Sundown & Serena (3 page)

We slept for a while together. I woke up
first and began running my hands over him. He’s asked for that all
night, over and over, for me to touch him with my hands.

Terian yawned, then looked over at the clock.
“I have to go,” he said apologetically. “I’ve got work.”

Well, that was understandable. It was close
to noon. “That’s fine,” I said, feeling a little hurt for some
weird reason.
Let it play out. You can’t stop it happening
anyway
. “I should get moving myself.” I went to get up.

Terian stopped me, grabbing my arm. “I’d
still like to take you out tonight,” he said quickly. “What time
should I pick you up?”

This was a new one. “Three a.m.,” I got out.
“But you don’t have to, if you—”

“I meant what I said,” Terian insisted as he
pulled on his clothes. “I want to get to know you.” Then he reached
over and took my hand, putting it to his lips.

I tried not to be touched by his efforts to
be romantic. “You know me now,” I said, shrugging. “This is all
there is.”

“No, it’s not,” he said, hugging me gently.
“But I want to see all there is, if you’ll let me get close to you,
Sun.”

Was he asking to be a boyfriend? And did I
want one? I hugged him and didn’t reply.

“Do you want me to pick up more protection
for us?” he asked.

Ah.
He wanted to see me again because
he wanted more sex. I understood that. “Sure.”

“We don’t have to be intimate again tonight,”
Terian said quickly, drawing back to look at me. “But I used all of
yours, so I thought it only right I offer.”

Who is this guy, that he’s so...well, so
nice? I’d never met a handsome man that was so nice, ever. Usually,
they were pricks, with egos as big as the Montana sky, like my
father...
Leave it alone right now, Sun. You think about that,
you’ll ruin this. Don’t ruin this
.

I locked my past up, threw the key into the
racks of some leftover dreams, and focused on Terian. “Sure,” I
said, shrugging again. “It would be a good idea to get some
more.”

“Do you like flowers?” he asked shyly.

I gaped at him. “You want to buy me
flowers?”

“Only if you like them,” he added quickly. “I
thought you might be allergic. I—”

He’s too good to be true. And that means
something bad is coming
. “What is this?” I said, getting out of
bed. “We had sex. That was it—”

“I want there to be more,” Terian
interrupted. “Don’t you want more?”

I was going to say “no,” then I realized I
did maybe want more. He’d been a good lover, and I’d liked being
with him. Maybe it was time for a change.

You’re going to get hurt, if you let anyone
in.

Fuck off and die
, I told that familiar
voice inside me.
Just once, I’m going to see where this goes,
instead of driving him away.
“Maybe,” I admitted. “But I’m not
sure.”

“Then try it out,” he said, giving me a
dazzling smile. “What have you got to lose?”

My heart, maybe.
“All right,” I said
tentatively. “I’d love some flowers. Yellow roses are my
favorite.”

“Then I’ll bring you some tonight,” he said
gallantly. Terian took me in his arms, kissed me once tenderly, and
left. A second later, he was back, “for one last kiss” and then he
left again, grinning widely.

I was smiling, too, in spite of myself. It
wasn’t often that men made me smile, at least, not in a good way
like this. Usually I was amazed at how dumb they acted. Maybe my
luck was changing.

Chapter
Three

Terian showed up right on time that night,
bearing a dozen yellow long-stemmed roses. Again, we went to an
early breakfast at the diner and then to my place. Being with him
was just as good this night as before. But there was one
surprise.

“Tell me if you want me to...um...touch you
in...um...if you like...if you want me to do anything other than
I’m doing, Sun,” he said awkwardly. “I’m not very experienced.”

“It’s not like you’re a virgin,” I teased
laughingly.

Terian went crimson.

I knew what that meant, and my mouth fell
open. “You’re telling me that you—?”

“Yes,” Terian choked out, turning redder.
“Last night, okay?”

I’d never even met a man who was a virgin
before, much less been with one. Last night I’d taken his
virginity. God, he had to be in his twenties, if not thirties! What
had taken him so long?

Terian was clearly uncomfortable, so I didn’t
ask what I was dying to know. Instead, I touched his shoulder
softly. “Don’t worry about it. You were great so far, and that’s
all I need for now, okay?”

“Okay,” he said with relief, and hugged
me.

* * * *

A week passed like water, then two. We ate,
fucked, and spent time together. And late one night, he just
stayed. I can’t remember which of us suggested it. It wasn’t a
problem for me; it saved us having to worry about making plans for
the next night.

But after a month of living together, Terian
told me that he wanted me to quit stripping. I hit the roof. “I was
a stripper when you met me.”

“Sun, I know that. I just think that you
should quit, because you don't have to—”

“Why don't I have to?”

“I’ll support you,” he said stoically, taking
me in his arms. “I’m happy living here, with you. I’d like—”

“I like to strip,” I said in a low, flat
tone. “I like the money, and I’m not giving it up.”

“Would you feel the same way if you were my
wife?”

Nervous butterflies swarmed suddenly in my
stomach and chest. It was loud and clear that Terian was thinking
of marriage already. It was also clear that he thought that I was
going to be June Cleaver to his Ward Cleaver once he popped the
question.

No. Fucking. Way.
“I’m not cut out to be anybody’s wife,” I said with a sneer. “I
don’t want to quit.”

“Don’t you care about me?” he asked in a
small tentative voice.

For some reason, that made me so fucking
furious I lost it, the bitter lie forming on my lips to spill out
before I could stop it. “What we have is just sex to me, like I’ve
had with dozens of men.”

Terian gave me an unbelieving hurt look.
Then, without a word, he gathered up his things and left.

I cried that night like I hadn’t in some
years. But I told myself it was better this way, as he would have
hurt me if we went on much longer. Hurting him first was the best
thing to do.

* * * *

I didn’t hear from Terian for some months. I
did my job, slept with a few losers I regretted as soon as I’d seen
them naked, and soon it was Christmas. As usual, I sent my father
the requisite card, and I sent my mother flowers to her burial
plot.

My tale of childhood woe I’d told to Terian
had been true, from a point of view. My mother had committed
suicide when she found my father cheating on her with a
sixteen-year-old girl. That the girl was her foster daughter was
too much for her. So she took an overdose of Valium, went to sleep,
and never woke up.

I was two at the time.

My father raised me, if you counted the
endless nights of me watching TV and eating dinners I microwaved
myself while he fucked a stream of women in the trailer’s one
bedroom.

When he wasn’t balling some babe, he was
working: driving trucks, hauling furniture, fixtures, and God knew
what to who knew where.

Given that description of his character, it
might seem unbelievable that so many women wanted his company, that
they gave him money or would consent to watch his brat—me—while he
was off driving for days on end. The easy answer was that my father
was incredibly handsome. He had dark brown hair with a slight curl
that he wore long, and rich blue eyes like cobalt that seemed
perpetually knowing. Even though he drank beer, and ate only fast
food, through some trick of genes his body was lean, and powerfully
built. But the most captivating thing about him was his charm. God,
he was charming. I knew that he was shallow as a rock, and just as
caring, but he faked emotions so well that it was hard not to
believe he meant every word he said. Hell, he was so good at it,
women looked for a reason, any reason to believe what he said, and
when there was no logic to follow in his given argument, they
usually made something up.

I was not immune. Over and over I believed
him when he said he’d changed and seen the error of his ways, and
repeatedly I was hurt when he went right back to his old habits
within the space of a few days. It took me the better part of
fourteen years with him to wise up. When I did, I left.

That was when I started dancing. I’d watched
enough of my father’s stripper-friends as they practiced their
routines to know how to move, and gotten tips from a few of the
more friendly ones. Wanting at least a few states between us so he
wouldn’t accidentally find me some night, I’d moved out here to New
York, trading the desert for forest, and never looked back.

* * * *

One night in March, I looked out in the crowd
and saw Terian was there, watching me dance. When my set was over,
my boss told me to get my ass over to him, because he’d paid for me
for private dances for the next hour solid.

I pasted a smile on my face and nodded,
because I knew to refuse was to get fired. Then I went over to
Terian, and began to dance. I expected...well, I don’t know what I
expected. Maybe for him to have brought me some roses, or for him
to offer to take me out for breakfast. Instead, he just watched me
dance.

Not to make it seem he was distant or
uninterested. All his focus was on me. When I sat down on his lap,
his hard erection bulged through his jeans against my bare thighs.
Yet he made no move to touch me. When I was done and the hour was
up, he leaned in close and whispered, “Want me to meet you outside
after you get off work?”

“For what?” I replied, half-interested,
half-cautious.

“For breakfast and sex, baby,” he said
bluntly, then grinned.

His shyness was gone, his expression and tone
direct and calm. “Got some more notches on your belt?” I teased,
smiling to soften the cutting edge of my remark.

“A couple,” he said, grinning again in a way
I found very sexy and yet boyishly innocent. “But they weren’t like
you, Sun.”

I only had to hear him say my name like that,
and I knew my answer was going to be yes.

* * * *

I got off early at six thirty by trading
shifts on Monday with a friend. Terian and I got a quick breakfast,
but the both of us weren’t thinking about food, even as we ate. We
raced to my apartment in record time.

Terian and I were all over each other, which
made undoing my simple door lock a formidable task. Finally, I got
it open, and we fell through the doorway, landing on the floor as
we grappled with each other’s clothes. We somehow made it to the
bedroom, but not to the bed.

I unzipped his pants, and took out his
erection, stroking him with my hand. Terian let out a growl of
need, and pushed me back to the floor. He slipped on a condom from
the drawer above my head, and with a thrust of his hips, he was
inside me. I let out a sigh of pleasure.

Terian chuckled low and kissed my throat.
“Did you miss me, Sun?”

“Duh,” I said sarcastically, and kissed him
hard, reaching around to caress his firm, bare ass.

Terian’s phone rang suddenly, then
repeatedly. He made no move to answer it, his hips pumping on mine,
as we groaned together. Just as we came, the phone stopped, our
shared cries loud in the sudden silence. As we lay there still
joined, trying to catch our breaths, it began ringing again.

Grumbling, Terian pulled out of me and rolled
onto his back, reaching into his discarded pants for his phone.
“Yes?”

Terian’s mouth suddenly dropped open. “Theo?
I only gave one person this number! Why are you calling—?”

Terian cut off abruptly, then rubbed his
eyes, his muscles tensing. Fury came off him, mixed with despair.
“It was you,” he said quietly. “Damn you, it was you she dreamed
with.”

He sat up, and hurriedly pulled on his jeans,
using his head and shoulder to hold the phone. “Meet me at Alan’s
Creek” he said quickly. “I can make it there in fifteen minutes!
Shut up, and meet me there!”

Terian hung up, slid on his shirt, and then
hugged me tightly. “I have to go,” he said, his eyes scared. “I’ll
be back in two hours or so. Stay here, Sun. I’ll explain when I get
back.”

He raced out the door, as I was still trying
to figure out what the hell had just happened.

* * * *

I worried about Terian all night, but a few
drinks helped me relax, at least to the point I didn’t pace. About
one a.m., he returned with blood on his clothes.

“What happened?” I asked warily, pointedly
looking at the bloodstains.

“Don’t worry, it’s not mine,” he said
tiredly. “Can I use your shower?”

“Sure,” I assented.

Terian was in there a long time, at least an
hour. I wondered how he could stand it, as given the tiny hot water
heater this apartment had, the water had to be ice cold. Oddly, it
didn’t seem to bother him.

When Terian came out toweling his hair, he
was clean, his expression resigned. “I have some things to tell
you, Sun, and some questions for you. But I want to answer the
questions you must have for me first.” He put down the towel.
“About what happened, if you want to know, that is.”

Fuck yes.
“Whose blood was that?”

“Some bad guys were holding a friend of mine
against her will. They were going to kill her. Her boyfriend was
the one who called. I helped him get her free.” He paused. “The
blood was from some guards we had to kill, Sun.”

That warning light came on again in my brain.
“You killed people tonight?”