Scraping a thick skein of coppery hair from her eyes, she grabbed her wallet and shoved it in her pocket—she’d left her shoulder bag on the floor of her car. Then she found her keys and peeked through the blinds. The motel sign glowed at her through a wet neon haze. There was no one was out to see her leave. Opening the door to a blast of humidity, she crossed the rain-slick pavement to her car.
It wasn’t until she pulled out of the parking lot and checked her rearview mirror that she saw a set of high beams turn on.
Her chest tightened, but she told herself someone else had merely chosen to leave the motel at four in the morning. Though the rain had stopped and the moon was trying to pop out from behind a cloud, she turned on her wipers to clear the windshield, then checked the mirror again. The other car swung out behind her. Coincidence, she told herself, but just to make certain, she took a turn she hadn’t meant to on a road she didn’t know.
The other car followed.
She pressed the accelerator harder.
The other car kept pace.
She made another turn.
The other car turned, as well.
Her mouth was dry, her pulse fierce, but she told herself to stay calm. She was intelligent enough to think her way out of this.
Think!
They were speeding along a moonlit bayou, the long narrow finger of water crossed by home-built bridges to small dwellings, mostly ramshackle, some boarded up. Fishing camps probably, but none so far showed any sign of life. And there was no doubling back.
Her headlights hit a sign that indicated a split ahead.
Which way to go?
Driving on instinct, she stayed left, venturing deeper into bayou territory, and when she saw another road ahead and to the right—this one gravel—she killed her lights and made a wild turn, trusting the moon to guide her.
A check of her rearview mirror revealed a flash of lights as the other car continued on past her.
Drawing a shaky breath, she took her foot off the accelerator and let the car slow. But her relief was short-lived. A beam of light swept over her from behind. Checking her mirror, she realized the other driver had turned around somewhere and was once more on her tail.
The moment of distraction proved disastrous. Her left wheels strayed off the gravel, and when she tried to steer the car back onto the road, she couldn’t. The wheels spun, spitting gravel on one side, mud on the other. The car slipped and slid sideways and then started to tilt as if it were sinking. A cypress loomed before her and she slammed on the brakes just in time to avoid crashing into it.
Not stopping to count her blessings, Lucy cut the engine, and grabbed her car keys with its micro light attached to the key ring. Not that she would use the tiny light now, but it might come in handy later. Wincing as the mud sucked at her feet, trying to trap her, she pushed herself away from the road. She had always been a city girl, but thankfully she’d never been girlie-squeamish.
She glanced back. The other car had stopped.
“Don’t run, chère, no place for you to go now!” a man called out as she slopped through ankle-deep swamp water.
Heart beating wildly, she plunged ahead. Two doors slammed and she assumed they were now after her on foot.
“We just want to talk to you,” the second man singsonged. “Them alligators, they like a tasty meal.”
“I’ll take my chances,” she breathed, knowing alligators killed to eat, not because they were trying to cover up a crime. Talk? Yeah, right.
Moonbeams filtered down through the cypress trees, giving her just enough illumination to find her way. Unfortunately, the light was undoubtedly enough for the two men to see her. She heard them splashing through the shallows in her direction. One of them cursed and the word shoe drifted to her.
If she weren’t so afraid she might smile.
She tried to move soundlessly through the swamp.
Maybe she could lose them.
There was a splash to her left. Not the two men. Her throat tightened.
An alligator!
But she realized nature was the last thing she ought to be worrying about when one of the men said loudly, “Let’s get this over with. Shoot the bitch!”
Glancing back, she saw one of the them raise his arm and a dull blue glow suddenly flared into heat…heat that tore at her side and made her stumble….
Shot!
Before she could grasp the concept, before she could move to find a place to hide, a hand covered her mouth and an arm snaked around her waist and dragged her back into the shelter of a cypress.
His “Shhh” was unnecessary. She had no intention of calling out so they could find her more easily.
But who was he? A definite he. No softness behind her. Only hard muscle and a tension that was contagious. Almost enough to distract her from the pain burning her side.
The shooter said, “I think I got her—”
“Dammit, I lost my other shoe!”
“Screw the shoe! Better than losing your life. Let’s go make sure.”
“You wanna go, then you go. There’s something moving in that water.”
“What? An alligator?”
“This is the swamp, idiot, whad’ya think? We can come back to finish the job tomorrow when we can see what’s what.”
She heard them cursing, then their voices receded. They were moving back toward their car. Her knees grew weak and she sagged back in relief.
Her rescuer waited a beat, then whispered, “I’m going to let go, but I would suggest you don’t make any noise until they’re gone.”
His breath laved her ear, pebbling the flesh along her spine. She nodded her agreement and true to his word, he released her. It took her a minute to breathe normally again, to stand steadily on her own as she heard the car start and the wheels spin away.
That’s when, to thank the man who’d saved her life, she turned and triggered the microlight on her key-chain so that she could see her rescuer’s face.
Sharp features…inky hair…bedroom eyes…
“Oh, no,” Lucy moaned. “Not you!”
And then she passed out.
2
HE PULSED BEHIND HER as she clung to the iron bedstead on her knees, her bottom pressed into his groin.
He ran his hands over every inch of her body as if he were trying to memorize her, as if he might be tested as to the fullness of her hips or the firmness of her belly or the sensitivity of her breasts. Mmm, her breasts…he paid special attention to detail there, his clever fingers rolling and tugging the nipples into hard, sensitive points until she cried out in pleasure-pain. Keeping one hand busy tweaking them, he used the other to feather the auburn curls of her pubis with a light touch before dipping into her well.
“There,” she murmured as he slid a single finger laden with her cream along her clit. “Oh, yes, sweet heaven…”
She’d never been so wet. Or so deliciously hot.
She glanced up across to the dresser with its antique mirror where she caught a reflection of their sexual dance. His bedroom eyes glittered at her via the mirror, and their gazes locked.
Slowly, he rocked into her…buried himself…pulled back so only his tip teased her.
No, no, fuck me deep and hard.
She mouthed the words she couldn’t say. Had been raised not to say.