The Mark of Cain (23 page)

“Mmm. What was that for?” he asked with a large grin
once she pulled away.

“I’m just proud of you for opening up and being so
honest with me. Plus, you really helped me out last night and I wanted you to
know how much I appreciate it.”

The hand on her thigh moved up to her face. After
tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear, he moved it to her cheek, lightly caressing
it with the back of his fingers.

“What am I going to do with you, Hara?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, trying to ignore the
heat that was spreading through her body from his touch.

“I just mean that I’m going to be in trouble with
you. I’ve never felt the way I feel about you. I think I’m falling for you.”

“You just
think
?” she asked with a smile.

Inac threw his head back and let a hearty laugh
roll. Once it had simmered to a light chuckle, he said, “Okay. I’ll admit that
I already have fallen hard. So just what do we do about that?”

“I don’t know,” she said with her own smile. He was
teasing her now. “What do
you
think we should do about that?”

“Well, I know what we should do right now,” he said,
letting his eyes smolder her nerves with their intensity. She knew what he
wanted, and she wanted it too.

She didn’t make him wait before she lowered her
mouth upon his, relishing his masculine taste as his lips burned the very same
nerves his gaze had ignited, not letting them recuperate. This time, just as
her body was instinctually moving to straddle him, she pulled back instead.

“And
that’s
where we better stop,” she said
through ragged breaths. If they didn’t, neither one of them was wearing much to
get in the way, so who knew what would happen.

“Okay,” he said, his voice deep and husky, before
giving her another small kiss.

After he pulled away, she leaned against him,
resting her cheek on his broad chest as he cradled her in his arms, his chin on
the crown of her head as he lightly tickled her back.

They were relaxing like that—her falling into
him—when a buzz sounded, making a half-asleep Hara jump in surprise.

“What’s that?” she asked, her voice full of sleep.

“The door,” he said, his voice still husky.

“Do you have to get it?”

“Nope.”

It buzzed again.

“On second thought,” she said, getting up against
his wishes—he was trying to pull her back into his arms. “If you do, then we
can go lie down in your bed and take a nap.”

His eyes lit up for a moment before he stood. “Okay.
I’m going to hold you to that,” he said over his shoulder as he walked down the
only other hall she thought the apartment had toward a metal elevator door she
could barely see. He didn’t go to the door, though. Instead, there was a small
black electrical box with a TV screen, and a speaker. She couldn’t really tell
from here, but it didn’t look like there were any buttons.

“Yeah?” he said, pushing on the screen.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Adamson, but I have a
Tracker Thomas down here to see you. May I send him up?”

Inac’s face flushed red for a moment but, if he was
angry, he seemed to get over it quickly before turning to look at her.

“Is that okay with you? He obviously isn’t here to
see me.”

She looked down at her lack of dress. She
really
didn’t want Tracker to see her like this but, if she said no, then he would
think worse.

“Do you have anything I can put on?”

He nodded. “I washed your clothes. They’re in the
master bath next to a new toothbrush for you.”

Leave it to considerate Inac to take care of her.
She loved him so much.

Before she could say something stupid—like just how
much she was falling in love with him—Inac turned back to the speaker and
pushed the button on the screen again. “Yeah. Send him on up. Thanks Ollie.”

“Eek!” she shrieked, running across the cold cement
floor back to the bedroom. Through there, she ran into a bathroom that matched
the kitchen. On the slate countertop sat her clothes, perfectly folded. She
didn’t want to get all the way dressed, though, so she just threw on her short
navy tulip skirt. When she walked back to the elevator, it was opening.

Tracker walked in, appearing as though he believed
that he was in enemy territory. When he saw Hara, his gaze was wary; like he
wasn’t sure how she’d receive him.

“Hey Track!” she said with a large smile. “What are
you doing here?”

She didn’t miss the look of surprise he shot
Inac—Inac just smiled and nodded in response. They were having a conversation
she didn’t understand, but she was glad that they seemed to be becoming
friends.

Still looking at Inac, he said to her, “Crystal
called and told me what happened and gave me Inac’s address.”

Her eyes opening wide, she looked at Inac. “You
called Crystal?”

Turning away from Track, Inac nodded. “Last night
after you crashed. I didn’t want her worrying when you didn’t come home. I
didn’t tell her everything, though. Basically, just that you were upset and had
fallen asleep at my house after crying.”

She was glad that he hadn’t told Crystal about her
drinking a whole bottle of wine. If he had, she was sure she’d never hear the
end of it.

“So why did you come?” she asked Tracker. “Just to
make sure that I was all right?”

He turned to her and said, “That, and you missed
Chem Lab.”

“Oh my gosh! It’s Friday!!! Why didn’t anybody
tell
me?!”

“Sorry,” Inac said, a direct opposite of her
freak-out. “I didn’t even think about how you might not remember.”

“I better go,” she said.

“Stay,” Inac said, his eyes warm and pleading.
“You’re in no condition for class. Stay and rest. I’ll have one of my men go
and get notes for all your classes.” He then pulled her into his arms. The
effect was soothing, as well as convincing.

“Okay,” she whispered against his bare chest. “So
what are we gonna do today then?”

“I thought you wanted us to take a nap together?” he
said as he began lightly rubbing her back. For some reason, it made her wish
that they were married. That way, they could do this every morning.

“Mmm. I would
love
to take a nap together,”
she mumbled. Inac’s caress was taking her back to that warm world she went to
when they were physical with each other. The one that made her heart pound like
it was beginning to do now. He smelled so good….

“What about school? You can’t guarantee that you’ll
be able to get notes,” Tracker said, invading her thoughts and bringing her
back to reality. “Besides, finals are coming up soon.” He seemed to be pleading
with her.

Pretending like she hadn’t just been about to
succumb to Inac, she said in a voice that she felt was deeper than usual and
would, therefore, give away her thoughts, “Inac can get anything. He’ll
probably get notes straight from my professors.”

“But….”

“Track, drop it. It’s what I want to do.”

“Speaking of finals,” Inac said in a voice as thick
with desire as hers must be, “if you need any help, just let me know. I’ve
taken a lot of classes and could be of some help. Especially in your Ancient
Civs class. I know a lot about history.”

“I bet you do,” Tracker grumbled.

Inac smiled brilliantly at him and, after clearing
his throat, said, “Tracker, I would like to apologize.”

Track had never looked as surprised as he did now.
“What for?” he asked.

“I have been a most ungracious host. Would you care
to sit down? Perhaps have an omelet and a cup of coffee?”

“Um….” Now he was even
more
surprised.

“Do,” she said, with a smile. “They’re really good.”

Without waiting for an answer, Inac went to the stove
and started making an omelet.

“What would you like in it?” he asked. “Peppers?
Cheese? Ham? Sausage? Bacon? Mushrooms? Olives?” His list went on and on until
Tracker’s omelet was larger than hers and Inac’s combined.

Tracker sat at the table and began eating. She could
tell he liked it. As he ate, Hara noticed for the first time that Tracker was
dressed differently. Usually he wore baggy T-shirts with denim tents that
doubled as pants, but today he was dressed a little nicer. Today he was wearing
a collared navy polo shirt with jeans that were still baggy, but they hadn’t
been falling off when he’d been standing up. Yesterday he’d looked like a kid
in his too big clothes. Today, he almost looked like a man….

Inac did all the dishes while she sat and visited
with Track, not bringing up his sudden change in style because she didn’t want
to embarrass him by letting him know just how poorly he used to dress. She’d
tried to help her boyfriend clean up after breakfast, but Inac wouldn’t let her
because she was “a guest.”

“So I was thinking,” he said as he joined them at
the table with a cup of coffee for himself, as well as fresh cups for the both
of them. “To celebrate you passing all your finals, we should go camping.”

“But…” Track said as he looked meaningfully at Inac.

“You’re invited as well, Tracker. Same with Crystal
and her boyfriend.”

“That would be fun!” Hara cooed. “I’ve never been
camping before. Where do you have in mind?”

“Maybe Tahoe. Maybe Southern Utah. Depends on what
we want to do.”

“I know it isn’t close, but could we maybe go to
Yellowstone? I’ve always wanted to go there,” she said.

Inac’s smile was broad as he said, “Sure.
Yellowstone it is.”

“Did you hear that, Track?” she said as she turned
to him and gripped one of his forearms with both her hands, almost quivering
with excitement. “We’re going to Yellowstone!”

“Yippee,” he answered with sarcasm as he vertically
twirled a finger in the air.

Slightly deflated, she asked, “Aren’t you excited?
You’ve always wanted to go, too?”

“Not as a fifth wheel….”

Now she understood where his attitude was coming
from. She and Crystal would both be pairing up with their boyfriends and he
felt left out.

“We can’t go without you, Tracker,” Inac said, completely
serious.

“Yeah,” she added, grateful to Inac for being so
kind as to make Tracker feel important. “If I promise you that Inac and I won’t
act all boyfriend-and-girlfriend-like, would you come?”

Inac looked at her, saying, “Hey, wait…. What?
What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tracker shot Inac a brilliant smile—he seemed to be
gloating.

“That means that you two can’t cuddle, or kiss, or
be overly flirtatious…” Tracker was saying.

“What’s the fun in that?” Inac grumbled, turning to
her. “You can’t agree to that, Hara. That’s giving in way too much. You can’t
punish us for him not having a girl.”

She looked between the two men in her life. Inac
looked angry; Tracker victorious. She had to find a way to make a compromise
they could both live with.

“How about this…?” she asked, still not sure where
she was going with this. “We can act like a couple….”—she loved being able to
say that now—“…just not to a degree that’s too much. If you feel like we’re
getting that way, tell us and we’ll stop.” Inac was obviously about to protest
so she held up a finger to stop him and added, “
But
…Inac and I can have
two hours to ourselves each day where we can go and do whatever we want to do
as a couple.”

“Sounds doable to me,” Inac said. “I just have one
thing to add.”

“And what’s that?” Tracker asked, his smugness
replaced with scorn.

“Hara and I share a sleeping bag.” The words made
her heart quicken and she felt her face flush with anticipation.

“Absolutely not!” Track yelled.

Inac rolled his eyes. “Relax, kid. It’s not like we
would do anything ‘inappropriate’ with everyone else near.”

“Then why even share?”

“To give us some time to be together. I just want to
hold her in my arms…” he answered, giving Hara a loving smile that made her
want to be in Yellowstone, experiencing just that, right this instant.

“Then I’m in the same tent as you,” Track said.

Hara smiled at him and squeezed her hands still on
his arm to tell him that she was grateful that he was on board with helping her
to keep her chastity. She knew that it would be difficult to keep if it was
just her and Inac. Also, now that her brain was working again, she realized
something else….

“Inac, I really should get to class.”

“Do you have to?” he pouted.

If she wanted to keep her head and virginity, then
yes. She didn’t say that, though.

“Yeah. I’ll see you later?” she asked as she got up
and walked toward the elevator in what she was wearing—Inac’s oversize shirt
and her skirt.