by Cynthia Eden
“It’s hard for you,” Scarlett whispered, “being back here.”
He nodded. His fingers tightened around hers.
“Then why are we here?”
“Because I thought you’d...because no one would be watching you here. You could take a few hours to relax.”
That was exactly what she’d done. For a bit, she’d stopped feeling like a bug under a microscope. But it had hurt him to be there. “I’m sorry,” she told him.
He glanced toward her. He had stubble lining his jaw. She wanted to press her fingers to that hard jaw, but she didn’t. Did he know how much she loved his jaw? Perfectly square, strong.
“What do you have to be sorry for?”
“You shouldn’t have to face this place, and the pain here, for me.”
“Oh, Scarlett...” Her name was a sigh. “Don’t you realize I’d face just about anything for you?”
Those words had her tensing, but she kept walking. Soon they were on the bluff, beneath the trees, staring out at the small lake. The area was so beautiful.
“I remember, you know.” His voice was low. And his thumb was lightly rubbing her inner wrist. “What it was like the first time, here, with you.”
She’d never been able to forget.
“I kept telling myself...go slow. Go slow.” His eyes were on the lake. “But really, all I wanted to do was rip away that little dress you had on and get inside of you as fast as I could.”
Her breath was coming a bit too quickly.
“I knew you were a virgin.” He was still gazing at the lake, but she wondered if he was actually seeing it. “And I wanted to show you that I could be more than some clumsy soldier. That I could take care of you.”
“I never thought you were a clumsy soldier.”
He glanced at her. “What did you think of me?”
The question caught her off guard.
“I mean, hell, I know why I was so obsessed with you back then.”
Obsessed? She’d never thought of it that way.
“I saw you in the hallway at school. The light was hitting your hair, and the way you looked...it was like you were some kind of angel.” He lifted his hand. His fingers hovered above her lips, but he didn’t touch her. “Yet you had a mouth that made me think of sin.”
Her heartbeat was drumming fast and hard in her chest.
“I played the gentleman with you for so long.”
She’d always sensed his restraint.
His hand fell back to his side. “You never got to see how I really was. I was too afraid of scaring you away.”
“You don’t scare me, Grant,” she told him. He hadn’t ten years ago. He didn’t now.
“Maybe I should scare you.” He paced away from her. “Because that obsession? I don’t think it’s gone.”
“Grant...”
“It’s worse now.” He’d turned his back on her. “I see you, and I think that there’s no reason for me to hold back anymore. We’re adults. Single. Free.” He glanced over at her. “And I know just how good we are together. So damn good.”
She had to swallow the lump that had risen in her throat. They were good together.
“But I’m done pretending to be someone else. I’m not the gentleman.” He turned fully toward her. The setting sun was behind him, casting shadows on the ground. “I never will be.”
His hands were at his sides, his legs braced apart.
“I’m an ex-soldier who learned too many ways to kill.”
Why was he telling her this?
“I spent years in battle zones, spent years learning to be as lethal as I could be.”
He took a step toward her. She refused to retreat.
“So when people warn you about me—they’re right. I do have a reputation.”
Had he heard Pierce’s words to her at the police station?
“I’m dangerous, but only to my enemies. I’m single-minded in my determination. I don’t always fight fair, and I more than know how to get my hands dirty.”
He advanced another step. Her spine straightened as she stared at him.
“I want you,” he said flatly. His lips twisted, but that smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Someone close said I should tell you how I feel, so I will. I want you. Every minute. I dreamed about getting you back in my bed for years, but those were just dreams.”
Dreams she’d had, too.
“Now that you’re back in my life, now that I had you again, it’s worse, Scarlett. So much worse.” He did touch her then. His hand lifted and he pushed back the hair that had blown across her cheek. “Because all I can think about when I get close to you...”
He was so close.
“...is having you naked beneath me again.”
She licked her lips. His gaze immediately fell to her mouth.
“That’s how I feel.” His voice was gravel rough. “Like I’d do anything to have you again. Because I need you, more than I’ve ever needed any other woman.”
Her hands rose and curled around his shoulders. “Are you going to ask me how I feel?” Her voice was soft, when his had been so hard.
“How do you feel?”
“I’ve dreamed about you, for years. Sometimes I’d wake from those dreams, and I’d hate you.”
He flinched.
But she wasn’t going to lie. Scarlett wouldn’t pretend with him. He’d left, and when he had, he’d ripped out her heart.
She’d never really let anyone else get close to her after him. And Eric had tried.
“And sometimes,” she said, “I’d wake up, and I’d miss you so much.”
His fingers curled around her jaw.
“I remember our first time, too. It was right here, under the stars. You brought a blanket for us, and we’d had a picnic out here.” He’d come back from battle then, another mission that had started to leave the darkness in his eyes. “You were different that night.” Less the perfect suitor—the gentleman role he played—and more a man who’d touched her with heated desire. “I didn’t want you to go slow. I just wanted you.”
“Scarlett...” Her name was a desperate growl. Sensual tension thickened the air between them.
“I’m not looking for the man you were back then. The girl I was ten years ago, she’s gone, too.” No one stayed the same after that length of time. “Your darkness—I can see it, Grant.” I could always see it. “And I’m not scared of it.”
No matter how many warnings he gave her, she wouldn’t be afraid. She trusted Grant.
“I want you,” she told him softly. And it was true. Facing death sure had a way of making things crystal clear.
Life wasn’t about hesitation. It was about taking what you wanted. Enjoying the moment while you had it.
So Scarlett didn’t wait for Grant to lean down and kiss her. She rose onto her toes and pressed her mouth to his.
I want you.
Chapter Eight
The past and present twisted for Grant as he tasted Scarlett. Her mouth was so soft beneath his. Those lips made for sin were tempting him, pushing him to the edge of reason.
He’d warned her. She hadn’t listened. His desire for her wasn’t something that he could control.
It wasn’t something he wanted to control.
He backed her under the protective branches of the tree that waited nearby. Once upon a time, he’d even carved their initials into that tree.
A lifetime ago.
When he’d thought they might have forever, and then he’d realized...
She doesn’t belong with someone like me.
Because Scarlett was good. Sweet. She didn’t understand the evil that he faced. All too often, he wondered...was that evil in him, too?
He’d done things, so many th
ings, that he never wanted to tell her about. Because Scarlett had looked at him with light in her eyes, and he’d never wanted that light to vanish.
His mouth grew harder on hers when he heard the faint moan slip from her lips. He loved that little moan.
Her dress blew around them, and the past rose up once more.
Only this time, she wasn’t a virgin.
And he didn’t have to be the gentleman.
“Scarlett.” If they didn’t stop in the next minute, there would be no stopping at all for him.
Her hips pressed against him. She had to feel the heavy ridge of his desire. For her. Always her.
She licked his lower lip, a sensual swipe of her tongue that had him shuddering.
No one can see us here. I can have her.
His hand slid down. He lifted the skirt and touched the silk of her leg. Higher, higher his hand rose, and then he felt the softness of her panties.
He stroked her through the lace, loving the way she felt against his hand. Warm and eager, she arched toward him.
He wanted to thrust as deep into her as he could go.
This had been their place. He’d been his happiest in that spot by the lake, with her.
He kissed her again, long and hard, even as his fingers kept stroking. Her body grew tense against him, and her breath came faster.
“I don’t...have protection...” He’d been so intent on getting her to the ranch that he hadn’t even thought—
“I’m on the pill. I’m...clean.” Her fingers had slid down his chest.
His eyes widened as he stared at her. She was telling him that he could take her, flesh to flesh.
“I’m clean, too,” he whispered back.
Her lips lifted in the faintest of smiles. The waning sunlight fell on them.
An angel...
She should have stayed far away from him. The obsession truly was just growing stronger.
He lifted her up, holding her easily, and making sure that he didn’t touch her bandage. He lifted her up—
And he yanked those panties out of the way. They dropped to the ground, and now that he could touch her fully, he parted her folds and sank into her.
Her skirt fluttered around them. He’d unhooked his jeans, but was still dressed.
But he had her.
He was in her. And it felt like heaven.
In and out, he thrust. Her legs wrapped tightly around his hips and her nails dug into his shoulders. She pushed her body against his, and he drove as deeply into her as he could go.
There was no restraint. No seduction.
There was only need. Only pleasure. Desire spinning out of control as he thrust harder. As he took more and more...
And Scarlett was with him every step of the way. She shuddered in his arms. She called out his name, and Grant felt the ripple of her release all around him.
He followed her. Seemed to erupt inside her as the pleasure exploded within him, through him. He held her as tightly as he could, and the thunder of his heartbeat filled his ears.
* * *
WHERE WAS SHE?
Scarlett hadn’t gone back to her condo, and Grant McGuire’s home was dark. There was no vehicle in McGuire’s drive. Nothing to indicate they’d been there in hours.
Had he taken Scarlett to a hotel? Some out-of-the-way spot so that they could vanish for a while?
Scarlett doesn’t get to vanish. She gets to suffer.
He glared at Grant’s house. They had to come back. Sooner or later. Scarlett would have to return for court. She’d have to come back to face the charges against her. It wasn’t over. She didn’t just get to ride off into the sunset.
But...
He smiled as he stared at the house.
But this was an opportunity for him. The perfect time to start laying his trap.
And under the cover of the darkness, he made his way to Grant McGuire’s house.
* * *
NIGHT HAD FALLEN. When Scarlett tipped back her head, she could see the stars starting to peek out. She was still in Grant’s arms, still held tightly and she didn’t want to move.
If she did, she’d have to go back to reality. She didn’t want to, not yet.
But Grant was stirring. “Did I...hurt you?”
She wished he wouldn’t worry about that. She wasn’t some delicate doll that would shatter if he held her too hard. She was a flesh-and-blood woman, and she’d wanted him.
All of him.
“Your wound... I tried to be—”
She kissed his jaw. That sexy stubble. “I’m fine.”
He eased her to her feet. Those feet definitely weren’t too stable right then, but his hands were on her, holding her steady when she would have staggered. Then he slowly slid her panties back up her legs. She felt his head turn, and he pressed a kiss to her inner thigh. It was a tender caress, and it caught her off guard. Why, she didn’t know. He’d been tender plenty of times before.
But he said that was a role...
“I can’t get enough of you.” His dark confession. But it could have been hers, because already, Scarlett wanted more. As he rose, his fingers tangled with her own. “That took the edge off,” Grant said, “for now. But I want more, Scarlett, so much more.”
So did she.
She wanted everything he had to give.
In silence, they walked back to the SUV. Their steps were steady as they covered the distance. A few moments later, her gaze slid toward the main house. The front door was shut. Brodie was near the stables; she could see him and—
“Leaving so soon?” Davis’s voice came from the shadows, and Scarlett jumped.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” He stepped forward, cocking his head as he glanced at Grant. “Maybe you should spend the night out here.”
But Grant shook his head. “No, we need to—”
His phone rang then, the quick peal loud and sharp. She hadn’t even realized that he’d even had that phone with him. But her mind had been on other things.
He pulled out his phone. “Sullivan, what is it?”
Her body tensed. With the way things had been going, Scarlett expected more bad news. She expected—
“My house? What. The. Hell? Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way right now.” He shoved the phone into his back pocket. Even in the darkness, his sudden intense ferocity was palpable. “Sullivan is at my place—and my house is on fire.”
“What?” Shock roughened Davis’s voice.
But Grant was already running for his SUV. And, not about to be left, Scarlett jumped in with him.
When they raced away from the ranch, Davis and Brodie were following right behind them.
* * *
FIREFIGHTERS WERE ON the scene when Grant braked to a stop in front of his house. The flames shot toward the sky, billowing up into the darkness.
Rage poured through him, just as hot as the fire that was destroying his home. He jumped from his SUV and stormed forward. Sullivan was already there. He turned toward Grant, his face tense. “I’m sorry. I came by because I wanted to leave some intel on Louis East. I saw the flames.” He gave a sad shake of his head. “It was already burning too hot by then for me to control the blaze.”
Grant had no close neighbors. So no one would have seen the fire. If Sullivan hadn’t come by—hell, it was too late, no matter what.
The roof gave a loud groan. Shuddered. A section at the upper right began to cave in.
He felt a light touch on his arm. He turned, and Scarlett was there. Her gaze was on the fire.
“Oh, Grant...” Sympathy, pain, cracked in those words. “It’s—”
Gone.
The windows in the front of his house exploded.
* * *
ME
N WHO WERE with Scarlett Stone...those were men who lost everything that mattered to them. Grant McGuire was learning that lesson right now.
He watched from the shadows as the firefighters tried to control the flames. Only there was no stopping the inferno. He’d been too careful when he’d started that fire. Some tips from a serial arsonist...oh, he’d learned very well.
The accelerant had been perfect. The timing. The eruption of those flames...
And Grant got to watch his home burn to ash. How perfect.
Scarlett was there, holding tightly to the man staring sadly up at the house. Did she realize what was happening? That it was all her fault? Probably not. She thought she was the victim.
She was the perpetrator.
But at least the fire had served its purpose. Two purposes, really.
To punish Grant McGuire.
And to bring Scarlett out of hiding. Now, he had her in his sights.
He wouldn’t lose her again.
* * *
THE FLAMES WERE TWISTING, snaking ever higher into the sky. Grant’s body was like stone as he watched his home go up in flames.
A fire shouldn’t consume, not so quickly, so fully.
“It was set.” Sullivan sounded certain.
Scarlett feared the same thing. She glanced over and saw that Grant’s brother’s gaze was on her.
“Good thing you two weren’t here,” he added. “Houses can be replaced. People can’t.” His hand settled on Grant’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
Grant nodded, but he wasn’t staring at the house with sorrow on his face. He was glaring with fury, and his hands were tightly clenched fists at his sides.
Scarlett figured it was only a matter of time until Detective Townsend showed up. She turned away from the blaze, and her gaze swept the area around the burning house. Most of the surroundings were in darkness, but—
Something glinted in the dark.
“Grant.” Her voice was a bare whisper. Maybe she’d imagined that glint.
Then she saw it again.
At her whisper, Grant had turned toward her.
“I think someone is watching us.” No, she didn’t just think it. She was certain that someone was out there.