Make Me (The Club #17)

by Cathleen Ross

  Make Me

  By Cathleen Ross

  Published by Cathleen Ross at Amazon

  Copyright 2016 Cathleen Ross

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 1

  "It's my fantasy man!" Cari Todd pressed her nose to the window from inside Karim Bakes, the pastry shop in the small mid-west town of Karim City, Texas.

  "Real or imagined?" Her twin sister, Annabel, who was sitting in a window booth with her twin, glanced up at the two men who were standing just outside the pastry shop.

  "He's real all right." Cari stared at the tall, dark-haired man, noticing his well-formed musculature, his cargo army pants and the dog tags that hung around his neck. Wow! Thank you for your service.

  "This is the first time since... Well the first time you've commented on a man in two years." Annabel smiled, pressed her nose against the cafe window too and waved at the men with enthusiasm.

  "Do you know them?" Cari asked.

  "Sure. The man with the blue hair is Jet Mak. His people go right back in this town."

  Cari wrinkled her nose. "Can't say I like that blue hair."

  Annabel leaned in close to Cari. "His wife Lucy owns this bakery, so please keep your conservative English teacher voice down. The other man, wearing cargo-army pants, is Ryan."

  Cari glanced at the pretty blonde behind the counter and quickly looked back at her twin before she caught Lucy Mak's eye. "I have to be conventional. I'm the new English teacher at Karim Academy not a well-known model like you."

  "Phmph! Don't be a bore. Ryan could clear a few cobwebs. He's single, hot and a great guy," Annabel teased, her voice too loud for Cari's liking. Annabel pushed her flame-colored bangs from her eyes and raised one beautifully shaped eyebrow in challenge.

  Even though they were identical with wide-set blue eyes, a pert nose and lush lips, to Cari, her sister was the flamboyant twin, where everyone called her the cute, quiet twin. "Shush Annabel!" Cari slapped her twin's arm with a playful gesture then turned back to stare at the guy. "He's perfect. A guy I could dream about."

  "That's all you do, honey. You live totally in your head. I'm worried about you. You go to school and come home and that's it. I had to drag you out today. You weren't like this in New York until Rob died."

  "It's like my joy left with Rob," Cari said quietly. "I can't get it back."

  Annabel put down her coffee cup. "You're too anxious. You need to get out more. You need to date. I tell you what, Ryan's heading in this direction, so why don't you introduce yourself to him? I think he'd suit you."

  Cari pushed back in her seat, gripping her diary to her chest, heat flushing up her throat until she could feel her cheeks burning. "I can't do that."

  "Why not? It's time you stopped writing your erotic stories in that diary you're clutching and go have some fun. It's been two years, Cari. Look at that book. It's falling apart. All you do is write about what you'd like to happen instead of doing it." Annabel reached forward and tried to pull it out of Cari's hands.

  The battered spine tore and Cari squealed, pulling away from her twin. "Writing keeps me sane."

  Annabel leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "Then I'll give you something to write about. Jet Mak runs The Club and I've seen Ryan in there too."

  Annabel had a quizzical look on her face. "What club? The bowling club?"

  A tinkle of laughter left Annabel's lips just as Jet Mak and Ryan strode in.

  "Annabel." Jet leaned down and kissed her on both cheeks. "Great to see you. Thank you so much for your modeling job last night. The patrons loved it. No one could have pulled it off like you did." His gaze flicked over to Cari.

  Annabel had left home last night wearing a crop top, tight leather pants and white sneakers, which looked fashionable. Somehow Cari couldn't see her daring twin fitting in with bowling club patrons, but then these men looked cool and lots of young people did bowling these days. Her gaze flicked over to Ryan and her body trembled with nerves. His presence was too commanding. His look: too gorgeous. If she believed in auras, which she didn't, this man could fill the whole room.

  She brushed the crumbs from her flowery sundress including those that had fallen into her cleavage and tried not to wilt into the seat.

  The man stood beside Jet Mak, silent and watchful, his coal-dark eyes boring into Cari as if she were an icecream he'd like to lick. He had cropped-black hair, shoulders the size of door lintels and strong capable hands. From the way he stared at her he had the strength to rip her dress off with his bare hands, turn her over his knee and spank her. Fantasies. Fantasies.

  "Jet, this is my mirror-image twin, Cari. She's opposite me in every way," Annabel laughed, winking at him.

  "Mirror image, hey?" Jet looked from face to face, his gaze scrutinizing both girls.

  "I've never heard of mirror image," Ryan said, bending close to observe her until Cari felt he was trying to delve inside her head to find out everything about her. Little did he know all her private thoughts and intense feelings were written in the diary she was holding.

  "Pleased to meet you, Cari. Annabel told me you got the job at the Academy. Great School. I went there." Jet held out his hand to her.

  Cari shook it politely. "I heard the Mak family founded it."

  "Yeah, long time ago." He waved his hand dismissively. "I guess we won't be seeing you at The Club?"

  "I don't think so. I don't bowl," Cari said.

  This time a wide smile spilt across Ryan's face and the amusement transformed his expression from dark and moody to charismatic. He nudged Jet.

  "This is my cousin, Ryan Mak. He's just completed a tour of duty in the army and needs to loosen up. He liked to play at The Club though he's not much of a 'bowler' lately."

  Ryan's gaze never left Cari's face and heat flooded her cheeks so she looked down breaking eye contact. He reached over and shook her hand, his palm lingering in hers, warm and firm. "Pleased to meet you. Guess 'bowling's' not my thing anymore, so we've got that in common."

  He didn't let her hand go until she was forced to look him in the eyes again. It was oddly erotic. His stare. Direct. Controlling.

  Longing seared through her.

  Annabel gave her tinkling laugh, her gaze dancing from face to face. "I was watching you last night, Ryan. You weren't into the game but I'm sure you have some good moves left. Maybe you could bring my twin out of her shell. She's new in town. Just moved in with me. Teach her how to have fun."

  "Annabel!" Cari exclaimed, cheeks flaming now. Normally she enjoyed her twin's exuberant nature but instead she wanted to shrink inside herself.

  Ryan's eyes sparkled. "I'd be happy to."

  "Oh." Cari raised her hand to her mouth. She had the feeling she was missing something as Ryan grinned, flashing perfectly, white teeth that reminded her of the big bad wolf. Her whole body tingled under his stare. It was like the other three were sharing a secret to which she wasn't privy.

  "I have to warn you, Cari's very shy, not like me, so you need to start gently with her," Annabel said.

  "Annabel!" Cari's cheeks burned. "Stop that. I'm so sorry," she choked out. "My twin is so inappropriate sometimes."

  "The dominant
twin. That's why we love Annabel," Jet Mak laughed. "She's well liked at The Club and she's an excellent 'bowler'."

  "She was always the sporty twin." Cari turned to Ryan. "Please disregard Annabel's statement. I don't expect you to take me out."

  "I'd like to see you again. I'd like that a lot," Ryan said to Cari. He had a deep, smooth voice that reminded Cari of chocolate edged with chili.

  She swore she could have been sitting there naked, she felt so exposed but there was something spine-tingling attractive about Ryan, she could barely believe he'd just said he was interested.

  Jet turned to his cousin. "That's the first time I've heard you say something cheerful since you got back. You girls must be good for him."

  Ryan scowled at his cousin. "Cut it out, Jet. You didn't exactly greet me with good news."

  Cari tilted her head. What sore spot had Jet touched with Ryan? He might have rich, dark eyes but there was something sad about their expression.

  "Hi honey. Hi Ryan," called Lucy Mak, Jet's wife, as she came toward them a tea towel in her hand. "I'm glad you've both come on time. Jet, the goods I need you to take to The Club are in the storeroom at the back."

  The two men turned and strode toward her. Ryan looked over his shoulder at Cari, his gaze burning bright. He lifted his hand and gave her a smile before following his cousin out of the room.

  "I can't go out with him," Cari exclaimed. He was everything she wasn't. Calm, engaging and warm. It would be embarrassing if she sat there frozen, too nervous to speak.

  Annabel took money out and slapped it on the table for the two coffees. "Go or I'll ask Ryan to kidnap you to get you out of the house. It's either that or go and see a therapist."

  "A therapist can't take my grief away." It had morphed into a monster of nerves that seemed to control her every move.

  "I mean it, Cari. You haven't been yourself for some time. Change your routine. Date this hot guy. Do something. Apart from myself, you're the one person I love most in the world and this can't go on." She looked at her watch. "I have to run. I have a fitting to attend."

  "Annabel," Cari wailed.

  "Cari, I don't mean to sound heartless but it's time to move on. You won't date and it worries me. You're twenty-five. You've had one serious relationship in your life but Rob has passed away and he's not coming back. It's time. Besides, I know and trust Ryan." A funny smile came to her face. "He's dominating like me."

  "Just a bit?" Cari rolled her eyes and smiled. "You're the bossiest twin I know."

  "That's because I'm the oldest."

  "By two minutes."

  Annabel's face became serious. "Look Cari, Ryan's not a player. I'd trust him with my life, so I'd trust him with yours and you know I don't say that lightly. I'm really worried about you. I've never seen you so adrift. Either date Ryan or I'm booking an appointment with a therapist." She got out of the booth and gave Cari a kiss on the cheek and left before she could reply.

  With her twin gone and a nice warm coffee in hand Cari opened her diary to a fresh page. Her nerves were razor-edged and she needed to calm down. Writing was the only thing that relieved her of the anxiety that had hit her when Rob had died, so she turned to a fresh page. The damned paper came free from the spine. The whole thing was ruptured from Annabel's rough handling and her own overuse. Unless she bound it up with tape, her beloved diary would disintegrate. A job for home. Right now she needed to get her thoughts down to calm her nerves. She picked up her pen.

  Ryan. I wonder how it feels to be touched by you? To be caressed and stroked? I want to know you but I never will. I'm too afraid to start again.

  I lead at work but that's not what I want in my private life. I want you to be the leader, to take control of me, to allow me to bloom. I want you to come to my house put your hands over my mouth and bind me with your strength so I can't protest. I want to play out every fantasy I've ever had.

  I need to escape this mental cage that has confined me but I'll also fight to stay in it. I feel my late fiance took my soul when he died but I want to claw it back before I wither away like a spent autumn leaf.

  I need you to hold me to you with your strength and dominance and I want you to care. I want to savor your control of me even if that means you have to blindfold me, tie my hands behind my back and touch me all over so I learn to feel again. Unless I am forced, I can't find the will to start.

  I want to quiver under you, to be bound to you, heart to heart, and that is the way I'll find freedom.

  Cari.

  Ryan helped Jet load the platters of food Lucy had prepared for The Club into the SUV. Lucy was a great cook. He saw the way Jet looked at his wife and something twinged inside. He wanted what they had. Jet was right about him. He didn't want to play around at The Club and he wasn't interested in promiscuous sex. His tour of duty had changed him. After seeing so much destruction, he wanted the permanence of a relationship. Something real.

  And he'd seen Cari.

  He'd known from the moment he'd looked into her big baby blues, he wanted her. His cock stirred at the thought. She was beautiful.

  When the trunk was full of goods he said farewell to Jet and Lucy and strode back into the cafe to find Cari. She was sitting in the window seat, the sun streaming over her short red hair as she furiously wrote in a tattered book. She made a spellbinding portrait, almost too stunning to disturb.

  He walked over to her table. "Mind if I join you?"

  Cari jumped at his approach. Her hand hit her coffee cup and it clattered to the ground. Trying in vain to catch the cup, she knocked her book with her forearm so that it too, shot off the table onto the seat, some of its pages scattering across the floor. "Oh. You startled me."

  "Here, let me help."

  "No!" She leapt to her feet and began snatching up the wayward pages until she had them bundled together.

  Ryan knew panic when he saw it. Seen good men crumple under fire. Cari panted like a startled animal. He handed her some of the pages he'd also scooped up. "I didn't mean to scare you."

  "That's okay."

  It wasn't. He could see that. She was hyperventilating. "Would you like me to get you a glass of water?"

  "Yes." Cari sank back into her seat, still clutching at the tattered book as if her life depended on it.

  With Lucy still in the back talking to Jet, he walked behind the counter and filled a clean glass with water and brought it back to Cari. Handing it to her, he sat in the booth as she drank it down. "Are you okay?"

  "Yes. No. I was deep in thought. Sorry."

  Yes? No? Which was it? Cari's cheeks were flushed, making her face pink and although her eyes lit up when she saw him, she looked nervous. "Thought I'd come and ask for your phone number."

  "Oh. I don't know that I'd be very good company. You see...I haven't dated for a long time."

  "It's been a couple of years for me, too," Ryan said. "No chance for a private life in the army. We could do something simple like catch up for a movie if you prefer."

  "I'd like that."

  He noticed her hand was trembling as she reached inside her handbag to extract her cell. "There's also a nice little restaurant called Bella Bella Italiano, in this old section of town we could go to if you like Italian food."

  Her hand clutched her phone, the knuckles white. "Italian is my favorite. I used to go out to eat a lot when I lived in New York."

  "Why did you come to Texas?" he asked.

  "I needed a change and to be with my twin. Annabel is my rock, especially since..." Cari stopped and her lip wobbled.

  What had happened to make her tremble like a deer? He liked this delicate woman. He wanted to sooth away her fears but he wasn't planning to push her.

  "I'll forward you my contact details."

  "And your address so I can come and pick you up. I'm old school when it comes to dating."

  A bead of perspiration, like a tear, made its way down her face. She swiped it away.

  Ryan got out his cell and gave her his number and sh
e sent her information to his phone. "So movie or restaurant? Or both?"

  Cari froze. "I can't."

  He frowned. Something was deeply wrong. "What's the matter?"

  Cari put her cell down on the table. "I'm embarrassed to talk about it."

  "I'm a good listener."

  "My fiance passed away two years ago. Annabel says I should move on but I can't."

  "I'm sorry to hear that," Ryan said. He reached out and gave her hand a quick squeeze. Her palm felt fragile under his. Soft and delicate. "I know how it feels to lose someone close. It's rough. That pain doesn't go away."

  "A fiance?" she asked.

  "My first love. I signed on with the army for four years. She said she'd wait. Hurt like hell when she left me two years ago. Thought I'd go crazy because I was on tour and I couldn't do a damn thing about it."

  "She left you?" Cari repeated.

  "Yeah. Met someone else. Maybe we should have broken up before I went. Maybe that would have been better. I don't know. It was incredibly stressful."

  Something like relief flickered across her face. "So you do understand. Since Rob died, the only time I'm relaxed is when I'm busy at home writing. I'm all right at school too because I'm flat out and there's no time to think. I freeze when I go out. It's like I look out on the world and everyone is happy except me."

  "Then I'll come over to you." Ryan took her hand in a firm grip.

  Cari let out a long sigh then pulled her hand out of his. "You're kind. I want you to but...I just can't date."

  "He looked her squarely in the eyes. "It's going to be okay, Cari. You can move past this."

  She dropped her gaze. What he wouldn't do to sweep her up in her arms and make it better. Trauma had unraveled her world.

  "I'm sorry Ryan. I really am. I have to go home." She slipped out of the booth and hurried away.

  Ryan watched her go. She was like a butterfly. Stunning yet fragile. Fluttering with nervous energy. He had the feeling they could have something special together if he could just get past the wall she'd built around herself.

  He understood grief and how it affected people. Kerry hadn't coped with him leaving her for the army but he'd been twenty-two, loved his country and had wanted to serve. Eventually her emails had become fewer and then Jet had told him she'd found someone else - a Dom and when he didn't work out, another and another. Furious he'd sworn never to have anything to do with her. If only he'd been less hostile. Less angry. Had answered her pleading emails to reunite a year ago. Somehow he'd lost that love when she'd betrayed him. His gut twisted.