Wildly Inappropriate (31 page)

"I'm okay," she assured Jonah, who kept looking at her with troubled eyes. "I'm not hurt one bit, I promise." Looking at Eric, she added, "I'm so sorry about your mama."

His hard hug shocked her. She thought about sitting with Jonah, but chose the chair beside the front window instead, watching anxiously for Colton's truck, yet dreading to see it at the same time. Hours had passed since she'd been questioned by a female officer at the farmhouse.

Her thoughts turned to King. She couldn't find it in her heart to feel bad about the man's death. Grams was safe now. She hadn't been hurt. She owed Daniel a great deal, but she doubted he could think she was worth what this would cost him.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Eric held out a glass of the tea Lila had made. Behind him, Jonah lounged on his couch, working the game controller. In the miniscule open kitchen, Lila appeared to be trying to scrub the lining off the inside of Eric's refrigerator. Cynda offered to help, but Lila turned her down. "This is how I handle stress. I clean. Let me do it."

Eric said, "Don't worry, Cynda. They'll release him. In this state, a man's got the right to protect his home with deadly force."

She took the tea, drinking deeply, trying to keep her emotions under control. The ice rattled against the glass when she lowered it. She couldn't seem to stop shaking, now that the conversation died down and she had time to think and to worry about what was taking Daniel so long. The police had offered to take her to speak with a victim's advocate, but Daniel seemed to want her with Eric. Besides, she didn't feel like a victim, she felt like a fool, but she was grateful for the firm squeeze Eric gave her shoulder.

If Daniel had to go to prison for shooting that slimeball King, she'd never forgive herself. She couldn't stop thinking if only she'd run faster or stepped outside with Daisy, she'd have been able to get away from him.

Eric and Lila assumed King had been a stranger, talking as though his being in Daniel's house had been a random act of breaking and entering. Not knowing what to say, Cynda kept quiet, but she longed for the comfort of Daniel's arms.

Assuming he'd want to touch her now. She'd brought him nothing but trouble. First she'd gotten arrested, now this. Would he ever forgive her for being thoughtless enough to leave the door unlocked? She wasn't sure she could forgive herself. How could Lila trust her judgment if she found out the truth about King?

A flash of red drew her attention. Her heart began to pound. Colton's truck sped past the trees lining the road.

Eric saw it too. Striding to the cabin's front door, he flung it open. "Dan's with him," he announced. Relief made Cynda feel as limp as the dishrag Lila wrung out in the sink.

Peering through the undraped window, she watched him get out of his brother's vehicle and stride across the lawn. It wasn't quite twilight and Cynda studied his face. That guarded look he always wore was in place. He seemed to survey the yard with suspicion before taking the steps two at a time. The cozy cabin seemed to shrink when he stepped inside with Colton on his heels. He moved quickly around the couch and approached her chair, ignoring his brother, who said, "Dan, I'll install new locks down at the farmhouse. I think I'll upgrade the window locks, too."

"The story will be front page news tomorrow, E. I doubt we'll have to worry about unwanted visitors for a while," Daniel replied. His tone softened when he added, "Thank you for looking after Cynda till I could get back."

"The garage," Cynda whispered, stricken by the realization of yet another unforeseen consequence of her thoughtlessness. "You think the publicity will make people afraid to bring you their cars?"

Daniel knelt in front of her chair. "Here's what I think. I think you're the bravest, most unselfish person I've ever met. You've stopped at nothing to protect your grandmother, and you risked your own life to save Daisy. You got arrested trying to protect Lila. For the record, I think Jonah and the baby are both damn lucky to have you as their nanny. You and Lila make a formidable team." Shocked, she stared into his eyes, hanging onto every word. He pried the glass loose from her hand, setting it on the table at her side. Opening her fingers, he pressed a kiss to her palm.

"Oh hell yeah, they do," Eric agreed, reaching past Dan to squeeze her shoulder again. In that moment, Cynda felt the power Daniel wielded inside this family. Eric didn't know her, had no reason to either like or dislike her, but he trusted Daniel's judgment. People didn't give that kind of respect to those who didn't deserve it. Especially not siblings.

Daniel's voice cracked. "What's left of my family means everything to me, even the little one we haven't met yet. I'm honored you'd want to be a part of raising that baby, Cynda."

"It's my fault this happened," Colton spoke up. "I'm the one who put a loaded gun in your hand."

"No, that one's on me," Lila argued. "I'm so hormonal I can't think straight."

"It's my fault," Cynda cried. "I should've locked the door behind me."

"It's Dazza's fault," Daniel spoke softly, his breath warm against her cold hand, but the entire room seemed to still. He stared straight into Cynda's eyes. "He came into my home uninvited and tried to take what's mine. He'd still be dead, gun or no gun. And that's what I told the sheriff."

He means… me.
She marveled over his words. That he'd call her his, claim her in front of them all sent a shiver through her, wrapped in a complex fabric of weakness that might take a while to sort out. That could wait.

"Is it over?" Cynda asked anxiously, stroking the side of his face. His five o'clock shadow felt rough to her fingers, but the rasp seemed to send warmth into her chilled body. "Eric said the police couldn't charge you."

He shook his head slightly. "The solicitor still has to review the case and decide whether he wants to bring charges. But right now, you and I are going up to the camp. We can't get back into the farmhouse till sometime tomorrow."

"Thought about that already. The camp's sorta primitive for a woman, but I been meaning to spend a night or two up there. Somehow, the summer just slipped by and I never got around to it. Now's as good a time as any. Full moon tonight," Eric spoke up. "You guys are welcome to stay right here, Dan. Throw Cynda in the hot tub. She needs to relax. She's strung tight as a fiddle."

Daniel never turned his head to look at his family. "That's a fine idea, Eric. Thank you. I appreciate the show of support from every one of you, but I need to be alone with Cynda right now. So if you guys don't mind, lock the door behind you."

"School starts tomorrow. We need to get Jonah in bed anyway. Good night." Cynda was vaguely aware of Colton pulling the headphones off the teenager and pointing him toward the door. She sort of knew when Eric disappeared down the hall off the far side of the kitchen and then returned with a backpack. He followed the others out the front door, but in the time it took them all to file out of the cabin, Daniel never looked anywhere but at her face.

"I didn't want to say this while they were all here, but if anyone's to blame for King trying to hurt you, it's me," Daniel stated.

"You? It had nothing to do with you. I went by there this afternoon, and he wasn't in his shop, but—"

"Shh. Listen to me, sugar. Last Sunday I offered Miss Coralinne a reverse mortgage. That means I'd buy her house and give her the money now, but she could've lived there until she died. She'd have been able to pay off that bastard, and yet wouldn't have owed any payments. I started to tell you so many times, but your grams wanted me and her to tell you together, so you'd understand why she wouldn't be able to leave you her house like she planned. I admit I was worried you'd feel I was taking advantage. That's not the only way I was selfish. I kept stalling, because I couldn't stop thinking that once you knew King was going to be paid, you'd have no reason to stay with me." His voice became jagged. "I should've gone there and told him myself, but instead, I asked Reese to put pressure on him to reduce the interest. I was a fool. Money… it comes and it goes, but a woman like you—"

"Reverse mortgage? I thought you were making Grams pay for the lawyer you hired. I hoped you did, because then I could ask for a new contract." Cynda slid out of her seat, kneeling in front of him. She cradled his face with one hand, pushing the hair off his forehead with the other, to better study the bright gleam in his eyes. "Daniel, I don't know if you're selfish, but if you are, it's the most peculiar kind of selfish I've ever seen. Whenever you're taking advantage of all those rules you make in your favor, you're turning me inside out and when that happens, I'm not black, or poor, or one bad mood on the part of some racist asshole away from being unemployed. In your garden, I'm Eve, and when you take me shoe shopping, I'm Cinderella. On top of your mountain, I feel like Mother Earth. In your house, I'm a lady. You dress me like one and you insist others treat me like one. The idea a man like you could want a woman like me is—"

He kissed her, his tongue surging past her lips with force, shutting off the nervous flow of her words. His arms went around her and for the first time since she'd stepped into King's repair shop, she felt as though she could breathe even though he held her to his chest so tightly it hurt. Soon, however, it became clear from the hardness pressed against her tummy he was ready to take her.

He left her in the cozy great room of the cabin. A brief forage around Eric's cabin yielded a length of nylon ski rope, lube, and condoms. When he reappeared, he simply said, "Cynda, take off the dress."

She stripped eagerly. He beckoned her into the kitchen, lifting her onto the small drop-leaf table. She felt her folds begin to swell, yet she still studied his intent expression. He ordered her to raise her knees. She placed her heels on the table's edge and he pushed them against the cheeks of her ass, then wrapped the nylon cord around her leg, mid-thigh, fastening her ankles tightly to her upper leg. She thought some of the tension in his face lessened when he had her spread with no way to close herself to him. The blade on his pocket knife flashed, reflecting the light from the pair of wrought iron sconces mounted on the wall between the kitchen and the den area as he sawed off a length of the rope. She offered her wrists, pressed together, and he first tied them together with a knot and then, with a softening of the tension around his eyes, added a bow.

Emotions roiled inside her at his gesture.
Remember the bow, not the bullet
, he seemed to be silently saying, helping her override her memory of King.

He didn't talk, other than to order her to lie back. Raising her head, he swept her braids from beneath her neck, making them spill down the far side of the small table. He traced her slit with his finger then pushed inside her. His lips twisted with satisfaction to find her slick and ready. She tightened around his calloused finger, but he withdrew, ignoring her small sound of protest. She could sense his urgency by the way he unbuckled his belt, but she didn't anticipate the way he slid it beneath her head, pressing the leather strip against the back of her neck. He fed the end through the buckle and slowly tightened the strap around her throat. His gaze seemed to be measuring her trust, much as it had that first day in his kitchen. She hadn't felt she had much choice that day, but this night, it was different. Though her pulse rate kicked up like a summer storm, she smiled. When the cool brass rested against the hollow of her throat, he laid the loose end of the belt across her chest, between her breasts. The leather was warm from his body, soothing her fears.

He lubed his fingers, and when he pressed them firmly against her puckered opening, she sensed his urgency from the rapid way he plunged inside her, scissoring his fingers to stretch her.

Condom, then lube; donned and dispersed with equal efficiency. He pressed the head of his cock against the tender spot and pushed in with a hard thrust of his hips. He let her breathe through his initial invasion, pausing with just the broad head inside her tight passage. When she felt ready for more, she knew what to say.

"Yes, Daniel." Her voice was barely a whisper, throttled by the emotions surging inside her. He reached for the end of the narrow leather strip, coiling it around his palm. He pulled her body onto his cock with the belt. The moment she accepted his entire length and his thighs pressed against the curves of her ass was the moment when he finally smiled. Driving the thumb of his free hand into her pussy, fingers digging into the soft skin above her mound, he then moved his hands to fuck her, not his hips. The beads in her hair swung from her motion, striking the folded table leaf and marking his rhythm like rain on a roof.

"I love you." She could only whisper, but she knew he'd heard because he bent over her, tugging on the belt to raise her head until their lips almost touched.

"That word. Love. It's not big enough," he rasped.

* * * *

Eric's bed was king-sized. Too big, Dan decided, preferring the queen size tester bed at the farm. Cynda's head rested on his shoulder. He pressed her to his chest with an arm around her waist, enjoying the softness of her inner thigh flung over his and replaying the moment when she'd declared her love. Relaxed and drowsing after a long soak in the redwood hot tub that sat just a few steps outside the bedroom door on the back deck that ran the width of the cabin, he was startled fully awake by the hard drumming on the front door.

"Eric must have left something," he groaned. "Or changed his mind about staying at the camp. Be right back." He pressed hip lips to her forehead. "Go back to sleep, sugar. Eric and I might talk for a bit. You need to rest."

She burrowed like a kitten into the pile of Eric's pillows, making him wonder how Daisy and the pup were getting along after being moved back into the shed. He'd get E to drive him down to the farmhouse, he decided as he walked hurriedly down the short hall. He could get his truck and check on the dogs.

He had to pass the kitchen window to get to his jeans. The full moon showed the sheriff's car parked behind his truck.