Inevitable Detour (15 page)

When I finally come back down to earth, he sits up. I expect this to be the point where he moves up my body and makes me his. After all, I can see how hard he is. His erection now extends beyond the top edge of his boxer briefs. The tip is moist with pre-cum, and for the first time in my life, I long to put a cock in my mouth—Farren’s cock.

He catches me staring at his dick and quirks an eyebrow. “Like what you see, Essa?”

I nod.

He tilts his head slightly. “What are you thinking?” he asks.

I’m quiet, and he prods, “Essalin?”

I whisper the truth. “I’m thinking that I want to know what you taste like.”

Smiling, he leans down and kisses the insides of my still-quivering thighs—once, twice—and then he scoots up the bed until he is kneeling next to my head.

When he takes off his boxer briefs, I gush, “Wow. You’re, like, really huge.”

Farren chuckles and lets me stare in amazement.

“I can’t wait to feel you inside of me,” I murmur.

And that makes him groan. “Essa…”

But tonight is about taking things slowly. I know he’ll make me wait. Still, I can’t stop staring…and desiring.

“Essalin,” Farren rasps, his voice thick with his own need, “look at me.”

He trails a hand down to where I am, frankly, dripping. My eyes meet his, and he slides one finger into me. When he adds a second, my hips, of their own accord, begin to move with him.

“I don’t think I can take much more,” I gasp.

“You can take a lot more,” he tells me.

And so I move with him. I’m so wet that his fingers slide with ease between my swollen lips. “There you go, baby,” he says as his thumb works my clit.

When he adds a third finger and pumps more rapidly, I say, “I think I’m going to come again.”

“I know you’re going to come again,” he replies.

I lick my lips and reach for him. “Come with me, then.”

He scoots closer, and I take him in my mouth greedily, surprising myself. But the things Farren has made me feel tonight have me feeling fully open to him. I’ll do anything he wants me to. And I want to please him as much as he’s pleased me.

I imagine how we look right now: Farren kneeling next to me, my head turned to him so I can suck his cock. And me, spread wide on the bed, Farren’s fingers deep inside of me. It’s erotic; it’s hot, and when I feel him start to pulse, I don’t pull away. I want all of him…

And I get all of him. The groan he emits as he’s coming in my mouth fills me with satisfaction that I’ve fully pleasured Farren Shaw.

Afterward, I myself am so incredibly satiated that I have no energy to get up and brush my teeth. “Oh my God, I can’t move,” I murmur.

Farren covers me with a sheet that smells of us. He gets out of the bed. “Wait here,” he says.

I watch his gloriously masculine body as he walks to the tiny motel bathroom. “Gorgeous,” I mutter to myself.

When he returns, after I hear him peeing and washing off at the basin, he’s carrying a tumbler of water and a toothbrush with a curl of toothpaste atop the bristles.

“Thank you,” I say as I pull the sheet higher and sit up.

Farren hands me the toothbrush, and I brush. He glances around the room, finds an empty plastic cup on the table next to the bed, and holds it out to me. “Spit,” he commands.

After I do as I’m told, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and say again, “Thank you.”

He hands me the tumbler of clean water and takes the toothbrush and cup of yucky toothpaste spit back to the bathroom. A few seconds later, I hear him brushing his own teeth. And then he returns.

I’m leaning across the bed, trying to reach the table next to it so I can place the cup of water there. Farren gently slides the cup from my grasp, smiles, and accomplishes the task for me. When he slips back under the covers, he pulls me to him. “How do you feel about what we did tonight?”

I glance up at him from where I’m sprawled across his broad chest. “What do you mean?” I ask.

He brushes back hair that has fallen to my cheek. “I know you’re not very experienced, Essa. That’s why I kept things, well, limited. I just want to make sure you’re comfortable with the things we did do.”

“What?” I drag out the
a
. “Are you kidding? I loved everything we did.”

I’m sure I sound overly enthusiastic, and my cheeks heat when I realize how my comment, and the way it’s been delivered, proves his point regarding my inexperience.

But he doesn’t mention any of that. Instead, he asks, “Was that the first time you’ve been…uh, pleasured orally?”

I’m sure, by his hesitation, he was about to use a much cruder term for what he did to me. But it is sweet that he cleaned it up for my sake.

Still, I feel awkward for being such a newbie in this area of sex. I plant my face in his chest and murmur, “Yes,” against hard muscles and smooth skin. “It was my first for the other thing, too.” He’s quiet, and I glance up. “Did I do okay?”

Farren chuckles and replies, “You were perfect, Essa.” He wraps his arms around me. “Now, let’s get some sleep.”

I sleep the best I have since Haven went missing. Sleeping in Farren’s capable arms is pure bliss. Unfortunately, when I wake up the next morning, he’s not there. The shower is still dripping, so I assume I must have just missed him. Returning to my own motel room, I take a shower and get dressed. I choose a pair of gray cutoff shorts and a sky-blue top to wear on this fine day.

As I’m pulling my shorts up my legs, I hear Farren returning to his room next door. I finish dressing then hurry and pack up my things. I don’t want to be the one to hold us up from getting back out on the road. When I’m done I rush over to Farren’s room. As I walk in, after a light knock on the slightly ajar door, I find Farren leaning over a map that he has spread out over the surface of the small table by the bed. He’s wearing dark pants and a white button-down, sleeves rolled up.

“Where were you?” I ask, taking a tentative step toward him.

He glances up at me. “Oh, I had to speak with Rick.”

“Rick is here in Oklahoma City?” I exclaim. “I thought he was going straight to New Mexico.”

“He is in New Mexico,” Farren replies distractedly, his eyes back on the map. “I talked with him on the phone.”

“But our burner phones are here.” I gesture to the bag Farren keeps his in.

“Actually”—he looks over at me—“we needed new ones. That’s why I went out.” He reaches into his pocket, takes out a small cell, and tosses it my way.

I catch it just as he says, “Give me your old one later today, and I’ll dispose of it.”

“Oh, okay.”

Farren returns to studying the map, and I take another step closer. He seems a little closed off today, and I pray it’s not because of what happened between us last night.

“Are we still going to New Mexico?” I quietly ask.

It seems like a fair question, since he’s poring over a map of that state. Plus, New Mexico is supposed to be our next destination.

“Yes,” Farren replies slowly. “But not today.”

“Oh.” I’m surprised by the change in plans. “I thought time was of the essence.”

Farren gives me a look like my comments are amusing. He smiles, and I feel like he’s opening up to me again. Guess he was just distracted.

“Time
is
of the essence,” he confirms. “And we’ll still be going to New Mexico…just not today.”

“Can I ask why?”

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Rick has a team set up to rescue my sister, and—”

“Whoa, wait.” I put up my hand. This is why he seemed distracted. “You know where Haven is? She’s definitely in New Mexico?”

I’m filled with renewed hope, but I’m only cautiously optimistic. We may know Haven’s location, but she’s not been rescued yet. And the men who have her aren’t exactly nice.

“We have a potential location, yes,” Farren says. “But it’s nothing definite. I don’t want to be on the road, however, and not be able to reach Rick. So, for the next few days, we remain where we are.”

I can’t help it, I’m so excited that this whole Haven-in-danger ordeal may be coming to a close that I race over to Farren and throw my arms around him.

“This is so incredible,” I murmur into the crisp, starched cotton of his dress shirt. “I can’t wait to see her again.” Glancing up, I bite my lip and ask, “You don’t think she’ll be mad we, uh, sort of hooked up, do you?”

Farren smiles down at me, and, caressing my cheek, he says, “No, she won’t be mad. You know Haven’s not like that.”

“I know, but under the circumstances…”

“Hey.” He urges me to meet his gaze. “I think we may be getting way ahead of ourselves here. Let’s just see how the rescue attempt goes. If things go well, we’ll head down to a safe house that is west of Las Cruces. That’s in southern New Mexico. That particular safe house is where I’ve directed Rick to take Haven once he has her. It’s not a perfect location, but it will do for a while. Anyway, if things go as seamlessly as I’m hoping, you can go ahead and ask Haven yourself how she feels about us.”

A lump rises in my throat. I’ve not allowed myself to dwell on how much I’ve been missing my best friend, but I let go a little now. “I’ve missed her so much, Farren. I can’t wait to see her. But I’m kind of afraid to get too excited. Do you know what I mean?”

I look up at him, and he gives me a small smile. Then he closes his arms around me.

Holding me in his comforting embrace, he says, “I know exactly what you mean, Essa. I know the feeling all too well.”

W
ith the burden of a missing Haven off both our minds, I get to know Farren in a different way. He becomes a man unburdened by underlying worry for his sister. He kept the level of his concern well hidden, but I’m certain the not knowing part was killing him. So the change is good for many reasons. I’m much more lighthearted as well. And, sure, we’re not out of the woods yet when it comes to Haven, but this is the best things have looked since the beginning. And it shows in my and Farren’s demeanors.

“You seem different,” I say to Farren as we stroll along the sidewalk one afternoon. We’re on our way to a cute old-time movie house about a quarter mile from our motel. The plan is to catch the matinee of a low-budget horror movie that’s playing.

“Different how?” he asks.

“You just seem”—I shrug—“I don’t know. Happy, I guess.”

He shoots me a sly smile. “Maybe it’s because I
am
happy, Essa.”

“Because Haven has been found and will be rescued any day now?”

“Yes, there’s that, of course. Among other things…”

We reach the movie house, so I’m not able to question him further. Though I think I know the answer anyway. At least I hope I do.

Inside the retro theater, Farren and I share a tub of buttery popcorn, drink jumbo pops, and laugh about how characters in scary movies always do the most stupid things.

“Why do they always go where nobody in their right mind would
ever
step foot?” I ask Farren, in a whisper, just as the movie begins.

The movie opened with a girl in her late teens creeping down a set of dank, dark basement steps.

“I hate basements,” I whisper, leaning into Farren’s solid shoulder. “You’d never catch
me
going down those stairs. That’s supposed to be a haunted house, right? Who in their right mind would go straight to the basement?”

“Essa, shh,” Farren admonishes. But he’s grinning as he drapes his arm around me.

I snuggle in close to him. He always smells so intoxicatingly good, and now is no exception. Soon, I’m able to relax a bit. Well, until some shadowy figure jumps out at the girl from under the basement steps. Then, I jump in my seat and scream, “See, I knew it!”

The girl is dragged off, and I grasp the soft cotton of the T-shirt Farren is wearing.

He laughs at me. “Essa, weren’t you saying when we first sat down that the special effects in these movies always suck?”

“Not in this movie,” I retort, clinging to Farren for dear life.

“Essa…” He kisses the top of my head. “…You are too damn cute.”

Good thing he finds me cute, since by the end of the movie I am halfway in his lap.

“That movie was terrifying,” I declare a few minutes later when we’re leaving the theater.

“Good thing I was with you,” Farren replies.

“Good thing you were,” I agree, bumping into him.

The days pass with Farren and I spending all our time together. Sure, he takes breaks to speak with Rick on the progress of the rescue attempt. But since the pieces are falling into place as planned—Rick is putting together a rescue team—Farren and I have plenty of time to concentrate on each other.

Oh, and the fun we have…

We go out to dinner every evening, and we play during the day. We discover a nice park for walking down the street from the motel. We take strolls there on sunny afternoons. I get to know Farren better, and he gets to know me. And at night, we get to know each other in ways that don’t involve much talking. No matter what we do, though, we have a great time together. Even when we have to pay a visit to a local Laundromat—we’re running low on clothes—we make the most of it.

The morning we’re at the Laundromat, Farren is teasing and flirting with me while folding his jeans and T-shirts. I’m at the other end of the folding counter, but he keeps edging in closer and closer.