Buck Naked (5 page)

Chapter Six

Sabine woke early. She jumped in the shower and ran the water cold. She had a fitful night of sweaty dreams. Dreams starring Evan Brady. Erotic dreams so intense, she swore she orgasmed twice in her sleep.

She dressed comfortably and packed up her stuff, then went down and checked out of the hotel. It was time to move on. Beyond time.

She had talked with Mr. Smith late in the evening and they rescheduled their rendezvous. He had been concerned about her situation. He usually always was.

“I worry about you, you know.” His voice was low and husky, sexy for a sixty-seven year old.

“I know, but you needn’t.”

“This was a close call. One day you will not be so lucky.”

“I know. I know. I know. I know. You keep telling me that.”

“Yes, and you should listen,” he sighed deeply. “It would kill me to see you in prison.”

“It would kill me, too.” Sabine rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. “I’ve been thinking that this was my last. I will have enough money to set up somewhere quiet, and do something.”

“Good idea,
cheré
. You need to settle down and find love. Do not get my age and realize that you’ve wasted all those years chasing the score when love has passed you by.”

“Love. An extremely overrated emotion. Now, lust. Lust I can get behind.”

Evan’s face flashed behind her eyes. She frowned. Best not to get involved in any four-letter situations with him. He was bad news, in more ways than she wanted to consider.

Mr. Smith chuckled. “Yes, lust has gotten me into more trouble than I care to admit.”

“I’ll bet,” Sabine laughed.

“I’ll see you,
cheré
. Be safe.”

They agreed to meet in Calgary in three days. Sabine felt it best to get there ahead of time to set up a ruse before Mr. Smith’s arrival. She also felt it best to get out of town before she became too involved with its occupants.

She strapped her bags to the bike, and put on the helmet. She mounted the bike and started the engine. Nicki raced out from the hotel, waving her arms widely.

“You’re leaving?” Her voice wavered.

Sabine nodded. “It’s time for me to go.”

“You weren’t going to say good-bye?”

“I hate good-byes. They’re too messy.”

Nicki wrapped her arms around Sabine and squeezed. “I’ll see you.”

“Not before I see you.” Sabine smiled.

She revved the bike, and coasted out of the parking lot. She didn’t glance back. She had grown to really like the girl. She hoped she found enjoyment in the wedding present she left for her. Two open-ended tickets to Montreal. Sabine had been saving them for herself. But she had a feeling she wouldn’t need them any more.

Quinn had her car ready when she got there. He even filled it up with gas.

He opened the trunk and put her bags in. “I replaced your fuel pump. It should work fine from now on.”

She smiled at him. He was sweet. Another time she might have taken advantage of that. But somehow things had changed. Or maybe, Goddess forbid,
she
had.

“
Merci
, Quinn.” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged.

He hugged her back, sighing into her hair. “We’re not going to consummate our friendship, are we?”

She stepped back from him and laughed. “You’re too sweet for me, Quinn O’Neil.”

“I don’t want to be sweet. I want to be selfish, egotistical and demanding. Just like someone we both know.”

Sabine’s smile faded. She looked away from him. “I best be going.” She got in her car and started the engine.

Quinn leaned in the window. “Be good.”

“I always am.” She leaned over and pressed her lips to his. It was a slow and gentle kiss. She smiled when she leaned back.

Quinn grinned ear to ear. “Damn, girl, Evan is a fool for letting you go.”

“He’d have to know I’m leaving to let me go.”

She revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. Quinn waved her on.

Sabine watched in the rear view mirror as the town of Buck Lake disappeared from view. It was funny how fast a little town and its inhabitants could grow on you. Sabine had lived in Montreal most of her life, and she still didn’t have one person she could call friend. Someone she could call in the middle of the night and share some dirty secret. She bet she could call Nicki any time of day and she’d be available.

But Sabine had managed her life like that. One didn’t become a professional jewel thief and have a super social circle. It was pertinent to her survival to keep secrets. To not let anyone close.

Sabine chuckled to herself. Nicki would probably think her profession was cool. She’d probably not even bat an eye at her choices. Evan on the other hand, would have to arrest her. He would care about his job too much not to.

Sabine deliberately plugged in a CD to banish the thoughts from her restless mind. She sighed as Enya’s soothing vocals resonated out her speakers.

Sabine came to the three-way stop. She was about to turn onto Highway 22 when she noticed a pickup racing up behind her. It was going fast. She pulled over to the shoulder as the truck pulled along side. What the hell was this idiot doing? She thought. She looked up at the driver.

Evan
.

He stopped his truck in front of her car, blocking any exit.

She turned off her engine, but stayed in the car. Evan got out of his truck and came over to her window. He didn’t look happy.

“Get out of the car.”

Damn! He knew. He knew who she was. He must have gotten a bulletin, or he radioed her in. Except he wasn’t in his uniform. Could he arrest her off duty?

She slowly opened the door and stepped out of the car. “Is there a problem, officer?”

He stepped close to her. She could smell his cologne, the sweat that beaded on his top lip…she could smell him all too well. “Yes, damn it, there is.”

She would not back down now. She had too much to lose. She placed her hands on her hips and stared him down. “What is it?”

“You’ve the most infuriating woman I have ever met. You’re selfish, spoiled, and way too sure of yourself.”

“You stopped me to tell me this? Surely, you have better things to do with yourself?”

He growled deep in his throat. “Yeah, this.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her tight to him.

She was about to protest, when his mouth crushed against hers. He plunged his tongue between her parted lips.

Sabine wrapped her hands in his hair and held on. Her knees went weak, and she was in danger of falling. She was lost in him. His mouth ravaged hers. She surrendered to the kiss, to him. She would allow him to take her any way he wanted. She was completely powerless.

* * *

Evan felt her surrender. It made him hungrier for her. He left her mouth and trailed his lips over her chin down her neck. She tasted as exotic as she looked. Sweet and salty, and wild. He fisted a hand in her wild tresses and backed her up against the car.

He rammed her into the car. Her hands raced over him. She desperately wanted to feel him, to have his hot flesh under her fingers. She tore at his shirt. The buttons flew as she pulled it apart. Finally, she found his skin. She grabbed onto him, tearing at him.

Her hands on his skin drove him insane. He ripped at her tank top. He yanked it down in one pull. She was braless. Her breasts sprang out, begging him to touch, to feel, to taste. He didn’t disappoint. His mouth was hot and hungry at her breast. He sucked her nipple in and teased it with his teeth. He pulled and nipped playfully.

He inflamed her with his mouth. Her nipples were on fire, burning from the inside out. She pushed her chest forward, urging him to tame her fire.

He couldn’t hold back. He had to take her here and now. This was not his plan. He just wanted to talk, to ask her to stay. But the sight of her and smell of her so close inflamed him. She awoke his inner animal, the primal savage beast inside. The beast that only wanted to taste, to devour her whole.

He gripped her ass in his wide hands. He lifted her and set her on the hood of her car, tearing at the snap of her shorts. He needed to feel her sex, to see it, to taste it. To lose himself in her completely.

She lifted her ass up. She helped him pull down her shorts. Thankfully, she wore no underwear. Her pussy was quickly exposed. She was dripping wet. For him.

“Hurry,” she whimpered.

He needed no encouragement. He quickly released his erection from its denim prison. He was hot and hard, throbbing painfully for release. He guided his cock to her opening. With one quick thrust, he was deep inside her. He groaned at the feeling of her velvet flesh gripping him.

* * *

Sabine moaned as he pumped into her. She dug into his back, scrambling for a hold. She could do nothing but hang on. Wave after wave of pleasure swept over her. She nearly drowned in it. Her breathing labored with each thrust of his hips.

She could feel an orgasm building in the deepest parts of her. She reached down between them and touched her clit. She jumped at the sensation. It was throbbing, aching for release. She rubbed it, forcing an explosion.

* * *

He squeezed her buttocks. He held on tightly as he rocked into her repeatedly. He was overwhelmed and out of control. He could feel nothing but the nerve endings in his cock. He felt electricity shudder up his spine with each stroke. His legs tightened. He was going to come.

“Sabine!” He screamed as his seed exploded into her.

* * *

Sabine closed her eyes and braced herself for her own climax. It slammed into her hard and she cried out. White flashed behind her eyes. She thought she’d go blind with the bursting.

They held each other tight as their orgasms quieted. Their breath mingled as they breathed heavily into each other. Sabine slowly opened her eyes. Evan was pressed into her chest. She could smell the sweat in his hair. It ran down his face and dripped off the end of his nose. The droplet landed in her belly button.

Sabine giggled.

Evan looked up and down at her face. He smiled. “Sorry, I worked up a little sweat.”

She lifted her hand to his face, and brushed away the damp strands of his hair. “I don’t mind.”

He nestled into her touch. She left her hand on his cheek and stroked him with her thumb. They stared into each other. Words were pointless.

Sabine let her hand fall. She pushed herself up from the car. Evan stepped back and released himself from her sex. He tucked himself back into his pants. He knelt down and picked up her discarded shorts. He slipped them back up her legs.

She pulled them over her butt and did them up. She lifted up her tank top and covered her breasts.

* * *

Evan gazed down the highway. He had been oblivious to any traffic. Even if someone had gone by, he would not have noticed. Or cared. He looked back at Sabine. She was watching him.

“Why do you think it’s so awkward after sex? Especially when you have it outside in plain view?” She joked.

Evan chuckled. “We could have been arrested.”

“Nah, I know the law around here. He’s easy.”

They stood and stared at each other. Both wanted to speak, but neither had the courage to say what they wanted.

“So, I guess this is good-bye.” Evan shoved his hands in his pockets. They itched to touch her again.

“I hate good-byes. Too messy. I’ll just say I’ll see you, and leave it at that.”

Evan nodded, afraid his voice would give him away. He stepped back as she opened her car door. She slipped down into the seat. He shut it for her.

“I have something for you.”

He opened his truck door and reached in. He came away with a folded piece of paper. He handed it to her through the window.

She took it, brushing her fingers against his hand. It was shaking.

He tipped his head and went around to get into his truck. He put in gear and reversed down the road. He turned it around and headed back to town.

Sabine watched him leave in her mirror. She looked down at the folded paper. She knew what it was, but opened it anyway.

It was an all points bulletin for her arrest.

She crumbled it up into a ball and tossed into the back seat. She started the car, put it in gear and roared down the open road.

Chapter Seven

Calgary during Stampede was like one sexy wild-west show. Everywhere you looked, cowboys, cowboys, and cowboys with tight well-fitting Wranglers and sexy as hell Native-Canadians with long, silky black hair. Sabine, for once, wasn’t interested.

She sat at the bar and sipped her drink, waiting for Mr. Smith to arrive. She had been in town for the last two days pretending to be a tourist in for the rodeo. She had gone down to the Stampede grounds, but found little interest in the bustling carnival of events. She ate little doughnuts and a corn dog and watched thousands of people go by, happily making their way through the midway rides and the various exhibitions around town. She finally went back to her hotel room, turned on the television and sulked on the bed.

Damn Evan! She hated that he affected her this much. As long as she could remember, no man had ever affected her. She had never wondered what 'he' was doing, or how 'he' was feeling. Now all she could think about was picking up the phone and asking Evan to come to Calgary. To go to the rodeo with her and two-step with her at the Ranchmans dance hall. She was acting like a love-struck teenager dealing with her first real crush, and she hated it.

Mr. Smith finally arrived and sat at her table. He was dressed impeccably in a charcoal gray Armani suit. He set his black briefcase down beside the table.

He raised his elegant eyebrow. “Something the matter,
cheré
?”

Sabine smiled sweetly at the older man. “No, Papa, I was just thinking.”

He took her hand and kissed it. “About what, my darling? It is unlike you to be so serious.”

“I’m done, Papa. I’m quitting the business.”

He sighed. “You have made your Papa a happy man. I am overjoyed to hear this news.” He motioned for the waiter. “Some champagne here. We are celebrating.”

He looked back at Sabine. She held her glass to her mouth but looked like she was a thousand miles away, or at least one hundred and fifty.

“Why the change of mind,
cheré
?”

“You were right what you said on the phone. I am still young. I have enough money to do as I wish. I could settle down somewhere and do what I really want.”

“And where would you settle, do you think?” He eyed her knowingly.

“I’m not sure. South of France, perchance, maybe Rome.”

The waiter brought the champagne. He poured them two glasses. Mr. Smith picked his up and sipped.

“Buck Lake sounds delightful.”

Sabine stared at her papa, brow furrowing. “And what would I possibly do there? They have nothing. Not even a clothing store. No book store. No nothing. I would be wanting for everything.”

“Not everything, I think.”

Sabine looked away from his knowing glance. “Papa, you think foolishly.”

“Perhaps. But to be young again and foolish…what I wouldn’t give for that.” He raised his glass to her and drank.

Sabine picked hers up and sipped, absently watching her father. He could afford to be foolish, she thought. He had already loved. And already lost. Her parents had been happily married for thirty years, and then her mother had died of cancer. She remembered what he had gone through. The loss he suffered. She never thought he would ever come out of the depression he had sunk so low in to. But eventually he had.

After that, Sabine vowed never to love that much. She would never be able to handle it when it was gone. And it would eventually go. Nothing lasts forever.

Her father set his glass down with a snap. “Darling, I must leave you now. I have a date.”

Sabine shook her head, snapping back to reality. “A date?”

“
Oui
, with a darling woman I met on the plane.” He stood up and bent over to kiss her on the cheek. “We will have lunch in two days, then you can tell me what you have decided.”

“I have already made my decision, Papa.”

He looked down at her and cradled her cheek in his hand. “Then I hope it is the right one.”

He picked up the black briefcase on the side of the table and left the bar. She finished her drink and picked up the briefcase he left behind. She just hoped she could afford that decision.

* * *

Evan tossed another hay bale into the stall. His horses were going through hay like they were starving. More of this, and he’d have to go out and till more of his land.

The day was hot as he cleaned up his barn. Sweat dripped down his back and stained the band of his jeans. It had been a hot summer and September was more of the same. He looked to the sky, hoping the rain the weathermen predicted would soon be upon them.

He knelt down to grab the shovel when a shadow passed over him. He turned to the open barn door.

Sabine stood framed in the doorway; her newly auburn hair gracing her shoulders and a dainty hand on her cocked hip.

“You lost or something?” He struggled to get the words out. His throat had closed up the moment he saw her.

Sabine smiled. “I don’t think so.”

Evan stepped closer to her. Although her looks changed—new hair, colored contacts—her scent was unmistakable. It stirred something deep and feral inside him.

“You must’ve took a wrong turn.”

“No, I think I turned right where I should have.”

* * *

He was as sexy as she remembered. Maybe more so. His chambray shirt was open and sweat glistened on his chest. The sleeves were rolled up, and his forearms bulged with strain. She looked him up and right down to his tan cowboy boots. Her chest tightened and the throb in her gut lowered. He was definitely worth the price.

“Maybe you’re not welcome.”

She took a step closer. “By the bulge in your pants, I’d say I am.”

He stared at her long and hard. She stared back. They were like boxers across a ring. No hesitation. No fear.

“What took you so damn long?”

“I had a short detour in the south of France.”

“Are you done with the detours?”

“Yes.” Her voice shook with anticipation.

He stepped closer. They were a couple of inches apart. Their hot breath mingling as one. “How do I know?”

“You’ll just have to trust me.”

He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to him. “I’ll just have to tie you, buck naked, to my bed and never let you leave.”

“That works, too.”

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him hard on the mouth. Some things were worth risking for. A necklace worth one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars (she had upped the price), and love, the sloppy kind you have to clean up with a mop and bucket.

THE END