Tarnished (7 page)

“Yes.”

“Do you always get what you want?” She didn’t look at him, but headed for a tall dresser. She opened a drawer and grabbed a bra and panties. She didn’t even try to hide them when she turned toward him. The lingerie dangled from her fingers.

“Definitely not,” he responded, staring at the scraps of pale pink lace. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and had to restrain himself from adjusting his dick.

“Might want to get used to that.” She waltzed past him again and disappeared into the closet.

He exhaled and squirmed in his spot. Why had he thought coming into her room was a good idea? The woman was teasing him. No, she was
testing
him. She wanted to see if he would attack her, mentally or physically? He would not. Obviously she had some serious hang-ups with men and their aggressiveness. He would not disappoint her. Whatever happened between them, it would be on her terms or not at all. That was clear. If he did anything to ruin that, he’d regret it for the rest of his life.

When she emerged a few minutes later, she was dressed. Shorts. Tight tank top. Sandals.

He stifled another groan. Her legs were perfection. She was tiny but muscular. Her skin was darker than it should be for this early in the spring. She must spend a lot of time outside. Maybe at the YMCA?

Her hair hung in a tangled mess down her back, still damp.

A buzz on the desktop made him glance in that direction. She grabbed her cell, peeked at the text, and tossed it back down without saying a word.

He waited. For what he didn’t know, but whatever was going to happen was now going to be dictated by his nervous mate.

Her next move shocked him. She stomped across the room and flung a suitcase on the bed, letting it flop open. As though he weren’t even in the house, she stuffed it with a seemingly random assortment of items—shorts, jeans, Tshirts, sweaters. She grabbed a handful of the groan-worthy panties and bras from the delicates drawer and tossed them inside. “Will it be cold at night?”

He couldn’t respond. He sat frozen, his mouth stuck. Finally he nodded.
She’s going with me. Hallelujah
. He didn’t want to break the spell and ruin the moment, so he remained still and silent.

Sandals. Shoes. Socks.

She strode back to the bathroom, and he listened to her banging around for a while. He held his breath. His mind didn’t fully understand what was happening. His heart beat frantically.
She’s really going with me.

She returned with a toiletry bag and tossed it in the suitcase. Her hair was combed. Her curls were springing to life as they dried. He loved her natural beauty. She didn’t even have makeup on. She didn’t need it. She was so pure. He vowed never to destroy that about her.

The entire process had taken maybe ten minutes until she zipped the luggage, the sound ringing resolutely in the room.

Drake was a lucky man.

Kenzie hefted the suitcase off the bed and left the room. “Coming?” she called over her shoulder.

He wanted to take the heavy bag from her. As a gentleman, he knew better. But he also feared getting slapped by the queen of feminism. Better to leave her alone this time.

She leaned the luggage against the front door when she reached the bottom of the stairs and marched toward the kitchen. What was the rush?

He followed her and watched as she scrawled a note on a piece of paper and left it on the table. “Can we go?”

“Um, sure. Don’t you want to talk to your family first?” He wanted to get her out of here as fast as possible, but where the hell was
her
fire?

“Nope. I’d rather be long gone before they get home. Please?” She looked him in the eye for the first time since she’d left the shower.

“Of course,” he agreed. “But why?”

“They will make me want to vomit with their gushing oohs and ahhs. It’ll be like prom night all over again.” She switched to a mocking voice, imitating her mother apparently. “Oh, Kenzie, dear, stand next to your mate. Let me get a good picture before you go. Be sure to buckle up. Don’t drink and drive. Use protection. Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “My mother is a pain in the ass when she gets excited, and this adventure would push her over the edge. Plus, my sisters are going to gloat and preen like preteens. I don’t want to be here for the festivities, if you don’t mind.”

Drake smiled. She was so passionate when she wasn’t beating him to death with her obstinacy. “Let’s go, then.” He opened the front door and grabbed her suitcase. He wasn’t going to argue about that right now. And she didn’t comment. She grabbed a short-sleeved sweater and shrugged it on over her tank top.

At the truck, he deposited her bag in the bed and opened the front passenger door. He didn’t touch her as she climbed in this time. He knew if he did, he’d melt and either do or say something stupid. He needed his mind clear. It was bad enough she was going to fill the cab once again with her scent.

When he entered from his side and turned the key, he finally spoke again. “Your job?”

“I took the week off. That was the text earlier.”

“Okay, then. Where to now? Lunch? We can’t leave town until later this afternoon. I have to pick up my brothers. My parents are in the smaller truck without a back seat. No way they’ll all fit. If I force my brothers to leave the gathering early, they will bitch all the way home. It’s a five-hour drive. Trust me, you don’t want to listen to that.”

“Lunch would be good.”

“You lead. I’ll drive.”

Kenzie sucked oxygen into her lungs. She’d had to be as hasty as possible in the house, or she’d have lost her resolve. It went against every grain in her nature to agree to this farce, but she had to do it. She needed to get this man out of her system, even if she had to sleep with him to prove her point. If she didn’t let this relationship play itself out, then neither of them would ever know how very right she was. He would hound her until she relented. She would clearly suffer until she proved herself right. Her family, who obviously gave this man their address, would not stop badgering her until she gave in.

She knew she wasn’t cut out for mating. No way. No how. She wasn’t wired for it. And anything she might have, could have, or would have done before the incident four years ago when she was just a teenager was entirely destroyed at that time. Now she just needed to get through this week so she could say “I told you so” and return to her life, vindicated, without having to worry about the hunk of sexy man next to her coming around to torture her with his promises for the rest of her life.

She directed him toward an outdoor sandwich shop, and they ordered at the window. She let him pay, though she had to grit her teeth to do so. She didn’t want to owe him anything. His look inferred there would be a scene right here in public if she argued.

The man had a subtle way of demanding compliance at every turn.

They picked a table in the sun, and Drake stared at her while she methodically opened her sub. She lifted her gaze. “What?”

“Are you going to talk to me? You act as though you’re being coerced into something you don’t want, like you’d rather be having a tooth extracted.”

“Aren’t I?”

“I don’t see it that way.” He leaned toward her.

She held her knees still to keep from shaking them up and down in nervousness.

“Kenzie, I’m not trying to pressure you. Have I made you uncomfortable at any point?”

“Nope.”

“You left off the ‘not yet’ part.” He shook his head. “You’re going to make me work for this, aren’t you?”

“Hell yes. And I intend for you to give it your best shot, so that in the end you will know for certain it wasn’t going to work out.”

His jaw dropped open.

She took a bite and licked the mayonnaise from her lower lip.

He glanced away and inhaled. “Is that the only reason you agreed to go with me?” He didn’t touch his sandwich. It sat in the wrapper on the table. His hands gripped the wooden table top as he tried to control his emotions, unsuccessfully. She watched his cheeks pinken with frustration—his jaw tight and rigid.

Score one for me.

“Yep.” She took another bite, trying to appear unaffected by him. That was the goal. Too bad she could hardly swallow. Her mouth was so dry she couldn’t chew the bite or even taste it. She was lying through her teeth. Her knees bobbed up and down of their own accord to prove it to her. She wanted to kiss him so bad she had to breathe through her mouth just to avoid his scent.

Drake closed his eyes and sat back. A muscle twitched in his neck. His tight T-shirt stretched across his shoulders as they rose and fell.

She was already proving her point. Men could not control themselves. They were all selfish bastards with only one thing on their minds.

“Kenzie,” he murmured as he lowered his gaze to her. “You are so misguided.”

“And you are so condescending.” When would she stop pestering him, taunting him? When he decided she wasn’t worth it and left her. That was the goal.

“Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you have no feelings for me at all? Your heart doesn’t race when you’re near me? Your palms aren’t sweaty? Your mind isn’t scrambled? You aren’t the least bit curious about what it might feel like for me to hold you in my arms and kiss you senseless?” He lowered his voice as he spoke so no one around could hear him.

She swallowed her bite and took a gulp of soda. He was right, of course. And that was the clincher. The one point making her so nervous she almost doubted her resolve. Everything he’d said was indisputable. And part of her hated him for his accuracy. The part that wasn’t consumed with wishing he would put the last part into action and get it over with so she could breathe.

Her hesitation was too long.

“I didn’t think so,” he whispered. He reached across the table and took her hands in his. He squeezed gently, reassuring her. “I hope one day soon you will trust me enough to share what happened to you that made you so distrustful. I know there was an event. Something more than the unwanted kiss from the last gathering. No one is this skittish without reason. I’m here for you, and I want you to confide in me. I know you don’t feel comfortable enough yet to trust me, but I will work hard to earn that trust—every day. Please give me the chance to prove myself. If you keep throwing daggers at every opportunity, you will get your self-fulfilling prophesy. I don’t want that for either of us. It will be painful, and we will both end up lonely.

“I won’t give up on you. Not without a lot of effort on your part. I won’t push you. I won’t cheat on you. I won’t disrespect you. I’m an all-around nice guy.” He gave a wry grin.

When he released her, they ate their meal in silence. She needed to clear her head. Would she ever be able to accomplish that task? She tasted nothing. When they finished, they balled up their wrappers and tossed them in the trash.

Instead of aiming for the truck, Drake took her hand and led her down the sidewalk. He didn’t speak. He simply guided her leisurely along, seemingly deep in thought when she dared glance at him.

His hand felt … right, warm with just the perfect amount of pressure.

“What do you like to do in your free time?” he asked finally.

“Read mostly. Or hang out with friends.”
Except all my friends are really Darrell’s friends
. She’d probably not see them again.

She’d been living a lie, spending time with a man she didn’t love, obviously for a good reason. She’d dated him for months. Held his hand many times. It wasn’t as warm or as perfect as Drake’s hand, but she’d not known the difference. All she’d been concerned with was that he didn’t push her to go farther. Now she knew why.

He didn’t comment on her extension of the truth.

“What do you do?”

He glanced down at her, a bit stunned.

She smiled. “I’m not a total bitch. I do care.”

“Hmm. I don’t leave the ranch often. I’m busy, and I love my work. I do a lot with my family. There are four of us kids. We drive my mom crazy. Too much testosterone. She’s going to be overjoyed to meet you, by the way. Let me apologize in advance. The woman has lived with only men for almost three decades. I’m not sure she can contain herself.”

“How old are you?” She realized she’d never asked.

“Twenty-eight.”

Wow. He was quite older than her.

“It’s only five years.” He smirked. “You think I’m wiser?”

“Not even close.” She squeezed his hand. It felt right, again. And she sobered. She was supposed to dislike this man. Why was he so damn nice?

By the time they returned to the truck, it was late afternoon. “Do you think we can sneak in and out of the gathering without seeing anyone?” She didn’t want to face her family. Let them find out at home.

“We don’t even have to leave the truck. I’ll text my brothers and tell them to be ready when we pull up.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s four o’clock now. Even if we take our time and stop for dinner, we should be home by ten.”

Twenty minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot.

Nerves made her jittery. She’d not met these three brothers yet. Hell, she’d not met his parents, either. What would they be like? How was she going to ride five hours in a truck with four men?

It turned out one of them was a boy. When they all climbed into the back and introduced themselves, she learned that Jerrod was just eleven years old. He was cute and full of life. She adored him immediately. The other two, Scott and Daniel, were smirking at Drake. She didn’t have to ask why. No one complained about the unexpected new passenger seating. The sharp look from Drake when they’d gotten in the back seat had probably done the trick.

Still, Kenzie was nervous. She wrung her hands forever until Drake grabbed one and held it between them. She calmed unexpectedly at his touch and tried to concentrate on the banter between the men and the boy. They were obviously close. They teased and taunted each other mercilessly, but all in good humor. Just as Drake treated her.
It must be a family style.

After they stopped to get gas and grab something to eat, she grew tired and slept leaning against the door most of the rest of the drive. She hadn’t slept last night, and the stress of the day’s events overwhelmed her.