Touching Scars (8 page)

About fifteen minutes passed and I saw her start to walk towards the back. Having no idea what I was doing or what I was going to say, I stood up from my chair and followed her. She was halfway down the long dimly lit hallway when I caught up with her. Touching her elbow, I said, “Kat.”

She swung around, gasping. I’d startled her. “Jesus Christ, Timber.” She was clutching her chest. “For such a large man you move too stealthily. I didn’t even hear you behind me.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to scare you,” I said.

Kat was looking up at me, her head tipped all the way back. She was so tiny next to my taller frame. “Well, you did. You’re not even supposed to be back here. What do you need?”

I was making her nervous. Needing to come out with it, I said, “Kat, we know each other.”

“What are you talking about? I just met you.” She shook her head back and forth, her long brown hair swaying.

“Cut the shit, Kat, I can see it all over your face right now. You know exactly who I am, so why have you been pretending that you don’t?” I really didn’t know, but I was taking a wild guess.

The pulse on the side of her neck was beating rapidly and her eyes started darting around. One thing I learned while in the Army is when someone’s eyes go a certain way they are coming up with a lie. Kat just gave herself away and she didn’t even realize it.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She backed up against the wall to get some space from me. “I saw you for the first time last night, and now you have me backed into a corner. You and I don’t know each other and I think it’s time for you to leave.”

I had to give the girl credit. She was standing her ground. But why on earth was she so adamant that I was a stranger to her? Was I that forgettable? Not believing her still, I pushed again.

“You’re kidding, right? Two words,
Katherine.
High…school.” I said, ticking off two fingers in the air.

She swallowed hard and stared me straight in the eyes. “Nobody calls me that anymore.”

I stood there gauging her reaction to what I’d just said. She did know me, but she chose to pretend that she didn’t. The hallway was silent, with only the faded sound of old country music playing from the main part of the bar. Standing here in front of her, being this close, her eyes trained on me, I knew I wanted her. I wasn’t sure how I wanted her. I just knew that I wanted to be near her.

“Why not, Kat? Why are you pretending to not know me?” I asked.

“It’s none of your business why I don’t go by Katherine anymore. And honestly, I don’t want anything to do with Bay City. I left that town for a reason. It’s a reason I’m not going to share with you or anybody else. So why don’t you just march back into the bar, get anything you came in with, and leave.”

If there’s one thing I don’t tolerate, it’s being told what to do. I’ve been dealing with orders being barked at me for the past five years and I’ve had my fill of it. Taking a large step forward and getting into her personal space, I leaned my head down so that I was almost eye level with her. I was so close that when I breathed in, I could smell the scent of her skin. It was a mix of coconut and the ocean. It was an overwhelming essence that went straight to my dick. I closed my eyes, trying to center myself and not do what I really wanted to do at that moment, which was to push her up against the wall and put my mouth all over her body.

Opening my eyes, I said, “It may not be any of my business why you left and I’ll respect that, Kat. But understand this. I leave when I want to leave, I ask the questions that I want to ask, and I’m a pushy bastard. I’ve known you as Katherine since we were teenagers, so it won’t be easy for me to all of a sudden call you something else. I’ve also noticed a few things about you since walking into this bar. You’ve changed your appearance. You’ve covered some of this beautiful body with tattoos.” I let my eyes roam down the length of her. “I like it.” Her mouth parted slightly.

“You dress more provocatively than you used to, and it gets attention from men. I’m sure it’s unwanted attention, but I’m also sure that you are a smart girl and aware of what it does to them. You’ve lost the glasses, and you wear too much make-up. I’ve been watching the other people that work here the past two nights. They are protective of you, especially the big dude at the door. Why they watch over you like they do, I don’t know. Like I said, I’ll respect why you left, but I’m sure I’ll be asking some questions real soon.”

The silence between us went on for so long that I wasn’t even sure she heard a word I said. I knew I was pushing my boundaries with a girl that I’d hardly known all those years ago, but I couldn’t help myself. She had an allure to her that made me want to be around her. My body was stirring with desire, but my brain and nerves felt calmer being this close. It seemed like a double standard, but I rolled with it.

She finally spoke. “There’s nothing to find out. I dress how I dress. I’m addicted to tattoos. If men find my appearance appealing, then so be it. And the big dude at the door… well, he’s my friend, and he keeps me safe. I’m pretty sure that about sums it up.” She took a deep breath, but she wasn’t done. “Oh, and I see no reason why you would need to adjust to calling me Kat. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t step foot in my bar again.”

Did this tiny little woman just put me in my place? If it was even possible, I was even more turned on by her rant. She started to turn to walk away from me but I caught her arm, my large hand nearly encircling it. With her back to me, I bent until my mouth was near her ear. She shivered as I spoke. “You and I aren’t done. I’ll be back tomorrow with new questions that I’ll expect answers to.”

She turned her head slightly, peering up at me. “Fuck you, Timber. I’m not answering shit.”

I smirked, “We’ll see. And I like your dirty mouth, Kat.”

I turned and walked away, leaving her there in the middle of the hall. One thing was for certain, I
would
be back. She was hiding, and I wanted to know why.

L
YING
IN
MY
BED
THIS
morning I played what happened last night over and over in my head. I had been in control of the situation, or so I’d thought until Timber approached me in the hallway. After that, there was no control. He entered my personal space, became demanding, and after he walked away I was literally a puddle of turned on completely nervous mush. I didn’t ever let men get as close to me as Timber had last night. And if they did, Beaver was always there, ready to tear their arms off. There had only been one other man that I let touch me and that had been someone who’d been just passing through town. He had been good looking and nice enough, so I’d let him scratch my sexual itch. I had been worried that I would never allow someone to touch me again in that way after what Adam did to me, but I was somehow able to shut that emotional connection off, and sex with the traveling stranger ended up being nothing more than mechanical. I didn’t even know his name. I barely remembered his face now.

Thinking about Timber’s hard features — his cynical, piercing blue eyes, those lips that I knew were softer than they looked, the feel of his body pressed up against my back, his mouth brushing my ear — my senses kicked into overdrive. I’d never felt my entire body so on alert, and wanton. When he spoke, his deep, gruff voice resonated all the way to my core. There was no doubt that if he had tried to come on to me last night, I would have given in without a second thought. That was not acceptable.

I needed to get myself together before he showed up again. Lying, there I scolded myself for acting like some silly teenager with a school girl crush. And I
did
have a crush on Timber back then. He was different than the rest of the guys he hung out with. He didn’t come from the same type of family that his friends did. He had worked in the grocery store, bagging groceries and helping old ladies out with their buggies. I knew his buddies gave him a hard time for it, but I’d also overheard him one day tearing them all a new one, saying he had to work for the kicks he wore, but that didn’t make him any less than them. He knew, just like they all did, that he was only accepted into their social circle because he was good looking. How sad it must have been for him to know that his looks were all he had going for him. Except I knew better. I had been a teacher’s assistant in his biology class and I often helped grade papers. Timber was smart. Very smart, in fact. He had once told Mr. Kent that he wanted to go to med school and work in biomedicine. He wanted to find cures for cancer, fix infertility problems, and make the world a better place. I mentally rolled my eyes at that thought. Mr. Perfect wanted to bring world peace. Okay, so technically I threw in the last one about making the world a better place, but really that’s what he had wanted. What teenage boy thinks about those things?

Looking at my clock, I realized I’d been lying here for an hour longer than I normally do. It was Sunday, my beach day. Time to get up, get my bathing suit on and head out. I got dressed in my black bikini, my favorite cut-off shorts that were frayed around the edges, and grabbed a new book I’d borrowed from the library. Throwing on a pair of flip flops, and putting my hair up in a messy bun, I made my way downstairs and through the bar, locking up on my way out. Driving the few blocks to the beach, I got out, grabbed my towel that I kept in my back seat, and walked to my usual spot. It was about thirty yards away from the pier and perfect for sunbathing. When I got myself all situated, I laid on my stomach, flipped to the first chapter of my book and quickly became engrossed in the story. After some time of reading and listening to the sound of the waves rolling onto the sand, I must have dozed off. When I woke up my face was on top of the page I’d last read. My arm felt numb from being raised above my head in an awkward position for so long. Blinking rapidly, I lifted my face and saw someone sitting next to me, blocking the sun.

Sucking in a breath of air, I saw Timber about a foot away with his arms resting on his bent knees, looking out at the water.

“So is this what you do on your days off?” His voice was like a shock to my still dozing body. He must have seen me move, and knew I was awake.

Pushing up with my arms, I rolled over and sat Indian style. “What the hell are you doing here? Are you following me or something?”

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “Or something,” he smirked.

I shook my head, loose strands of hair falling into my face. “Stalking isn’t an attractive quality, Timber. In fact, most girls would have you arrested for such a thing.”

He turned to face me, his blue eyes startling in the light. “Possibly, but you’re not most girls, are you,
Kat
?” His grin looked devilish. Tapping his head with his index finger, he said, “See, I remembered.”

“Hmmm… yeah, I guess you did. You want a cookie or something?”

“Are you baking them?”

“What? No! I didn’t mean I was going to bake you cookies. Do you take everything so literal?”

“I was kidding, I knew what you meant.”

“Hmmph. Yeah, I bet.”

His smile widened, with his perfectly white, straight teeth. “But really, if you wanted to bake me some cookies, I’d gladly accept. My favorite is sugar cookies by the way. Feel free to drop them off whenever you want.”

Trying my hardest to glare at him, I said, “Yeah, sure. I’ll get right on that. Hopefully I can mix them up well enough that you won’t even taste the arsenic after they bake.”

His deep chuckle made me feel dizzy. “Were you this much of a smartass in high school?”

The mere mention of high school snapped me out of my Timber induced haze. I turned behind me and grabbed the book I had been reading. It looked like it was time to call it an early day and head back to the bar. As I placed the book in my beach sack and moved to stand up, Timber reached out and placed his hand on my forearm.

“Wait, where’re you going?” He looked confused.

“Packing up to head back home, what does it look like?” I said, with more force than I intended.

His eyes captured mine. I saw him trying to read my expression. I worked hard to school my face, trying not to give away the fact that he was making me nervous and I just wanted to get away from him.

“Kat, you don’t have to leave on my account. I’ll leave if you are really that uncomfortable with me being here.”

I sighed deeply. Searching his face for any sign that he didn’t mean what he said, I saw that he was being honest. Okay, seriously, I was being the biggest bitch. Deciding that I needed to take a chill and look at his being here from a different angle, I put my bag down and smoothed my features.

“Look, I’m sorry. I’m just not used to falling asleep on the beach and waking up to someone sitting in my light. Then you start flirting and I don’t know how to take it.”

He chuckled. “You think that I was flirting with you?”

Did I mistake his comments for him coming on to me? Feeling like my face was flaming with embarrassment, I said, “Yeah. Umm, weren’t you?”