Carol Ericson - Circumstantial Memories

“My mother called me this afternoon after I saw you. You know how emotional she is, but this time guilt and sadness fueled her emotions, not anger. She felt horrible that I was here in Colorado with no memory for four years with her granddaughter and she did nothing to find me or try to reach me.” Julia pleated the hem of her skirt with trembling fingers. “I think she was sincere.”

“So you’re going to Paris?” The steadiness of his voice amazed him because shards of emotions ripped through his body.

She nodded, her gaze pinned to her busy fingers.

“When?”

“Next week.”

“You’re leaving for Paris in a week and taking Shelby with you?” Because he was still clenching his teeth, the words came out angrier than he intended.

Julia jerked up her head, her fierce stare singeing his skin. “And is that before or after you’re leaving, Ryder? Don’t think for a minute I’ve missed those furtive phone calls you’ve been having. It was the same in Paris, but I didn’t see the signs then. I didn’t want to see them. It’s very clear now.”

Clear? How could it be clear to her when he couldn’t even sift through the muck in his brain? He didn’t want her to leave him. “How can you go to Paris? You need passports.”

His words rang with petty satisfaction. He couldn’t help it. He had to grasp at any detail to keep her here.

Her brows snapped together, her hands fisting in the folds of her skirt. “Who are you, my travel agent? We have everything we need to leave the country.”

“I don’t want you to leave.” He gripped her shoulders, his fingers pinching into her skin through the soft material of her sweater.

Julia twisted out of his grasp, her chin tilting in a challenge. “You just told me to get out of Silverhill.”

“Not to go to Paris…alone.” He raked his fingers through his tangled hair. “I bought a little place in South Carolina, on the coast. I planned to settle you and Shelby there until this all blows over, until…”

“Until what? Until you come back from Zimbabwe or Venezuela or Timbuktu? Maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll lose my memory again. That’ll give you more time to figure out if you want to make a commitment to a family or not.” Her bottom lip quivered and her eyes bright with anger a moment ago, now glistened with tears.

Damn, he’d made a mess of things. When he discovered Julia living here, he’d set out to make her love him again, selfishly. He never considered the fallout when it was time to take up his next assignment.

Wrapping his arms around her, Ryder drew her into a tight embrace. She bucked and arched like an unbroken filly until he took possession of her lips, salty from the tears rolling down her face.

As he deepened his kiss, her fingers clawed at his hair, digging into his scalp. She drew his bottom lip between her teeth and nipped at it. He welcomed the pain, welcomed her punishment as she pummeled him with her ferocious love.

Julia straddled Ryder and pushed him against the cushions of the couch, hating him, hating herself for wanting him with a potent need that overruled every ounce of common sense she possessed.

He responded like she knew he would. His hands curled around her hips, and he ground her against the erection that strained against his tight jeans.

She yanked up his T-shirt and pulled it over his head as he raised his arms. Her fingernails skimmed across his smooth, bare chest, trailing over the hard ridge of muscle that tensed beneath her touch.

His hands scrambled beneath her skirt and grabbed her panties. With one strong tug, he ripped them from her body. Gasping, she fell against his chest and burrowed into his shoulder, her lips pressed against the pulse that thrummed in his throat. She inhaled the scent of maleness that rose from his body in heady waves, fueling her passion.

His fingers circled her swollen flesh once before sliding into her wet core. A flash of heat claimed her body at the strong desire she felt for him even as she fought with him. But the shame lasted for only seconds as she cupped her hand around the bulge in his jeans.

Leaning back, she tore at the buttons of his fly. She shifted to the side as he lifted his hips and peeled off his jeans where they bunched around his muscular thighs. He hadn’t even bothered with underwear. His hard desire, smooth and pulsing, sprang forward in full readiness.

They couldn’t wait to undress. They couldn’t wait for words. If Ryder had to leave her, then damn it, she’d give him a final taste of what he’d be missing while he gnawed on boiled goat.

Shoving her ripped panties to the side, she lowered herself on him, but he couldn’t wait. He thrust up, spearing her, filling her up with his primal need to completely possess her. They rode each other, their bodies at the point of their ultimate connection, slick with sweat.

He ran the pad of his thumb across her thick, honeyed flesh as he continued to pound into her. Her sweet climax claimed her, gripping her in its talons of pleasure over and over. As she cried out her final release, Ryder roared, arching his back, filling her womb with his seed.

She rested her head against his thundering heart as her hot, ragged breath moistened his skin. Sighing, she opened her eyes, her unfocused gaze settling on the window with the curtains askew. She screamed and rolled off Ryder’s body, yanking her skirt down.

Charlie Malone’s face, pale and wide-eyed, had floated at the window for just a second.

Ryder, reclining against the couch half-naked, jerked forward, his knees bumping the coffee table. “What’s wrong?”

Julia covered her mouth with one hand to stifle a second scream and pointed a shaking finger toward the window. “Charlie.”

Grabbing his jeans, Ryder scrambled from the couch, almost toppling over as his pants wrapped around his legs. He swore and Julia let loose with a high-pitched, hysterical giggle. He scowled at her and yanked up his pants.

“Charlie was at the window?”

“Yeah, I saw his face a-after, when w-we…”

“I get it.” He charged toward the front door, buttoning his fly and Julia hung on to his arm.

“Where are you going?”

His brows shot up. “I’m going after Charlie.”

“Don’t go.” She squeezed his bicep, digging her nails into him with panic, not passion, this time. “Don’t leave me, Ryder.”

Sparks flared in his blue eyes. He crushed her against his bare chest, still damp with the sweat from their shared lovemaking. He murmured into her tangled hair, “I’ll never leave you again.

“But I need to go after Charlie.” Peeling her hands from his body, Ryder kissed the top of her head. “Lock the door behind me and don’t open it until I return, and call 911.”

As soon as Ryder barreled through the front gate, Julia slammed the door shut and locked it. She grabbed her phone and called 911, telling them the man the Sheriff’s Department sought for questioning in Rosie Fletcher’s death just peered into her window.

She leaned against the window where Charlie’s face had appeared, rubbing her arms as she stared into the purple dusk that crawled over the mountains. Fear nibbled at her insides as she imagined all sorts of horrible endings to this drama. What if Charlie had a gun or a knife? Ryder had sailed out of here without a weapon. Hell, he hardly had any clothes on.

Headlights swept the street as a car rolled to a stop in front of her house. Her stomach clenched and she leaned her forehead against the smooth glass of the window to peer at the car.

She let out a long, ragged breath. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Department. Duke Lambert swung through the gate and ambled up the walkway, his sunglasses shoved to the top of his head.