Wide and steel-hard, his erection rasped over nerve endings so sensitive she cried out at each stroke, poised at the edge of release and on the point of screaming to be pushed over. The need to o.r.g.a.s.m burned through her, her hunger for it clawing at her senses.
"Do you like it, sugar-girl?" he groaned at her ear. He thrust harder inside her, his c.o.c.k shuttling to the hilt with each stroke. Each impalement sent a rush of radiant heat and pleasure-pain radiating through her. She felt ready to fall into a maelstrom of erotic sensation so brilliant that nothing else mattered.
Reaching back, Anna grabbed his thigh, desperate for some part of him to hold onto. For some part of Archer to hold onto.
"Do you want more, sugar-girl?" he demanded, his voice hoa.r.s.e, his own pleasure building. "Do you want to come for me, Anna? Do you want to send that sweet p.u.s.s.y clenching and raining over my d.i.c.k?"
"Yes," she cried out, unable to deny him anything now. "Oh G.o.d, Archer, let me come. Let me come all over your c.o.c.k."
"Do you love it, Anna? Do you love coming for me?"
"Yes," she cried out. "I love it, Archer. Oh G.o.d, I love how you f.u.c.k me, how you make me come-"
Groaning, his thrusts became harder, faster. Drilling inside her, the thick width raking and caressing delicate nerve endings drove her insane with the building sensations. With his hands tight on her hips, holding her in place, he shafted inside her with such powerful inward strokes she became lost in the dizzying rush to release. She couldn"t hold back. She was lost in him. She felt so much a part of him at this moment that she wondered if she could ever live without his touch, his possession.
Each thrust pushed her higher, burned brighter inside her.
Anna whimpered his name, begged, pleaded for release. When it exploded, it tore through her senses and, for a moment, destroyed any idea she"d ever had of pleasure.
Behind her, Archer f.u.c.ked her through each explosive pulse of release. He pounded inside her, taking her fiercely until, at the last second, he pulled free of her, spilling his release to the rounded curves of her rear.
Archer was branding her with his touch. He was stealing parts of her that she had no idea how to protect. He was tearing through any walls she could have built against him and anchoring himself so deep inside her that she feared he was going to end up owning her soul.
CHAPTER 9.
Two days later Anna was going to make him crazy.
Sitting at his desk, Archer tried to keep his attention on the reports he was supposed to be working on, but he was d.a.m.ned if he could do it. All he could think about was Anna, her pain-filled eyes and the sense of betrayal he"d glimpsed there.
h.e.l.l, it wasn"t as if he"d run over a d.a.m.ned pet or something. Yet she"d had that same look in her eyes.
Trying to shake the memory wasn"t easy. And fixing it was going to be even harder. She"d been betrayed by everyone around her, and now she was expecting Archer to betray her as well.
He forced his attention back to the report on the abandoned vehicle he"d found on Main Street that morning. The car was registered to Elizabeth Haley of Sweetrock, but Archer hadn"t been able to locate an address for her. The address listed was one that hadn"t been used in years. The house on the property was falling in and the name on the mailbox was dried and faded, though still legible.
That name wasn"t Haley.
He"d checked with Talia Beckett in the clerk"s office and, though they had the same information he had, she couldn"t remember an Elizabeth Haley, either. And Talia, it seemed, had known everyone in the County by name and by face until this one.
As he frowned down at the information, the sound of his secretary"s voice pulled him from the report.
His secretary, Madge, wasn"t pleased.
"Just try to hurry, Mr. Sorenson. I"ve been trying to get those reports out of him for days."
"Stop fussing, Madge. He can take ten minutes for me."
Archer grinned at the querulous tone of the County attorney"s voice before the office door opened and Wayne Sorenson entered quickly.
Tall, reed-thin with a slight stoop at his shoulders in a subconscious attempt to appear shorter, Wayne Sorenson had that studious, lawyerly look portrayed in movies for decades.
With serious brown eyes and a face lined from years of squinting over law books and worrying about clients or cases, the other man had just celebrated his sixty-fifth birthday and was still going strong.
h.e.l.l, Archer hoped he had half the energy at that age as the County attorney had.
"d.a.m.ned bulldog," Wayne muttered as he closed the door and frowned over at Archer. "Where the h.e.l.l did you find her? She"s a menace to society, Archer, and a pain in my a.s.s whenever I have to deal with her."
Archer snorted. "At least she"s not making you do reports."
Pushing the files to the side while motioning Wayne to have a seat, Archer pushed the intercom b.u.t.ton.
"Yes, hon, what can I get for you?" Madge answered with her best Southern-charm voice.
Archer lifted his brows in surprise as he glanced at Wayne, before letting a grin curl at the side of his lips.
"Madge, could you get some coffee? A pot, please, and two cups. And if you don"t mind, a few pieces of that banana-nut bread you brought in?"
It was a h.e.l.l of a way to have to get some of that bread himself. She"d turned him down until he finished his reports. Hopefully, she wouldn"t deny him in front of Sorenson. She should know that was just a breach of good manners.
"Are those reports finished yet?" Madge asked sweetly, causing Wayne to chuckle in triumph.
"Not yet," Archer growled. "And if I don"t get my coffee and bread, then you"ll be lucky to get them before the week is out, let alone my shift." He disconnected with a swift click of the line before she could bring up an argument that would just p.i.s.s him off.
"Lord have mercy, that woman needs a husband and a pa.s.sel of kids to chill her out and keep her out of trouble," the older man grumbled.
"h.e.l.l, then I"d just have to lock one of "em up for killing her." Archer grinned, glancing outside the smoked-gla.s.s window as Madge rose from her chair, glared through the window, then turned and headed for the break room.
"d.a.m.n woman," Wayne muttered before giving Archer an appraising look. "Loan her to me for a few months. Maybe I could get caught up on my paperwork."
Archer really didn"t want to have to arrest Madge for killing the county attorney. That would just be a h.e.l.l of a mess.
"Sorry about that, Wayne." Archer shook his head, grinning back at the other man smugly. "As irritating as she can be, I think I"ll keep her."
Wayne nodded, though Archer could see the instant calculation filling the other man"s eyes. If he thought he could bribe Madge away, then he had a surprise coming. There wasn"t a chance in h.e.l.l Madge would leave the sheriff"s office, and Archer knew it.
"If you ever change your mind, let me know," the other man bargained instead. "I at least want first choice at hiring her."
"That I can do," Archer promised, grinning at the thought. "You"d return her in a day flat, though."
Leaning back in his chair he watched as the slender, doe-eyed young woman opened the office door and stepped inside with a large coffee tray.
Madge had spent five years in Atlanta, Georgia, working for an upscale designer, modeling the clothes they made.
She had instead elected to stay in Sweetrock to look after her parents while her brothers and sisters ran around the globe and had fun rather than continuing in the career she had chosen.
Her father had begun developing Alzheimer"s the year before, and her mother had only recently had a stroke.
If Madge was bitter about the choice, she never showed it. No matter where Archer saw her, or how bad her day might have been in dealing with him, she still seemed to keep her cool.
Setting the tray on the corner of his desk, she gave the obviously uncompleted stack of files a hard look before turning her attention back to him.
Archer narrowed his gaze on her. "Two hundred years ago you would have been burned at the stake as a witch," he informed her.
"Not hardly, sugar," she drawled. "Especially if the judge"s files were in the same shape yours are."
He had to give her that one. No doubt Madge would have survived when many others went up in flames.
Waiting until she poured the coffee and sliced the bread into small, thin slices, Archer took the opportunity to watch Wayne from the corner of his eye.
The other man couldn"t take his eyes off Madge"s legs, encased in silk hosiery and black heels.
Setting Archer"s cup and saucer in front of him, Madge then turned and placed Wayne"s at the end of the desk.
"Hold my calls until we"re finished, Madge," he told her as she finished.
"I"ll take care of it," she promised as she turned and walked gracefully from the room before closing the door behind her.
Archer enjoyed the slice of bread, small though it was, and sipped at his coffee as he gave the other man a chance to do the same.
"Why do I think I was privileged to a slice of that heavenly bread because it was the only way to get your own?" Wayne asked ruefully as he finished it, then brushed any possible crumbs from his gray slacks.
Archer chuckled. "She"s a slave driver."
"She reminds me of Amelia before I forced her home and took something very important from her." Wayne sighed. "She"s not been the same since," he lamented again.
Archer had to admit Amelia had changed over the past few years.
"Where is Amelia?" he asked the other man. "Anna was worried about her. She hasn"t answered her calls since Anna returned to Corbin County."
Wayne sighed, shaking his head. "I talked to her last night, but getting her to answer the phone isn"t always easy. I keep telling her she"s going to have to pull out of this slump, but-" He shrugged helplessly as he lifted his gaze to the window behind Archer. "h.e.l.l, she stopped confiding in me a long time ago."
"When you talk to her again, would you let her know Anna"s worried?"
Wayne nodded. "I"ll make sure she calls, Archer. Anna"s one of the few friends Amelia has left. I"d hate to see anything happen to destroy that friendship."
Archer rather doubted it was that imperative, but he didn"t tell Wayne. Sometimes, Archer had the feeling that the other man manipulated his daughter far more than anyone suspected. Wayne just wasn"t the type to beat her as far as he knew.
"So, then." Archer leaned back in his chair, putting his arms on the padded rests at the side. "What can I do to help you?"
Wayne"s eyes crinkled at the corners in amus.e.m.e.nt. "Straight to the point. I liked that about you, Sheriff."
Archer glanced at the files. "Reports. Or someone might have to arrest Madge for shooting me."
Wayne glanced back at the smoked gla.s.s before giving a light laugh in response. That amus.e.m.e.nt dissipated quickly though, leaving Wayne"s expression to tighten in displeasure instead.
"I just left another meeting with the chief of the state police and our esteemed governor. I believe there may well be chew marks on my a.s.s, Archer. They ripped me up one side and back down the other."
Archer grimaced in frustration. "Go ahead," he snorted in frustration. "Kick me while I"m already down."
There was no smugness in Wayne"s expression or in his gaze now. There was only disgust and a glimmer of impatience.
"Ms. O"Brien"s foster father, our governor, isn"t in the least happy that it"s taking so long to find his foster daughter"s attacker," Wayne bit out furiously. "They stopped by my office to give us a few ultimatums. Ones our mayor seems to agree with completely."
Archer wasn"t in the least concerned with the mayor, but he cared about as much for official ultimatums as Wayne did. Besides, this seemed a little fast since the last ultimatum Wayne had been given.
h.e.l.l, this day wasn"t turning out to be one of his better ones.
"Such as?" He was beginning to think Wayne was going to make him beg for the information.
The other man"s nostrils flared, his dirt-brown eyes glaring in remembered ire. "They reminded me that if another victim is found, or another comes up missing, then the state police will be given the investigation immediately, while the FBI will handle local questioning and continued profiling. We have six weeks to find and arrest the Slasher, or the investigation will be taken from us immediately. And you know what that means, Archer."
Nothing could foul this situation up worse now.
"h.e.l.l," Archer cursed. "We don"t need this."
"I believe I may have expressed the same sentiment myself," Wayne a.s.sured him before finishing his coffee and setting the cup back on the tray. "How would you like to handle this, then? There has to be some way figure out who the h.e.l.l the Slasher is, Archer, and whether or not he does indeed have a partner." Wayne had never believed it was a team, but rather a series of copycats.
Wayne"s lips tightened when Archer sighed wearily. h.e.l.l, the man didn"t have the patience of a two-year-old.
"How, then, are we going to proceed?" The same question repackaged.
Lifting his brow mockingly Archer said, "Well, Wayne, if you have an idea how to proceed that I haven"t yet used, then let"s hear it."
He was getting d.a.m.ned tired of the demand for results and the lack of cooperation in the case.
Wayne sighed heavily. "There was no offense intended, Archer," he promised. "The thought of Sweetrock under siege by the FBI and state police makes my skin crawl, though. They haven"t lived through this, nor have they seen what we"ve seen."
And wasn"t that the d.a.m.ned truth.
"Agreed." Archer rubbed at the back of his neck as he leaned forward and stared at the files he"d shoved to the side of his desk.
Lifting his gaze once again to Wayne"s, he breathed out roughly. "Let me think about this-"
"And let you contact the Callahans and see how they want to proceed?" Wayne"s jaw tensed, a muscle jumping at the side of his face as his brown eyes grew cool and filled with disdain. "Is this your investigation or the Callahans"?"
Archer forced a hard, cold smile to his lips. "Why don"t I give it to the Callahans and we"ll see if a difference can be seen."
The whole d.a.m.ned County would see a difference then.
"What about Anna?" Wayne"s demeanor shifted to one of concern. "The whole County is buzzing. The maids were on the phone within seconds of her leaving to spread the word that Corbin had thrown her out." He shook his head with a grimace. "That son of a b.i.t.c.h sure as h.e.l.l knows how to destroy a kid, doesn"t he?"
"She"s dealing with it, just not easily." Archer shrugged with a heavy sigh.