WalkingSin (4 page)

Unfamiliar emotions swept through her
body…feelings she had only imagined but never experienced. A liquid warmth
seemed to flow through her veins. Her senses were heightened so she noticed
everything more clearly. A hint of wine on Dax’s breath. The fresh fragrance of
shampoo in his hair. The silky slide of his beard against her cheek. His warm
lips beneath her jaw.

His lips covered hers again, no longer
fleeting or gentle. His tongue flicked the corners of her mouth, then ventured
inside. He kissed her with passion, with hunger. Wrapping her arms around his
neck, she returned each kiss with just as much passion, just as much hunger.

She wanted to lick and bite every part of
him.

Kelcey moaned low in her throat when Dax
cradled one jersey-covered breast. She hated the bit of fabric that kept his
hand from her bare flesh. Pulling his hand away from her, she guided it beneath
her top until his hand covered her bare breast.

“Oh yeah.” His voice sounded guttural,
almost feral. He squeezed her breast, ran his thumb over the hard nipple. “I’ve
got to have more of you.”

The covers disappeared from her legs. Dax
gripped Kelcey’s waist and tugged her to her back. Wedging his knees between
her legs, he spread them wide and lay between them. The hard ridge of his cock
pressed against her mound. She lifted her hips, wanting more of that enticing hardness.

Memories swamped her, mixing past with
present.

“No! I don’t want to!”

Uncle Kirt slapped her. Tears quickly
welled in her eyes and ran down her temples into her ears. “I don’t care what
you don’t want. We’re gonna do what
I
want. Got
that?”

Dax’s hair fell on either side of her face,
making Kelcey feel smothered. She tore her mouth away from his and shoved on
his shoulders. “Get off me!”

When he didn’t move as quickly as she
thought he should, she screamed, “
GET OFF ME!
”

He lifted to his hands and knees, giving
her enough room to scurry out from beneath him. She fell to the floor and
scrambled to the corner. Pulling her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms
around them and buried her face against them.

She didn’t know how much time passed while
she cried before she heard Dax say her name softly. Now that her initial terror
had subsided, embarrassment welled up inside her. Dax would probably get away
from her as quickly as all the other men she’d tried to sleep with.

“Kelcey,” he said, his tone still gentle,
“please look at me.”

Several more seconds passed before she
forced herself to lift her head. Dax squatted before her, a towel wrapped
around his waist. Instead of seeing disgust in his eyes, she saw tenderness.

“Want to talk about it?”

His obvious concern brought more tears to
her eyes. How she’d love to tell him the agony she’d gone through at the hands
of two men who were supposed to love and protect her. She’d told therapists
what happened, hoping for relief from the horrible dreams, but had never shared
her experience with anyone close to her.

She shook her head. “It isn’t important.”

“I’d argue that point since you’re so
upset. Sometimes it helps to talk.”

“I can’t, Dax. Please don’t ask me.”

He looked like he might argue anyway, but
then he nodded. “Okay. No talking. Would you like to go in the living room with
me and watch some TV?”

She thought it sweet of him to offer when
she had no doubt he’d rather get away from her. “No. I think I want to go back
to bed.”

“Okay.”

He reached out as if to touch her face.
Kelcey flinched, not yet ready for any physical contact. He dropped his hand
back to his side.

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

She nodded. Dax rose and walked to the
door. Once there, he looked at her again over his shoulder. The sympathy in his
eyes made fresh tears pool in hers.

He closed the door behind him. Kelcey
covered her face with her hands. She hated that the past still haunted her. She
longed to share her life with someone, to find a man who loved her as much as
she loved him. She couldn’t do that when even a hint of closeness made the
disgusting memories flare up in her mind.

She heard a soft whine before a cold nose
bumped her hands. Moving them away from her face, she saw Walker sitting next
to her. He leaned against her leg and touched her arm with his paw. More tears
fell as she hugged the dog’s neck.

“Oh, Walker, what am I going to do?”

* * * * *

Dax had been angry many times in his life,
but never enough to seriously think about hurting someone. That changed last
night when he witnessed Kelcey’s pain.

A woman didn’t fall apart so completely
because of a bad dream. She’d enjoyed his kisses and caresses. He didn’t doubt
that. Her response had been real and very hot. Yet she’d gone crazy as soon as
he lay on top of her.

Some asshole had raped her.

He watched the slow drip of coffee into the
glass carafe. He’d never understand why a man did that, why he would want to
hurt a woman so much. Especially a woman as sweet as Kelcey.

Rage boiled up inside him again. Oh yeah,
he could definitely hurt the man who had hurt Kelcey.

Movement in the doorway drew his attention.
Kelcey stepped into the room, looking pale and uncertain. He decided he
wouldn’t mention last night since he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.
“Good morning.”

“Good morning,” she said in barely above a
whisper.

“Coffee’s almost done. Are you hungry?”

“Not really.” He saw her hands flex on the
handles of her tote. He hadn’t noticed it on her shoulder until now. “I think
I’ll walk back to Alaina’s.”

“You don’t have to walk. I’ll be happy to
drive you.”

“I know you will, but I’d rather walk.”

“Sure. I have some to-go cups. I’ll fill a
couple with coffee and we’ll walk.”

He saw her chest rise and fall with a sigh.
“Dax, I’d…rather be alone. Okay?”

No, it wasn’t okay. He didn’t like the idea
of her being alone. The urge to protect her had him struggling not to take her
in his arms and hold her.

Walker chose that moment to come in the
kitchen. He stopped next to Kelcey and leaned against her leg. Even his dog
wanted to protect her.

“It’s cool this morning. I’ll get one of my
zippered sweatshirts for you.”

“My jacket is enough. But thank you.”

He had no other excuse to keep her here any
longer. “You know the way? The trail is clear, but I don’t want you to get
lost.”

“I won’t have a problem.”

“Then I guess I’ll see you over there
later.”

She headed for the mud room, Walker right
beside her. She gave him one last pat before she stepped through the back door.
“No, Walker. You can’t go with me.”

Walker whined and pawed at the closed door.
He ran to Dax, barked, then ran back to the door.

“Sorry, fella. I don’t want her to go
either, but we don’t have a choice.”

Chapter Four

Rye and Griff both groaned when the
football sailed through the Cowboys wide receiver’s fingers. “How could he miss
that?” Griff asked. “It was right in his hands!”

“I think the Cowboys should concentrate on
getting a new wide receiver at the next draft,” Rye said. “What do you think,
Dax?”

Normally as obsessed with football as his
brothers, today Dax didn’t care about the game. He couldn’t get Kelcey out of
his mind. She’d been in the kitchen with Alaina and Emma when he arrived. She
gave him a fast glance, then quickly looked away, as if embarrassed for him to
see her.

Rye nudged his arm. “Hey, Dax, where are you?”

“Sorry. Just thinking.”

“You look pretty serious,” Griff said.
“What’s up?”

Dax didn’t know whether to confide in his
brothers or not. He suspected Kelcey had been raped, yet couldn’t say that for
sure. “Nothing worth talking about.”

Rye and Griff exchanged a look that clearly
said they didn’t believe him. Before they could probe further, Dax stood. “I’m
gonna get some air.”

He went out the front door to avoid running
into Kelcey and wandered into the backyard. Clouds filled the sky, a preview of
the rain expected tonight. The temperature had dropped twenty degrees from
yesterday. While he liked the cooler weather, it made him feel restless, antsy
to do something physical.

Sex would be his first choice. Since he
didn’t want to call any of the women who would be willing to spend an hour or
two with him, he’d have to settle for a second option.

Strolling over to the storage shed, he
twisted the combination lock that matched the one on his and Griff’s sheds. He
located the basketball and dribbled it over to the basketball hoop. He’d sunk
two baskets when he saw his brothers walking toward him. It didn’t surprise him
a bit that they’d followed him.

“Game still lousy?” he asked as he took
another shot at the basket.

“Halftime.” Rye grabbed the ball when it
bounced off the rim. He dribbled it in place while he looked at his brother.
“You gonna tell us what’s wrong?”

Dax looked from Rye to Griff and back
again. He still wasn’t sure if he had the right to tell them what happened with
Kelcey last night.

“Did you make a pass at Kelcey and she
turned you down?” Griff asked.

“Not exactly.”

“Then what, exactly?”

Dax motioned to Rye to throw him the ball.
His brother tossed it to him and Dax made a jump shot. The ball sailed through
the hoop to land in Griff’s hands.

Griff set the ball on the ground. “You’re
stalling.”

“Big-time.”

Rye motioned toward the picnic table
beneath the huge oak tree. “How about if we sit down?”

He led the way, Dax and Griff following
closely behind him. Rye and Griff sat on one side, Dax on the other. He looked
at his brothers, down at his hands, then back at them, unsure how to start.
“Kelcey had a bad dream last night. Only I’m not sure if it was a dream or a
memory.”

Neither brother spoke, but listened
intently.

“Walker woke me. He was sleeping on the end
of her bed.”

Rye’s eyebrows shot up. “Walker was on her
bed?”

“Yeah. Crazy, huh? He took to Kelcey right
away. He’s never done that with anyone.” He clasped his hands together on the
table. “She was almost hysterical, she was crying so hard. I held her to
comfort her and…it went a little beyond comforting.”

Dax ran a hand over his face. “We kissed
and things started getting hot. Everything was great until I tugged her down on
the bed and lay on top of her. That’s when she went crazy. She screamed at me
to get off her. And I mean
screamed
. When I moved, she almost fell off
the bed in her hurry to get away from me. She crawled to the corner, drew her
knees up to her chest and curled herself into a ball.”

The lump of emotion in Dax’s throat made it
hard to talk. There had been so much fear in Kelcey’s eyes. “I’ve never seen
anyone cry so hard. I think my lying on top of her brought back some horrible
memories for her.” Again, he looked from one brother to the other. “I think she
was raped.”

“Shit,” Griff muttered.

“Have Alaina or Emma ever said anything
about that?”

“Alaina hasn’t,” Rye said. “I don’t think
she knows.”

“I don’t think Emma knows either. She said
she doesn’t understand why Kelcey doesn’t date. If she knew about a rape, then
she’d understand Kelcey’s reluctance to get involved with a man.”

“Kelcey kissed me back. I could feel her
heartbeat speed up and her breathing got heavier. Her nipples were hard.
There’s no doubt she was turned on. I just…” He stopped and took a heavy
breath. “I wish I knew what to do.”

“Do you care about Kelcey?”

Dax frowned at what he considered an
inconsiderate question. “That’s a shitty thing to ask. Of course I care about
her.”

“I mean
care
about her, Dax, the way
I care about Alaina and Griff cares about Emma.”

His brother couldn’t possibly be asking if
he loved Kelcey. He barely knew her. He thought her sweet and lovely and
desirable, but love wasn’t even feasible. “I like her. I’m sorry some asshole
hurt her. But no, I don’t love her. And I have no intention of falling in love
with her or any other woman. I like my single life.”

“Sounds like what Emma said before she
became involved with Griff.”

“Rye—”

“As a man who didn’t want to become
involved with Alaina just because she’s Alesia’s sister, I know exactly what
you mean. I also know you can’t fight love, no matter how hard you try. It
knocks you over faster than a wrecking ball.”

“Amen to that,” Griff said.

“No,” Dax said adamantly. “Absolutely not.
If Kelcey and I have a physical relationship, that’s cool. Anything other than
that won’t happen. I won’t allow it to happen.”