Jamie Hill         

"Jamie Hill is at the top of her game." ~ Simply Romance Reviews  

Torrid Teasers volume 22:
Shades of Gray & Windfall

Excerpt: Shades of Gray

It was a dark and stormy night. Sarah Carlson chuckled at the thought as she drove down the highway. Scary stories often started like that, but this was the first night she ever remembered feeling that way. Night had fallen and it was pitch black outside, except for the streaks of lightening that randomly lit the sky.

A loud clap of thunder rattled the car, and from the backseat Sarah heard, "Boom!"

"That's right, big boom," she said, and turned to flash a quick smile at her two year old son, Davey.

He was fastened securely in his car seat, with a toy truck in each hand. "Boom!" he repeated, and crashed the trucks into each other.

"You're not a bit scared, are you?" She wondered why she felt so jumpy. It wasn't just the darkness, or the threat of the oncoming storm. It felt as if the atmosphere was electrically charged and Sarah was wired into it.

She hoped to get an earlier start to their lake cabin, but one phone call after another kept her home longer than she planned. Now she was driving in the dark with rain pelting her windshield. "We're almost there," she told Davey, reassuring herself as well.

A streak of lightening flashed and Sarah saw a deer in the road ahead. "Shit!" She slammed on the brakes and swerved to the shoulder to avoid contact. The deer galloped off and Sarah clung to her steering wheel, breathing deeply. She glanced back at Davey and asked him, "You okay?"

"Horsie!" He clapped his hands, dropping the trucks.

"That was a deer, sweetie. Can you say deer?"

"Deer," Davey repeated and started fussing for his trucks.

"All right." Sarah figured since she was stopped anyway, she could take a minute to retrieve the dropped toys. She twisted around to the backseat but still couldn't reach them. Muttering to herself as she got out of the car, Sarah dove into the backseat to avoid as much of the rain as possible. "Here you go." She picked up the trucks and handed them to her son. "I hope you realize what a nice mommy you have."

His smile was all the thanks she needed, and Sarah smiled back as she hopped out of the car. Standing up, she came face to face with a man in a dark black rain poncho. Sarah jumped and squealed, "What the--" as the man held his hands up innocently.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He smiled from under the hood. "First the deer, and now me."

Sarah looked at him suspiciously and inched toward her door. "No, it's okay. The weather's making me a little nervous, is all. We're late meeting my husband. He's probably on his way here looking for us."

"Get back in, please, you're getting soaked." He motioned toward the car and took a step away, probably so she would feel more secure, she deduced.

"Thanks." Sarah got in and quickly locked her doors. She started up the car and unrolled her window an inch.

The man took one step closer but Sarah didn't feel threatened. She thought he had kind blue eyes and a very nice smile. "What are you doing out on a night like this?"

"I'm hitchhiking cross-country. I should have stopped at that last town, but I thought the rain might hold off a while. I guess I haven't got Kansas weather figured out yet."

Sarah laughed. "Don't bother with that. But you are out of luck, there's nothing up this way for miles."

He smiled again and tightened his rain poncho around him. "Guess I'm in for a wet night then."

Sarah felt a flash of guilt, but knew she couldn't invite this stranger into her car. Her husband, Cliff, would have a fit. And with Davey, well, Sarah just couldn't take any chances. She looked at the man and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I can't help you."

He waved a hand. "No problem. I've been out in worse. Have a nice night." He started walking and Sarah sat and thought for a moment. A flash of lightening sparked in front of them and she saw the stranger hesitate for a second before continuing his journey. She debated what to do, and finally made a decision she thought was a good compromise.

She pulled the car even with the man, and he looked at her. Sarah rolled her window down an inch and said, "My husband would have a fit if I gave you a ride, so I'm afraid I really can't. But we do have a garage near our cabin where you could spend the night, if you don't mind roughing it."

He smiled widely at her. "Any place that's dry, I can throw my bedroll out, and I'll be happy as a clam."

"It's about half a mile down this road, and then another half a mile on the road to our place. You'll have to walk, but if you want to use the garage, you're welcome."

"No problem," he agreed.

She motioned to the road. "Keep going until you see the little white sign that says Carlson. Turn right and keep walking until you see the house and garage. I'll have my husband open the garage for you."

He offered her a little salute and nodded. "Much obliged, ma'am."

Sarah felt better as she drove off. She'd have time to get Davey safely tucked away in the cabin and retrieve the gun Cliff kept locked up there. She wished Cliff actually was there waiting for them, but he was killed in a traffic accident when Davey was a baby. This stranger didn't have to know that, she decided.

The cabin was tight and secure, just like she left it a couple weeks earlier. Sarah and Cliff had loved coming out here on weekends to fish, swim and get away from it all. They didn't have a TV, and no phone service other than the cell phones they carried with them. Now that it was just Sarah and Davey, she still enjoyed the retreat and wanted their son to grow up loving the same things his father had.

She parked in front of the cabin and dashed to the front door to unlock it. Sarah went back for Davey and threw her jacket over him, carrying him inside. "Wait here while I get the rest of our things." She made two more quick trips to bring in food and their small suitcases.

"Here we go," she said, setting everything inside and closing, then locking the door. "Ooh, I need to turn the heat up. Then maybe I'll build a fire in the fireplace." She turned on a few lights and cranked the thermostat up to seventy. "Everything looks fine," Sarah commented, speaking to herself more than Davey.

She got the lockbox from the top shelf of her bedroom closet and used her key to open it. Cliff's service revolver from when he was a deputy sheriff was inside, and Sarah brought it out. Cliff taught her to shoot after they were first married, and told her she was a natural at it. Sarah stuck the gun in her coat pocket, hoping as she always did that she'd never have to put that knowledge to use.

"Stay here, buddy, I'll be right back." Sarah gave Davey a kiss on the top of the head and left him in the house while she ran out to unlock the garage. If the stranger walked fast, he could be here anytime, and she didn't want to come face to face with him. Even if he had a nice face. Then she laughed softly. Cliff had been gone almost two years now, and Sarah was noticing the faces--and other attributes--of men more and more these days.

She unlocked the garage and left one of the double doors ajar. She jogged back to the cabin and was inside looking out the window before she saw sign any signs of her visitor.

He walked up the driveway, not seeming to be in any particular hurry. He opened the garage door and glanced up to the cabin. Sarah didn't know if he could see her or not, but he waved toward the window and she quickly closed the curtain.

She fed Davey before they left home and he was ready for bed. Sarah changed him and tucked him in, with lots of hugs and kisses and whispered giggles. He was a good child, had been the perfect baby, and never gave her a moment's grief. She watched him from the doorway as he snuggled into his bed with his favorite stuffed moose, a gift from his daddy, clutched to his side.

Sarah sighed as she walked down the hallway and back into the front room. She picked up one of the many pictures of Cliff that graced the shelf on the wall, and smiled. He looked so handsome in his deputy uniform. One night before they were married, he followed her as she walked home from work, and used his lights and sirens to get her attention. He pretended to arrest her on a solicitation charge, and they drove to a secluded spot and had sex right there in the squad car. Sarah grinned at the memory, knowing Cliff's father--the sheriff--would not be amused. It was a good memory for her, though. Most all of her memories of Cliff were good ones, especially the sexy ones. She and Cliff never had any problems in that department.

Setting the picture back on the shelf, Sarah lit a fire in the fireplace and found herself wandering to the window and peeking out again. Why was it when she found herself thinking about sex, her mind went so quickly to the stranger in her garage? She didn't really know how cute he was under that big rain poncho. Just because he seemed to have a nice face. . . Sarah drew back the curtain and looked for him.

He wasn't hard to find. One of the garage doors was wide open and she had a full view of her guest. He had a flashlight or lantern of some type, so the garage was illuminated. She could see his bedroll spread out on one side, and a knapsack on the other. He had strung a makeshift clothesline and was drying some of his clothes. Sarah watched as he peeled off his shirt and hung it over the line next to his socks. It was only thirty yards or so to the garage, and her question was quickly answered. He was very cute, with curly brown hair and six-pack abs that looked like he did nothing but work out all day.

She closed the curtain swiftly, not wanting to invade his privacy. She needed to eat, Sarah decided, and get her mind on other things. She made beef stew at home and brought some of it with her for her dinner, so all she had to do was heat it up, and she proceeded to do that. Her mind kept wandering to the man outside, and before she sat down to eat, she went to peek at him one more time.

Excerpt: Windfall

She was woken abruptly with a yank to her hair and the sound of a gun being cocked in her ear.

"Get up!"

"Who the fuck are you?" Misty Stanton sat up quickly. She had no choice; her hair was going with or without her.

"Mr. Davis sends his regards. Where is Benny?"

Misty rubbed her eyes and looked at the man in the tan suit standing next to her bed. He was tall and muscular with closely cropped brown hair and a neatly trimmed Van Dyke beard. She knew him from somewhere, if she could just focus. . . "Derek Richmond!" she muttered. He was the infamous henchman who did dirty work for the owner of the Atlantic City casino where Misty worked.

"Gold star for you. I repeat, and let me advise you that I hate to repeat myself. . .where is Benny Alonso?"

She looked up at him. "Could you let go of my hair, please? I might think better if you're not yanking on my brain."

He dropped the tuft of long brown hair and leaned down to look in her face. "I could yank that peabrain out one of your ears and shove it back in the other if I wanted to. Now you'd better start talking, or things are going to get unpleasant."

Misty reached for her cigarettes on the nightstand and lit one. "As if they aren't unpleasant now?" She glanced at the menacing look on Richmond's face and said quickly, "Okay, okay. I'll tell you what I know, which is not much. I saw Benny at work yesterday as he was leaving his shift dealing Blackjack. He told me he had a meeting with Mr. Davis, and he'd see me at home later. I got done waitressing at eleven, but he wasn't here when I got home. I waited up for him awhile, and then went to sleep."

"You never heard from him, and he never came home?"

"That's what I'm telling you."

"He never mentioned coming into a little windfall at the craps table?"

Misty was surprised. "No, he never mentioned it."

He grabbed her by the back of the neck and yanked her to a standing position, letting the barrel of his gun rest directly below her chin. "Why do I not believe you?"

"I don't know," Misty muttered nervously. "I'm telling you the truth."

He glared at her. "So, does your scum-sucking, low-class boyfriend not come home often?" He pressed the gun into her flesh.

"No!" she cried out, fighting back tears. She would not let this ape see her cry! But damn if he wasn't hurting her. Misty blinked rapidly; tears were still threatening as she realized things were likely to get worse.

He glared at her for another minute and then released her.

She took a drag of her cigarette and crushed it out in the ashtray. "What's going to happen?"

He looked around. "Mr. Davis wants his money. If Benny isn't going to stand up and face his debt like a man, then we'll have to take whatever we can get."

"Take his debt like a man?" Misty scoffed. "What, by letting you shoot him in the kneecaps or someplace worse? I don't think he's going to do that."

Richmond sneered at her. "In that case, he should never have borrowed money from Mr. Davis. He knew the consequences."

Misty sighed and lit another cigarette. "Benny has a problem. You know it, Mr. Davis knows it, and I know it. Feel free to search the apartment, you won't find anything of value. If you do, you're welcome to it."

"Oh, I intend to." Richmond sneered at her again. "But I've already found one thing of value." He reached out and cupped her breast through her thin nightshirt. "Minimal value, for sure, but apparently, worth something."

Misty slapped his hand away and glared at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I have my orders," he informed her. "If Benny doesn't have the money, I'm to take care of him and bring you back to Mr. Davis."

Her jaw dropped open. "You can't be serious."

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

He didn't. Misty gulped and said softly "But I work for Mr. Davis."

"I'd guess you're going to be working for him in a different capacity now." He smiled evilly. "Unless he sells you to one of his foreign associates. They're always in the market for semi-attractive American women."

"You son of a--" She kicked his shin and he grabbed her wrists. Misty dropped her cigarette and Richmond stepped on it, grinding it out into the carpet.

  
"Jamie Hill's astonishing brilliance is something everyone should  
experience at least once in their lifetime." ~ Sensual Reads and Reviews