tash, I want you to come for me. Will you do that, darlin’?”

Her sigh floated up into the night air. She tightened her hold on my arms as she squeezed her thighs around my hand. As she rocked over my fingers, holding me tightly in her pussy, her perfect round ass rubbed against me. An involuntary groan rolled up from my chest. She was sweeter and hotter than I’d imagined, and I’d imagined a lot. Her pussy was reacting so hungrily to my touch, it made my cock ache.

“God, baby, you are sweet to touch.” I kissed her neck as she moved against me.

“Yes, please, Jem.” Her plea for more assured me she’d reached the edge. Her thighs squeezed shut, and hot cream covered my fingers as her pussy clenched tightly around my hand. Her fingers dug into my arms as her body trembled in my grasp.

She crumpled against me as I pulled my hand from between her legs. I swept her up into my arms and carried her to the built-in bench at the back of the shelter. I sat down, cradling her in my arms, holding her so tightly it was a wonder I didn’t crush her.

“Jem, I’m not quite sure I’m ready to—” She curled into my arms.

“Yeah, I figured after what happened today. As much as I want you, Tash, I want you to be ready.”

Tashlyn lifted her round blue eyes to me. I brushed her bangs from her face. “You were the last thing I expected, Jem.”

“You were a pretty big surprise for me too, Woodstock. This town is filled with stupid, smug people who prefer to hate than think and who thrive on rumors and lies, especially when it brings other people down. Then there you were, looking completely out of place, standing in the canyon, looking as if you’d just stepped out of one of those hippie-fueled make love not war protests. And those blue eyes—” I gazed down at the piece of heaven in my arms. “It feels like you look right past what everyone else sees when they look at me, that hard shell that makes people cross to the other side of the street to avoid me. You looked right past it and into my soul.”

She reached down to button her pants, took a deep breath and moved to sit next to me on the bench. “Think it’s the way my Aunt Carly raised me. She always told me to look past a first impression in case it’s the wrong impression. I sort of did just step out of the sixties. My aunt lives in this commune called The Grog. Just a bunch of artists, organic farmers, people who like to sit around, get high and debate worldly stuff. It was actually a pretty cool place to grow up. It’s one of the reasons I don’t have a cell phone. Too much connection to the industrial world.”

“Sounds cool. But I do wish you had a phone, especially with what happened today. Although, we don’t use them much around here because all the fucking planets have to be lined up just right for there to be any reception.”

She laughed. “So I’ve heard. I guess there’s some disadvantage to living in this kind of setting.”

I dropped my arm around her. The ache in my cock was slowly subsiding. I knew I’d be thinking about her every minute, and I’d feel it in my cock as much as in my heart and head but I wasn’t willing to toss this away. She needed to want it just as badly. “Tash, I talked to my dad. I got nowhere, of course, but he’s—well, he’s on a lot of meds. He’s dying.”

She looked over at me. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m not saying that to get him any sympathy. He doesn’t deserve it. I don’t either. He’s dying, and that’s the way it is. I can’t say that I feel either way about it. There’s never been anything right about my dad, but I think this town sort of helped shape him. In fact, a better word would be twist. There was an accident when he was young and a girl died. My dad never talks about it, but I know the town blamed him. He decided to live up to the reputation.”

“But why would he have taken the newspaper?”

I shook my head. “Can’t explain that, but I can promise you he wasn’t the person to tie you onto that log cradle. He can barely hold his beer can anymore. A lot of shit happened when I was a kid, stuff that I tried hard to push out of my head. It was easier to just deny than to accept that my dad was an asshole. Dane’s older than me, and he was alone at home with dad when I was in doing time. He knows more, but as you might have noticed, he’s sort of in his own world most of the time. When he’s in the right mood, I’ll sit down and talk to him. In the meantime, I’ve got an old car in the garage. I’ll get it started, so I can drive you to work. No more sitting alone at that damn bus stop before the sun comes up.” I turned her face to me and kissed her. “My car will be much warmer . . . and we could do stuff.”

“Stuff is good.” She leaned against me. “Jem, what happened today really scared me.”

“Scared the hell out of me too, Woodstock.”

Chapter 15

Tashlyn

There was no sense in having Jem drop me off a few blocks away from Everly’s house. Now, after he’d walked me out of the store, it was pretty much known by the whole town, or at least all of the shoppers in Gregor’s Market, that the new girl had gotten herself tangled up with the infamous Jem Wolfe. And as tangled as it all seemed to be, I was happy to be caught.

Jem’s bike rumbled in the driveway as he watched me get safely inside. It was past eleven, and I was hoping that Everly had already gone to bed. I was still in a delightful daze after my evening with Jem, and I wasn’t quite ready to get in a debate with Everly.

The house was quiet, but the kitchen light was still on. Everly walked out wearing her flannel pajamas. I couldn’t read the expression on her face.

The words I’d been practicing in my head on the ride home flowed without me summoning them. “Everly, I know what you’re going to say, and believe me, you’re the last person I want to disappoint. But—”

“Actually, Tash, I don’t think you know what I was planning to say.” I stood there dumbfounded as she wrapped her arms around me. She stepped back and laughed at my stunned expression. She took my hand, and we walked to the couch. “I’ll admit, when you first walked out of the store with Jem, I was disappointed, no—hurt—because it seemed that my opinion just didn’t matter.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but she held her hand up to stop me. “No wait, let me finish. When you stood out on the sidewalk with him and he took hold of your face and kissed you, all I could think was that I wanted someone to kiss me like that.” Her eyes glassed with tears as she spoke. “And the way you were looking at him, I knew that it was more than just a crush on a hot guy. You see in Jem something that others don’t see. It’s the same with me when I look at Finn.” She chuckled. “And Finn’s not even all that hot, but he’s what I want.” She smiled. “And because of you, I decided to go see him. He’s recovering at home, and I brought him one of my famous chicken salad sandwiches.”

“What did I do to prompt that?”

“You gave me confidence to look past this.” She lifted her withered arm. “I figured if I’ve got a friend like Tashlyn Younglove, then I must be pretty damn cool, definitely cool enough to win over Finn Harris. Of course, the fact that I can make a mean chicken salad among other kitchen delights doesn’t hurt. He’s kind of a man who appreciates good food. But it’s not just knowing you, Tash. You’ve said so many things to help build my self-esteem. Something I was sure I’d lost for good.”

I hugged her. “I’m the one that’s lucky, Everly.” I sat back and raised a questioning brow at her. “So, how did the visit go?”

A pink blush covered her cheeks. “Let’s just say I’ll be bringing him another sandwich tomorrow. Plus oatmeal cookies. Talking to Finn helped me forgive Jem for stealing you away too. Finn said if it hadn’t been for Jem, he would have drowned for sure. He’d been knocked out cold by the swinging log. My uncle, well that’s a different story. He was even telling me I should rethink having you as a roommate if you’re going to hang out with the town trash.”

I winced at the harsh words her uncle had used. “I’m sorry if I caused a problem, but your uncle is wrong. I know he’s known Jem for a long time, but I just know he’s wrong about him.”

“Don’t worry about Uncle Landon. I told him I’m a big girl who doesn’t need looking after anymore. He means well.” She gasped. “I almost forgot.” She hopped up from the couch and walked over to the small table in the entryway. She picked up an envelope. “Your aunt wrote you a letter.” She shook her head. “My mom’s away for months and I’m lucky if I get a phone call on Sunday night. You’ve been gone less than two weeks and your aunt has already written two letters.” She handed me the slightly tattered envelope.

It had been taped shut on the back. I laughed. “It looks like she sent it to Blackthorn Ridge by route through India. Apparently, she sealed it shut and then remembered something else she just had to tell me. She’d never waste a second envelope—”

“Let me guess,” Everly interrupted, “because of the trees?”

“Yep.” I rubbed my hand along the bottom. There was something solid inside. “Ooh, she sent me something. I hope it’s one her macramé headbands. I lost mine somewhere on the bus trip. If you don’t mind, Ever, I think I’ll go to my room and read it.”

“Not at all.”

I stood up, but she reached for my hand.

“Tash”—her tone had changed—“just be careful not to get heartbroken. No matter what you say about Jem, he’s never lacked attention from girls. It’s only the daring ones, mind you, because most of the girls in town are terrified of what would happen if their parents found them with Jem. Just keep a lock on your heart.”

“I will, Ever. Thanks.” I walked to the bedroom and shut the door. It had been my first moment alone since Jem had dropped me off. I closed my eyes and thought about his hands between my legs and how easily I’d submitted to his touch. And even more shocking, how easily he’d made me climax. My head was fuzzy with thoughts of Jem Wolfe, and it seemed that Everly’s last words of caution, to lock up my heart, had come too late.

I sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off my shoes. I smiled at the return address where Carly had written “Greetings from The Grog” above the address. I ripped the tape off the envelope and pulled out the paper. A handful of shredded purple paper, Aunt Carly’s usual stationery, came out with it, cascading to the floor like a lavender snow flurry. I hadn’t opened the letter yet, but I could see the heavy-handed, scribbled words through the paper. They weren’t from Aunt Carly. My heart rose into my throat, and I could barely swallow as I willed myself to open the letter. My hands shook as I stared in disbelief at the hastily scrawled threat. “Leave town or you will die.”

Just like earlier in the sawmill, it felt like I was sitting in the middle of a b-rated horror movie, only instead of shoveling popcorn and waiting for the next opportunity to snap shut my eyes, I was the silly girl on-screen being warned by the audience not to go into the dark room. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why my arrival in town had become such a threat to someone. None of it made sense. Just like it didn’t make sense that Alcott Wolfe could have been involved in my dad’s truck losing control on a treacherous curve of the highway.

Between the extremes of the day, nearly dying an awful death, the giddiness I was feeling over Jem, and now the death threat from someone who obviously knew where I was living, I was sure I wouldn’t sleep much tonight. I was just glad to know that I wouldn’t be walking to the bus stop in the anemic light of dawn. Since this threat had come to the house, I needed to tell Everly. She’d soon be regretting her generosity in taking me in.

I changed reluctantly. The lingering scent of pine that always seemed to follow Jem was still on my clothing. For a brief moment, I allowed myself to push the ugly note from my head and think about being safe in Jem’s strong arms. So far, he’d proven to be anything but dark and sinister. Other than the potential of a terrible heartbreak, I felt safe with him. I was sure I could trust him. I just hoped my complete and utter infatuation with him wasn’t blinding me from the truth.

As I slipped under the covers, I considered just packing up my stuff tomorrow and going back to Aunt Carly’s, a place where peace prevailed and death threats were non-existent. But now, more than ever, I needed to find out what had happened in that missing piece of my history.

Chapter 16

Tashlyn

I’d had one attempt on my life and another written death threat and the thing that had me trembling with nerves was knowing I was about to see Jem. Just seeing his tall silhouette sitting in the car out front sent a burst of charged energy through me.

I reached the door of the car that seemed to be held together with the dust that coated it. There was no door handle. I leaned down and smiled through the window, reminding him that there was no handle.

He had the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head, and the metal plugs in his ears glinted like dark pewter as he reached over and popped open the door from the inside. I slid into the passenger seat. A huge rip in the black vinyl had been repaired with silver duct tape. The dashboard was at an unnatural tilt. I pulled my feet out from under it in case it fell.

“Can’t say you didn’t arrive in style today.” Jem laughed as he pulled away from the curb.

“No, it’s definitely a style. Just not sure how you’d categorize it.”

He stopped at the first stop sign and reached over to pull my face toward his for a kiss. “Morning, Woodstock. Did you sleep well? Cause I didn’t.” He looked down at my lips, the lips he’d just kissed. “At the risk of sounding like a total fucking sap, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Tash.”

“I was thinking about you too.” I felt my cheeks warm just thinking about his hands between my legs.

He sat back and drove on. Most of the cars on the road were heading south toward the bigger cities or toward the mill. Several dogs were standing on the sidewalk in front of Gregor’s Market playing tug of war with a sandwich wrapper. Otherwise, with the shops still closed, the street was quiet.

I’d shoved the death threat into the pocket of my jeans. I planned to show Jem once we got to work. It wasn’t something I just wanted to shove in front of him while he was driving.

“Did Everly give you a hard time last night?” he asked.

“Surprisingly, no. But she’d gone to visit Finn, who told her that he’d have drowned if you hadn’t jumped in after him. That helped.”

“Everly has a thing for Finn?”

“Yes, but don’t tell him. He’ll figure it out soon enough. I hope he deserves someone like Everly.”

“A lot of people have a hard time looking past those scars. Finn’s not really like everyone else.” A terrible sound of grinding metal followed his third and finally successful attempt to get the car into fourth gear. “Guess you can see why I usually take my bike.”

We were rounding the last turn before descending on Phantom Curve. On the bus, I’d always made a point to sit on the left side, to avoid looking at the blackened ground below. But today, sitting on the right side in Jem’s small, slow moving car, it would be hard to ignore it.

Jem sensed my tension and didn’t say a word as we rounded the curve. Then, it hit me, like an unexpected bout of vertigo, the weird sensation of falling, as if I was tumbling head over heels down into the deep ravine. A shocked cry left my lips, and I grabbed Jem’s arm. I closed my eyes and had to consciously work to stop the dizziness in my head and the pounding in my ears. And all the while, I held Jem’s arm, as if it was keeping me from falling.

He waited a few seconds until I took a steadying breath and opened my eyes. A cold sweat covered my skin, and I felt sick to my stomach.

“Tash?” His deep voice floated through the cloud. “Are you all right?”

I nodded unconvincingly and pried my fingers off his arm. The car suddenly seemed exceptionally small. I rolled down the window and stuck my face out into the fresh air. The deadly curve, the macabre reminder, was behind us now, but my limbs tingled with numbness. “Jem, please, pull over. I need to get out of the car.” I couldn’t stop the flow of tears. As much as my mind was reconciling what had just happened with my memory, it was too hard to face the truth. It was part of the missing piece, and it terrified the hell out of me.

Jem pulled to a small patch of dirt. I shoved open the car door and hopped out before it had come to a complete stop.

Daylight was starting to pour through the treetops. I turned my face up to it, swallowing the fresh air, in hopes that it would clear my head. I felt Jem standing next to me, watching me.

The nausea slowly passed and my heart slowed. I pulled my coat shut against the morning chill.

“What the hell happened back there?” Jem asked.

I swallowed to relieve the dryness in my throat. “I was with him.” My voice was crinkly and quiet. “I was with my dad when he went over the ridge. I’d pushed it back in my memory, somewhere deep, so I couldn’t find it. But just now as we drove around the curve it came back to me. I was falling again. I was rolling around in the sleeping compartment of my dad’s truck.” I turned to him.

“What? How did you make it out?” There was more worry than confusion in his tone. It was almost as if he dreaded my answer.

“I don’t know. I just know I was with him.” I pressed myself against Jem, and his arms closed around me.

Chapter 17

Jem

Usually, if something weighed heavily on my mind, I could clear it away once I got out on the water. Just me, the pond, the logs and the impossible scenery surrounding me. It beat an office job any day. But today, I couldn’t shake shit from my head. It had started as a tiny, irritating tickle, something that was bugging me but not enough to keep thinking about it. Then, after the sawmill incident when I’d kissed Tashlyn, she’d looked up at me with this soft, vulnerable expression that had morphed the tickle into more of a scratch. But still I’d pushed it back out of the way. But this morning’s incident at the curve had turned the scratch to a full on gash, something I could no longer ignore. I needed more than anything to corner Dane for a talk. It was hard enough cornering my wild older brother for anything. Having a serious conversation with him was nearly impossible. But something told me Dane had some answers, and he was the only one willing to give them up freely.

I stepped across to the logs waiting to be sent to the lift. It was an hour before the end of the work day, and I was ready for it. I’d only seen Tashlyn twice all day and only from a distance. Hal had gathered the workers for a quick safety equipment inspection, and as we stood waiting for our shoes, hats and gloves to be checked, Tashlyn had come out to ask a question of Hal. She’d tried hard not to look my way, but I stared openly at her. Her cheeks were blushed pink before she turned around and walked back to the office.

Walt Pickman’s whistle called my attention to shore.

“Fuck,” I muttered to myself. “Is it Dane?” I called back to shore.

He shook his head and cupped his hands. “The boss wants to see you in his office.”

I shook my head and laughed. Of all his workers, I was the one person who had to travel across logs and a pond to get to his office. “Can’t it wait?”

“He told me to get Wolfe now.”

Now was never a good thing when it came to the boss. I was pretty fucking sure he wasn’t dragging me off the pond now to give me a pat on the back. The one bonus was that I’d get to see Tashlyn. I headed across the yard and stomped the mud off my boots on the cement path leading to the office.

I opened the door. Tashlyn glanced up from the desk Hal had set up for her in the corner of the room. She pulled her eyes away quickly, and the same pink blush covered her cheeks. I was really starting to love that damn blush. She busied herself with the work in front of her, but her long, black lashes fluttered nervously as she stared down at the papers.

“Gotta question, Wolfe.” Hal’s deep voice pulled my attention away from Tashlyn. “What the hell was going on in the mill last night?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Tashlyn’s face shoot up.

Hal pulled a piece of fabric out of his desk drawer. It was the strip of Tashlyn’s sweatshirt. We’d completely forgotten about it.

“This fabric was tied around the cradle arm at the first cut saw.”

I’d been in enough trouble in my life to know how to keep a cool as stone face. It had been a huge plus at the poker table. “Why the hell am I the one you’re singling out for this interrogation?”

“Well, for one thing, you’re a Wolfe.”

I gritted my jaw tight, reminding myself not to show any reaction. He was trying to get me to flinch and spill my guts, but that wasn’t going to happen. I’d promised Tashlyn that I wouldn’t mention the incident to Hal. From the side of my eye, I could see her fidgeting with things on her desk.

“And because some of the men told me you’ve been staying late.”

“What men?” I asked too abruptly. “Who saw me?”

“Doesn’t matter, Wolfe. Why are you staying after hours?”

“Because you sent Bozo the Clown, otherwise known as Stan, your nephew, to help me. Frankly, I’d probably do better on my own.”

He flinched first, which I figured he would.

“Can’t pay you overtime, and besides, it’s against safety code.”

“That’s why I’ve been clocking out on time—before heading back out onto the pond to clear debris. If it gets too thick, then it’s a bitch and a half getting that conveyor belt moving again once it’s jammed. Then it really will be a safety problem. But, hey, I’ll be sure to get off the water on time tonight, no matter what’s left out there.”

His mouth rocked back and forth as if he was figuring out how to make me staying late without pay to clean up a bad thing. His barrel chest relaxed. “So, you didn’t see anything going on in the mill?”

“Can’t really see the mill from the pond.”

Tashlyn cleared her throat as she stood from her desk. “Hal,” she said quietly, “it was me.”

I shook my head a tiny bit to stop her, but she ignored me.

Hal turned his big ruddy face her direction. The gruff expression he’d shown me turned to a kind smile. “What do you mean, Tash?”

Tashlyn stood next to his desk. “It was my fault. That fabric was from my sweatshirt. I know it sounds silly, but a bird flew inside the building and it was thrashing around in there trying to find its way back out. I was worried it would hurt itself, so I tried to shoo it out the opening. My sleeve got caught on the cradle. I couldn’t get the darn thing free, so I ripped it. I’m so sorry, Hal.” She batted her long, lush lashes at the man, and that was all it took. The man was fucking pudding.

Hal’s belly bounced as he laughed. “You need to be careful around the equipment, Tash. Lots of dangerous blades in there.”

She grinned. “I’ll say. Anyhow, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I was embarrassed. On the brighter side, the bird found its way out. But I’m out a perfectly good sweatshirt.”

The man was like melting butter in his chair as he listened to the sweet little liar cover him with sugarcoated lies. She was good.

Hal waved me out without another word or an apology for yanking me from the pond. Or a thank you for working late without pay, for that matter. I stomped back to the pond, kicking up the usual pegs of dirt in my wake. In less than an hour, everyone would be clocking out, and I’d be alone with the office staff. The tastiest little confection ever to sit behind a rolodex.