An Escape to Love (9 page)

Jake’s face froze at her words and he felt warmth seeping through his body to his bones, making him feel more alive than he had in years.

“You are selfish and...rude to advise I have your baby, and then abandon it with your mother. If there is a baby, which I’m pretty sure there isn’t, I’ll be its mother, and I'll keep it like any mother would want to keep her child. Honestly Jake, your stupid proposition is really making me doubt your intelligence,” she said angrily and Jake smiled despite himself.

He stood up and Leona gasped as he hugged her tightly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her face against his chest. He didn’t say a word and Leona hugged him back with all the love and longing screaming in her head.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he said before he could stop himself, and Leona pulled away, watching his face, sliding her hand over his cheek.

“I love you Jake,” she said, and Jake grunted, pulling her back tightly onto his chest, clutching her like he won’t ever let her go.

Leona’s heart constricted painfully at the realization that Jake hadn’t told her he loved her, hadn’t said it back. It was true that they had been together for just five days, but that didn’t mean her feelings were imaginary. During the time they had been together she could feel that he loved her back, sense it. Knowing that he had refused to answer her was making her doubt everything she believed.

Jake knew that Leona was hurt because she had tensed in his arms. He couldn’t say the words that ached in his chest. He didn’t want her waiting for him, holding any hope that he would return someday and be with her forever.

He wanted to be with Leona and there was nothing he wished more than the opportunity to spend the rest of his life with her, but he knew that it wasn’t an option. His life didn’t give him the freedom to dream or hope because his future as a fugitive was pretty airtight.

He ran his hand along her back and Leona tensed, shutting her eyes to try and keep her tears in check. She didn’t want to cry and show him how much his absent reply had hurt her. She wasn’t going to let him see it.

She pulled away and pinned a cordial smile to her face, and then gasped as Jake kissed her wildly, almost brutally. His hands slid over her back under her cashmere sweater and caressed her bare skin.

Leona was putty in his hands. She was no match for the way his hands made her feel. Jake flipped her around so her ass was pressed against his groin, and with a cry of surrender she braced her hands on the wall. Jake pushed her forward, his hand delving down the waistband of her slacks to touch her pussy hair.

When Leona next surfaced from the crazy euphoria, her slacks were lying around her ankles and Jake’s cock was sliding back and forth along her ass-crack.

She tilted her head back and pressed her lips to his chin. Jake clutched her throat, holding her in place as he kissed her with wild abandon. Jake wanted to fill her with his body, stretch her insides, and say the words that threatened to burst past his lips, but he dared not let them.

The reminder of the way she had said he was crazy for suggesting he give their baby away came to him and he breathed shakily, harshly. His cock pushed down to find her slit and Leona grabbed wildly at the wall as the head of his cock rubbed her dripping wet passage.

“Jake,” she cried out as he forged her pussy with his shaft, sliding into her all the way and savoring her wet warmth wrapped tightly around him.

“Yes baby,” he replied, his eyes closed. Leona pushed her hips back, feeling the mushroom-shaped head glide tightly back and forth, teasing her tender place. She was throbbing for release already, and that was before Jake clutched her breast with one arm over them, and his free hand rested on her pubic hair possessively.

Holding her tightly pressed to him, he ground his pelvis against her hips and Leona cried out as her orgasm sped ahead, burning in the pit of her stomach. A loud cry escaped her as she quivered, her pussy tightening around his shaft.

Jake clenched his teeth and rammed into her, savoring her orgasmic shivers and holding her body to his. His balls slapped against her loudly, wetted by her juices, and he grunted as his cock popped out of her.

Leona was still shaking with the aftermath of her orgasm when Jake pushed her down on the ground on all fours. She felt his hand holding her waist a moment before his thick cock filled her again.

She bent her head, watching from between her thighs as his balls jerked with every thrust. Her juices dripped down on the floor and Jake’s fingers bit into her flesh as he stilled, grunting and shaking as he emptied his thick, molten cum into her.

Leona surfaced from the ecstasy of his fucking and clamped her vaginal muscles around his cock. He pulled out, leaving behind a dull ache in the centre of her being.

His hand trailed sensually over her back before he lifted her by the arm and hugged her tightly onto his naked chest. His cock was still wet and sticky and it pressed onto her flat stomach. She wrapped her arms around him and breathed a contented sigh.

“I have so much to say, but it feels like the time and everything else is just too fucked up to say any of it,” she whispered instead of saying the three words that were fighting to escape her lips.

Jake understood her meaning and his arms tightened around her slim shoulders instinctively, “I know, sweetheart. I know,” he said.

Chapter Nineteen

The sun was peeking through the thick clouds over the Colorado Mountains as Leona stood at the window, waiting for the kettle to boil. Her arms crossed over her chest, she counted the days again in her mind, but no matter what, the ten days Jake had originally told her about were coming to an end.

If her math was right, he would send her on her way in two days. She turned as Jake walked up behind her, freshly shaven and showered, and kissed the tip of her nose affectionately.

“A man would think that a woman is in the kitchen early because she’s making breakfast," he joked, and she smiled.

“I’m not domestically inclined. Besides, I’m a hostage.”

Jake chuckled and poured himself some coffee before taking out the ingredients for pancakes. “You’re in a good mood today,” he said and Leona bit back a laugh at his obtuseness.

“Yes Jake. I’m ecstatic,” she said rolling her eyes and Jake choked on his coffee.

“I’m guessing I was wrong. Sullen then?”

“Yes,” she replied tartly.

“Very?”

Leona burst out laughing and smacked him on his arm, “Stop it. I’m fine. Hurry up with the breakfast though, I’m starving.”

“I wonder what got your appetite so worked up,” he said and they exchanged a knowing smile.

They spent the day watching movies and took a break in the midst to make love on the couch. Leona savored each second, desperate to forge a memory of everything he did and said to her. She had a long life ahead of her without him and she felt like bawling with the throb in her heart, but she sucked it up. She knew Jake wouldn’t appreciate a discussion about it.

By evening, Jake had quieted and his face was tense, almost as if there was a catastrophe he knew about and she didn’t. Leona tried to let him be, not badger him, but after a while it became too much and she knew what was on his mind.

“Are you thinking about? Me going back the day after tomorrow?”

Jake sighed and rubbed his eyes ferociously with his fingers, “Tomorrow, Leona. Tomorrow morning.”

She sat bolt upright, her heart thudding, “You said ten days. Ten days is the day after tomorrow,” she whined and then checked herself immediately.

“Change of plans. You have to go back tomorrow morning.”

She fell back onto his chest, and to her complete surprise, he clutched her fiercely against himself. “I don’t want to go Jake," she whispered after several minutes and Jake kissed her hair, inhaling her scent in a desperate attempt to try and memorize it.

“Come here,” he said as he switched off the TV and led her to the bedroom, throwing off his clothes slowly. Leona abandoned the blue dress she had borrowed from the closet and her lip trembled as Jake held her close, their naked bodies caressing one another.

“Don’t be sad. This is all the time we have, let’s just make the most of it, okay?” he whispered, and she nodded, tilting her head to offer him her lips.

Jake slid his hand over every curve and crevice of her body, and made love to her like he had never before with any woman, not even his fiancé. He was saying goodbye to Leona like he had never gotten a chance with Jessica. He explored her body fully and made her explore his, driving into her again and again, until they were both too exhausted to keep their eyes open.

Chapter Twenty

Jessica stood in a bulky coat beside the small car while Jake started the ignition and warmed it up for her. It wasn’t snowing anymore, but Jessica didn’t care about the safety of the drive to the airport. All she knew was that her heart was breaking into a million pieces.

“Go and see a doctor as soon as you get back. You can’t risk anything, alright?” he said for the fourth time that morning. He was worried about her being pregnant but Leona wasn’t. She wasn’t worried about anything but leaving behind the man she loved to an uncertain future.

He pulled the front of her coat tighter around her and Leona stared at his face, “Will you call me?” she asked and Jake’s jaw tightened in pain.

“No, Leona. I won’t call you,” he said harshly, wanting her to forget about him as soon as she left.

“But how will I know you’re alright? And safe?” Her eyes were wide, pleading.

Jake clutched her face in his palms, “If they catch me, you’ll see it on the news, otherwise I’ll be fine, somewhere. You don’t have to know any more than that. Go back home, see a doctor, and finish your law degree. You’re a smart, intelligent girl, but inexperienced in sex. You think you have feelings for me, but you don’t, sweetheart, not really. As soon as you’re back among your family and friends, you’ll forget all about me. You’ll see,” he said, and Leona fought back tears at his heartlessness.

She pulled free of his hands and slid into the car. “I hope you’re right," she said and closed the door, her vision blurring with tears. She wanted to hug him one last time, kiss him, but his words had made it clear she meant nothing to him. He would surely forget all about her as soon as she was out of sight of the house.

Jake clenched his jaw as he watched his one last chance at love drive away in tears, but he could do nothing. This was the most selfless thing he had ever done in his life and he didn’t regret it.

He couldn’t tell her he loved her – he couldn’t be that heartless. She would wait for him, yearn for him, while he would be hiding from the world. Leona didn’t as much as glance at him, and he knew that she hated him at that moment. That’s what he wanted. He wanted her to hate him so that she would never think of him again.

Chapter Twenty-One

Leona caught a flight to Washington and took a cab to her parents’ house. All through her flight, she had struggled to keep her pain in check and now when she was finally at the large mansion where she grew up, she could feel the tears losing the battle to stay inside.

Her mother opened the door and suddenly all hell broke loose. Her brothers and several suited men brought her inside and began questioning her wildly. Leona felt like the world was coming to an end, and she wanted the ground to swallow her up when she heard the name Jake Hartford.

“What can you tell us about Jake Hartford’s location?” a bearded FBI agent asked her and she choked back her shock.

“What? Who?” She said and luckily, even to her own ears her attempt at deception sounded genuine.

The room went silent and Leona’s older brother Damon stepped forward to clutch her hand. “Where were you Leona?” he hissed, and her eyes widened.

“I... I was lost. I stayed at this cabin near the ski-resort and left when it stopped snowing.”

Damon stared at her closely, as if he could see through her soul. Leona could feel her heart thudding so hard it was about to burst out of her chest. She had no idea her brothers and the FBI were onto her and Jake. There had never been a single thing on the news which linked them together.

“What? Where did you think I was?” she asked loudly enough to be heard all the way to the FBI agents, and her brother gritted his teeth.

Purposefully, and laced with menace, his lips formed two words without a single sound. “Shut up!” he hissed, and let her arm free, pasting a calm expression on his face. Leona didn’t fool him.

“I don’t know. These agents seem to think you were kidnapped by Jake Hartford. He escaped from prison where he was serving life for murder.” Leona was sure that Damon knew she was up to something. She knew she could trust him, but would her lawyer brother stick by her when he learned she had been cavorting naked in a fugitive’s bed?

“That’s absurd!” Leona chuckled but it didn’t come out as real as she had planned in her head. “How could I be kidnapped? I went skiing. You all knew.”

“Yes, we knew, but you were also to return last Saturday, and we heard nothing from you. Then dad got shot and the FBI thought there was a connection between your disappearance and dad’s assassination attempt. That’s why it hasn’t been released to the media. These guys here were trying to find you and Hartford.”