Prince of Flight (5 page)

Bewilderment coated his expression. “No.”
 

“I saw you shut down on me,” she confessed, glancing away.

He took hold of her wrists, moving her hands from his face. He kissed her palms. “My demons are showing through. You did nothing.”

It hit her then. He’d shut down on her when she’d kissed his scar. Her jaw set and she freed her hands from his grasp, placing her fingers on his cheek once more. He flinched, confirming her suspicions. With deliberate slowness, Lark eased closer, her lips finding his scars once more. She planted a row of tiny kisses upon them and then kissed his lips chastely, despite wanting more.

When Keonae tensed to the point he was stiff as a board beneath her, she leaned more, putting her lips to his ear. “You are so fucking sexy.”

His breath caught and his fingers dug deep into her hips. “L-Lark?”

“I don’t want to get up. I want to sit here and kiss every inch of you, Keon,” she whispered.

He ran a hand up her back.

“Nothing to say to that?” she asked.

He appeared to be at a total loss for words. “Yes?”

She laughed.

“Do I get to kiss you back then?”

She wanted to ravish the man. What girl wouldn’t? “Deal.”

With that, she stepped away from him just as a few stragglers came into the poolroom area, and it was easy to see they were going to be a rowdy crowd. Not only that, she’d been told by the owner the back pool area was off limits to everyone but Keonae and his buddies. She didn’t question why.

“Hey now, look at that,” one of the guys said, sounding as if he had showed up drunk. He lifted a pool stick. “Bobby, check her out, man. She’s fucking hot.”

“Keonae, leave it be,” one of the men at Keonae’s table said. “They are intoxicated. Nothing more.”

Suddenly, strong hands were on her hips. She gasped as warmth spread through her. Leaning back, she settled against the wall of muscle behind her, catching the scent of Keonae. Just being near him made her body quiver.

The frat boys snickered, showcasing their immaturity and stupidity. “Oh, look out, Ray, or the big bad boyfriend will threaten to kick your ass.”

“Actually,” Lazar said. “He will not bother with a threat. I am fairly sure Keonae will simply kill you.”

Whatever the frat boys saw made them glance nervously at each other and then start into a game of pool as if they’d not just gone out of their way to be total dickheads.

Lark tried to turn to face Keonae, but he held her in place. “Why don’t you go ahead into the main part of the bar, Lark?”

She put her hand over his and caressed it gently. “Because you want to get into a fight without me in here to see it?”

“Yes.”
 

She laughed softly. “At least you’re honest. But, Keon, I don’t need you to get into a bar fight over me. I get by fine on my own. Thank you, though. The gesture was nice.”

“Did someone actually refer to Keonae as nice?” Keonae’s brother said from the table behind them.

“Shut up, Rossi,” Keonae said, keeping his hand on her shoulder.

She used the moment to twist and face him. He was breathtaking. His squared jawline and hard features combined with jet-black hair that hung just past his shoulders and golden eyes were oddly familiar. Her womanly parts screamed at her to jump his bones, that he’d be the best she ever had and then some. Whatever the man had going on, her ovaries were totally weak to it. They were bordering on begging.

Hurt flashed in his eyes as her hand found his left cheek. Scars ran down the entire left side of his face, starting somewhere up and under the do-rag he wore. She’d caught sight of others in their time together. Some ran from his hands up his forearms, deeper on one arm than the other, and she knew he had some on one side of his neck as well. She’d never seen him shirtless, but her guess was, he was scarred under there as well. It didn’t matter to her. Even with the scars he was gorgeous. In fact, they somehow added to his appeal.

They told a story. They said he’d been through something horrible and come out the other side of it. She had scars too. Some on the outside; most on the inside. All of them had a story of their own, but combined to make her the person she was today.

He attempted to jerk away from her touch, but she put her other hand on his steely chest, her lips curving upward. “Hi.”

His brows met. “Hi?”

Lark grinned.

Slowly but surely, Keonae did as well. His smile was barely there but a smile all the same.

“Keonae,” Rossi said, sounding annoyed. Lark got the feeling Rossi didn’t want his brother to have anything to do with her. She’d have taken offense, but Rossi’s instincts were spot on. She was nothing but trouble. She knew it. Keonae would learn it soon enough if he stuck around that long.

“You can wait a moment, brother.” Keonae’s hands came up and over hers.

Rossi snorted. “Or you could get your ass over here and discuss what we traveled here to talk to you about.”

His brother wasn’t as funny and nice as Keonae had described him, but he had a point. They’d come far to see him and she was monopolizing his time. She separated from Keonae and put a bit of distance between them. “Go talk with them. You told me they don’t live close. He’s right. Kind of a dick, but right.”

“Lark,” Keonae said, his voice deep and only slightly accented compared to the thicker ones his friends and brother had. She could listen to him talk all day and night. From the second they met, she’d wanted him in a way that wasn’t natural. She wasn’t the type of girl who could dare want anything more than a night of pleasure from a man. She couldn’t commit to one and she certainly couldn’t do long term.

Not if she wanted to keep her secret.

Get some distance now.

She hurried out of the back room and checked the other tables to see if anyone needed anything.
 

A half-hour ticked by and Lark headed to the back area with more beers. She set them on the corner of their table, keeping her gaze lowered from Keonae and his friends as she collected their empty bottles.

Keonae moved closer to her, his hand finding her arm. Her head screamed for distance again, but her traitorous body cozied up against him, her eyes closing a moment as she enjoyed his warmth.

“Getting to spend time with your brother?”

“I am. I would like to apologize for his behavior. This is out of character for him, I assure you,” he said, so formal yet so full of concern, she melted. He slinked his hands up her sides, making her breath catch. She’d wanted him to make this much contact with her from day one, but he’d been so standoffish, so closed off from physical contact that she’d nearly given up. Having his friends and family near him did him wonders.

“I have to clean up.”

“You do not,” he said. “I will make the little men clean up after themselves.” He glanced at the frat boys and she nearly laughed at his use of little men.

She patted Keonae’s chest. “I’ll just do it. Less drama.”

“I dislike you waiting on them.”

She wasn’t proud of her job, but it paid the bills and gave her a roof over her head. She pulled away from him, wanting a bit of space. She threw away the empty bottles left sitting around the back room. The frat boys were good and soaked now. Two were using one another for support to stay upright. She approached with caution. “You guys want me to call a cab for you?”

“Mmm,” Bobby hummed, his gaze going to her crotch. “I’ve got something on my mind that you can do, but it’s not call us a cab.”

“Keonae, sit,” Rossi said. “You are on the verge of losing control and I have not the care to deal with this on this evening.”

“Brother,” Keonae warned.

“Think the bitch gets off on brother action?” another one of the frat boys asked. At the rate he was going, Lark was going to be left no choice but to handle him and his buddies. So much for hoping they’d simply drink their fill and leave well enough alone.

“We can see how she likes more than one man in her at time,” Ray said.

Lark put a hand up, stopping Keonae, already knowing he’d do something if she didn’t. She focused on the frat boys. “You should leave now. Take the offer of a cab. If you don’t—”

“What?” Bobby asked, his chest puffing as thoughts of being a badass danced through his head. “You gonna take your boy off his leash?”

Lark smiled, knowing it was anything but kind or friendly. “He should be the least of your concerns. Now take the offer and go peacefully. Please.”

They laughed.
 

Never a good sign.

Clearly, too much to drink had left them with an over-inflated belief in their abilities, because from where she was standing, Keonae could wipe the floor with them. Not that she needed him to. She was capable of doing it all by her lonesome.

Keonae moved past her and went at the first guy. She called out to him, but he didn’t even register her as being there. He was fixated on the frat boys. Lark stood there totally dumbfounded as the gentle giant she’d come to love conversing with seized hold of one of the frat boys and lifted him by the throat with one hand. The boy’s feet dangled off the ground and Keonae didn’t look the least bit strained. In truth, he appeared to be holding back.

She gasped.

Her giant was apparently far from gentle.

Very far from it.

“Keonae?”

He paid her no mind, lifting the boy higher off the ground. Keonae’s friends advanced on him, yanking him back from the boy, freeing the kid in the process. The boy fell to the floor with a thud and no one seemed to much care as he fought for air, his eyes wide as he rubbed his neck before wisely running off with the others.

Lazar motioned for Lark to come closer to Keonae. “You calm him down. He will not hit you. Us, he’ll pummel until we are nothing more than ground-up bits.”

She nearly protested, but the expression on Keonae’s face said Lazar was right. He’d beat the crap out of his friends if they tried to get near him in his current state of mind. Which was apparently superhero, pissed-off mode. He rolled his head, his neck cracking loudly, the muscles in his upper body straining from his clear need to hit something. Whatever was unlucky enough to be the target wouldn’t survive. From the way he was standing and the power rolling off him in waves, he wasn’t to be messed with. Such a change from the quiet biker she’d come to think she knew.

“Keon?”

He didn’t respond. Though he did stop tensing his upper body.

Lazar lifted his hand to her again. “Come. He won’t harm you.”

She did as instructed, slipping past Rossi and pressing herself to Keonae. She smoothed her hands over his chest and then cupped his face. He grabbed her right wrist and tried to pull her hand from his scars. She went to her tiptoes. “Is this why you duck away when I’m around, or do I just repulse you?”

“Repulse me?” he asked, sounding flabbergasted. “You? Repulse me? Not possible.”

It was hard to hide her excitement in knowing he was attracted to her as well. “Then I’ll take that answer to mean you think you need to hide from me. Why?”

The look he gave her was telling. He did want to hide his scars from her.

Stupid man.

“Keon, I’ve been waiting for nearly a month for you to man up and ask me out on a real date instead of ordering me to eat breakfast with you, and all this time you’ve been too chicken to?”

His friends laughed.

“She just called him a chicken,” one said.

“Wrong bird,” Lazar said, coughing as he laughed.

She didn’t get the joke, nor why it seemed so funny to the men with Keonae.

Keonae tipped his head.

“Well?” Lark pinched at his washboard abs to no avail. “Are you going to ask me out now or do I have to ask you?”

“Um, yes?”

Even his brother laughed at his response.
 

Lark smiled wide. “And can you do me a favor and stop hiding yourself? I very much like looking at
all
of you.”

Chapter Five

Keonae fought for words, but coherent thoughts and the ability to speak had started to fail him somewhere around the time the little human males began their taunting of Lark. Memories best left in the past had surfaced, leaving him wanting to kill every male present to protect her. While he’d realized he’d not actually loved the woman he’d been betrothed to long ago, he’d never wanted her to meet such an ugly fate as the one she’d been dealt. It didn’t matter what he said to his friends. Truth was, it had been hard to witness the aftermath of what the falcons and the vultures had done to her, regardless of her betrayal.

When the humans had threatened Lark, something in him snapped. He wouldn’t tolerate one hair upon her golden head being harmed. It was irrational and he knew it. He had wanted to shout “mine” and claim her then and there for all around him to see, but that made little sense to him. He’d been around her for nearly a month, and while he did want to be near her, he’d never had to fight to keep from outright laying claim to her. Seeing the little humans think they could touch her had driven him over the edge of reason.

Was his mind broken as well as his body?

Take her. Claim her.