Chapter 25
Eight hours later I am still keyed up.
We stand off, in the middle of the cabina’s living room—if you can call it that—both of us with fists on our hips with matching frowns.
She’s ticked and I’m ready to kick the shit out of something. I’m also about to buckle under a crushing need to kiss her, drag her beneath me, and drive this demon out of my head.
There’s not a word to describe what’s been brewing inside me since I saw that fuckwad manhandling her. But something snapped.
I can’t touch her like this. I’ll be too dangerous.
I drop my hands from my hips, scrub one through my hair and pace a circle around her.
My seams are straining. This isn’t hypertension in my vessels, it’s nuclear propulsion.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I demand too forcefully.
Camile warily watches me circle her. She keeps glancing at my bloody arm, making little grimaces. Finally, she loses her patience. “You keep asking me that, but you’re the one bleeding. And you’re going to drip on the floor. Are you always this stubborn?”
“Thought you realized that by now. You didn’t answer me.”
Camile huffs out an exaggerated breath. “I’m fine. I told you that eight hours ago and 4 hours ago and ten minutes ago.”
My feet root to the floor. I reach for her, wrap my hand around the back of her neck, and draw her closer. “I’m sorry he scared you. I’m just mad as a spitting cobra and kicking myself in the balls for not being there to protect you.”
She stares at the center of my chest with her brows knotted together. “We’ve talked about this, too. You had a job to do. I was the idiot that let someone get close to me.”
Goddamn it. I growl at her, “Stop.”
She shakes her head and drops her forehead against my pec, sending a dangerous arc of energy through me. I swear if she puts her hands on me, I’m going to come uncorked.
With a frustrated groan, she says, “I know better. I really do.”
I raise my other hand and slide my fingers into her hair, tugging the band loose. The dark red waves tumble around her shoulders, making my mouth go dry.
Touching her like this is the last thing I should do. I need to take a goddamned walk and get my head straight before I make this situation worse.
She doesn’t need rough right now and that’s exactly what I’d be.
I exhale slowly and try to sound like a rational human. “He took you off guard.”
She pulls back and flaps her arms in frustration. “Still. If I hadn’t…”
“Did he hurt your arm? Because if he did, I’m going to rip his off. And even if he didn’t, I might rip his off anyway.”
“Now I know why they call you Beast,” she mutters.
I lift her wrist and inspect the delicate skin from her hand to her shoulder. When I see two dark red marks, I snarl, “Is this where he touched you?”
She punches me in the gut. “I hear you growling, Lucas. I’m fine.”
“Poppy, is this where he put his fucking hands on you?”
Her mouth hinges open, and I know it’s because I called her Poppy. I still can’t figure out her reaction to that. Don’t know if she likes it or if it rattles her.
After frowning, she declares, “I’m not talking about this.”
Camile has been avoiding looking at me since I pulled her close, and it’s making me crazy. I need to see in those windows, but what I really want is to see the truth she’s hiding from me.
But she keeps looking everywhere but at me. “Really, he didn’t hurt me. Why are you acting like a barbarian?”
“Because I am, Camile. Can’t you tell I’m nothing but a machine that’s made for war?”
She goes still. The pulse in her wrist kicks up beneath my thumb. “If you think that, then you’re completely wrong.”
Why is it so important for her to see me for what I really am?
So she pushes me away. That’s why. So she doesn’t let me inside. So I can convince her to leave and never look back.
Which feels like it might just kill me.
What kind of awful thing has invaded me?
A curse. It has to be. Payback for something. Karma. Cosmic justice.
I groan and drop my head back. While I’m staring at the ceiling, she pulls her hand free and plants both her palms on my chest.
“Go take a shower.” She tries with all her might to push me toward the bathroom. “Get cleaned up so I can take a look at your arm.”
I hook her around the waist and pull her into the bathroom with me. “You’re not going to be out of my sight.”
She rolls her eyes, closes her lids, and lets out a frustrated sound. “I’ll be right here, just in the other room.”
I reach behind my head and grab my T-shirt. “Do you want me to take a shower? If so, you’ll stay right here.”
She turns her back and crosses her arms. “This is blackmail.”
“You’re not wrong.” I toss my grubby, blood-stained shirt on the floor and pop the button on my cargos.
When I tug the zipper down, it echoes all around in the ridiculously small bathroom.
She makes a choking sound and starts fanning her face. “Um…”
“You shouldn’t be all bashful now.”
The air heats by ten degrees around her as she shifts uncomfortably. Pressing her legs together. “Beast…”
“Babe, are you thinking about how it felt to have my fingers in that hot little pussy of yours?”
This time, when she jolts, she squeaks my name. “Beast!”
“Lucas,” I remind her.
She shivers and fists the back of her hair, lifting it off of her neck. “Lucas,” she says tartly.
It’s my turn to shudder. Only, it’s more of a bone-rattling clenching of the muscles from my head to my toes. I’ve never wanted a woman more in my life.
I draw a deep breath in an effort to squelch the raging torrent inside of me.
“For the best, anyway. I don’t have any condoms.”
She cranes her neck and looks at me over her shoulder. “You don’t?”
Was that a disappointed sound she made?
“I’m not into casual fucking.”
I grab her arm and gently push her toward the closed toilet. “Sit. You can close your eyes if you’re scared to see me naked.”
With a mutter, she covers her eyes with her hands. “I’m not scared, Lu-cas.” She drags my name out for effect. “I’m just… I don’t know what I am. You blew my circuits earlier. Now I don’t know what’s going on in my body.”
From the way she’s rubbing her thighs together, I have a damned good idea what’s happening to her.
“Guess that’s a compliment.”
I shuck off my pants and briefs and reach for the shower spigot. The water comes on with a hiss. Surprisingly, the pressure is decent.
As I adjust the water, she says, “Oh it’s a compliment, I just…”
Behind me, there’s a sudden and very sharp intake of air. “You should have warned me you’re naked-naked.”
“I’m getting in the shower, of course I’m naked.”
I step under the cool stream of water, with her stare burning my back. My eyes are closed when she touches me. Just barely a brush of her fingertips on my stomach.
“My god, Lucas are these…”
I should have braced myself for her questions. I’ve heard them before.
“Gunshot scars.”
“And these?” Her fingers glide over my wet skin, across a few short, deep scars below my ribs.
“Knife.”
“And this?” she asks in a rough whisper.
“Shrapnel.”
I finally let myself look at her.
It’s a mistake. Those pretty hazel eyes are burning with emotion and shining with tears, and all her attention is aimed right at my face.
“I’m sorry,” she says in a voice so soft that my heart clunks.
“You can’t let it bother you.”
She goes back to searching my chest, leaving me reeling as she slides her fingers along behind her gaze. “So many.”
“I’ve been at war for a long time.”
Her throat works roughly. She flinches as she touches one particularly jagged line on my lower abdomen.
“I understand if I repulse you. I know my body is ugly.”
Camile slowly looks up at me. Gone is the sadness. Now there’s just determination in her cool hazel stare. “Lucas, stop talking.”
Her hand leaves my chest and slides up and around my neck, where she dives her fingers into my hair.
Heat spreads in the wake of her touch. A heaviness settles in my chest.
I should push her away. Young beautiful Camile deserves so much more than this.
I made one mistake today. There’s still time to stop this one from happening.
Without taking her eyes from mine, she steps into the shower. Clothing and all.
“What are you doing?”
She leans in and presses a kiss to my chest, right over my heart. “Taking you.”
I shake my head and close my eyes. “Where?”
“Away from here.”
When her mouth trails down my abs, peppering small, hot kisses, my cock surges, filling with a rush of blood.
Her small hands settle on my thighs, and I jolt to attention.
No… I can’t let her.
But when I look down, she’s already on her knees with her heavy-lidded gaze fixed on my lengthening cock.
She shivers below the spray from the shower head. When she flicks her gaze up to mine, she issues a warning. “Don’t say a word.”
“Fuck.”
A husky sound comes out of her parted lips. “Okay, you can say that. And other dirty things. It turns out I like that quite a lot.”
That makes me snap.
I grab her upper arms and hoist her off the floor. I finally do what I’ve needed to do for an hour. I crash my mouth into hers and take what I want.
As I hold her steady with one hand, I divest her of her shorts and panties. “Take off your shirt.”
Her throaty laugh makes my cock jump. As soon as she has her shirt off, I flick the clasp on her bra.
“There you are, beautiful.”
She shivers and moans into my mouth when I kiss her again. The kiss is wild, with my hands fisted in her wet hair and her clawing at my shoulders. We’re skin-to-skin for the first time.
Ah, god. So good.
The feel of her against me is gasoline to my already raging hormones.
When I pick her up, her legs lift and wrap around my waist. I growl at her through ragged inhales, “I’ve got to get inside you.”
“I’m on board with that.”
“Are you on birth control?”
“Yes.”
I kiss her like a man that’s far beyond unhinged. When I tear my mouth away, she’s gasping for air, her eyes are dreamy, her lips are deep red.
“I’ve been tested.”
“Me too.”
“Last chance, babe. Tell me no right now, and I’ll step away.”
“I’m not telling you no, Lucas.” She fists my hair and drags my head down until our mouths are just a centimeter apart. “I’m telling you yes,” she whispers against my lips.