“You wanted to see Richmond at night,” he said to her in an abrupt manner. “Here I am.”
“Is he bothering you, miss?” the cop asked, not too pleasantlike.
This guy played for real.
“Cut out the crap act.” Brody raised his fists. “The lady is going home with me.”
“Brody, stop!” Mary cried out. “He’s only trying to help me. He’s a real cop.”
“What the—” Confusion pulled his punch.
“The cowboy cornered me in the parking lot,” Mary explained. “Officer Davis came to my rescue.”
“You know this guy?” the cop asked, his hand on his holster.
“Yes,” Mary sputtered, “he’s my fian—I mean, a friend.”
Officer Davis smiled and relaxed his stance. “Okay. I’ll be in my squad car if you need help, miss.”
She said, “Thank you, Officer.”
Brody led her by the elbow toward his van and settled her inside. “I’m taking you home, Mary.”
She went defiant on him. “I’m only going with you so you don’t get into trouble.”
“You don’t belong in a place like Haunt. You’re too nice a girl.”
“I suppose the sexy vampire is more your type.”
Brody remained silent. Never admit anything.
Mary continued, “What’s she got that I don’t, besides fangs?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” He started up his van and drove toward Duffy’s Diner, jamming his foot on the gas when they hit the open highway.
“I do ... all too well.” She let out a deep sigh. “Next time I go to Haunt, I’m putting on a tight bodysuit and going as Catwoman.”
“There isn’t going to be a next time,” he said as he drove down the alley behind the diner and parked near the commercial Dumpster. He turned off the engine and ripped the keys out of the ignition.
Mary sat with her arms crossed, her toe tapping on the floor mat. “We’re not a couple. I don’t have to listen to you. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Wanna bet?”
He got out of the van, circling the hood. Jerking open the passenger door, he slid one hand beneath her bottom and picked her up. He ignored her protests.
“Brody Jones, what’s gotten into you?” Mary said, squirming in his arms.
“You want hot nightlife, babe, then that’s what you’re going to get. I’m accommodating.”
“You asshole!” Mary never swore, so Brody knew she was ticked.
She tore off her black wig and beat him with it on his shoulders. She called him names and tried to kick him. She wouldn’t give up.
But she didn’t call for help.
She could deny it all she wanted, but he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He had a boner to last all night.
By the time he kicked open the door to his room, she was breathing hard, but the fight was knocked out of her.
Her sigh was heavy. “Brody, you wouldn’t—”
“Only if you say no.”
The look in her eyes told him what he wanted to know. Her blue gaze was wild, fearful, yet filled with passion.
The light from a lamppost cast a white haze through the bedroom window that faced the street. He laid Mary on top of the plaid quilt on his bed and followed her down. He held her close to him, nuzzling his face in her hair and running his hands up and down the curve of her back.
“I want you, Mary,” he whispered with a fierceness that surprised even him. Off came her red satin bodice, exposing her breasts.
Round, perfect. How could he have forgotten?
She blushed as red as Snow White’s apple when the rolled-up gym socks stuffed in her top rolled onto the quilt. Her breasts suddenly went from a D cup to a B.
She tried to cover herself, but he wouldn’t let her. His hands roamed over her breasts, plucking at her nipples, making them hard and pointy. She struggled, but to no avail. Beads of perspiration formed in her cleavage.
His mouth moved to her nipples, sucking one, then the other. He kissed her neck, her shoulders, her throat, as if he couldn’t stop and would eat her alive.
Mary tried to pull back, but in doing so she pressed her breasts into his face, arousing him even more.
Brody groaned. Her bare flesh tortured him. He was close to losing it. He wanted to see all of her. He moved quickly—too quickly for her to stop him.
He lifted her yellow mini, then the red gauze underskirt. He slipped down her white cotton panties, at odds with her sexy costume. He spread her legs apart and stroked her gently.
She was wet. Ready for him.
He sat up and ripped his costume down the middle. It hit the floor in shreds. He snagged a condom from the top drawer on his nightstand and slipped it over his dick.
“Damn, you’re beautiful.” He knelt, slowly sliding into her. He gave her one gentle thrust before he went wild.
Mary took him completely. She writhed and moaned, her body gripping him so tight it was as if she hadn’t had a man since he’d left Plain.
Could it be true? The shock pulled his testicles tight, forcing him to ask.
Her answer sucker punched him in the gut. “There’s been no one since you, Brody,” she said, her words coming slow and sure, but breathy.
“Why, Mary?” he asked, not certain if he believed her. He gritted his teeth. His orgasm was seconds away.
“Because you asked me to wait for you.” Her words were pure and true.
The truth of how she felt hit him hard. Scared him more than he would admit.
He sucked air, slowed down. His hands on her breasts were now gentle, the grind of his hips for her pleasure only.
Mary had waited for him. Believed in him.
What had he done?
He hated to apologize, but he owed her one now. “I’m sorry I lost my head tonight,” he said before he could change his mind. “But I didn’t want to see you hurt.”
“Brody—”
“Every time we’re together, Mary, I get all crazy inside,” he admitted. “Like I’m a kid again and the world is throwing me a curveball and I want out.”
Something in the way he said it, the pain in his voice, like a hole in his heart, touched her. She laid her hand on his arm. “I understand, Brody.”
She reached up and put her arms around his neck, then pulled his face down to hers and kissed him on the cheek. Green paint smudged her chin.