An Escape to Love (5 page)

Leona heard him and every word he said made her wince. She couldn’t deny the look of truth on his handsome face, or her sexual attraction to the man. Even though she knew he was a murderer, her attraction was not bothered, and she squirmed in her chair to try and soothe the tension in her pussy.
What is wrong with me?
she chided herself in her head.

She thought she was noticeably attractive, and had a fleet of men wanting to ask her out all the time. She had denied their invitations to dates and picnics, only because she was never attracted to any of them. She had started to think there was something sexually wrong with her, until now.

This tall, muscled, menacing-yet-adorable man was wreaking havoc on her state of mind, and she should’ve been terrified, cowering in the corner, weeping for her release. Yet here she was, seated at the kitchen counter, smiling at him and fantasizing about his large hands cupping her breasts.

She lowered her gaze to the unfinished pieces of chicken on her plate, and could feel the heat on her cheeks. She was blushing and she hoped to God that Jake hadn’t noticed it.

“Don’t do that please,” he said, and she jerked her face up, sensing the urgency in his voice.

“Don’t do what?”

“Don’t… look away from me like you can’t bear to watch my face. It’s humiliating and I won’t bear it. You can either believe me or pretend you believe me. Those are your only two options.”

“And if I don’t do either of those things?” she asked before she could stop herself.

“Then you can stay in your room in that same sweater and jeans and I’ll bring you a can of soup for every meal,” he said, and Leona noticed a hint of a smile lurking on his lips.

The answer was not what she had expected and she couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He smiled and it had an insane effect on his handsome face. He looked boyish, young and carefree… definitely not a murderer.

It had an even more devastating effect on her senses, and she inhaled sharply, her eyes gluing to his smiling lips. She couldn’t smile back because her stomach was clenching into knots of arousal. She wasn’t used to feeling that warming sensation, so she didn’t know how to hide it, and Jake’s smile froze on his face as he caught her watching his lips.

They stayed silent and the only sound was the soft hum of the refrigerator. Jake’s lips parted as he breathed and it broke the spell. Leona lurched out of the stool and walked into the living room. Jake turned towards the stove and covered the leftover pieces of chicken in the skillet. But no matter what either of them pretended to do, their thoughts were on the same thing: the moment that had just passed between them.

The sexual tension in the room was like a tangible object. Jake gritted his teeth, holding on to the sink, his knuckles turning white. His cock was hard and pulsing with need, and he didn’t want Leona to see it. He didn’t want to scare her away. He wanted to spend the next week in her company, pleasant company, not the angry presence he was trying to eradicate. Showing her how physically fucked-up and desperate he was, wasn’t going to help his cause in any way.

Chapter Eleven

Leona flicked on the TV and sat down, watching the only news channel that was unlocked. “Now that I know who you are, would you mind unlocking the news channels? I want to know what’s going on in the world.”

Jake pasted a passive expression on his face and walked towards her, unlocking the channels in an instant. “Here you go,” he said magnanimously and fell onto the couch next to her. Luckily for Jake, there was no new update on his escape, save for a few seconds’ worth of air-time that his mug shot received.

The newscaster’s voice was loud and clear through the living area, “If you see this man, do not approach him. He is believed to be armed and dangerous.”

Leona listened and it was like a reality check. The man was sitting next to her, just two feet away, and although he wasn’t armed at the moment, he did have a gun. Having a gun didn’t make a man dangerous though. Her brothers had guns, her father had a whole cabinet full of them, and they weren’t even mildly dangerous.

Jake moved to get off the couch and she jumped, then looked away guiltily as he watched her knowingly. Shaking his head, he was about to turn away when a breaking news alert flashed through the wide screen. Thinking it might be something about him, he waited and then his blood froze as the news-caster began speaking.

“Justice Benson was shot by two unidentified men as he left his home for a hearing. The attack was made about ten minutes ago and the police have yet to comment on the situation, but sources indicate that both men are in custody. Justice Benson has been rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital and his condition is said to be critical.”

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Leona screamed and stood up. Jake placed his hand on her arm but she jerked away as if she had been burned. “Oh my God!” she screamed again, looking straight at Jake, and his heart flipped at the sight of pure terror on her face.

“Leona,” he began, but she was past the point of any reasoning.

She grabbed his arm hysterically, her fingers digging into his arm and began crying loudly, “You have to let me go. My father! It’s my dad! I have to go back home.”

Jake clenched his jaw and regretted unlocking the news channels. No matter what happened with her father, whether he died or lived, he couldn’t let her go before he was out of Colorado. He shook his head, remorse twisting his handsome features as tears started falling in torrents over Leona’s cheeks.

“Please don’t do this to me. I won’t say anything to anyone. Just let me go. I want to be with my dad, he might be dying,” she shrieked and instantly regretted saying the words herself, because her whole body was racked with gut-wrenching sobs.

Jake shook his head again and she grabbed the front of his shirt in both hands, twisting the fabric. “You son of a bitch!” she screamed. “Don’t you have a heart? I want to go home. Let me go home!” She cried and Jake clutched her face, bending his forehead down to rest against hers.

“I’m sorry, Leona. I’m so sorry,” he whispered and Leona cried harder, her eyes clenched shut. Jake watched her beautiful face an inch away from his and he ached to soothe her, give her whatever she wanted as long as her pain subsided. He couldn’t do anything, he was helpless. This was her pain to deal with. “Shhh,” he said, sliding his fingers through her thick luxurious hair, caressing her scalp with his fingertips. “Shhh. It’s going to be okay, sweetheart, don’t cry,” he whispered over and over.

Leona pressed her face against his chest, pushing her cheek into the deep crater in the middle of his wide chest. She felt lonely and she wanted someone to lean on, someone to ease the terrible ache in her heart as she thought about her father lying on a surgical table, bullets pierced through his flesh.

“I want to go, Jake, please,” she whimpered, but in her heart she knew that it wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t blame Jake. This was a life or death situation for him, too. He couldn’t risk his life for her. “I’m so scared,” she cried out and her body was racked with shudders as she began crying again.

Jake clutched her tightly to himself, his first normal, human touch in four years, and he wanted to savor the moment, he never wanted to let her go. His body was hardening with arousal at her nearness, despite him not even thinking about it. His cock was pulsing and pushing through the front of his pants.

“Don’t cry,” he said against her hair and then clutched her cheeks in either palm, twisting her face upwards to face him. “Don’t cry,” he whispered again, fiercely, and his lips descended to press against hers.

Chapter Twelve

Jake knew the instant his lips touched hers that he should stop, but then his mind went blank and his body took over every coherent thought. Leona was shock-still in his arms, her hands resting limply on his waist and her face in his palms. Jake broke the brief contact, but in a split second his starved body urged him to take her lips in a deep, plundering kiss.

Leona shivered, her eyes closing as the incredible feeling of his full, molded mouth moved against hers. It slid back and forth, tasting the contours of her lips, and then his tongue pushed its way into her mouth.

Leona moaned and her hands clutched at his shirt, tightening into fists as her lips began moving instinctively. She parted her mouth and slanted her head to receive his kiss. Her innocent surrender to his mouth’s insistent pressure tore a low grunt from his throat and his mouth slid fiercely over hers as he deepened the kiss.

His insistent mouth was almost rough on her full, pink lips, his hands clutching her face. His eyes parted slightly and her face was so close, her long eyelashes falling over her cheekbones as she savored the kiss. Jake’s tanned hands were a stark contrast against her dark, ebony skin, and he slid his fingers back and forth over her cheeks, closing his eyes as he wiped away her tears.

His mouth abandoned hers and trailed a hot, breathy path over her cheek. He pressed his lips to her tears and Leona shivered, pushing her body closer to his. Her breasts were crushed against his chest, and as she slid even closer in desperation, his hard pulsing cock poked her stomach.

This level of intimacy wasn’t something Leona was used to at all, and she lurched backwards, her eyes widening at the realization that he was so aroused by their kiss. She could understand her response to him, she was naïve and inexperienced, with only a handful of kisses as her complete history of sexual interactions. He, on the other hand, was obviously very skilled and experienced at these sorts of things and she was surprised he was so affected by her amateur kiss.

Jake knew the instant she pulled away he should let her go and let her hide in her room, away from him and his starved body. But he couldn’t, he was wild with the need to kiss her again, to feel her delectable, full breasts crushed against his chest again. He grabbed her upper arms and pulled her back, his lips pressing to the curve of her neck.

Leona shook as tremors flowed through her and she gave up. There was no other place she’d rather be than in Jake’s arms. Her pussy was soaked with her body’s response to his mouth so she couldn’t deny that she wanted him more than she had ever wanted anybody in her life.

Jake waited for her to resist him and when she didn’t, that was all the encouragement he needed. He slid his hands down to her waist, and then up, sliding her sweater with them as his palms grazed her smooth, naked skin.

Leona gasped and instinctively took his lips in hers as his palms forged a hot, searing path along the sides of her body. He pushed his hands under her sweater, and caressed the sides of her breasts, never touching them over her bra, but just lingering on the edge. His mind was screaming at him to touch her breasts, feel them, crush their fullness in his palms, but somehow he resisted.

Leona shook with the feeling in the pit of her stomach, the feeling as if her insides were coiling for something delicious. She moaned as his thumb flicked the side of her breast over her bra, and the sound broke Jake’s resistance. He crumbled under the weight of his arousal and jerked her bra up roughly, covering both breasts with his palms.

He groaned into her mouth and she whimpered, her breath catching as she broke the kiss and looked into his eyes. Jake’s mouth descended onto hers in a plundering kiss that stole her ability to think, and her back arched backwards against the force of his mouth.

He squeezed her breasts and his fingers pressed her nipples gently. Leona cried out against Jake’s mouth, and the sweet sound was like throwing lighter fluid on an already flaming fire. He grunted and slid his hand down her flat stomach to the waistband of her jeans, then slipped inside and clutched her ass-cheeks.

Leona pushed at his shoulders instinctively, her sense retuning as if an ice cold bucket of water was dumped on her head. Jake’s mind didn’t register that she was trying to stop him. She moved her mouth away from his and he buried his lips into her neck, his fingers sliding further down and touching her pussy. He moaned as her pussy juices soaked his finger, and Leona gasped in surprise, pleasure, and shock at the intimacy.

She pushed him away with all her might and stepped back, watching Jake stand there with his eyes wide, his breath harsh, and his cock jutting out through the fabric of his pants.

Leona’s own breathing was erratic, her bra undone under her sweater and her nipples showing through the thin wool.

Sense returned in the next few seconds, and Jake knew that for as long as he lived, he would not forget this sight.

Leona’s face was flushed, her lips swollen from his kisses, and her long, thick hair a mess from his fingers. He could hear his blood roaring in his ears, and they stared at each other for a few moments before Leona turned around and walked swiftly to her room, shutting the door behind her.

She sat on the edge of the bed and felt like she was drunk, or high, or both. Her father was almost killed and here she was, letting an escaped convict squeeze her nipples and slide his tongue against hers. The thought warmed her face again and she fell onto the bed on her side, straightening her sweater and covering her face with her hands.

Of all the things she could do at the moment, the only thing that was tempting her was to go back to Jake, and let him take her virginity. Her pussy ached with the need to be stretched and feel him inside, pushing back and forth and his mouth kissing hers again.