“
Pendragonites
.” The title came out in an unintentional awed whisper.
“What I read of that story stayed with me, so I guess I did connect.”
“The super hero angle,” she assumed.
“Who wouldn’t want super powers to vanquish evil?”
Bella glanced from the art to its creator.
Those haunted eyes
. “The winged horse, he resembles your Avenging Angel. And the knight…” She glanced back to the enchanted crusader. “Not Sir Sheridan.” The knight that initially saves the heroine from an ogre. “But Sir Driscoll.” The knight who becomes the heroine’s champion and lover. “This is definitely Driscoll and he looks an awful lot like you.”
Savage moved in and angled closer to examine his artwork. “I don’t see it.”
Bella fixed her gaze on Savage’s dark and compelling face, but even more so, on his fierce albeit battered aura. “I do.” Her heart thudded in her ears, sounding somewhat like the thunderous wings of a Pegasus beating the air to take flight. “The way I wrote it, Sheridan had a flying horse, not Driscoll.”
“There were only two chapters. Maybe you didn’t get to that part yet.”
Thud. Thud
. “
Pendragonites
isn’t a fairy tale per say. I mean it’s not for little kids. It’s a story for the young at heart.” She licked her lips. “A love story.”
“A fairy tale with love and super heroes.
Once upon a time in a castle in the air there lived a great King,”
Savage recited. “
He championed goodness, truth, beauty, and tolerance.”
“Wow,” Bella said, impressed by his memory as well as his mesmerizing voice. “It really did stay with you.”
“Why are there only two chapters?” he asked.
“Because I wrote it on a whim. It was a fleeting idea and I just sort of puked it out.”
He smiled at that.
“I was inspired and then I wasn’t.” She glanced back at his rendering. “But now, maybe I am.” Bella’s knees wobbled as Savage smoothed her hair from her face. “It’s a story about noble crusaders who lost their way,” she said. “It’s about finding redemption. And love.”
“And kicking villainous ass.”
“That, too,” she said while placing the precious artwork aside.
“Finish the story, Bella.”
“Why?” she croaked as he pulled her into his arms.
“Because I want to believe.”
Their mouths fused and Bella trembled with the intensity of his need. She felt this kiss to the depth of her soul and she knew, this time, they’d make love. She fairly shattered in anticipation, holding tight as Savage torched her senses with blazing passion.
Smitten and seduced, Bella lost herself in an endless kiss, her bones liquefying as his hands smoothed over her arms, her back, her face. Time ceased and pleasure stretched on. Fabric slid against her skin, inch by inch, and suddenly she was naked and writhing beneath him in bed. “Make love to me, Joe.”
“Patience, baby.” He reached over the side of the bed and nabbed a condom from his discarded jeans, some managing to sustain the level of sensuality.
“Patience is overrated,” she rasped as he set her world on fire.
Bella gloried in his buff body and practiced touch, her senses reeling as he worshiped her with his mouth—kissing, tasting, pleasuring. Moaning her approval as his strong hands slid over her naked curves—teasing, tempting.
Coiled tight with desire, Bella cried out with need and suddenly he was moving inside her.
Bliss
.
Her tortured knight rocked against her, urging her to let go.
Instead, she clung. To him. To the moment.
Believe in this, in us, in me
.
For once, reality trumped fantasy. Bella reveled in the raw emotions, the powerful sensations. She framed Joe’s face, searched his gaze and, felled by the fervent adoration in his eyes, lost her heart.
Swept away
.
The world receded as she soared toward the stars. Higher and higher. Until her lungs burned and her will shattered.
Her intense release left her utterly drained and disoriented.
She held fast to her lover as she grappled for a coherent thought.
She had no words. At least none that would adequately express her wonder.
Savage rolled to his side, pulling Bella with him. His heart pounded in tandem with hers and little by little, breath by breath, her senses cleared.
Amazing
.
She’d had fallen into bed with her potential dream partner expecting a hot and frenzied tumble. Joe Savage was alpha and tortured, sexy and intense. She’d assumed he’d approach lovemaking as he approached life—with intense focus. Demanding and dominating. What she’d gotten was slow and tender.
Even now, even after, in the dazzling afterglow of sex, he kissed her softly, deeply, holding her close. She felt like a boneless ragdoll crushed against a mountain of man. How could someone so rugged be so gentle? How could a brief encounter feel like a game-changer?
They’d been kissing and kissing and then he was inside her. No lengthy foreplay. No sexual gymnastics. Yet the earth had spun and rocked and she’d shattered.
She might have been embarrassed by how quickly she’d climaxed if she weren’t so in awe. He’d been right behind her, his release as powerful as hers. She’d never felt anything like it and she was absolutely enthralled knowing lovemaking could be as soul stirring as she’d been led to believe.
Bella shivered as his hands roamed her curves. Smiled when he whispered bawdy sweet talk in her ear. He was the sexiest, most perplexing and intriguing man she’d ever known and he’d set her world on fire.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“You don’t want to know. It’s sappy.”
“I’m not familiar with sappy. I might like it.”
She snuggled closer. “You set my world on fire,” she said plainly. “Rocketed me to places I’ve never been before. Now I know what it feels like to dance on the moon. How’s that for sappy?”
“I like it.” He brushed his mouth over her forehead, swearing when his phone dinged. He nabbed it from the nightstand. “Text from your dad. He’s wrapping for the day.”
Bella flushed head to naked toe. “I forgot he was here.”
“My timing was off,” Savage said as he swung out of bed. “I didn’t plan… It just happened.”
“I know. I was here.” She smiled as he nabbed his jeans.
Nice butt
. “Your timing was perfect. You were perfect. Beyond perfect.”
He paused, turned and skimmed a gentle path over the curve of her jaw. “You’re easy to please.”
“Not usually.” In her limited experience, usually sex was just okay. Not horrible. Not wonderful. And certainly not over the moon amazing. Savage had awakened a part of her she hadn’t known existed. “I won’t break, you know.” He’d been so sweet, so tender, as if it was her first time.
“Feeling adventurous?”
A shiver shimmied down her spine. “Let’s just say you inspire naughty thoughts.”
He grinned at that. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He stole a kiss then eased away. “Get dressed. I’m taking you and your dad to an early dinner.”
“You are?”
“I am.”
Chapter Nineteen
Sex with Bella was as close as Joe had come to an out-of-body experience. The effects long-lasting because why the hell else would he invite Archie to dinner in response to making love to his daughter? Compromised senses were to blame. Although he did recognize one other culprit.
Guilt
.
The man trusted Joe to behave like a gentleman and Joe had broken that trust on Bella’s first day in his house. While her father was on the damned property. At least he hadn’t indulged in any of his racier fantasies starring Princess Rainbow. He’d kept it simple. Two willing bodies. One tortured soul.
Only now, it was complicated.
Bella tightened her grip around Joe’s middle, pressing into him as he angled to make the turn off of Moon Creek Road. With her feet braced on the foot pegs, her thighs clamped against his, it felt like a full body hug. Logically he knew, as an inexperienced rider, she was anchoring herself but it felt like one of her hugs and it felt damned good. He felt comforted by her presence, inspired by her easy affection. No maybe about it. He’d fallen in love with the small town librarian. He wanted to feel good about that—even though he knew it was bad. They’d never work. Not long term. The kid thing. The one barrier Joe couldn’t see beyond.
Determined to bask in the now, he reigned in his thoughts and adjusted his speed as they rolled into town. Traffic was heavier than he’d previously witnessed on a Sunday. He remembered then that this was the second and last day of the Arts and Fiddler Festival. There’d been an influx of people—some driving for hours to attend the popular event. Even so, downtown Nowhere was faded and broken and damned near deserted. Nearly half of the businesses were boarded up. No building stood over two-stories and most all looked as if they hadn’t been renovated since the late sixties. It might have been charming—a slice of western Americana—if the facades had been maintained. Even Desperado’s Den—one of the most frequented establishments in Nowhere—suffered neglect.
On the whole, the town was an eyesore. Add in the limited shopping and depressed economy, no wonder people drove an extra few miles to get to a chain superstore. On any typical day, less than a dozen cars occupied the meter free parking along the curb of Frontier Street. If there’d ever been a line painted down the center of the street, it had long since faded. Joe kept expecting tumbleweeds to roll over the cracked asphalt. Nowhere was that close to qualifying as a ghost town. He hadn’t cared before. In fact, he’d relished the desolation. It suited his mood. His needs.
Only now, dammit to hell, it didn’t.
The dwindling population had cost Archie his job. According to Bella, her library had suffered major funding cuts, and her friend Georgie was unemployed and presently searching for work in the next town over. He’d heard a lot of talk on his occasional hangs at Desi’s and now that he thought about it, a lot of that talk touched on the shaky future of Nowhere. He didn’t want to care, but Bella was hugging him and all he could think was—
this is her hometown
. A place she loved so much, she’d sworn to never leave. Her friends had sworn the same oath only now they were getting twitchy and that made Bella sad. He knew because she’d told him. As much as she withheld from her dad, she had no problem sharing her thoughts with Joe. That knowledge warmed him every bit as much as the summer sun.
Bella squeezed then pointed. “There it is!”
As if he could miss it.
Café Caboose was an antique railcar poised on a segment of iron tracks—west of the Coyote Club, Nowhere’s second most popular bar and east of the gleaming silver grain and feed monstrosity known as Chet’s Farm & Feed. Although the red caboose was the center piece and main entrance of the diner, additional “themed” construction allowed for a kitchen and a larger dining car to accommodate special events. Joe had driven by the popular café dozens of times, but he’d never been tempted to stop. Too family oriented for his personal comfort. He wasn’t surprised that it had been Bella’s first choice.
“I can’t believe you’ve yet to dine at Café Caboose,” Bella said as she swung off the back of Joe’s bike. “It’s a landmark!”
“Mostly I eat in.”
“Emma thinks you have a social disorder,” she said as she struggled with the chin strap. “But that can’t be right. As a cop you dealt with people all the time. Unless that’s it. You got sick of dealing with people.”
After riding several miles in silence, her rambling was music to his ears. “I got sick of a lot of things,” he said while removing her helmet. He loved her messy hair, the flush of her wind-burned cheeks. He loved that she’d opted for adventure over comfort. He’d offered to drive them into town in his truck, but she’d chosen his bike instead, citing a beautiful day and a need to clear her head.
Archie had promised to meet them after he’d washed up and changed. Joe figured he had Bella to himself for a few more minutes and he intended to soak in every second of her vibrant company.
“You were with the police department how long? Fourteen years?” she answered for him as they moved toward the converted railcar. “That’s a long time. You must have dealt with a lot of nasty stuff. That would wear on anyone. But now you’re in Nowhere. It’s not anything like Chicago. I’ve never been to Chicago, but—”
“That’ll change this weekend.”
Bella faltered on the steps leading up to the renovated caboose. He didn’t blame her confusion. He should have told her earlier.
“The date I agreed to in our initial agreement? The formal affair?”
“A wedding, actually.”
“Whose?”
“The daughter of a close friend and former colleague. I promised.”
“And it’s in Chicago? Illinois?”
“I’ll cover all expenses,” Joe said, alleviating, hopefully, any concerns. “Hotel. Airfare.”
“I’ve never been on a plane.”
That caught him by surprise.
“The farthest I’ve ever been is just north, over the state line. A family vacation. South Dakota. The Badlands. Thousands of acres of wilderness. Even more remote than Nowhere.”