Talon's Heart (2 page)

 It was easy to get the info that I needed, everyone knew who the new girl was because she was the only transfer this late in the year. Getting an intro would be no problem as it turned out that she was the best friend of my boy Kevin's girl. I barely convinced myself to wait until the next day before forcing the issue. Somehow I had the urge to go find her and bring her home, totally alien emotions for yours truly.

 That night I thought of her before I fell asleep, the color of her eyes was super imposed on my brain or some shit. And the way she’d looked right through me, as if she knew just who I was. I hadn’t been with anyone in a while, not since my night with Mackenzie before I had to go home for a family emergency. That was almost a month ago. The way Mackenzie tried to latch onto me afterwards kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. Everyone knew the deal, they knew the rules; I’m not exactly a dog but I guess some would say I’m pretty close. I don’t have a different woman in my bed every night. But when I do sleep with one it’s usually with the understanding that it’s a one off. No strings attached.

 For some fucked up reason although they knew this since my rep precedes me everywhere I go on campus, they still flock to me. Most I’m sure are under the impression that they will be the one to change me, to make me take that step. None have succeeded, so now I find myself with an entourage of cast offs that swore they understood the rules but who now seemed to be making it their life’s mission to corral my ass or some shit. The gentleman in me couldn’t tell them to get the hell out of my vision, but neither did I lead them on.

Chapter 2

TALON

 It was in the cafeteria the following afternoon that I had finally been introduced. It had damn near killed me to wait through class after class and then a meet with coach, but I was on the hunt as soon as I was free. I watched her from across the room before approaching. I needed to see if I would have that same strange reaction. Like lightning striking; damn if it wasn’t worst this time around.

 Up close those eyes of hers were killer, and her body no longer shrouded by her parka was even more amazing than I'd first thought. Nice and easy there Avery, don’t jump the girl at the table with a hundred people all in your shit. I had no doubt they were all tracking my every move since I was going against my norm.

 "What's up Kevin?" I cuffed my boy on the shoulder as he sat next to Stephanie at their usual table. I usually sat across the room surrounded by a bevy of vultures. All those girls and women who wanted my attention, or sought to recapture it, there wasn't enough room for anyone else. I’d given up trying to get away from them when nothing I did worked. It was more peaceful to sit there and watch them simper and act the fool than to run around the damn room to get away from them. There was nothing they could do to change my mind anyway so there was no reason for me to avoid them.

Today I'm on a mission though.

 "Hey Avery how's it hanging, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" He chided me; I knew he had a pretty good idea what I was after. He's one of the people I'd questioned the night before after all. I didn't like it when he told me that half the douches on campus were after her since she'd enrolled. That statement had sent me into some sort of near meltdown. I got the names of all my would be competitors just in case I had to drop a fucker for being stupid but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t come to that.

 I'd been away for a family emergency when she first arrived that's why I hadn't seen her before. I could see why they were after her though; she was a damn knock out. Too bad for them, with me on the hunt they didn't stand a chance. None of them had the nerve to go up against me and if they should find their balls I’d nut punt their ass across the football field.

Kevin's POV

 I had a pretty good idea what my good pal was after; every other guy on campus had been salivating over Stephanie's little friend since she'd enrolled two weeks ago. I'm sure the only reason it took Avery this long was because he'd been away for some family emergency when she'd turned up. I tried not to laugh at the way he was looking at the poor girl like she was his favorite meal.

 I guess I could understand the attraction, if I wasn't so gone over Stephanie I probably would've joined her long line of admirers. I smiled now knowing that with Talon in the picture the others didn't stand a chance. The guy was not only filthy rich, he was good looking, not to mention, he could beat the living shit out of the whole student body and half the faculty. Since Stephanie had taxed me with keeping an eye on her little friend I sure could use the help. Having a man of her own would eliminate the need for my protection.

 On the other hand, I'm not quite sure how Stephanie would react to Talon's interest in her friend.

Seems the girl had been badly hurt by some jerk back home, and Talon with his love 'em and leave 'em reputation might just be too much.

"Just being social, nonna asked about you.” He finally answered my question though he never took his eyes off of her.

 My face brightened at the mention of his irascible grandmother. I love that old lady she's one of my favorite people in the world. After standing up to my father the bully my whole teenage life and making it possible for me to attend this school, I owed her more than I could ever repay. The fact that she’d done it because Talon had taken me home like a stray one day after he saw my old man knock me down and swore that I wasn’t going back had endeared both of them to me for life. We were twelve at the time and from two completely opposite sides of the tracks. Talon hadn’t cared about that though, even though a lot of the other kids had been mean as shit back then. He’d befriended me in the first grade and we’ve been joined at the hip ever since.

 "How's my best girl doing?" I bit my lip as I rocked back in my chair, trying hard not to laugh out loud and catch a left hook. I’ve never seen Talon react this way to a female before. I should’ve known that crap he gave me last night about just being curious was a crock. Talon Avery did not ask about women, it was always the other way around in my experience.

"The same, you know nonna."

The guy couldn't keep his eyes off Skye it was almost comical. He wasn't even trying to hide his interest, and then again it wasn't in Talon's makeup to be subtle.

TALON

 Stephanie and Skylar were prattling on about some upcoming bio test and didn't seem to notice that I'd joined them, but I would've sworn Skylar seemed more alert somehow. Huh!

"Hey Steph, why don't you introduce Skylar to Talon?"

Good guy Kevin.

"Hey Talon, great game last night." She smiled up at me.

"Thanks Steph." I was still eyeballing Skylar.

"This is my best friend Skylar, we grew up together in Rhode Island." She made the introductions in a blasé way as if she had no qualms about introducing the kitten to the tiger.

Maybe I'd been worried for nothing, I felt sure Stephanie would be reticent to let me anywhere near her friend, not that that would've stopped me. But I was expecting a little resistance on her part. She could have no way of knowing that I’d lost my damn mind on the football field and was suffering some sort of out of body experience. I had a sneaky suspicion that I knew what was going on here but I couldn’t jump the gun. If what I was beginning to suspect was true then life as I knew it was dust.

 "Hello Skylar." She turned those eyes on me and I damn near buckled at the knees. All sound ceased to exist, there was only this moment, and this girl with her amazing fuck me eyes and fly away curls. In a flash I saw myself covered in those curls as she rode me. My body heated under her shy gaze and I literally had to bite my lip to hold back the groan that threatened to escape.

Fucking aye.

Chapter 3

TALON

 "Hi." Man what a voice, like smoke and honey, and that blush; damn is she for real? I suddenly became aware of the loud silence that fell on the cafeteria; it was as though every breathing soul in the room was watching us. I felt my hackles rise, and a strong possessive and protective anger overcame me. I had the uncharacteristic urge to stake my claim here and now. To challenge every man in the room until the whole world knew that she belonged to only me. What the fuck? I blinked rapidly trying to clear my vision and my fucking brain but that shit wasn't working.

"We need to talk." What the hell am I doing?

 After making that asinine statement I grabbed her hand pulling her from her seat. She threw a panicked look over her shoulder to her friend but I wasn't letting go. The way I feel right now I would probably knock Stephanie the hell out of the way if she tried to stop me.

She seemed to sense my mood and did nothing more than purse her lips while giving Skylar a worried look.

 I practically dragged the poor girl out of the room amid murmurs and rampant speculation.

We barely made it out the door before I had her pressed up against the wall. Thankfully I'd had the sense to choose the wall farthest from the windows as I had no doubt every head was turned in our direction.

"Do you have a man?" Real smooth there Talon, I’m pretty sure I didn’t give a fuck and that hadn’t been the first thing I wanted to say to her, but whatever.

 She shook her head in confusion at me. Before she could finish shaking her head in denial I was kissing her like a starving man at a banquet. I couldn’t help myself okay; I’d wanted to taste her since our eyes connected across the field last night. I’d waited damn near twenty-four hours already I think I should be given points for that shit. Last night there was a time or two when I’d come close to going after her and dragging her back to my lair so this was way tamer in my opinion.

 It didn't matter that I was acting like a madman, that I'd only just met her. Everything that was in me screamed that this one woman belonged to me. There was no obstacle I wouldn't obliterate to claim her. Knowing that there was no one with a claim on her made things easier but if things had been different I would've fought to claim what's mine. Fuck it I’d been zapped, there was no other explanation for this brand of crazy shit going on inside me right now.

"Mine."

Chapter 4

TALON

 I consumed her lips; her taste went through me like a burning spear igniting a fire in my blood. Her soft curves molded themselves to my harder contours like we were made for each other. The beauty of it was that she returned my embrace with equal fervor. The way her lips clung to mine, as if she knew me.

If she didn't stop making that purring sound I was afraid I would lose whatever little control I had left and ravage more than just her lips on the cafeteria steps. In a remote part of my brain I knew I needed to rein it in but I couldn’t seem to stop. I had no control over my body’s reaction to her, not to mention my heart and mind. I ground the sudden ache in my cock against her jeans covered softness and groaned into her mouth.

 No not here not her, she would not be treated like the others. I'd never make a spectacle of her; she was different. I understood that in a way that a week ago would've scared the hell out of me. Now it seemed so natural, not at all the horror I thought it would be. I didn’t feel the weakness or the loss I’d expected. Instead I felt empowered somehow, like I’d been given something rare and special and I had no fucking idea what was going on.

 I'd grown up hearing the stories of my parents' tumultuous love affair, about the love at first sight that had claimed the men of my father's line for generations. My nonna was proud to regale my siblings and I with tales of her and grandpa's own whirlwind romance.

 I'd always scoffed at the possibility of such a thing ever happening to me. I enjoyed my freedom way too much, was much too young. No matter that my father and brother had bitten the dust in their early twenties, just as his father before him had. I can’t say I’d been running from the shit but I wasn’t looking for it either. I had just convinced myself that I was above that sort of oldwife’s tale.

 I wouldn't quibble about it now that the chips had fallen; I'm nothing if not honest with myself. There was no way that this was anything other than the family legend. I'd once thought of it as a curse, until now, this feeling was beyond anything I could've ever imagined. Beyond the fact that it scared the shit out of me, it also made me feel unbelievably strong. The only thing left to do now was convince this total stranger that she now belonged to me. Poor thing, I hope she hadn’t had any major plans for her life because that shit was about to change.

"Mine." I uttered the word once more as I nibbled around her lips to her jaw.

 She trustingly allowed me to enfold her tighter, my six three frame dwarfing her slighter frame. I wanted to pick her up and run away and hide. Take her away somewhere where we could be alone for at least a week. My heart was racing out of time and my head was going in ten different directions at once, but with all that I felt peace like I’d never known. I guess dad had been right all along, there was no way to fight this shit might as well go with it.

SKYLAR

 I don't know what the hell had gotten into me. I've never in my life behaved in such a careless fashion.

This isn't me, I'm not the girl who drove men wild with lust, in fact I'd only ever kissed one boy in my life and it had never been anything like this. This is the stuff of hot, steamy romance novels. Things like this didn't happen in the real world, and they especially didn't happen to girls like me.

 I'm not a statuesque blonde with a super model body. There's nothing remotely remarkable about me except maybe my unusual eyes, which I've never seen the allure of though many people commented on them. I wasn’t ugly I know but the way he acted made me feel like I was the most desirable thing on two legs. Then again I had to remember who I was dealing with here. This was the campus jock, for all I know this could be his modus operandi. If it was then there must be a lot of broken hearts in his wake. The boy was potent especially to a small town girl not accustomed to bringing out the beast in the opposite sex.