Secret Sins (41 page)

“You’re my parents,” she told them, clasping her hands in front of her, her fingers
twisting and twining together as she watched her momma and da warily. “If you don’t
want to be my parents, then I can’t force you, just as I can’t force them.” She glanced
back at her grandparents. “But I love you,” she said, the tears falling again as she
faced life without the man and woman she’d always called Momma and Da. “Crowe will
always be my brother and I hope some way, one of these days, we can find that relationship
as it should have been, and I’ll wish I had known the man and woman that gave me life.
But you gave me manners, honesty, security as best you could, and I always thought,
until I was forced from my home, you taught me to love.” Her voice broke as she lifted
her hands, covering her face for a moment, hoping to stem the tears. “But you also
taught me to fight for what I want. And I want to be in Corbin County. I want to be
a part of my brother’s and cousins’ lives, and yours.”

But nothing could stem the pain resonating inside her. Just as nothing could change
the love she felt for this family. Faults and all, and in spite of the past that had
nearly destroyed them all.

Her father’s arms went around her.

She knew the feel of them.

Other than for the first three weeks of her life, this man’s arms had held her, this
woman’s had comforted her, and the grandparents she so loved had done their best to
spoil her.

And her momma was there. Pulling Anna to her, Lisa Corbin tucked the only daughter
she had ever truly known against her heart, and they sobbed together as her gran’pop
and gran’momma came to her, their hugs, their whispers of love perhaps not healing,
but easing her heart.

They had lost time, years spent in fear and fighting to protect the child who stole
their hearts with her broken sobs at such a young age.

They were praying the tears were over.

“My baby girl.” Her momma said as Anna stepped back. “No matter the name you carry,
you’ll always be our baby girl.”

CHAPTER 25

She felt broken when they returned to Archer’s house that evening.

Amory Wyatt and Wayne Sorenson had disappeared entirely.

Thankfully, Rory Malone was coming out of the hospital in a day or so with a clean
bill of health.

“Hey, babe.” Archer entered the kitchen after his shower, moving to her to place a
gentle kiss at her nape. “I ordered dinner in. It should be here soon.”

Anna stared back at him, her heart aching at the warmth in his gaze.

She knew just this: the warmth and sexual need would never be enough. She needed his
love. She deserved his love.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’d forgotten about dinner.”

The doorbell sounded at that moment, an announcement that the food had arrived.

Archer winked back at her with wicked, lustful intent. “You can show me how appreciative
you are after dinner.”

And she would, because she needed him. Because his touch, his warmth would haunt her
once this was over.

Archer returned to the patio with the food long minutes later. Stopping in the kitchen,
he’d transferred the still hot fries and sandwiches to plates, collected the salt,
pepper, ketchup, mayo, and hot sauce.

Stepping back to the patio area for a second, Archer was taken aback by the sight
of Anna and the romantic glow the fire cast around her.

Dressed in the ankle-length, full gypsy-type cotton skirt and pale peach camisole
top that revealed soft shoulders gleaming with a silken sheen. The tops of her firm,
rounded breasts with a hint of a lacy bra pulled at his gaze and had his mouth watering
to taste her nipples.

Long dark hair hung loose around her face, heavy curls falling over one shoulder to
curl over the lush curve of her breast.

Lower, beneath the thin material of her blouse and the lace of her bra, her nipples
pressed pebble hard, and waiting for the heat of his mouth.

Every inch of the tempting, curved body hardened his dick and made him ache for her
touch.

She was sinking inside him, he admitted silently. Never had he brought a lover to
his home or dealt well with the thought of having some female imprinting her presence
inside his house. But this woman, this lover—he simply couldn’t imagine his home without
her.

As they ate their food, conversation stilled, and the sounds of the waterfall in the
far corner and the flames licking at the wood opposite turned the patio into an intimate,
warm cocoon.

Intimacy couldn’t dispel the concern that Wayne and Amory couldn’t be found though,
because of the threat they represented to Anna and to Cami, Skye, and now Amelia as
well.

“You look worried,” she stated as they finished the last of the food and the beer.

Archer watched her face, watched the light of the fire flicker over the pretty features,
the somber cast of her eyes. She’d smiled at him earlier, and he swore his heart was
going to beat right out of his chest with excitement.

A woman shouldn’t be able to do that to a man, he told himself. It was damned dangerous.
It started him thinking that maybe the fairy tale could be more than just an illusion.

“We have to figure out where Wayne and Amory are hiding,” he breathed out roughly.
“Neither Amelia nor Elizabeth knew where they were holding them, but they’re certain
the drive there was more than an hour, but no more than two.”

Anna turned her eyes from Archer’s and stared into the fire instead. The flames were
lower now, the wood more than half consumed as they sat before it and ate.

“They can’t hide forever,” she stated as she rubbed her arms, knowing that as long
as Wayne and Amory were free, they were dangerous.

“Do you know how it tortures me? I’m terrified I’ll blink, and he’ll snatch you again.”
he told her as he moved his chair closer to hers, then pulled her into his arms. “Knowing
he’s still out there, knowing he won’t stop until he’s dead.”

And he wouldn’t. Anna remembered the pure evil in his voice, as well as the need he’d
felt to hurt her.

Leaning against his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath her ear, she couldn’t stop
the chill that raced up her spine at the memory of it.

Tilting her head back, she stared up at him, catching his gaze as he stared down at
her and seeing the determination inside him.

“If anyone can stop them, you will, Archer.” She knew that to the bottom of her soul.
“You’re not the kind of man who will give up just because others think you should.
You’ll catch them, and when you do, Amory and Wayne both will regret each drop of
blood they shed.”

As she stared up at him, his head lowered, his lips brushing against hers.

She was sinking inside him, and he had no idea how to make it stop, how to make her
stop. The problem was, he didn’t want it to stop. And that scared the shit out of
him.

“I wish we had happened another way.” The regret in her voice had him tightening his
arms around her. “I used to imagine I could slip out to one of the socials. That you
would see me. Your eyes would touch mine and in your eyes I’d see how much you wanted
me.” Tears might not be falling, but he swore he could feel them falling in her soul.
“You’d walk across the dance square, all tall and handsome, and you’d take me in your
arms. We’d dance until you danced me right into one of those little grottos, and there
you’d kiss me. You’d tell me how you’d waited for me and were never going to let me
go.” Her head fell back against his shoulder, the long strands of her hair feathering
out over his arm. “And now there’s just not even a chance.”

Because now it had already happened. They had come together in a way that was certain
to tear them apart.

He hadn’t invited her to move in with him after they became lovers. He had been forced
to bring her to his home because she had no other place to go.

Archer turned her in his arms, one hand sliding into the back of her hair, clenching
in the strands and sending pleasure racing through her nerve endings.

Lifting her gaze to his, she could see the hunger burning in his eyes, lust and something
more. Something she wished was love.

Then his lips were covering hers, easing over them, his tongue licking over the fullness
of her lower lip before pressing inside and finding hers.

Anna moaned at the rich seductiveness of the kiss. The feel of his lips caressing
hers, taking sipping kisses and burning her with the hunger in his touch, tore a whimpering
cry from her.

He couldn’t know how deeply her heart beat for him. How deep the hope that she could
fill his heart went. And how wide was the certainty that when this was over, she would
be without him.

Wrapping her arms around his neck and lifting to her toes, Anna parted her lips for
him, taking his kiss with a need she didn’t bother to control.

Her hold tightened.

Sliding her fingers into his hair, Anna moaned with rising pleasure, lifting against
him, feeling the thick ridge of his cock, iron hard, iron hot, pressing against her
stomach as his tongue thrust inside her mouth and rubbed against her own.

Before she could stop him, he was drawing back, releasing her, then pulling her to
the fire.

On the other side of the patio a wide lounge chair had been pushed against the house.
Archer jerked the thick, heavy pad from it and tossed it to the patio in front of
the fireplace.

A second later, he’d shed the sweatpants he wore before gripping the scarf she used
as a sash around the elastic band of her skirt.

Staring into her eyes, he untied it, loosening the ends before gripping the elastic
band and pushing it over her hips and down her legs to pool at her feet.

With a flick of his fingers between her breasts, her bra was loosened, the straps
pushed over her shoulders and smoothed down her arms until he could toss it away as
well.

“Sweet God, have mercy on me,” he breathed as he cupped her firm, sensitive breasts,
his eyes caressing her nipples. “I love your breasts, Anna. And your sweet, berry
ripe nipples. Do you know I dream of sucking those pretty little nipples?”

Bending to her, his lips surrounded one hard tip and sucked it into the heat of his
mouth.

Staring down at him, her fingers feathering through the dark blond of his hair, Anna
fought to control her accelerated breathing, to find enough strength in her legs to
remain in place.

“What if someone sees us?”

“No one can see,” he promised, brushing his lips against her nipples before easing
her to the wide, firm cushion he’d tossed in front of the fire. “You might want to
watch those little cries when you come though. You never know if the neighbors are
listening.”

Lying before him, wearing only the pale peach panties riding low on her hips, Anna
bit at her lower lip, wondering how in the hell she was going to manage that.

Lowering himself beside her, his lips came down on hers again, stroking against them,
licking over them as Anna fought to hold back a needy moan.

“Shhh,” he murmured as his head lifted, his eyes glittering a rich golden brown as
rising hunger reflected in the depths.

Calloused fingertips stroked her thigh as his lips moved across her jaw, down her
neck.

Anna turned her face to him as his kisses fell to the upper rise of her breasts, her
lips finding the hard flesh of his neck.

As he drew the sensitive tip into his mouth, Anna had to clench her teeth to hold
back her cry.

Warmed by the fire and by Archer’s hard body, Anna lifted to the heat of his mouth.
With her hands buried in his hair, her lips and tongue caressing his neck as he tormented
her nipples with searing pleasure, Anna felt the world around them receding. Pressing
the hard curve of his knee against the mound of her cunt, Anna could feel the flames
rising higher, pleasure sinking deeper inside her.

Sucking first one hard nipple, then the other into his mouth, Archer groaned against
the hard tip, his tongue stroking, rasping against it until she cried out his name.
Throttling the sound, desperate to keep the unknown neighbors from hearing her, she
pressed the back of her hand to her lips and prayed that would work.

Then those diabolically clever, wicked lips began moving down her body. His tongue
peeked out to play, to lick and draw heated patterns of erotic pleasure against her
stomach before trailing lower, lower.

When his lips came to the elastic edge of her panties, his fingers moved from her
thigh, gripped the band, and eased them slowly over her thighs.

Drawing back, he pulled the silk past her knees, down her legs, then dropped them
to the side of the makeshift bed.

Her breathing ragged, pleasure whipping through her, Anna stared up at Archer as he
pushed slowly between her thighs, his hands gripping her knees as she lifted them,
planting her feet next to the pad on each side to lift closer to him.

Spreading her legs apart, Archer stared down at the dew-slick, juice-laden folds of
her bare pussy. The swollen bud of her clit peeked out beneath the small, short tuft
of curls while her juices saturated the flesh below it.

She had the prettiest pussy, he thought, licking his lips in anticipation. The need
to taste the sweet, wet heat spilling from her was a hunger nearly impossible to control.
It was all peaches-and-cream perfection outside the tight, slick embrace of her hot
little vagina.

Fucking her was euphoric.

It was better than any drug any dumb son of a bitch could imagine.

Moving his lips to hers once again, Archer took her kiss amid her small, muted little
moans. He couldn’t help but groan at the pleasure.

She did something to him. Something far deeper even than the sight of his hat on the
coat hook. Coming home to Anna, touching her, tasting her, was like
really
coming home.

With his lips settling against hers, pressing closer, his tongue tasting her, Archer
let his senses become fully immersed in her. Stroking his tongue against hers, tasting
a hint of the wine and chocolate she’d had for dessert, he let his hand caress her
side before moving in to cup her breast.