Wild Ride (14 page)

He’d given her a glimpse of himself and then shut down.  Unlike Josh or the boys she’d known throughout high school and college, Chuck wouldn’t chase her… wouldn’t play the game.  He might seem like a predatory animal… wild and dangerous… but in all reality he was more afraid of the prey. 

As they pulled into the parking lot of the motel where they would be staying she watched as Bobby made a phone call while Dickie, Tommy and Chuck unloaded their personal items from the bed of the truck.  After Bobby finished his
conversation he locked up the truck, including the flat cover on the truck bed.

“Going to call Dana and order a pizza
,” Tommy said, picking up his bag as he and Gretchen headed into one of the rooms.

“I thi
nk I’ll head on out to the pool… if you guys go anywhere for dinner, bring me back a sandwich,” Dickie smiled as he headed down a hallway that boasted a sign indicating the pool.

“Don’t you think you should change into some swimming trunks?” Lilly yelled at Dickie as Bobby held out a couple of bags
toward Chuck.

“Won’t be swimming
,” Dickie said with a smile and a wink.  Lilly made a disapproving sound and turned to Bobby.

“Here
, help Meredith get settled,” he said to Chuck handing him the two bags. “We need to check on Gran.”

Chuck rolled his eyes and grabbed the two bags as Bobby led Lilly into a room next to Tommy’s.  After the door closed behind them she and Chuck were left alone
.  She held out her hand to him. “I can get myself settled,” she said quietly.

Ignoring her he headed to the last room in the row that had been reserved and unlocked the door.  He held the door open with his foot as he s
et the bags down on the table.  Following him into the room she placed her purse on the table as well and sat down on one of the double beds.

“Are you hungry?”
he asked.

“A little
,” she admitted.

“Here
, order a pizza, I think our customers are here already,” he said, handing her his wallet as he looked out the door.  “I’ll be back shortly.”

He left closing the door behind him and soon enough she heard him and Bobby outside talking to a group of five men.  Three of the men
, who appeared to be brothers, stood talking with Chuck while an older man, who must have been the father, was talking to Bobby. 

The last man shook hands with the father and then got back into his car and drove off.  The three brothers were excited and
started inspecting the paint jobs on the bikes.

After ordering the pizza she retrieved her bag from the table resisting the urge to inspect the other bag which obviously belonged to Chuck. 

Taking out her cell phone she called her mother to let her know she was alright and had made it safely to the motel.  After she ended the call with Carla she realized all the men were in the room next to hers talking.

A knock at the door pulled her
away from her eavesdropping on what sounded to be the final payment and a small celebration of the build.  She answered the door, allowed the pizza delivery man into the room and paid him from money her mother had given her rather than from Chuck’s wallet. 

Once the man left she waited for a few minutes and upon realizing that Chuck would be awhile
, she went ahead and ate.

After an hour passed
, the sounds from the room next door indicated the celebration was far from over, so she decided to take a warm bath. 

Pulling her hair up
, she slid into the soothing water and leaned back trying to relax and not allow her emotions to take over.  She’d hoped to talk to Chuck but couldn’t fault him.  They were here on business not for vacation.  The talk she so desperately needed to have with him would have to wait.

As the water began to cool she realized that the sounds from the room next door had faded and it was quiet now.  She also realized that while lost in thought she’d forgotten to pull a towel down from the shelf above the toilet. 

The towel she’d taken from the rack and folded to put along the side of the tub was wet.  Pulling the stop from the drain, she used her arms to lever herself up and sit on the towel draped on the edge of the tub with her legs in the water and her back to the door.

“You ok in there?” s
he heard Chuck say through the door. 
Had he been listening to her? If he had been listening, for how long?

“Umm…
yea I’m ok,” she said, looking toward the stack of towels above the toilet.  This was going to take some doing to get out and get the towel without losing her balance or slipping on the wet tiles.

“You don’t sound very convincing
,” he said through the door.

“I’m fine…
I’ll be out in a minute,” she said. 
God please let him go away
… she’d rather he didn’t hear if she took this opportunity to wipe out.

“I’ve been back for a little while now…
and you kind of have me worried,” he said.

“I uh…
I forgot to get a towel off the shelf… I’m not decent,” she said. “Just give me a minute!”

“You want me to get you a towel?”
he asked.

Why wouldn’t he just go away?
  “Do you want to see me naked, Chuck?” she asked in frustration. “Check out my stump maybe?”

The door opened with no hesitation and she gasped and looked back over her shoulder at a very angry Chuck. His broad shoulders took up most of the doorway and his blue eyes blazed as they devoured her back.

“Believe me… there is a lot of your body I’d like to see other than your stump.  Your stump doesn’t even rank in the top ten,” he said.

His eyes never left her and her skin actually tingled all along her back where they traveled.  Reaching up he pulled a towel from the shelf and unfolded it. 

Then dropping to his knees behind her, he folded the towel around her and pulled her back against his chest.  He bent his head and inhaled deeply against her neck next to her ear.

“Aren’t you afraid?”
she whispered.

“Afraid of what?”
he asked as though in a daze. His breath on her neck was slowly driving her mad.  Her legs were quivering and it was hard to focus on anything other than him.

“Of my grandfather putting your balls in a jar?”
she asked breathlessly.

Standing up, he bent and lifted her into his arms, carried her and laid her on one of the beds.  Then he walked to his bag still sitting on the table next to the now empty pizza box. 

He unzipped the bag and pulled out his sketchbook and a few pencils.  She moved up further onto the bed and tried to pull the covers over her leg in an effort to hide her stump.

Turning back, he walked over to the opposite side of the bed from where she sat against the headboard.  He dropped his sketchbook and pencils in the middle near her leg. 

“
Your grandfather is one of the
many
reasons nothing should happen between us,” he said, looking at her.  Then he sat on the bed facing her and pulled himself over so that he was completely invading her space.

“I am an adult and I make choices about my life…
not
my grandfather.  Do you honestly think he would put you in
jail
for being with me?” she asked.

“Let me draw you and I’ll tell you anything you want to know
,” he said, leaning in toward her and studying her mouth while biting his bottom lip.

“Ok…”
she said breathlessly.  His nearness and the way he was studying her mouth made it hard to keep on track. “What makes you think my grandfather would put you in jail for seeing me when it was
him
that talked my mother into letting you help with my brothers?”

Taking the sketchpad
, he opened it up and flipped to a blank page.  Without making a mark on the paper he leaned in close to her as though he meant to kiss her. 

Rather than a kiss he brought his roughened fingertips to her mouth and brushed them across her lips, pulling on her bottom lip with his index finger while staring at them as though in deep concentration.

“Because I don’t just want to take you out to dinner and a movie… those things are nice but… that’s not what I want from you.  Judge Patterson has to have fucking known that when he signed me up for this shit.  He’s daring me to act on those impulses and as soon as I do…” he said. 

T
hen leaning forward he brushed his lips across hers. Not as a kiss but rather like testing the softness of them against his own.

“Chuck…”
she finally whispered as he continued to brush his lips against hers without actually kissing her.  The erotic feel of his mouth moving against hers made her desperate for him to
really
kiss her.

Leaning back he continued to stare at her lips for a moment
.  Then picking up his pencil, he began to sketch periodically looking back at her mouth.

“What is it you want from me
, Chuck?” she asked after several moments of no sounds other than his pencil scratching against the page.

Without answering he continued to sketch for a few minutes and then turned the page without showing her the previous sketch.  Setting his sketchbook and pencil aside he leaned forward and pulled the clip out of her hair and pulled
the long locks around her shoulders.

Then looking down the length of her
, he pulled the blanket off of her leg and tossed it away.  He glanced at her stump for a moment before his eyes traveled back up the length of her body to finally meet her eyes. 

“Slide down and roll onto your side facing me
,” he said.

“Answer my question
, Chuck…” she whispered hoarsely.

He merely stared at her until she slid down out of the sitting position attempting to keep the towel from riding up even higher on her legs.

“Lose the towel,” he said. “You said I could draw you…”

Was he serious?  He expected her to lie there and allow him to draw her nude?
  His eyes gave the answer and swallowing hard she unhooked the towel and pulled it away.  Grabbing it he pulled and she moved so he could get it out from under her.  He tossed it over the side of the bed. 

Then moving a pillow out from under the blankets
, he lifted her head onto it.  She slid one arm under the pillow as though hugging it and let the other fall across her stomach.

Taking her free hand
, he bent her arm and guided her fingers to her mouth hooking her index finger on her bottom lip.  Then he took his rough fingers and slid them up the outside of her thigh, over her hipbone and along the indent of her waist.  Blue flames of pleasure followed his fingers as he leisurely stroked her skin.

“My favorite part of your body
,” he said as his eyes followed the movement of his fingers.

L
eaning forward, his mouth followed the path of his fingers.  Again not kissing but testing the texture of her skin against his lips.  She could not hold back the groan that escaped her at the feel of his barely there lips and warm breath along such a sensitive place any more than she could control the liquid heat that pooled between her legs.

He’d barely touched her but she shivered as small bumps broke out all along her body…
her breath coming in ragged gasps.  Then just as before he backed away and his eyes studied her for a moment before he reached for his sketchbook and began to draw.

“This is what I want from you
, Meredith,” he said his breathing as uneven as hers. “I want to sketch you as I touch you.”

“You want to draw me and touch me but you don’t want to
be
with me?” she asked and then after catching her breath, “Because you think my grandfather won’t approve?”

H
e was quiet as he continued to sketch and after finishing he again turned the page then set the sketchbook aside.  Pushing her shoulder until she was lying flat, she attempted to pull her arm out from under the pillow when he caught it and pulled it back up alongside her face and wrapped her fingers around the corner of the pillow. 

Then
he did the same with her other arm on the opposite side.  Her heart was beating so wildly she could hear it.

“You’re beautiful, smart and passionate.  You went to college, live in a nice home and come from a great family
,” he said as he slid his fingers up her ribcage.

T
hen he stroked the backs of them against the underside of her breasts causing them to pebble.  His fingertips brushed across her nipples causing her back to arch.

Leaning down
, his lips followed the path of his fingers up her stomach until he paused and said, “I’m decent looking, talented and definitely passionate but I never went to college… in fact I didn’t even graduate high school.  I’ve lived in more foster homes in my life than I can even remember and I never knew my real family.”