“Thank you. I-I’ve never done anything like this before.”
Her eyes widened. “You’ve never been with a woman?”
“Of course I have. But not…planned…like this.”
The ghost of Natalie seemed to hover over him. Blaming him for what he’d done to her.
Go away!
“What?”
“Not you.” He clasped Sadie’s shoulder to steady himself. “Let’s drink some wine.”
“Wine?” She shot him a smile as she followed him to the kitchen area. “You sure know how to court a girl.”
Hot sweat popped out over his breastbone and between his shoulder blades.
“I hope you like red.”
“I’ll take any color you’ve got.”
The double meaning glimmered in her keen eyes, heavy as a stroke to his cock. He accidentally knocked one of the glasses over. Luckily, it happened before he’d filled it with wine. He wished he hadn’t bothered with the candles. Their twitchy shadows on the walls made him want to leap out of his skin.
When her fingers covered his and righted the glass, his knees almost buckled.
“Why are you so nervous?” she asked. “No one saw me come in.”
“Good.” Little did she know, the fear of getting caught was furthest from his mind. “Will you pour the wine, Sadie? You seem to have steadier hands tonight.”
After she filled the glasses halfway, he raised his in a toast.
“I really appreciate everything you’re doing at the office,” he said. “Thanks to you, the oyster pirates have been caught.”
Last week was the best he’d experienced since Caleb had put him in charge. He’d staked out the oyster beds, seen the pirates—even chased them—and reported them to the authorities. Spending his days on the water again made life worth living. Trusting her so much made him a little nervous, but she worked hard and conscientiously every day.
He intended to show Sadie in bed how happy she’d made him.
“It was a good week for me, too.” She clinked his glass with hers. “I thought I was doomed to be an oyster shucker the rest of my life. I never dreamed I’d get to run a company.”
He gulped his wine. “You’re damn good at it, too. Better than I ever was.”
When she set her glass down, nearly untouched, he stared at it.
“You don’t care for the wine?”
“I’m not used to it. We don’t drink at home since we can’t afford it.”
Henry’s stomach somersaulted up to his chest. He’d hoped the drinking part would last longer because next came…bed. As he pulled the glass from her fingers and set it down, he bowed his head toward hers. Inhaled her rich, womanly scent.
He gazed into her expressive eyes. He liked them when they were intelligent or angry. But, tonight, they looked so trusting. So expectant. What if he let her down? She kissed him so tenderly, it almost made him forget everything—Rockfield’s, the Klan, and even Natalie. Almost.
Framing her breasts with his hands, he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He’d enter her this way first. Testing the waters before he dived in with his cock. Her breasts pressed against him as she took a deep breath—of surrender? His erection brushed against her soft belly. Stroking her jaw with trembling fingers, he kissed her neck. When she leaned her head back, exposing her throat, his groin tightened.
It was time.
“Come to bed, Sadie,” he whispered.
She nodded, pressing her hand into his. The take-charge woman who ran his company wasn’t here. Tonight, she was all docile female. They stopped at the side of the bed.
A vision of a sunny day in the garden drifted through his mind. Pulling off a dress. Ripping a stocking. Not again.
He stood with his hands safely at his sides. “Take off your clothes.”
Disappointment flashed in Sadie’s eyes, but she began unbuttoning her dress.
“I want to watch,” he added.
And he did enjoy the show. Her deft fingers exposed more and more dark, velvety skin. His fingers itched to help her, but he couldn’t seem to move. One by one, she tossed her garments across the back of a nearby chair.
The breeze from her movements sent the candle flames into an erotic dance. They almost looked evil.
Do it, Henry,
they seemed to mock.
Kill her, too…
His fingers contracted until his knuckles ached. He pulled a breath past the heavy blockage pushing against his chest. When the candlelight bathed her curves, it stopped looking so sinister. Her breasts had never appeared more luscious. Burnished gold where the light shone. Black at the swollen tips. His mouth watered, anxious to suck the nipples until they were wet and glistening. A tongue of desire licked his thighs, settling in his groin.
“So beautiful,” he whispered.
“Aren’t you going to undress?”
“Lie down first.” Was that strangled voice his?
“All right.” She shot him a shy smile. “I kind of like it when you tell me what to do.”
When she bent to pull down the sheet, the tantalizing view of her bare ass seized his balls with lust and didn’t let go. After she lay down, he stood beside the bed, still fully clothed. What was wrong with him? It was too late to back out, and he wanted this. His stone-hard shaft was a gale-force wind, ready to blow his clothes to pieces.
Luckily, Sadie enjoyed being in charge. With the capable hands he loved to watch at work, she unfastened his trousers. In seconds, his erection was loose and playing with her fingers. He leaned his head back and groaned when she handled his balls and then his shaft. As he’d fantasized so many times, she gripped him hard.
“Harder.”
Watching her dark fingers flash across his swollen, red flesh made his balls lift and tighten. If he let her go much longer, he’d spill his seed in her palm, ruining their plans.
“Sadie, stop!”
She dropped her hand and shot him an annoyed look. “Harder? Stop? Man, make up your mind.”
Her sass only brought him closer to the edge. What if he made her angry enough to punch him again? Or slap his aching cock until he came? To get his mind off his impending climax, he unbuttoned his shirt and kicked off his shoes and trousers. In seconds, he was as naked as she was.
“It’s about time,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m a little cold down here.”
“Not for long,” he promised as he fumbled in the nightstand drawer and pulled out the paper packet.
I sure hope this one holds up better than the last one.
Fear and desire wrestled inside his body, like the wind and the sea during a hurricane. Forcing himself to breathe slowly, he unrolled the sheath down his cock.
“Spread your legs,” he told Sadie. “Let me see how ready you are for me.”
Her rounded thighs parted, revealing a patch of dark hair and soaked folds. She was definitely ready. Her cunt was beautiful—as lush as the rest of her. A man could get lost navigating those creamy layers of brown, pink, and every hue in between. Best of all was her large clitoris—erect, triangular, and glistening wet. How he’d love to suck on it someday.
But, tonight, he needed to bury his shaft inside her before he ejaculated. She deserved the best he could give. To make up for her hard life and for helping him with a job he hated. Most of all, he needed to treat her better than the rotten ex-husband who’d left her.
With his sheathed erection jutting out in front of him, he knelt on the bed between her outspread thighs. And stared at her beauty. He knew she offered him more than her body. She gave him everything. Her trust. Her fears. Her soul.
What if he let her down?
He leaned forward, ready to brace his hands on either side of her. Ready to slide into her heat and make her his, once and for all. They’d both needed this for so long.
Before his eyes, her dark body grew pale and freckled. Her curves shrank to a small, more angular frame, and her upswept black hair turned long and red. Intelligent brown eyes, full of trust, turned to innocent green ones.
But trust still gleamed in them.
“Now, Henry,” she whispered. “Now.”
Even the voice was different. Higher.
Natalie.
As if pulled by an invisible hand, his gaze drifted to the juncture of her parted legs. To the spot of blood on the sheet. After all, he’d taken her virginity. But the stain widened to a pool of red. Spreading to the edge of his narrow mattress. Too much. Too late. Natalie’s skin paled before his eyes until she was as white as the sheet she lay on. Not a sheet. A shroud.
Henry’s arms shook all the way to his shoulder sockets before he could lower his hands. The scent of wax burrowed into his head until it ached.
“No! No!”
“No?” Natalie lifted her head. “What do you mean, no?”
Or was it Sadie?
“Henry, are you feeling ill?”
The pressure in his cock leaked to nothing. He had to get out of this cottage. Away from those spread legs. Bile stung his throat. He gasped as he swallowed it down.
“I-I can’t do this.”
“What!”
The voice was strong enough to strip wallpaper. Sadie was back. Hell, she was Sadie all along, not Natalie. But it was too late.
While he stumbled off the mattress and into his trousers, she pulled the sheet over herself. Her face was a mask of mute shock. Thankfully, she didn’t say or do anything else. As soon as he got his trousers on, he grabbed his shirt and shoes and scrambled out the door. He’d finish dressing somewhere else.
Anywhere else but that bed.
Sadie lay on Henry’s sheets, hoping she was just having a bad dream. After taking one look at her, the man had fled in horror. And right before he did, he’d looked as if he was about to throw up all over her.
Flipping under the sheet, she buried her face in the pillow and screamed into it. After getting a nose full of his scent, she tossed it aside and fumbled for her clothes.
I’m ugly!
Hadn’t she always known it? What Henry had just done to her was even worse than Buck leaving her. She should never have come here. What an idiot she’d been. Wearing her best dress. Fixing her hair.
Her worst nightmare had come true.
With shaking hands, she buttoned her dress. It took her two tries to get it right. Her heart beat so fast, her head swam with nausea. How romantic. She and Henry made each other sick.
He’d fooled her, acting like he wanted her during their earlier encounters. Of course, he’d never seen her fully unclothed before. The sight of her body obviously filled him with disgust. Nothing made a girl feel more desirable than watching a man’s erection shrivel before her eyes.
In candlelight, no less. One by one, she blew out each candle, oblivious of the wax she splattered everywhere. He deserved to have her tip them over. Set this dump on fire. But the last thing she needed was to get arrested for arson.
Anger ripped through her limbs with the force of lightning. She almost wished he were here to punch. No, she never wanted to see him again. The bottle of wine mocked her from the kitchen area. After stalking toward it, she picked it up and flung it against the wall.
The shatter of glass and the ugly red stain made her feel a little better. She slipped into her jacket and out the door. Where was Henry? She didn’t care as long as he stayed away.
She stumbled toward the pier in her church shoes and got into the family rowboat. God, she hated rowing this damn thing, especially at night. Her panties were as cold and wet as the water around her.
As she pulled out of Oyster Harbor, the familiar seasickness circled her like a flock of buzzards.
“Get lost!” she told it. Henry sure wasn’t worth getting sick over.
Pretending it was his neck, she gripped the oar hard enough to choke it. When she reached the inlet of Crab Creek, her stomach felt a little better. If only she could hide here the rest of her life. But the current caught the bow of the boat.
Damn it to hell.
She was tangled in someone’s crab line. It seemed to be stuck in a splintered part of the wood. Leroy needed to get up here and repair this piece of junk. A wave hit with a sickening lurch. What if she capsized? She wasn’t a very good swimmer. Then again, drowning tonight might be a blessing.
She practically had to stand on her head to get the boat loose. In the process, she ripped her stockings and stained her best dress with marsh mud. The sickening crack of wood made her wonder if she’d left too much of the boat behind. She rowed like a madwoman to get home before the thing sank.
“Damn you, Henry Rockfield,” she shouted at the water and the sky. “Damn you!”
By the time she pulled into her yard, mud and tears streaked her face. Light shone through the window. Her head dropped as she tied up the boat. Why was Mama awake at this hour? This just wasn’t her night.
Before she’d left, Sadie had told her she might not return until morning.
“You messin’ around with Henry Rockfield, ain’t you?” she’d asked.
Sadie hadn’t answered but didn’t have to. Mama had seen the look on her face.
“Like I told Pearl when she was messin’ with his brother, marry him before he gets tired of you. Because he will. Especially you,” she added. “Because you ain’t nearly as pretty as your cousin.”
Sadie shook the conversation and sea spray out of her hair. She could not talk to Mama tonight. Not after what she’d been through. When she opened the door, her mother was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee.
“What are you doing up so late?” Sadie asked, tossing off her sweater.
“Couldn’t sleep without you here.” Mama eyed her over the rim of her cup. “I thought you were spending the night with Mr. Rockfield.”
“I told you no such thing.”
“Then where were you? And what happened to your dress?”
“Leroy needs to fix that damn boat. I almost drowned.”
“That’ll teach you not to run around at night like some kind of whore.”
Whore.
Sadie squelched a wry laugh. She wasn’t pretty enough to be one of those, either.
“Not now, Mama.” Her voice broke. “I’m very tired.”
But Mama was as stubborn as an old dog. She beat Sadie to her bedroom door and stood in front of it.
“Now you tell me what you was up to and you tell me right now.” She pointed a demanding finger. “Do we still have jobs?”
Sadie covered her face with her hands. She hadn’t even thought that far ahead. Henry obviously couldn’t stand the sight of her anymore. It wouldn’t surprise her if he fired both her and her mother.