by KB Winters
He grunted. “I don’t see any trees or an ocean.”
She laughed. “Try the cheeseboard. Focus on the detail in the woodgrain of the board.”
I looked at it again for a long time, taking in the multiple shades of brown and the small crack between the gouda and the brie. “Yeah, I can do that. Thanks.”
“No problem.” She spoke so quietly I had to lean closer just to hear her. I didn’t think it was a power play though, I suspected she was shy. Or wary.
Maybe both. “You’re very chatty,” I told her.
She didn’t’ speak for so long I thought maybe she wouldn’t. “I get that a lot. My best friend can never get a word in.”
I laughed. I actually laughed at her deadpan delivery, and damn it felt so damn good to laugh. “Thank you.”
“For what?” She seemed baffled.
“I can’t remember the last time I laughed.” I don’t know why I shared that with her, but it was true.
“No kidding,” she added with a healthy dose of commiseration before her hand began to move again. She flicked her wrist in quick, sure strokes, her face a study in concentration so I turned back to my own easel and focused on the damn cheeseboard. What the hell was a cheeseboard, anyway? They couldn’t have used plates like everyone else?
But after a while it actually started to look like what it was. Mostly.
“Okay ladies and gentleman, thank you for a great night of painting.” She walked around the room but the bachelorettes were quickly wobbling towards the exit. “Not bad, Mr…?”
“Call me, Max. I’ve never done anything but landscapes. Seascapes and a few of the sky. This is…different.”
She smiled and laid a kind hand on my shoulder. “You did well, I love the grain you brought to life. I can almost smell the cheese.” She looked so genuine I had to believe her, but to me it looked like shit.
“Well thanks, I’m not sure what else I could have painted.”
She nodded and stepped over to the mysterious blond. “Oh Jana, it’s wonderful. It’s somber somehow, like this is set out for a sad event.”
“Thanks,” she replied on a sigh that didn’t sound at all like she liked what she heard. “I’ll see you next week, Moon.”
Moon? I didn’t even want to think about that, so I separated the brushes and stuck the palette in the bucket of warm water and followed Jana out. “Thanks for your help in there. And the laugh.”
“No worries,” she said, glancing over so once again I only got a view of her left side. “Have a good night, Max.”
“You too, Jana.” I stood on the sidewalk for way longer than I probably should’ve, watching the graceful move of her hips, her legs. The swell of her ass. She was beautiful from what I could see, and guarded as hell.
And I would see her again. Next week.
***
“So, it helped?” Dr. Singh sat back in his chair, legs crossed at the knee with a smug smile on his face.
I shrugged. “I still didn’t sleep for shit, but it was more of a restless sleep. The dream was still there but it was fuzzy. Mostly sounds.” Two shots of Maker’s Mark would have cleared that shit right up, but for some reason I decided to abstain.
“But that’s still good after one class. I suspect there is more.”
I hadn’t planned to talk about Jana at all. I just wanted to keep it to myself for just a little while, which was crazy as fuck because there was jack shit to keep to myself. But who the hell else would I talk about it to? “Her name is Jana. She’s curvy as hell, like a woman should be. Pretty from what I could see and shy. But she’s also hiding something.”
“Aren’t we all,” he asked, leaning back now that the story was over.
“Like a black eye or something, Doc, not a deep dark secret or a man locked in the basement. You sure you didn’t serve?”
He grinned. “No but I have spent my career studying and helping servicemembers and law enforcement deal with the effects and demands of their jobs.” He looked at me with an amused look and I just rolled my eyes. “You like her.”
“I don’t know her, but I am intrigued.” And that was the kicker because as a rule, women didn’t intrigue me. They always had their motivations and the only thing I ever appreciated was the chase. And the first fuck, nothing is as good as that first fuck.
“Intrigued is good. Pursue it.”
I laughed. “You matchmaking now, Doc?”
He fought the grin but the battle was lost. “If you need me to, but it doesn’t have to be romantic. You could start as friends, or maybe an art buddy.”
An art buddy? I laughed. “That’s the second time I laughed this week.” It still felt weird, but a good weird.
“Good. Keep it up. Are you going to class again?”
“Yeah.” The painting was nice and it was better than sitting at home doing nothing, or going to the clubhouse to drink and dick around.
Dr. Singh stood and extended a deep brown arm, sinewy with muscle. “I look forward to hearing all about it. How’s the drinking?”
“Here and there, mostly beer.”
“Good. I’ll see you next week, Max.”
“Later, Doc.” I waved and made my way out into the damn near sweltering early afternoon. I loved the desert air, but goddamn these days felt almost as bad as the other fucking desert. Still, it was early and I didn’t have much to do today so I decided to go for a walk around Mayhem. It had been a while since I just went for a walk. Mayhem was a small desert town, but it wasn’t isolated and desolate like so many towns in the state. Vegas was fifteen miles away and when the sun went down, the only thing that could be seen were those familiar bright lights. But Mayhem, despite it’s name was a thriving small town with an old west feel.
Tourists loved the wooden sidewalks on Main Street, and the red, white & blue awnings that were straight out of the seventies, and the fact that we had those old school lampposts. Mayhem even had a fucking General Store. Right beside the Bud Café, owned and operated by the Reckless Bastards. It was a cute little town, which was why we worked hard to keep it clean and to keep our businesses on the right side of the law.
I turned the corner into the small park that had been dedicated to the town by an old resident who’d gone on to be somebody big, apparently. I spotted a figure in the distance, wearing a pretty green and white polka dot dress with her legs crossed primly. The closer I got, the more details became clear. She was sketching something, her face parallel with the pad, long blonde hair covering her shoulders and most of the pad.
She was so engrossed in her sketching, wrist flicking quickly and efficiently, she didn’t look up when I approached her or when I stepped behind her to see what she worked on. It was a face, or more accurately it was a set of eyes. Hard and intense, and filled with pain. Finally, Jana froze and turned slowly until big, elliptical brown eyes stared up at me, angry and wary. “Excuse me.”
“It is you,” I said lamely. “It’s me, Max.”
“I remember,” she said warily and inched away, closing her sketchpad and shoving it into her hobo style bag. “Did you need help with something?”
“Nah,” I shoved my hands into my pockets and grinned. “I thought it was you from a distance, and I just wanted to say hi. You’re pretty good at sketching too.”
“I do okay,” she muttered, head down, keeping the right side of her face away from me.
I didn’t like that she seemed afraid of me. “You scared of me, honey?” It’d been a while since a woman was scared of me, but with the tattoos and the bike, sometimes it happened.
Jana jerked upright and frowned at me. “What? Why would I be scared of you, more importantly should I be?”
I bit back a grin. “Hell no, you shouldn’t. I’m harmless.”
She scoffed. “Somehow I doubt that.” She closed the flap on her bag and stood, taking a step back.
“So you just don’t like me? You’re not attracted to me?”
She sighed, clearly becoming frustrated with my interfe
rence. “I don’t know you to like or dislike you.”
“But you’re attracted to me, and that’s a start. Have lunch with me.” Sparring verbally with Jana was the most fun I’d had in a long time.
I watched her carefully. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, and did it again. Then again. She seemed to brace herself for something, tucking her hair behind her right ear and looking up at me so that I could see what she was hiding. A long, nasty scar from her right eye to the corner of her mouth. It was red and it looked painful, but it wasn’t the most interesting thing about her face. Her lips and cheeks were tied for first in that area. “Happy now?”
I stood and stared at her for a long time, taking in her defensive posture as she began to squirm. I grinned. “Is that supposed to scare me?” I let out a laugh that wasn’t amused at all as I lifted my shirt and tilted to the left. “A fucking kid snuck up on me in my nest and shoved it straight through my gut, and this ain’t the worst of it.” I let the shirt drop and crossed my arms, noting the way her gaze tracked over my arms and hands. “I’m sure what happened to you was fucking awful, but a tiny little scar doesn’t scare me. Now, can we go eat or do you need to see another scar?”
She stared at me for a long time and I thought she’d smack me or tell me to fuck off. But she didn’t, and soon I found myself exploring her ripe feminine curves. The jeans she wore did very good things for her hips and shapely thighs, even if she did try and hide what looked like a spectacular rack underneath an oversized t-shirt. Finally, she spoke. “Are there many more scars?”
I blinked until my brows dipped low. “What?”
“The scars, I’m curious how many you have.” She didn’t wear a smile that said she was flirting or kidding, she looked serious.
“Too many to count. Why, you interested?”
She shrugged and my cock sprang to life. “Between the muscles and the tattoos, I think I might like to get you down on paper, so I’m curious if you have more texture than just muscles and ink.”
I grinned at her words. She was quiet, but not shy at all. “You can even have me on sheets. Or carpet, or sofa cushions.” I laughed when she rolled her eyes and a smile curled her plump lips.
“You like Greek food?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. Never had it.”
“Lamb and potatoes? Yogurt and lemon?” I didn’t really give a damn as long as we could sit and talk. I wanted to get to know Jana. “You’re staring.”
“Sorry, it’s just—,”
“It’s hard not to look at?”
What? “You’re nuts. No, I’m just glad you weren’t hiding a black eye under all that damn hair.” That sounded a bit grumpier than I wanted it to, but she just grinned. “I might like Greek. Want to get on my bike?”
“No thanks. I like my brains in my head. You can follow me. I’m the green Subaru over there.”
“You’re not what I thought you’d be,” I told her as I fell in step beside her. Okay, a little behind her because damn that heart-shaped ass was the kind that made men lose their minds.
“How did you think I’d be?”
There was a landmine if I ever encountered one, and a smarter man would dodge. “I thought you were shy until a few minutes ago, but I like this sassy, smart ass version of you.”
She stopped at her car, shoving the key in and tossing her bag on the passenger seat. “I am shy. Unless strange men sneak up on me and invade my personal space.”
I grinned again and held her door open for her. “Noted. I’m a few blocks up that way.”
“Get in, I’ll take you.”
“You will?”
“I will,” she nodded. “Unless you prefer that I drive slowly alongside you like a creeper.”
I laughed and scratched my chin. “I don’t know, I’ve never had a stalker before.”
“It’s not all its cracked up to be,” she mumbled and put the car in drive as soon as my ass hit the seat. I realized that must be a sensitive topic and now that I saw the scar, I had a new batch of questions for the intriguing girl with the sinful curves.
Chapter 4
Jana
“How about the number one, five and nine to start?” I knew Max was unfamiliar with Greek food but I assumed based on his tattoos and his motorcycle that he was a bit of a risk taker.
But he looked at the menu with a deep frown on his face. “Octopus tail?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Don’t tell me such a tough guy is afraid of a little octopus?” At his affronted look I laughed even more. “I’m ordering it because I love it, but I think you should taste it.”
He stared at me for a long time and I found myself turning away so my scar was less visible, but his gaze didn’t waver because he was focused on my mouth. “Okay.”
And that was it. Just okay. “Why are you taking art classes, Max?” He seemed to have some artistic skill but his discomfort last week had been apparent.
He sighed and the look in his gray eyes darkened to a gunmetal color as his entire demeanor changed. A big hand slid through short black hair and he leaned back. “Can I get away with saying that I like art?”
“Sure. Your secrets are your own. Do you draw at home?”
“Not for a while, no. Maybe I should. How about you, why do you take the class?”
“It gets me out of my house and I get a chance to improve my skill with Moon’s help.” I started taking the art classes about six months ago as I started to experiment beyond drawing and painting.
“So are you some kind of artist?”
I shook my head even though the more I looked at him, the more my fingers itched to draw him. Paint him. Put him down on paper for future civilizations to discover. “Nope, it’s strictly a hobby.”
The waiter stopped and flashed me a grin as he set down our starters and drinks. “Maybe it shouldn’t be. You’re damn good Jana.”
I felt my skin heat up from his compliment. “Thanks.” Other than Teddy and my satisfied clients, I didn’t hear many compliments and I was all right with that. I didn’t need accolades for my looks or my work, but it was nice to hear once in a while. “You’re not bad either, but you’d be better if you believed in yourself. As trite as that sounds.”
His deep laugh sounded in the near empty restaurant and it was rich and multi-layered. It was a bit rusty, paying truth to his words last week that he hadn’t laughed in a while. “When I first got out of the service I…struggled. I couldn’t sleep most nights so I would go out and paint, wherever I was. The desert, the forest, lakes and rivers, oceans and everything in between.”
“So you don’t have much practice painting anything else?” He nodded and I felt an answering grin tug on my lips. “I know how that is. I first started painting and sketching. Self-portraits. You wouldn’t believe how quickly I got over them.”
His grin deepened and I swallowed. Hard. Max was too much man, far too big and muscular, and he had that rugged handsome thing going on that definitely spelled danger to a woman like me. Guys like him didn’t go for girls like me. They’d pretended in college to get my help with papers and homework, only to drop the pretense immediately after. And after college when I worked at a large accounting firm, a few guys had tried to get me to do their reports with the vague promise of a date in the future. I learned my lesson quickly and stayed far away from men. All men. “I can only imagine.”
“What branch of the military did you serve?”
Again, his gray eyes took on that cold, haunted look. “Navy. I was a SEAL.” He braced himself and I knew what he was waiting for because I’d seen the way women got all giddy with stars in their eyes at Navy SEALs, and I can only imagine how crazy they went over a guy like Max.
“Thank you for your service. Before…everything, did you feel fulfilled by it?”
He blinked and thought about it as I sliced the octopus, offering him a few pieces along with the garlic and herb butter. “I never thought about it like that, but yeah, I was. Shit, maybe that’s
why it’s all been so hard.” He stabbed the slice of meat with more force than necessary and slid it off the fork into his mouth. “Fuck me, that’s a tender piece of meat. And this is octopus?”
“It is,” I told him and sliced a few pieces for myself and pushing the plate to the middle of the table. “Why did you retire?” He frowned and I held up a hand. “I meant, isn’t it common for hardcore guys like you to teach and pass on the knowledge?”
Max nodded and my gaze was riveted to his steely gray eyes. They should’ve been intimidating with that thousand yard stare, but they were compelling. Too damn compelling. “Yeah, but it wasn’t a right fit for me.”
My heart went out to Max because of all the women he could have possibly met, I knew exactly what he was going through. “It takes time.” We fell silent and finished the starters before we both decided to order a beer. “Where are you from, Max?”
“Brooklyn, originally but I haven’t lived there since I was eighteen.” He chuckled good naturedly. “A lifetime ago. What about you?”
I shrugged. “Detroit, I think.” It had been a long time since someone showed an interest in my life and I was a bit rusty. “I went into the foster care system in Michigan when I was six so it’s a bit fuzzy before that, but I bounced around plenty of Detroit foster homes, so let’s go with that. Siblings?”
He grinned and holy shit, his face was transformed from a ruggedly handsome warrior to a boyishly charming man far too good looking for my peace of mind. “I have a brother and we were close. It was just me and him and our mom, at least until I went to the Navy. He went Army as soon as he was old enough, but Tate didn’t make a career of it.”
I swallowed. “Did he die?” I couldn’t take it if a man like him, who had sacrificed for our country, had experienced that kind of loss. It didn’t seem fair or right, two things I knew life didn’t guarantee.
“No.”
“Oh. Good.” He didn’t want to talk about it so I dropped it. Teddy often said I had a bad habit of interrogating people.
“Sorry, it’s just. My brother is going through some shit right now and I want to help but he’s shutting me out.” He blew out a long breath and fell against the seat.