Part 1: No Regrets(Divine Creek Ranch 2)(99)

Before she could pull on her robe and slippers, she knew exactly what was going on next door. Gooseflesh covered her skin as she listened to the unmistakable sounds of boisterous fucking coming from Eli’s side of the duplex. She tried to stand, but the strength had left her legs.

The sounds of female arousal, begging to be fucked, even the sound of a loud slap and a moan were clear and unmistakable. Even with her hands over her ears, she could hear the joyous sound of a woman getting her brains fucked out. Rachel listened, utterly mystified and hurt. She couldn’t believe she was listening to Eli fucking another woman. Filled with confusion, she couldn’t reconcile this with his solicitous behavior at her parents’ house.

Rachel lay there listening as the pace of the noise next door increased in tempo. She heard loud moans and wailing as Eli evidently satisfied the fuck out of the woman he was screwing and then a loud yell as he got off, too.

She curled on her side as it grew quiet next door except for a giggle now and then.

Pain lanced through her from her injuries, and she knew she must have been tensing up too much. She lay there praying that they were finished.

She’d give herself a few minutes to recover and then call her mother to come get her and take her back home.



226

Heather Rainier

No, she couldn’t do that. She had a place of her own now. She couldn’t run home to Mommy and Daddy even though that was what she wanted to do. She’d screwed up royally taking a place right next door to Eli. Now she’d lose her deposit when she moved for breaking the lease agreement.

This was one gigantic fucking mess. Had this been going on the whole time she had been at her parents’? He must have gotten tired of going without sex and one of those sluts at the club had seized her opportunity.

Better to know this now before her heart was fully committed.

What a dumbass. Who am I kidding?

Her heart had been committed from the moment their eyes had locked across the dance floor. This was going to hurt, no matter how she candy-coated it or tried to rationalize it.

She pulled the pillow over her head and tried to calm her breathing and figure out what to do next because she couldn’t stay there. She’d make some calls in a few minutes and try to find a hotel room for the night and then start searching for a new place from there.

Rachel nearly came out of her skin when she felt a big hand on her arm.

“Angel? What’s the matter?” His soft voice sounded alarmed as he removed the pillow from her head.





* * * *



Eli knelt down at the side of her bed. Her hair was stuck to the damp trails of her tears, and her pillow was damp, too. How long had she been like that? A cold chill went through him at the stark pain in her eyes.

“Are you hurting? When was the last time you took a pain pill? Do you need one? Your mom called me. She knew you wanted to surprise me, but she started to worry and decided to call me and let me know you were here.”

She stared mutely at him, hers eyes full over misery and pain.

He whispered softly, “Angel? You’re scaring me here. What’s the

matter?” He sat on the edge of the bed and helped her sit up carefully, but she inched away from him. Fresh tears tracked down her cheeks, and a fresh painful sob rasped hoarsely from her throat. The sound made his heart kick up a notch.

She stared at him as if she didn’t know him. Her brows knitted together when she looked into his eyes. Furiously, she swiped at the tears as he



Her Gentle Giant, Part 1: No Regrets

227

continued to stare at her, waiting for her to say something. She brushed her hair back. Eli became more baffled by the second as she looked at him coldly, her hands trembling. He was so glad to see her and ached to take her in his arms and fix whatever was troubling her, but she wouldn’t speak to him.

“Baby, what is it? Is it your throat? Are you in pain?” He gently grasped her upper arms and pulled her to his chest as her body began to shake, racked with soundless sobs. He felt tears in his own eyes at the pain and confusion he saw in hers. “Angel, please tell me what is wrong.”

Angrily, she pushed back from him and knocked his hands away,

flinging herself violently to the other corner of the bed out of his reach. He stood and walked around the bed, frightened that she would re-injure herself.

He spoke softly to her to calm her, his heart breaking at the way her shoulders shook and the rasp of her soundless sobs in her chest. She held her hand protectively over the surgical site on her abdomen, really scaring him now. He held both palms up, trying to calm her. Clearly, touching her only upset her now.

“Angel, tell me what’s wrong. I came home right after your mom called me to let me know you were here. Has something happened?” She glanced at the denim work shirt and jeans he wore for his tower climbing work and seemed to become even more bewildered.