Called to Order (17 page)

Everything seemed so old fashioned here, as if moving at a slower pace made everything a little more simple and clear. It would be nice to be loved by a man who worked hard to take care of the home and put his wife first, she doing the same only with an old-fashioned divide between women’s work and men’s work. She supposed it was a lot simpler for people to have such defined roles. Adam was very old-fashioned. At first she found some of the things he said offensive, as if he thought she was an idiot, but once she realized he was only looking out for her safety, she found them almost comforting.

At home men weren’t like that anymore. Adam might be more domineering than most modern men, but he also had finer qualities the other men she knew lacked. He opened doors for her, pulled out chairs, looked out for her comforts emotionally and physically. When they walked together, she even enjoyed the way he kept a hand on her at all times and an alert eye open for any obstacles or danger. He actually was a very sweet man. So why was he single?

The man on the wagon leaned close to the woman and stole a kiss before handing her back the now-empty glass and readjusting the reins. The woman skipped off, and Annalise suddenly had a sick feeling. Were there other women bringing cool glasses of water to Adam while he worked? She frowned. She didn’t want any other woman seeing to his needs. As a matter of fact, if she found out he was accepting drinks from some Amish floozy she would tell him exactly what she thought of such behavior.

Wait, what was she doing? She had no right to him. She looked down at her clothing. They were sucking her in. It was now Tuesday and she had missed half of her finals. Funny, it didn’t really bother her as much as it had the day before.

What was happening to her? Since her mother died, Anna had spent her life according to a sensible plan. There were no sidelines or pit stops. No, she was supposed to finish her degree that week, start looking for a job the next, settle in at said job, trade in the Turd, maybe upgrade her apartment, and perhaps accept a marriage proposal from Kyle in the near future. But the thought of even kissing Kyle now made her nose twitch. So she would nix the Kyle part of the plan. She still had her degree to return to.

It wasn’t like her to suddenly want to jump ship on something she had worked so hard toward. Yet, part of the appeal seemed to have faded. Her old life didn’t appear to have the same luster and excitement she thought it did only days ago.

She frowned. She could not actually be considering staying there with Adam. That was ludicrous. However, the idea of stopping for a few days and actually embracing the reprieve from her normal life did sound a bit tempting. She hadn’t had a vacation since she was seven and she and her mother drove to Yellowstone Park that summer. She was way overdue for some R and R. Why not take advantage of the time she had now?
 
Make the best of it?

That was it then, she decided. When she got home, she would contact her professors and try to explain why she was absent. She would just have to lie. Rocking in her chair, she smiled. She was beginning to believe she wasn’t dreaming, but if so much of what she was feeling felt like a dream, why was she in such a rush to wake up and return to reality?

Perhaps she should just see where things went, see what God had planned for her. The idea of maybe taking this time to think about her relationship with the higher up, something she never really considered before, felt oddly right. Annalise hid a smile. Since she was all by herself, she slid her feet out of her clunky boots and pulled them up to the seat of her rocker. Enjoying the breeze, she bared her legs, holding her dress under her knees to keep her modesty intact and not give an elderly Amish fellow who might pass by a stroke.

She had been rocking peacefully with her eyes closed when she suddenly heard Adam’s voice. “Well, that’s a sight a male could get used to.”

Startled out of her musings, she dropped her legs and quickly pulled her gown over them. She smiled at him and blushed.

“Here only a day and already running around shoeless and barelegged like a heathen. I think I like it.”

She laughed. She wasn’t used to Adam being so flirtatiously jovial.

“Are you going to just sit there or are you going to come and welcome me home after a hard day’s work?”

Wow, okay, she could deal with this side of him. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to rehash everything from the night before and they could just start fresh. She stood and walked slowly down the porch steps. Adam watched her appreciatively, so she added a little more hip to her swagger. “I missed you,” she admitted shyly.

He gave her a wicked smile. “Did you? And how were you planning on remedying such anguish? Shall we stroll into the shade of the barn and discuss the many ways I can make my absence up to you.”

Her steps faltered. This was definitely a new side to him. She wasn’t sure she was ready to move that quickly. She had been prepared for a long conversation where they would reach an understanding about their situation. She wanted to tell Adam about her talk with Gracie and see where things went from there. If things wound up where they left off last night, she would give Adam the authority to choose what he wanted to do with his virtue. It was, after all, his.

Adam dropped a satchel filled with tools onto the ground. His dark hair was mussed from work. She wanted to run her fingers through it. Annalise stepped just within his reach. “How was your day?”

“Long and hot. What do you say we peel off the rest of your clothes and find a shady place to cool off?”

He plucked her bonnet off her head and tossed the white lace carelessly to the ground. She frowned. Perhaps he was being playful, but the gesture seemed tinged with a disrespectful undertone. The way he did it wasn’t nice. “You smell different,” she commented, still frowning over the bonnet lying on the dusty ground.

“Interesting.” He reached for the panel of her apron crossing her shoulders and tugged her closer.

Suddenly the screen door of the house opened and slammed shut and Gracie said, “Anna, get in the house!”

Annalise turned and squinted at Gracie. The sun was making it difficult to see her expression, but she sounded upset.

“What’s wrong, Gra—”

“Get back in the house, runt.”

Annalise turned and gasped at Adam. He was being rude, and to the one person Annalise was actually beginning to consider a friend. “Adam, don’t speak to her like that.”

Suddenly everything happened too fast. There was a growl from the entrance of the barn. It sounded like it came from deep within the belly of a mountain lion. She turned, but whatever it was moved too fast for her eyes to track. Gracie screamed her name and in the next instant the small girl had her on the porch and was rushing her to the house. Annalise looked back at Adam only to see another man attacking him.

They were moving at inhuman speeds. She saw Adam’s hand swing up and, in a flash, the other man had claw marks gouged into the flesh of his cheek. No, not the other man, it had been Adam who was hurt. She screamed, but Gracie would not stop pushing her toward the house and blocking her view.

“Adam!” she screamed as the men fell to the ground in a rush and flurry of limbs. It sounded like two cats in a blender. The sounds of clothing tearing and the disgusting snap of what Annalise hoped wasn’t bones breaking filled the air.

“Get her into the house, Gracie! Now!” Adam shouted from somewhere in the melee. How was he even paying attention to what she was doing?

“Come on, Anna!” Gracie said with one final push, sending Annalise into the wall on the other side of the door. How had she pushed her so easily?

She slammed the door, and Annalise screamed, “What’s going on? We have to stop that guy! He’s attacking your brother!” She could still hear the men fighting through the open windows of the house.

“It will be fine. Adam will not lose. Not when another man was touching what is his.”

“What are you talking about? No one touched me.”

“Anna, that wasn’t—” There was a loud crack and a roar then everything fell silent. Gracie’s eyes moved as if she were trying to solve an involved algebra problem in her head. “Anna, maybe you should go to your room. Shut the door.”

The kitchen door flew open and Adam stepped in. He was breathing heavy and his eyes did not look right. She yipped and stepped back. Although his shirt had been ripped to shreds, she could have sworn he had been wearing a black one, but now she noticed his shirt was definitely blue.

“Did he hurt you?” Adam growled, his throat sounding as if it were filled with gravel.

“Who?”

Gracie stepped between them and told her brother, “Adam, she thought he was you.”

He looked down at his sister as if just then registering her presence. “Leave us.”

“Adam—”

“I said leave us!”

The girl turned and looked at Annalise apologetically before rushing from the room. Adam’s shoulders were bunched, and he seemed to be forcing his mouth into a tight line. He crowded her into the corner, leaned close to her neck and breathed deeply. He snarled, “He tried to mark you.”

She backed as far as she could into the corner, but Adam continued to fill up any free space. “Who? Adam, what is going on? You’re scaring me.”

That seemed to penetrate the haze of whatever the hell he was suffering from. He stepped back, and she exhaled appreciatively at the space he allotted her. She watched him carefully, unsure what was going through his mind. “Adam, talk to me please. Are you hurt? I could have sworn I saw your face get sliced.”

His silver eyes grew black, the pupils practically swallowing the irises full. They were hooded by the shadows of his dark scowl. He breathed in and out heavily, his chest rising and falling with each intake of breath. His posture was not a welcoming one. He seemed closed off from the defensive set of his shoulders to his tightly clenched fists. She noticed an angry red scrape running down the side of his ribcage where his shirt had torn. It wasn’t bleeding, but it looked painful. What had happened to cause such a fight? She thought Adam said their people did not believe in violence.

She did not like seeing him like this. She wanted to take care of his injuries, talk with him until he was calm like he had done for her the night before when she was frightened by her nightmares. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders and moved from the wall. Adam watched her like a distrusting animal follows a more threatening creature. Would it be fight or flight? Surely he knew she was not the enemy.

She approached him slowly and spoke in a soft, soothing voice. “Let’s get you out of this shirt. You’re hurt.” She reached for his top button when his hand suddenly snaked out and caught her by the wrist, stilling any advancement. She looked into his eyes. “Adam, I just want to take care of you,” she said slowly.

He lifted her wrist away from his body and above her shoulder. His eyes moved to the curve of her breasts. She waited for him to say something, but he said nothing. Instead, he reached for her other hand and brought it to the crotch of his pants. He was rock hard. She looked back at his eyes. It didn’t take a genius to understand what he wanted. She had thought she was the one waiting for him to say something, but apparently it was the other way around. He seemed to be waiting for her to make the next move. Unable to say the words, she nodded her consent.

Chapter 14

Adam’s mouth crashed over hers as he yanked her against his large body. Annalise had kissed men before, but never in her life had she felt anything close to the intensity she felt in that moment. Taking her body from zero to sixty in the span of a heartbeat, she felt her nipples harden under the coarse material of her blouse and liquid heat pool in her loose panties. He released her wrist below his waist, but she kept her hand there, fascinated at the way, once he pressed his lips to hers, he began to grow even larger. She had never seen a man so beautifully well endowed.

He still held her other wrist tight, but somehow twisted her arm down, pulling her hand behind her back and leveraging her closer. His tongue seared through her mouth, and she kissed him back with everything she had. She suddenly wanted to climb up his body and crawl inside of him.

Releasing her hand at her back, he slid his palms down the back of her gown and cupped her bottom, lifting her feet off the ground. She wrapped her arms around his neck, raked her fingers through his soft dark hair, and continued to kiss him as he walked her across the room.

Her legs loosened around his waist when her bottom landed on a solid surface. His fingers deftly tugged at the back of her gown and her apron loosened. It was as if he had a hundred hands on her at once. He began kissing a trail down her neck while his hand worked up her bare legs and came into contact with her ridiculous old lady underwear. The sound of the fine fabric ripping was music to her ears.

The feel of his warm fingers grazing her moist folds had her moaning and arching backward, angling her lower body more within his reach. As he continued to kiss and lick her neck, sucking deliciously on that sensitive spot just behind her collarbone, his other hand tugged her apron over her arms. He somehow supported her position while he removed the black garment and the heavy fabric fell away.

Between her legs where her body had begun to ache and weep for his touch, he slowly thumbed her clit, gathering her moisture and spreading it around her folds. She felt his erection pressing at her through his slacks and wanted the barrier to be gone.

A canister of flour tipped and clattered to the floor, a cloud of white rising from the impact, white particles settling over their damp skin and sprinkling his dark hair. She tugged his suspenders down his arms and began frantically working the hidden buttons of his ruined shirt. Her shift gaped, and he tugged it open, too far gone to take care with the fastenings.

The warm summer air hit her flesh like a second skin, covering her exposed body, caressing her nipples into tight little berries. Adam growled and stilled. His gaze was fixated on her bared breasts. She had never seen a man seem so animalistic in a moment of intimacy. She probably should have been a little frightened about the way his eyes had taken on that feline quality and his movements were more intrinsic than thoughtful, but she had never been so turned on in her life. The way he looked at her like he
needed
to possess her was probably the most erotic thing she had ever experienced. She wanted to be possessed. She wanted Adam to own her.

Although his movements had momentarily slowed, the intensity of the moment had not decreased. She saw the effort it took for Adam to keep himself in control. It was as if part of him, the sensitive man inside, was battling with the beast he had kept tightly leashed for so long. Slowly, he leaned down, his hand still teasing her below her billowed skirt and his other supporting her angle by the grasp he kept at the back of her neck. When he licked over one tightly beaded nipple, she cried out. His silver eyes shot to hers, and he smiled, his soft, beautiful lips resting so close to the sensitized peak. She kept her gaze on him as he licked again but lost the battle as her eyes rolled back on a moan as his lips closed over the bud and he pulled it tightly into his hot mouth.

Never before had her breasts been so responsive to a man’s touch. He moved to her other nipple and repeated the process, this time matching it with the motion of his finger plunging into her sopping core. The cry of pleasure she let out was unlike any noise she had ever heard herself make before. It seemed his behavior was influencing hers. It was freeing to be able to be completely animalistic in that moment and not have to think, their bodies doing exactly what nature created them for.

His finger pumped in and out of her as his mouth teased and tugged at her breasts. The scrape of his teeth and a sharp bite of pain had her crying out, but his tongue soothed over the tender spot, replacing the pain with pleasure. He slid another finger inside of her wetness, her body stretched to accommodate him. Every part of him was large and his hands working her proved no different. She could not remember ever experiencing such a sensation of fullness, quivers running from her sex to her belly, as he pressed deeper with each stroke. Her bottom rocked on the counter, and her cries began to come more rhythmically, filling the room from the wooden floors to the unadorned walls. The simplicity of the room only created more echoes, and Annalise had a fleeting thought that Gracie could probably hear them.

The thought fled from her mind when Adam added a third finger and stretched her to a point of bursting. Her knees lifted as her heels dug into his backside, pulling him closer. She straightened, leaving her swollen, red-tipped breasts swaying with their movements. Noticing the wet marks from his mouth only caused more of her moisture to seep over his fingers below. Her breast had been plucked, pulled, and used into perfection. She imagined how she appeared from his point of view and thought she had never looked so wanton in her life. Her shift rested at her elbows and over her torso below her breast, the skirt bunched and twisted around her hips, her bare legs wrapped tightly around his hips, pulling him as close as possible, while her arms were braced behind her, palms splayed across the cool cook surface.

His arms bunched and corded with muscle as he pumped his fingers into her. It was as if he was incapable of being gentle at the moment, but Annalise would have it no other way. She was rapidly approaching what could possibly be the most intense orgasm of her life if the pleasure he had already shown her was anything to go by. He stepped a smidge closer, the new angle pressing his erection against her bottom, the sensitive place just below where his fingers played. The pressure of each bump of his hips made her feel as if they were actually having sex. She wanted him inside of her, wanted to actually feel the force and weight of his body slamming into hers.

Suddenly his thumb pressed and flicked her clit, and all thoughts left her. She could think of nothing but the rush of pleasure steamrolling through her veins. Up, up, up, her blood boiled and her muscles coiled tight. The flutters started in her folds and traveled through her channel, slamming into her womb. Her muscles locked as her entire body shook with the contractions of her sex. Mother of God, she had never in her entire life experienced something so all-consuming.

Adam milked her orgasm for everything she had. Unable to support herself, she collapsed, folding into a puddle. Adam caught her below her shoulders before her back hit the counter. Her neck curved limply over his muscled arm. He slowly slid his fingers from her body and slid his other arm under her knees, turning her and lifting her strung-out body to his chest.

She shut her eyes and let him carry her through the house, knowing her breasts and legs were still indecently exposed, but unable to find the energy to care. She heard the door to their room open and close and felt Adam lean down to pull the quilt back from their bed.
Their bed.
She was going to sleep with him. Although last night she had found many good reasons to avoid the deed, tonight she was determined to complete it. Not only did she want Adam to make love to her, the idea of him giving this to some other woman like she suggested the evening before made her livid with jealousy. When had she grown so possessive of him? The idea of him with someone else was wrong. He was hers. She wanted him and did not intend to share this side of him with another living soul.

He placed her gently in the center of the mattress, his tenderness a complete contrast to the animal-like need he had shown her moments ago. He pulled the quilt over her, the covers settling with a soft weight over her liquid form. Confused when the mattress compressed next to her but she did not feel his body settle close to hers, she opened her eyes. The retraction of his contact pulled at her heartstrings painfully.

She watched him through the veil of her lashes. He was sitting with his back to her, his legs resting over the edge of the bed, his arms resting on his knees. When he didn’t make any move to join her in the bed, she placed a gentle hand on his back. “Adam?”

“Yes,
ainsicht
?”

“Will you not come to bed with me?”

His head lowered, and she wasn’t sure if she had done something to upset him. Finally he whispered, “I do not want to leave you with regret.”

Ah, so he was still remembering her words from the previous night. “Adam, look at me please.” He turned slowly, his eyes appearing almost pained. “Come to bed with me, Adam. I will have no regret. I want to be yours.”

His nostrils flared as he breathed in a deep breath, but he kept all other emotion from his face. “You are not angry about the way I touched you? I was not gentle.”

“I have never felt so desired before in my life. Please don’t pull away from me now. I want the rest of you, all of you.”

He slowly stood and removed his tattered shirt. She watched as he toed off his boots and slid down his pants. He stood at the foot of the bed, his beautiful form completely displayed for her. Annalise felt her mouth go suddenly dry. It just wasn’t natural to be so perfect. Swallowing, she rasped, “You are the most gorgeous man I have ever seen.”

“Take that beauty and multiply it by a million. Take it to the moon and back and combine it with all the heat of the hottest desert and perhaps then you will understand a fraction of what I feel when I look at you.”

Her heart fluttered. Did he really feel all of that intensity, when he saw her? Why? “I’m just a waitress.”

“You are my mate.”

She shut her eyes. Although still unsure what all this mate business entailed, the idea of being Adam’s mate suddenly sounded all too appealing. She opened her eyes, and he was watching her.

“Tell me you are my mate, Anna.”

She wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. She wanted him to come to bed, to touch her and make love to her. She needed him inside of her, to possess her like no other man ever had. Before she realized she was speaking, she heard herself say, “I am your mate.”

In the next second Adam was on top of her, kissing her. She did not even see him move. The kiss was potent and intense yet tender. He seemed to be pouring all of his emotion, his pent-up need, into that very kiss. She felt it reach past the last of her defenses and all too far into her soul. Was this where she was meant to be?

Adam slowly pulled back from their kiss and stared down at her. He watched her with an expression she had never seen before. His eyes were peaceful. He moved to the edge of the bed and lifted her to his lap. She loved the way he held her as if her weight were inconsequential. It made her feel cherished.

Placing her so that she slightly faced him, he began to undo the remaining ties of her dress. She docilely lifted her arms as he pulled the fabric away. She watched his face as he looked at her breasts. She followed his movements with her eyes as he gradually reached, cupping the weight of her breast, and gently ran his thumb over her nipple. The move was not meant to arouse, but reverent, as if he were paying homage to her body. They each watched his hand as if mesmerized by the action.

His fingers moved to her hair as he carefully began to unravel her braids. Bit by bit the weight of her hair loosened onto her shoulders. “You wore your hair Amish today.”

“I wanted to please you.”

“I love your hair. It is proud and meant to be hidden, but for me, when we are alone, I would prefer it down. Such beauty should not be contained.” As the last braid came undone, he spent a few moments just running his fingers through her long tresses. “Stand for me,
ainsicht.”

She did as he asked, the motion causing the hem of her skirt to whisper back over her ankles. She stood before him, her shoulders back, her heavy, average-sized breasts paired with two twin peaks. Her ribs tapered into her small waist, her hips flaring under the weight of her skirt. She felt so incredibly fragile. It was as if the buildup to this moment had made her forget everything she ever assumed to know about the male species and all she would ever need to know again was Adam. For some reason, she felt that this moment was the beginning to the rest of her life. She no longer wanted to compare notes with her past experiences and this one. She just wanted to feel. She just wanted to belong to Adam, her mate.