Petty Thief of Hearts Read online

  “How long have you been living down here?” she asked quietly.

  He sighed and turned to face her. “About six years.”

  Her eyes widened. “Six years!”

  He hopped up the car stairs and beckoned for her to follow. Slowly, she did, easing into the spacious and completely redecorated train car. Inside, it was like a whole new world, a type of gypsy caravan meets modern day scavenging hunt. Everywhere she looked she saw…stuff. Pots, pans, books, candles, cups, notebooks, and ton of other bric-a-brac were scattered about. There was furniture, cement bricks used as table tops, and empty crates. There was even a bed in the back with a gauze netting hanging from the ceiling to encase it. The place was simply mind boggling.

  “Where do you go to the bathroom?”

  It was the first thing that popped into her head.

  “The station,” he answered, as if that made complete sense. “So, let’s start with your name.” He flopped down onto a thread-bare sofa and held up a plastic card. “Your ID says Martha but you don’t look like a Martha.”

  Jessie looked into her fanny pack and noticed that her fake driver’s license was missing. She marched over to Mr. Thief and held out her hand. With another smirk, he handed it back to her.

  “Wanna split your money with me?” he asked.

  “How about I kick you in the nuts?”

  He raised an eyebrow and reached into his pocket and produced her wad of cash. She blinked. How the hell had he stolen that again? She yanked it back and began counting it.

  “It’s all there, Martha.”

  “My name is Jessie,” she said. “Not Jessica, just Jessie.”

  “And those men? FBI?”

  “I’m…not sure.”

  “All right, pulling teeth it shall be.”

  She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “Shall I keep calling you Mr. Thief or do you have a real name?”

  “I’m Ethan,” he replied. “Ethan Stromhold, at your service.”

  He gave a mocking half bow from his supine position. She saw his muscles ripple and there was that…that…feeling again. The one that drew her to him on some deep, elemental level that she hadn’t the foggiest notion how to understand.

  “Why have you been down here for six years?”

  All his debonair mocking evaporated and he sat up, regarding her warily. They stared at each other in a mental standoff, a battle of wills. Her petty thief had balls, she’d give him that. She also recognized hardheadedness when it stared her in the face because most of the time it was. She was the very definition of stubborn.

  “I saw a man kill another man,” she finally said and his eyes widened with surprise. He hadn’t been expecting her to cave. “I’ve been in protective custody for almost a year but my location was blown so I ran. I’m supposed to testify tomorrow in Philadelphia and I’d bet every cheesesteak in the city that those men are trying to make sure I don’t get to the court house.”

  Ethan blew out his breath. “Why would you stick your neck out like that?”

  Jessie looked around the train car and saw an old chair with the stuffing oozing out at the side. She picked up a blanket and threw it over the chair, hoping it wasn’t infested with bugs.

  “It was awful,” she admitted as she gingerly sat down. Suddenly she was so glad to have someone to talk to, someone not working on the case, that she didn’t know how to shut up. Everything came pouring out. “I was a junior in college, working in a coffee house and I happened to be the one throwing away the garbage. There was this man and he was stabbing this other poor, defenseless man over and over, and there was blood everywhere. Even in the moonlight I knew it was blood. It spurted out of him like a faucet. I didn’t know people could bleed like that! And I screamed and I ran and then...before I knew it the FBI was there. They took me into protective custody and asked me to testify so I said yes. And I haven’t seen my family in a year.”

  She wiped impatiently at the tear that ran down her cheek. She didn’t have time to cry.

  “You have a good family?” he asked quietly, tentatively, as if the idea of a good family astounded him.

  She nodded. “I have a little sister named Amy. I missed her birthday. And my mom and dad…they didn’t want me to go to school in Philadelphia but I liked the history, you know? I want to work in museums.”

  “Did the FBI put them into protective custody too?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “I don’t know where. They said it would be better if we were separated. I’ve disrupted their lives so much.”

  “If they love you, they’ll understand,” he replied, with a trace of bitterness.

  “Where’s your family?”

  He took a deep breath and for a second, his gaze defocused, as if he was reliving a memory. “I’m from Philadelphia,” he finally said. “My dad’s a doctor and my mom’s a housewife. She used to drive me all over the place, to soccer practice and piano lessons and swim class.”

  “They sound great.”

  He nodded sadly. “I was a horrible son.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  He ran a hand through his hair and it was obvious he wasn’t comfortable talking about his past. “I was young and stupid and thought I knew everything.”

  “That doesn’t make you sound like a horrible son. That sounds like every teenager on the planet.”

  He gave a lopsided grin. “Yeah, well, when I was sixteen I got busted for drugs. They weren’t mine but it didn’t really matter. My dad didn’t believe me. My mom didn’t believe me. The cops didn’t believe me. So like an idiot I ran.”

  “You’ve been down here ever since?”

  “I was on the streets for a few months and let me tell you, that was awful. But I remembered reading about the lost train rails so I went exploring. I kind of like history too.”

  “Do you ever miss being with them?”

  He didn’t answer at first and then, slowly, he nodded. “I want to go home,” he whispered.

  The words broke her heart, and before she realized what she was doing, she rose and walked over to sit beside him. She took his hand and felt that strange zing again, the one that curled her toes and brought a sizzling warmth surging through her blood. Everything in her body tightened at once as the atmosphere slowly shifted, evolved.

  “I’ll help you get home,” she vowed.

  Their eyes locked and she saw lust flare in his deep blue gaze. She’d had boyfriends and had a few college lovers, but nothing had ever sucker punched her quite like the desire she felt for this man. And why? He wasn’t really her type. She’d always dated jocks, big muscled men that could bench press her. Ethan was tall, slender, with a wiry body that belied the strength in his physique.

  “I’ll get you to that courthouse,” he vowed to her. “They won’t find you down here.”

  “Why would you help me?” she asked, confused.

  He moved off the sofa onto his knees and knee-walked between her thighs. Since she was sitting down, their faces came nose to nose. He reached over and ran a finger gently down her cheek. He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he leaned toward her, slowly, as if giving her a chance to pull back. But she didn’t want to pull back. In fact, something actually pulled her toward him. Her heart pounded in her chest, a thousand butterflies erupted in her stomach, and her panties flooded with wetness. Never had she had such a visceral reaction to a man.

  Their lips met, the tentative type of first kiss of two strangers coming together, and Jessie ignored the small voice in her head reminding her that, technically, this wasn’t their first kiss. Still, almost immediately Jessie opened for him, her tongue meeting and dancing with his. The kiss deepened as he withdrew and plunged, nibbled and devoured, until they were both breathless. He pulled her until her body was flush with his as he lay back on the couch and with a sense of surreal wonder, realized that she wanted him, without rhyme or reason. She wanted him to take her, possess her, for the simple fact that he made her feel again.

  “Do you h
ave condoms?” she asked, a bit breathlessly as his mouth traveled down her neck.

  “Baby, I’ve got everything down here,” he said. But then he pulled back and frowned at her. “But I want to assure you that I, uh, I don’t do this type of thing.”

  Her brows shot up. “You’re a virgin?”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I meant I don’t find girls, drag them into my lair all caveman style, to have sex.”

  She smiled and nipped at his bottom lip. “You are pretty sexy as a drunken thief. I want you to fuck me, Ethan. Please?”

  “How can I say no to such pretty manners?”

  His kissed her again, deepening immediately, his tongue sweeping into her mouth to possess her fully. Jessie opened for him, her tongue meeting and dancing with his. And while they were joined at the mouth, he managed to stand and sweep her up into his strong arms to take her to the bed. With the lanterns throwing patterns all around the white gauze, she couldn’t imagine a more romantic looking place.

  He let her go and her body slithered down his. Chest to chest, stomach to stomach, hip to hip. She felt his dick straining through his jeans and was impressed by the girth she discovered. The tunnel was cool but her blood ran heated through her system as adrenaline mixed with lust. This was crazy! She was about to have sex with a man she just met, on the run from bad guys, in a train graveyard at that! But she couldn’t hold back her moan as he pulled her up, bringing her body against his. She didn’t know what he’d been doing down here for six years but good lord the man was all hard muscles. She grew impatient to feel his skin against hers so she tugged his shirt up and over his head, tossing it aside. He was beautiful. His chest was smooth and he had that V thing going on at his hips that made women stupid.

  He tugged her t-shirt off. “I want to ogle too,” he whispered teasingly.

  She hurried and discarded it and her bra. Reverently, he cupped her breasts that filled his hand perfectly and teased her nipples with his thumbs. The sensation caused her to moan and thrust her tits out even more.

  “Ah, Ethan, that fills so good,” she gasped.

  He leaned over and his mouth engulfed her right nipple while his fingers rolled her other taut nipple around. Jessie threw her head back as he sucked and teased her. God! His mouth felt so good!

  “Oh my god!” she moaned. “More. I need more.”

  He rose and quickly discarded her pants and panties before doing the same with his. And then he fell on top of her, gripping her thighs. He didn’t have to pry her legs apart, they were already falling open as his fingers slid over her skin to find her dripping pussy. One finger pushed through her slit, into her core, and her hips undulated. Ethan used her natural lubricant to tease her, pumping in and out between her plump pussy lips and making sure to bump against her clit. He leaned forward to lap up her juices, first off her thighs and then following the trail up. While his finger continued to tease, he sucked her sensitive clit into his mouth and began to suck. She cried out and her fingers curled into his hair as she began to thrust against his face, in time with his fingers that fucked her. She felt herself begin to splinter apart and then she screamed his name as her orgasm swept over her. He sucked it up, licking her until she gave a little shudder and went limp.

  He pulled back, onto his knees and reached toward a small night stand beside the bed to grab a condom. She watched him through half open eyes, feeling glorious in post coitus bliss, but watching his large cock made her mouth water. As he scooted back toward her, clutching a foil packet, she sat up to take hold of his cock. Fluid leaked from the slit so she leaned over and French kissed it, lapping up his pre-cum and loving the saltiness of his flavor.

  “Oh shit,” he moaned and buried a hand in her hair.

  He guided her down to take him fully into her mouth and she obliged, taking him as far as she could until her gag reflex kicked in. She involuntarily swallowed against his cockhead in her throat and he groaned. She pulled back and looked up at him. He eased her off his rock hard dick, her saliva glistening on his shaft.

  “As amazing as that feels I want to be in your delicious pussy,” he whispered.

  She nodded and he ripped open the condom packet and rolled it on his cock.

  “Lay down,” she ordered. “I want to ride you.”

  “Oh baby,” he breathed and lay on his back. He grabbed her hips and dragged her over him. Jessie raised herself up and held his cock as she lowered herself down upon it. He filled her oh so deliciously, just like she knew he would. His cock stretched her, almost painfully, but she loved it. She’d never felt so full, so out of her mind with need. He twined their fingers together and then he began to push his hips upward just as she ground down. The friction spun her into the stratosphere, blowing her mind until all that mattered in the world was where they were joined together.

  “Uh!” she cried.

  “Am I hurting you?”

  “No. More. Please, give me more.”

  “Ride me, baby.”

  It was all the encouragement she needed. Jessie clamped her thighs around his and rode him hard, propelling herself up and down his cock, working their fever up until they were both straining, both sweating. She was half draped over his body, the tips of her breasts brushed against his chest as his arms locked around her. The friction between them, rubbing all her over sensitive places, was too much.

  “Ethan! I’m going to come!” she cried.

  “Yes!” he cried back.

  His pelvic bone banged against her clit and that was it. Her orgasm rose up, overtaking her, splintering her apart. She cried out, clamped down on the huge cock filling her and she dimly heard Ethan’s own shout of completion. She lay draped over his body, panting, for a long moment until he withdrew from her body. She slithered onto her side into a wonderful mass of goo, watching as he tore off the condom.

  “Oh wow,” she murmured.

  “Oh wow right back at you,” he replied.

  They lay eye to eye, staring at each other, in a sweaty heap. He kissed her gently, lovingly, on the temple. Jessie felt like something had monumentally shifted in her universe.

  “The moment I laid eyes on you I knew you’d change my life,” he whispered. “That’s why I’ll help you.

  She cupped his face. “Will you leave this train car with me?”

  He took a deep breath. “Ironic that we’re both hiding from our families, although you do have the more noble reason.”

  “I’d like to think I’m noble but…I don’t know,” she admitted. “If I’d known what testifying would mean, what it would do to my family, I may have lied.”

  “That man would’ve killed you anyway. Besides, you’re not the type of girl to walk away from doing what’s right.”

  “How do you know what type of girl I am?”

  “Because most people would have lied, or looked the other way,” he said. “And if they had done the right thing how many do you think would chase down a thief to get their money back so they could go to court? Let me tell you it’s a big fat zero.” He held up his finger and thumb that had formed the number.

  “You still didn’t answer me. Will you leave this train car, this life, to go home?”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “It is easy, Ethan.”

  He didn’t answer her. Instead, he grabbed her hip and pulled her closer to his body and she felt his cock stir to life. She raised her eyebrows and slid one leg over both of his. He reached between them and felt her clit, using the pad on his thumb to apply pressure to the sensitive little nub. She panted in his ear and her fingernails dug into his back.

  “Already?” she murmured.

  “I have a feeling that I’m always going to be ready around you.”

  Chapter Four

  They left the hidden train car at dawn. Ethan had put a dark hoodie on her and warned her to keep her face covered, and then he was pulling her through the dark tunnel, leading her back through the labyrinth to the train tracks. All was quiet in the stat
ion, eerily so, and their footfalls echoed in the cavernous room.

  Since the doors were locked he took her hand and led her outside and around the side to the fence, where he easily picked the lock holding the gate together. They clung to the predawn shadows and Jessie realized Ethan led them steadily away from the station to the nearby underpass. Even now the freeway hummed with the speeding traffic.

  “Where’re we going?” Jessie asked.

  “If those men in black are willing to do anything to keep you from testifying, they’ll be monitoring all routes of public transportation,” Ethan replied. He stopped under one pillar and pulled from his jacket a can of spray paint. He marked one pillar with an X inside a circle. “We need to find another way to get to Philly.”

  “What’s that for?”

  “My friend doesn’t use a cell phone,” he said. “He believes burner phones lure you into a false sense of security so the government can track you.”

  Jessie’s eyebrows went up. “Conspiracy nut?”

  “Yeah, don’t ever get into a debate with him about whether zombies are real or a governmental plot,” he warned.

  “Okay,” she said with a chuckle.

  Ethan pulled her down under the pillar and they sat with their backs against the cold concrete, waiting. She kept glancing at him, unable to stop herself. Last night had been…well, it had been amazing, although she still couldn’t believe that she had had sex with a practical stranger. A street thief. She couldn’t imagine willingly being away from her family for six years and her heart hurt for him. She remembered being sixteen, hormones raging and questioning her parents’ authority. She’d known her parents had loved her and they were only harsh because of that love. What made someone not believe in that unconditional love?

  Ethan caught her looking at him and one dark eyebrow shot up. “What?”

  “I’m still in shock about last night.”

  He grinned. “Shocked about how amazing we are together?”

  “Totally.”

  He brought her hand up and kissed it. And then he tugged and she fell into his lap, face up, and he swiftly captured her lips in a soul-deep kiss. Her mouth parted and he swept his tongue inside, dancing with hers. Her body immediately responded, arching into his as her panties dampened. She wiggled her hips, making the seam on her jeans press against her clit for that oh so heavenly feeling.