Wyne and Dine (Citizen Soldier Series Book 1) (10 page)

Or the second.

They’d made it to the shower and
put the built-in seat to good use. Excellent use. A smile tugged his lips and
body heated at the thought. The image of her all wet and slick, head thrown
back, gorgeous breasts bouncing as she straddle him would be forever imprinted
on his brain.

God, she’d been great. Too great.
The last time nearly
did
kill him. He’d asked her to put on the blue
corset thing so he could show her properly how much he loved it. Try to make up
for being such an ass the night before. Just remembering how damn sexy Lea had
looked in the silky thing with all her mouth-watering curves spilling out sent
heat skittering down his body to stiffen his groin. A true vision. A vision
he’d wanted on the bed, sprawled out where he could devour every delectable
inch. And he had. But he hadn’t expected the same treatment. The woman was full
of surprises. She’d flipped him onto his back and licked and touched and tasted
every damn inch of him. Without mercy.

It had been incredible.

Too bad it had to end.

But it did.

The weekend was just about over.

“What are you smiling about?” she
asked. “Me, I hope.”

He held back a snort. Yeah, her and
that damn corset. Not something she needed to know. Especially since their time
was up.

“Yes. I wanted to thank you for all
your help with Mrs. Dankirk. Other than one time, she hadn’t bothered me all
weekend.”

Some of the sparkle left Lea’s
gaze. Ben’s gut tightened, but he ignored it. It had to be done. It was for her
own good. They had no future.

“Good, I’m glad I could help.”

“You did.” He tried to formulate
the words that would be the least hurtful.
Ah hell,
this was why he
didn’t want to give into his need. “Look, about what happened—”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” she
rushed to say, soft hand on his arm as she tipped her head and winked. “It’s
all good. I
Wyne’d
. I dined. But the weekend is over, and so is our
foray.”

He pulled up outside her father’s
house and parked, shock stunning him silent. Yeah, she was full of surprises.
Here he was trying to come up with a way to let the woman down gently when she
did the letting down.

“Don’t look so shocked. We agreed
to one weekend, and we had our weekend.” Still smiling, she patted his arm.
“And don’t worry. I’ll still respect you.”

He laughed at that one. She was
something else. “Thank goodness for that. I was concerned.”

“I thought so.” She grinned and
made to remove her hand.

He grabbed it and squeezed.
“Seriously, Lea. Thank you, and not just for Mrs. Dankirk, but for one hell of
a memorable weekend.”

If what Brandi had told him was
true, then Lea had wanted to sleep with him for a while now. He just hoped he
hadn’t disappointed. Sometimes living up to one’s expectations were impossible.
No one knew that better than him.

He also didn’t know if he’d lived
up. And apparently, she wasn’t going to give him any clues, either.

“Right back at you, Ben.”

Okay. Maybe a crumb.

Her blue gaze was frank and
friendly. God, he could get lost in them. Thoughts like that sent a red flag to
his brain. Same went for the urge that rushed through him to lean in and kiss
her lush lips.

He gave himself a mental shake and
lifted her hand to kiss her fingers instead. “Thanks again.”

“Right back at you, Ben,” she
repeated, then tugged free to reach for her overnight bag on the floor.

“Wait, I’ll get it for you,” he
said, making to take the small bag from her, but she brushed his hand aside and
smiled.

“Don’t be silly. I’ve got it.”

And before he could argue further,
or walk her to her door as he’d intended, the damn woman exited the truck and
was halfway to her porch in a matter of seconds.

He knew he’d hit pay dirt. He
really did know. Relief was the customary emotion a guy experienced who had
just been let off the hook from what could’ve been a very messy situation.

As he drove away from the woman who
had rocked his world the whole weekend, the woman who didn’t even look back as
she entered her house, Ben refused to label the tightness in his chest and the
rippling in his gut as anything other than relief.

Even though he knew it was far from
it.

L
ea’s Monday went by
like every other Monday. Busy, fast and boring. Although, this one had another
verb.

Avoided.

Ben never showed up for breakfast
as usual that morning. His brothers, Mason and Keiffer, were right on time, but
no Ben.

Dammit
.

She was to blame. She knew it.

The very thing she’d tried so hard
to avoid was happening. The man of her dreams had slept with her, and now he
was avoiding her. To say it didn’t hurt would be a lie. A big. Fat. Lie

By the time she was getting ready
to go home after the supper rush, and he still hadn’t made an appearance, Lea
kept her gaze fixed on the armory across the street. Maybe he hadn’t gone to
work that day. Or maybe he was visiting another armory, or down Ft. Indiantown
Gap. That could explain his absence. But when that unmistakable smile, broad shoulders
and familiar swagger came into view as he walked with another soldier to the
parking lot, her hurt had turned to disappointment, then anger.

What the hell was his problem?
She’d made it clear she had no hold on him. Wanted nothing from him other than
for them to carry on as normal. And normal did not include avoidance.
Dammit
.

Her worst nightmare.

She was still fuming when Brandi
sent her a text later that night as she was getting ready for bed. An
invitation to Skype.

Shoot. She’d forgotten she’d promised
to talk to her friend tonight about her weekend.

Until today, Lea had been prepared
to discuss the wonderful night in Ben’s bed. Now, she was too ticked off.
Still, it was no reason to act like him. Nope. She wasn’t going to
ignore
his sister because of his actions.

So, she booted up the laptop,
settled in her seat, pasted what she hoped was a passable smile on her face,
then opened the conversation.

“Tell us what happened,” Brandi
demanded, while three eager faces nodded in the background.

Kerri moved closer. “Did the
negligee work?”

“Of course it did.” Jordan smirked.

Shayla smiled. “Come on, spill.”

Ah, hell. She should’ve ignored the
text.

“Uh oh. What did my brother do?”

“Or not do?”

Four faces leaned closer to the
monitor, gazes alert and out for blood.

“My brother is an idiot,” Brandi
scoffed, along with a few colorful words Lea hadn’t known her friend even knew.
“Do I need to get Ethan or Mason or Keiffer on him?”

“No.” She laughed, a true laugh.
“It’s not like that.”

“Oh.” A collective sigh of relief
hit her ears.

Except for Jordan. She still sat
straight up, gaze intent. “Then what’s it like?”

Now she understood why her friend
called the woman a watch dog. She must be one hell of a sheriff.

“Did you at least get a kiss out of
him?” the pretty chef asked with a grin, brushing back her straight bangs a few
shades darker than her eyes.

Lea smiled. “Oh yeah. Several.” A
delicious warmth rushed through her body, and she sighed. “Damn, Brandi. Your
brother can kiss. My brain cells were in danger every time our lips met.”

“I still have that trouble with
Connor.” Kerri’s face turned a pretty shade of pink.

“Cole.” Jordan nodded, mouth
curving upward.

Brandi nodded, too. “Kade knocks me
for a loop every dang time.”

“Yeah.” Shayla frowned. “I swear Kevin
patented some kind of invisible device, because mine go missing whenever we
kiss. Damn man has enough brain cells, he doesn’t need mine, too.”

“Glad to hear I’m not the only one
who gets wonky.” Somehow, hearing them confess made her feel a little better
about her weakness.

“So, what about the negligee?”
Jordan prompted.

“Well, I waited until Friday night
to put it on—which was absolutely gorgeous by the way—and he’d given me enough
signs and unnecessary caresses for me to assume he was interested in taking it
further.”

“Oh, wow.” Shayla’s gaze narrowed.
“Are you saying he wasn’t?”

Lea snorted. “I’m saying he took
one look at me, then turned around and left the room.”

“Oh. He. Didn’t,” Kerri hissed
between the fingers she’d slapped on her face.

“I’m gonna kill my brother,” Brandi
growled, eyes dark with concern as she moved closer to the screen. “Are you
okay? I’m sorry, hun. He is so stubborn sometimes. Believe me, he was
interested. That’s why he left.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, he told me a little while
later when he apologized.”

“Oh, so is that when he got you
naked?”

Lea laughed. “No. We didn’t do
anything that night.”

Jordan sat back, big grin once
again on her face. “So then, how did Saturday night go?”

“Much better,” Lea replied. “I’d
decided to play it cool all day, only pretended to be his girlfriend when Mrs.
Dankirk was around, otherwise, I slipped back into friend mode.”

“Oh my God. You’re good,” Kerri
stated.

Shayla nodded, her red hair
rippling with the movement.

“I bet that drove him nuts.” Brandi
slapped the table and laughed.

Jordan nodded, too. “Very smart.”

“Whether it was or not, something
worked, because that night, I was coming out of the bathroom as he walked into
the room…and headed straight for me. Before I knew it, he had me against the
wall and completely turned on.”

Kerri fanned herself while all four
women wore matching grins.

“I hope my brother gave you your
against-the-wall sex.”

“Yes,” she replied. “And then
some.”

Whistles and claps echoed through
her room, and she was thankful her dad was downstairs. This was not a
conversation she’d want to explain to her father. In fact, she couldn’t believe
she was having it. She wasn’t usually the kiss-‘n’-tell kind of gal.

“Please elaborate, without getting
into too much detail, because although I love you and am so happy you’ve
finally scratched an itch you’ve wanted scratched for years, it was with my
brother, and I’d prefer not to get too personal.”

“Then go into the kitchen so we can
get the goods,” one of the girls said.

Lea chuckled. “There’s not much
else to tell, other than it was fantastic. But it’s over and time to move on.”

“Whoa. Wait. Over?”

“Why is it over?”

“Yeah, if it was that good and
you’ve wanted it for that long, why walk away?”

She shrugged. “Because Ben doesn’t
do relationships.”

Her four friends blinked at her a
second before they burst into laughter. She had no idea what was so funny. Lea
glanced behind her to see if something hilarious was going on in the room.
Nope. Just her spilling her guts. “I wish someone would let me in on the joke,
because it isn’t funny where I’m sitting.”

“That’s because you’re as clueless
as him,” Brandi said. “But don’t worry. You’ll catch on.”

She set her elbow on the desk and
chin in her hand. “Then a little help would be much appreciated right now
girls, because I’ve got nothing.”

“Let me guess,” Jordan spoke up.
“You haven’t heard from him today.”

Lea straightened. “No, I haven’t.
Not that I expected a call or anything, but he’s gone off his routine.”

“He didn’t show up at the restaurant
for breakfast?” Brandi asked, and when Lea nodded, her friend frowned. “That
idiot. He’ll learn he can’t outrun his heart.”

“Whoa, wait, when did his heart get
involved?” She blinked at them. “I didn’t do anything to compromise the guy in
that way. It was just sex. Okay, incredible, hot sex, but I never expected
promises or picket fences and told him as much. Just the weekend.”

“But you wanted more,” Kerri said.

“Well, yeah, of course,” she
replied, but didn’t tell them it was also the reason she accidentally-on-purpose
shoved her negligee into his duffle bag. No way was she going to let him forget
their night that quick.

“You’ll get more,” the beautiful,
smart and—God she hoped—insightful sheriff told her, gaze once again serious
and direct. “The very fact he couldn’t face you today shows his heart is more
involved than he’d like.”

“True.” The redhead nodded. “After
our first time, well, our time in Houston, Kevin tried to avoid me, but within
that first week, he showed up at my door and did that pressing against the wall
thing you’d mentioned.”

Lea’s heart leapt at that
admission. “Really?”

Shayla nodded again.

“And Connor couldn’t stay away,
even though we’d both agreed to be friends with benefits, it turned into
something more real fast.”

“Yeah, even Kade tried to stay
away, but somehow he knew I needed him, and he came anyway. The man always
knows when I need him.”

Her friend smiled such a satisfied
smile it took Lea’s breath away.

“I’m glad for you all. Really I am,
but Ben and I agreed to just the weekend. We don’t want to jeopardize our
friendship.”

“It’s already in jeopardy, isn’t
it?” Jordan asked quietly.

Damn, the woman was good. “Yes,”
she replied with a sigh. “So, what do you all suggest I do?”

“N
othing.” The sheriff
shook her head. “He’ll come to you.”

“Yes, he knows right where you’ll
be, so mark my words, hun,” Brandi said. “My idiot brother will show up at the
diner sometime this week. He won’t be able to stop himself.”

“Amen.” Shayla smiled. “Sometimes
the southern head has more pull than the one on their shoulders.”

“True,” Kerri agreed, a blush
infusing her pretty face again. “And maybe you should consider suggesting the
friends-with-benefits thing.”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head
and sighed again. “He kind of has a woman named Charisse he sees when the need
arises.” Her stomach knotted just thinking of the man with another woman. The
sexy, talented man who’d given her multiple orgasms.

Shayla’s red hair bobbed closer to
the screen as the woman leaned in. “Do you want more nights like last night?”

Magic? Hell… “Yeah.” She nodded.

“Then make the suggestion. Trust
me. After last night, Charisse is in his past.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes,” Kerri spoke up.
“Considering the way he’s already acting. You’re under his skin.”

“Okay, but I’m going to be going
back to New York City in a few weeks, and he hates the city.”

“Look, you’re both smart. If anyone
can figure things out, you two can,” Brandi said. “Just don’t worry about that
right now. Enjoy yourself. You deserve it.”

“Thanks, Brandi.”

The idea of
enjoying
Ben a
few more weeks until she left the Poconos for NYC made her smile. Of course, if
the man kept avoiding her, that was going to be a real problem.

“And don’t worry about seeing him,”
the all-knowing sheriff said.

Apparently the woman could also
read minds. Must drive the bad guys nuts.

“It’s like they said, he’ll show up
soon.”

Shayla shook a finger at her. “And
when he does, don’t let him off the hook too easily.”

“Yeah.” Kerri folded her arms
across her chest. “Make him beg.”

“I couldn’t do that. He already…”
She closed her mouth, having revealed more than she’d meant.

“Ooh, no you don’t. Clarify,
woman.” Jordan leaned closer to the screen and gave her the death glare. “He
already, what? Begged?”

“You have to tell us now, Lea,”
Brandi stated, gaze alight with joy. “When did Ben beg? He’s never done that,
ever. So you have to tell me what happened to cause my brother to lose
control.”

Lose control? Is that what had
happened to make him ask—practically plead—with her to don the negligee
Saturday night?

She hadn’t wanted to, was perfectly
happy being naked and ready for round three, but the heated look in his eyes
told her it would be worth the effort, so she had. And damn…it
had
been
worth it. Her good parts tingled just remembering the special attention he’d
paid them.

“Oh, wow.” Brandi blinked. “More up
against the wall sex?”

“No.” A grin tugged her lips hard.
“This involved him persuading me to put the negligee on so he could make up for
walking out the night before.”

“Yeehaw!”

“Sweet!”

“Then he definitely made up for it
if that satisfied expression is anything to go by.”

Her grin widened into a smile. “Oh,
he did. Several times.”

More cheers and laughter
reverberated around her room, and Lea had to admit, she felt so much better
than she had an hour ago. Leave it to her friends to put things into
perspective. Between them, the women had been through enough to clue her in.
Make her see that Ben’s avoidance wasn’t going to last.

Good, because she wouldn’t either.
They’d been friends for far too long to let sex—great sex—get in the way. Now,
she just had to make him see they could enjoy both for a few weeks before she
left for NYC.

B
y ten fifteen
Thursday morning, Ben finally gave into his need to go to Gabe’s. He’d skipped
breakfast there on Monday, and every morning since, to keep things in
perspective with Lea. Surely, a few days of breaking his routine was enough to
show his friend he could do without her company if he had to. That they were
just friends and required nothing more from one another, as she’d so easily
told him in not so many words when she’d walked herself to her damn door Sunday
evening.

She could do without him, and he
could do without her.

Piece of cake.

Gabe’s had the best breakfast in
town. There was no need to flex the proverbial
control
muscle any
longer. He was hungry. No reason to avoid the place any longer. Besides, his
friend Ryder and Keiffer were already there waiting for him. He couldn’t very
well tell his friend he couldn’t accept his invitation for a free breakfast
because he’d slept with the guy’s baby sister and didn’t want her to cling.

Shit.

He’d slept with his best friend’s
sister. The man was going to kick his ass.

The man
should
kick his ass.
He deserved a kicked ass. He never should’ve given into his need and had sex
with Lea. Although, try as he might, Ben couldn’t bring himself to regret the
night.

No. He’d take the ass-whooping he
deserved, and hopefully, they’d move on.

He certainly would’ve kicked
Ryder’s ass if he’d ever slept with Brandi.

Ben’s footsteps slowed as he walked
across the street, shoving a hand in a stop motion at an oncoming car. He
didn’t care. He was pissed. Jesus, had those two ever slept together? Brandi
had always been comfortable around Ryder, and his friend had been unusually
comfortable around her.
Sonofabitch.
Maybe they
had
slept
together.

He was going to kill Ryder.

Stepping onto the sidewalk, he
grabbed the handle, then yanked open the door. The bell above him jangled loud
enough to wake the dead. Again, Ben didn’t care. He had some dead memories to
pluck from his friend’s brain.

“Way to make an entrance, Serge.”
His buddy snickered along with his brother.

Good. They were alone. Almost. Ben
glared at a man sipping coffee at the counter, folded newspaper in his hand as
he turned toward him. And he continued glaring while the customer set his cup
down, coffee sloshing over the side, threw money on the counter and quickly
scurried out the door Ben held open for him.

“Wow, someone’s having a bad
morning.”

“No, but they’re going to,” he
said, striding over to the booth to glare down at Ryder.

“Okay, I’ll bite. Did I do
something wrong?”

Trying his best to keep a lid on
his temper, Ben dropped into the booth next to Keiffer without losing eye
contact with Ryder. Better to have a table between them to keep him from
throttling his best friend.

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether or not you’ve slept
with Brandi.”

Coffee spewed from Keiffer’s mouth
and covered half the table, Ryder’s jaw hit his chest, and the sound of dishes
breaking in the kitchen echoed to their table.

“
What?
” Disbelief shot his
friend’s tone up a few octaves as the man stared slack-jawed at him. “Of course
not, man. She’s your sister.”

Ah…hell
.

Studying the guy’s steady gaze and
relaxed body, Ben had to conclude his friend was telling the truth.
Jesus
,
this business with Lea had him nuts. He was off his game. Out of his mind. So
far out he’d lost sight of it. Had been all week. He was beginning to think he
and his sanity would never be reunited.

Discovering that sexy blue corset
mixed with his clothes had held him prisoner all damn week. He couldn’t walk
past it without remembering her taste.

“What the hell is this about?”

Keiffer choked on more coffee. He
slid him a sideways glance, but his youngest brother had grown immune to Ben’s
glares. The asshole just sat back in the booth and smiled, motioning with his
hand to proceed.

Bastard knew. His brother’s dark
eyes were brimming with realization, and a whole hell of a lot of mirth.

He turned back to face his friend
and tried to figure out how to come clean.

“Ben slept with your sister.”
Keiffer apparently decided to help.

Ryder shrugged. “Gwen? That’s old
news, pal.”

This time Ben twisted in his seat
and stared directly at his
deadmeat
brother. “Can it.”

His glare must be broken because
his brother just smiled and returned his attention to their friend.

“No, your
other
sister.”

The crashing of more dishes sounded
from the kitchen.

“Shit.” His friend straightened in
the booth and narrowed his gaze.

Ben held up his hand and nodded. “I
think we should take this outside so you can kick my ass like I deserve.”

Whatever the man had been about to
say remained a secret as the kitchen pass-through door flung open and a fuming
Lea stomped close.

“I’m so glad to see the three of
you think so little of me you have to discuss my sex life in the middle of the
damn restaurant.”

Keiffer held up his hands and
stared up at the furious female. “If it means anything, Ben made sure to clear
everyone else out first.”

“Well, thank you for small favors.”
She twisted on her heel and marched back into the kitchen, her ponytail
swishing in her haste.

Ben’s chest had never felt so
tight. He had trouble breathing. Another first. He glanced from Keiffer to
Ryder then jumped to his feet. “Excuse me,” he said, then rushed after the
seething woman.

If he’d stopped to think, he
probably would’ve realized his actions gave away a clue he totally missed. All
he knew was he never wanted to see the pure hurt and disappointment clouding
Lea’s beautiful blue eyes ever again. The fact he was the reason it was there
in the first place twisted the knot in his stomach and made him pick up his
pace.

He entered the kitchen to find it
empty except for a cowering cook and pieces of broken dishes strewn across the
floor. The cook pointed to the open door leading to the parking lot out back.
Ben rushed outside and found her leaning against a tree, watching ducks swim in
the nearby creek.

“Lea. I’m sorry.”

She turned around and watched him
approach through narrowed eyes. “Who are you and what have you done to Ben? He
doesn’t know those words.”

The invisible vice squeezing his
chest increased its hold. She was right. He’d never uttered those words. Didn’t
believe in those words.

Gwen. His mother. Mason’s fiancée.
They’d all used them. Even Brandi’s mother had apologized to his dad on her
death bed for not sticking around longer.

Sorry?

No, he didn’t believe in the damn
word.

Until now.

Because he
was
sorry he hurt
her. Remorse soured his stomach and cancelled his appetite.  “You’re right. I
don’t know a lot of things, like how to mesh what we’ve done with our normal
lives. It’s got me acting out of character. I’m sorry.”

She turned to face him, and waited
until he stopped to palm the tree and stare down at her.

“What we’ve done, Ben, was give
into a basic need. People do it every day. It’s been going on since the dawn of
time. There was no reason to act—” She paused to wave a hand at him and then
the building. “—Neanderthal or whatever the hell it was you did in there.”

“You’re right,” he repeated
quietly. “I should never have—”

She slapped a palm onto his chest
and cocked her head. “Don’t you dare tell me you regret what we did, because it
was the best darn night of my life.”

He blinked as satisfaction and male
ego increased his height by two inches. “It was?”

“Yes.” She slapped him again. “You
know it. So don’t you dare say you regret it. Lie to me, I don’t care. Just
don’t say you regret it.”

He clamped a hand over her thudding
palm and held it to his chest. “I would never lie to you, Lea. And I wasn’t
going to say I regretted it. I was going to say I should never have accused
your brother like that. Let alone out in public. My only excuse is lack of
sleep has clouded my judgment.”

“You’re not sleeping?”

No. She’d been invading his dreams,
making him hot and hard all damn week.

“Why?” She removed her hand to palm
his head then forehead. “Are you sick?”

Yes, he was. He had a fever, for
her, and only just now realized it.
Shit
. What the hell did he do now?
There was no way he was going to act on this newfound information. She deserved
better than someone who waltzed around in public announcing they’ve been having
sex.

Okay, technically it hadn’t been
him, but his actions had caused the knowledge to come out. So he was just as
guilty.

Actually, he was the
only
one who was guilty.

“No, I’m not sick. But I have been
stupid. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, Lea.” He removed her hand from his
face to kiss her knuckles.

“We’ve both been blindsided by our
reactions to one another,” she said, expression softening. “I certainly didn’t
expect our connection to knock me for a loop.”

It had knocked him on his ass, and
he was still trying to right himself.

“So don’t try to figure this one
out, Ben. I think it might be better to just agree it is what it is.”

The huskiness of her voice upped
his pulse without his authorization. “Which is?” Damn. He hadn’t given his
voice consent to reply, either.

“Which is—great chemistry—pure and
simple.”

There wasn’t anything pure or
simple about the way he felt when it came to Lea Gablonski, especially when she
tapped his face before spinning around to walk back into the restaurant.

She hadn’t asked for anything more.

Hadn’t demanded anything more.

Hell, he didn’t even know if she
wanted anything more.