Flint Read online

  Max drove them through the huge lot to the spot where Flint's truck sat, and pulled into an empty spot a couple of spaces away. He shut off the engine and turned in his seat to gaze at them as they simply held each other.

  "Keep her at the ranch. No shopping or gallivanting. She's in your custody until I can get her case in front of Judge Grant. Her step dad's fit to be tied, and I wouldn't trust him not to do something even more stupid than he's done already. He's been served a notice to file a response to the court. He may try to find her. He may try to run. Frankly, I hope he tries to run. I'd like to get an arrest warrant issued on the bastard. The sooner he breaks under pressure, the sooner we get the truth out in court, and we get these charges dismissed."

  Lily lifted her face and swiped tear from her cheeks. "What is happening? What did you find out?"

  Flint swallowed the tight lump at the back of his throat and shook his head. "I'll explain on the drive home. We need food, and Max needs to get back to his office." He lifted his dark gaze to the attorney behind the wheel. "I owe you more than you can imagine, Max."

  "Oh, I have a great imagination, Flint...and I'll be collecting on all these favors shortly. You just take care of your woman, and I'll take care of the rest." The lawyer grinned at them and extended his hand to shake Flint's.

  Your woman...

  Lily felt odd inside hearing those words. As she slipped out of the high seat and Flint caught her by the waist and set her on her feet, she smiled back at Max Daly. "Thanks so much for all you've done, Mr. Daly. You're a good man."

  He nodded and drove away, leaving them to get into the ranch truck and head for El Dorado. She was startled when Flint flipped the console up into the back of the seat and dragged her into the middle seat, helping her fasten the belt. "You ran off." His voice was tight as he snapped the belt closed and fastened his own. When he turned the key in the ignition, his dark brown gaze pinned her where she sat, breathless and afraid of her own reaction to this man.

  "I'm so sorry, Flint. I didn't mean for you to get so involved. I didn't want to..."

  He cut her off with a soft curse as he growled, "Did you not think about what I wanted? Did it not occur to you that someone cares enough about you to lose their mind when you up and take off like that?"

  Stiffening under his anger, she lowered her gaze to the her hands as they twisted together in her lap. "I guess I wasn't thinking at all. I just panicked and ran."

  "You planning to do it again? Because if you are, I'll stop by the hardware store in Beesford and buy me a length of chair and a pair of handcuffs..." His deep tones brought a shiver of excitement to her again.

  "I won't run away. Mr. Daly told me you had to mortgage your home to get my bail posted. I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have."

  Flint frowned down at her, and fought back a smile. Just like Max to say something like that. Of course, if it had taken that to get her out of jail, he'd have happily done it, but with his reputation and his good standing in the area, it had taken nothing more than his signature on a piece of paper to gain her release. But he wasn't about to admit that to her. Anything to make sure she didn't hare off again.

  Swinging out of the parking lot, he wasted little time getting onto the freeway heading toward the state road junction. He didn't say a word until they were well under way, and then he lifted his right arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her tight against his side.

  "What did I do or say that set you off last night, Lily? Was I pushing you too far too fast? I won't do it again. Just tell me..."

  Instead of pulling back and telling him, she leaned her face into his collar bone and wrapped both arms tight around him, as tight as the seat belt would allow. He did his damnedest to calm his suddenly interested cock but when she dropped her hand to his swollen zipper, he nearly swerved out of the lane, and his palm settled over her hand to press it tighter to his body.

  "Holy shit, sweet thing...hold that thought until I can get to an exit. Unless you were just teasing..." He drew in a deep breath and swallowed hard as her fingers tightened around his rigid shaft where it stretched up his belly.

  "It had nothing to do with you." Her whisper was enough to put his libido on auto pilot. "It just brought back a memory I wasn't ready to revisit."

  She inhaled the warm scent of his body and pressed the heel of her palm harder over his length. His groan made her smile into the soft flannel of his shirt. "Find an exit. I want you so badly, I could scream."

  "I intend to make you do just that...and I know just the exit..."

  He swung the big stake side truck off the road at the exit, and followed the frontage road about a half mile until the road passed under a stand of ancient oaks that hung out over the pavement like venerable ancestors. He slowed and pulled the truck into a rutted track that led away from the frontage road, and parked the vehicle in a secluded spot that was shady and totally invisible from the road.

  "Any preference as to where and how, darlin'? Lyin' on the seat, in the bed of the truck, or bouncin' on my lap? Or I could tongue fuck you until you couldn't think straight. Or maybe all of the above?"

  Lily unsnapped her seat belt and reached for his, then she fell back across the wide bench seat and dragged him down on top of her. He tore the snaps of her shirt open, then shoved her front closure bra away from her breasts to take each nipple deep into his mouth and taste her like a starving man.

  "Oh, God, Flint...that feels so delicious. Harder...oh, yes..." Her fingers knotted into his thick hair and her legs wrapped around his hips. He reached between them and unsnapped her jeans, lowering the zipper. She was like a wildcat beneath his mouth and tongue, and he nipped the turgid little nubbin as she clawed his back through his shirt.

  "Lift that sweet little ass off the seat, darlin'...I want these jeans off you."

  Obeying his command, Lily helped him shove the pants down her thighs, and then off her ankles as she kicked her boots off the edge of the seat. "Hurry...I need you so bad..."

  Flint eased down her body to kiss the damp sweet flesh of her belly. dipping his tongue into her belly button as he gently spread her thighs and settled between them, shoving her up the seat toward her door. "You taste delicious, woman...open that pink pussy for me and let me make both of us happy..."

  Lily cried out in shock as he pressed his hot mouth over her swollen clit and began to suck gently. She clutched his dark hair and arched her body to get him closer. His big hands cupped her soft ass and lifted her until her thighs clutched his ears, and he drove his strong tongue into her soaked opening in deep, hungry thrusts.

  "Oh, Lord, Flint! That is sooo good..." The sound of her cry made him want to do even more to her sweet cunt. He slid two long fingers into her vagina and went to work sucking on her stiffened, eager clit, listening to her gasps and cries as she bucked up into his mouth. "Oh...oh God...I'm coming!"

  He took her over the edge of the cliff and kept up the onslaught until she was crying and begging him to stop because he was killing her. He backed off and leisurely flicked her pussy with his tongue, enjoying her shudders of reaction.

  "Mmmm...you taste so good, woman...are you ready for more?"

  "Fuck me, Flint...please..." her little mewling gasps drove him crazy as he made his way up her trembling body and reached between them to open his own fly, easing his swollen, erect shaft out.

  "Reach into my pocket, baby. I have a condom in my right front. Could you do the honors?"

  Obeying, she found the packet and brought it to her mouth to bite the corner off. He could feel the desperate nudging of his cock head against her wet pussy. Her fingers rolled the sheath up over his heavily-veined cock, and when it was secure, she opened wide and took every thick, long, pulsing inch of the him deep into her cunt, crying out with delight as he filled her and held himself deep inside her, pressed to the swollen, ultra sensitive tissues of her G spot.

  "Never run from me again..." he grated the words against her temple as he cupped her br
easts and squeezed gently, not moving at all.

  "Never again...I promise..."

  With her broken voice in his ear, he began to pound his thick cock in and out of her, closing his eyes as he savored the tight, slick channel that caressed every inch of his eager shaft. "So fucking good...am I hurting you, baby?"

  She shook her head and clung to him, meeting every hard thrust with an upward lift of her hips. "Don't stop...don't slow down."

  He managed to make it until she clenched around him in the throes of yet another climax before he cried out in exultation and emptied into the condom, the heat of his cum making it even hotter as he gave her everything he had. He held his weight off her shuddering body as they both came back to earth, and he found her open lips to kiss her into oblivion.

  Her voice was a raspy whisper against his mouth as she panted, "What did I do to deserve you, Flint Calderon?"

  He lifted his lips and smiled down into her glassy eyes. "You simply exist."

  * * * * *

  They remained wrapped around each other on the wide front seat for quite some time, with Flint running his hands gently over every inch of skin he could reach, and Lily soaking up his attention like a rain-starved flower. From time to time, Flint would slide back inside her with a fresh condom, and slowly drive her to distraction again. Until his cell phone rang and he grabbed it with a soft curse.

  Curley's voice was crackly and broken as he told Flint that Jacob Proctor had shown up in Beesford asking about the Calderon ranch, and making threats and stating that if Lily wasn't back in his legal custody before twenty-four hours were up, there would be hell to pay.

  "Thanks for the heads-up." Flint closed his cell phone and straightened up on the seat.

  Lily sighed and buried her face against his throat. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing. We'd better get rolling, though. I have a couple of calls to make once we're close enough to the microwave tower at the ranch. And besides...I don't have any more condoms."

  She stretched like a satisfied cat, and reached languidly for her discarded articles of clothing. "I wish we could stay here forever..."

  "Me too, sweet thing...me too."

  Max's voice was harsh when Flint gave him a rundown of Jacob Proctor's visit to Beesford. "The bastard must have scrambled eggs for brains. I'm giving Judge Grant a call right now and making him aware of Proctor's actions. He's a danger to her, and he is breaking the restraining order Judge Grant set in place based on our civil suit."

  "Got it. This guy isn't clicking on even two cylinders, I reckon. I won't let him anywhere near her."

  "You won't let who near me?" Lily's soft voice made him turn to face her where she stood in the doorway.

  "Talk to you later." Flint hung up and reached for her, pulling her close. Where to start...tough question. Best to be totally honest.

  "Your step father is running scared. Max filed a civil suit against him and had him served with papers a few days back. He knows you're here with me." The look on her face was enough to make him want to pound that man into the ground.

  "He's coming to get me, isn't he?" Her voice was hollow, and all color drained from her face.

  "He can't touch you. Max filed a restraining order against him until the judge in the felony case sees the evidence. If all goes according to plan, the criminal charges against you should be dropped. And just for your information, he is no longer your legal guardian/conservator. With all the evidence against him, he'll be lucky if he isn't in jail himself."

  "He's crazy, Flint...crazy enough to do something stupid. He gets drunk as a skunk and he truly thinks he's untouchable. I should go into town and stay in the motel there. He might come here and try to hurt everyone."

  "You'll stay here...in my room. And I'll do everything in my power to make you forget he ever existed."

  Her gaze locked with his. "He really can't touch me ever again?"

  His gut twisted as he understood suddenly her fear of the son of a bitch. The man had killed her mother and had gotten away with it. He'd made the whole damn town of Garfield think she was some crazy, suicidal thief, and he'd kept her a virtual prisoner in her own home while he spent the insurance money meant to take care of her mom and her. She was just a bitty little thing and Flint ached to show her tormentor exactly what it felt like to be helpless and afraid for his life.

  He suddenly hoped Jacob Proctor would come for a visit. He'd like to give the bastard an El Diablo welcome...

  He recalled his dad telling him the story of how his great grandfather had been harassed and threatened by a band of Mexican bandits that spread terror across central Texas, killing settlers, raping and pillaging, and driving off their animals. Jose Calderon had laid claim to the lush green area bisected by spring floods between the Pedernales and the Blanco. He'd run a large herd of longhorns with a few Hereford bulls tossed in, and eventually he was rewarded with a much larger herd of cross bred cattle that could stand the heat, did well on rangeland browsing, and withstood most diseases and droughts.

  The banditos had chipped away at his herds, taking hundreds of calves each year, and they had burned his oak barns and even his house...until old Jose decided to corner the outlaws in a blind canyon and pick them off from the ridge above with his old Henry rifle. That particular band of outlaws was never heard from again...and old Jose blamed their demise on the fact that those robbers had crossed El Diablo once too often. Of course, he was referring to the devil, but locals decided to take it that Jose Calderon was the devil they'd crossed...and the name El Diablo had sort of stuck...both on Jose and his ranch.

  Flint wasn't too sure where that old box canyon was located, but he had his suspicions, and he'd love to introduce Jacob Proctor to that historic aspect of El Diablo.

  Lily opened her eyes to darkness, but that old panic returned with a vengeance. She had insisted on sleeping alone in her own room despite Flint's cajoling and insistence that he would feel better if she slept with him. Now she wished she had allowed him to convince her to sleep in his, because the harsh sound of someone breathing too close to her ear left her petrified with fear.

  Before she could say a word or cry out, a rough hand slapped over her mouth, and a too familiar voice rasped in her ear, "Thought ya'd get away from me, ya little cunt?"

  She tried to roll away with a panicked cry that sounded like a squeak from beneath his palm, but he straddled her body in the narrow bed and his free hand clutched at her throat, bringing her to a state of terror she hadn't felt since she'd run from him.

  "Found yerself a cowboy to fuck? Figure yer too good fer the one who kept a roof ever yer head all these years?' His foul breath choked her almost as much as the hand around her throat. Her stomach rolled as she clawed at his wrists to loosen his grip on her. His face was hidden in darkness, but she could see in her mind the ugly rage that filled him. She could hear it in his voice.

  Knowing that she had only moments of life unless he loosened his grip on her throat, Lily closed her eyes and went for his face with her hands and fingernails, gouging and clawing and then her teeth sank into the palm over her mouth as he released her face to hit her. The terror that had left her voiceless and helpless before evaporated into a red sea of rage as she fought back with every ounce of strength she possessed.

  The shriek that awoke the rest of the household wasn't hers...it was his as her thumb gouged deep into his eye socket, and her teeth clamped hard over the webbing between his thumb and his first finger. For the briefest of moments, Jacob Proctor's weight was pressing her hard into her mattress...and then he was gone. Light blinded her as she rolled aside off her bed onto the oak floor, and wildly shimmied under the heavy bed frame.

  The sound of the struggle above her was muffled by the oak bed and the thick mattress, and by her own arms wound over her head as she sobbed and held back shrieks of rage. She hoped that Flint and Curly and Ned tore the son of a bitch's head off. She could only guess who was beating the shit out of him, but she fervently prayed that they would
maim him.

  As the battle above her came to a halt, Dora's face appeared as the woman knelt beside the bed to assess her condition. She could hear Jacob's ranting voice telling everyone there that she was his...she belonged to him...that he'd gotten rid of her mom so he could have Lily to himself...and without a single thought, she struggled out from under the bed and flew across the mattress at the sick, crazy bastard held between two furious men, her fingers going for his uninjured eye. But arms came around her from behind, and she was dragged back.

  "He ain't worth it, honey...let the menfolk take care of him. They'll make sure he gets what's comin' to him."

  Lily blinked up at Dora's set face as the astonishing strong older woman wrapped arms around her and rocked her. For one long, pain filled moment, Lily stared at the man who'd made her life hell, and then she lost the ability to focus. His bloody face wavered in and out, and then he vanished as she sank back into Dora's arms, and let blessed blackness take everything away.

  Epilogue

  The court had decided she had acted in self defense in the matter of her striking Jacob Proctor with a metal object. They had dismissed all charges against her. The court had remanded Proctor into custody for a psychiatric evaluation. Jacob would undergo a psych evaluation at the state hospital to determine if he could reasonably defend himself in the cases the police had opened for the premeditated murders of five women.

  It had been a stressful day in court dealing with the legal issues. Lily sat in the vinyl booth, staring off into space.

  "Hey, darlin'...where are you?" Flint's raspy voice brought her back to the present, and she blinked up into his dark eyes. The people surrounding her looked concerned as she sorted out her mind and swallowed the hard lump that threatened to block speech completely.

  "Um...I'm okay...just too much running through my mind, I guess. I can't believe I'm free of him. I can't believe I'll never have to look over my shoulder every time I hear a footstep. It's like I'm just waking from a nightmare." She reached up and brushed her fingers over his stubbly cheek.