INNOCENCE AND ARROGANCE

by Kimberley Reeves

  They clung to each other, fighting to fill their lungs with air and waiting for the return of their sanity. Scott had collapsed over her, burying his face in her neck and Mina could feel the light tickle of his warm breathe against her skin. When he was finally able to gather the strength to lift his head, all she could do was smile inanely at him. He braced himself on one elbow and brushed the damp curls from her forehead.

  “Why did you do that, Mina? I could have made it so it wasn’t so painful for you.”

  “Because I wanted everything,” she said softly. “I didn’t want you to hold back anything from me. It was how I wanted it, wild and powerful and free.”

  “You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. I’ve never felt anything like that before. It was like…” he searched for the right words.

  Mina’s eyes were soft and dreamy. “Like we were a part of each other,” she finished for him, “as if two pieces of a puzzle finally came together to form the whole picture.”

  Scott nodded in agreement. He traced the delicate line of her jaw with his finger, mesmerized by the smooth, silkiness of her skin.

  “So tell me where you learned those seductive little moves you pulled on me earlier.”

  She gave him an impish grin. “I told you, I devour every piece of literature I can get my hands on.”

  “And you learned that from books?”

  “Sure. It’s a really common theme actually. Men always want what they can’t have so I just made you believe you couldn’t have it.”

  He leaned over and kissed her. “I can’t wait to find out what else you’ve learned from reading.”

  Mina started to tease him with a tidbit or two when Buster padded over and flopped his head up on the side of the bed, eyeing first one and then the other of them. She giggled at the soulful look the dog gave her.

  “I think that’s his way of saying it’s time to go outside for a bathroom break.”

  Scott reached down to pet him. “Do you want to let him outside or shall I?”

  Mina arched a brow. “Don’t look at me, he’s your dog!”

  ****

  Mina watched from the window as Scott raced around the yard with Buster, playing keep away with a deflated football. He’d pulled on a pair of shorts but was both barefoot and shirtless. She could barely tear her eyes away from the magnificence of his body, but she had breakfast on the stove and didn’t want to burn it.

  She was surprised to find Scott’s kitchen so well stocked and already had pancakes finished and warming in the oven while the sausage was cooking. She turned back to the pan and flipped the patties then started heating another burner for the eggs. Mina laughed when she heard the pair bounding up the stairs of the deck and the subsequent fight to be first through the sliding glass doors.

  “Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes,” she called over her shoulder.

  Scott came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Damn, you look good in my shirt,” he said huskily.

  “I like it. It smells like you.”

  “You hear that, Buster? The woman is in to old, smelly t-shirts. Too bad I didn’t know that before spending so much money on those fancy clothes for her.”

  Mina’s hand froze in the middle of flipping a sausage patty. “What?” She turned around to face him, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. “What did you just say?”

  “I…” His mind reached for a plausible excuse but decided she’d see right through it. He might as well admit his guilt and take what he had coming to him. “Don’t be mad, honey…”

  “How much?” She demanded angrily.

  “It doesn’t matter. I wanted you to have them…”

  She planted her hands on her hips, her eyes flashing. “How much?”

  “Mina, baby…” Scott threw up his hands at her obstinate glare. “Twenty-nine hundred,” he mumbled.

  “Twenty-nine hundred,” she choked. She’d only dished out four hundred of her own money and felt humiliated that he’d made a fool of her in front of everyone at Jan Carey’s shop. “How could you do that to me?” She wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to still the pain that shot through her. “You lied to me, Scott. Jan and all those women in there knew the whole time that I couldn’t afford those clothes.” Mina closed her eyes for a moment before looking at him again. “Was it some kind of game? Did it amuse you to pull one over on the naïve little country girl? What did you think you were going to get from it, Scott?”

  Mina swallowed hard then looked down at the t-shirt she was wearing. He’d already gotten his payment. She turned around and flipped off the burners.

  “Mina, it wasn’t like that at all.”

  She shook her head and forced herself to face him. “Then tell me how it was. Tell me it wasn’t pity. Tell me it wasn’t because you were embarrassed to be seen with me dressed in the shoddy clothes I owned.” Her voice caught in her throat. “Tell me it wasn’t just so you could get me into your bed.”

  He tried to put his arms around her, but she moved away from him. “It wasn’t any of those things, honey.” He reached for her again, but this time he wouldn’t allow her to pull away. Scott held her firmly in his arms, pinning her own arms between her chest and his. “Look at me,” he ordered and waited for Mina to lift her eyes to his before he went on.

  “It wasn’t pity. It was as simple as me having the money and wanting to do it for you. I knew you’d never accept my offer so I had Jan pick out some things she thought would look good on you.” He tightened his arms around her when she tried to wiggle free. “Stop squirming and listen. No, I wasn’t embarrassed by the things you were wearing before, I just thought you’d look nicer and feel better about yourself in the new clothes. Admit it, Mina, you like them, they make you feel good.”

  “Yes,” she said reluctantly, “but it still…”

  “I’m not finished yet. The truth is I’ve wanted to make love to you since that first night we went to dinner together. Do you really think I couldn’t have seduced you then? I didn’t have to buy you things, Mina, and you’re not the type to be impressed by it anyway. And you can hardly say I used it as a ploy to get you into my bed since I kept it a secret from you.”

  “It’s just…it’s not right for you to spend that kind of money on me.”

  Scott smiled indulgently. “You listen to me, Mina Harmon. You’re mine now and I have no intention of letting you go. I have great plans to spoil you rotten and I’m afraid that’s something you’ll just have to learn to live with.”

  “But…”

  “Do you want to be with me?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “Then you have to take me as I am.” He leaned down and gave her a tender kiss. “That’s better. Now that we have that settled, do you think you can finish making breakfast because I’m starved.”

  Mina couldn’t help smiling. “I guess you did work up quite an appetite.”

  Scott gave her bottom a squeeze. “Yes, and I fully intend to work up another one before dinner.”

  ****

  Scott pulled the sheet from his bed while Mina took her shower. He stared for a moment at the crimson stains, feeling even more possessive about her than he had before. He could still hear the pained sob when he’d penetrated her so brutally and even knowing he’d hurt her, it had been almost impossible for him to stop. The heated tightness of her had nearly sent him over the edge after the first thrust. It was hard to believe his timid Mina could make love with such wild abandon or that she could drive him to the point where he’d lost all self-control.

  Scott gathered the sheet and carried it downstairs. He wrapped it in a plastic bag and took it to the outside trash then made his way back to the bedroom. He pulled out a clean sheet and had the bed all made up again just as Mina stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel.

  “I should have thought about not having any clean clothes to wear before I showered. Do you think anyone would notice if you drove me home with just the towel on?”
/>
  “I think it might raise an eyebrow or two. I tell you what you can do for now. Go to the last room at the end of the hall and see if you can find something to wear. Jenna drops by occasionally to tan and doesn’t like carting clothes back and forth. I can pretty much guarantee half the things still have tags on them too.”

  “Are you sure she won’t mind?”

  “Jenna’s a clothes horse. She probably doesn’t remember three quarters of the things she’s bought and left over here.”

  Scott waited until she’d gone to step into the shower, his mind wandering back to the disaster he’d narrowly avoided when he made the slip about the clothes. If she’d gotten that upset over buying her a few dresses, how angry would she be if she found out about the truck he bought so she’d have a vehicle at her disposal? There was also the furniture he’d put in storage, which he’d told her Jenna had given him. He might be able to talk himself out of the thousand dollar bonus he’d given her, but if Mina ever found out about the other things or the beach house he’d purchased for her, she’d blow sky high.

  It seemed strange that he’d spent most of his adult life taking out woman who expected him to spend money on them. He’d always resented shelling out even the smallest amount on any woman because he felt he was forced to do it out of obligation rather than because he wanted to. Now he had Mina, who he wanted to shower with gifts and things that would make her life more comfortable and she’d probably be happier with a seashell he’d found on the beach than with a string of pearls he’d spent thousands of dollars on.

  Scott hopped out of the shower and dried off. He was so used to living alone, it didn’t occur to him to keep his towel wrapped around him or grab a robe. He stopped short when he saw Mina sitting on the bed, then gave her a rakish grin and crossed the room to his dresser. He grabbed a clean pair of boxers, jeans shorts, and a muscle shirt then walked back to where she was sitting and dropped his clothes on the bed. Her eyes had followed him the entire time, apparently unabashed by his nudity.

  “It doesn’t bother you in the least to see me naked, does it?” Scott asked, pulling up his boxers.

  “Should it?”

  “No, I just figured someone who’d never been intimate with a man before might be a little embarrassed.”

  Mina smiled beguilingly. “I love looking at your body. I wish you could walk around naked all the time.”

  Scott’s hand shook a little as he picked up his shorts. “If you don’t watch what you say, you may just find yourself back in bed,” he warned.

  She laughed and lay back on the mattress. “I’m ready when you are.”

  “Honey, I don’t think you’re ready for another round,” he sighed regretfully.

  “You could go real slow,” she said in a soft, sexy voice.

  Scott groaned, his eyes already dark with desire. “I don’t want to hurt you, baby.”

  Mina sat up. “I’m sorry,” she said with a shrug. “I guess I should have considered a man your age would need to time to recuperate.”

  Scott’s brows drew together. “A man my…” He threw his shorts down with a growl and pushed her back onto the bed. “I’ll show you what a man my age can do!”

  She smiled contentedly as he stripped off her clothes, then shoved his own boxers off and thrust into her. Cosmopolitan magazine, May issue, she recalled the article in her mind. Men become very aggressive when their egos are attacked.

  Chapter 8

  “What time is your brother going to be here?” Mina handed Scott the last box from the trailer and, thankfully, the last box from her old house.

  “Brothers,” he corrected her. “Adam and Nick promised to be here around four o’clock. Gage would have come but he’s got Dad duty this afternoon.”

  She followed him into the house. “He’s the one with the twins, right?”

  “Elizabeth and Richard.” He stacked the box in the bedroom.

  “Elizabeth and Richard? As in Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton?”

  Scott chuckled. “I think that was just coincidence. Actually, my nephew’s name is Nickolas Richard, after Nick, but it’s sort of tradition in our family to have the first born son named after the father then use their middle name.”

  “Does that mean your name is really Samuel Scott, after your Dad?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well, that kind of messes up the tradition of you being able to name your own son after you, unless he goes by Scott too.”

  He pulled her into his arms. “I guess that means we’ll have to add a third name.”

  “Like Samuel Scott Winston Travis?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “You are definitely out of the baby naming business.”

  Mina smiled adoringly at him. She knew he hadn’t been talking about her specifically, but just the idea of carrying Scott’s baby made her feel almost giddy with happiness.

  “I guess we should eat lunch before they get here. Would you like me to throw some sandwiches together?”

  Scott checked the time. “We still have a few hours. There’s a public beach about half a mile down and a man who has the best hot dog stand in the city. Why don’t we walk down along the shore and grab lunch there? We can even bring Buster.”

  “Do we have time to take a quick swim?”

  “If you think you can find your swimsuit in this mess.”

  “Hey, I have everything carefully labeled,” she said with a defensive tilt of her chin.

  Mina looked around her for a minute then strode to the box her swimsuit was in and pulled it out with a smug smile. It was one of the new ones and she hadn’t even worn it yet. She looked down at the bright blue bikini, remembering she’d only been charged twenty dollars for it.

  “Don’t even think about asking what the real price was,” Scott warned.

  “Was it very expensive?” She asked, ignoring his warning.

  “Outlandishly so,” Scott cupped her chin in his hand and gave her a kiss. “You look stunning in it, and it was worth every penny. Now quit worrying about it or we won’t have time to go swimming. We still need to run back to my house so I can get my swim trunks and grab Buster.”

  She dropped the subject for the moment and hurried back to the truck. In no time at all, they were back at her place, dressed in their swim wear and ready to go. She put a leash on Buster, though she doubted there would be much need with Scott around. Still, he was a big dog and people tended to get a little worked up when he went barreling towards them. They walked at a brisk pace and reached the little hot dog stand in less than twenty minutes. Scott bought four, one plain and three loaded with everything. When Mina looked at him curiously, he shrugged and patted Buster’s head.

  “Hey, the mutt deserves a treat too.”

  “He’s not a mutt,” she said indignantly. “I’ll have you know Buster is a full breed with a long line of law officers in his family.”

  Scott led her to a spot close to the shore and dropped down in the sand. “So why didn’t Buster go into law enforcement?”

  Mina tore off a piece of the plain hot dog and fed it to Buster. “He was too…sensitive.”

  Scott laughed, sending Buster’s tail into hyperactive mode. “Explain too sensitive to me.”

  “He liked the chase and would even take them down, but he didn’t want to hurt them.”

  “So what did he do once he got them to the ground, lick them?” When Mina took a hasty bite of her hotdog to avoid answering the question, Scott burst into laughter. “You’re kidding me right?”

  She gave Buster another piece of his hot dog. “Some dogs just don’t have the killer instinct, I guess.”

  Scott’s mood sobered instantly. “Why would you go walking in that neighborhood you lived in if you knew he wouldn’t really do anything if someone tried to attack you?”

  “I didn’t say he wouldn’t do anything if he thought I was in danger. He just didn’t pass the police training. I think he’d probably die trying to protect me if he really thought someone was goin
g to hurt me.”

  “He doesn’t seem too concerned with all the people around you right now.”

  “No one is acting threatening.” She gave Buster his last bite and finished her own hot dog. “Where to do you want to swim, here or at my house?”