Pathetic. Stupid. Reno was so far out of her league that they didn’t even exist within the same reality. He was a warrior, a fighter; his world consisted of blood and death while hers existed within the security he helped create. And to be honest, he terrified her. The needs and desires she had when thought of him, the fantasies that taunted her in the deepest part of night and the sexual hunger she could feel building within her were too intense, too damned strong.
“Here we go.” He pulled into the parking lot, swinging the truck into the empty space in front of the town house. “I really appreciate you letting me stay over.”
She glanced up at him. Damn, he did look tired. But still sexy as hell. She was such a lost cause where he was concerned.
“Not a problem,” she said again as she gripped the door handle and swung the door open. “Come on and get settled in. I have to work some tonight, but I’m pretty quiet on the computer.”
She pulled her key from the minuscule purse she carried at her hip. Behind her, she was aware of Reno moving silently. How the hell did he do that? There wasn’t even the sound of his shoes on the pavement.
She unlocked the door, flipping on the light to the small living room as she led the way in.
“Come on up. The bed is made and everything, so you can crash whenever you want to.”
She moved up the stairs, uncomfortably aware of him following her. She could feel her butt burning. Oh God, was he looking at her butt? Unconsciously she clenched the cheeks of her ass then forced herself to relax. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. He hadn’t even touched her and she was ready to rape him. This was so pathetic.
She opened the door to the spare bedroom, the one directly across from her own, and stood aside as he brushed past her. His arm slid over her breasts as her breath caught in her throat. She barely managed to throttle a hungry moan at the contact.
“Well. Good night.” She had to get away from him. She had to close him up, get him out of sight.
He dropped his duffel bag to the floor and turned to face her, a slow, predatory move that reminded her of a wild animal or a hunter on the prowl. Why did she feel like the lamb?
He smiled then. A wry quirk of his lips, really, as the gunmetal color of his eyes gleamed with amusement.
“Good night, Raven,” he said, his voice huskier, deeper.
The sound echoed in her pussy, her very wet, very aroused pussy. This was not good. Not good at all. She escaped the room, now heavy with his male presence and the predatory lust she saw reflected in his gaze. Morganna had warned her that Reno wouldn’t wait long before pushing for what he wanted. He had made his intentions clear to her, informing her in that brisk, no-nonsense voice of his that he wouldn’t let her run from him much longer.
And she had most likely just played into his hand.
Raven gritted her teeth as she paced the living room, pushing her fingers through her hair and again calling herself every type of fool she could think of. She was no match for Reno, and she knew it. How was she supposed to fight him? Hell, he was every woman’s fantasy come to life, and he was now flat in the middle of her home, right across the hall from her bedroom, his hard body aroused. Yes, she had seen that bulge pressing against his jeans, the way his eyes darkened as he watched her, the determination in his gaze.
Reno was through playing, and Raven had a very bad feeling she wasn’t going to get far resisting him. But what bothered her even more was the fact that she wasn’t entirely certain she wanted to resist him. And that scared her more than anything.
It was her own fault, she reminded herself with harsh criticism. The day she had turned nineteen and learned that he wasn’t staying home after his tour in the Navy was finished, that he was actually taking the BUDs training to become a SEAL, she had been enraged.
Not Reno. Not the man she had pinned all her dreams on. She couldn’t lose him as her mother had lost her father. As she had lost her father.
“Don’t go. I’ll do anything,” she remembered whispering tearfully, staring up at him, her hands on his chest, all her naive beliefs that her love for him would keep him with her, filling her.
He had smiled that crooked little grin she loved so well as he touched her cheek and lowered his head. She knew he had meant the kiss to be light. To be comforting, rather than exploding out of control as it had.
“I’ll be back,” he had sworn. “I will, Raven. For you.”
She had slowly backed away from him, shaking her head, as her lips throbbed from the kiss that had sent a swelling wave of hunger rushing through her.
“If you go. I won’t be here.” She had choked on her tears, her fears. “I won’t be here for you.”
“You’ll be here,” he had whispered then, his voice immeasurably gentle, confident. “Just as I’ll be back, Raven. You’ll be here. And once I have you, baby, I won’t let you go.”
She had made certain he never took her. That he gained no more than the stolen kisses he managed to get when he caught her unawares. That he took no more of her heart than he already possessed.
She was going to drive him insane.
“Damn woman,” he growled.
She had been running from him for years, and he had been aware of it.
But he had made up his mind on a cold winter’s night as he lay alone in his bed, smiling like a fool over a teasing remark she had made one evening. He had made his mind up. Raven was his, and she was going to stay his.
She had been too young then, only seventeen, unaware of how sexual he was, of how dominant he could be. He wanted the woman he saw emerging within her, not the child she still was.
At the time, he was on leave from the navy and knew the course he wanted his life to take. As soon as possible, he was heading for SEALs training and a military career. It would be years before he could have her. Years, he knew, before she would be mature enough to accept loving him, despite the career he had chosen. But when he had told her his plans two years later, her reaction had only reinforced his belief that she needed to mature first.
She was mature now. And stubborn. Stubborn enough that he knew, if he waited any longer, she would slip out of his grasp forever. With each year, she set herself more firmly against him, more determined that he wasn’t the man for her, simply because the career he had chosen was the same one that had made her parents so miserable.
He wasn’t going to let her run any longer. She was stronger than her mother whether she knew it or not. And he knew damned good and well that she loved him. Otherwise, he would have had a lover to deal with, rather than just her stubbornness. And dealing with her just might end up driving him over the edge of frustration.