Collin
watched from a shadowed spot by the cart shed as Jeannie left the country club.
He thought maybe she had called a cab, but when she took off walking down the
street, he knew she wasn’t thinking straight. He gave her a few minutes, and as
soon as he saw her stumble and kick her shoe to the side of the road, he took off. She was bawling so hard by the time he came
up behind her that she didn’t even notice.
“Need
a ride, stranger?” She glanced at him, but didn’t break her wobbly stride.
“Go
AWAY!!” The words strangled in her throat.
Collin
rolled along silently beside her. There was no way he was abandoning her. He
had the full scoop on the suit now.
Ross Williams. Former classmate. Banker.
The man who held the purse strings of this woman’s life. The
man who could make her or break her, and he knew it. That gave him leverage.
She was a sitting duck, and from the look of it, he just broke her.
Jeannie suddenly stopped walking and
moaned. “Okay.” She limped over to the Harley, hiked her dress up and climbed
on behind him. He took off without a word. As soon as he hit Highway 30 and
opened the throttle, Jeannie wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into
him, resting her dampened cheek on his back. He knew he’d just rescued her from
something, but he didn’t know quite what.
After a few minutes, her hands slid
from his waist to his chest and she clung to him. He knew she was upset, but the feel of her
body pressed up against him, her breasts warm against his back, her long, naked
legs straddling his thighs, was just about more than he could take, and he felt
guilty for taking any pleasure from it. Still, even guilt couldn’t make this
feeling go away.
Collin slowed as he descended the
hill that led to her house. In some
silly, selfish way he didn’t want the ride to end. She was totally dependent on
him right now. He felt--foolishly and a bit self-righteously--like the proverbial knight in
shining armor rescuing the damsel in distress, and damn, it felt good. At the
same time, he was madder than hell that a man could have this effect on her, that
another man could have this much control over her life.
Collin pulled to a stop beside the
garage in his usual parking spot on the crushed, white, limestone. Before he
could even turn off the engine, Jeannie swung her leg over the seat and dismounted
without a word. The feel of her hands, her legs, her body, separating from him left
him cold and empty. The last fifteen minutes he had felt more needed than any
other time of his life, and now he just felt … alone.
