Seek and Destroy (31 page)

    "
All
the rest?"

    Eyeing him, she grinned. Yeah, like she'd had so many. She'd only been with two other men beside him, and they'd both wore the title of fiancé before they got the chance to share her bed. Oh how the
old
Charis had fallen. She still didn't know David's middle name, and yet she'd had sex with him. Twice.

    "I've had my share of boyfriends. Been engaged twice."

    "Engaged?"

    She nodded. "Fiancé number one was more interested in what everyone else thought of him than of what he thought of me. He was a charmer in public, but in private..." She shook her head. "Jekyll and Hyde, that one."

    She felt his muscles tense beneath her fingers. "Did he hurt you?"

    "Oh God no," she answered quickly. The tension now in his neck and shoulder would take her another fifteen minutes to work out. Serendipity. "He just wasn't the man I thought he was. I'm sure I was less than perfect to him."

    He made a noise deep in his chest. "Go on."

    "We parted amicably once we realized we weren't compatible." They'd slept together once. Once. And when he couldn't make her come, he'd taken it personally. He didn't care how she'd been a virgin and didn't know an orgasm from an organism. If she remembered right, he didn't even believe she'd still been a virgin at twenty-four. It didn't help as soon as he'd seen her scars across her torso he'd been so repulsed he wouldn't look at her again, at least not as a lover.

    "Compatible enough to get engaged."

    "But not compatible enough to actually go through with it," she countered. "He ended up marrying some swimsuit model who didn't speak a lick of English. Last I heard she was in rehab. Again."

    "And fiancé number two?"

    "Ah, Erik. He sure did love his money." She worked deeper into his shoulder to ease out the tension brought on by the story about fiancé number one. "He even made us go Dutch the night he proposed."

    "What an ass," he declared sharply. He started to roll his shoulder as she worked out the kinks.

    "Tell me about it. That one," she said and squinted, looked to the ceiling for something nice to say. "We didn't part so amicably. Two days after our engagement I caught him buying lingerie."

    "What's wrong with that?"

    "It wasn't for me."

    "How do you know?"

    Oh, she'd known. Even before seeing the other woman, she'd known. After being rejected by her first lover when he'd seen her scars, she'd been too embarrassed to show them to Erik, too worried he'd reject her the same way. So they'd made love in the dark. When he saw her midsection for the first time, he'd told her to cover up.

    "He was shopping with the woman the lingerie was for." She shook her head. She still remembered seeing them standing in Victoria's Secret at the mall. Not one to make a scene, she'd waited behind the clearance rack of thongs and lacy things until they left. The outfit he'd purchased had been a two-piece, and several sizes too small to fit Charis.

    She knew after the reaction her scars had drawn from both fiancé one and two no one would ever want her if they knew of her scars. It still stung to know she had a body worthy of repulsing the opposite sex.

    David never said anything about her scars. He had to have seen them, and as he dragged his hand across her midsection on his way down to caress her, play with her, he had to have felt them.

    She kneaded deeper, shaking off the idea this man would soon reject her if he saw her scars.
Really
saw her scars. "George, that's fiancé number one, told me to keep the ring and wear it as a symbol of friendship."

    "What a crock."

    "Exactly."

    "Ring from Number Two?"

    "Oh that one," she said with a grin. After hocking it for the money, she took a trip to visit her MeeMaw in Whitefish. In a limo. She'd never seen a man so livid before, or anyone who actually turned purple as he screamed at her. "You should have seen the size of the rock. Not that I really care about that sort of thing, but it was hard not to notice. Actually," she paused at the memory. "I didn't wear the ring the whole two days we were engaged. It was too big."

    "Did he want it back?"

    "Oh yeah," she laughed. "When he heard I pawned it and took the money, he threatened to sue me. Luckily Chris and Logan had been with me when he decided to pay me a visit to get the money for the ring. They
persuaded
Erik into leaving."

    "He really wanted it back?"

    "Apparently he'd already promised it to the girl I saw in Victoria's Secret. 'So sue me', I told him. I highly doubt Judge Judy would have ruled in his favor."

    "Good girl." He looked up at her and winked. The simple gesture made her skin hum, the wetness between her legs increasing, tickling and tingling her already swollen lips.

    "Thank you." She worked out the remaining kinks in his neck in silence. After several minutes of invasive quiet, Charis spoke up again. "Tell me something about you, David."

    "I don't like talking about myself."

    "Come on. You know just about everything there is to know about me. You've got to give me something."

    He took so long to answer she didn't know if he would turn high tail and sprint out of the room the same way he retreated out of the bathroom.

    "I used to be married."

    Her hands tensed and from the slight grunt that escaped his lips, it hurt. She loosened back up and continued with the massage. He had a life before her, she reminded herself. "Go on."

    "We were just kids, really. Barely knew anything about each other and decided being married would somehow change all that."

    "And did it?"

    "Not exactly," he chuckled acidly. Her heart pulled. "We made it through the first year without too much damage, despite what everyone said. But the second year, and then the third..." He shook his head, shrugged to loosen his shoulder. "Found out not too long after our first anniversary she'd been sleeping around."

    Charis tensed again
. The bitch.

    "It wasn't like she shacked up with just one asshole. No, she ended screwing every man who stepped foot into the restaurant. She was a waitress, I tended bar."

    Apparently food wasn't the only thing on the menu. "How did you find out?"

    "We used to take our breaks and lunches at the same time. Then, she just stopped. Stopped spending time with me. Stopped going home with me. Stopped looking at me."

    Oh, David.

    "She didn't even try to hide it at the restaurant. On her breaks, she'd sit with her boy toy of the week right in front of me, flirting and whispering with him as I had to serve the asshole drinks."

    "What did you do?"

    "I confronted her, of course. She promised to stop, but we both knew she wouldn't."

    "And yet you stayed with her. Why?"

    He shrugged, this time a bit easier. "I guess I loved her. Or maybe it was a pride thing. Maybe a little of both. I didn't want to admit I'd made a mistake and have everyone tell me their 'I told you so's." His face changed. Part sad, part angry.
Very
angry.

    "By the end of the second year, I couldn't stand her. She didn't even try to keep her indiscretions from me. Hell, she even threw a couple in my face. Told me how much better they were in bed than me."

    "I somehow doubt that," she purred, leaning closer to him. She inhaled deeply, taking in his musky scent. Her mouth watered to taste his skin. Taking another deep breath as she inched closer, she continued to massage.

    "I never touched her again after that."

    "How long did you two stay together?"

    "Almost three years. By the time either of us were willing to admit it was over, we hated each other. I couldn't take it anymore. I was the joke with all her friends, my friends. I couldn't get the divorce fast enough. I threw the ring into the ocean and moved to the other side of the country, joined NASSD. Never looked back." She felt him shudder under her palms. Charis wanted to pull him into her arms and show him not all women would betray him like that.

    "Any kids?"

    "No, thank God. Don't get me wrong," he was quick to amend. "I love kids. But for a kid to be brought into a situation like that...poor thing would have needed therapy for years."

    She slid her arms around his neck and nuzzled against his skin, taking a deep breath. "My guess is you hate marriage now. Probably will never get married again?"

    "Probably not." He brought his hand up and covered hers, squeezing gently.

    "My brothers have their idea of the ideal marriage material man for me." Pulling back, she started to work on some of the deeper muscles, applying more pressure as she went. With her job at a keyboard day in and day out, she had extremely strong muscles in her hands and fingers.

    "And who would that be?"

    "Not you, that's for sure." She laughed. "You're NASSD."

    "So is your brother." He lifted his gaze to hers through the mirror.

    "But he's my brother."

    "Who do they want for you?"

    "Safe. And boring."

    "Like an accountant?"

    She liked the way he didn't seem to approve of their choice for her, either. "Something like that."

    "So what kind of man do you see yourself with?"

    
You
.
Someone exactly like you, David Snyder.
"I haven't given it much thought. He
could
be an accountant."
Or a Super Spy.
"Just as long as he did something a little more...eventful for fun. No Georges. And no Eriks."

    "Are you sure your brothers would approve?"

    "You want me to work on your neck?" He nodded and she relished the thought of touching him more. "I don't care what the amigos think. I choose who I want."
And I want you.

    She felt another spasm as his neck released. He groaned, the sound sending shivers through her body, dampening her to the point she wouldn't be able to hold her juices in.

    Oh no. She closed her eyes and tried to think of something else. Football. Hockey. Uh...soccer. Nope, no good. All the sports involved men grunting and physical contact. Mmmm.

    Stop that! She threw her eyes open and glanced in the mirror. Mortification slapped her cheeks when she saw him staring back at her, his lips curled into a damn sexy grin.

    Focusing on his muscles, and
oh mama!
what fine muscles they were, she shifted her eyes to the back of his head. Oh no. Why would she possibly find the back of his head sexy?

    "A little lower," he rasped, his voice thick with lust.

    She started kneading at the middle of his back.

    "Lower."

    Eyeing him, she went lower, this time her hands on the small of his back. "This low enough?"

    "Almost," he replied huskily.

    She leaned in, her breasts aching to be closer to him, begging for his touch. The flannel scraping against her sensitive buds made her whimper. He apparently picked up on her growing need and turned out of the chair.

    "W-What?" She swallowed, and when he raked his gaze over her, her knees slammed together to stop her juices from escaping down her thigh.

    He laughed gruffly and gave her another once over. "Your turn."

    

    

    She stepped back, looked up into those bottomless brown eyes. They darkened with want. As they both stood there, losing each other in the moment, the world around them stopped. His gaze dropped to her lips. She licked them in response. Bringing his hand up, he cupped her face, gracing his thumb across her bottom lip. Her tongue darted out, tasted him.

    Taking the small step needed to close the gap between them, he pulled her into his arms and captured her lips with his, kissing her with savage intensity. His tongue parted her lips, dancing with hers, and she melted into him.

    Her clit, so swollen and sensitive, throbbed for attention. He started, ever so slowly, to unbutton her top. The coolness of the air as each button exposed her just a little more nipping at her, increasing her want for him. His fingers traced her skin so softly, so painfully gentle, she shuddered in delight, kissing him with unbridled urgency.

    The crisp air wisped across her painful nipple, drawing a gasp out of her. "Oh God."

    Chuckling, he trailed soft kisses down her neck, across her collarbone, before taking a waiting pebble into his mouth. The warmth from his moist lips made her knees wobble. When he scraped his teeth across the sensitive marble, she cried out. "Are y-you trying to make me c-crazy?"

    He ignored her and took the same path with her other nipple. Oh, it felt so good, even better than the first one. That tightness fisting her womb intensified, pulling her deeper in. He kissed the roundness of her breast and nuzzled beneath it. Caressing the other breast with his large hand, he pinched her nipple, drawing a whimper from her.

    She shuddered at the pleasure of it all. The way he feasted on her flesh had her so desperate she reached out for him. When her hand brushed across his thick cock, he tensed. She liked that. Reaching inside the elastic waist, she invited her hand and wrapped her fingers around his rigid shaft. It throbbed in her hand. Moving her hand up and down, stroking him slowly, tugged a groan from deep in the back of his throat.

    He unbuttoned another button. The coolness in the air brushed across her midsection. She jerked rigid, ripping her hand out of his pants. Oh God. Oh no. He'll see... She jumped back and pulled at the material to cover her midsection, the tears of humiliation in her eyes.