The Woodsman (Lust in the Woods Book 1) Read online

  Robby glanced between us. He had no idea who Katy was, and I didn’t know what she’d told him over the phone. Hell, we didn’t even know what we were, but the thought of sending her back on a plane after all she’d done for me made me feel sick. I wanted her with me. I wanted my mom to wake up and see the gorgeous woman I’d brought to meet her. I wanted Robby to get to know her.

  She nodded her head, barely, before closing the distance between us and taking her position by my side.

  Chapter Nine

  I leaned back and rested my head against the car seat. Tired didn’t even begin to explain the state I was in. After arriving at the hospital, Katy pointed out to me that Robby obviously hadn’t slept since getting the phone call about my mother. We hadn’t slept either, but he had a few hours on us and we hadn’t been dealing with the doctors and nurses. I convinced him to go home and rest, promising to keep him up to date.

  Now it was our turn to sleep. My mother had woken up long enough to pat my face and tell me I was a good boy before closing her eyes again. The MRI came back fine. There was no sign of long-term damage, just a mild concussion. It was now a matter of making sure her lungs were strong enough before they discharged her. The asthma attack had dismissed her oxygen levels enough to make her pass out. She needed to be monitored just in case this was a sign of something more serious. Although in my book, not being able to breathe normally was pretty damn serious.

  Both Katy and I had been up for almost thirty hours by the time I felt like we could leave. Robby threw me the keys to his car, an indication that he was still feeling the strain because he treated his car better than most people in his life.

  Sitting in the parking garage beneath Robby’s apartment building, I barely had enough strength to take the key out of the ignition.

  “She’s doing great, Sam, considering everything she’s been through.”

  I turned my head to look at Katy. Her hair was a mess. There were bags under her eyes and her clothes were wrinkled. Even so, she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. The whole time she’d stayed with me at the hospital, only leaving to top up my coffee and buy me some food from the vending machines. Without asking, she’d slipped out of the hospital room when my mother started to wake up, sensing I needed a moment alone with her. She’d helped me through the damn panic attack and then just kept on standing by my side.

  “Come here.”

  Unbuckling her seatbelt, she kicked off her shoes before pulling her knees under her and crawling over to me. Expecting her to lean in for a kiss, my jaw dropped as she pulled up her skirt until I could almost get a glimpse of her panties and straddled me.

  The look on her face had changed. Gone was the pensive, caring woman and in her place sat someone else. A sex vixen. I stilled her hips as she began to ground against me.

  “Baby, you need this,” she whispered as she kissed my jaw. “Touch me.” I was wrong. She was still that caring woman. Even now, the heat pulsing through her panties onto my bulging jeans, she was caring for me in a way I didn’t even realize I needed.

  “You’ve done so much already, Katy… We should talk about…” It felt like this was one more thing she was doing for me, and as much as I loved the feel of her under my hands, grinding against me, I didn’t want a pity fuck.

  “Touch me, Sam. I don’t want to talk.” Her hands slid up my chest and over my shoulders before sliding down my arms until her hands covered mine. “We both just need to feel good right now.”

  Reluctantly, I let her pry my hands off her hips and slide them up to cover her breasts. Still guiding me, she squeezed her hands over mine. Her nipples, already hard, pressed against my palms through her thin top.

  “You make me feel good, Sam.” Her head fell back and I groaned as I squeezed her soft, heavy flesh. “Don’t you want to feel good?”

  “Fuck, Katy, you know I do.” Unable to resist the allure of her bare neck, stretched and exposed to me, I leaned forward and licked up, savoring the way she shivered against my tongue.

  Without any preamble, she shifted up on her knees and began to work on my belt buckle. I didn’t care what she was planning, just that I needed to see more of that skin I’d just tasted. Forcing her to lift her arms, I yanked her t-shirt over her head before working on her bra. She paused for a second to slip her arms out of the straps. Then she focused on her task of getting ahold of my cock. Completely oblivious to the impact her bare tits, now bouncing free, were having on me, she gasped in delight as she finally pulled me out. Reaching between us, she ungracefully yanked her panties to the side, lined my tip against her warm flesh, and slid down in one quick movement.

  It was my turn to lean back and groan. She felt so good. I couldn’t get over how damn wet she was.

  Wet, slick, hot.

  All for me.

  “Damn, Katy, you’ve got no idea how good you feel.”

  She leaned forward and brushed her lips against mine.

  “I do, because you do.” She touched my lips with her fingertips, and I opened my eyes to see a funny look on her face. “I’m clean, Sam, and I’m on the pill.”

  Shit, that’s why this felt so good. She was riding me bare.

  “We’re good, I promise.” It wasn’t enough, but I couldn’t stop. She kissed me again, lightly. It was a chaste kiss in comparison to how she looked—impaled on my cock, still wearing her panties, her tits exposed and pressed against me. Her hands deftly unbuttoned my shirt and despite the fact that she hadn’t made a sound, I got what she wanted.

  Skin on skin.

  Just like we were connected elsewhere.

  Nothing between us.

  I helped her get my shirt open and spread wide. Finally, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pushed her bare breasts against my chest. And then, only then, did she start moving.

  The languid rhythm of her hips as she rocked against me, her hard nipples sliding across my chest, drove me crazy. I reached up to pull her hair out of the elastic and grabbed a messy fistful of it. I pulled down, forcing her to arch her back. I wanted to see all of her, naked, lustful. And needy for me.

  As my grip in her hair tightened, her eyes flew open in alarm, but the gush of wetness on my cock reassured me that she liked it.

  “Enough teasing, Katy. Ride me now.”

  “Yes, Sam,” she said breathlessly.

  I released her hair enough to give her some slack as she rose up on her knees, lifting herself up until just the tip remained inside her, before slamming down swiftly.

  “Again.”

  Her hands flew to my shoulders to keep balance as she moved up and down. As soon as she found a rhythm I was happy with, I tightened my grip on her hair, letting her know to keep going at that pace. Her tits juggled in front of my mouth as she bounced up and down.

  “Don’t stop,” I ordered before leaning forward and enveloping one of the sweet nubs in my mouth. Her rhythm faltered as I sucked hard. I released the nipple with a loud pop, loving the whimper she gave me.

  “You slow down, I stop. You lose focus, I stop. Got it?”

  “Okay, okay.” She nodded as much as she could with my fist still holding her arched. “I won’t stop. I’ll be good.”

  She picked up the pace again and I knew I had to act fast or else I was going to come before she did.

  Sucking her nipple back into my mouth, I felt her clench around me. Her grasping fingers slid up my neck, into my hair, keeping my face against her chest.

  There was something different this time. She was more responsive, as if showing me her need for me completely overrode anything else. I wanted more. I wanted to push her to the edge and watch her lose control. Every part of her body was mine, and I wanted her to know what she was offering me was going to be consumed completely.

  Switching nipples, I reached my free hand between us and coated my fingers in her arousal. Without releasing her nipple, I slid my hand back around her hips and grabbed a luscious cheek.

  “You stop, I stop,” I reminded h
er as I shifted slightly, sliding my fingers until I found her puckered ass. She closed her eyes but kept up her rhythm as I pushed my middle finger into her, never ceasing until I was in up to the last knuckle.

  “Sam!” she cried out as she came, her internal muscles squeezing around me. The feeling of her wetness coating my balls, my finger being clenched in her ass as she came, it was too much. I stifled a groan against her breasts as I released inside her. Using her hips to anchor her, I pulled her down onto me, impaling her as much as I could while she writhed in my arms, mumbling incoherent words. Her head fell forward against my shoulder, her orgasm pulsing through her.

  I thrust up as the final spurts of cum came out of me, and it took a minute to find my bearings. Katy clung to me, her fingers digging into my shoulders, her face pressed hard against my neck. She didn’t move an inch when I pulled my finger out of her. A few moments later, I felt a wetness sliding down my neck and I realized it was tears.

  “Baby, shit, was that too much?”

  “No, it was just—intense,” she mumbled into my skin. This wasn’t good. A woman wasn’t supposed to cry after really hot car sex.

  “Intense in a good way?”

  “Yeah, Sam, a really good way.” As if to prove her point, she rocked her hips, my semi-erect cock still inside her. “I’ve never had it like that. I mean, not just the ass play. It’s never felt like that before.”

  I wrapped my arms around her. “Me either, sweetheart.” Shifting her wild hair to the side, I stroked her bare back, sweeping my fingers up and down her spine, loving the feel of her body limp against mine.

  This felt so right. I closed my eyes, letting myself feel her weight, her scent, just her, pressed against me, needing me, wanting me. I’d never had it like this either. I didn’t know if it was the sex, the stress of previous night and day, or the fact that she’d gotten my ass on a plane and risked her job for me. I didn’t know and I didn’t fucking care. I wasn’t letting her go.

  Chapter Ten

  Katy

  Two days was all it took for Sam’s mother, Gloria, to get out of the hospital. The fact that she lived in the same building as Robby made everything go pretty smoothly. At least for Gloria. Sam and Robby were too worried about the state of her health to contemplate feeling anything but utter anxiety.

  I learned her name after she barked at me to stop calling her “Mrs.”.

  “Holy hell, Katy, I’m old, but I’m not that old. I’ll never be so old that I make my boy’s girl call me ‘Mrs.’. There’s also the fact that I’m not married anymore, haven’t been for a long time now, and don’t care to pretend that I am. You call me Gloria.”

  I smiled that she thought I was Sam’s girl. He’d introduced me to her as Katy, his girl, which was pretty vague but cute. I couldn’t deny the little pathetic flutter my heart took at his words. His girl.

  I also learned that despite being confined to a hospital bed, despite recovering from a concussion, and despite having to wear an oxygen mask half the time, Gloria did not like being treated like a patient.

  “Now, come over here and help me go through my handbag. I’m still not convinced those nurses didn’t forget to put everything back in after they had a good search for my inhalers.”

  The trifecta of facts I’d acquired about Gloria was topped by the reality that her sons adored her, respected her, and cared for her in a way that was endearing but also unbelievably humorous considering how easily she wrapped them around her finger.

  Which was how I found myself alone with her four days after arriving in Boston. After they’d fussed around her most of the morning, she’d ordered Sam and Robby to get lost until lunchtime. She claimed all the fuss was getting on her nerves, but when I rose to join Sam, she’d grabbed my hand, patting the top of it.

  “Oh, no, not you, honey. You’re the only sane one in this place. And I need some girl time. Those two can catch up and complain about how crazy I am.” I shot Sam a questioning look. I was acutely aware of overstepping my boundaries. He just shrugged and winked.

  “Come here and tell me all about yourself. Robby says you make coffee and write. Sam just gets quiet when I ask about you. Now it’s your turn.”

  “I’m trying to write,” I said with a smile, “but I’m also perfecting my coffee-making skills in the meantime.”

  “Ah, yes, the creative waitress.”

  “Well, barista technically, but yes.”

  “Can you go into the living room and get a book for me? It’s on the third shelf, egg-shell blue, hardcover.”

  I walked into the living room and quickly found the book she was talking about. It was an old copy of Josephine Jacobsen poems. Sitting back down next to Gloria’s bed, I handed over the book.

  “My ex-husband, the rat bastard he was, gave this to me. I hated that man ‘til the day he died, but I couldn’t hate these poems. Now tell me, what’s going on with you and my son?” She wrinkled up her nose and nestled back into her pillows, as if waiting to hear some juicy gossip.

  Gasping like a fish, I stared at her. What was I supposed to say? We had crazy chemistry and got naked whenever possible? I was desperately trying to not mess up my life and had a history of choosing men who needed saving?

  “That bad, huh?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I guess you know about his ex-wife. Did you know she grew up in the trailer next to ours? I watched her turn from an angry little girl into an angry little woman. When she sunk her claws into my Sam, I knew he’d find his way out of her grip in his own time. And he did, thank God. There are some things a mother can’t stop from happening, and the wrong woman at the wrong time is one of those things.”

  Her breathing was shallow and I handed her the oxygen mask. The trailer was news but not surprising. Sam had hinted at poverty, but I didn’t care about his money and never probed. The ex-wife was a whole new thing, though. Although it didn’t take much to connect the dots.

  Sam might as well have worn a sign around his neck that read “wary and distrustful of the opposite sex”. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that a woman had probably done some damage before he met me. But I didn’t like to pry. After all, I’d only given him skeleton details of how I ended up in the cabin.

  Lowering the mask, she continued, “I know what you’re thinking. She broke his heart, but that wasn’t it. She made him choose. Us or her. A fresh start was what she wanted, and she thought we stunk of trailer trash, despite Robby’s money, despite Sam’s job, a clean, good job. It tore him apart. I raised my boys to respect women. But it’s hard to respect a woman who’s just a spoiled bitch. Especially when you’re stuck married to her.” Gloria smiled at me as I laughed at her audacity. “I’m just saying it like it was. But you. You’re something different.”

  “Well, I would never make a man chose between me and his family. Love’s not about competing. Not the kind of love I believe in.”

  “But you do love him.”

  Damn, she was good. “Gloria, we barely know each other. I don’t think Sam… I think maybe he—”

  “He needs you. He loves you.”

  “How can you possibly know that? Has he told you?” I asked, leaning closer to her. Now it was my turn to act like we were trading secrets in the girl’s locker room.

  OMG, what did he tell you? Does he think I’m cute?

  “Don’t be silly. He doesn’t need to tell me that for me to know.” She closed her eyes and patted my hand. “I’m getting tired now. Those boys fussing over me tires me out. I need to be strong for my boys. He needs you but doesn’t want to need you.” Her voice faded, and I bit my lip from asking her to tell me more. “Now open up that book and start at the beginning.”

  I was still reading quietly when Robby and Sam came back in. Her eyes peeked open at them before shutting.

  “Thank you, Katy, honey, that was lovely. I think you did Josephine Jacobsen justice there. I’m going to sleep now.”

  Her sons each took their turns kissing
her gently on the cheek before we left her room to give her some space.

  “She let you read from her Jacobsen book?” Robby asked as he poured us coffee and Sam laid out the deli sandwiches they’d bought for us.

  “Yeah, she asked me to get it for her from the bookshelf. I’m not that familiar with the poems, but it’s great stuff.” I took a bite of my sandwich and then realized they were both staring at me. Swallowing slowly, I lowered it to my plate. “Was that the wrong thing to do? I mean, she mentioned your father gave it to her, but she seemed to enjoy it.”

  Robby’s expression was hard to read and I nervously shifted on my stool. Sliding over to my side, Sam tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear and kissed me on the temple.

  “No, baby, that wasn’t wrong. She’s just a bit particular about who gets to touch that book.”

  “It’s like her bible,” Robby said. “She didn’t speak to me for two days once when I put a can of soda on it by accident. It didn’t even leave a mark. But she didn’t care.”

  “Oh. Well, you told her I wanted to be a writer so I guess she thought I’d like the poems.” I looked at Robby, but he was looking at Sam, an unspoken message conveyed to his brother.

  There was a strong bond between them. They’d been raised in a small trailer, two young boys who’d become strapping big men before they were ready to leave, all under the watchful eye of their hardworking mother. I couldn’t even begin to decipher the coded communications passing between them. I had a sister, a young wild sister who I hadn’t seen in a few years, but even before that we’d never been close, never had the silent communication thing the brothers in front of me had.

  Over the past days, I’d witnessed them working alongside each other to get their mother the best care possible, hire the right kind of nurses who would appreciate Gloria’s feisty streak instead of seeing her as a difficult patient. They’d argued over what type of hospital bed would be installed in her room at home, but they’d never come to any real conflict. The two men were connected but different beyond belief.