AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He seized the moment. “Give us another chance, Sam. You know I didn’t cheat on you. I would never risk losing the woman who made me complete, not for a meaningless affair, not for my company, not for anyone or anything. I found love when I met you. The moment you fell into my arms, I knew you were the one for me.” His voice hitched with emotion before he looked her in the eyes and put everything on the line. “The only one for me.”
“Your miniskirt with the zippers on each side about drove me crazy. I wanted to unzip it with my teeth, unravel the present that had dropped in my arms and gave my life meaning. I’d thought I was happy, before I met you. But I wasn’t…”
She was staring at him like she couldn’t believe he remembered what she’d been wearing that fall day. But he did. From her tight jean skirt to her black sequin top and short black boots. She’d been his fantasy in the flesh that day. Just like today.
“Your hair was up in a clip, and just as you fell into my arms, the clip slipped and your hair tumbled out. It was like sheets of black satin unfolding in my arms.”
She reached up and put her finger on his lip, searched his face for the truth of his love, as if she was remembering the moment when he’d held her in his arms for the very first time. Six years ago, the desire to kiss her had been so strong he didn’t think he’d be able to resist. But he had. Because their future was on the line.
Today, however, was a different story. Holding back the passion would be all wrong, and he knew it. Knew she needed to be reminded of how good they were together. It was now or never.
Enfolding her in his arms, he dipped her backwards like the day they’d met. But this time he didn’t resist the sweet temptation inches from his mouth. “This is what I wanted to do the day we met.”
His lips touched hers ever so gently, waiting for her to respond, to gi
ve permission for him to take it further. With a little sigh, her arms encircled his neck, and he was done resisting. Done holding back the passion and need that this woman created within him. His mouth devoured what she gave. And oh, how she gave.
Until she stopped.
With tears in her eyes, she buried his hopes. “I can’t do this.”
Unedited excerpt from:
Lost and Found, Inc., Series-
Book Four
No Greater Hell
By Jerrie Alexander
Jake settled his ball cap on his head to shade his eyes against the morning sunlight. He blinked against the glare as he scanned the Donovan Ranch for damages. His joints were stiff, more from tension than being cramped underground in a storm cellar for the past six hours. Neither he nor Aunt Alice had slept, not with the torrential rainfall and high winds pounding against the only door out of this underground shelter.
A battery powered weather radio had kept them up to date on the deadly hurricane that hit the coast of Texas. It had spawned three tornados and dumped untold inches of rain. He and Alice had known exactly when the tornado had passed over the ranch. The past few days the two of them had worked nonstop. Alice had already proven that she could carry her weight. She’d boarded up windows, stacked furniture, and moved food to the cellar while Logan had moved the cattle and then the horses to higher ground. Strong and determined, she’d worked harder than any two men. His level of respect and affection grew every day.
It was quiet now. The air was still. Even the birds had stopped chirping. Probably too scared to announce the danger had passed. Alice stood silently beside him. Her blue eyes looked permanently stained with red streaks from the lack of sleep. Her salt-and-pepper hair mussed from lack of care, not that she cared.
“Thank God the house is still standing,” she said. “Roof looks to have shingles missing over the back bedroom.” She pulled an old ball cap from her hip pocket and socked it on her head. “Damn twister cut a swath right through the pasture. I’ll take a look at the house. You’ll check on cattle and horses?
“Yes ma’am.” Jake had no words of comfort to offer. Nothing he could say would make things better.
He escorted his aunt to the front porch then went to the barn, surveying damage as he walked. Rapidly moving water had cut a wide swath in the usually hard dirt road from the house to the out-buildings. Uprooted paddock fence posts, felled young trees with their jagged roots pointing skyward, which would’ve someday provided the livestock shade from the broiling Texas sun, dotted the pasture. The odor of wet wood and soggy cattle pens went unnoticed as he pulled on a tall pair of rubber boots. The four-wheeler would get stuck, so he walked. His feet sinking into the mud with each step.
Within a few hours, Jake had located the livestock and counted four dead. He stared in amazement at a new born calf and her mother. He gathered the heifer in his arms, knowing the mother would follow, and carried it back to the barn. Secure in a horse stall with a fresh pile of hay, both animals would be fine.
Jake tugged off the rubber waders, dropping them on the back porch steps. He turned on the water hose and rinsed them off followed by his face, arms, and hands. The heat and humidity had taken their toll on him, soaking his clothes clean through.
Alice opened the door and handed him a towel. “If you’d let me cut off about four inches of that hair, you’d stay a lot cooler.”
“You’re probably right.” He laughed and brushed off her comment. It had been a long running joke, starting the minute his hair got long enough to brush the tops of his ears.
“How’d the livestock look?”
“Better than expected. Many trees in the upper forty were uprooted. We fared better in the small pasture on the hill. Not near the damage up there as the low land. “He handed the towel back.
“The roof held better than I expected, she said. “I didn’t find any leaks.”
I’ll get up there and tack down tarp. That will have to do until I can get replacement shingles.”
