Escaping the Past Read online

  “My flight leaves at eight.”

  “Today?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Today.”

  He took her hand and started walking back toward the house. This time, they did not spring apart or hide. He held her hand all the way up to the back porch, then he held the door open for her and ushered her in.

  Lou was startled to find a packed bag beside the back door with old airline tags attached. She pushed it to the back of her mind.

  Sadie had the kitchen table set and had dinner served. Lou perfunctorily ate some meatloaf and made idle small talk with Sarah. John couldn’t stop talking about his new horse and how he couldn’t wait to bring him home. Jeb and Sadie sat quietly watching the emotions that were flying around the room.

  After dinner, Brody sat his napkin in his plate and rose from the table. “I guess it’s time for me to get going.” Jeb wasn’t quite finished with his meal. He started to rise from his chair, anyway. “Stay there, Jeb. You’re not even done yet. I’ll just call a cab and take it to the airport.”

  Lou broke in. “There’s no need to do all that. I’m done. I can take you.”

  “You don’t mind?”

  “Not at all. And waiting for a cab out here might make you late.”

  “If you don’t mind, I would appreciate it.”

  Lou got her purse and met Brody at the Jeep. He rolled up the plastic roof to open the interior to the night sky and the breeze. “You don’t mind some wind, do you?”

  “No. I love it,” Lou replied.

  Brody threw his bag in the back of the Jeep and slid into the driver’s seat. Lou got in the passenger’s side and turned on the radio. Brody backed out, gravel flying behind them as they hit the main road. They traveled a few miles in silence and then Lou felt the Jeep begin to slow. She looked around absently, not quite sure where they were.

  Brody pulled down a long and winding driveway to the back of an old barn and stopped the car. He turned the key backward so that the radio stayed on. He leaned his seat all the way back and gazed up at the stars.

  “We don’t have stars like this at home,” he said blandly.

  “You wanted to stop and look at the stars? What is this place?”

  “This, my lady friend, just happens to be where I used to go parking with the girls when I was in high school. I was quite a catch. A whole lot of necking went on behind this barn.”

  Lou laughed. “I bet you had some smooth moves back then.”

  “Back then? You make me sound like I’m ancient.” He chuckled. “I still have some smooth moves, thank you.”

  Brody sat up and leaned across Lou. He pulled the lever that caused her seat to recline and she was suddenly on her back, looking up at the stars.

  “Was that one of them?” she laughed.

  He leaned over her and scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Now that I think about it, I believe it was. But I always got farther with a different one.”

  “Which one was that?” Lou asked breathlessly.

  “That would be this one.” Brody sat back in his seat and looked up at the stars again. Lou sat up in her own seat and looked at him speculatively.

  “I don’t get it,” she said blandly. Then Brody grabbed her arm and flipped her over, effortlessly, so she was lying on top of him, face to face. He kissed her temple. “Put your head on my shoulder. And just breathe with me for a minute, will you?”

  Lou did as he suggested, taking a deep breath. It felt good. “This is how you got the girls to go parking with you?”

  “Nope. I’ve never done this with anyone else. I just wanted to feel you stretched out on top of me. I think I like it.” He touched his lips gently to hers. She kissed him back. He deepened the kiss, his mouth slanted against hers, their tongues warring. Lou broke the kiss.

  “You’re going to miss your flight.” She tried to sit up. He pulled her back down.

  “Nope. I called before we left. My flight has been delayed by one hour.” Then he whispered. “So I have one hour to make love to you. If you want me to.”

  Did she want him to? Lou nodded against his chest. “Would it be terrible if I said I do want you to?” she asked softly.

  “Not for me,” Brody said, unbuttoning his shirt. “It would be like heaven.” He opened his shirt and laid her against his chest. She brushed her fingers in his chest hair and absently stroked his nipple.

  “Not fair. You have too many clothes on,” he complained.

  Impulsively, Lou sat up in his lap, her thighs straddling his and pulled her shirt over her head. Her actions left her in a slinky pink bra through which he could probably see her nipples plainly. But she didn’t care. God, what was she becoming? Brody cupped a breast in each hand and toyed with her nipples. She threw her head back and drew in a ragged breath as Brody reached between her breasts and unhooked her bra. He pulled it off her shoulders and laid it on the seat beside them. Sitting up slightly, he captured one nipple in his mouth, lathing it with his tongue, and biting gently with his teeth. Lou’s heartbeat sped up and sweat broke out on her brow. Brody reached for the button on her shorts and unfastened them. Then he unzipped the zipper. The noise was amplified in the quiet.

  Lou stiffened.

  “It’s okay,” he soothed, now paying attention to her other breast. “It’s just that damned zipper.”

  Lou reached down between her thighs and grabbed his belt buckle. She maneuvered the leather out of the buckle and unbuttoned his pants. He stilled her hands and patted her leg. “I’ll finish this. You figure out a way to get these off.” He tapped his fingers on her leg.

  Lou scooted away from him and instantly felt the cool night air surround her. She lifted her bottom and slid her shorts and panties off, kicking her shoes off as she did so. When she looked back over at him, he had pushed his pants down to his ankles and his manhood was displayed proudly. She flushed.

  Brody tore open a small package with his teeth. She watched as he rolled a condom over his length. “I forgot it last time.” He looked at her sheepishly.

  Sensing her discomfort, he picked her up and set her back over his lap, one leg on each side of his. He pulled her face down for a searing kiss, toying with her breast as it hung over him. Lou groaned low in her throat.

  “God, I want you,” Brody breathed.

  Lou bit her bottom lip. “We can’t do it like this.”

  “Oh, yes, we can.” He whispered in her ear, “I want you to ride me.”

  “Brody!” she protested. But she was intrigued. “I don’t know what to do.”

  He grabbed her hips and lifted her over him. She felt him at her entrance, hot and hard against her. He pushed in slightly. “Tell me if I hurt you.”

  “Doesn’t hurt yet,” she whispered. She sank lower over him, feeling the gentle glide of him into her wetness. A muscle in his jaw ticked. She stopped moving. “Are you okay?”

  “Oh, much better than that,” he mumbled, capturing her mouth with his.

  He grabbed her hips and lifted her slightly. He slid out, hovering at her entrance. She gasped. Then she sank down on him again. She quickly found a rhythm and kept it, his tongue in her mouth and one hand manipulating her nipple. Her legs began to shake and he whispered in her ear, “Sit up.” She did and she felt all of him. She threw her head back in abandon and moved up and down as he cupped one breast in each hand. He flicked his thumbs across her nipples. Her movements became jerky, her breathing labored. She continued to rise and fall against him. He reached between them and found her pleasure center. She gasped, sank down on him and a million stars exploded behind her eyes. Brody shuddered beneath her as she collapsed against his chest.

  Lou lay on top of him for a few long moments, drawing in deep breaths that matched his own. Then she started to move away from him. He pulled her back down. “Don’t go yet.”

  She sat up on her elbows, her dark hair hanging in her face. He tucked it behind her ear and kissed her gently. “I could look at you like this all night.”

  “You could, bu
t you’re not going to.” She moved away from him, feeling him withdraw from her body. She opened the door of the Jeep and stepped out, naked, her clothes in her hand, completely unashamed. She began to dress. “You can’t because you are going back home and I’m staying here.”

  “You knew that’s what I was going to do, Lou.” He sighed.

  “Yes. I did,” she stated calmly.

  “Then why do you seem disappointed?” he asked calmly as he lifted his rear and pulled his boxers and pants up.

  “I’m not disappointed.” She replied calmly. Let him think it’s not about us. “I’m worried.”

  “About?”

  “About what’s going to happen to the farm. To our jobs.” To you. To me. What have we started?

  “To us?” Brody asked quietly.

  “I’m not worried about what’s going to happen to us.”

  “You’re not?”

  “No.” Liar! her inner voice screamed. You’re such a liar! “There is no us.”

  Brody gritted his teeth. “I already told you I have to talk with the attorneys to find out what my mother’s plans were for the farm. She could have deeded it to a charity, for all I know.”

  “You never asked her?” Lou asked incredulously.

  “Lou, I just came home for the first time in years. My mother was dying when I got here.” He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I certainly wasn’t going to say, ‘Hey, Mom! Long time, no see. What are your plans for all your assets?’”

  Lou rolled her eyes.

  “When you find out, will you let me know?” Her voice was quiet. So choked with emotion that she was ashamed of herself.

  “You’ll be one of the first people I tell.” He crossed his heart with his fingers. “I promise.”

  Lou tucked her shirt into her pants and climbed back into the Jeep. She adjusted her pants and said, “I couldn’t find my panties. Help me find them, will you?” She looked under the seat. Brody reached into his pocket and withdrew a lacy slip of fabric.

  He held them out, “Do you mean these?” He grinned wolfishly at her.

  She reached for them and he pulled them out of her grasp, grinning wildly, stuffing them back in the pocket. “You’ll just have to do without. Because those are going home with me.” Lou shook her head reproachfully.

  She looked around, picked up the condom wrapper from the floor and tucked it into a discarded Coke can on the floor. “I’ll certainly never look at this Jeep the same way again.”

  Brody reached over and grabbed the back of her head. He pulled her in for a quick kiss. “Neither will I,” he replied, laughing quietly.

  She kissed him back.

  He started the Jeep and reached over to take her hand.

  “You know what, Lou?”

  “What?”

  “We never did have that talk you promised?”

  “What talk?” She tried to play dumb.

  “The one where you explain why you were still a virgin yet you have a daughter.”

  She flinched. “I don’t want to discuss it now,” was her only reply.

  “When would be a good time?”

  “Never?” She made a job of twirling a piece of hair around her finger.

  “Not good enough,” he replied.

  “Ok. How about this? I’ll tell you my secrets when you call me to tell me what your plans are for the farm.”

  “Deal,” he answered.

  “Deal,” she agreed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Lou dropped Brody off at the airport and was surprised when he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in for a long, slow kiss that stole her breath. Her knees shook and tears hid behind her eyelids as she pulled away from him and climbed into the driver’s seat. She dared not speak and she couldn’t look back as she drove away.

  She drove home with the wind caressing her cheeks and making her hair fly haphazardly around her face. She sang along with the radio until a sad country song had her feeling as forlorn as the love-stricken subject of the song must have felt. Tears rolled from beneath her lashes and drenched her face like a torrential storm. She finally pulled over onto the side of the road when the sobs took her breath and her vision blurred from the assaulting tears.

  She dropped her face into her hands and let the tears fall. For years, she had devoutly sworn she did not possess the girly emotions that make one fall prey to the pains of the heart. But now she realized the truth. She had sworn off tears and heartache because she had never been in love. And what an emotion to have missed for so long!

  Lou sat on the side of the road with her head in her hands until the shaking subsided. Then she took a deep breath, wiped her face with her shirttail, and put both hands on the wheel. She started the Jeep and turned to look for traffic before pulling out into the street. Seeing headlights approaching, she waited for them to pass but noticed they slowed as they approached her. A dark four-door sedan slowed and pulled off the road in front of the Jeep. She froze as she saw a tall gentleman get out of the car. The baseball cap immediately made Lou jump and put the Jeep in gear.

  His crisp, clear voice rang out. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Mary Lou.”

  Lou froze where she was when he reached for the holster under his jacket. She took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “What do you want?”

  He placed one hand on the roll bar behind her seat and the other on the frame of the windshield, effectively boxing her in. He smiled a smile that did not reach his eyes. “You seem like such a smart girl, Mary Lou.” He raised a cigar to his mouth and bit the end off of it. He took his sweet time lighting it and then blew a stream of cherry smoke into Lou’s face. “I want you to give me what I asked for.”

  “Right now, you’re asking for a black eye, but I doubt that’s what you really want,” Lou tossed back at him with more bravado than she actually felt. Her knees shook as her eyes met his.

  “Oh, you are so funny!” he said mockingly. He absently picked up a lock of hair from her shoulder and ran it between his fingers. “You remind me of your mother. She was all piss and vinegar, too. She was smart, a lot like you.”

  “I am nothing like my mother,” Lou spat back at him.

  “You’re more like her than you want to admit,” he responded quietly. Then his voice was suddenly loud and abrasive. “I don’t think you understand the kind of pressure I’m under. My boss wants that little item your mom gave to you.”

  Lou’s voice was just as loud, despite the tremor that escaped with it. She punctuated each word. “I. Don’t. Know. What. You’re. Talking. About!”

  “Black bag, Lou. I want what was in the black bag. Then I’ll walk away and never darken your door again.” He smirked at her.

  “What if I can’t give it to you? What then? What will you do?” Lou sat forward and steeled herself. “How much do you want for it? The contents of the bag? What would make you happy?”

  “Well, well. Little Miss High-and-Mighty has some money to throw around, huh?” He took another draw from his cigar.

  “I have some savings. Tell me what you want.” She sounded surer than she felt. “I can get it.”

  Lou relaxed visibly when he stepped back from the car.

  “I’ll check with my boss and find out if there’s an amount that would be suitable. Then I’ll be in touch.”

  “How long?”

  He appeared to mull it over. “I’ll come and see you soon.”

  He didn’t wait for her response but turned to go back to his own car. He tapped the back fender of the Jeep as he walked away.

  Lou started the Jeep with a trembling hand and pulled out into the street. She drove home as fast as she could safely go and slammed on brakes in the driveway, throwing up a shower of gravel as she did so.

  She jumped out of the Jeep, ran to the kitchen door, and walked in. Sadie, Jeb, and John were sitting at the kitchen table and were surprised by her entrance. She walked over to the table and sat down, looking each of them in the eye in turn. Calmly, she s
tated, “We need to talk.”

  Lou recounted her experience to the only three people in the world who knew her history and where she came from. As they talked, Jeb admitted he was already aware something was going on as he pulled the last correspondence from Wes out of his pocket.

  “Where did you get this?” she asked pointedly.

  “You dropped it in the limo. The driver gave it to Brody and he gave it to me. I told him I would take care of it.”

  Sadie rose to her feet and squared her shoulders. “That does it. I have been wanting to go and visit my sister. This seems like just as good a time as any.” She met eyes with Jeb across the table. “We’ll all go, take a little break, and get away for a while.”