Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Penny
C alvin guards me closely. Too closely. The past few days with the ex-military lumberjack have me remembering what it feels like to be a woman again.
Even worse, as if it's not enough that my body yearns for his touch, I have feelings for the rugged, older man. Feelings that I never expected to have for another man after my husband was killed in action overseas.
After speaking with his friend on the phone, Calvin and I packed a few things and he did his best to bring me up to speed on our situation as he drove me up the mountain to his brother, Clinton's house.
I know my tormentor's name is Keith. That he's thirty-one. He lives in a house he inherited from his mother, he has a history of extremist views, and criminal record full of petty crimes and minor assault charges.
I'm not the first woman he's harassed online, but I am the first one that he's physically stalked.
Calvin suspects the man's mental instability probably reached a tipping point and I'm just the unlikely person he was fixated on when it happened.
After filling his brother in on what's happening, Calvin brought me to a small but extremely well-appointed cabin located in the forested outskirts of a place called Paradise Point.
We had to borrow a motorcycle to get here; a heavy duty type of dirt bike that Calvin strapped our things to before showing me how to climb onto the back part of the seat. Then he made sure my helmet was properly fastened and took off on the most terrifying ride I've ever been on in my life.
Thank God the rain stopped, but the trail he took us on was still muddy, starting with a steep hill that he later explained leads to his timber company's current job site.
But it was the dark forest with trees growing so close together that I didn't think we'd make it between them that had me clutching his waist with my eyes closed, nothing to do but pray and trust Calvin to make sure we'd be all right.
He didn't let off the throttle until we got past the woods.
The cabin is small, with just one bedroom-- but not in a way that's likely to lead to any excuses for Calvin to share a bed with me.
"Frost-- um, Harlan-- he was one of the guys who got home and didn't know what to do with himself," Calvin explains as he builds a fire in the cabin's wood burner. "So he got into private security. Now he runs an outfit that deals primarily with relocating high risk individuals."
He must sense the confusion in my silence, because he turns to look up at me and clarifies.
"Mostly women escaping abusive situations at home. The place is set up so you'll feel safe in the bedroom. The front room--" he nods around us as he gets the tinder to start, "is designed for the security detail."
There are two couches on opposite sides of the room. On closer inspection, I see they flatten into twin beds. The windows in the cabin are placed high, making it hard to see out of them, but I guess that also makes them hard to see into.
"Separate bathrooms," Cal points out that the door leading to the bathroom from the front room, and I've already seen the private bathroom from the bedroom.
"Most of Harlan's men are men. When his business went in this direction, he built places with the victims in mind. Having armed mercenaries hovering around doesn't make everyone feel safe, even if that's the point."
It's not something I'd thought of, but it makes sense when he points it out to me.
I wonder if I'll ever meet this Harlan guy.
"So, you're going to sleep out here?" I motion toward one of the couches, embarrassed at the obvious disappointment in my voice.
Cal doesn't miss it. He doesn't seem to miss anything.
Right now, I'm thinking maybe I wish he would.
There's a darkness clouding his eyes as he stands and glances at the small beds in the front room.
I'm sure he's caught on that I prefer the idea of him sharing the bedroom with me-- and not just because having him close would make me feel safer.
"Penny."
It's just one simple word, my own name, but he says so much when croaks it out in a ragged voice.
"Calvin."
I like that my voice sounds so much stronger than his. More determined, more-- ready for what comes next. Because, while I might hold our eye contact confidently, as my hands glide up his chest, my insides are full of Jell-O and pterodactyls.
Calvin
I 'm ready to give in.
It's plain that Penny is a woman; a woman who's done her grieving and is ready to move on.
God help me; I plan to be the man she does it with.
Tension between us has been tight since the night she showed up at my place. Today has added fear and adrenaline to our attraction and that's a heady combination.
"If I don't sleep out here, neither of us are likely to sleep at all, sweetheart."
Her hands wander up my chest, across my shoulders, and knit behind my neck.
"I'm okay with that."
I don't know how her lips end up aligned with mine. I swear I was just thinking of all the reasons this is a bad, fucking idea. Now I'm not thinking at all.
Penny's lips are soft and so pliable against mine. For seconds, I'm unable to breathe. Hell, I'm not sure my heart's still beating! Or maybe that's what makes the sound of the drum pounding in my veins. But my arms are locked around her and there's no way I'm letting go.
The kiss she manages to coax out of me isn't soft or gentle, my mouth claims hers. I devour her like I'm starving.
Truth is, I have been, and I didn't even know it until Penny came into my life. The sweet taste of her tongue isn't enough, no matter how eagerly it tangles with mine. I need more, so much more.
Lifting Penny by the back of the thighs, she instinctively wraps her legs around my waist. The feel of her hot center pressed against my hard cock through our clothes has me stumbling slightly before I get us steered toward the bedroom.
"You sure about this?" I ask as I lay her down on the queen size bed in the back room. "Because there's no going back with me."
Penny stares up at me, her eyes hooded, with the dilated pupils making the deep cocoa irises look that much darker. A pretty blush has colored her face and crept down her neck.
My fingers burn with the need to start undressing her, but I need to make sure we're on the same page here. If I'm just going to be her way of burning off the tension from all this, I'd be smart to keep the closed door of this room between us.
Not that my sense of self-preservation is strong enough to resist the woman laying beneath me now.
No matter what she's about to tell me, I know the only word that could keep me from claiming her now is "stop."
"I don't want to go back, Calvin."
Penny places her soft hands on either side of my face.
"I'm only interested in going forward...and..." Her little, pink tongue flicks over her lips quickly and I feel her breasts brush my chest when she takes a deep breath. "And I'd like that to be with you... if you want that?"
"I want that, baby. I want that real bad."
Words don't feel good enough. I could tell her I love her or that let her know I plan to marry her or that she's got my head full of ideas I never saw for myself before-- but it all seems too trite. So I'm going to show her.
Penny's fingers draws down my cheekbones, combing through my beard on their way to buttons at my collar.
Then I make her task impossible when I catch those hands by the wrists and pin them to the pillow above her head.
A gasp escapes her lips before I crush my mouth back to hers, then Penny moans when I give back her breath so I can kiss my way down her throat. My free hand pushes beneath her t-shirt to give me access to the breasts that have had me spending my morning showers fisting my own cock.
Penny's hands are her own again, I need both of mine. I don't have patience for unsnapping her bra, I just pull the cups down to free each beautiful mound of flesh so that I can knead them in my hands while I lavish each rosy tip with my tongue.
Her body twists beneath me as she reaches behind her to unclasp the bra I didn't have time for, then her fingers spear through my hair behind my head and Penny's body twists for new reasons.
It's not until I start stripping her down that she gets shy.
Penny's hands fall across her luscious body, and when I move them out of my way, she pulls at the edge of the blanket till it covers what I've worked so damn hard to reveal.
"Are you having second thoughts?"
I force my hands to still and wrench my mouth away from the soft curve of her belly. My dick throbs with need, but the last damn thing I want is for Penny to feel guilty about this.
"No," she answers quick and sure, thank fuck. "It's not that it's just--" she glances around the room, and up to the ceiling where a fan hangs above the bed, motionless, but with the center fixture lighting up the room. "Maybe we could turn the lights off?"