Page 33 of Rainwater
She stood beyond the shadow in blazing white, her fiery hair loose and blowing free around her face. She reached out to him, but he couldn’t seem to move, and then she, too, was swallowed by the blackness, fading slowly until finally disappearing as if she had never existed.
Pain ripped into his side like a white-hot brand, piercing his body. He gasped and cried out, falling into the dirt. Blood splashed darkly against the ground and he felt the life seeping out of him…
He jerked awake, half sitting up in bed. Jennifer sighed next to him. That small sound was oddly comforting. He slipped out of bed and stood at the window, trying to get control of his breathing. His body shook. The nightmare lingered in the shadowed corners of his mind, taunting and tormenting him. He braced his hands on either side of the window and leaned forward. Cold sweat slipped from his hairline, running down his cheeks like tears.
Would he ever be free of this damn unrelenting fear? His heart felt crushed. For the first time in his adult life, he knew what it was to be close to what he had yearned for as a child.He turned and looked down at the sleeping woman he’d been snuggled up to only moments before and he marveled at her courage.
She’d been hurt before by a husband who didn’t want her. He was sure her husband had abandoned both wife and daughter. It was inconceivable to him that someone would actually leave Jennifer.
“Corey?” Her eyes opened, her voice husky with sleep. Just the sound was enough to send his heart racing.
Her arms were around him before he could move away. Immediately her body jerked and she released a heartfelt sigh. “Oh, Corey,” she said softly, pressing harder into him. “Nightmare?”
He trembled and took another shuddering breath, squeezing his eyes tightly closed. He nodded once quickly.
“About the bull?” He nodded again, not willing to burden Jennifer with his past and the horror he lived with when he closed his eyes.
She dipped down and picked up the silk robe she’d been wearing when he brought her upstairs earlier. Gently, she grasped his arm and pulled him away from the window. With tenderness, she wiped his face and dragged the cloth down his chest. The soft silk flowed over his nipples and his sex responded with immediate evident need.
She dropped the robe and cupped his straining manhood, molding her fingers over the swelling flesh.
He was a fool to let her seduce him into bed. He was falling fast. He was falling hard. He felt as if he were falling without any support. The nightmare had left him feeling alone and terrified. The demon attacked his unconscious mind, but Jennifer’s hands eased away the dread.
His body bucked with each stroke of her hand. He moaned with each touch, each gentle exploration. “Jennifer, I’mhurting.” His voice was raspy with the heightening pleasure of her touch and the fading panic.
He was hurting, all right, both from her touch and from the pain in his heart. He reached for protection and reminded himself he had one night. Well, if that was all he had, he was damn well going to build enough memories to last a lifetime. He grasped her upper arms and eased her against the bedroom wall. He dipped his head and clamped his mouth over one nipple. She cried out from the ardent pull each time he suckled her nipple against the roof of his mouth.
His deep masculine moans were mingled with hers as he switched to the other breast. “Corey.” His name was only a whisper of sound, a wisp of breath, but he heard her.
He responded by crushing her against the wall, drawing her leg up his scarred hip. He probed her expertly, knowing just how much of him to insert into her to make her frantic for more. His body was tense with need, and slowly he slipped inside her.
Stardust gathered around them like glittering pieces of white fire as frantically they both moved in perfect harmony, reaching not for the bright, swirling bits, but for the very white-hot stars themselves, to then clasp the heat and invite it inside where it burned and broke into quivering fiery supernovas.
Minutes later, he unbuckled his knees and picked her up in his arms, holding her tight and close. He moved to the bed, gently laying her down. He knelt on the floor and leaned against the bed. He knew if he got in bed with her, he would never want to get out.
“Corey, tell me about the nightmares.”
He had always believed that he would never be able to tell anyone his innermost feelings. He had always believed that he could never trust anyone or feel close to anyone. Never feel close enough to let someone touch him. Yet he had already told Jennifer more than he’d ever told anyone in his life. It gave hima warm, soft feeling inside, one he had never experienced before and suddenly leaving became much more difficult. He could see in her eyes that she genuinely wanted to know, and he again lost the battle against his own inner will. The one that always told him never to tell because of the shame.
“The bull doesn’t gore me in the hip in my dreams. Sometimes it’s my groin, sometimes my chest, my stomach.” He swallowed the bile in his throat as he remembered other terror-filled nightmares where his battered body lay in the dusty ring and his father stood over him, laughing.
She reached for him and wrapped her arms around him. “There are people who can help you with this. I know…”
“No. No shrinks. I don’t need anyone telling me how I feel. “He pulled away and began to dress.
“Jennifer, the sun is beginning to rise. I should go before Ellie wakes. It wouldn’t do for her to find me in here with you.”
“You’re right.” Gently she touched his face, caressing his cheek with her questing fingers. Then abruptly, she pulled her hand away and let him go.
He closed his eyes because no matter how much she tried to cover it up, he heard the slight tremor in her voice. He was so attuned to her he could hear her need, could feel it prickle where she’d touched him, sinking bone-deep into his body with aching clarity.
He wished this had been simple sex. It would have been so much easier. He jerked on his jeans and threw on his shirt, not even bothering to button it. He gathered up his boots and stopped briefly at the door. “Let me know when you’re ready to take me into town.”
Chapter
Seven
Jennifer forced back the surging pain in her heart. All the way to town she denied what she already knew to be true. She couldn’t hold on to him. She just couldn’t. She’d only known him for three days. Then why did it hurt so much that he was leaving, she asked herself. Why?
