Free Only Hers by Francis Ray

invitation and underlying promise of discretion and pleasure. The overgrown shrubbery, dingy windows, and cars of assorted ages and models told their own story of those whose carnal desires outweighed any other consideration. At least, on this night.
    Matt passed the front office without slowing. His headlights on bright, he turned in a wide, searching arc in the one-story motel court. Number twelve was at the farthest end. An old dented Buick was parked at an angle in front, as if the occupants had been anxious to get inside.
    Coming to a gravel-spitting stop, Matt jumped out of the vehicle. A heavy fist pounded on the door. “Open up!” A choked cry came from behind the peeling pink wood.
    “Shannon! Shannon!”
    Frantically, he twisted the knob. He stepped back with every intention of breaking the door down when he heard what sounded like his name and furniture being moved. Seconds later the door swung open. He only had a moment to glimpse Shannon’s tear-stained face before she launched herself against him, her arms going around his neck.
    “I—I thought you were that man who was bothering me earlier. Oh, Matt. I was so scared,” she cried, her cheek pressed against his chest.
    Something in his gut clenched again. His arms clutched around her shivering body drawing her closer. What if ithadn’t been him? Fury at the unknown man—and himself—whipped through him.
    For the first time in his memory, he didn’t think right or wrong, he didn’t weigh the cost. He simply held her. “It’s all right, Shannon. I’m here.”
    Her grip tightened as she tried to burrow closer. Her voice quivered. “I . . . I was so scared.”
    “It’s over. I’m here now.” One hand slid down the smooth curve of her back, the other one tunneled through her hair. He soothed her with his voice, the steady rhythm of his hand.
    The angry voices of a man and woman erupted in the courtyard. “I need to close the door, Shannon.”
    She tensed. “D-don’t leave me.”
    “I’m not.” Curving one arm around her small waist, he anchored her against his chest, moved just enough to reach the door, then slammed it shut. The instant the door closed, she released a tension-filled sigh. Her warm breath raked delicately over the side of his neck, the bare skin beneath his partially opened shirt.
    Reluctantly, he set her on her feet, but kept her within the confines of his arms. “You feel better?”
    She nodded, still not releasing her hold or moving away from him. With the full length of her body flush against his, he felt the lush imprint of each soft curve, the generous fullness of her breasts, inhaled the alluring fragrance of her perfume. Desire tore through him, but he ruthlessly controlled it.
    Wrong time, wrong place, wrong woman.
    The problem was she felt so right in his arms.
    “No one is going to hurt you,” he assured her.
    “I—I knew that once I saw you.”
    Her words shouldn’t have caused the strange feeling in his chest, but they did, and at the moment, there was nothing he could do about it except remember vulnerable women said things they often didn’t mean. “When you feel better we’re leaving.”
    A shiver ripped through her. “This was the only placeI could afford after I couldn’t find the rest of my money or my credit card,” Shannon explained.
    Every nerve in Matt’s body went on alert. His hand in the small of her back paused. “You lost your money?”
    “At first I thought I did. But after going over it again and again, I think I must have left the rest of my money and the one credit card I always carry on trips at home on my dresser.” Sadness darkened her amber-brown eyes as she looked up at him. “I was in such a hurry to leave.”
    “To see the meadow,” he said, ice sliding into his voice.
    She nodded and lowered her head to his chest. “Everyone I called back home tonight was out. I just sat by the pay phone at the store and kept calling my family and friends in St. Louis with my calling